The very best in obsolete and failed technology...

Capt'n Midnight · 11-02-2014 07:03PM

gugleguy wrote: »

The Sinclair QL aimed at geeks like me if I were my present age in the mid eighties.. Decent architecture ruined by appalling build quality and "support" from Sinclair.

Decent ?

A 32bit cpu hamstrung by an 8 bit bus and Sinclair's legendary quality ie,. complete lack there of.

by the end people were buying discounted QL's just to get two spare microdrives for their Spectrums

The guy · 11-02-2014 07:13PM

jacksie66 wrote: »

I had a Nokia Ngage. I actually enjoyed it, not when I used it as a phone though.
Also I had a nokia 3650. Bought it to be different. Good lord it was impossible to use. That feckin keypad..

I owned an n-gage back in 2005, it was very ahead of it's time considering how many apps were available for it before smartphones became the norm, it looked like a sandwich though.

gugleguy · 12-02-2014 08:52AM

Remember Linus Torvalds beloved Father of Linux OS once owned a Sinclair QL.
Back to the thread.
Microsoft Train Simulator. Could have rivalled model railways but MS marketed it like Ground based Flight Simulator on rails. Who plays any Train SIM now as a boardsie member

gugleguy · 12-02-2014 09:01AM

The latest Microsoft foray into the Joystick market seems to have gone into oblivion.It lasted for about five minutes in Balmer's reign there.

Amalgam · 12-02-2014 09:35AM

USB pendrive just as they appeared, at the height of Windows 98.. A 8MB or 16MB 'Disgo' for an obscene amount of money. Just short of £80, as far as I can recall..

Usually meant installing drivers, then a reboot of the PC, to be able to use it.. not very plug and play. I wondered had I really upgraded from my Zip Drive..

Don't get me started on accessing my first digital camera, a Fujifilm MX-1500, through a COM port!

Grab All Association · 12-02-2014 09:53AM

The Sony Mavica digital camera
http://www.pimall.com/nais/pivintage/images/mavica.jpg

Smartmedia cards.

Sony Memory Stick cards. Wouldn't exactly say they failed as the PSP and VITA still use them but they were too ****ing expensive time I bought a Sony digital camera. They were better than SD cards. SD just won the battle because of price. .

M2 Sony Erricson micro stick failed though.

Grab All Association · 12-02-2014 09:55AM

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/1082814/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CPhotography%7C14419436/c_2/3%7Ccat_19780865%7CMemory+cards%7C30151786.htm

I bought an 8GB SD card in Aldi for only €4

19-02-2014 10:27PM

"Son of Concorde" may soon take to the skies, only for the 1% of the 1% though.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26258971

A company building a supersonic jet says it plans to replace cabin windows with thin display screens embedded in the wall.
Cameras recording outside the aircraft will display pictures on the screens.
Spike Aerospace, which is designing the plane, says drag will be reduced by removing windows, which "cause significant challenges in designing and constructing an aircraft fuselage".
The S-512 supersonic jet is not expected to launch until 2018.

....

Expected to cost $80m (£48m), the jet will carry 18 passengers and the company claims it will be able to fly from New York to London in three to four hours rather than the six to seven it currently takes.
It will have a cruising speed of Mach 1.6 and a maximum speed of Mach 1.8. In comparison, a Boeing 777-300 has a cruising speed of Mach 0.8.

longhalloween · 19-02-2014 10:37PM

Remember programming ringtones into your phone?

vektarman · 19-02-2014 11:02PM

The most obsolete bit of technology for me was the 1970's watches with the built-in fax.

jca · 20-02-2014 12:19AM

Remember the Kodak cameras that printed the photo. Terrible yokes and the price of the photo paper... Shocking!!!
I found one http://gadgets.boingboing.net/gimages/polaroid_redeux.jpg

SilverScreen · 20-02-2014 12:29AM

longhalloween wrote: »

Remember programming ringtones into your phone?

Yep, used to do it the whole time on the Nokia 3310. I used to try to approximate some of my favourite songs at the time or some theme tune.

Holy crap I miss my 3310. You could get a week out of the battery and drop the phone countless times and there wouldn't be a bother on it.

nlgbbbblth · 20-02-2014 12:40AM

I still get a week's battery life from my eight year old Nokia 2310. For some reason I've never been able to access the internet on it.

SilverScreen · 20-02-2014 12:48AM

I still have a 7 year old Nokia 6300 that I keep as a back-up phone. Another great phone. As much as I love my smartphones, older phones were much more durable and reliable.

O.A.P · 20-02-2014 01:05AM

Sony Walkman I bought one with my first wages .
Obsolete now but hardly failed technology,
The plastic hurly that did not last long.

