What Old Technology Has Been Replaced by Modern Innovations?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Evo
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Technology Time
Click For Summary
SUMMARY

This forum discussion explores various obsolete technologies replaced by modern innovations, highlighting nostalgic memories shared by participants. Key examples include the transition from metal toothpaste tubes to plastic, the evolution of televisions from black and white to color, and the shift from rotary dial telephones to smartphones. Participants also reminisce about outdated media formats like 78 RPM records and eight-track tapes, illustrating the rapid pace of technological advancement over the decades.

PREREQUISITES
  • Nostalgic understanding of historical technologies
  • Familiarity with media formats such as vinyl records and eight-tracks
  • Knowledge of early television broadcasting standards
  • Awareness of communication evolution from rotary phones to smartphones
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the history of television technology, focusing on the transition from black and white to color broadcasting.
  • Explore the evolution of audio formats, particularly the shift from vinyl records to digital music.
  • Investigate the impact of rotary dial telephones on communication and their replacement by touch-tone and mobile phones.
  • Learn about the environmental implications of outdated technologies, such as the use of R12 refrigerants.
USEFUL FOR

This discussion is beneficial for technology enthusiasts, historians, and anyone interested in the evolution of consumer electronics and media formats.

  • #121
Tom Mattson said:
I remember when MTV played music videos.

You mean like this:cool:

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Computer science news on Phys.org
  • #122
When I was younger we still had a party line, but I was to little to remember so I guess that doesn't count.
 
  • #123
scorpa said:
When I was younger we still had a party line, but I was to little to remember so I guess that doesn't count.
It counts.

I'll bet a lot of the younger members don't know what a party line is.
 
  • #124
I remember when nothing came in plastic containers.
 
  • #125
I remember getting a hula hoop and a sailing satelite I think the year they came out

about that same year '57 or '58 I remember asking my dad to build a skate board (a board with a roller skate taken apart attached to the bottom)
 
Last edited:
  • #126
jtbell said:
I don't go back quite that far (at least my memory doesn't), but I do remember when all McDonald's had a counter on their sign that proudly announced how many hamburgers the chain had sold so far: "100 million served"... "200 million served"...

Of course, they eventually had to switch to the Carl Sagan version: "Billions and billions served."

Whoops! I guess I don't go back quite that far either. There was a split in the company in the early days and for a time there were actually two separate McDonald companies. It appears that the McDonalds that we know today had opened the first franchise a little before my time, but I do remember seeing the original.
http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/about/mcd_history_pg1.TopPar.0008.Image.gif
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #127
I think in the mid seventies you could still get two hamburgers and a coke for less than a buck



I remember when Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo for 45 billion dollars
 
Last edited:
  • #128
Evo said:
It counts.

I'll bet a lot of the younger members don't know what a party line is.

It made me feel so old when my parents told me we had one of those when I was little.
 
  • #129
rewebster said:
I think in the mid seventies you could still get two hamburgers and a coke for less than a buck



I remember when Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo for 45 billion dollars

I remember when 45 billion dollars was a lot of money.
 
  • #130
I know what a party line is. Its a phone connection that multiple people can connect in. A more "ghetto" form would be the old tin can and string trick.
 
  • #131
I remember the last days of the grand Movie Palaces - when even the local neighborhood theaters followed this theme.

The Paramount Theatre in Seattle, Washington
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4b/Paramount_Northwest_16.jpg/800px-

Paramount Theater, Oakland, CA
138151802-L.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #132
I remember Bikini Atol.
 
  • #133
Evo said:
It counts.

I'll bet a lot of the younger members don't know what a party line is.
We were on a party line. When I was in HS (when we finally got a phone) you would have to pick up the phone to see if anybody else was using the line. Our phone had a magneto and a battery set, encased in an oak box. You would pick up the handset and if the line was clear, you'd crank the magneto to alert the operator, and she would jack in and say "number pleeeeze". You would give her the number (generally 3 digits in a small exchange like ours) and wait to get connected. Once someone on the other end picked up, you'd have to listen closely. If you heard a single click, the operator had jacked out. If you heard a fast double click, the operator had only pretended to jack out and was listening to your entire call. That was the signal that you you should start spreading crap about the telephone operators, the town's officials, the administrators of the school district, etc. If you did it casually, those old biddies would repeat it verbatim, sometimes with embellishments. :smile:
 
  • #134
I remember when we could have bread and butter or bread and cheese never both.
 
Last edited:
  • #135
I remember using a book of trig tables to calculate answers to problems, in high school. I once had a contest with a chemistry classmate, to see who could solve problems faster. He used a slide rule, I used a book of trig tables. I won. :smile:
 
  • #136
RonL said:
Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts, played Green Bay, in the playoffs before the first Superbowl (i think 1958) don't remember missing a single Superbowl.(on TV)
I remember my grandfather giving me an autograph from Johnny Unitas and I was like, "Thanks Grampa. Who is this guy?"

I remember basic Dungeons & Dragons and other paper and pencil role playing games.
 
