Old/obsolete technology you're glad to see the back of

30-07-2019 10:49AM

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

You mean ‘one-armed periodicals’ or ‘gentleman's art pamphlets?’

An analogue collection of bongo mags will never go out of fashion. And when the Chinese and Russians take down the internet then the man with a box of ‘grot mags’ in the attic will be King.

Mags were great but the became "wanked out" too fast

Also known as wankrupt !

Cork Boy 53 · 30-07-2019 11:01AM

Voting with pencil and paper in elections, referenda etc. The e-voting machines are far superior............................................Oh wait.:rolleyes:

gozunda · 30-07-2019 11:04AM

brian tank wrote: »

Women! soon to be replaced with sex robots
We already have vacuum cleaners that will clean the floor automatically, dish washers and washing machines, scientist working on a artificial womb, the day of the end of woman draws near.

Stevieluvsye wrote: »

Run as fast as you can

He did. He's left boards already. Though I think the door was held open for him - if you know what I mean ...

gozunda · 30-07-2019 11:09AM

Phileas Frog wrote:

Skin books

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

You mean ‘one-armed periodicals’ or ‘gentleman's art pamphlets?’

An analogue collection of bongo mags will never go out of fashion. And when the Chinese and Russians take down the internet then the man with a box of ‘grot mags’ in the attic will be King.

I was thinking he meant 'vellum' as what the book of Kells is writ on.

Maybe I'm just too old school though ....

Cordell · 30-07-2019 11:17AM

Beanntraigheach wrote: »

Video tapes/VCRs.

While I'll often feel a twinge of nostalgia for the era of video tapes (I still have a large collection of TV programmes & films recorded on tape) they were utter crap.

Apart from the inferior picture and audio quality (remember fumbling around with 'tracking'? *sigh*), the VCR frequently needed cleaning, tapes would get tangled up in the bloody things (the horror! the desperate race to try to salvage the tape), rewinding and fast forwarding was a tedious pain in the arse, things recorded on one machine wouldn't play back clearly on another, etc. etc.
And the cassettes seem to degrade pretty easily. Mould has grown on some of my older ones meaning I've lost some great programmes.

So, VHS = shìte!

From technological point of view both VHS (and any rotating heads video recording) and analog colour TV were engineering marvels, they way they managed to overcome the limitations imposed by existing legacy technologies is quite amazing.
But i'm glad to see them both gone. Still, they need to get the respect that they deserve.

El_Duderino 09 · 30-07-2019 11:17AM

OSI wrote: »

Plenty of places will only accept Fax for official documents, scanning and emailing not being allowed for archaic reasons.

Soccer transfer deadline day is all about getting the contract fax sent over on time. I think it's because a fax is an exact copy that can't be altered but an email is alterable do not usable in court.

Obviously that's not true but that's the reason why fax is accepted and email isn't. Just an example of the law being slow to catch up with technology

the beer revolu · 30-07-2019 11:18AM

I never liked DVDs.
Yes, the picture was good but I hated the interface and the boxes.

the beer revolu · 30-07-2019 11:21AM

No one seems to remember DCC - Digital Compact Cassette.

It was the same size and shape as regular cassettes but it was a digital tape format (like DAT). The idea was that your new DCC machine would play your old analogue tapes, too. I think they were rerecordable, too. A competitor to MiniDisk. Never knew anyone who had one but there were commercial prerecorded albums available.

silverharp · 30-07-2019 11:22AM

Using busses before Leap cards and live timetables was grim

Cordell · 30-07-2019 11:24AM

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5I2hjZYiW9gZPVkvzM8_Cw
Good watch if you're interested in consumer (particularly audio) tech history.

gozunda · 30-07-2019 11:37AM

silverharp wrote: »

Using busses before Leap cards and live timetables was grim

No when there were still conductors (as well as drivers ) who would answer questions about timetables and give you change and help people on and off the buses ...

CJhaughey · 30-07-2019 11:42AM

CFL lightbulbs, what a short lived useless technology.

silverharp · 30-07-2019 11:45AM

gozunda wrote: »

No when there were still conductors (as well as drivers ) who would answer questions about timetables and give you change and help people on and off the buses ...

still felt like I spent half my childhood waiting for a bus.

Charles Babbage · 30-07-2019 11:47AM

the beer revolu · 30-07-2019 11:52AM

There's still a wind up phone connecting the control tower and the fire control tower (on opposite sides of the runway) in Cork airport. If all other technology fails, there is a wire running underground between the two towers and a means of communication that does not require electricity.

Boom_Bap · 30-07-2019 11:53AM

Remember when you visited a web site and didn't have to accept a cookie policy. So glad to see the back of not being forced to accept cookies.

