isn't modern technology amazing

[not-fishing]

Still have mine.



Never needs batteries.

Lucky guy my wife made me change over to

[Tom]

 :1:  faster for me than an electronic calculator also a pen/paper for simple arithmetic.

[charlie b]

I'll take your Cray story and raise you one Univac.  I took my first computer programming classes (Fortran and Gotran) on one. Vacuum tubes, tape decks, punch cards, and a whopping 16K of memory. 
It was the size of a fairly large room..

Yep, Univac was my first computer job too.  Late 60's.

The Cray was after I did my masters.  Had a group of folks at MIT/LL working for me and they needed the Cray for their atmospheric modeling.  $10k for a few minutes of processing time.

[cruzziguzzi]

I know I am continually shocked by the most (currently) mundane aspects and communication in particular. My wife, being fully invested in communication advances thought it funny that I was completely amazed by her blutoothing (or whatever) our Mini. We're ridding along and she answers, services and completes a business call without me even really understanding how she could talk to the stereo - which until the call - was playing Garth Brooks.

She finishes the call and remarks upon my amazement. To put it in perspective - THIS IS FRIKKEN STAR TREK! Communicating automatically to the open air of an environment. Really!... Think about how fantastical it was to wrap your head around the Captain of the Enterprise being "hailed" and communicating without touching a device.

Later - the very same day, as a former pal was trying to flesh out an employment opportunity in South Africa, he was communicating with me in Arizona, another pal on a Drop Zone on Fort Campbell, Ky and a fourth pal in Pakistan.

Wonders and amazements for a semi-luddite. My family watches me like I'm about half an imbecile when I, in awe, note advances which they've been vividly aware of for months if not years.


Todd.

[Tom]

All of the electronic communications are distractions to the real communication of one on one.  I'm seeing more of the younger people having a hard time of looking you in the eye and having a conversation.  To communicate and have a conversation.  The majority of the millennials are hiding behind the anonymity of a text.  A phone call is hard for them. 

The older generation, Gen X and Baby Boomers are being seduced away from conversations by the electronics.  The Baby Boomers are fine but the Gen X have a hard time articulating their ideas.  I don't know about the current young generation that's up and coming.  They have a hard time using a pen and paper to document their ideas.  Not good.

[Penderic]

I don't know. Stupid computer still talks like a robot. Sheesh.


 



Oh Oh. Not good either.....

[johnr]

Yep , or a guy from the middle of the U.S. contacts a guy in NZ who tracks down a friend who has gone feral and returns him home .

 Oh , hello Phang 

 Dusty

Yeah. My neighbours were particularly impressed by that. I was chuffed to bits too.

[rodekyll]

I started out with the room-sized univacs, sperrys, and IBMs.  I opened the door and walked inside to service it.  Plenty of room to move around.  In those days the big iron was in "computer service bureaus" that contracted for data crunching jobs from utility companies, businesses and eduction facilities.  Information for personnel records, home ownership, college registration, etc was punched onto cards and reports/billing/paychecks were produced.  The data was held on the cards and tape.  Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and others noted the expense, lack of data security, and the privacy issue as good reasons to invent the PC.  The earl marketing assured us that we could own the computer, software, and printer, and have total control of our privacy and information.

The marketing worked.  Within a few months of the IBM XT rollout, computer service bureaus were a thing of the past.  No longer did you rent time on a mainframe to do word processsing, send your personal information or corporte secrets/product development to a central repository for access, and since these were pre-internet years, viruses and malware were not part of the vocabulary, and your data was secure.

Compare that to what Apple, MS, Google, fcebook, and the "cloud" do now.  We've been thrown under the bus, folks.  All promises have been broken, the security, privacy, and centralization has made a 180 turn, and nothing is secure.  You've traded your birthright for pudding.

And that's why I quit.  The luddite in me just can't sleep at night knowing I'm involved in it.

[Nic in Western NYS]

Still and all, my HP15C calculator from 1984 has not been bettered in any significant way-and I even have an HP app on my phone that duplicates it...albeit it is much faster.

HP 35, HP 45, HP 55, HP 65, HP 12c - amazing machines.  I have the HP 65 app on my droid.  Don't recall if there's been an HP calculator thread here - cold weather is settling in for those of us in the northern climes, so it might happen.

