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What 'obsolete' tech are you still uisng?

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    #26
    Not really tech, but kitchen tools. We have a garlic cruncher thingy, a potato peeler and I daresay some fish knives. We never use any of them. Nor a specialised poached egg maker given to us some time back. I'm particularly curious as to whether anyone still uses fish knives.

    We do have and occasionally use a spätzle maker, however. Or rather, she does.

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      #27
      My iPod Classic must be a similar vintage to Fussbudget's. I remember taking it on holiday in January 2006.

      I know it's not tech but I inherited a Black and Decker drill from my dad, who died in 1974. So that has to be close to fifty years old. It smells very interesting once it's warmed up.

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        #28
        LiteOn DVD recorder, Sanyo VCR, all my retro consoles and handhelds.

        I'm surprised it isn't more really but then I remember that my last CRT TV died and I haven't replaced it and that I don't use my ten year old laptop or old Samsung MP3 player either.

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          #29
          I don't really understand in what way kitchen tools or drills are not technology. Aren't tools by definition technology?

          Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
          Fussbudget, now that I'm done fanning myself after your invocation of Letraset, do you think that all in record players like the Radiola were more common in France back in the day? Their presence here was, I think, briefer and earlier (50s and 60s)
          Yes they were definitely very common in France, a lot of people in my family had one and you often see them in second-hand shops and flea markets (that's where I found mine). My siblings had a 'mange-disque' like this (absolute wrecker of records, this):

          I've never really seen either type in the UK, though those new colourful Crosley things you see in Urban Outfitters, HMV and the like are certainly in the same vein.

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            #30
            A manual, mechanical wristwatch.

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              #31
              Originally posted by Fussbudget View Post
              Letraset dry transfers
              That's really interesting, may I ask why? I didn't even realise they were still available.

              I still have a number of film cameras: a Speed Graphic, a Nikon F, a Nikkormat. and a Mamiya 7ii, though only the latter gets regular use. Also a Pentax spotmeter. I've also got a ton of darkroom kit, including a Durst M600 enlarger.

              One small piece of tech that will never die is a Sharp calculator I bought in the mid 80s for about $5. It's batteriless, cordless, died simple and does the job as well as the day it came out of the box (actually I'm not even sure it had a box.)
              Last edited by Amor de Cosmos; 12-06-2019, 15:11.

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                #32
                Bicycles and physical books, of course. I use physical hard-drives rather than the cloud. But I'm not sure there's much else.

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                  #33
                  Originally posted by Amor de Cosmos View Post
                  That's really interesting, may I ask why? I didn't even realise they were still available.
                  I don't think they still make them, but they're easy to pick up on eBay. I use them for the texture mostly, you can use them on weird surfaces, layer them, distress them with masking tape or just get slight irregularities in the setting that you can't always easily replicate digitally. Same reason I tend to use scalpel and glue for collages and cut up effects rather than do them straight on screen.

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                    #34
                    Ah, I see. I'm sorry I threw all mine out (I had hundreds of sheets) twenty-odd years ago. I'd have been happy to pass them on.

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                      #35
                      Originally posted by Fussbudget View Post
                      those new colourful Crosley things you see in Urban Outfitters, HMV and the like are certainly in the same vein.
                      And charity shops. You often see them donated... precisely for the reasons you hinted at with the likes of the Radiola i.e. they're shit.

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                        #36
                        Originally posted by San Bernardhinault View Post
                        Bicycles
                        These are far from obsolete in my neck of the woods.

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                          #37
                          Mrs Gauss and I have yet to acquire a flat/wall-mounted TV. We have a telly that sticks out hugely at the back (that means it's cathode ray tube based, right?) and weighs half a ton, vintage circa 2000, and I have a VCR/telly combi upstairs of similar vintage.

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                            #38
                            Originally posted by Amor de Cosmos View Post
                            One small piece of tech that will never die is a Sharp calculator I bought in the mid 80s for about $5. It's batteriless, cordless, died simple and does the job as well as the day it came out of the box (actually I'm not even sure it had a box.)
                            I have one of these too. It sits in a vinylish folder case.

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                              #39
                              Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post

                              I have one of these too. It sits in a vinylish folder case.
                              I have something extremely similar. I expect they're all made in the same factory. They're pretty much indestructible, unless you manage to drop them in liquid or something.

                              Although I do all my sums in Google Sheets these days.

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                                #40
                                I also have a vintage combo organ, 1971 Farfisa dual deck, which I am parting with unfortunately as I am getting a piano instead. Mid-80s Technics tuner/amp and turntable w/ reconed Infinity speakers. 1980 AE1 SLR which I haven't used in ages. Mid-00s Samsung mp3 player bricked on me a few years ago, replaced by Huawei phone. Original Blaupunkt cassette deck on my 1982 Mercedes works well, used mostly with the mp3 adapter cassette, so a lot more useful than the more recent CD decks.

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                                  #41
                                  I have a Black & Decker hammer drill I bought at least thirty years ago. Although I have a cordless Ryobi for any woodworking and most interior jobs, if you need a hole in a masonry wall, it's the B&D every time. Actually tools are probably the main thing for me; many of mine are a similar sort of vintage to the drill.

                                  What I do also have are a hammer and a plier/puller thing I inherited from Dad. Both cast iron, the plier/puller is held with an old-fashioned rivet. I think it's probably my Grandad's as Dad was born in 1924 and I think the tool pre-dates his twenties. I'll get a photo later, also an old camera of Dad's I remember him using when I was very young, and Grannie's 103-year-old Singer sewing machine which still works.
                                  Last edited by Sits; 13-06-2019, 00:53.

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                                    #42
                                    Foam earplugs. I've been tempted to buy some of those new-fangled noise-canceling headphones that are flat so you can sleep with them on, but what if they really aren't as comfortable as they say? For what I would have spent on them, I could buy several thousand of the foam ones.

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                                      #43
                                      Originally posted by linus View Post
                                      I also have a vintage combo organ, 1971 Farfisa dual deck
                                      I'm jealous. Plus Farfisa Compact Duos fetch good money these days.

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                                        #44
                                        For the first time in six years I've decided to add some photos to my Flickr account.

                                        I don't know why. I just felt like it.

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                                          #45
                                          I will probably be using early '90s Akai hardware samplers again at some point, which will involve using floppy disks too. Possibly minidiscs as well. I would also like an analogue radio.

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                                            #46
                                            Originally posted by Femme Folle View Post
                                            Foam earplugs. I've been tempted to buy some of those new-fangled noise-canceling headphones that are flat so you can sleep with them on, but what if they really aren't as comfortable as they say? For what I would have spent on them, I could buy several thousand of the foam ones.
                                            You could kill two birds with one stone and get a pair of Bluetooth earbuds. That's what I did. No wires to tangle, comfortable enough to sleep while using them and if you get decent ones, the battery life should be enough to last the night. I got a pair of JVC ones for about £25.

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                                              #47
                                              CDs. Lots of them. Also DVDs.

                                              I was looking for an old, old file a few weeks back and used a remote disc drive thing to look at the contents of some 3.5 inch floppy discs.

                                              A digital camera.

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                                                #48
                                                Blogger

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                                                  #49
                                                  Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                                                  CDs. Lots of them. Also DVDs.
                                                  Me too to be honest. I just feel happier owning physical product.

                                                  Also CDs are going to become more valuable at some point. I've found some second-hand CDs to be quite expensive and difficult to get hold of.

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