Things that are better today

[Brenda Holiday]

When everything in the world seems to continue to get worse, is there anything today that is better than before? I intended this thread to be about products but it can be about abstract concepts too.
I haven't tested it recently, but insulated cups today seem to keep things hot and cold longer than a vintage one. Never thought I could have three day old ice water, just as cold as day one.

 

[Private Tag Reporter]

Watching old movies. Before the net, you had to go out and rent or buy at the store. Didn't have that one obscure film in black & white you saw when you were 10? You were SOL. Now you can see any movie, made anywhere in the world, in any language, at any time, in maybe all of three keystrokes.

Having the entire criterion collection in only a few clicks is amazing, and it is deeply surprising to me that modern culture has become as stale as it is when the entire wealth of human creative output is available at one's fingertips at any given time.

 

[Sparkletor 2.0]

There are less children dying from jumping out of hay lofts.

 

[Fading puppy syndrome]

Textbooks online

 

[Ibanez RG 350EX]

Electronic fuel injection and electronic ignition are extremely reliable and require far less maintenance compared to carburetor and distributor systems.

Modern vacuum cleaner designs are so much lighter and less fiddle-fucky to maintain than they were in the past. Same with a lot of tools - you can argue that plastic is cheap, but it's a fuckton easier to lug around than something with a steel case.

 

[The Cunting Death]

Internet speeds

 

[Dysnomia]

Internet speeds

Pictures downloading verrrrry sloooowly on AOL. By the time a video was done you wanted to bash your head into a wall. Kids today have instant gratification. We had to wait for our content. And wait and wait. Any second now that pic is gonna loa- Oh wait, mom needs to use the phone.

 

[Yandex Captcha Solver]

Consumer electronics (not appliances though) in general. I can spend $200 and have a fast desktop that suites the needs for 90% of the population. 10 year old dell prebuilt? Just buy a cheap 250gb ssd,, maybe a stick of cheap DDR3 and you'll be set. Just throw some Linux distro on it or Windows 10 LTSC and your off to the races.

Phones and plans are ridiculously cheap nowadays as well. I spend $100 a year for unlimited text/talk on a cheap used phone. The downside though is, everyone has a phone now and they are on the internet.

 

[Freshly Baked Socks]

I am sort of impressed with the continual improvement in quality and price with taxed and regulated cannabis....

Once apon a time, consumers may have paid more than the price of gold, and risked lengthy imprisonment -

When, now, in many states, any adult can walk into a store and buy a transistorized portable electronic hash oil "cart" for ~$20.

 

[Mad At The Intranet]

The sidewalk outside of my house I guess? That jagged thing was almost like coarse gravel when we were kids.

 

[Kid Named Rocket]

This website.
>b-but le influx of newfags!!!1!1
More retards coming in = more potential halal threads = more entertainment.

 

[Clem Fandango]

Sat nav has taken a lot of the stress out of navigating in cities. You literally used to have to pull over and ask people where stuff was.

 

[Folk Hero]

I've mentioned this before in a similar thread, but it bears repeating: the average lifespan of cats is increasing. In the 90's, their average lifespan was 9 years, but in 2021, it was 15.

 

[Fastest Hand In The East]

When everything in the world seems to continue to get worse

I remember reading Machiavelli and he was writing something along the line of "Im tired of people saying that we live in the worst of times, the end of times, as if the sun has stopped rising on the east and going down on the west".
Every generation lives like a blind-deaf man- totally oblivious of their past and predictions for the future, making judgments based solely on their personal experience, whinning endlessly how they suffer in warm appratments (or even houses) with running hot water, refrigerators, food quality control (every one was so quick to forget how widespread food poisonings and infections were before any quality control, it was just a common accepted thing) etc. etc.
Sometimes I struggle to feel sympathy for the humanity at large and sometimes I understand politicians.
These people are cattle, it doesn't matter how good you make it for them- they forget in 20-30 years and whine, whine, whine. They will compain even in utopia, even in paradise where suffering is impossible they will find a way.

 

[Pee Cola]

Skin care products, fitness regimes and nutrition.

When I was a kid in the '80s, people aged in their 40s and 50s look ancient. These days, a 50 year old who takes care of themselves looks like how I remember a 30 year old used to look back in the day. The only 40+ year olds who look old these days are either completely drugfucked or have worked outside every day for the last 20 years without using sunscreen.

 

[Brenda Holiday]

When I was a kid in the '80s, people aged in their 40s and 50s look ancient.

My 40 year old grandma looked older in the 80s than she did at 70 years old in the 2010s.

 

[Otis Mallebrok]

Permanent magnets are cheaper, better and stronger. Batteries are also better, cheaper and higher capacity. Nuclear weapons has also become easier to hack together by the common hobbyist.

 

[Cat tit bingo]

While modern video game are firmly in the shitter emulation and pirating old games is a breeze at the moment. While there are always going to be games hard to run on modern stuff and og xbox is still a pain there is so much info on getting that stuff working with thing like virtual machines and wrappers. I am very worried for the future with more and more of that invaluable info and mods getting locked away in places like discord.

 

[Sandraker]

Headphones and Earbuds.

While I still like wired in certain aspects you can pretty much get good quality sound without spending a lot on top of wireless being much more organized than the random bundle of wore ripped nylon and copper that formed in your pocket.

 

[Swiss46]

og xbox is still a pain

I recently bought an OG Xbox so I could play on the recreated live environment. I'd argue that with modern mods and live og Xbox is better today than it's ever technically been.