[Penderic]

Maybe this is spacecraft's 'impluse' drive? Microwaves into thrust they say, cough cough. 

http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/1.B36120

 

[Aaron D.]

HP calculator thread..it isn't THAT cold! Yet.

Privacy online is easy. If you don't want anyone to know what you are doing don't tell anyone.
If you don't want anyone to know where you are don't carry a cell phone.

My latest phone is being used in my experiment, I'm letting Google have its way with it and using some amazing things that make Star Trek look like, well, a 50 year old TV series.

I needed to know when 45 minutes had passed so I told my phone (by voice) to set an alarm. I did it this morning too for my poached eggs.

Want to see something cool? If you use Google Maps and leave your location services on, check out the "Timeline" feature. It my freak some folks out, as it knows if you went into a particular restaurant!

So far I find the trade-off worth it.

[oldbike54]

 Some of this reminds me of the television smashing parties held in the 1970's and '80's where the organizers made the local news aware of the impending death of several televisions so there would be "film at 9:00" , and then rushed home to watch themselves on the nine 'O clock news . Using modern tech to complain about modern tech 

 Dusty

[giusto]

I'm scared...what's next?

a mini drone that flies next to your bike blue toothed to the controls so all we do is balance and steer...but it'll be soooo safe

ugh

[Mr Pootle]

And yet....it still takes as long to fly from London to New York as it did in 1971. The planes are still noisy, and they still require long runways.

[Lannis]

And yet....it still takes as long to fly from London to New York as it did in 1971. The planes are still noisy, and they still require long runways.

Some things are hard to improve on, no matter how "technology" advances.   

The B-52 bomber will be almost 100 years old before it's taken out of service of the last Air Force Reserve units.

Douglas DC-3s are still hauling freight 80 years after first flying.

The Colt 1911 .45 caliber Auto Pistol is still a standard sidearm in many military and police units, 115 years after it was invented.

A 2016 Cadillac and a 1916 Cadillac still have the same gas pedal and brake pedal, the same steering wheel, the same rubber tires on 4 wheels, an electric Bendix starter, a crankshaft, pistons, burn gasoline, have a differential, a radiator, valves, piston rings ....

That's a LOOONG time in a Moore's Law world of electronic advances....

Lannis

[Aaron D.]

Actually, and I'm sure everyone knows, it was faster NY/London for a long time than it is now. May someday be faster again, too.

I recently watched a movie called "Bombers B52" with Natalie Wood and Karl Malden, from maybe 1958?

[Kentktk]

And yet....it still takes as long to fly from London to New York as it did in 1971. The planes are still noisy, and they still require long runways.

But it costs less in than in 1971. it`s one of the only things that is actually less expensive than 45 years ago. People want cheap so they get relatively slow 1950's technology. Very few would pay even $100 more to get there 90 minutes sooner. As with everything, it`s all about money.

[Tom]

 :1: with Lannis.  We still cook generally speaking with the same type of arrangement that our grandparents did.  Pots and pans on a stove.  Very little improvement there.  Cars and motorcycles on pneumatic tires.  Drinking water.

[Kentktk]

Compare that to what Apple, MS, Google, fcebook, and the "cloud" do now.  We've been thrown under the bus, folks.  All promises have been broken, the security, privacy, and centralization has made a 180 turn, and nothing is secure.  You've traded your birthright for pudding.

I agree, people will be in for a rude awakening someday when a cloud service loses your wedding pictures, or decide to up the cost on storage and hold your baby pictures or important documents hostage until you pay up.

[Aaron D.]

That's funny! I've had a hard drive crash. I've seen prints damaged by humidity and mildew. And many photographer hobbyists have all their collections tossed in the dumpster.

A cloud service isn't so bad. Besides how many cat pictures does the world need?

[azguzzirep]

We'll be moving to Germany soon, but the sting of leaving my friends and family is softened by technology.

-Joe
[/quote]

It made my living here bearable 😊

Tom

[Tom]

 :1: on that.  It does help people that move here to stay in touch.  I may crank up Skype for next year when the youngest go off to college.  If not it'll be back to "old school".  Drop in.  He'll hate that.

