Post the very best in obsolete and failed technology

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Kidney Stone: Dec 28, 2008; The worst pain ever!

Boiled Water posted:

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

Might be because that's a French keyboard layout?

# ¿ Jul 16, 2012 11:54

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 06:17

Kidney Stone: Dec 28, 2008; The worst pain ever!

Bonzo posted:

I'm remembering a technology from the early 90s but can't remember enough details to do a good search on it.

It was for audio cassettes and was supposed to be a sound quality that was between a normal cassette and DAT. I remember seeing it advertised in Playboy and Bon Jovi was releasing a album in that format.

You might be thinking about the Digital Compact Cassette (DCC)?

More info here: http://www.deepsonic.ch/deep/htm/philips_dcc900.php

# ¿ Jul 17, 2012 16:36

Kidney Stone: Dec 28, 2008; The worst pain ever!

RoboSpy posted:

Unfortunately (fortunately?) I never experienced Microsoft BOB, but I was wondering if anyone here did? All I know about it I learned from Wikipedia, though I do have vague memories of ads for it when I was a kid, and may have seen a demo computer with it at a CompUSA or something. Does anybody have stories about BOB, or a computer squirreled away somewhere with BOB still installed?

I'm not 100% certain, but I do think that I've got BOB somewhere in my Windows collection (all versions of Windows, from 1.01 to XP).

If interested, I'll take a look tomorrow.

Kidney Stone has a new favorite as of 20:15 on Jul 18, 2012

# ¿ Jul 18, 2012 20:10

Kidney Stone: Dec 28, 2008; The worst pain ever!

Tears In A Vial posted:

I'm a Scout Leader (UK). Our kids parents mostly pay their terms subscriptions with cheques. It's easier for us than cash, as we don't want unlabelled cash floating around, and it discourages people from paying in shrapnel. We don't have card readers and things for payment that way.

There's a reason we haven't set up bank transfers and direct debiting and stuff, but I can't remember what it is...

fellow Scout Leader.

Danish leader here

# ¿ Oct 1, 2012 13:45

Kidney Stone: Dec 28, 2008; The worst pain ever!

Mu Zeta posted:

I can't name a specific European country but I remember reading a bunch of complaints when a website (giantbomb.com) was offering memberships but only accepted credit card. A whole bunch of people from Europe bitched and said they needed to offer Paypal because credit cards aren't as common over there. Maybe they are from some smaller country like Slovenia, i don't know.

Germany seems to have a problem accepting credit cards (VISA / Mastercard) in stores, resturants, hotels - mostly they rely on the EC (Electronic Cash) card.

According to my German part of the family, the problem is that the Germans are afraid that the banks - and then the government can see where they've been and what they used their money on.

Of course since they then use the EC card, the same info could be passed on to the government if wanted.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2012 15:35

Kidney Stone: Dec 28, 2008; The worst pain ever!

Axeman Jim posted:

You guys might find this interesting:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-23330157

Inverkip power station was an oil-fired power station that was completed in the late 70's, just in time for the oil crisis and subsequently very rarely generated any power - all the original systems are still in place from the 1970s. It's being demolished today.

Any ID on that computer? (Nice monitor burn btw)

Used to go by Inverkip power station every day on the way to work.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2013 16:28

Kidney Stone: Dec 28, 2008; The worst pain ever!

Gorilla Salad posted:

Now I'm trying to remember which car had the cantilevered doors that slid into the wheel well and let you open the car doors even when there was very little room next to the car.

Renault Vel Satis?

# ¿ Aug 16, 2013 19:53

Kidney Stone: Dec 28, 2008; The worst pain ever!

DicktheCat posted:

Sonny, back in my day, a cell phone looked like this:

Oh, I'm actually not that old, then. Oops, I guess I'm just crotchety.

Seriously, though, when I was like, 9, these things were out, and you just could not destroy them. My mom dropped hers in the toilet twice. The first time, we took it apart and dried it, and it was alright, but the second time, no go. The battery was all sorts of hosed.

I seem to remember they didn't get great service, though. Nothing is new.

E: nothing much.

I've just got hold of a new (used) Samsung Xcover 271 for use when away with my scouts - got a standby time of 20 days, a GPS, is waterproof and I can access my email and Facebook on it.

# ¿ Jan 18, 2014 14:25

Kidney Stone: Dec 28, 2008; The worst pain ever!

b0nes posted:

I found a computer I never heard of before. My neighbor was moving and let me go through her garage.
Morrow Systems

Is it this one?

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=613

# ¿ Jul 28, 2014 18:54

Kidney Stone: Dec 28, 2008; The worst pain ever!

KozmoNaut posted:

I have a straight no questions asked 10% off on any Lenovo laptop for private use because of a rebate system through my workplace. They really don't expect anyone to pay full price.

I guess LogBuy? Hell, that even works for ex-employees.

# ¿ Nov 27, 2014 19:57

Kidney Stone: Dec 28, 2008; The worst pain ever!

Just used a printer in our office, to print out some drawings and assembly instructions for a trebuchet my scouts are going to build.

So, printing out drawings for obsolete (but very cool) techonology.

# ¿ Feb 11, 2015 14:02

Kidney Stone: Dec 28, 2008; The worst pain ever!

The Gasmask posted:

drat, that's a hell of an improvement. My contacts are -10.5 (don't know the exact distance, but I can't see poo poo with them out), and I've been on the fence for a while about getting LASIK. The fact that your eyes have stayed the same is reassuring.

Not to turn this into a LASIK chat, but my eyesight was, before LASIK, -11 and -13, after LASIK it ended up being -3 and -2.75.

You should get it done

# ¿ Jul 18, 2015 20:00

Kidney Stone: Dec 28, 2008; The worst pain ever!

xlevus posted:

The UK still has this with Argos.

With their laminated book of dreams.

# ¿ Dec 7, 2015 13:52

Kidney Stone: Dec 28, 2008; The worst pain ever!

xlevus posted:

they've redone their stores to use tablets running a slightly better website.

But haven't updated anything else. So you still have to go to the ipad, find what you want, then pay at another machine that's been there since the 90s, and then wait for your poo poo. Which inevitably is broken or wrong.

The entire thing is janky and reeks of code smell.

I think their saving grace is same day delivery with shutl.

From this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggOa9aSG-Ow

# ¿ Dec 9, 2015 12:24

Kidney Stone: Dec 28, 2008; The worst pain ever!

Was looking in my hard- and software cabinet the other day, and found a DVD that I got from eBay.

It contains every version of MS-DOS and WIndows (from 1.01 up to a early build of WIndows Vista - named Longhorn), there's also some version of OS/2.

Quite fun to play around with

# ¿ Mar 16, 2016 13:21

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 06:17

Kidney Stone: Dec 28, 2008; The worst pain ever!

Still using a first gen AirPort Express at home, it's ok.

# ¿ Aug 9, 2019 12:04

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