Everyday technology that really is amazing

[abcdefz]

Yesterday I got all grateful about the microwave. I mean, it really IS cool that when you want to, you can heat a whole lunch in less than three minutes. When I was a kid, if you wanted to reheat pizza, it involved aluminum foil, an over set at about 200 degrees, and then you had a good fifteen or twenty minutes to wait. So, thanks for the microwave.

The internet, of course. I mean, it's insane how much this really helps out in life. This morning I've already replied to some friends who are coming down for a concert, posted on a message board asking whoever visits there about acoustics and sight lines at the venue; I've done some banking, checked the news, tossed things back and forth with people on this board scattered all over the world, tracked two packages that are coming my way, and done a little research, too.

My blender is awfully cool, too, but I don't expect too many other people will get worked up about that. :D But it's a big time-saver and does a better job than I can do by hand, anyway.

Your turn.

[na§tee]

the internet is of course numero uno. and coming from that, wifi.

the hairdryer. i have a lot of hair (haven't had it cut since 2005 and i hatehatehate having long hair and just tie it up all the time but i constantly say "i can only chop my hair short if i lose x amount of weight" so on it stays) that needs a lot of drying in the morning. if i go out in this weather with wet hair imma die! i'm guessing this isn't on your list, a-z.

[Loppfessor]

As annoying as they can be mobile phones are really cool. I love mine. I mean seriously even if you don't feel like talking to a person you can still send pictures, text, messages and shit like that back and forth over thousands and thousands of miles in seconds. Not too mention there's games for when you're bored, and MP3 player. Plus I really do like being to call someone any time I please. I spend most of my commutes home from work chatting with random friends just to help the time pass easier and less stressful.


Another cool think is DVRs and like Tivo. I don't know much about these things since I've never owned one but I was checking my friends out last night at her house. Man recording all your favorite shows is sweet but more importantly being able to pause and rewind and shit like that is amazing.

[camo]

my Mac, without it I would have no job.

[na§tee]

<3 digital cameras. take much more off-the-cuff snaps than i ever did with film.

[abcdefz]

i'm guessing this isn't on your list, a-z.



It is now. (y)

Yeah -- cell phones, too.

CDs are pretty nuts. I mean, sound reproduction, period, is incredible. Incredible. I'm not sure I'd be content with just the music of me and my neighbors. But CDs are so damned small and handy considering how much music is stored on there and how good the sound quality actually is. Fugghedaboutit.


Computers and storage media are amazing. Floppy disks weren't so great, because information of any real size had to span so many disks. But now, CD-Rs on up... (y)

[abcdefz]

<3 digital cameras. take much more off-the-cuff snaps than i ever did with film.


Yup. With the thousand-monkeys-at-a-thousand typewriters approach, I've actually wound up with a handful of really, really good photos.

[Loppfessor]

Computers and storage media are amazing. Floppy disks weren't so great, because information of any real size had to span so many disks. But now, CD-Rs on up... (y)

Dude I was reading up a bit on holographic memory which is going to be the next big thing in data storage....they're saying you can hold a terabyte worth of data in an area the size of a sugar cube. That shit is fucking amazing. 20 years ago the thought of even having that much data was pretty much unimaginable.

[abcdefz]

Dude I was reading up a bit on holographic memory which is going to be the next big thing in data storage....they're saying you can hold a terabyte worth of data in an area the size of a sugar cube. That shit is fucking amazing. 20 years ago the thought of even having that much data was pretty much unimaginable.



That's, like, four porn movies on one cube!

So, but seriously. That will be amazing.

I'm kind of surprised that someone would develop anything like that for average consumer use, though. Once you buy one, for most of us, that's all you'd ever need, you know?

