[Jeroen]

I am an engineer by trade and consider myself a techy by heart. I love technology and any bit of new technology has my interest.

Even so, there appears to be plenty of so-called "obsolete technology" that I am still using. Or if I am not using it, I might be secretly craving it! Of course, there are also those "new technologies that pee me off.

I see the same all around me. Our good friends Berndt and Loes must own at least 7 or 8 different kinds of modern coffee makers. From Nespresso machines to Senseo and a bunch more. But they still revert to traditional paper filters with some ground coffee in it onto which they pour hot water! My eldest sister won't drink any coffee unless made with one of these complicated old percolators.



A couple of my pet peeves and "obsolete technology" are still in use by me.

What is it with these wireless earbuds and earphones?

Give me a set with some proper wires to it anytime! Much safer, you won't lose it. Also, nobody will mistake you for a deaf person with a hearing aid when they see a wire trailing. These "wired" earbuds have been my travel companion for decades!!



I have taken to reading my newspaper online, on my iPad. But only because we live out in the sticks and they don't deliver newspapers here! I love browsing through bookshops. I will always stop and enter a bookshop, wherever I find myself in the world. And I will almost always come out with a proper, real, paper book. I just love to have shelves full of real books all over our house. You can not compare the feel and smell of real books, or magazines, by having them digitally on some sort of device.






I have never gotten into the swing of "writing on my iPad". I love a good ball or fountain pen and a nice notebook. I have a collection of various Moleskin notebooks. On my desk, and with me when I travel. Love those little books. I keep all the old ones and then I revisit them, look at some of the pages and what I wrote down.



I am currently doing some courses to renew some boating and radio certificates I have. Can't study without a proper notebook and a nice ballpoint.



If there is one thing that is keeping me from buying a new car, especially an EV, is the ridiculous insistence of the likes such as Musk we don't need buttons. Only touch screen! Give me a button any time. All my cars have proper buttons and stalks. Not a touch screen in sight except for my TomTom.



Of course, I do have an Apple Watch a Garmin Sports watch and a drawer full of battery and silicone-powered watches. But a real watch is a mechanical watch. No mistake!!



Yes, I have an iPhone 12 Pro and yes I will be replacing it with the new iPhone in the next few weeks. But I also have three iPods!



One in the Alfa Spider, one in the Mercedes W123 and one in the Jaguar. I listen to my music on my iPods, using one of these "cassette" adaptors!



I have to stop now because my blood pressure going through the roof. Just thinking about all the idiots that want to convince me I am using stupid and obsolete technology makes me go red in the eyes!!

What are your pet obsolete technologies? You know your kids are laughing behind your back because you stick to old-school stuff. Your colleagues are wondering what is wrong with you. But you stick to your guns and persist in using these "obsolete technologies" because they are just better!!

Jeroen

[Samurai]

Moving out of Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing - Support Team

[GForceEnjoyer]

Some that come to mind are these:

1. CDs: my most frequently used "obsolete" technology, since one of our cars has only FM/AM and CD capability. I do like the resultant collection of CDs I've ended up with, though.
2. AUX cables. As a drummer who records pieces too, any delay in the sound is a no-go. Hence, I religiously stick with my 5 feet long cables.
3. Analogue watches. I simply like them due to the amount of customisation and sheer variety they offer. This is probably something I'll stick with forever, even if I do end up purchasing a smartwatch in the future.

The reasons for using these are a mix of functionality and style. As rightly mentioned above, physical buttons and stalks simply have no replacement. Even style-wise, a tastefully machined, weighty and well-damped knob reels so much nicer than tapping a screen as far as basics like volume control go.

[IamNikhil]

I still like to play music in the car via my trusted USB pen-drive. Apple Carplay etc is fine when in the city, but the moment I have to step out of Mumbai, my Sandisk 256 GB has been the trusted companion for songs.

[deepfusion]

I am using butterfly blades and razor (numbered) although it gives cuts frequently. The current date 6 blade razors are not fun enough for me.

[NPV]

1. I listen to music content on CDs as well as movies on DVDs and play them using a Sony DVD Player that is 20+ years (connected to a Home Theatre system)

I also have a huge collection of Audio cassettes that are in good condition and used to listen to them till about a year ago when the JVC double cassette deck stopped working. I plan to get this repaired soon and get back into the groove

2. Till 6 months ago, my old car didn’t even have a USB port, so I played music from CDs/MP3s.
My new car does support Android Auto and Apple Car Play, but I still prefer listening to on a Pen drive connected via USB

3. I still prefer Wired earphones/headphones and use them for music and meetings on the computer

4. I still don’t use any digital payment app and prefer cards for anything > Rs.100 and cash/change for anything less and obviously I use an old-school wallet (a Team BHP branded one at that!)