  • #137
Atari 520 ST with a high resolution 640 x 400 monochrone screen, making graphic games for the kids like "Yatzee", "mouse race" or "memory" with GFA basic when the PC struggled along on 3.77 Mhz/ text only.

graphics for text characters was 8 x 16 bits only though, while a friend showed proportional text on his Commodore Amiga. So, left with no choice but developed a proportional text print function also in 68000 assembler, making full use of the 32 bit long word feature.
 
  • #138
I remember when this computer was top of the line
http://www.1000bit.net/lista/dati/trs80coco2/trs80_coco2_2.jpg

As sad as this sounds I still have one of them.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #139
NoTime said:
I remember Bikini Atol.

Something my dad never talked about, but I remember my uncle told me that's why my dad and mom were stationed in Hawaii in '47 and '48 while he worked on the project.

I remember sonic booms all the time back in the 50's (southern California)
 
  • #140
Evo said:
One of the most heavenly smells - hot buttered popcorn, one of the worst smells - burned popcorn.

I remember being able to smell burnt popcorn. My sense of smell turned off years ago.
I can still smell rosemary - if I go out to the bush by the door, grab some leaves and smash them in my hand. The dry stuff doesn't work.
 
  • #141
rewebster said:
Something my dad never talked about, but I remember my uncle told me that's why my dad and mom were stationed in Hawaii in '47 and '48 while he worked on the project.

I remember sonic booms all the time back in the 50's (southern California)

I was a little young to truly understand what was going on.
We were visiting my grandparents (the only people I knew besides one of my friends parents that had a TV) a few weeks before the first hydrogen bomb test.
They had this truly horrible commercial describing the end of the world if they were allowed to continue. A few weeks later, I asked my parents if they had stopped it because we were still here.

The only time my friends parents ever let us come into watch TV was for the launch of the US Nautilus, the first atomic powered submarine. My parent's bought our first TV maybe a year later.
Before we got our TV we were driving thru the City and they had a COLOR TV running in one of the shop windows with a color show playing. My father parked the car and we walked back two blocks to look at it.
 
  • #142
I remember our first color TV --1965--I thought Bonanza was the first color show?--maybe it was just the most popular that was in color

I also remember that it had to be de-gauss-ed every once in a while by the local TV technician as the picture would turn green

We also got our first snowmobile that year--dad worked for a boat company where we lived in Minnesota about 100 miles NNW of the twin cities that tried to get in on the ground floor with snowmobiles---geeezz was that place cold---it stay below minus 10 days and nights for 7 days straight with lows going to -34 and -35---brrrrrrrrrr
 
Last edited:
  • #143
rewebster said:
I remember our first color TV --1965--I thought Bonanza was the first color show?--maybe it was just the most popular that was in color

I also remember that it had to be de-gauss-ed every once in a while by the local TV technician as the picture would turn green

We also got our first snowmobile that year--dad worked for a boat company where we lived in Minnesota about 100 miles NNW of the twin cities that tried to get in on the ground floor with snowmobiles---geeezz was that place cold---it stay below minus 10 days and nights for 7 days straight with lows going to -34 and -35---brrrrrrrrrr
1965 was about the time that color TV became less expensive than a new car.
The show I mentioned (some special event like the Emmys or something) was in the neighborhood of 1954.

-30 - Brrrrrrrrrrrr is right! You can spit and it'll freeze before it hits the ground. Sounds like a little firecracker going off.
 
  • #144
rewebster said:
I also remember that it had to be de-gauss-ed every once in a while by the local TV technician as the picture would turn green

I still have my dad's old degaussing coil.
 
  • #145
8080a
 
  • #146
The forefront of gaming software.

http://www.937mike.com/images/imagemanager/pacman.gif
[/URL]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #147
I remember when a Chevy Nova was thought to be a smaller car. I saw one today and it looks huge compared to most sedans (not SUVs) on the road today.
 
  • #148
Nah Mayday, pong was there first, LOL.
 
  • #149
larkspur said:
I remember when a Chevy Nova was thought to be a smaller car. I saw one today and it looks huge compared to most sedans (not SUVs) on the road today.
My house-mate had a beautiful dark blue '62 Nova convertible with a white top, wide white-walls and regular (non-power) steering. It was a fairly heavy vehicle for its size, and standard procedure was to swing out a bit and cut your front wheels in the direction of your turn if you had to come to a stop (usually on left turns on 2-way roads) before you had to make a turn. Ronnie did this and was ready to turn into our street when an old lady in a Caddy slammed him from behind, shoving him into the front of an on-coming 3/4 ton GMC pickup. The results were not pretty. His car was totaled (luckily he was only slightly injured) and the insurance company left him with almost nothing, citing the age and depreciation of this pristine older car.
 
  • #150
I remember when "I love Lucy" was a successful tv show...
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 30 ·
2
Replies
30
Views
4K
  • · Replies 13 ·
Replies
13
Views
5K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
  • · Replies 12 ·
Replies
12
Views
3K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
2K
Replies
12
Views
2K
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
2K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
1K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
3K
  • · Replies 147 ·
5
Replies
147
Views
19K