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nigga crab pollock
Mar 26, 2010

by Lowtax
I can't count the number of times i've heard "the hard drive got fried by a virus so i'll just get a new laptop"

Either they're making up excuses to get a new computer (but the people that say it are always penny pinching poor???) or they got lied to by whatever tech guy to get a laptop/hard drive purchase

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Oppenheimer
Dec 26, 2011

by Smythe
Do people think that computers are pressed from a mold and irreducible?

If the CD player breaks in uyour car do you replace it or the car?

Debunk This!
Apr 12, 2011


The Nokia N-Gage was one of the first attempts to combine a cell with mobile gaming. It was also a spectacular failure. Does anyone know anyone who bought one of these? Seen one in the wild? I doubt it. You had to hold them sideways and speak into the rim to use it like a phone and they were apparently just awkward all around.

Cubone
May 26, 2011

Because it never leaves its bedroom, no one has ever seen this poster's real face.

Oppenheimer posted:

Do people think that computers are pressed from a mold and irreducible?

Yes. Kind of. Computers are sufficiently complex that to many people they are basically magic boxes, and if anything's wrong with them you could either take it to a wizard to have the magic put back in, or just get a new one from the magic box company. Because, I mean, gently caress it, you don't know anything about magic.

With a car you basically get that the engine makes the wheels go and everything else is kind of helping with that. With a computer, even the operating system is so many layers of abstraction from what's going on at the most basic level that... yeah, it might as well be magic to most people. With a car, even if you have no clue what a crankshaft is, you know if it's broken you can get that fixed and it has nothing to do with your windshield wipers. With a computer, the hard drive, CPU, ram, monitor, keyboard, etc. are all regularly mistaken for "The Computer".

Captain Drumline
Jan 28, 2007
I'M CAPTAIN DRUMLINE, THE ROCK AND ROLL CLOWN!

I DO COCAINE!

Rare Collectable posted:

The Nokia N-Gage was one of the first attempts to combine a cell with mobile gaming. It was also a spectacular failure. Does anyone know anyone who bought one of these? Seen one in the wild? I doubt it. You had to hold them sideways and speak into the rim to use it like a phone and they were apparently just awkward all around.

To quote an old saying from times past, "You bought an N-gage, didn't you?" Bwaahaha, what a piece of junk that was.

Cool Web Paige
Nov 19, 2006

Rare Collectable posted:

The Nokia N-Gage was one of the first attempts to combine a cell with mobile gaming. It was also a spectacular failure. Does anyone know anyone who bought one of these? Seen one in the wild? I doubt it. You had to hold them sideways and speak into the rim to use it like a phone and they were apparently just awkward all around.



A friend of mine had the first generation "Taco Phone" model, it was terrible in every aspect.

amishbuttermaster
Apr 28, 2009

Cubone posted:

Yes. Kind of. Computers are sufficiently complex that to many people they are basically magic boxes, and if anything's wrong with them you could either take it to a wizard to have the magic put back in, or just get a new one from the magic box company. Because, I mean, gently caress it, you don't know anything about magic.

That's not only hilarious but a pretty apt observation as well.

Creature
Mar 9, 2009

We've already seen a dead horse

Rare Collectable posted:

The Nokia N-Gage was one of the first attempts to combine a cell with mobile gaming. It was also a spectacular failure. Does anyone know anyone who bought one of these? Seen one in the wild? I doubt it. You had to hold them sideways and speak into the rim to use it like a phone and they were apparently just awkward all around.



I knew someone who had one of those. It looked dumb as hell when they talked into it. Wasn't the N-Gage the one where you had to remove the battery to change the little game cards?

nocal
Mar 7, 2007

Creature posted:

I knew someone who had one of those. It looked dumb as hell when they talked into it. Wasn't the N-Gage the one where you had to remove the battery to change the little game cards?

Yes, and also spawned the meme known as "sidetalking".

Away all Goats
Jul 5, 2005

Goose's rebellion

On the bright side, the n-gage did spawn one of the best websites/memes ever.

SIDE TALKIN'
efb

Away all Goats has a new favorite as of 05:42 on Jul 16, 2012

Humboldt Squid
Jan 21, 2006


Also, I don't know if this is still true or not, but the cheapo e-machines and whatnot that a lot of people used to buy are basically non-upgradeable, or at least non-self upgradeable.

JediTalentAgent
Jun 5, 2005
Hey, look. Look, if- if you screw me on this, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine, you rat bastard!

