Apparently trains for some people
Trackballs
You might think of them as this old mouse that you had 20 years ago, but actually the technology is still being used for all kinds of things, including ergonomic mouse
I can actually game with one, and I’ve outright worn out 3. They last longer than traditional mice too.
Tape drives. Remember those big reels of tape on mainframes in the 80s? They don’t look exactly like that anymore, but tape is still used for backups/long term archival because they offer the lowest cost per gigabyte and decent longevity without needing to be powered, as long as you don’t need to access the data all that fast or often.
Those dank memes and cat videos you posted in 2010 are probably on tape in a data centre somewhere
Pretty much anything in a machine shop made in the last 80 years or so. So many people turn up their noses at anything that isn’t computer controlled anymore. Yknow what a big old mill can do that a CNC can’t? It can make every single part needed to make a new mill. It’s a self replicating machine with the right know how. People don’t respect that kind of quality anymore.
Can a CNC not do that for just the mechanical parts?
I know way too much about bootstrapping semiconductor production, which is viable but highly impractical.
Fax machines. Government and medical offices would grind to a halt without them. That’s just reality.
Even worse, the US military, at least, is still using teletype machines and COBOL.
Because it can do something that the alternatives can’t do or because they refuse to use something more modern?
Because it works. Every part needed to run those machines, even line of code, every possible cause of failure is well documented and there are layers and layers of redundant protocol to ensure that if something does go wrong downtime is minimal.
The entire purpose of these machines are designed to run for as long as they’re needed. They’re not replaced or upgraded because they were never meant to be. A lot of effort went into this being the case.
“It can’t be hacked”
Of course, it can, and a lot more easily than a TLS stream, but try convincing them of that. So, more like they refuse to use something more modern.
I want to throw a shout out to the site that cloned the old Google reader by making theoldreader.com
Thanks for this, I was so disappointed when Google cancelled Reader.
Guillotines
IRC
Printing out tickets as a backup. I do this for concerts and travel because then I don’t have to worry about batteries dying, wifi/roaming not being available, getting logged out and having trouble getting back to the ticket, etc.
I also print out maps when doing wilderness backpacks because even if you download the map you’ll burn through your battery life well before the hike is over but a paper map is just as good. If I really need to confirm my location I can occasionally turn on the app and shut it off. I keep the maps in a gallon ziplock so water isn’t an issue.
Ticketmaster is doing their very best to make paper tickets unusable with refreshing barcodes. Funny thing is that “anti-theft” feature is needed because of their own systemic failures. I do like tickets that are just sent to my email or similar (e.g. as an attachment that I can save to my phone) though, it’s better than wasting paper when I know my phone won’t fail me.
Being kind to one another
Fax machines and overhead projectors, if you live in Germany. Basically every office here still has a (frequently used) Fax machine and all schools still use overhead projectors.
It was actually quite a shock to me when my University retired their projectors in 2023. They sent an email to each and every student as a warning. Life‘s crazy here.
As a stupid american that took a few German classes in highschool many years ago, I must know, do you call it “der Projektor” or “der Bildwerfer”?
Magnetic tape. Datacenters use it for long term storage.
Writing down your thoughts! It’s not the same as typing things down, writing really makes me feel lighter and somehow reduces my stress levels.
Writing your passwords in a piece of paper. Safer than storing it digitally and easier for people that don’t know how to use password managers or computers in general to understand what to do to access your stuff if you’re under a difficult situation or dead.
Also, physical photos. Yes yes, we all have gigabytes of photos, but almost never check any of them. Physicals catch my glance at home very often, great decoration. I’ve also took to writing the day, place and people on the back, plus any other important bits of context.
I have a reel of photos from our kids’ album on our TV. Cycles every minute or so. Subs for printed photos fairly well.
Gave a digital photo frame, cycling the same pictures to great grandpa though and he died the next day. Make of this what you will.
Grandma approved 😂
Wii console: remote controler plus informatic knowledge make this a trustfull smartTV
Isn’t Wii 720p? Raspberry pi 4 would be better
