[Closed] 50 technological advances your children will laugh at

O RLY?
[img] [/img]

Despite all the bashing of me about GPS no one has answered the point - how do you plot a route across a distance without a map? Say Blair Athol to Kingussie?

I regullary plot my rotes on the computer in fact can't remember the last time i didi it with a paper map. I use the zoom function that alows me to see it up close and then far out. It also means i can print of bits or the whole route and i can leave it up on the screen so that my wife knows excatlly where im going.

I am such a late adopter of everything that I have no need to be laughed at by my children, I am already ribbed by contemporaries and friends.

I listen to music on CD, watch a tiny little telly occasionally, read paper books, paper newspapers, collect paper maps and follow them using compasses, travel by bicycle and routinely disable applications on my mobile phone that I find confusing. I do my writing direct to the laptop though... 🙂

[i]I listen to music on CD, watch a tiny little telly occasionally, read paper books, paper newspapers, collect paper maps and follow them using compasses, travel by bicycle and routinely disable applications on my mobile phone that I find confusing[/i]

Well doing those doesn't make you out of touch thought does it as they are all easily and readily available.

Yeah but you're a big dummy, aren't you?

Looking at the list No:14 pagers. We use them a lot here in the hospital as you can get the signal where you can't for a mobile phone and you know some one wants you when you are in a noise place (i work in the maintainence departemtn) and can't see them going any time soon.

how do you plot a route across a distance without a map?

As above, on the computer. I don't really understand why you think that's not feasible. OK, you might [i]prefer[/i] it on paper but many of us prefer it on the computer.

I like old technology. It's designed to last, and designed to be fixed if it goes wrong. Compare that to stuff like iPods which are designed to be thrown away after two years. Some new technology is great and enables you to do stuff you couldn't do before. Some is just landfill in waiting.

Amen to that

Despite all the bashing of me about GPS no one has answered the point - how do you plot a route across a distance without a map? Say Blair Athol to Kingussie? ( that being a route I have done)

I plotted Blair Athol - Loch Morlich - Tomintoul - Inverey - Blair Athol using TrackLogs without any problem at all. We rode it by GPS, two between four of us. We were carrying maps but they never came out.

There's no way to say this without it sounding a bit arrogant (and I don't want to) but I'm a pretty good navigator using the ancient ways. But I almost exclusively plan and navigate electronically these days. In my experience GPS [b]always[/b] beats map and compass (or chart and compass afloat).

I'm not anti-map by any means - I love them and would always have one with me in an unfamiliar area - but they're a backup these days. And to be honest I'd rather have another GPS as a backup.

Maps can also be pretty dangerous in the wrong hands. I'd rather see someone with a GPS that shows their offtrack than someone who's misinterpretted a map and goes marching off confidently in the wrong direction.

No child will ever laugh at the might that is Cotic.

By 2020, we'll all have flying cars

I had a flying car in 1986. It was a Vauxhall Chevette. It didn't land quite as well as it flew but was still driveable.

my 9 year old nephew was round the other day, had to explain (in the following order)
- what a CD player was
- what the big amp on top of said CD player did
- who morrisey was (CD in the player at the time)
- who the Smiths were
What do they teach them in school these days??????

I on the otherhand was fascinated by the light sabre app he had on his ipod touch, makes a noise light a light sabre when you wave it around, brilliant!

This thread Puts me in mind of something that'll make you all point and laugh at - whenever I see a big, old, old tree, I find myself asking what it has seen in it's life - and the stories it could tell.......

IGMC.......

the only one i don't agree with is "9. Keyboards", just try and touchtype on a flat, smooth touchscreen with no button movement.

I like old technology. It's designed to last, and designed to be fixed if it goes wrong. Compare that to stuff like iPods which are designed to be thrown away after two years.

Hmm, ever try and repair an old skool tape player? They are a box of a million bits all of which have to be working perfectly otherwise it chews your tapes. Which happened a lot - remember that? Ten years ago people talked about the tape players of the day as new fangled crap that was waiting to be landfil. Most of my electronics on the other hand lasts ages without any moving parts to fail. Of cousre, I might like to upgrade it within a few years, but that's another issue.

Fact is, what you buy now is far far better, more useful and better designed than it ever was. You are just letting misty eyed nostalgia get in the way of your actual memory 🙂 Imagine having to carry about a bag of tapes just to listen to a few albums on your train journey. And having to sit there for an hour or two making a mix tape with only maybe 25 songs on it if you didn't want to listen to albums.

Yeah, iPods are shite aren't they? In fact, bring back.. er.. whatever it was people did before walkmans. Whistling - yeah...

Re keyboards - they'll stay, but when will we get rid of QWERTY?

