Post the very best in obsolete and failed technology

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Alhazred: Feb 16, 2011

Bonzo posted:

Reminds me of a place I worked at in 98. We made stuff like buttons and keychains and at least once a week we would get a rush order and they would say, "If you fax you the cheque can you start production today and ship them?"

Our answer was, "Sure. We'll take the fax cheque to the fax bank where we will get fax cash and then fax you your order."

I thought that cheques were an obsolete technology.

# ¿ Jul 18, 2012 20:58

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 15:12

Alhazred: Feb 16, 2011

KillerKatten posted:

And about checks; I was a cashier at a department store two years or so back, and I actually saw a check. It was some 50 year old polish woman who had it. I had no idea how to deal with it so I called my coworker who was 40, she had never seen a check in her life so she called our boss. Our boss didn't know what we would do with a check so he had to call up the corporate chain to find out that no, we didn't accept checks. So yeah that is pretty outdated.

My grandmother used to give me checks at my birthday. It was always a nightmare to cash them in because no one at the bank knew how to do it.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2012 15:53

Alhazred: Feb 16, 2011

GreenNight posted:

Are you loving serious? What kind of lovely bank is this?

In Norway checks are an obsolete technology, not even my grandmother uses them anymore. I can't even remember the last time I went to a bank because I pay all of my bills over the internet.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2012 16:27

Alhazred: Feb 16, 2011

Gilgameshback posted:

Here's an obsolete but not entirely failed piece of technology - the Sheaffer Snorkel fountain pen:

The Snorkel is probably the most sophisticated and complex fountain pen of all time. Most fountain pens fill by sucking up ink through the nib and feed (the ribbed rubber or plastic piece beneath the nib). This gets the nib covered in ink, which needs to be wiped off after filling. The Snorkel adressed this problem by including a little metal tube that extended from underneath the nib and could be used to suck ink out of an inkwell like a mosquito sucks blood.

The filling system was well engineered and worked beautifully, but it was extremely difficult to service and probably cost quite a lot to manufacture. Also most people didn't mind wiping ink off their pens after refilling, so the problem that the snorkel system solved wasn't really a big deal.

Fountain pens are an interesting case study in technological obsolescence because fountain pen technology has actually gotten notably worse since about the 1970s - most modern fountain pens use an inefficient, low-volume cartridge/converter fill system, and the nibs are much worse now than they were during the golden age.

The Snorkel sold well, and it's not terribly hard to find restored examples of it today if you're interested.

Leo McGarry: We spent millions of dollars developing a pen for the astronauts that would work in zero gravity. Know what the Russians did?
Toby Ziegler: Used a pencil?
Leo McGarry: They used a pencil.

# ¿ Jan 19, 2013 19:36

Alhazred: Feb 16, 2011

GOTTA STAY FAI posted:

It's okay to have both. Nobody's gonna break your leg or anything. Hell, the only way to get a copy of your tax return transcripts from the IRS without having to wait up to three months is via fax.

In my country the tax return transcripts is 100% electronic. I could go to their site and download it right now if I wanted to.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2016 17:35

Alhazred: Feb 16, 2011

wayne curr posted:

Does anyone even make DVD-ROM drives anymore?

I recently bought a new laptop, it has a dvd-rom drive.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2016 12:40

Alhazred: Feb 16, 2011

Lemniscate Blue posted:

The reason cyberpunk is obsolete is that the genre is about the dehumanization of individuals in the face of soulless unaccountable megacorporations and continual devaluing of humanity in the face of profit and it loving came true.

That has pretty much been the case since the industrial revolution though.

# ¿ Dec 26, 2016 18:06

Alhazred: Feb 16, 2011

Guy Axlerod posted:

My condo association only accepts checks for some of their fees, like buying an ID or bringing a guest to the pool. Now it's been over a month and they still haven't cashed it, I'm just going to have this pending transaction in my budget forever.

I remember when my sister studied abroad and had to pay the school tuition with a check. The problem was that checks are so little used in my country that no one in the bank really knew how to do it.

# ¿ Jul 14, 2018 11:52

Alhazred: Feb 16, 2011

Unperson_47 posted:

What's more mind-boggling about this is that after this failed, they tried it again 5 years later when Redbox and Netflix (by mail) was an option.

Netflix by mail is actually still an option.

# ¿ Apr 30, 2020 11:12

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 15:12

Alhazred: Feb 16, 2011

FilthyImp posted:

"Lol, you want me to buy a dozen sealed Super Mario Bros. games for $20? What a laff"

That was a complete scam though: https://screenrant.com/retro-video-game-market-scam-video-expose/

# ¿ Aug 30, 2021 17:07

The Something Awful Forums > Main > Post Your Favorite: Carefully Curated > Post the very best in obsolete and failed technology