[johnr]

The internet has had a very positive effect in my life. It takes up too much of my time, though and in that way it can be a problem. 

Like all technologies  it is a tool for us to use but are not required to use.  It can be a problem for us when a technology becomes an expected norm. 

An example is cell phones. I have one, but I only have a basic flip lid one for emergency use. I have no need for a smart phone and limited use for for my basic one. It spends most of it's time switched off. 

Various people and companies I have dealt with though don't seem to understand the concept of me having a land line as my main phone. They grapple with and sometimes refuse to accept me not providing them with a cell phone number. Some companies ( ISPs ) have told me that they can not proceed without a cell phone number!  Now that is a problem.

When it comes to privacy I put no information about myself on line that could not be easily found using other means. That doesn't leave much that's private when you look at it. 

I don't understand (yet) the 'cloud' so I don't use it. I have also yet to see any need to use it either. 

[Lannis]

Some companies ( ISPs ) have told me that they can not proceed without a cell phone number!  Now that is a problem.

Someone (a young millenial Genius in their IT department, I'm sure) recently tried to update the Social Security Administration's on-line security process.

Keep in mind that the majority of the folks who use the SSA's site are 62 years old or over, although there are other folks (disability, etc) who use it too.

They sent out a strongly and obnoxiously worded letter that said that in order to access their website, you must have not only a computer but a text-capable cell phone, and essentially "verify" your on-line login with a text from the cell phone.

Well, I don't have the latter, never will, so I said "Bugger this" and resigned myself to dealing with the SSA (much more interesting now that they send me a check each month) through the phone or personal visits.

But lo and behold, three weeks later comes an apologetic letter, worded appropriately for a a public servant speaking to the people he serves rather than a jack-booted dictator making demands, saying that other security measures have been taken, that the cell-phone thing is being reversed, and you no longer need a text device to access their system.

They've probably never even met any of the people that use their services anyhow, and imagined that everyone on the system was a smart-phone-addicted Borg of some sort.   I'd like to have been the guy who set them straight, but no such luck.

Lannis

[rodekyll]

Do you mind sharing the text of this obnoxiously-worded message that smacks of a "jackbooted dictatorship" in control of SSI?  I for one would REALLY like to read it.  I'm just getting into this level of bureaucracy, and I haven't gotten much mail from them, so I don't doubt what you claim even a little bit.  But your communications seem quite different than the ones I've been reading.  I don't even get jackboot footprints on mine.  Maybe they're saving it until after I'm signed up?   

I'll excuse your inability to produce it in advance.   

[Aaron D.]

Oh goodness, folks.

Though my dealings with government agencies as a vendor have me nodding in unison with Lannis...there's a place in the world for a bureaucrat, but the wrong person in that position can commit grievous harm.

[Lannis]

Do you mind sharing the text of this obnoxiously-worded message that smacks of a "jackbooted dictatorship" in control of SSI?  I for one would REALLY like to read it.  I'm just getting into this level of bureaucracy, and I haven't gotten much mail from them, so I don't doubt what you claim even a little bit.  But your communications seem quite different than the ones I've been reading.  I don't even get jackboot footprints on mine.  Maybe they're saving it until after I'm signed up?   

I'll excuse your inability to produce it in advance.   

You've got me.   I see jackboots when I read (on-line, in this case) missives from "civil servants" telling me that I either need to comply with an inane policy, or be cut out of the system.

But I'll leave the imagery out of the message next time.     The young borg that wrote it was probably in his pajamas and fuzzy slippers, anyhow ....

Lannis

[rodekyll]

*shrug*

Aaron, a lot of my business was done on government contracts.  It gave me a real education about the meaning and nature of the term "petty bureaucrat".  I saw them more as unimaginitive obstructionists than jackbooted dictators.  I can see the same in my early dealings with SSI.  But it's a loooong stretch from there to jackboots.

Thanks for that, Lannis.  It's good to keep perspective.

[redrider]

Amazing? Then why do we endure fogged visors when sci-fi and NASA seem to have the problem solved?

[Penderic]

Old tech ...




Modern tech! It's a radio transmitter!




Future tech! Two way TV!   :