Humboldt squid posted:

Also, I don't know if this is still true or not, but the cheapo e-machines and whatnot that a lot of people used to buy are basically non-upgradeable, or at least non-self upgradeable.

By a similar note, a relative bought a Barbie-branded PC about 10 years ago that was bolted shut: You'd need a drill to open the case.

Sunshine89
Nov 22, 2009
From 2003 to 2006 some areas in Toronto had access to an innovative solution in search of a problem, Dexit



Dexit was an RFID key tag that functioned like a debit card. You went online to load the card, and would tap it without having to put in a PIN or signature. In theory, it had the advantages of a debit card (you don't have to remember to pay it, no interest) and a credit card (no transaction fees), but in practice, it was one more thing to carry around, you could only put $100 on it (and had to remember to load it), very few places accepted it, and there were no perks for using it.

It was advertised heavily, but I never saw anyone use it.

Combo
Aug 19, 2003



Geoj posted:

Don't ask me how we've made it four pages without these mentioned...



PDAs

Kind of like a smartphone, only without the phone and a whole lot less capable. Kind of a crude handheld computer that could do rudimentary internet browsing, some multimedia and mostly e-mail and scheduling/calendar functions. I never owned one but knew a few people who did and never really saw the point in dumping hundreds of dollars on one.

Although they definitely were a stepping stone to the smartphone as we know it today so I guess they weren't a complete failure...

My very first cell phone (in 2000 I think?) was actually a PDA with a phone attachment that plugged into the top of it. Up until a couple months ago I was still using the same sim card, too. When my phone booted up it still said VoiceStream in the corner instead of Tmobile. The girl at the tmobile store was really confused.


edit: actually I was wrong, it wasn't a palm, it was a Handspring VisorPhone.

Combo has a new favorite as of 07:33 on Jul 16, 2012

Factory Factory
Mar 19, 2010

This is what
Arcane Velocity was like.

Sunshine89 posted:

From 2003 to 2006 some areas in Toronto had access to an innovative solution in search of a problem, Dexit



Dexit was an RFID key tag that functioned like a debit card. You went online to load the card, and would tap it without having to put in a PIN or signature. In theory, it had the advantages of a debit card (you don't have to remember to pay it, no interest) and a credit card (no transaction fees), but in practice, it was one more thing to carry around, you could only put $100 on it (and had to remember to load it), very few places accepted it, and there were no perks for using it.

It was advertised heavily, but I never saw anyone use it.

Similarly, my debit card had an RFID tag for about three months. I used it all of twice, and one of those times had enough fumbling with the reader that it would have been faster to swipe. The bank didn't explain why it was sending new cards, or that the little metal doodad proudly adorning the front of the card was in fact an RFID tag.

Except earlier that month, all the stories hit the news about, oh gosh, some guy with a reader could walk down the street and skim data from passers-by, so maybe it wasn't a great idea. But no problem, the data is encrypted, right? Well, the readers containing keys for decryption are available for $8 on eBay and the read can be passed off as an rear end pat, or the device can be modded for more range.

Three months later, about long enough for a round of corporate hand-wringing, I got yet another new card in the mail.

Chikimiki
May 14, 2009
Speaking of failed mobile computing systems, of my favorite failed (and in my opinion underrated ) technologies is the Nokia N900:



This bulky thing was a whole computer running a linux distribution, had a physical keyboard and a terminal application. It was basically a nerd's wet dream, and you can find a lot of cool proof of concepts on the web.
Unfortunately it had a lot of shortcomings: a resistive touchscreen, a stylus, it was twice as thick as an iPhone, had no app store (apt-get doesn't count) and very few apps to speak of (desktop linux applications don't count either :v: ).

Had it been slightly more polished and more user-friendly - the N9 was a step in the right direction but too late - it would have been a serious iPhone competitor instead of a nerd's substitute.

7lip
Mar 25, 2009

Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.
I bet I'm still proficient in that Palm Pilot "graffiti" shorthand lettering bullshit.

Bip Roberts
Mar 29, 2005

Chikimiki posted:

Had it been slightly more polished and more user-friendly

That's the been the story people have been saying with everything linux infinity BC to today.

champagne posting
Apr 5, 2006

YOU ARE A BRAIN
IN A BUNKER


That's not a wqerty keyboard :stare: . What were they thinking?

mrkillboy
May 13, 2003

"Something witty."

Sunshine89 posted:

From 2003 to 2006 some areas in Toronto had access to an innovative solution in search of a problem, Dexit



I can't help but be reminded of the current movement to popularise wireless payments via your smartphone.



