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Aidan_702 posted:Unfortunately I moved house without taking this dude, but I'm sure it's still on somewhere at 98% charge. Remember when phones had standby times that were literally measured in weeks? Whereas the latest smartphone can maybe get 2 days of light use out of it.
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Jul 27, 2012 15:52
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Shai-Hulud posted:Yeah but i also remember a time when cellphones had a monochrome screen, a battery that got hosed up if you charged it wrong, monophonic ringtones and only enough memory to hold 25 phone numbers and 10 texts. I prefer plugging in my smartphone every two days... I hear what you are saying and it is definitely an unfair comparison: but still, I hate the fact that if you ever forget to charge it up one night, you'll spend the entire of the next day with battery anxiety. Shai-Hulud posted:I thought about getting a couple of those. Just throw one in the car and one behind the fridge or something. Just in case my wives in labor and a quantum filament disables all other communication systems or something like that. I bought a horrible phone on clearance for £3 for exactly this. It takes a Nokia charger, so it's easy to keep a cheap car charger with it in the boot of the car. The hardest part is remembering to make a call every 30 days to make sure it doesn't lose the credit on it.
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Jul 27, 2012 20:49
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Totally Reasonable posted:As I recall, somewhere north of 25. At the time, a CD-ROM drive was well over $800. I recall that they were something odd like 1.5Mb per disk instead of the standard 1.44Mb MS did something clever to squeeze out a little extra space on each disk - thus meaning that you had to make sure you took care of all 25 disks as you couldn't copy them and make a backup set. EDIt: 1.7Mb http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distribution_Media_Format
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Aug 29, 2012 23:17
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Kheldarn posted:The highscool that my child goes to has these AWESOME TI calculators for their AP math classes. They're on a network, so the teacher can see who has signed into their calculator, they can track what they're doing with it, and more. We got to play with them a little bit during the AP Orientation. Bloody hell, I really don't know whether to be impressed or not with that. One one hand, it's clever technology, on the other, it spending $230 per student a great move, when for not much more, you could give them an entire netbook that does all that and a heck of a lot more? What I do miss is my old Texas Instruments scientific calculator that had proper 'STO' and 'RCL' buttons. I can't find anything that does that now: e.g. 5+5=9 STO AC 2+2=4 4+RCL =13 They all seem to have 'M' and 'M+' which don't work the same way and get cleared when you hit AC. (I'm in the UK and TI calcs don't seem popular anymore) EDIT: Can someone tell me if any of the cheap TI calcs do that still? http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=sr_st...ator&sort=price I want a calculator where the STO value stays in memory, no matter whether you hit AC. spog has a new favorite as of 00:16 on Sep 2, 2012 |
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Sep 1, 2012 23:33
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Powerful Two-Hander posted:Uh, virtually any scientific (let alone graphic) calculator should let you do this. Digging up my old Sharp scientific calculator from my uni days, you could set any number as variables A-F and X/Y so A^2+(X/Y) would work through recall, with values maintained until you cleared the memory. Well, maybe I am being a bit thick, but they don't seem to work that way: whenever you press AC, it clears the STO memory. Fortunately, that exact model you posted has a simulator you can download so you can see what I mean: http://www.sharp.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/gb/hs.xsl/-/html/pc-simulator.htm Whenever I press AC, it deletes the memory. EDIT: I am indeed a moron! You need to press STO A or STO B to put it into a memory and that persists, even after an AC. I guess my very old calc only had a single memory slot, so you didn't need to choose A,B, etc, so I learnt the wrong method Thanks for the patient explanation. I am going shopping! spog has a new favorite as of 15:10 on Sep 2, 2012 |
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Sep 2, 2012 15:07
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buttopticor posted:On both simulators, it looks like ON/C clears the current screen but not the memory. I don't see an "AC" key on the device (although may I'm overlooking it). Yes, you are right: on this model, there is an ON/C button, but not an AC. This behaviour also occurs on all the other calcs I tried - some of which have AC buttons. The problem is that I was not using the STO/RCL function properly and specifying a memory slot each time. That's my habit from using a calc with only one slot - you only need to press STO/RCL to use the single memory slot. It wasn't until I read Powerful Two-Hander's explanation, that I realised my error. Next I'll be complaining that modern graphing calculators don't use punch cards to load functions.
