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

[XYZpdq]

yeah I still use my dvdr drive pretty often just because I used dvdrs for my storage for a long time so I still have a few dozen spindles of discs I haven't copied to external hard drives yet

 

[FAQnews Correspondent]

to be contrarian to the thread purpose I don't miss old light bulbs
I actually had to change a light bulb today for the first time in probably a year

I don't miss incandescents anymore now that LEDs are available, but the fluorescent ones were awful. They took way too long to get to full brightness.

 

[XYZpdq]

I don't miss incandescents anymore now that LEDs are available, but the fluorescent ones were awful. They took way too long to get to full brightness.

I'm finally finishing my CFLs and moving on to the pack of LEDs I bought less however the fuck long ago.

 

[a_lurker]

I am a very small woman, with small woman hands. I hate phablets and the giant phone trend. Please make iphone4 sized phones again, with thinner backs and as screen flushed to the end. I do not need to worry about dropping my phone. Why are the smallest phones these days still like way larger than that?

Blame movies, games, and photos. It seems most people want a bigger screen for their content consumption.

There are smaller phones out there in the mid-range and lower end. Almost All of the flagships are 5" or bigger now.
I have noticed some newer phones changing their aspect ratio so they're still 5-6" but are less wide (taller/skinnier) that seems to be the compromise.

I have sort of the reverse problem (moderately large hands, longerish digits). Newer phones are less wide so typing is like playing operation.
You can adjust keyboard height, but not width

 

[Ask Jeeves]

IoT devices are going to be a huge issue in a few years. The sheer number all of these shitty devices connected to the internet with ancient firmware and defaut passwords will be incorporated into huge botnets, hosting sites like this will be a nightmare to run

 

[The Last Stand]

I don't like how they make technology so skinny, it overheats or it's fragile. Bonus points that if it's pocket sized and it falls off without warning.

On the other end, things can be so bulky, it's a hassle to store and carry.

 

[אΩ+1]

Apple should bring back common sense.

 

[Kheapathic]

I'd prefer phones to just be phones again. Not gonna lie, there are times I'm like "Oh shit, I forgot X, let me check my email" and shit. But the main reason I have my phone is because it can take/receive calls. I can do without the camera and all the other shit on there; I fucking hate it. But not a single carrier (outside of pre-pay phones) seems to have an old flip phone or a coffin of antiquated Nokias lying around.

And if having a cell phone wasn't practically required in this day and age; I'd be the boomer with a landline and answering machine. Because I hate knowing that anyone can reach me at anytime and I can't pull a "Sorry, wasn't home" or whatever like I could when I was a kid.

 

[Kiwi Lime Pie]

I'd prefer phones to just be phones again.

I don't mind a smart phone with internet access because there are times internet on the go is useful or needed. To a lesser extent, a built-in camera can come in handy in limited scenarios. However, I'll agree most everything else is bloatware. Most of the apps on my phone are unwanted and can't be removed because the they're part of the carrier's preinstalled bundle of apps . Sadly, I suspect most if not all carriers do this.

 

[Marissa Moira]

I just use my phone for a web browser 98% of the time.

I used to have a flashlight app installed, then after further reading I realized Apple had their own setting on the hidden bottom screen, so the only app I ever installed I wound up uninstalling.

 

[XYZpdq]

yeah I like my pocket web/flashlight/camera/mediaplayer/psp/gba/snes and I don't miss earlier phones much at all

 

[ditto]

I miss NT 3.5.1 and 4.

NT 4 was the perfect desktop operating system.

 

[Kosher Dill]

Most of the apps on my phone are unwanted and can't be removed because the they're part of the carrier's preinstalled bundle of apps

You should look into something like LineageOS if you have one of the two or three phones that they still support.

 

[AnOminous]

NT 4 was the perfect desktop operating system.

And 3.5.1 was the only half-decent server software Microsoft ever made. Not as good as Novell Netware but still pretty good. Come to think of it, I miss Novell Netware.

 

[Pissmaster]

I put a DVD drive in my computer 5 years ago and I think I've used it one time since then. There's a reason those are gone.

They're gone because the HVD was supposed to supplant Blu-ray: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_Versatile_Disc

But muh cloud and external hard drives took their place, and BD-Rs never got cheap or commonplace enough to stand on their own, and DVD-R holding 4.7gb is just comically small now. Like I think it's cheaper now to just buy a 10 pack of 32gb flash drives than a 50 pack of DVD-Rs.

I'm a little salty that optical disc backups went away, since external hard drives have such an eggs in one basket problem and cloud backups are gay.

 

[AnOminous]

I'm a little salty that optical disc backups went away, since external hard drives have such an eggs in one basket problem and cloud backups are gay.

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

 

[Un Platano]

They're gone because the HVD was supposed to supplant Blu-ray: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_Versatile_Disc

But muh cloud and external hard drives took their place, and BD-Rs never got cheap or commonplace enough to stand on their own, and DVD-R holding 4.7gb is just comically small now. Like I think it's cheaper now to just buy a 10 pack of 32gb flash drives than a 50 pack of DVD-Rs.

I'm a little salty that optical disc backups went away, since external hard drives have such an eggs in one basket problem and cloud backups are gay.

The drive I have is actually a Bluray drive but I've never been able to use it for that purpose. Windows doesn't support Bluray playback by default like it does for DVDs and CDs and getting it to work requires all kinds of fuckery. It's easier to rip the disc to your hard drive and play it from there than it is to play it directly.

Blurays got completely screwed over for PC use and that's one of the reasons why they're going away. High capacity thumb drives are cheap now so I can't say it's a major loss now but it was very annoying for a while.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

dumb tvs

So all new TVs in the Current Year are also computers too? Lame.

(I stopped caring about watching TV when the DTV switch happened. Which brings me to another thing: I miss analog TV a little.)

Then suddenly I'm a popular guy because I can still watch shit.

I have a very unreliable way of connecting to the internet - not to mention how easy it is for stuff online to be pulled - so I too see the value of having stuff offline. I'm also not really a fan of the "the future is online streaming" way of thinking.

 

[stupidpieceofshit]

So all new TVs in the Current Year are also computers too? Lame.

(I stopped caring about watching TV when the DTV switch happened. Which brings me to another thing: I miss analog TV a little.)

The new DTV standard (ATSC 3.0) that is suppose to start roll out this year is cancer, it allows for interactive and targeted ads.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

interactive and targeted ads

wat and wat ads

wow that sounds annoying as hell

At least back in the days of NTSC/PAL/etc you could just mute the TV or go do something else during commercial breaks.