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My favorite failed tech is Rambus RAM. It was expensive offered little to no speed bonus over SD Ram but somehow was touted as the next big technology leap with people like Intel coming out and saying they would exclusively use Rambus in their motherboards. A few gaming consoles used a slimmed down version. After it was clear that Rambus simply didn't work very well the company went insane and started suing EVERYBODY claiming that they all stole their patents (many of which they bought in bad faith after a JEDEC conference on memory standards). They are still trying to sue people to this day in spite of dozens of these cases being thrown out. They would have just been boring as a failed new standard it's the sheer evil of their business practices that makes them special. Here's the level of crazy they have reached: quote:On June 20, 2011, Rambus went to trial against Micron and Hynix in California, seeking as much as $12.9 billion in damages for “a secret and unlawful conspiracy to kill a revolutionary technology, make billions of dollars and hang onto power,” Rambus lawyer Bart Williams told jurors. [15] Rambus lost on Nov 16, 2011 in the jury trial and its shares dropped drastically. Rambus fell as much as $14.04 to $4.00 Wikipedia link
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Aug 21, 2012 12:29
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Oh yeah, RAMBUS Ram. Intel's early 2000's effort to achieve market domination with their Socket 423 P4's. RAMBUS RAM, which ran hot, was expensive, had to run in pairs, and all slots had to be filled with either RAM sticks or terminators. I still have a couple sticks of it and two terminators just in case I find a system that needs it.
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Aug 21, 2012 13:22
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Does anyone still find any obsolete technology useful? I have a brother typewriter for writing articles and random creative writing. I find that I can focus better on the typewriter because there are fewer distractions than on a computer. They still sell this typewriter, ribbons, and correction tape at Staples and on Amazon. Simple electronic typewriters like this still have a niche market amongst old fogies and creative writing types. http://www.amazon.ca/Brother-GX6750-Electronic-Typewriter/dp/B00480STX8/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1345554193&sr=8-6 Going back even further than that, Royal still makes a manual typewriter. Apparently there are, in fact, enough places where you need to type stuff that don't have electricity to warrant the manufacture of a manual typewriter in 2012. http://www.typewriters.com/olivetti-ms25-manual-typewriter.html Also, US Typewriter maker Swintec is kept going by providing typewriters to US prisons. They are hilariously expensive. I mean, $150 for a typewriter because you enjoy writing on one, sure, but some of these bad boys are going for $900. http://www.swintec.com/ Also, does anyone still use a wristwatch? I still wear one daily because I like to hike, and taking your phone is sort of against hiking etiquette. Zack_Gochuck has a new favorite as of 15:54 on Aug 21, 2012 |
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Aug 21, 2012 14:06
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Manky posted:Popular Science is still around
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Aug 21, 2012 15:02
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Magic_Ceiling_Fan posted:Apparently there are, in fact, enough places where you need to type stuff that don't have electricity to warrant the manufacture of a manual typewriter in 2012. When I worked at CVS, the pharmacist told me that all stores (maybe all pharmacies in general) had to have one on hand so they could make labels even if there was a prolonged power outage. (Natural disasters, etc.)
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Aug 21, 2012 15:48
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Zombie Rasputin posted:When I worked at CVS, the pharmacist told me that all stores (maybe all pharmacies in general) had to have one on hand so they could make labels even if there was a prolonged power outage. (Natural disasters, etc.) Our IT guy at work told me that all law firms have one as well for similar reasons. I have no idea if it's true. I have also heard that the NYPD has so much carbon paper that they'll be using typewriters to draft reports for the foreseeable future. No idea if these are urban legends or not.
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Aug 21, 2012 15:56
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Magic_Ceiling_Fan posted:Does anyone still find any obsolete technology useful? I have a brother typewriter for writing articles and random creative writing. I find that I can focus better on the typewriter because there are fewer distractions than on a computer. They still sell this typewriter, ribbons, and correction tape at Staples and on Amazon. Simple electronic typewriters like this still have a niche market amongst old fogies and creative writing types. Wristwatches have always been just as much a fashion piece as a functional time piece. They're jewelry. Not going away any time soon.
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Aug 21, 2012 15:57
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Magic_Ceiling_Fan posted:Wristwatches have always been just as much a fashion piece as a functional time piece. They're jewelry. Not going away any time soon. There's still value in academia (  DON'T LOOK AT YOUR PHONE YOU MUST BE CHEATING), but outside of that their function has been completely outsourced.