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Sep 2, 2012 15:34
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Look at how cool this is. The entire internet on your phone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z1S2tL51dE The reality? A handful of sites offered the same level of technology as a text message chat.
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Sep 17, 2012 12:41
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Killer robot posted:The 486 had a FPU built in, but a a big batch of them early on had an error where it didn't work. So Intel relabeled them as the "486 SX" which didn't have a FPU, sold them cheaper, and put a socket on the motherboard for a "487 coprocessor." The 487? It was a regular 486DX chip with slightly different pinout, which simply replaced the existing CPU entirely. It worked so well, Intel started deliberately making FPU-crippled chips to sell as 486 SX processors, then turned around to sell the same people a real 486 later. That's such a cool anecdote. You have to give props to their marketing dept for pulling that off.
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Sep 18, 2012 20:08
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KozmoNaut posted:Software pricing techniques can be pretty hairy as well. I am pretty sure I can remember an anecdote about some server software that had two versions available. If you paid for the upgrade, their techs would flip a software switch that disabled a subroutine that ran for the pure reason of slowing down performance. Of course, my memory might be wrong, but it does sound plausible, doesn't it?
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Sep 19, 2012 13:56
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Fozaldo posted:This goes on all the time, I recall several articles on Hack a Day where people would bridge a solder connection on a circuit board and turn an average oscilloscope or voltage meter etc. into a top of the range model with more features worth hundreds more. Oh yes. I meant that the particular twist was not that they were locking out extra abilities with a software switch, but they were adding a process that deliberately slowed things down. Sort of like they caused the computer to count to ten after every instruction - solely to slow it down.
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Sep 19, 2012 17:57
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mrkillboy posted:I have a fairly recent Blu-Ray player and it still takes time to boot. Not anywhere near 3 minutes (more like 30 seconds) but I don't recall any of my DVD players taking more than 3 seconds to get ready to play. I've heard a complain from occasional PS3 users that everytime they want to play it game, it takes 20 mins to start, because their system always insists on downloading and installing a non-skippable software update.
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Sep 21, 2012 11:12
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einTier posted:Now everyone sets their clocks off their cell phones, which are synced to the atomic clock, and it's really rare to find someone whose watch is off by even a minute. I don't think about it much, but a whole line of excuses for being late disappeared almost overnight. My mobile phone network (Orange UK) is 8 minutes off. 8 mins is really quite a lot. My lovely £5 watch is only 2 mins off. So much for technology. Sex Hobbit posted:I pay my rent and bills via electronic transfer, but this meant that when I had to change my address on my drivers' license it was a complete loving pain to prove my identity/residence as I had no canceled checks dated within 90 days, no rent receipts, and no paper bills sent to the address in my name (they come in in my landlord's name and I pay him online). I've had this exact same problem: I just don't have anything on paper with my address on it, that is accepted as proof of address.
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Oct 1, 2012 10:38
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Flipperwaldt posted:Anyway: It was easier to load than 35mm film and I remember that being advertised as a major selling point: simply drop it into place with the same ease as putting a music cassette into a player. At that time, most 35mm film was indeed quite tricky to load: you had to manually thread the end of the film through the take up spindle and hope it would lock into place, without drawing out too much film. So, in that regard, it was a real benefit. Of course, the crap quality and difficulty in getting it developed massively outweighed it.
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Oct 1, 2012 17:53
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Mu Zeta posted:That definitely clears some things up for me. At least in the US a credit card is practically the same thing as a bank card or debit card. They function pretty much the same and are interchangeable, though credit cards are by far the most common. So when we hear Europeans saying they don't have a credit card we think you're living in 1858. I think you need to define 'Europe' In the UK, credit cards are very common and I'd guess that more people use them than debit cards. Almost every shop that sells something that costs more than £5 will accept CC - with the notable exception of Aldi/Lidl whicih only accept debit.
