# New Technology.....Once..



## Furryanimal (Jul 19, 2020)




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## Pappy (Jul 19, 2020)

I remember when all these new gadgets came out and wondering what will they come up with next. I went out and bought a new transistor radio. Amazing, it fits in you pocket...  

Of course now, all that technology is in one of these:


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## Aunt Marg (Jul 19, 2020)

How about when the telephone list-finder, index thingamabob came out?

Here is a brand spanking new one for anyone wanting to jump on a little of that state of the art progress from back in the day!


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## Ken N Tx (Jul 19, 2020)




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## Aunt Marg (Jul 19, 2020)

Ken N Tx said:


>


LOL, Ken! 

You know, I was having a laugh earlier at my way of thinking over the index thingamabob, because I remember thinking to myself (at the time), nothing will ever come close to or beat this thingamajig!

I thought it was the greatest invention ever! ROFLMAO!


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## Aunt Marg (Jul 19, 2020)

Was there anything more hilarious than early mobile phones?


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## Marie5656 (Jul 24, 2020)




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## Pecos (Jul 24, 2020)

I am feeling right at home on this thread.


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## Aunt Marg (Jul 24, 2020)

Pecos said:


> I am feeling right at home on this thread.


You and me both, Pecos!


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## Tommy (Jul 25, 2020)

Pappy said:


> I went out and bought a new transistor radio. Amazing, it fits in you pocket...


I can still remember how excited my father was about the transistor coming into the consumer market in the 1950s.  (Yes, in the form of pocket transistor radios, actually.)  I was too young to appreciate it's importance at the time, but without it none of today's computers, smart phones, and microprocessor controlled thingamabobs would exist.


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## Pappy (Jul 25, 2020)

Tommy said:


> I can still remember how excited my father was about the transistor coming into the consumer market in the 1950s.  (Yes, in the form of pocket transistor radios, actually.)  I was too young to appreciate it's importance at the time, but without it none of today's computers, smart phones, and microprocessor controlled thingamabobs would exist.



I remember it like it was yesterday
. State Street Mill had transistor radios on sale. $3.98. This was an unheard price and I made a beeline to the store and got a red and white one. Amazing at the time to carry your radio in your pocket.


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## fuzzybuddy (Jul 27, 2020)

Transistor radios had horrible sound reproduction. Way back in my brain, under "Useless Knowledge", is in the 1950s and early 60s, that new music, "Rock & Roll" was engineered to sound richer and fuller on transistor radios and car radios- the places where teens listened to their music.. It's amazing how that little box transformed us.


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## fmdog44 (Jul 27, 2020)

Marie5656 said:


> View attachment 114996


Not far off-from what we may all be doing soon!


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## Treacle (Jul 27, 2020)

Aunt Marg said:


> Was there anything more hilarious than early mobile phones?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## MarciKS (Jul 27, 2020)

My parents said they remembered the first color TVs. Dad was so excited to watch his favorite western in color.


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## MarciKS (Jul 27, 2020)

When I look back at the visual quality of VHS compared to DVDs...I'm glad we graduated.


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## Treacle (Jul 27, 2020)

I remember Betamax before VHS


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## Aunt Marg (Jul 27, 2020)

Treacle said:


> I remember Betamax before VHS


Yes, me, too, and how right you are, Treacle, about early mobile phones! LOL! 

What a hoot so much of the early designed stuff was!


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## Tommy (Jul 28, 2020)

MarciKS said:


> My parents said they remembered the first color TVs. Dad was so excited to watch his favorite western in color.


Oh my!! ... KID! 

I remember an uncle getting an early color TV in the late 1950s.  (He was what marketing people call an "innovator"  Had to be the first to have every new gadget.)  My wife and I had only B&W until 1979 when my parents couldn't stand the fact that we didn't have a color TV and had one shipped to us.


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## MarciKS (Jul 28, 2020)

Treacle said:


> I remember Betamax before VHS


I remember those & a few 8 tracks in my day. LOL


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## fmdog44 (Jul 29, 2020)

How many destroyed 8 track tapes did you see on the side of the road?


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## JustBonee (Jul 29, 2020)

Ken N Tx said:


>



Actually, I would love to have one of those on my desk again.


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## asp3 (Jul 29, 2020)

Does anyone else remember the precursor to DVD's the picture discs that were about the same size as a 12" album and had a huge player.  I think they also only held up to about 75 or 80 minutes so a movie would often take two discs.