Molgrips - plenty of non qwerty keyboards out there - the trouble is we are locked into them by the fact that thats what people (in the UK) know how to use - relearning touch-typing on a non qwerty is tricky.

IIRC french keyboards are different with the vowels as the home keys for one hand and the five commonest consonants as the home keys for the other.

you can buy keyboards in a variety of patterns.

ever try and repair an old skool tape player?

Tape wasn't the best technology but they are a darn sight more fixable than sealed units with a built-in rechargeable battery, or a microprocessor. And for studio recording, analogue is the way, for example you get distortion instead of clipping. The great majority of the music I listen to was recorded on analogue tape even if it comes to me digitally, and I bet this applies to most of us.

As for the convenience of modern music players, in some ways it's great, in other ways part of the experience has been lost. Listening to an entire side of an album isn't a chore if it's good, and you might have got more out of the experience than someone who skips between tracks in an ADD-ish fashion.

you might have got more out of the experience than someone who skips between tracks in an ADD-ish fashion.

I'm a compulsive skipper. I missing listening to a whole album as I basically never do it now even though I obviously could.

Hmm, ever try and repair an old skool tape player?

From memory, old skool tape players were entirely filled with tiny springs 🙂

Re keyboards - they'll stay

Hmmm.. I dunno. Some day someone will eventually produce speech recognition software that actually works.

Though admittedly, as a programmer, that's going to be a pain in the arse for me:
[code]"for, open-bracket-symbol, x, equals-symbol, number 1, semi-colon-symbol, x, less-than-or-equal-symbol, number 10,...."[/code]

you can buy keyboards in a variety of patterns.

Yeah I know.. Maltron springs to mind.. but no-one actually does, do they? Computers or laptops don't come with this stuff.

And for studio recording, analogue is the way

So? What impact does that have on the ipod debate? None, I think you'll find 🙂 Studios can do what they like.

you might have got more out of the experience than someone who skips between tracks in an ADD-ish fashion.

Well the two activites are different. A whole album could be a complete work in itself, with the ebb and flow of tempos and themes constituting a journey or a story.. or it could be a few great hits padded out with junk. I've got both in my collection 🙂 I do listen to full albums sometimes but I've also found that with my entire colletion on random I hear certain songs in a totally different context which makes them sound totally different. I've often thought for the first minute of a song 'what the hell is this? I don't own this? It's great!' before eventually recognising it as somethign buried on an old old album. Relaly helps to keep your music fresh.

when my daughter was three and a half or four i found her sat at the computer pressing the keys (eventho it was switched off) i asked what she was doing and she said "sending an email" having never even talked to her directly about email it freaked me right out.

also got her a kiddies tape player and some story tapes that were the older kids years ago.remeber the totally confused look on her face as she said "whats that?"

what is it feris buller said? something like,
..life moves fast, if you dont stop and look around once in a while, it might leave you behind..

And for studio recording, analogue is the way, for example you get distortion instead of clipping. The great majority of the music I listen to was recorded on analogue tape even if it comes to me digitally, and I bet this applies to most of us.

Unless you listen to just older music or specifically seek out stuff recorded onto tape, the vast vast majority of stuff is recorded into ProTools now. Lots of people do still prefer to use analogue desks but recording onto tape is fairly rare these days really.

Compare that to stuff like iPods which are designed to be thrown away after two years

My Ipod is 6 years old and going strong. My mate has a original 1st gen ipod, aslo still going strong. if anyhting ipods last longer than portable tape players / minidisc player, no moving parts...

"Once eBooks get enough momentum going, the cost of publishing real books will go up and up and up"

On the other hand, they should substantially reduce the cost of academic texts and journals. My Mrs works in professional tuition - her firm will be using readers for her class notes from next year as it will save a fortune on photocopying.

As for GPS, I just find plotting a route on a map so much more satisfying.

IIRC french keyboards are different

It is true that the future will hold lots of things that we wouldn't think possible now.

Things like computer based implants, we are the computer and it's controlled from thought, music played directly into our ears from our built in wireless network connection, vast memory storage in our brains, no need for power as it uses our own energy source!

You wait the Matrix will be reality 😉

Breakfast TV

The GF's rabbit.

What impact does that have on the ipod debate?

Just because something's new it doesn't mean the old technology was bad - even something as unreliable as magnetic tape has advantages over digital (and yes I know hard disc recorders are now standard, but that doesn't make music recorded over 10 years ago sound rubbish to my ears).

Hi-fi equipment used to be bulky and awkward, but it was generally built to last, and if it broke you could take it to a repair shop. My parents still have the hifi system that their parents used to own, and it still works. Same with telecoms - phones were designed to be leased from the companies and were much more solidly put together than modern handsets.