You still need a phone that actually have the NFC chips installed, but I guess its better than having a tiny looking card that might get lost in your bag.

Kidney Stone
Dec 28, 2008

The worst pain ever!

Boiled Water posted:

That's not a wqerty keyboard :stare: . What were they thinking?

Might be because that's a French keyboard layout?

mystes
May 31, 2006

Boiled Water posted:

That's not a wqerty keyboard :stare: . What were they thinking?
That picture is probably just not the US model.

champagne posting
Apr 5, 2006

YOU ARE A BRAIN
IN A BUNKER

Kidney Stone posted:

Might be because that's a French keyboard layout?

I never before thought I would pity the french.

JediTalentAgent
Jun 5, 2005
Hey, look. Look, if- if you screw me on this, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine, you rat bastard!
About 5-8 years ago there was a minor bump in the US for store-bought HDD DVRs that weren't part of any subscription plan like Tivo or part of your cable/sat. plans.

Several companies made them, then overnight they all seemed to vanish. I think Magnavox was the one lone company that was still producing them for a US market, but not even Wal-mart or Amazon seems to have them now. (They've gone from about $200 new to over $400 USED. New ones on Amazon are listed at over $1000) However, I hear that part of the issue with why these devices stopped being made was because other companies held patents and the growing number of people with DVRs with their cable or satellite just didn't need or want them.

It's sort of funny because when I mention them to people they're really interested in them because they feel it would suit them perfectly.

Even something like the Sandisk V-Mate, which seemed poorly reviewed upon release, has managed to gain a following now and used ones go for about the same price as new when they came out.

edit: Are there even any decent DVD recorders with built-in tuners, anymore?

JediTalentAgent has a new favorite as of 12:19 on Jul 16, 2012

Mister Kingdom
Dec 14, 2005

And the tears that fall
On the city wall
Will fade away
With the rays of morning light

JediTalentAgent posted:

edit: Are there even any decent DVD recorders with built-in tuners, anymore?

Not that I've seen. Hell, even decent plain recorders are hard to find.

mystes
May 31, 2006

JediTalentAgent posted:

About 5-8 years ago there was a minor bump in the US for store-bought HDD DVRs that weren't part of any subscription plan like Tivo or part of your cable/sat. plans.

Several companies made them, then overnight they all seemed to vanish. I think Magnavox was the one lone company that was still producing them for a US market, but not even Wal-mart or Amazon seems to have them now. (They've gone from about $200 new to over $400 USED. New ones on Amazon are listed at over $1000) However, I hear that part of the issue with why these devices stopped being made was because other companies held patents and the growing number of people with DVRs with their cable or satellite just didn't need or want them.

It's sort of funny because when I mention them to people they're really interested in them because they feel it would suit them perfectly.

Even something like the Sandisk V-Mate, which seemed poorly reviewed upon release, has managed to gain a following now and used ones go for about the same price as new when they came out.

edit: Are there even any decent DVD recorders with built-in tuners, anymore?
Yeah I think DVRs, computer TV tuner hardware, and the current ease of purchasing/streaming TV shows quickly after they air have together killed the market for standalone video recording devices. This may be slightly unfortunate since it means that non-computer savvy people who just want to, for example, permanently archive a segment from a local news program may be pretty screwed.

However, for people who know what they're doing there are plenty of computer/network based devices for recording tv.

DrBouvenstein
Feb 28, 2007

I think I'm a doctor, but that doesn't make me a doctor. This fancy avatar does.

mrkillboy posted:

I can't help but be reminded of the current movement to popularise wireless payments via your smartphone.



You still need a phone that actually have the NFC chips installed, but I guess its better than having a tiny looking card that might get lost in your bag.

Exactly what I was going to say...but Google Wallet does have advantages over other RFID payment systems, in that the decryption chip or whatever is move locked-down. I don't think it's possible for someone to just go buy an $8 RFID reader thingy and drain your bank account from passing you on the street.

Of course, the extra security has now brought out some problems of it's own. If someone wants to load a custom ROM on their Android phone, but forgets to wipe their info from Google Wallet first, then Google Wallet locks itself out and can no longer be used on that phone...at all. Even if the original ROM is loaded back, even after an entire factory reset, Google Wallet is borked on that phone forever, at least right now. Google might release an update to fix it, but they might not.

mystes
May 31, 2006

Factory Factory posted:

Similarly, my debit card had an RFID tag for about three months. I used it all of twice, and one of those times had enough fumbling with the reader that it would have been faster to swipe. The bank didn't explain why it was sending new cards, or that the little metal doodad proudly adorning the front of the card was in fact an RFID tag.

