|
I understand you can do all those things quickly and easily on the internet through various services and websites but to just go to one office, which is probably in walking distance from your house, and tell some person there, "Yeah, uh, I want to send my friend in this city a ham, and my friend in this city some flowers, and my grandma to get taken on a country drive." That sounds great!
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2024 17:12
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 26, 2024 11:37 |
|
|
If you've ever heard of FTD it started off around WWI as Florists' Telegraph Delivery.
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2024 17:27
|
|
|
It's pretty amazing how little electric information infrastructure actually changed other then moving to increasingly broader bands.
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2024 17:33
|
|
|
The most radical change is going from circuit switched systems (a series of switches, either electronic or mechanical, connect subscriber A to subscriber B via a line they do not share at that point in time) to packed switched systems (data packets are constantly interweaving on lines that go everywhere, and one line carries messages of countless other people - it's just that at your local bit of internet infrastructure, the packets addressed to you are filtered out or something and send to you only). I know more about circuit switched systems than about packet switched. But it's a pretty significant difference. I've often fantasized about how you could've supplied many Web 1.0 things via the Telex network, if you had some kind of automated punch tape readers that a caller could actuate with commands. Quite a lot could have been done with 1940s tech - recognizing a command, entering a search string (which might have to be an 100% match but still) and automating a fax system to retrieve images from the library or whatever. I wonder if it never happened because they didn't think of it - or whether it was simply cost prohibitive.
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2024 18:57
|
|
|
LimaBiker posted:The most radical change is going from circuit switched systems (a series of switches, either electronic or mechanical, connect subscriber A to subscriber B via a line they do not share at that point in time) to packed switched systems (data packets are constantly interweaving on lines that go everywhere, and one line carries messages of countless other people - it's just that at your local bit of internet infrastructure, the packets addressed to you are filtered out or something and send to you only). They did think of it, actually.
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2024 20:31
|
|
|
So it was basically doordash or that service that goes to target to buy your legos and then brings it to you, except it probably worked a lot better.
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2024 20:49
|
|
|
Perestroika posted:Weird scooter discussion reminded me of the various attempts to make roofed bikes or bike/car hybrids. BMW in particular seemed really invested in it over here for a short time (e.g. strongly lobbying for them to be exempt from helmet laws), but they never seem to have gone anywhere. The Road Sector we have at home.
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2024 21:11
|
|
|
How did they arrange payment for the telegraph shopping services? I have heard about "wiring money", but what did that actually mean in practice?
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2024 21:25
|
|
|
Computer viking posted:How did they arrange payment for the telegraph shopping services? I have heard about "wiring money", but what did that actually mean in practice? I would assume it's the same telegraph company on both ends. So you give one office money, and then the receiving office spends their own money, knowing they will be reimbursed by the office that took the order.
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2024 21:35
|
|
|
I mean, the Knights Templar made credit work during the Crusades, I'm sure the same principle could be applied to telegraphy as well. I guess this is slightly off-topic since banking isn't an obsolete or failed technology, but rather one of the big organs of the system that's set the globe on fire.
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2024 21:48
|
|
|
Western Union started out as a telegraph company. now they're just a money company.
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2024 21:49
|
|
|
Yeah, wiring money worked a lot like how writing regular checks did - rather than banks settling up by sending cash for every check that got deposited, they compared balances owed and settled up the (certainly much smaller) difference. Generally people weren't all wiring money in one direction, and I don't think anyone could sneak into the telegraph system with particular reliability so making fraudulent wires might be a little tough.
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2024 23:20
|
|
|
stephenthinkpad posted:Lol what a goon. dude carried a rotary lithograph an entire mile for a girl
|
|
#
?
Feb 25, 2024 01:17
|
|
|
Gather around people for I have a device from the ancients! An optical disc cleaner!  But for what?.... 
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 08:59
|
|
|
That seems silly, don't those have a cover that keeps all dust and damage off it? Did I just figure it out, that it cleans/repairs the outer case?
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 15:37
|
|
|
Nocheez posted:That seems silly, don't those have a cover that keeps all dust and damage off it? Did I just figure it out, that it cleans/repairs the outer case? They were like floppy discs in that they had a window in the protective shell to expose the media
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 16:02
|
|
|
Even so you'd have to be taking your UMDs to like active construction sites to get appreciable debris on them.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 16:34
|
|
|
We used to have a software from norton that would rub the drive's heads over the floppy to flatten out creases. PC Help? PC Health? Something like that.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 16:38
|
|
|
uber_stoat posted:Western Union started out as a telegraph company. now they're just a money company. And guess how late they still offered some form of telegram service? January 27, 2006. https://www.abc27.com/history/on-this-date-western-unions-last-telegram/ Western Union, seeing the writing on the wall, re-invented itself as a national and international money transfer service. On January 27, 2006, the company sent out its last telegram. From then on telegraph use started to drop. Western Union, seeing the writing on the wall, re-invented itself as a national and international money transfer service. On January 27, 2006, the company sent out its last telegram. That doesn’t mean the telegram is dead, however. The International Telegram Company took over the Western Union service and is still delivering telegrams to this day. There are other telegram companies still operating across the world. The International Telegraph website says there are still 17 million telegrams being delivered every year. (By contrast, the site Oberlo.com states we average 347.3 billion emails per day.) Telegrams are still useful for some legal matters, and some people just think it’s cool to send somebody a telegram.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 16:43
|
|
|
PSP just have all kind of fail media on it, UMD, memory stick and I don't know what else.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 16:47
|
|
|
The worst part about UMDs was used ones, like most of mine. They had replacement shells that weren't always tight, so when they spun up to speed, they were deafening.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 16:49
|
|
|
stephenthinkpad posted:PSP just have all kind of fail media on it, UMD, memory stick and I don't know what else. I have an older model AIBO and I needed a memory stick reader to get the photos off its stick, but it's an older version of memory stick than the psp uses, but boy does the psp format drown out everything else on ebay lmao I eventually found one and it's delightfully yellowed and the USB cable is bizarrely thick
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 17:03
|
|
|
DrBouvenstein posted:And guess how late they still offered some form of telegram service? 
