# Technology that's going away...



## ToeClaws (May 12, 2009)

Ah, these bring back memories.  A look at ten technologies (once all state of the art) that have or are slipping into obsolescence: 

*Gadget Graveyard: 10 Technologies About to Go Extinct*

Landlines are the only one that's a bit iffy depending on where you're from.  Here in Canada, for example, Cell phone plans are SO bad and SO expensive, that there's no way they are remotely a replacement for landlines yet.  If you call anywhere long distance, having a cell phone is just too expensive up here.  But in most other countries, cell phones _are_ an affordable (and understandably more convenient) replacement.

And I miss my IBM Selectric II.  Nice quiet hum until you started typing - then it was like AK-47 fire:


----------



## Zero_Point (May 12, 2009)

DVDs already obsolete? Why does this not surprised me?

Let's face it, even if you take the best possible care of your CDs/DVDs, they still oxidize to the point of uselessness in 10-15 years.


----------



## Irreverent (May 12, 2009)

With the exception of landlines, beepers, dial-up internet and watches (and maybe film to) I'd have to agree.  Those are going to be around the remainder of my life time, at least another 60 years or so.

Landlines: the sheer size of the hardwired external cable-plant for even the smallest ILEC is something to behold.   Depreciated over a 25-30 year cycle (even 50 and 100 years on some of the earlier CO's) and sheer economy of scale means that this technology is going to be around for decades.  And give that is has some definitive advantages over other technology, its not going to be scrapped or decommissioned in place any time soon.  Multi-media broadband over two wire technology is feasible, although often ilegal by government regulation.

Beepers: Tend to work where other devices don't, mostly because they use low frequency spectrum that other devices can't.  Decommissioning them will take acts of Congress/Parliment to free up the spectrum licences too.

Dial-up internet?  Yep.  I use it daily.  Albeit with a cellular modem, but its sill "dial-up".....the back end infrastructure is the same (concentrators, radius et all) and with the physical land lines staying in place for the next 6 decades or so, dial-up will be in place for a long time to come.

Watches:  Mine needs recharging only once every 5 years (about as often as I take it off), and ALWAYS works in the shower, pool, on a 25m reef and dozens of hostile environments that would kill a cell/ipod/iPhone.    Plus, its preferred body attachment point on my wrist is just damn handy, if not damn sexy.

Film: This one I'm not so sure about.  The introduction of colour film didn't kill the black and white film in its entirety.  Regulated to niche market status, for hobbyists and artists, I suspect the C7 process will go the same way.  Hell 120x120 is still out there, and you can run Degarotype plates too if you really, really want to.

I'm surprised by what the article didn't mention:  Fax (mature, but no where near dead) Microwave transport, CRT's, IPv4 and BGPv4, BRI-ISND, DS1, E1/T1, ATM, cordless pots phones..... methinks Fox was having a slow news day.


----------



## net-cat (May 12, 2009)

Landlines: If you're a business, land lines are generally the way to go. (If anything is going to kill off landlines, it's going to be VoIP. Not cell phones.)

Film cameras: Hobbyists. I can also see some applications where a CCD wouldn't fare so well.


----------



## Irreverent (May 12, 2009)

net-cat said:


> I can also see some applications where a CCD wouldn't fare so well.



Yep.  Ultra high speed comes to mind.  Moving windows shutter cameras with 20K+ frame rates are an example.


----------



## net-cat (May 12, 2009)

Indeed. No slow data path in film.


----------



## LizardKing (May 12, 2009)

Aren't hard drives getting a little long in the tooth too? Other than squeezing things into a smaller area, they don't appear to have changed much for the past few decades. As soon as there's some kind of breakthrough in solid-state drives anyway. Can't imagine it's far off now.


----------



## ToeClaws (May 12, 2009)

Yep - storage is sure to be near a revolution.  When you think about it though, it's damn impressive that though the drive form factor size (internal 3.5" drive) has not really changed in 15 years, the capacity when from a few dozen megs to 2 terabytes.

When our associate director at the University retired, he had been in the IT business since 1964.  He remembered when the university got it's first "hard drives", which were basically systems the size of a washing machine that you had to manually lower platter spools into, and each spool was only large enough to hold one or two programs for the mainframe!  He said "for $20, you can get a little keychain drive now that holds thousands of times more data and works thousands of times faster."  Heck of a comparison.


----------



## LizardKing (May 12, 2009)

ToeClaws said:


> When our associate director at the University retired, he had been in the IT business since 1964.  He remembered when the university got it's first "hard drives", which were basically systems the size of a washing machine that you had to manually lower platter spools into, and each spool was only large enough to hold one or two programs for the mainframe!  He said "for $20, you can get a little keychain drive now that holds thousands of times more data and works thousands of times faster."  Heck of a comparison.



But on the other hand, you can't write a program that'll make a USB stick walk across the floor.


----------



## ToeClaws (May 12, 2009)

LizardKing said:


> But on the other hand, you can't write a program that'll make a USB stick walk across the floor.



lol!  Oooooh... that would have been a bad sign!