Except earlier that month, all the stories hit the news about, oh gosh, some guy with a reader could walk down the street and skim data from passers-by, so maybe it wasn't a great idea. But no problem, the data is encrypted, right? Well, the readers containing keys for decryption are available for $8 on eBay and the read can be passed off as an rear end pat, or the device can be modded for more range.

Three months later, about long enough for a round of corporate hand-wringing, I got yet another new card in the mail.
So I had assumed these cards were like smartcards (which use public key authentication to approve individual transactions and are designed so that you can never get the private key off the device, making them impossible to duplicate) and would be resistant against this sort of thing but apparently that functionality is optional in both the cards and the readers, and most of the cards may just effectively be the RFID equivalent of a magnetic stripe. This is really an unfortunate wasted opportunity to massively improve credit card security.

Arivia
Mar 17, 2011

Dusseldorf posted:

That's the been the story people have been saying with everything linux infinity BC to today.

gently caress that. -g3 -fruityloops forever, you can only get a license to use a computer if you can compile glibc WITH YOUR TEETH.

Baiku
Oct 25, 2011


It's like I'm really talking into a taco! :iamafag:

Disco Pope
Dec 6, 2004

Top Class!

Rare Collectable posted:

The Nokia N-Gage was one of the first attempts to combine a cell with mobile gaming. It was also a spectacular failure. Does anyone know anyone who bought one of these? Seen one in the wild? I doubt it. You had to hold them sideways and speak into the rim to use it like a phone and they were apparently just awkward all around.



When I worked for a game store during/slightly after Uni, we ended up selling Ngage games for 2p each and the console itself for some silly low price too.

RC and Moon Pie
May 5, 2011

JediTalentAgent posted:

About 5-8 years ago there was a minor bump in the US for store-bought HDD DVRs that weren't part of any subscription plan like Tivo or part of your cable/sat. plans.

Several companies made them, then overnight they all seemed to vanish. I think Magnavox was the one lone company that was still producing them for a US market, but not even Wal-mart or Amazon seems to have them now. (They've gone from about $200 new to over $400 USED. New ones on Amazon are listed at over $1000) However, I hear that part of the issue with why these devices stopped being made was because other companies held patents and the growing number of people with DVRs with their cable or satellite just didn't need or want them.

It's sort of funny because when I mention them to people they're really interested in them because they feel it would suit them perfectly.

Even something like the Sandisk V-Mate, which seemed poorly reviewed upon release, has managed to gain a following now and used ones go for about the same price as new when they came out.

edit: Are there even any decent DVD recorders with built-in tuners, anymore?

Wait. What? I use a Toshiba DVD recorder with tuner that I got at the end of 2008. I had no idea that these things are difficult to find now. A quick search says a 4-year-old piece of electronics is selling for more than I bought it ($110, I think).

I'm also still occasionally using a Sanyo VCR for when I'm not sure I want to permanently save it.

Bonzo
Mar 11, 2004

Just like Mama used to make it!
I volunteer for a technology museum and we have most of the stuff you guys are posting.

http://pcmuseum.ca/

ChlamydiaJones posted:

Yeah, Capacitance Electronic Disk system, I had one and around 100 movies for it. I kept that drat thing working for years and years. I had to take it apart every 3 or 4 movies to adjust the bits that removed the disk from the carrier since they bent incredibly easily. Other than them being VERY temperamental they were INCREDIBLY HEAVY. One copier paper sized box of them would rip the bottom out of the box if it wasn't reinforced with duct tape. They produced a VERY nice quality picture and the sound was great as well. Also if the disk got scratched or the player got bumped it would skip in audio AND video which was a fairly cool effect!

The best disk that I had though was "Urgh! a music war" which didn't even make it to youtube until like 5 years ago. ALL of the VHS copies were pirated from the CED due to problems with licensing and copyright since the movie was exclusively released to CED (which then failed). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urgh!_A_Music_War . Also neither the LPs nor the DVD release in 2006 include Invisible Sex – "Valium" so the ONLY place you can find that one is pirated from CED. THAT disk I cleaned up and still have along with

The end of my CED player came when we had a fire in our apartment that resulted in the fire department pulling all of the plaster off the walls and foaming the whole place. The dust from the plaster mixed with the foam and got into EVERYTHING including the disk cases. They COULD have been cleaned but each one would have taken an hour and the little strips of stuff that brushed the disk clean as it was removed and returned in the machine would have had to be replaced for every disk.