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 17:28
|
|
|
Flipperwaldt posted:We used to have a software from norton that would rub the drive's heads over the floppy to flatten out creases. PC Help? PC Health? Something like that. 
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 17:43
|
|
|
DrBouvenstein posted:And guess how late they still offered some form of telegram service?
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 17:51
|
|
|
stephenthinkpad posted:PSP just have all kind of fail media on it, UMD, memory stick and I don't know what else. Sony just can't get through a decade without a format war.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 17:53
|
|
|
That's just Sony's thing. Invent a new format and then burden it with prohibitively steep licensing costs, thus ensuring that nobody adopts it.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 19:24
|
|
|
Except Blu-ray. *Cries in HDDVD*
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 19:34
|
|
|
Nocheez posted:Except Blu-ray. HDDVD was just bad, sorry.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 19:38
|
|
|
Explosionface posted:The worst part about UMDs was used ones, like most of mine. They had replacement shells that weren't always tight, so when they spun up to speed, they were deafening. Why did they have replacement shells? Were people breaking the shells?
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 20:20
|
|
|
Cojawfee posted:Why did they have replacement shells? Were people breaking the shells? I guess! Maybe they were getting stepped on and cracked? I'll see if I can get a picture or two tonight because there's an obvious difference between the two types.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 20:45
|
|
|
Sony had some really successful formats, reminder that the 3 1/2 inch floppy everyone used was a Sony thing, and the CD was a joint venture with Philips.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 21:11
|
|
|
Nocheez posted:Except Blu-ray. I subscribe to the conspiracy theory that hddvd was created to lose by Microsoft in order to make Sony waste all their money on Blu-ray right when physical media was getting replaced by streaming.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 21:14
|
|
|
Cojawfee posted:Why did they have replacement shells? Were people breaking the shells? Definitely not out of the question for a kid to just have them floating around in a backpack (and getting smashed) or trod upon if they were scattered around a room or whatever. For every very careful person, you should assume there are 5 who'll just toss poo poo wherever and not look where they're stepping or dropping stuff.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 21:17
|
|
|
galagazombie posted:I subscribe to the conspiracy theory that hddvd was created to lose by Microsoft in order to make Sony waste all their money on Blu-ray right when physical media was getting replaced by streaming. Nah Japanese companies are just very rigid in way of making money through physical proprietary formats. They just don't like to do open standard. Case in point, see all the Japanese camera companies. I was one of the earliest NAS adopter, never spent any money on the bluray format. I don't think anyone predicted how fast HDD and streaming replaced physical disc.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 21:27
|
|
|
I'm still in the "I like physical media" camp despite having a plex server with over 20tb of content on it. The bitrate on most streaming sites is garbage and has tons of banding and other artifacts, and the vast majority of people just don't care, so it'll never improve. Physical media of course still has boneheaded decisions made for it (The Kamen Rider blurays coming to US using broadcast masters at 1080i and having to deinterlace them as opposed to the digital masters the japanese burays get), and the real concern these days is the lack of players being made (I would pay several hundred dollars for a UHD player that also functions as a android TV device ((That is at least as powerful as the nvidia shield pro))). But if I really like a movie or show, I'm going to want the physical release.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 21:41
|
|
|
There probably won’t be official physical releases of media in ten years, sadly
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 22:23
|
|
|
I mean, people were saying the same thing 10 years ago (including me). There definitely is a niche market for boutique physical releases. The business model might end up more like records in that you're constantly hunting down limited releases and praying against scalpers, but for fans of physical ephemera don't seem to mind that too much.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 22:30
|
|
|
galagazombie posted:I subscribe to the conspiracy theory that hddvd was created to lose by Microsoft in order to make Sony waste all their money on Blu-ray right when physical media was getting replaced by streaming. If microsoft knew that streaming was going to win they would have put more effort into the xbox
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 22:41
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 26, 2024 11:37 |
|
|
The Xbox One being all in on cable TV in 2013 while Microsoft was chasing what they for some unfathomable reason thought would be the next big market for games consoles will never not be funny to me.
|
|
#
?
Feb 26, 2024 23:08
|
|