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Aug 21, 2012 16:00
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oldskool posted:There's still value in academia ( Yeah, I know rich dudes will still wear gold watches and stuff, but I'm talking about 30 and 40 dollar run of the mill wristwatches. I didn't realize how much they've gone out of fashion until someone called me old fashioned for still having my trusty analogue wristwatch. I used to teach, and the majority of children in junior high do not know how to tell the time from an analogue clock. It's pretty jarring once you realize something so simple to you is so strange and foreign to the kids.
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Aug 21, 2012 16:05
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Magic_Ceiling_Fan posted:Our IT guy at work told me that all law firms have one as well for similar reasons. I have no idea if it's true. I work at a law firm and we had one until about 5 years ago because they were still somewhat useful for filling out forms. Then the courts we worked with switched all their forms to PDF so it got tossed. We actually didn't have a manual typewriter, it was electric, and I can't see one being very useful in a prolonged power outage anyway since we'd need to photocopy everything.
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Aug 21, 2012 16:06
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Magic_Ceiling_Fan posted:Yeah, I know rich dudes will still wear gold watches and stuff, but I'm talking about 30 and 40 dollar run of the mill wristwatches. I didn't realize how much they've gone out of fashion until someone called me old fashioned for still having my trusty analogue wristwatch. I wear this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casio_F91W because of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Guantanamo_Bay_detainees_accused_of_possessing_Casio_watches
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Aug 21, 2012 16:17
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I still wear a wristwatch, it's handy for keeping a general idea of the time while out by just glancing at your wrist without having to pull your phone out every 15 minutes specifically to check it.
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Aug 21, 2012 16:26
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Magic_Ceiling_Fan posted:Does anyone still find any obsolete technology useful? I have a brother typewriter for writing articles and random creative writing. I find that I can focus better on the typewriter because there are fewer distractions than on a computer. They still sell this typewriter, ribbons, and correction tape at Staples and on Amazon. Simple electronic typewriters like this still have a niche market amongst old fogies and creative writing types. Yea, because of this thread, I'm hunting around every Job Lot, Building 19, Family Dollar, etc. for one of those bass fishing games.
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Aug 21, 2012 16:30
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Boogaloo Shrimp posted:Wristwatches have always been just as much a fashion piece as a functional time piece. They're jewelry. Not going away any time soon.
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Aug 21, 2012 16:42
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Magic_Ceiling_Fan posted:
Hell yeah. It's quicker and easier to just glance at my watch rather then pull my phone out, press the button and wait for its screen to display the time. Also, I never forget my watch, while the phone I tend to leave at home on occasion.
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Aug 21, 2012 17:53
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Magic_Ceiling_Fan posted:Does anyone still find any obsolete technology useful? I have a brother typewriter for writing articles and random creative writing. I find that I can focus better on the typewriter because there are fewer distractions than on a computer. They still sell this typewriter, ribbons, and correction tape at Staples and on Amazon. Simple electronic typewriters like this still have a niche market amongst old fogies and creative writing types. A friend of mine bought an IBM typewriter at a rummage sale to fill out job applications and other simple form correspondence (like warranty registration cards) because his handwriting is borderline illegible.
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Aug 23, 2012 18:32
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 We just got one of these at work. It's to be used in conjunction with checks prepared using a typewriter, signed by hand, and entered into the accounting system by manual JV. (The machine prints the dollar amount in a way that's very hard to modify later. You can even emboss a symbol over the payee if you really want to go all out.)
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Aug 24, 2012 02:27
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ZanderZ posted:Yea, because of this thread, I'm hunting around every Job Lot, Building 19, Family Dollar, etc. for one of those bass fishing games. It's not the same as finding one in the back of a dollar store but you can get them on eBay here and here.
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Aug 24, 2012 04:00
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Magic_Ceiling_Fan posted:I have also heard that the NYPD has so much carbon paper that they'll be using typewriters to draft reports for the foreseeable future. Yep, some reports are still done on loving typewriters.
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Aug 24, 2012 04:07
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ZanderZ posted:Yea, because of this thread, I'm hunting around every Job Lot, Building 19, Family Dollar, etc. for one of those bass fishing games. Why would you ever willingly go to Building 19?