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## Treacle (Jul 29, 2020)

What about Floppy discs? I still have some as I have my old computer with a tower. Alan Sugar owned Amstrad and floppy discs were about 5"?  but then the 3 1/4" ? disc came out for most other computers and the Amstrad discs became quite expensive and redundant.
But I still have them


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## fancicoffee13 (Jul 29, 2020)

Pappy said:


> I remember when all these new gadgets came out and wondering what will they come up with next. I went out and bought a new transistor radio. Amazing, it fits in you pocket...
> 
> Of course now, all that technology is in one of these:
> 
> View attachment 114207


Yes, I can take notes on it, visit a doctor, do my banking, take pictures, monitor my heart rate and calories, don't need a computer, watch Peacock on it and the list goes on and on!


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## Aunt Marg (Aug 8, 2020)

We really have come such a long way...


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## Treacle (Aug 8, 2020)

Some more than others


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## Don M. (Aug 8, 2020)

At the rate that technology is advancing, the latest Gee Whiz item is quite likely to be obsolete within 10 years.


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## Lashann (Aug 8, 2020)

Personally I would like to see some of these "oldies but goodies" somewhere on display.

IMO it would be nice to be reminded of simpler times when you didn't have to spend a great deal of time (weeks/months?) trying to learn how to use the item properly because they were so much "user friendly".  Back then we also didn't have to be concerned about issues such as forgetting passwords/PINs, getting hacked, identity theft etc.


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## fancicoffee13 (Aug 9, 2020)

Aunt Marg said:


> We really have come such a long way...


According to Barney and Fred, yes we have.  I was just wanting a watch like Dick Tracy, and "technology like Get Smart.  lol


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## jujube (Aug 9, 2020)

I remember my first computer, a Commodore 64. It did practically nothing but I was so proud of it.


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## Aunt Marg (Aug 9, 2020)

fancicoffee13 said:


> According to Barney and Fred, yes we have.  I was just wanting a watch like Dick Tracy, and "technology like Get Smart.  lol


LOL!

How I loved watching Dick Tracy and Get Smart!


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## Barbiegirl (Aug 9, 2020)

I remember the games from Apple and Atari circa 1978 or so. At the time it seemed like major cutting edge entertainment but by today's standards it was caveman technology!  

Oh and our home stereo was a giant piece of furniture like this 
I love the beautiful sound we can now get from sound bars and wireless speakers that take up almost no space.


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## Pinky (Aug 9, 2020)

jujube said:


> I remember my first computer, a Commodore 64. It did practically nothing but I was so proud of it.


My nephews gave us their old Commodore 64 so I could play Bubble Bobble on it.
We had a computer, but I was leery of using it, other than to play Tetris.


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## Ken N Tx (Aug 10, 2020)

Barbiegirl said:


> I remember the games from Apple and Atari circa 1978 or so. At the time it seemed like major cutting edge entertainment but by today's standards it was caveman technology!


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## Lewkat (Aug 10, 2020)

Anyone use the palm pilot?  They are so handy and I never seem them around anymore.


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## Ken N Tx (Aug 10, 2020)

Lewkat said:


> Anyone use the palm pilot?  They are so handy and I never seem them around anymore.


They change the name to smart phone!!
.


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## asp3 (Aug 10, 2020)

Lewkat said:


> Anyone use the palm pilot?  They are so handy and I never seem them around anymore.



My sister worked at US Robotics before they became or were bought by Palm.  I remember her bringing a prototype of the first Palm to a holiday gathering.  My wife and I left thinking she was deluded because people would never want to use something so small that had such a strange way of entering information.  Needless to say we were wrong, she did well and we missed out on buying stock when it was rather low.


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## fancicoffee13 (Aug 10, 2020)

jujube said:


> I remember my first computer, a Commodore 64. It did practically nothing but I was so proud of it.


My first one, I had to wait on the dial up!  And getting mail was the thing!  email.


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## Barbiegirl (Aug 14, 2020)

Ken N Tx said:


>



Omg the little sounds on that game! Takes me way back to my technologically-deprived youth.  Well, Gen Z would consider it deprived... we didn't even have texting! The horror.


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## fancicoffee13 (Aug 16, 2020)

Barbiegirl said:


> Omg the little sounds on that game! Takes me way back to my technologically-deprived youth.  Well, Gen Z would consider it deprived... we didn't even have texting! The horror.


Right!  No texting, emails, phones to carry with you, no FB, and the list goes on!


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## HazyDavey (Aug 16, 2020)

Easy Cheese.. Cheese in a can!! 
Nabisco 1965.