Czarcasm · 20-02-2014 01:14AM

O.A.P wrote: »

Sony Walkman I bought one with my first wages .
Obsolete now but hardly failed technology,
The plastic hurly that did not last long.

You're after reminding me of those horsebox-like MYCRO helmets that came out about 25 years ago and schools tried introducing them to replace the normal cooper style helmets.

They don't seem to have lasted though, but €70 for a helmet nowadays is crazy!

Capt'n Midnight · 20-02-2014 01:30AM

Deleted User wrote: »

"Son of Concorde" may soon take to the skies, only for the 1% of the 1% though.

Like most of the jets on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersonic_business_jet I'd take with a pinch of salt. Only the Russians on the list have actual experience in making supersonic aircraft.

And video conferencing will eat into the business clients.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 20-02-2014 01:30AM

Czarcasm wrote: »

You're after reminding me of those horsebox-like MYCRO helmets that came out about 25 years ago and schools tried introducing them to replace the normal cooper style helmets.

They don't seem to have lasted though, but €70 for a helmet nowadays is crazy!

I had the Mycro 'horsebox' when I was in Primary school too, I used to get headaches wearing it, terrible things.

Thankfully these days their helmets are pretty similar to the Cooper style, you see a lot of intercounty players wearing them.

Tokyo · 20-02-2014 01:32AM

Had to laugh when I read the last few posts - had the plastic hurley, and the Mycro helmet when I was a kid. Hurley lasted until the first clash, and the helmet dwarfed my head for many years....

mickdw · 20-02-2014 02:23AM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

"Son of Concorde" may soon take to the skies, only for the 1% of the 1% though.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26258971

Window openings were a significant issue for the original Concorde and the original design did not have windows. It was decided though that nobody would fly in it without windows so the small openings in the fuselage were agreed. I believe the main issues were insulating the passenger from the super heating that occurred at the outer skin and also designing the openings into a fuselage that stretched 8 inches or so when travelling supersonic. Electrically cooled window units were fitted to overcome the heat issue.

kjl · 20-02-2014 03:23AM

connundrum wrote: »

Sony Discman - paid the extra £45 for the 'skip proof' model.

Totally skip proof, unless you moved it in any direction and at any speed.

When I got my first iPod back when firewire was the standard it said on the box "20 Min, yes Minutes skip protection", what a bull**** made up figure

Lurching · 20-02-2014 04:22AM

They may have been obsolete quickly, but I still had 4 separate mini-disc players by the time they were out-dated.

First one - Sharp (from 1997):
http://minidisc.ch/images/sharp_mdms701h.jpg

Second & Third one - Sony combined system (unit with recorder and walkman player, which had a special lead to record MD to MD):
http://www.kazeo.com/sites/fr/photos/423/chaine-compacte-sony-dhc-mdx10_4239678-L.jpg

Last one - Sony Walkman (I should have known MP3 was going to take off by the time this came out, but I was already committed!):
http://www.minidisc.org/images/sony_mzn1_blue_large.jpg

I still have all of them. Only use the stereo. Still a belter.

gizmo555 · 20-02-2014 06:15PM

Czarcasm wrote: »

They don't seem to have lasted though, but €70 for a helmet nowadays is crazy!

As the bikers say, if you've got a cheap head, get a cheap helmet!

LoganRice · 20-02-2014 07:24PM

My trusty trebuchet, to rid my enemies

What a fantastic technology it is

dgt · 20-02-2014 07:30PM

Anyone here remember the Phillips LVC video cassettes?

Anyone....?

Thought as much.....!

cml387 · 20-02-2014 07:36PM

mickdw wrote: »

Window openings were a significant issue for the original Concorde and the original design did not have windows. It was decided though that nobody would fly in it without windows so the small openings in the fuselage were agreed. I believe the main issues were insulating the passenger from the super heating that occurred at the outer skin and also designing the openings into a fuselage that stretched 8 inches or so when travelling supersonic. Electrically cooled window units were fitted to overcome the heat issue.

Actually, structural engineers were unhappy about windows and doors on pressurized aircraft back to he 1950's.
Anything that upsets the structural integrity can lead to fracturing(as happened with the first Comet).
Reluctantly the engineers admitted that doors were necesssary,but fought over the windows.

Stokolan · 20-02-2014 07:40PM

Screw the mini disc player.

I jumped on the mp3 train with a Creative NOMAD Jukebox.

It was fun trying to carry that around on my belt!

nlgbbbblth · 20-02-2014 08:23PM

dgt wrote: »

Anyone here remember the Phillips LVC video cassettes?

Anyone....?

Thought as much.....!

Early to mid 1970s?
Pre-VHS?

Yes.

Davarus Walrus · 20-02-2014 08:34PM

I'll beat anyone here in a game of Barcode Battler.

The very best in obsolete and failed technology...

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