5. I don’t use any online shopping apps on my mobile phone

[2000rpm]

I got a Casio F91W this year.

The ultimate light-wali watch from my childhood. The watch hobby has slowly started to catch me as a result!

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I am an engineer by trade and consider myself a techy by heart. I love technology and any bit of new technology has my interest.

First up, nice handwriting and good to see a Clive Cussler fan My father used to be a big fan of his books and he got me hooked onto it as well.

I still have my old cassettes and CDs and it's a joy taking out the CD and playing some music and reading through the liner notes.

A 3.5mm jack aux cable anyday over bluetooth.

I remember giving my daughter an iPod Classic and she looked at like it was a fossil! She has an Amazon echo now for her music.

Watches, regular old fashioned ones.

I guess, being an 80s kid, it's sort of a hybrid when it comes to new and obsolete tech.

On that note, i really wish i had a good audio cassette player if only to play my tapes and relive those forgotten days...

[anandhsub]

The most obsolete piece of technology I use is Excel for data analysis when almost everyone in the industry have moved on to Python and R.

I still feel Excel is way more intuitive when trying out new things and at the same time thankful we have a team specialised in the newer languages and they are easily able to adapt new ideas to large datasets with very low latency which is near impossible in excel.

[Vinod_nair]

Brilliant thread @Jerome, so nostalgic.

I still own
HMT watch
Nano '16 with the last of car's with a CD player.
Olympus camera with popup flash and zoom lens.
My daughter's marriage video cassettes.
Palm sized Olympus digital camera.

Let me fish them out for posterity.

[rajeevsulu]

Hi
My Accent has a CD player and i love it because it is very clear. I use the wav format and so audio is not compressed.
I also love my watches. The old type heavy ones. I still prefer reading my novels as paperback edition rather than on kindle
I watch my marriage tape on my vcr once in a way and have a 500 audio casette collection which I listen to on my national deck
Cheers to good old times

[aviator1101]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

What are your pet obsolete technologies? You know your kids are laughing behind your back because you stick to old-school stuff. Your colleagues are wondering what is wrong with you. But you stick to your guns and persist in using these "obsolete technologies" because they are just better!!

It's difficult to beat me in this.


Refer the photograph above.

Onto the left is a manually wound gramophone player inherited from my grandfather. It is still in working condition and the records though not as good as before do still play with lot of noise albeit. And I do have a sizeable collection of old Bengali and Hindi songs. One song on each side of a record.

Onto the right is a Philips music system which I was gifted by my dad way back in 2000. It's cassette player, CD player and Radio receiver still work flawlessly. It doesn't play MP3 or DVD and doesn't have a USB port either, leave aside Bluetooth and other frills. But what is does well is play music with lot of depth and I still love listening to the old cassettes and CDs (12-15 tracks in a CD).

Both are my prized possessions.

[dailydriver]

Not technology per se, but something near related:

I still fancy the art of using pen and paper to record my occasional musings. As an extension, in a sea of audiovisual content, I still prefer to read.

Stretching the fetish a little further, I try to look up a printed dictionary for an unfamiliar word - as opposed to googling it.

[aviator1101]

Since it's an automotive forum, thought my 2000 model 350cc RE Bullet would also qualify.



It has run 1,51,000 kms and uses the following obsolete technology :-

• Cast iron cylinder
• Pushrod operated valves
• Carburettor
• 4 speed Albion gear box with neutral finder
• Separate Engine, Clutch Housing and Gear Box
• Drum brakes
• Magneto Ignition
• Manual decompressor
• Kick starter

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by aviator1101

It has run 1,51,000 kms and uses the following obsolete technology :-

• Cast iron cylinder
• Pushrod operated valves
• Carburettor
• 4 speed Albion gear box with neutral finder
• Separate Engine, Clutch Housing and Gear Box
• Drum brakes
• Magneto Ignition
• Manual decompressor
• Kick starter

Obviously that is what a real Bullet looks like. Mine was a 1974 with the exact same spec!

None of that modern electronic and injection crap!

Nothing and I mean nothing can replicate the sound of a true RE Bullet. My wife who is the least technically inclined person in the universe could hear me arriving on my Bullet whilst I was still 2-3 streets away!
Jeroen