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Oct 3, 2012 16:36
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wipeout posted:I present the Sinclair C5: I loved it when this thing was announced:  Because they used almost exactly the same phrases and predictions that they used when the C5 came out. I am pretty sure that some of the statements I read were word-for-word identical to the ones I read for the C5.
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Oct 3, 2012 19:07
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Dick Trauma posted:I am saddened that my elite mouse cleaning skills have become worthless. I used to enjoy coming across a mouse that felt like it was rolling over cobblestones and clean it really well. quote:MEMO
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Oct 3, 2012 23:14
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Jerry Cotton posted:Bill Bryson should be obsolete and failed (I've only ever read the first ten pages of one of his books and every page had at least one "I can't be arsed to check facts" sort of glaring error). It does read like he skimmed a bunch of wiki articles and simply rewrote them, without an in-depth understanding or fact-checking.
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Nov 2, 2012 11:44
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Yonic Symbolism posted:Thanks for this, this is really interesting. Agreed - that is really cool and I doubt I would ever have heard about it otherwise.
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Nov 27, 2012 12:50
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cyberbug posted:Years ago I saw an awesome keypad lock, in a university's computer lab door. Every button had a tiny display inside it, recessed so that you couldn't see it except from directly in front of it. When you wanted to enter a code, the keypad would first randomize the order of the numbers. No way you could have shoulder-surfed that code. (And around here doors almost invariably open outwards) And I guarantee that you can get through it by walking up to it with a handfull of papers just after someone opened it and smiling helplessly.
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Nov 29, 2012 17:07
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Shugojin posted:Most things have you register more than one finger for this exact reason. The really clever ones have you register a 'normal' finger and a 'panic' finger. The idea is that if you are being coerced to open a security door, you use your middle finger instead of your index and the door opens, whilst sounding a silent alarm.
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Nov 29, 2012 18:34
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Jedit posted:Or, if you're really clever, use your middle finger normally and your index finger for the panic alarm. Then the person coercing you is less likely to think you're using a finger you wouldn't normally use. You're too limited in your thinking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGnnNj8l7pI
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Nov 29, 2012 20:30
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Inspector_71 posted:I was about to quote that first image and say "Wait, that looks like a very modern piece of equipment" and then I finished your post and just... I am glad it is not just me who had a complete 'what the f...?' moment. Seriously, ZIP instead of USB? We're talking about more than a decade since that made sense.
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Dec 15, 2012 23:14
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Light Gun Man posted:Zip disks have one advantage over both USB sticks and SD memory I can think of...they're physically bigger. As in, you could clearly label zip disks and find the one you need much easier then you could say, a micro SD. Obviously there are better ways to do this nowadays (ie hard drives, or just a big USB stick with everything you want on it already), but I could see that being a convenience factor. I was thinking that too. Then I remembered that I had never seen a disk of any kind with anything meaningful handwritten written on the label. except the occasional "3/4" on a single, solitary disk.
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Dec 16, 2012 13:55
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Jedit posted:The other night my phone ate an entire 2000mAH charge overnight despite not being used at all. It happens occasionally and it's really annoying. At least my GPS is consistent in its battery use. I know that if I cannot use the power cable, I can get all the way to my destination and at least half the way back. With my phone, I constantly worry about the battery dying at an important time. Plus: my GPS came with a long, good quality power cable, plus a decent windscreen mount. My phone had neither and getting decent quality ones are not cheap.
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Dec 23, 2012 11:21
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I like the mini reel to reels: I see them all the time on stuff like The Sopranos and the Wire when they do wiretapes. Were they very good quality recording, which is why they were used instead of cassette tape? Or just that they looked good? I quite fancy one for the novelty value - if I could find something on ebay EDIT: Now I understand why a) they were so often used and b) why they cost an absolute fortune on ebay http://www.nagraaudio.com/highend/index.php spog has a new favorite as of 22:48 on Jun 3, 2013 |
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Jun 3, 2013 22:44
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DNova posted:It makes me wonder what we do today that in 50 years will seem too stupidly absurd to be true. 
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Jul 16, 2013 17:39
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Geoj posted:But can you use it as a life raft in the event of flooding? F24!!!