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Aug 24, 2012 04:18
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Fozaldo posted:Are Split Flap Displays still used anywhere? I vaguely remember these on alarm clocks when I was younger but they were more impressive at airports. People are doing cool things with flip disc displays. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oSH-aZKyU8
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Aug 24, 2012 06:17
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Geoj posted:A friend of mine bought an IBM typewriter at a rummage sale to fill out job applications and other simple form correspondence (like warranty registration cards) because his handwriting is borderline illegible. Was it an IBM Selectric? That would actually be quite a find. They go for a pretty penny now.
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Aug 24, 2012 12:45
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You can use some electric typewriters as printers (TAKATAKATAKATAKATAKATAKA). My dad used one back in the early nineties, I think it was a Triumph-Adler (or at least the interface box had TA on it).
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Aug 24, 2012 16:56
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 This is still my mp3 player of choice, especially since I have sd cards laying about from all my other obsolete gadgets. Like my palm tungsten t2 with keyboard!  If I had waited a month they released a version with wifi. Everyone thought it was cool as hell that I essentially had a laptop folded up in my shirt pocket though. I paid $100 of a 64mb sd card for that thing. On the upside, it could play NES games.
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Aug 29, 2012 06:32
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Zack_Gochuck posted:Was it an IBM Selectric? That would actually be quite a find. They go for a pretty penny now. Don't know, I think he threw it away because he either couldn't find ribbons at a reasonable price or some of the keys stopped working.
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Aug 29, 2012 06:46
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All this PDA talk going off and on for the past however many pages, and you all seem to have forgotten the granddaddy of them all...The Newton! The drat thing could (supposedly) read handwriting and change it into basic text. Unfortunately, the dictionary of words that came pre-installed was a total joke. Still, I remember seeing one of my teachers with one of these and became convinced he was the coolest human being I had ever seen. If I ever trade my Android for an iPhone, I'm gonna get a case mod just like this one.  So Eighties, you can practically smell the pure cocaine.
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Aug 29, 2012 07:15
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Yeah, I know I'm super late to this thread and I'm quoting stuff from page 1 but gently caress y'all this thread is about our memories of obsolete tech.Prettz posted:
 Prettz posted:Back before CD burners were widespread, or anywhere remotely near affordable, your only alternative to backing stuff up on shitloads of floppy disks was the iomega Zip Drive, with 100MB Zip disks. That solid blue drive? Bane of our existence. That was the one we knew would always eat your disks. The only ones we trusted were kinda see-through. SSD USB drives had juuuuust started to come out towards the end of my senior year. It blew my mind that there could be such a thing as a tiny little stick that held--gasp--256MB?! And you could drop them or throw them or stomp them or anything! It even came with a blinky little light! Too bad they cost like $300. Konjuro posted:I still have an old 21 inch CRT monitor kicking around. I call it the Desk-Buster because it is literally too heavy to sit on most newer computer desks.
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Aug 29, 2012 08:16
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I've got a mimeograph in the basement that one of the teachers at my old high school gave me (they were throwing it away otherwise.) I got a Selectric at the same time, but later gave it away to a friend of my sister's.
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Aug 29, 2012 08:29
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All of you wusses talking about your crappy old mp3players have got nothing on this: The Venturer 40gb mp3 player. I'd still be using this if I hadn't have lost the charger years ago. I got it for about 70 euro in Argos in 2005 when buying an ipod was for people with jobs (or easily nagged parents) and it took up ALL my pocket. I looked like I was carrying an old Gameboy or two. And I took it everywhere, I never even managed to fill it up. It also had that one type of usb port that was really hard to get cables for, a mini B I think. Towards the end I started using it as a portable hard drive.
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Aug 29, 2012 08:45
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Ensign_Ricky posted:All this PDA talk going off and on for the past however many pages, and you all seem to have forgotten the granddaddy of them all...The Newton! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxZJsGuUfew I watched this episode with a few friends who were way too young to have even heard of the Newton and the joke still makes sense today.
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Aug 29, 2012 09:56
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Geoj posted:I was an early adopter of MP3 players...I got an RCA Lyra player when I was in highschool: We're totally the same person.