[ericlee]

As annoying as they can be mobile phones are really cool. I love mine. I mean seriously even if you don't feel like talking to a person you can still send pictures, text, messages and shit like that back and forth over thousands and thousands of miles in seconds. Not too mention there's games for when you're bored, and MP3 player. Plus I really do like being to call someone any time I please. I spend most of my commutes home from work chatting with random friends just to help the time pass easier and less stressful.

Yeah, I was gonna mention that. Mine has a camera on the inside for video calling. It's like the Jetsons becoming reality and shit.

My old mobile had a world clock on it with a map and it would tell you the exact time all around the world. It also had a currency converter as well as a converter for just about anything.

[Loppfessor]

Oh yeah I got another one GPS! Like the car navigators...holy shit man I get lost like all the time but with those things it's freakin impossible.

[abcdefz]

Oh yeah I got another one GPS! Like the car navigators...holy shit man I get lost like all the time but with those things it's freakin impossible.




...you're all set for snow camping this year.

[ScarySquirrel]

That's, like, four porn movies on one cube!

So, but seriously. That will be amazing.

I'm kind of surprised that someone would develop anything like that for average consumer use, though. Once you buy one, for most of us, that's all you'd ever need, you know?
Hmmm... I don't think so. Back when computers started people couldn't even imagine needing more than some tiny about of storage and look at computers today. Hell, my first computer only had a 2.5GB hard-drive with 32MB of RAM.

Personally, I'm still fascinated with records. Needles picking up stuff to re-create sound... that's still impressive to me. I really have nothing I can think of other than what was already mentioned anyway.

[Nivvie]

MP3 players and the like.
I remember having a handbag and glovebox full of tapes for car and walkman, rooting around whilst driving, trying to wind them back in with a pencil.

[Lex Diamonds]

Internet, phone, and since I got it at Christmas I can't imagine not having my iPod.

I was always faithful to CDs, and advocated to all the MP3 owners the joy of getting familiar with an album and hearing it "the way the artist meant for it to be heard". But now I really do see the appeal of having my entire music library (not to mention a few films and TV shows) in my pocket everywhere I go. That's pretty amazing if you ask me. (y)

[marsdaddy]

Satellite radio. Listening to the radio on a drive over 30 minutes can be annoying between the same 12 songs and the commercials. Sure, I can pop in a CD, but don't always have my catalog with me at all times. With satellite, there are 100+ channels with pretty much something for everyone. I switch from old school, to early 'new wave', to kids stuff in seconds. Plus, there is something about discovering (or in my case rediscovering) music on the radio that's very comforting.

TiVo. It saves a lot of wasted tv viewing time waiting for my good shows. I can also watch two (or more) shows that air at the same time. I record any show, watch it whenever I want, and if it's broadcast tv, fast forward through commercials without having to record it on a VCR tape. And with a click of a button, it's erased and ready to record something else. I can also use it to record a movie on a premium channel that I want to watch but can't devote the 2 hours to at the time it airs. So if I don't get to The History of Violence this month, no problem, as I can just TiVo and watch next month. My oldest actually complains now when he has to watch a commercial -- "fast forward through this Daddy, I don't want to watch commercials." :cool:

DVD, Plasma/LCD/HD TV, Home Theater Audio -- I lumped them in just because they all kind of go together. Watching first run or recently released movies at home, with high video quality, and theater like audio is quite a change from watching movies years after their theatrical release edited for broadcast TV. I don't need or have all of this technology -- I really enjoy being in a theater, too -- but it's amazing that it's out there. It might be even more amazing when movies are streamed to theaters over broadband.

[jabumbo]

Oh yeah I got another one GPS! Like the car navigators...holy shit man I get lost like all the time but with those things it's freakin impossible.


its cool and all, but its annoying that nobody can read a map anymore

[milleson]

I'm pretty partial to electricity, myself.


And the technology required to produce and deliver it and stuff.

[marsdaddy]

I'm pretty partial to electricity, myself.


And the technology required to produce and deliver it and stuff.Did you grow up Amish?

[Pres Zount]

bazookas and fighter jets.