The very best in obsolete and failed technology...

Capt'n Midnight · 08-02-2014 06:49PM

Daxton Petite Self-possession wrote: »

Does anyone remember that box with a keyboard you'd put on your TV and surf on the internet with? Had a big advertising campaign in Ireland circa 2000-2001.

IIRC It was only three quarters the price of a console that would go on the internet, play dvd's and play games

it was barely as powerful as a eVoting machine

Czarcasm · 08-02-2014 06:59PM

mike_ie wrote: »

But by the same token, plenty of households will want access to these streaming services, but don't have a PS3 or similar in the house. And while yes, thy might hold on to their TV's for ten years, the TV's have upgradeable firmware that allow for the addition of new services.

Guess who has a smart tv...

You do have a point though in that people who aren't aware of what technology is out there, the Acer Revo for example, and if you don't want the streaming services, you could always go for the cheap as chips but ever popular Raspberry Pi (Honestly, the things people are doing with those Pi is just ridiculous! They're great fun if you're into that sort of thing

), they'll buy the first thing a salesman can sell them, usually the 3D SmartTV with bells on... and then just like their android phones, they'll never upgrade the firmware because they'll be too afraid to turn their €2k TV into a big fancy brick!

wil · 08-02-2014 07:05PM

Czarcasm wrote: »

Minitel

I remember Gay Byrne on The Late Late introducing it as the technology that was going to sweep the nation and every household would have one...

I also remember being surprisingly non-plussed about the idea simply because it was WAY behind the times! :pac:

you might be showing your age, that was about 20 years before.

Frada was probably referring to the failed Unison Netbox they tried to introduce around 2000. 56k modem stb that used Tv as monitor. Failed to catch on despite promotion by Irish Indo and Powercity as it was already obsolete tech. Wonder how much it lost.
Came with a large Unison branded IR keyboard with big coloured fisher price buttons.

Edit - I really should hit submit sooner seeing as this was already mentioned

Gamayun · 08-02-2014 07:16PM

gugleguy wrote: »

BeOS. A Windows like OS. Never really took off with any market segment.

There's a BeOs inspired/compatible operating system called Haiku OS being worked on for the last few years.

I tried it as a Virtual Machine a while back for the novelty value, unfortunately it didn't support HTML5 or Flash so wasn't much use.

There is also the Linux distro ZevenOS which mimics the look of BeOS but with all the functionality of a modern distro, though I don't think it's been updated in a while.

Tokyo · 08-02-2014 07:16PM

Czarcasm wrote: »

Guess who has a smart tv...

You do have a point though in that people who aren't aware of what technology is out there, the Acer Revo for example, and if you don't want the streaming services, you could always go for the cheap as chips but ever popular Raspberry Pi (Honestly, the things people are doing with those Pi is just ridiculous! They're great fun if you're into that sort of thing ), they'll buy the first thing a salesman can sell them, usually the 3D SmartTV with bells on... and then just like their android phones, they'll never upgrade the firmware because they'll be too afraid to turn their €2k TV into a big fancy brick!

I agree - personally I'd be more than happy to have a Raspberry Pi set top box, that I could tinker with to my hearts content, but take someone not as technologically savvy though, for example, my father. A man that is still coming to terms with the fact that I can hand him a USB key with an entire TV series on it, and he can watch it at his leisure!

A smart TV, with a simple menu system, one remote, and no wires to accidentally pull out, nothing that needs to be restarted, etc etc - this is what appeals to people like my dad.

longhalloween · 08-02-2014 07:18PM

sugarman wrote: »

Minidisc players were actually pretty popular, most people seem to think they only briefly came out in early 2000's and soon disappeared but were actually closer to early 90's. Id one in my hifi 98/99. They were big in recording studios.

Did they use minidisks in the Matrix?

I remember Tank putting some sort of disk into a drive when he was teaching Neo his moves.

CrinkElite · 08-02-2014 07:26PM

You could just get one of those android stick doohickies that plugs in your hdmi.
Personally I don't believe Samsung can be trusted to maintain any OS in the long run.
Also, as was pointed out already the CPU in the smart tv will begin showing it's age long before the TV screen will.
It makes no sense to couple these things together.
As an end user you'll find you need options as technology moves forward.

DebDynamite · 08-02-2014 07:27PM

Remember Minicall? It was a pager of some sort and was out just before mobile phones took off. Yer man Antoine from Rapido did the ads - "get a life, get a Minicall"

Tokyo · 08-02-2014 07:31PM

DebDynamite wrote: »

Remember Minicall? It was a pager of some sort and was out just before mobile phones took off. Yer man Antoine from Rapido did the ads - "get a life, get a Minicall"

GEET EH LIFE... GEET EH MEENI CALL!

They were just glorified pagers, weren't they??

Czarcasm · 08-02-2014 07:40PM

CrinkElite wrote: »

You could just get one of those android stick doohickies that plugs in your hdmi.
Personally I don't believe Samsung can be trusted to maintain any OS in the long run.
Also, as was pointed out already the CPU in the smart tv will begin showing it's age long before the TV screen will.
It makes no sense to couple these things together.
As an end user you'll find you need options as technology moves forward.