----------



## Shino (May 12, 2009)

I have an Apple IIGS sitting on the desk about 6 feet away. I still power it up once in a while to play number munchers or Oregon Trail on 5.25" when I get sick of CS:S.

Conversely, I'm typing this on a tower with about 1.6TB of storage spread across 4 drives, connected via broadband, have a Windows Mobile touch-screen phone and no landline, and am typing this on a 20.1" LCD monitor.

If you stand in front of my workbench, within 6 feet you can span two decades.

Best of both worlds, or just eccentric?

Oh, and I've still got a VT-100 terminal buried around here somewhere...

Oh, and lets not forget the programs that can make scanners sing classical, and floppy drives do the imperial march.


----------



## Leasara (May 12, 2009)

I had a shot at a blue IBM Selectric II a while back.  Still regret passing it up, though I'd have no where to put it  

I do have a couple old Underwood manual typewriters.  Also this Compaq Portable III I was planning on gutting and updating with a mini-ITX board, LCD screen, and a large RAID, so I could carry all my media around with me.  I'm an anime geek


----------



## AshleyAshes (May 13, 2009)

Some of these I think are just using examples of old technology that evolved.  The type writer isn't extinct in that we abandoned it, it evolved, it evolved into the 'Word Processor' and then into the 'Personal Computer'.  It was the original laptop but we improved on it.  We made it electical instead of purely physical-mechanical.  We added LED or LCD screens and did word processing on them.  The Commodor 64 is a typewriter with a TV on it.  It EVOLVED.

Floppy disks as well, we simply evolved to different external medial.  Writable optical discs and USB mass storage.  It's all the same idea just not the exact same thing.

Okay, yeah, wrist watches really are going extinct.

VHS tape and VCRs evolved into PVRs and DVD.

Beepers evolved into cellphones.

Film cameras just went digitial.

Look, they even group the 'Walknan' 'Discman' and 'MiniDisc Player' together.  If those are all similar enough, why not the MP3 player/iPod?  It's the same concept, it's handheld music players, just different storage media.

Dialup internet evolved into DSL high speed going over the same piece of copper.

DVDs dropping off DOES sorta make sense.  In the idea that you buy or rent something physical and bring it hope and put it in a machine.  Now the entire concept of that means of getting a movie into your house is slowly shifting towards some clicks on your media center or computer to get a movie streamed to you.


----------



## Shark_the_raptor (May 13, 2009)

I agree with Irreverent on wristwatches.  Nothing takes a beating like a Timex.  >.>

I dunno 'bout DVD's.  They are at least a cheaper alternative than going to the movie theater.


----------



## Shindo (May 13, 2009)

Lets trust what fox news has to say


----------



## LizardKing (May 13, 2009)

Shino said:


> floppy drives do the imperial march



Faved. Reminds me of the singing tesla coils, only less awesome but more nerdy.


----------



## Shino (May 13, 2009)

Shindo said:


> Lets trust what fox news has to say


 
Yeah, I saw the FoxNews.com when I hovered the link. I almost didn't click it.

I used to wear a watch, but I stopped because I find the damn things annoying. I'd always catch it on something, or it'd be itchy, or the band would get wet and I'd have to wait for it to dry.
I keep trying to find a replacement I'll actually like, but for now, my cell works just fine.


----------



## Liam (May 13, 2009)

draw_ tattoo_ a watch onto your wrist.  It will be right twice a day, it will be waterproof, and it won't catch on anything.

I don't wear a watch.  It just feels awkward and unnatural.


----------



## AshleyAshes (May 13, 2009)

Yet when we want to ask someone what time it is, we still point to invisable watches on our wrists. XD


----------



## Beastcub (May 13, 2009)

Zero_Point said:


> DVDs already obsolete? Why does this not surprised me?
> 
> Let's face it, even if you take the best possible care of your CDs/DVDs, they still oxidize to the point of uselessness in 10-15 years.



WHAT???
i have beta tapes (BETA TAPES!) and VHS tapes that are over 20 years old and they STILL work...so DVDs dying before 20 years sucks


----------



## ToeClaws (May 13, 2009)

Beastcub said:


> WHAT???
> i have beta tapes (BETA TAPES!) and VHS tapes that are over 20 years old and they STILL work...so DVDs dying before 20 years sucks



Heh, Beta was awesome.  Yeah, it's pretty sad that some discs have such a short life span, but basically all media that is based on moving parts will eventually be obsolete.

Oh and yes, I agree that some of the stuff in the article is a bit far fetched to think it's going away.  Watches will be around for decades more - they're just nice looking, not to mention handy.  Besides, there are companies that are working cellphone watches.


----------



## Liam (May 13, 2009)

Cartridges have no moving parts!  I wonder how well NES games are faring...