Walkmans are designed to a similar brief as the iPod or mobile phones - a cheap portable device that no-one expects to last more than a few years.

Yeah but by the same argument products these days are far cheaper than they were.

Your parent's hifi was probably handed down to them as it was an expensive item that your grandparents saved up to buy and it had been treated carefully all its life.

Are products relatively cheaper, in terms of longevity? How much is an ipod Touch? They're about £250 no? That's one expensive Walkman. :-/

Fair point, but you couldn't play games, surf the web, watch TV or movies on a walkman.

So to do like for like you'd really have to compare iPod Touch to the total price in the '80s of a walkman, laptop, Astro Wars, portable TV etc.

IIRC video recorders were very expensive and very unreliable.

On the other hand, there's something very satisfying about owning good quality, repairable products. My amplifier is 15 years old, and has been back to the (British) manufacturer for one repair. I expect it's good for another 15 years.

So to do like for like you'd really have to compare iPod Touch to the total price in the '80s of a walkman, laptop, Astro Wars, portable TV etc.

Or the price of a walkman, a library card, a conversation, a newspaper and a few games of Galaxian down the amusement arcade? 🙂

There's some point to be made in this about the effect of technology on the way we live our lives, but a succinct summary is evading me.

What about 'the bicycle'? an outmoded device that requires effort and perspiration to use, superceded by modern vehicles that not only are more comfortable, convenient and faster but which express a much greater measure of their owners social status and income.
Aye right! 🙂

What really amazes me is the power of modern mobile phones. In 10 yrs will separate gadgets be redundant? Mp3 players, dedicated gps units, pdas, laptops etc?

Most of those functions are now in mobiles and at the rate at which mobiles have got better I soon think that all gadgets will be in one unit. No one will have separate gadgets just one do it all gadget. The i phone ( and similar} are virtually there now. ~Fold out screens and keyboards are almost there along with voice recognition.

The "universal communicator" has been a staple gadget in science fiction since the 50s - its now here.

Mind you I still don't have a mobile - but it gets harder every year not to have one - universal mobile use has changed the way folk interact and organise their social lives

I'm predicticting a mobile phone/ iphone that essentially is a laptop within 5 years. carry it in your pocket - plug it into an external monitor and keyboard when you are at home/ work. some kind of folding screen/ keyboard for when you are on the move

[i]As for Working from home? What a crock of shit! I’ve yet to meet anyone who genuinely “Works from home” it’s middle management speak for Skiving, generally the email arrives about 16:45 on a Thursday informing the rest of us that “Tomorrow I will be working from Home”… [/i]

You're a genius, my boss has this very minute said those exact words! 🙂

Or the price of a walkman, a library card, a conversation, a newspaper and a few games of Galaxian down the amusement arcade?

Hah. Libraries are not ideal in any way; conversations - well people still have those believe it or not, only now they can have them with their friends even when they are not there; and I'd rather game for free whilst I am otherwise in limbo ie on a train than take time otu to a scuzzy arcade and play crap games.

some kind of folding screen/ keyboard for when you are on the move

Unlikely.. the tech for manufacturing folding keyboards wont change much, and it's still expensive to make unlike chips. Plus, laptops are actually a very pleasing form factor with which to work, and that won't change. People's laps, eyes, fingers etc will stay. They might end up weighing 200g and the battery could last a week, but they'll still exist like they do now.

Molgrips - how do you know trhe tech won't change much? Thats the beauty of this stuff = its unpredictable. Virtual keyboards in some form and folding expanding screens in some form will come I am sure.

You have a box the size of a mobile - a screen unfolds from it and it projects a keyboard ( or some other interface)

A keyboard is a mechanical thing, so it needs small bits of plastic/metal to be machined and made. That kind of manufacturing is very expensive to do and can't really get any cheaper.

The reason that computing technology gets cheaper and cheaper is that there's a huge research and setup cost to make silicon chips, but actually churning them out once done is very cheap. So the chip manufs tool up for top of the line computers and charge a ton for them. So then they find a way of making them even better but they are still tooled up for making the previous stuff so they can keep churning it out at smaller and smaller cost.. so it proliferates into more and more cheaper kit like phones, watches, ipods etc etc.

This doesn't happen with mechanical things cos tooling up is less of an issue but each item is expensive. So it's either dead expensive or really crappy. Or both 🙂 There have been fold-out keyboards for PDAs but I've neve seen anyone use them - too much trouble I suppose.

They have done a thing that projects a keyboard onto a table with lasers and you can type on it, but again it didn't seem to catch on. I suppose no-one wanted it 🙂