Yeah but as mike pointed out, most end users don't particularly care about the technology or future proofing, they just want the convenience of what works now. My wife for example, I could spend ages happily tinkering away and configuring stuff like computers, routers, audio/video equipment or phones, she just wants to sit down and relax and actually use the damn thing! :pac:

That's why I got myself one of these beauties, whereas she just uses the device remote and doesn't want to know about "but look, I can do this, this and this..."

There ARE some other home automation remote control systems out there but that one does me for now, I've had it for the last four years and it's paid for itself numerous times over by not having to buy batteries as it's rechargeable!

bockeys jollocks · 08-02-2014 07:41PM

Daxton Petite Self-possession wrote: »

Does anyone remember that box with a keyboard you'd put on your TV and surf on the internet with? Had a big advertising campaign in Ireland circa 2000-2001.

I do, can't remember the name of it, had a mate working for them.

Tokyo · 08-02-2014 07:44PM

bockeys jollocks wrote: »

I do, can't remember the name of it, had a mate working for them.

They were mentioned a few posts back - the Unison set top boxes. They were actually pretty good back in the day where a lot of people didn't have a PC in the house....

08-02-2014 07:47PM

Does anyone remember the PCTV, it rapidly sank without trace as it was the worst of both worlds.
A clumsy TV and a low spec PC that would be very difficult to upgrade and with a limited resolution monitor.

http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/22036/ICL-Fujitsu-PCTV/
ICL Plc announced the PCTV - a fully configured multimedia personal computer and television set with 14 screen and Nicam stereo combined in a single unit, and the Indiana multimedia home computer range, each in a charcoal coloured casing. Both ranges carry the new Fujitsu ICL badge. The television device is 80486DX/66-based. .

Czarcasm · 08-02-2014 08:02PM

mike_ie wrote: »

They were mentioned a few posts back - the Unison set top boxes. They were actually pretty good back in the day where a lot of people didn't have a PC in the house....

I'm reminded of Ennis, the Telecom Eireann Information Age Project.

Fantastic idea, piss poor implementation. Every household got a free computer and most people had sold them on a year later or left them gathering dust in a corner.

Actually the sooner that "mobile broadband" dongles die a death, the better, we might see an improvement in Irish broadband infrastructure then!

Czarcasm · 08-02-2014 08:07PM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Does anyone remember the PCTV, it rapidly sank without trace as it was the worst of both worlds.
A clumsy TV and a low spec PC that would be very difficult to upgrade and with a limited resolution monitor.

I remember wanting one of those at the time alright, but then I wanted an HP 24" touchscreen all-in-one with a built in digital tv tuner last week...

Some things never change, except nowadays it's not my mother, it's my wife telling me I can't buy everything I see in the shop! :pac:

mickdw · 08-02-2014 08:08PM

Czarcasm wrote: »

I'm reminded of Ennis, the Telecom Eireann Information Age Project.

Fantastic idea, piss poor implementation. Every household got a free computer and most people had sold them on a year later or left them gathering dust in a corner.

Actually the sooner that "mobile broadband" dongles die a death, the better, we might see an improvement in Irish broadband infrastructure then!

Yes the information age town thing was interesting.
I remember castlebar were in the final running for it also. The winning town was to get fast track infrastructure etc but like everything else, not alot came of it.

imitation · 08-02-2014 08:13PM

I remember minidisc with envy, I couldn't afford one as a teenager but my cousins had them, they seemed amazing, compact, cd quality and best of all they had text on the unit and remote control ! I had to make do with cds until I got a creative zen and eventually a 160gb ipod thats still going strong 7 years later !

The minidisc wasn't really a failed bit of tech to be fair, they were really popular.

Rember those internet tv boxes, like the utv before the likes of youtube, those things looked desperate, even to a fella on a 233mhz pc with a 15" CRT radation blaster !

Tokyo · 08-02-2014 08:13PM

Czarcasm wrote: »

I'm reminded of Ennis, the Telecom Eireann Information Age Project.

Fantastic idea, piss poor implementation. Every household got a free computer and most people had sold them on a year later or left them gathering dust in a corner.

Actually the sooner that "mobile broadband" dongles die a death, the better, we might see an improvement in Irish broadband infrastructure then!

I remember this - back in 1997 or 1998, each house got a Dell computer and internet access, but there was no real follow up afterwards. I know a family who STILL use this computer as their primary PC - I call round from time to to repair or reinstall it....

wil · 08-02-2014 08:16PM

vaguely recall one of Sir Sugars next mega creation, the Amstrad emailer
Surprised anyone bought one, apparently were being supported by Sky until recently.

Czarcasm · 08-02-2014 08:39PM

wil wrote: »

vaguely recall one of Sir Sugars next mega creation, the Amstrad emailer
Surprised anyone bought one, apparently were being supported by Sky until recently.