Well, it was sorta new technology back then ..


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## Barbiegirl (Aug 18, 2020)

fancicoffee13 said:


> Right!  No texting, emails, phones to carry with you, no FB, and the list goes on!



I find myself watching movies made pre-1998 and wondering why the characters don't just pick up their cell phones and call for help. Oh and when they go to a payphone I'm amazed they can even find one, let alone one that works.

*HazyDavey* that spray cheese is a staple in my hurricane stash. If I'm going down in a storm, I'm going down enjoying some delicious, salty orange cheese flavored goo sprayed on crackers.


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## Butterfly (Aug 25, 2020)

I remember when we got our first fax machine at our office.  It was magical!


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## Oris Borloff (Aug 25, 2020)

Anyone remember Polaroid Instant movies?  I'm thinking about '76ish about 6 months before VCR's we availbable in stores.

Or L-Cassettes maybe about a year earlier.


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## Tommy (Aug 25, 2020)

Oris Borloff said:


> Anyone remember Polaroid Instant movies?  I'm thinking about '76ish about 6 months before VCR's we availbable in stores.
> 
> Or L-Cassettes maybe about a year earlier.


Thanks, Oris!  I had never heard of either of those and had to look them up.  Now I know.   

The latter 70s were so lively and exciting for me that I probably missed a lot of what went on.


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## Aunt Marg (Aug 25, 2020)

Oris Borloff said:


> Anyone remember Polaroid Instant movies?  I'm thinking about '76ish about 6 months before VCR's we availbable in stores.
> 
> Or L-Cassettes maybe about a year earlier.


Polaroid Instant Cameras, yes, Polaroid Instant Movies, no. Wow!

Don't remember L-Cassettes either.

As the old saying goes... "you learn something new everyday".


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## Lakeland living (Aug 25, 2020)

I remember the polaroid pictures   https://www.dpreview.com/news/85677...eils-onestep-2-instant-camera-and-i-type-film
I do not remember the inststant movies but I did fine this    https://www.nytimes.com/1977/04/24/...tant-movies-polaroids-coup-as-it-battles.html


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## Oris Borloff (Aug 25, 2020)

My first and only encounter with Polaroid instant movies  was at a mall and there was a table just at the entrance to the Sears store.  The player was displayed and I think the camera was there also, but I got the year wrong so I'm not a reliable witness.  I think the price tag was 599.00.  A friend of mine bought the first VCR I ever saw in person in '79 and it cost him 799.00.  

I just googled to find the pictures.  I also found out how to properly spell Elcaset.  

The Elcaset was slightly smaller than a VHS tape, the idea was for audio recording cassette that used full size tape, instead of reels. I saw one of those machines at a stereo shop  Xmas of '76.  An older audiophile friend of mine told me that it was first tried on the market in '62-'63.  I don't recall if that was in the US or just Europe, and it didn't go over well the first time either.


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## Manatee (Aug 28, 2020)

I remember seeing a TV at the World's Fair in 1939, but it was another 10 years before I knew anyone that had one.  I was 19 before we had one.


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## JaniceM (Aug 28, 2020)

When I was first introduced to computers, one of the first things I was fascinated with was ICQ.  I checked out the website awhile back and it's much different than it was.  Seems Yahoo Messenger vanished, too.  Are there any Instant Message programs or features anymore?

(NOT Facebook, or anything else that requires joining something else)


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## JaniceM (Aug 28, 2020)

Ken N Tx said:


>


My favorites were Pacman and Ms Pacman.


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## Lakeland living (Aug 28, 2020)

Going from the transistor radio, yes I had one..it was great. 
        They are actually connecting a device to pigs brains, analyzing the electrical impulses the brain send out.
Then the step forward to    *Elon Musk wants YOU to build a brain-computer interface
   I have to admit        Makes me shake my head a bit. 
   But I like it.*


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## Ken N Tx (Aug 29, 2020)

Lakeland living said:


> Going from the transistor radio, yes I had one..it was great.
> They are actually connecting a device to pigs brains, analyzing the electrical impulses the brain send out.
> Then the step forward to    *Elon Musk wants YOU to build a brain-computer interface
> I have to admit        Makes me shake my head a bit.
> But I like it.*


I have heard that Elon Musk is researching this and also mental telepathy between individuals. 

*Neuralink*
San Francisco, California
Founded 2016
Neuralink is developing ultra high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces to connect humans and computers.
*Private Company
Funding
$158M*


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