New technologies appear all the time, and when they do we exchange our old tech with bigger and better gadgets. But what happens to the old tech? We have a tendency to let them fade into history. An illustration of this this is the landline telephone. Some people still have them in their home but they are being replaced by cell phones. And it’s easy to imagine that in the very near future they will no longer be a household item.
So we thought we would concentrate on a few technologies that may be phased out soon. Some of these may even vanish in the next 10 years.
Fax Machines: Lots of people hate sending faxes; it is old technology. There was a time when it was ground breaking, but don’t be surprised if this is one technology that quickly ends up in the “do you remember this?” classification.
Newspaper Classified Ads: The Huffington Post fairly recently listed newspaper classified ads as an endangered species. That’s essentially due to the online garage sale that is Craigslist. By giving people the opportunity to advertise their used futons for free, Craigslist supplied a fatal body blow to newspaper-classified sections across the country.
Film-Based Cameras: It seems like film-based cameras are on their way out as well. People have a deep love for classic film so it has taken a while for people to fully transition to digital. But with digital cameras, you can save all your pictures digitally and easily distribute them over the Internet without having to save negatives. Even Kodak has seen the effects of this change. There is no arguing that generally we are going to say goodbye to film-based cameras.
The Calculator Watch: In its short-lived life; the calculator watch was a well-loved item. It made it easy to always have a calculator handy when you needed one. When cell phones with built in calculators came into existence, the calculator watch went out the window. It’s pretty obvious why PCWorld listed it as an obsolete technology.
The Video Arcade: This may come as a shock, but the video arcade may be on its way out also. It’s unfortunate, because many gamers have happy memories of feeding quarters into Space Invaders or Donkey Kong at the local arcade. But these days, gamers have their systems in their homes and can play with people all over the earth.
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