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Aug 29, 2012 10:18
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I dunno if you guys talked about it (I haven't seen it mentioned it, but I might have accidentally skipped it), but all the MD x MP3 talk reminds me that, probably because of some delay for the technology to arrive here in Brazil, we actually had a happy medium, before portable MP3 players won the battle, that was the MP3 CD player. It was from a time when CD burners had started to become affordable, so not only the rich kids could have one, but full-on MP3 players were still kinda expensive. Being a bit poor and slightly ludite-ish (which is funny because I used to be a 90's tech kid, but I don't think I've managed to deal well with the technological jumps since then), it was only in 2007 that I bought an MP3 player (and nowadays I only listen to music on my Nokia, with a 16 GB micro-SD card), so until then I'd actually lug a portable CD player around in my school bag (and even did so for a while in college). But my wife and some of my friends had an MP3 CD player, which meant that, while you still had to lug a pretty big player, you could carry a whopping 8 full albums in a single disc. And the batteries lasted longer too. My wife is also the only person I've ever seen with an MD. I think she won one from a Coca Cola thing. Needless to say, it really didn't catch on here at all. We've spent quite some time together buying blank CDs and chosing which albums we'd burn on each disc, for our bus trips together, each one listening on one bud of our earphones. 
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Aug 29, 2012 14:33
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Crimsonjewfro posted:I dunno if you guys talked about it (I haven't seen it mentioned it, but I might have accidentally skipped it), but all the MD x MP3 talk reminds me that, probably because of some delay for the technology to arrive here in Brazil, we actually had a happy medium, before portable MP3 players won the battle, that was the MP3 CD player.  Absolute shite. The left one goes through a fresh set of batteries in ~20 minutes (paid 150€ for that in 2000(?)), the right one (2002) tops at roughly ~120 minutes on a good day. They need the full 3V so using 1.2V rechargeables is right out. The internals of these are basically normal cd-rom players, without any of the power/shock protection optimizations discmen had already gone through at that point. Navigating files/folders was a nightmare on the tiny screen. The left one doesn't even show titles. It was s-l-o-w at booting up and skipping tracks. I've used these in the car for a while, with a power adapter and a tape deck adapter, but they very quickly turned out not to be worth the hassle. I'm really surprised to see you mention battery life as a good point for them.
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Aug 29, 2012 15:24
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I had this one: Never had an issue with short battery life. I loved that thing. I think it got stepped on, and that's why I stopped using it.
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Aug 29, 2012 15:35
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Ensign_Ricky posted:All this PDA talk going off and on for the past however many pages, and you all seem to have forgotten the granddaddy of them all...The Newton! Technically that wasn't the first. I present a look at the Amstrad Penpad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ38F9GnDQM
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Aug 29, 2012 15:47
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Ensign_Ricky posted:All this PDA talk going off and on for the past however many pages, and you all seem to have forgotten the granddaddy of them all...The Newton! psssff.. I laugh at your Newton.  Sell hello the Psion Series III. There was a Series II that I guess you could still call a PDA, but it looked more like a calculator. I had a Series III when I was in 6th grade. And believe it or not, girls would line up to give me their phone number to put in this thing. Ironically, my obsession with gadgets like this is exactly why none of them would take my phone calls
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Aug 29, 2012 15:47
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 I was still using this for a decade. It still works. I gave it to my grandmother and she uses it daily. The batteries last for quite a while. You have to take the cd out to change the batteries... Plays RW discs! So I could erase them and rewrite them! Reads songs into memory and stops spinning, so it was actually good for jogging and poo poo.
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Aug 29, 2012 15:50
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 Can't compete with The Rocco. I bought this from Germany for, like, 80€ or something (can't really remember) in the early 2000s. You had to charge it for 10 hours straight (during which you couldn't use it, obviously) to get the batteries full (but not an hour more or they would apparently melt, they were very clear about this in the manual), after which it would work for about 2 hours, max. If there was the slightest tremble anywhere in its immediate vicinity it would absolutely freak out so you had to handle it like it was full of nitroglycerin. Broke mine when I accidentally left the earphone chord between the two halves when I closed it, snapped the whole thing clean in half. A quality product if there ever was one. Forktoss has a new favorite as of 16:49 on Aug 29, 2012 |
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Aug 29, 2012 15:52
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 Got one myself. Some random player from AKAI. With Electronic Shock Protection (really didn't work that well), went through batteries like a regular $250 discman. Had a bass boost and every fancy thing a 14 year old kid. Used it for years, until the hinges stopped working and now it won't play anything at all. Not that it matters, I got my Zune and my Samsung Galaxy SII, so I'll survive, but oh the memories I had with this one. I must've burned 4-500 CDRs with MP3s over the years. For school, mowing the lawn, roadtrips, work, chilling in bed and everything. Good times. e: Holy titfuck, tables!
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Aug 29, 2012 18:07
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Jesus man, that picture takes up like 5 screens.
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Aug 29, 2012 18:10
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