"Open" Sky was even worse again!

Anyone remember the keyboard?

funnights74 · 08-02-2014 08:48PM

Great thread, it's amazing to me how sony dropped the ball big time when it came to digital downloads. They were spot on with the walkman and discman and napster showed that kids wanted to download and share music. Steve Jobs was on the ball with itunes and the ipod and a
lmost every device mentioned in this thread has been no match for this formidable pair.

darragh o meara · 08-02-2014 08:54PM

I'm guilty of owning a lot of the items listed here. Minidisc was one of the better ones, still have both my minidisc Walkmans and have a HiFi with a minidisc deck. They still work very well to this day.

One item I was mad about as a teenager was the Swatch Beep watch. It was a watch that had a pager built in, could never afford one but god I wanted one. Bought one on eBay last year and apart from the fact the pager system being shut down its a cool watch.

I remember my all time favorite gadget that you dont see anymore, the Casio remote control watch. Played many the prank on the local electrical retailer by turning up all the TVs on display in the window

Tokyo · 08-02-2014 09:03PM

darragh o meara wrote: »

One item I was mad about as a teenager was the Swatch Beep watch. It was a watch that had a pager built in, could never afford one but god I wanted one. Bought one on eBay last year and apart from the fact the pager system being shut down its a cool watch.

I remember my all time favorite gadget that you dont see anymore, the Casio remote control watch. Played many the prank on the local electrical retailer by turning up all the TVs on display in the window

I remember both of these

The pager watch was akin to kids wanting the latest iPhone these days - was never going to afford one myself, but dreamed of being instantly available to friends whould the need arise. I didn't realise that they were shutting down the pager network though - when I was in Mountain Rescue we used it as our primary means of being contacted - it was superior to any of the phone networks in every single way.

The Casio remote watch came in two flavours - there was one that just cycled through all of the "OFF" codes for every popular make of TV, and then there was the programmable one that you could input the TV model into, and it'd give you the basic controls. Many's the riot that nearly got started in the local pub, when the telly would spontaneously change channel at a crucial point in the game...

josip · 08-02-2014 09:06PM

josip wrote: »

Bought a Sony minidisc, bought a Nokia "I need an exit" WAP phone, bought a 3D TV 2 years ago.

connundrum wrote: »

Sony Discman...

Jaysus, how could I have forgotten my discman in the above list?
Had a bigger appetite for batteries than Google Now.

wendell borton wrote: »

The Tupolev tu 144 aka concordski was better.

Drank more than a County Councillor but could only fly half as far.

Irish Steve · 08-02-2014 09:20PM

glasso wrote: »

jeez, should have paid the extra for the c64.

I did, we had 2 of them, along with some classic extras, like the MPS 801 printer, which was so noisy, it was almost a case of going into another room while it was printing.

Then there was a daisy wheel printer that was way ahead of it's time, and produced some very good quality output.

There was a MIDI full size music keyboard, which allowed for some very creative music to be played,

A modem, that allowed it to be used on line, and disc drives using 5 1/4 floppy discs, so things could be stored and recovered

and the creme de la creme, digital joysticks, which meant that games could be played on it, and the real game to beat all games, flight simulator 2, on the 64, if you broke out of cloud over the runway, that was a success, it was almost unflyable any other way, as the frame rate was so slow, and the joysticks were so poor.

There was a pretty good (for the time) air traffic simulator as well.

In some respects, Commodore produced some excellent kit, I never did work out why they were not more successful with it.

darragh o meara · 08-02-2014 09:25PM

Just thought of another flop... The Nintendo gameboy color, the one without the backlit screen... Pain in the jaxie trying to play a game on one in anything but blinding light.

Unknown Soldier · 08-02-2014 09:26PM

mike_ie wrote: »

They were mentioned a few posts back - the Unison set top boxes. They were actually pretty good back in the day where a lot of people didn't have a PC in the house....

To be fair, they have kind of come of age now.

Anyways... something we once had that never took off, back in the day.

Vectrex

Meant you didn't have to take over the TV, as far as my parents were concerned.

I still have it

wendell borton · 08-02-2014 09:28PM

josip wrote: »

Jaysus, how could I have forgotten my discman in the above list?
Had a bigger appetite for batteries than Google Now.

Drank more than a County Councillor but could only fly half as far.

OK it was crap, but how about another tupelov the tu-95.
Despite being a 50's design and prop driven it can match the speed of modern jets and going to be in service until 2040.

08-02-2014 09:35PM

'The K-tel Bottle Cutters', handy as fùck.

cml387 · 08-02-2014 09:36PM

When IBM finally realised that Microsoft had whipped it's ass on PC software,it tried to market an alternative to Windows called OS/2 (also known as Warp)

OS/2 was fast and probably better than the monster that is Windows but I remember a realy naff advertising campaign:

"...Look! there's no hourglass."

Some geeky guy say "..but you can't play games!"
Too which a hot girl replies
"I don't play games"

Barf

The very best in obsolete and failed technology...

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