We just found a collection of 5,000 discs and 150 players.

http://pcmuseum.ca/story_ced.asp

The quality was just a hare better than VHS. Testing the players is a bitch because they use the old RF connectors for video. A few of them use composite but we can't get any of those units to work yet.

We've been using old C64 monitors to view the discs.

mystes
May 31, 2006

Bonzo posted:

The quality was just a hare better than VHS. Testing the players is a bitch because they use the old RF connectors for video.
Surely it can't already be that difficult to find a device with an NTSC tuner? Or is this some sort of special different RF connector?

mystes has a new favorite as of 21:46 on Jul 16, 2012

Bonzo
Mar 11, 2004

Just like Mama used to make it!

mystes posted:

Surely it can't already be that difficult to find a device with an NTSC tuner? Or is this some sort of special different RF connector?

We could but we pretty much like to work with what we find laying around. You would not believe some of the stuff we get on our ewaste drop off days.

its all nice on rice
Nov 12, 2006

Sweet, Salty Goodness.



Buglord
My dad has a bit of a knack for buying new technologies that end up failed. Growing up, we had both LaserDisc and BetaMax. Before DVD replaced VHS, we'd go out and rent a bunch of movies from blockbuster and copy them onto blank Betas. I specifically remember watching Free Willy as my dad was copying it. He still has the video camera that records to Beta.
He also decided that HD DVD was a more worthwhile purchase than Blu-Ray. This was about six months before BR "won" the war.

Fauxtool
Oct 21, 2008

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Rare Collectable posted:

The Nokia N-Gage was one of the first attempts to combine a cell with mobile gaming. It was also a spectacular failure. Does anyone know anyone who bought one of these? Seen one in the wild? I doubt it. You had to hold them sideways and speak into the rim to use it like a phone and they were apparently just awkward all around.



it was also awful to play games with. Unresponsive D-pad and numpad with uneven button resistance.
If only they made a Neo Geo phone instead of that crap with terrible launch games.

Aquila
Jan 24, 2003

Pope Mobile posted:

He also decided that HD DVD was a more worthwhile purchase than Blu-Ray. This was about six months before BR "won" the war.

I worked in the bluray business for a while shortly after it won that format war. The insider's perspective was very interesting. I learned that BD won due to solid industry promotion even though most of the people mastering discs and making extras felt that hd-dvd had a much superior set of tools available. Apparently MS not going all the way with backing hd-dvd and putting it on the xbox360 was also turn off to other people in the industry. Also the bluray name is solely due to Sony wanting a somewhat logical continuation to CD and DvD, hence BD. They had someone come up with something that sounded cool and abbreviated to BD.

m2pt5
May 18, 2005

THAT GOD DAMN MOSQUITO JUST KEEPS COMING BACK

Aquila posted:

Also the bluray name is solely due to Sony wanting a somewhat logical continuation to CD and DvD, hence BD. They had someone come up with something that sounded cool and abbreviated to BD.

Not the obvious reason that the laser is blue?

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Amaritudo
Jul 5, 2003

The Bitter Timelord

Aquila posted:

I worked in the bluray business for a while shortly after it won that format war. The insider's perspective was very interesting. I learned that BD won due to solid industry promotion even though most of the people mastering discs and making extras felt that hd-dvd had a much superior set of tools available. Apparently MS not going all the way with backing hd-dvd and putting it on the xbox360 was also turn off to other people in the industry. Also the bluray name is solely due to Sony wanting a somewhat logical continuation to CD and DvD, hence BD. They had someone come up with something that sounded cool and abbreviated to BD.
Yeah HD-DVD had the benefit of having pretty solid standards before the format even rolled out. Every disc would work on any player without fault while Blu-Ray was pissing off customers on a regular basis when newer discs sometimes wouldn't even play if your firmware wasn't up to date. A lot of HD-DVDs had features that their Blu-Ray counterparts couldn't use until much later (300 and Batman Begins for example with PiP).

HD-DVD put up a good fight. It proved that Blu-Ray's superior technical specs were meaningless as HD-DVDs were getting excellent reviews in video & audio. The format also popularized the use of more advanced codecs purely out of necessity. Early Blu-Rays were all in MPEG-2 video and WAV audio while HD-DVD was making use of VC-1, H.264 and Dolby TrueHD.

Really in the end, Blu-Ray won solely because Toshiba just didn't have the Hollywood clout that Sony did. There was a glimmer of hope when Paramount defected to HD-DVD but the loss of Warner put the final nail in the coffin.

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