New technologies appear all the time, and when they do we exchange our old tech with bigger and better gadgets. But what happens to the old tech? We have a tendency to let them fade into history. An illustration of this this is the landline telephone. Many people still have them in their home but they are being replaced by cell phones. And it’s not difficult to imagine that in the near future they will no longer be a household item.
Here’s a peek at some other key pieces of technology that were once important and are now on their way to becoming useless. In fact, a number of these gizmos might become obsolete during the next 10 years.
Fax Machines: Don’t you hate receiving or sending faxes? It’s not just you. The fax machine, once the height of gee-whiz technology, is now a pain in the posterior. Don’t be shocked if all our “faxing” in the near future is done totally through e-mail.
Newspaper Classified Ads: The Huffington Post recently stated in an article that classifieds are on their way out. This is predominantly due to websites like Craigslist. Sites such as this create huge forums for people to search classifieds all over the country and create their own for free. This may put the old fashioned newspaper classified section out of commission.
Film-Based Cameras: People love film, and it has taken some time to phase it out, but there’s no denying that the digital camera changed photography permanently. Kodak has felt this transition more then most, so much in fact that the company is no longer making cameras. People like digital cameras because they can save their photos easily and make prints without having to save negatives that degrade. We shall see how much longer film-based cameras last, but they are definitely on their way out.
The Calculator Watch: In its short-lived life; the calculator watch was a well-loved item. It made it easy to always have a calculator handy when you needed one. When cell phones with built in calculators came into existence, the calculator watch went out the window. It’s pretty obvious why PCWorld listed it as an obsolete technology.
The Video Arcade: This might come as a shock, but the video arcade may be on its way out also. It’s a shame, because many gamers have fond memories of feeding quarters into Space Invaders or Donkey Kong at the local arcade. But these days, gamers have their systems in their homes and can play with people all over the earth.
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