Guy:Incognito · 30-07-2019 11:54AM

daheff wrote: »

minidiscs

overpriced vs tapes. cds saved us from them

Yeah. Good job we could just use CDs to record our music and voice (journalists were big md users) easily multiple times over on a portable machine.....

CDs were around about 15 years before md.

They were dearer than tapes because tapes were around about 30 years at that stage. Md are CD quality and dont degrade like tapes if you use them over and over.

Md was a brilliant format.

Tell me how · 30-07-2019 11:58AM

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Yeah. Good job we could just use CDs to record our music and voice (journalists were big md users) easily multiple times over on a portable machine.....

CDs were around about 15 years before md.

They were dearer than tapes because tapes were around about 30 years at that stage. Md are CD quality and dont degrade like tapes if you use them over and over.

Md was a brilliant format.

It was a good concept, but mp3 format and data sticks ate its lunch.

If MD had been around earlier, it would have had much more success before being overcome. It never really got off the ground in a meaningful way though.
It was also an expensive format to produce. Which prevented studios getting behind it.

Guy:Incognito · 30-07-2019 12:00PM

Stevieluvsye wrote: »

Fax machines, shirley these things aren't round anymore?

The premier league still runs on them apparently. Around transfer deadline day anyway .

dotsman · 30-07-2019 12:13PM

JeanL wrote: »

Those digital moving photo frames. What a load of crap.

Eh? Digital Photo Frames are brilliant. I have two in my living room, and they are the first thing every guest notices, and usually goes over to and starts playing with.

And how are they obsolete? Nothing replaced them?

Charles Babbage · 30-07-2019 12:16PM

CJhaughey wrote: »

CFL lightbulbs, what a short lived useless technology.

The technology saved electricity for 25 years. Hardly short lived or useless.

Tell me how · 30-07-2019 12:16PM

dotsman wrote: »

Eh? Digital Photo Frames are brilliant. I have two in my living room, and they are the first thing every guest notices, and usually goes over to and starts playing with.

And how are they obsolete? Nothing replaced them?

People share their photos via Instagram or Facebook now rather than displaying them in their house.
Some still do if course, but much less than in the past I expect. Maybe I'm wrong.

topper75 · 30-07-2019 12:20PM

magic_murph wrote: »

The Sally Rod

They are bringing out new carbon fibre ones.

Well, if they aren't, they ought to.

Tammy! · 30-07-2019 12:23PM

dotsman wrote: »

Eh? Digital Photo Frames are brilliant. I have two in my living room, and they are the first thing every guest notices, and usually goes over to and starts playing with.

We got one and I found it to be a bit of an eyesore tbh.

dotsman wrote: »

And how are they obsolete? Nothing replaced them?

Replaced by the good old fashioned original picture frame.

Gregor Samsa · 30-07-2019 12:33PM

dotsman wrote: »

Eh? Digital Photo Frames are brilliant. I have two in my living room, and they are the first thing every guest notices, and usually goes over to and starts playing with.

Exactly. In the same way that if you had a telegraph machine in your living room, everyone would be over pretending to be getting news about the Wall Street Crash or the Hindenburg disaster.

Cyclepath · 30-07-2019 12:35PM

Charles Babbage wrote: »

The technology saved electricity for 25 years. Hardly short lived or useless.

I put a bulkhead lamp outside, over my back door, 9 years ago. Still works and i haven't changed the CFL bulb since. It's on every night triggered by a light sensor.

Bandana boy · 30-07-2019 12:36PM

Typewriters and having to remember how to spell.

Glad to see the back of them .

Bobblehats · 30-07-2019 12:38PM

daheff wrote: »

minidiscs

overpriced vs tapes. cds saved us from them

I thought minidiscs were supposed to save us from CDs/tapes. They were the best of both worlds, a miniature CD in a protective cartridge. Pity they didn’t take off my small jeans pocket could have served a secondary function

30-07-2019 12:47PM

Bobblehats wrote: »

I thought minidiscs were supposed to save us from CDs/tapes. They were the best of both worlds, a miniature CD in a protective cartridge. Pity they didn’t take off my small jeans pocket could have served a secondary function

Like i said in my previous post i was give one about 2 years ago and thought yeah cool i will get into minidisc.

So of i went to ebay and the like and was blown away by some of the prices been asked for albums

https://www.ebay.ie/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l2632.R2.TR7.TRC1.A0.H0.Xminidisc+a.TRS0&_nkw=minidisc+album&_sacat=176984

Jaysus like!!!!

Its a pity it didnt take off i would have loved it, i have a few recordable discs but i think the software is obsolete for new pc's anyway.

30-07-2019 12:53PM

Non-touchscreen laptops. Somebody recently asked me to fix an issue with their laptop and with the mouse frozen the inability to touch the screen and continue was a "Why the fúck would anybody buy a non-touchscreen laptop" moment.

Old/obsolete technology you're glad to see the back of

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