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Jul 23, 2013 16:45
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Jimbo Jaggins posted:Thin clients are the new terminals though, really. You could also say that Google's Chromebook is extremely similar to the concept as well.
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Jul 24, 2013 11:42
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Humphreys posted:I want a typewriter. I have no actual use for it, I just like playing with them. My other half learnt to touch-type on a manual typewriter. While it's pretty cool that a full page doc can be perfectly retyped faster than I can scan/OCR/correct it with my spiffy computer, the downside is that keyboards don't last well. I have 4 laptops in the cupboard that all have keyboards that couldn't take the pounding and keys stopped working.
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May 8, 2014 13:06
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Yermaw Zahoor posted:Just tape it down, use string, rubber bands, pay a child to do it, whatever. Humphreys posted:Blu-Tac. That was my way of getting it to stay down when I was a kid. What are talking about here?
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May 28, 2014 08:54
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Humphreys posted:I personally love the video they made for his last day at Microsoft: 240p video is something I won't miss. http://vimeo.com/478337 (higher res version) and yet 240p pron then was just as exciting at 1080p is now.
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Jun 3, 2014 17:20
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moller posted:The can was invented like a hundred years before the can opener. You had to stab them with whatever was handy, which might have been a screwdriver. But not a Philips screwdriver, which was invented in 1934 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_F._Phillips The wiki on different scrw types is quite interesting and guaranteed to make you a hit at parties. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_screw_drives
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Jun 18, 2014 11:25
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KozmoNaut posted:Oh yeah, definitely. But we could have had affordable decent-capacity removable storage way before we actually got it, had it not been for Sony's customary pig-headedness. Sony seem to be their own worst enemy: Buy a laptop with pretty nice hardware and it comes with enough crapware to make it unusable. Or the potential iPod-killers that required you to slowly reencode all your music.
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Jun 30, 2014 13:48
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Serperoth posted:HP is doing something similar, so many crap "HP Scanner Assist" or something on it. But it's not hard to just format it, generally speaking. Not sure if it is still true now, but back in the XP days (last time I touched one). You had the added bonus that some of the drivers weren't available, except as part of crapware. so, you would flatten and install, go through the whole process of getting it up and running, only to find out that the soundcard would never work unless you undid everything and went back to the crapware install.
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Jun 30, 2014 15:46
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GreenNight posted:Because dumb gently caress users try to email a couple dozen
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Jul 14, 2014 15:38
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Gromit posted:Many years ago I remember one of those coming through my office as someone had printed child porn from it. Given the resolution and the quality of the prints it was not exactly graphic. Man, CP has spoiled every single bit of technology for you, hasn't it?
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Aug 22, 2014 13:34
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Jerry Cotton posted:I have no idea if this is common but around here current accounts stop accruing interest if there are no transactions in a given period (I think it's ten years but I could be wrong). Or they added an annual fee of $30 to the account and if two forty enters the branch carrying it, he'll be liable for the outstanding balance
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Aug 26, 2014 08:54
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Sham bam bamina! posted:Wikipedia says that it's a removable hard disk. I guess that, for space-intensive stuff like archived photographs, it was easier to have a stack of these and one drive for reading them than to have a whole bunch of individual hard drives. Nah, it was more like a higher density floppy disk. Publishing industry used it a lot as a way of transferring digital artwork before the internet was fast enough or CD burners were widely available. Pretty robust, too. You could Fedex them in an unpadded envelope without breaking them. I think they were too expensive per MB to use as archiving media - people would definitely ask for them back after use.
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Sep 16, 2014 20:37
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Pilsner posted:I've never seen an IAE (in-airplane-entertainment?) system that wasn't poop. poo poo screen, unbearably poor sound quality, terrible touch screen. If they have such trouble making a decent video player, it makes you wonder what they've got in the cockpit controlling the drat plane.
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Nov 10, 2014 21:58
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Tunicate posted:Good news! Pneumatic tubes are making a comeback. Yay! Time for the office hamster to go on a factory racing tour again.
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Nov 10, 2014 22:48
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