Some newer things just don't seem "right"

Post Reply New Topic

Ditto. Not only do I remember those phones (I'm 24), but we just replaced the last of them in our house (not the 500 but it was corded with push buttons in the base- I think it was a model 2500).

I also have used dial phones, but not often. The Girl Scout house in my town still has a dial phone.

I'm amazed those still work. So many people seem to have switched to tone, it's surprising the telcos haven't got rid of pulse altogether. But while it does work, there's a fun trick you can do.

So, rotary phones have a small break in the circuit for each digit. They work by actually hanging up very quickly each time the dial passes over a number. If it only breaks once, it dials a 1, and so on. If it breaks 10 times, it dials a 0. You can replicate this on touchtone phones by quickly tapping the hookswitch. Tap it 10 times and you'll get the operator. You can dial full phone numbers this way if you give a short pause between each digit, but it's hard to do.

Yea, the traditional landline phone system in truly amazing in its backwards compatibility. True 'antique' phones will work just fine on it and those 'pre-breakup' Western Electric phones were real rugged battleships in quality - drop it on the floor and it will continue to look and work as well as ever - and their sound quality can't be approached by anything made today.

One thing that I do wish were still being made are vacuum tube based radios. The sound quality of any average working tube radio manufactured before about 1960 is far better than most of what is available new today.

Mike

I recently got a great digital camera! It's actually from Panasonic- the lady at the camera shop said that she had one and really liked it. its called LUMIX, has 8.1 megapix! As well as a 10X zoom. It's also the size of a normal (non-professional) camera, so its not bulky and the quality is great!

hope this helps!

I understand what you're saying. When Cd's replaced cassettes they didn't seem right to me, although I got used to them and do like them better than cassettes. Then dvd's replaced vhs tapes and that seemed so foreign and just not right. But again I got used to it and like them too. I have a hard time adjusting to things that change and replace other things. The cell phone thing too, I just recently got one while most people have had them forever. I just couldn't get used to the idea and figured "I don't need that little expensive thing" but it is very handy in case I broke down or I forget something and can call home. I'm obviously not good with change but have to force myself to adjust.

The new Facebook.

I always swore I would never get one, and now I have one, and I don't do a thing with it...it just sits in my glove compartment in case the car breaks down or something

I agree with you on the camera and other things you mentioned. It depresses me at times to see how much the world has changed. I recall that it wasn't too long ago that my best friend in high school was the first one on the block to get a VCR - one of those Beta top-loaders. She had cable TV, too, and I remember being wowed by that. They even had a computer room (her parents were big-time techies) and I used an actual message board program back in 1984, when you had to log into it using DOS commands. Pixels were almost a 1/4" square in size (remember the old Commodore video game systems?). Those days, no one had cell phones, iPods or home computers. They lived just fine without them. Nowadays, people will swear that they can't live without these technologies. As for cameras, I like a good digital camera but the quality of a good photo taken on my old-fangled Canon Rebel 35mm can't be beat - and I have negatives for the photos to prove they're mine -- something you can't do with digital anymore. You can make negatives from digital, but you have to have the right equipment, which most average folks don't have.

Unfortunately this stuff is changing and is always going to be changing. Technology always advances and nothing can be done about it. But I know what you mean because its hard to adapt to and I would say that my family is technologically behind a good 5-10 years.. not just because of money but because of comfort as well. We have a few modern things like an LG tv which we are getting today.. but some things like those old phones from the 80's we still have. Not ready to give those up quite yet.

Am one of those lagging behind, "late adopters".

I leave it to others who are more daring to be "cutting edge" in adapting to new technology, consumer products, and methods of doing things.

Still use mostly cassette tapes (only have few cd's), dial-up connection to internet (heck, I didn't even have computer or go online until early 2004), and my only phone is a landline. Only got cable (tv) in 2006-had never had it before. Have "old" (at least a decade) appliances: microwave, tv set, stereo-and those are fine with me, since they continue to function.

Darn it, guess (in a way) I'm an old appliance: My brain doesn't rapidly shift to keep current with the newest things offered up by the swiftly accelerating pace of change in the larger culture...in other words, am not one of those "comfortable with technology & able to easily understand the inner workings of newfangled devices" folks.

I wait awhile before getting new technologies too, but not because I have trouble adapting to them. I like to wait for the bugs to be worked out, the prices to go down, and the formats to be settled upon. I also don't want to spend a lot of money on something that turns out to be a passing fad and no longer has a support system or that no one makes software for.

I usually wait before my TV goes kaput before getting a new one, and even then I prefer the old one and the new one takes time to adjust. I can adjust quicker to computers though because I understand them quite well. I don't even have a microwave I just don't see the need, I've had one, but like I said, no need.

I also like to wait for the bugs to be ironed out before I see a reason to buy something, oh 8.1MP camera means nothing, really it just means how many pixels CAN be used at a larger resolution, the 10x zoom mentioned was that digital zoom or actual zoom cos digital zoom is not very good. To be honest with most people here 2MP is enough as many people don't even break the standard resolution. anymore. It's the same as saying I got a car that can do 180MP/h How often would you get it that fast, especially with speed limits everywhere, and you wouldn't always do maximum because space is usually an issue just as fuel would be that space.

Couldn't be bothered with quotes in this post today, sorry

That 10X zoom is its normal zoom it can go up to about 15X on digital zoom- like you said the digital zoom isn't very good, but its okay.

we will eventually ruin this planet by doing that...i personally cant wait until usual life declines

I recently went to a "Collectible Camera" store and bought an old film camera. I don't have much money, so I couldn't get a really valuable one. But it is SO much easier to use. I hate all the little buttons, and menus with sub-menus that new cameras have. The film camera I got is easy to use, and click! I can take a picture. I don't have to worry about all the choices I have to set it up to take a picture.

Nothing (yet) beats that analogue photo look, and the fact that you can blow pictures up, but I really, really like the fact that with digital cameras, you immediately know if the photo turned out or not.