The 10 best dying or dead technologies
Technology evolves at a breakneck speed, which mean’s today’s most-used technology, could just be a fleeting memory by tomorrow.
Sometimes, the loss is a good thing - who wants busy signals or staticky TV?. At other times, the departure stirs bittersweet feelings (remember saying farewell to your trusty old C:\ prompt?).
We’ve compiled a list of 10 once-commonplace activities that are rapidly approaching extinction. Some are in danger of disappearing, while others have already vanished. So join us for a spirited send-off.
1. Playing video games at an arcade
Status: On life support
Once a favourite activity of geeks worldwide, going to the arcade to play video games began fading away in the mid-1990s, just as going to the arcade to play pinball had done a decade before.
A few arcades survive, but the days of gamers lining up to feed fifty pence pieces into Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat are long gone. It’s easy to see why: the advent of advanced gaming systems allows you to experience the same action at home, minus the dungeon-like lighting, the deafening game noise, and the premature exhaustion of your lunch money for the week.
2. Running out of hard-drive space
Status: Deceased
With terabyte-size drives now selling for less than £100, hard drives that exceed your storage needs aren’t exactly hard to come by these days. But remember when an 80MB drive was the pinnacle of luxury and a 1GB drive would have seemed extravagant?
3. Getting a busy signal
Status: Nearly deceased
Thanks to advances in voicemail and call-waiting technology, you rarely hear that annoying broken tone any more. Unless, of course, you’re voting for X Factor or listening to Pink Floyd.
4. Going on a ‘blind’ first date
Status: Deceased
What with Google, dating sites, and a slew of social networks, it’s not difficult to get to know a person digitally before choosing to interact with them in a brick-and-mortar environment. Heck, you might even get to know them intimately before ever meeting. Or instead of ever meeting.
5. Chatting with the SysOp
Status: Deceased
The SysOp - short for system administrator - was a figure of power beginning in the late 1970s and continuing into the early 1990s.
As the creator and overlord of the local bulletin board system (BBS), the SysOp watched over the users who dialled into his pre-internet electronic communication system.
He chatted with visitors, kept the system running smoothly, and occasionally hit the disconnect button when someone remained logged in for too long.
6. Paying for long distance
Status: Nearly deceased
Once upon a time, people had to pay expensive per-minute fees for long distance. Then, the big bad mobile phone came along and blew those charges away like a straw house. The end.
7. Getting fuzzy TV reception
Status: Deceased
When digital broadcasting commenced, it also effectively sent the fuzzy “white snow” to the graveyard. So long, annoying static; we always loathed you.
8. Hearing the sound of a modem connecting
Status: Nearly deceased
How a familiar series of sounds could simultaneously be so grating and so gratifying is a mystery that man may never unlock. Looking for a fix? Try the 56K Modem Emulator.
9. Shooting Polaroids
Status: Nearly deceased
Polaroid plans to stop selling its signature instant film at the end of this year.
10. Waiting to get photos developed
Status: Showing signs of illness
Though film-based cameras aren’t completely gone, the advantages of digital snapshots - namely, that you can view a picture immediately after taking it and that you can discard bad shots at no cost - have certainly made traditional cameras far less common.