Tech you miss/ new tech trends you hate - ok boomers

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

They still don't have anything as reliable as tape backups, as obnoxious as those can be.

If anyone knows anything about tape there's a format I've been curious about. At an old job a company dropped off these tapes in a square cartridge around the same size as a LP sleeve. It was about one inch thick and came in a leather briefcase/package that were obviously designed for the tapes to be transported in repeatedly and it showed. Anyone know what that could have been? It's very likely old IBM.

You know that Silcon Valley doesn't make TVs as most TVs are made by East Asian companies.

The CEO of Vizio, North American company, admitted that a TV that doesn't harvest your data would decimate their margins if sold at the same price or price them above competitive brands doing the same thing if they made up for it.

 

[Wilhelm Bittrich]

If anyone knows anything about tape there's a format I've been curious about. At an old job a company dropped off these tapes in a square cartridge around the same size as a LP sleeve. It was about one inch thick and came in a leather briefcase/package that were obviously designed for the tapes to be transported in repeatedly and it showed. Anyone know what that could have been? It's very likely old IBM.

Do you mean this kind of tapes (in the foreground)? That's e.g. from a IBM 360

 

[Glad I couldn't help]

Is it possible to buy a non-high-IQ television in the current year? Because if want "smart" functionality in your TV, you could just get a Raspberry Pi or similar SBC and make it yourself, provided you aren't a clueless, tech-illiterate Boomer/Zoomer.

 

[אΩ+1]

Is it possible to buy a non-high-IQ television in the current year? Because if want "smart" functionality in your TV, you could just get a Raspberry Pi or similar SBC and make it yourself, provided you aren't a clueless, tech-illiterate Boomer/Zoomer.

Not in the consumer space, you buy commercial displays instead.

 

[AnOminous]

If anyone knows anything about tape there's a format I've been curious about. At an old job a company dropped off these tapes in a square cartridge around the same size as a LP sleeve. It was about one inch thick and came in a leather briefcase/package that were obviously designed for the tapes to be transported in repeatedly and it showed. Anyone know what that could have been? It's very likely old IBM.

There were a ridiculously large number of formats. The most common I've seen were 1/4" and 1/2" reel to reel. Near the end of when tape backups were commonly used, there were miniature DAT cartridges. These were about as compact and convenient as the format got. It used to be a saying that the highest bandwidth connection was a station wagon full of magnetic tape.

You would generally have a staggered backup strategy for using these, with the occasional full backup of the entire system, maybe quarterly, maybe only once a year. Then you'd have incremental backups in the intervening period, so to restore from a full catastrophe, you'd first restore from the most recent full backup and then update with the incrementals. Sometimes there would also be an intermediate backup, like monthly or so.

Really paranoid places could make multiple copies of the backup simultaneously and send them to different locations offsite.

Apple's Time Machine backup system (to another hard drive) does more or less the same thing with a full backup supplemented with incremental backups. It still has the issue that you're backing up to a hard drive that is probably attached to the same computer as the one you're backing up.

 

[Wonderful Id]

I hate how everything has to be a subscription now. It used to be "I pay you one time, I get product" and now everything seems to be wanting to go this path of pay us constantly.

The Trackmania game is going to be subscription only, where it's impossible to pay one time for it.

 

[Sun Shihong]

The techs that I hold some nostalgic value to it are the sliding phones and the cartridge based videogames. Even with the risk of oxidation due to cartridge connector blows, the games I did that worked fine for the most part. That, and limitations in programming meant that the devs had to be creative/careful, and not just make "artsy" walking simulators or spectacle fighters where two thirds of the combos and moves are useless because the enemies have unbreakable hyper armor.

Tech in general is just requiring fancier and more expensive devices to run things that could easily be working with less than a fraction of what they actually require.

I also hate how the internet culture nowadays is so corporate-centered and so corporate-driven; you can't even watch a Kamen Rider video because someone at Toei decided your country shouldn't be able to watch men dressed as grasshoppers doing Karate Chops at men dressed with rubber suits. Videogame makers can fill a lawsuit against what can be considered as videogame museums because all they need is just a few lawyers and some speeches on how "digital piracy is evil" to succeed.

Social Networks were a mistake, they're just glorified gossip magazines, and you can easily get marked with a target on your back if you endorse whatever opinion the majority of the users consider offensive.

 

[stupidpieceofshit]

they're just glorified gossip magazines

Uh you do know where you are right?

Shitposting aside, Facebook was a mistake, back when Myspace ruled the land the nerds bitched/mocked about how awfule some people's custom profile page was, with custom HTML and JS, and praised facebook how every profile was unison, now every webpage almost looks identical, like some "ideal" HOA neighborhood, and allowing large corporations to take over everything.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

I still don't miss so-called "Obama Bulbs" (CFLs).

wow those things were ugly

 

[The Littlest Shitlord]

I still don't miss so-called "Obama Bulbs" (CFLs).

wow those things were ugly

They were ugly, they had that delay to turn on, but worst of all, they released toxic mercury into domestic environments if broken, and as a result had to be specially recycled, which you just know many people didn't do. That was just flat out insanity. I have a hunch that it might even have contributed to the rise in the rate of autism over the years, but I need to do more research on this.

 

[Biffo]

Miss
Lightguns, miss playing those games at home
Back compatibility on Sony hardware

Hate
Digital noise reduction, ruined so many older show and movies

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

Lastpass and password managers like it. Why would anyone think it's a good idea to trust a server farm with all of your passwords in one place? I know this stuff isn't in a plain text file, but hacks have happened before. Keepass isn't perfect. It also isn't storing all my passwords in the cloud.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

That was just flat out insanity.

I hope all these LEDs don't have any serious health hazards...

 

[Dialtone]

I'm not sure why, but some electronics always have to have those obnoxiously bright blue LEDs rather than a nice red or orange

Also might be a small thing, but being able to immediately turn a game console on or off in seconds.

 

[Hoes Mad]

This is gonna sound weird, but i missed when the worse malware did was destroy your computer.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

Also might be a small thing, but being able to immediately turn a game console on or off in seconds.

That's what I like about playing my N64. No "OS", no "account", just turn it on with a game in there and the game starts.

As for the LED thing, I noticed that too. Why do the blue LEDs always have to be so intense? They can make Christmas lights look really harsh and unnatural, at least compared to incandescent.

i missed when the worse malware did was destroy your computer

What kind of crap does it do now?

I guess getting private info is one thing it does.

 

[byuu]

As for the LED thing, I noticed that too. Why do the blue LEDs always have to be so intense? They can make Christmas lights look really harsh and unnatural compared to incandescent ones.

It's the Purkinje effect. Blue will be perceived as very bright when it's dark.

 

[Hoes Mad]

What kind of crap does it do now?

I guess getting private info is one thing it does.

Yeah, almost all malware nowadays is some sort of bank trojan or keylogger, sometimes every now and then you get some ransomware but thats it.

Spoiler: a lot of older malware was made by edgy teens lol

 

[Made In China]

Being able to replace the batteries on my device without going through extreme lengths.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

Blue will be perceived as very bright when it's dark.

Can one compensate by making the light dimmer?

almost all malware nowadays is some sort of bank trojan or keylogger, sometimes every now and then you get some ransomware

I hope antivirus and firewall can catch those things.

I also hate how almost every call is a scam call. Seems there's a lot more assholes in Current Year who act more scummy nowadays.

This really is a cyberpunk dystopia.