----------



## wheelieotter (May 14, 2009)

Beastcub said:


> WHAT???
> i have beta tapes (BETA TAPES!) and VHS tapes that are over 20 years old and they STILL work...so DVDs dying before 20 years sucks


I have CDs over 20 years old that still play perfectly, hell I've got a 31 year old laserdisc that plays perfectly. On the other hand, most of the DVDs that I burned on my computer and put adhesive labels on just a few years ago have failed. The ones that I just wrote on with a sharpie (including the first one I made in 2003) are fine, though. I think that the glue somehow affects the dye in recordable discs.


----------



## LizardKing (May 14, 2009)

gulielmus said:


> Cartridges have no moving parts!  I wonder how well NES games are faring...



They still work.

I'm not sure about the old 5.25" floppies for my BBC Micro though.


----------



## AshleyAshes (May 14, 2009)

gulielmus said:


> Cartridges have no moving parts! I wonder how well NES games are faring...


 
The problem is your NES -does- have moving parts.  There's a design flaw/weakness in the NES where a ribbon connector links where the cartridge goes in and how you depress it in the NES to make the game start.  That ribbon fails (As it weaked, this is why you'd have to blow on carts to make them work, to increase the signal at that contact point in hopes that it'd cross over the weakened points farther down better).

The top loader NES2 however does not suffer from this problem and the NES can have it's connector's repaired by people who specialize in it.


----------



## Adrimor (May 14, 2009)

...FUCK...wrong tab...


----------



## Adrimor (May 14, 2009)

I love watches. There's just something reassuring about having clockwork ticking quietly away on your wrist...or hip, if you wear a pocketwatch ^_^

...am I a watchwhore? 



wheelieotter said:


> I think that the glue somehow affects the dye in recordable discs.



Seems unlikely, since there's a label between them and it. It might eat the aluminium, though, since they still need a reflective base to work...

But isn't the reflective layer in a DVD protected better?


----------



## Ruko (May 14, 2009)

noooo....not DVDs !!!

my collection has just recently gotten larger. At least they are backwards compatible on a blu-ray player, if I ever get one :\


----------



## jagdwolf (May 15, 2009)

Does my C64 that I have in storage with Elite count?  It worked about a year ago before I packed it up.    One thing missing was CRT's.  LCD's will wipe them out soon.  

And i dont wear a watch, bought a nice one with altimiter, diving ring, and 2 other things I cant remember, broke the damn thing in 2 weeks and they would not fix it and say I could go diving with it with out it leaking.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.   LOL  no watches for this less than cordinated wolf.

PS  I haz 33's and 45's !


----------



## Shino (May 15, 2009)

So, yeah, I found a stack of 8" floppies in the storage closet at work, right next to a box of old 25-pin/9-pin serial and AT/PS2 adapters. I wish I had a computer that could read them, just so I can figure out what's on them. I'll bet it's old personnel reports...


----------



## Crimes (May 15, 2009)

New technology actually scares me LOL.
Probably because I'm a person who's deathly afraid of change. 
And all these creepy shows I stalk on TV every once in awhile make technology seem really...Hmm, almost TOO efficient, and invasive :/

SO YEAH.
I miss all the old stuff. It even seems like CDs are going away :C
-doesn't own an iPod-


----------



## AshleyAshes (May 16, 2009)

jagdwolf said:


> One thing missing was CRT's. LCD's will wipe them out soon.


 
It's true, CRT's are going out but that also means you can get used high end CRTs for like dirt.

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh100/AshleyAshes2/DSC_0045.jpg

See those babies?  Dell P1110 21" Triniton monitors.  The Trinitron P1110 tube was used in several different branded monitors and they were the second best CRT tube you could get for a PC at the consumer level.  MSRP of $599 each in 1999.  I got them for FREE.  One I had to pay the guy $20 to deliver it cause they're 70lbs each but that's it.

Mint freakin' condition.  140lbs of 3200x1200 combined desktop goodness.  Sharp, clear, awesome contrast and they were FREE. :3


----------



## Adelio Altomar (May 16, 2009)

Shino said:


> Oh, and lets not forget the programs that can make scanners sing classical, and floppy drives do the imperial march.



*Dragoneer* sooo has to post this as a link of the day! >.<


----------



## Seprakarius (May 16, 2009)

Okay, those videos showing off singing tech of varying forms have made me a happy nerd today. xD

I actually got a typewriter as a gift a while back, because "I wrote as a hobby and they thought I'd like it." I gave it a spin, but then realized my haphazard writing style and tendency to make typos on occasion meant the thing was right out. Even then, I do have to say I like the little bit of feedback that comes with each key press.

Watchwise, I usually just rely on my cell to be my timekeeping device of choice. Though I do have a nice stopwatch or two I take out on occasion. :3


----------



## jagdwolf (May 16, 2009)

AshleyAshes said:


> It's true, CRT's are going out but that also means you can get used high end CRTs for like dirt.
> 
> http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh100/AshleyAshes2/DSC_0045.jpg
> 
> ...


 

I have a 21" sitting down in my storage area of my garage.  Nokia I think, works great, super colors.....no need for it and im a pack rat when it comes to throwing away old tek.  Hell I got games still on 5.25 AND some steve jackson games on TAPE!


----------

