5 Tech products that will be obsolete in 5 years.

[Shropshire Seagull]

The problem with this article is that 5 years is a very short space of time. What is obsolete from 5 years ago now?

3½ floppy disc / drives for computers
Walkmans that use either cassettes or CDs [now all solid state players]
CRT computer screens - all flat jobbies now

 

[banjo]

Probably - search google for it as there are guides for most devices I think

Cheers.

 

[brightn'ove]

3½ floppy disc / drives for computers
Walkmans that use either cassettes or CDs [now all solid state players]
CRT computer screens - all flat jobbies now

They were all obsolete long before 2009 though. Tech development 09-14 just hasn't been as drastic as say 1999-2004. The thing I can see becoming obsolete in the next 5 years is the 'tower' desktop computer. While people will still use them for work & school, I can't see the average user picking up a desktop computer over a laptop or tablet anymore.

You only need to have a look in PC world to see that desktop computers seem to have vanished.

 

[Biscuit]

People who need serious computing power - gamers, video editors, etc - will always opt for high towers. Not just because they are fully customisable and upgradable, but also cooling is a key advantage

Amen to that. Currently boasting a 15TB harddrive for my work machine. Video editing is intensive.

 

[brightn'ove]

People who need serious computing power - gamers, video editors, etc - will always opt for high towers. Not just because they are fully customisable and upgradable, but also cooling is a key advantage

I did say 'the average user', but I get you.

 

[loz]

I still use minidisc for listening to music in the car - so it isn't entirely obsolete.

I'm still wondering about the tumble-dryer suggestion though!?!

So am I having just bought a condenser tumble dryer, what is going to superseed it...it will not be a washer dryer because they are just not very good, please prey tell?

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

The Crystal Palace Supporters Premier Smartcard.

Oh sorry I thought you said 5 months!

TNBA

TTF

Now that is what I call PLASTIC

 

[Gwylan]

The list of films on Virgin Media is pretty much the same.

Why can't they cater for art-house types?

I'm not talking about art house films necessarily, just some middle of the road entertainment beyond martial arts, vampires and serial killers. And you're right about VM, that's pretty poor as well

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

View attachment 50014

Flat Screen tv's once these curved ones become cheap enough.

Perfect for wall mounting in a lighthouse or windmill

 

[Nibble]

I was very disappointed with Netflix. I found scanning through the options annoying and very little choice indeed. LoveFilm was better and offered more selection but still not fantastic. After you get past page 2 of options you just get 12 pages of shoddy action films that went straight to rental, they usually star Dennis Hopper and Christian Slater and have the title in silver diagonal lettering splitting a badly photoshopped picture of the leads in two. Although, they have a good selection of horror films and rather pervy Italian 70's Nunsploitation films, if that's your cup of bumble.

 

[Meade's Ball]

My family of a thousand robo-weevils are on their last legs. I am always very reluctant to throw away food or ingredients and had accidentally ordered close to a tonne of flour a few years ago when i was somewhat high and imaginarily-moneyed on another form of powder. On top of my fear of waste lies an exhausting for constant cleanliness alongside my incurable miserliness, so i was left with no option but to invent these minute devourers of ground cereal grains. Oddly, i hear them coughing now in the night, and my quizzing of their "queen" has been responded to by a misprogrammed squawk the manual i created has no translation of. I have around 15 kilos of flour left and might just get into some Albion-related bread sculpture with lifesize crumby models of our smallest players that i'll then either butter and eat personally, or invite Tiny Cox and Bridcutt for a tea party in which they nibble merrily on well-baked, soft-centred versions of themselves.

 

[Nibble]

One of the most useless pieces of technology I have ever received was one of those digital photo frames. I think I had the thing on a gallery show for about 2 hours on Christmas day 5 odd years back, switched it off, stuffed it into the magazine rack and it has remained there ever since. Alarmingly useless.

 

[The Large One]

I'm not talking about art house films necessarily, just some middle of the road entertainment beyond martial arts, vampires and serial killers. And you're right about VM, that's pretty poor as well

If they put The Third Man up, I would have it on endless loop.

My favourite film.

 

[happypig]

He's not talking bollocks.

Sadly, the typical person isn't that bothered about quality, and doesn't think about low-light performance.

They want convenience - eg a camera which is always on them, and an easy way to share images.

Regardless of the quality issues, smartphones have already killed the lower-end camera market.

A lot of people want a camera that's just a camera and a phone that's just a phone, without all that smartphone nonsense (not me, I'm well up for technology)

Smartphones will get bigger sensors (much bigger than a current £100 camera).

And, within five years, some are bound to have a pop-up flash and detachable lenses.

It's not sensors that give you image quality, it's optics; you need to get as much light as possible onto the sensor which you simply cannot do with a lens that's only a couple of mm wide.

 

[Curious Orange]

So am I having just bought a condenser tumble dryer, what is going to superseed it...it will not be a washer dryer because they are just not very good, please prey tell?

Don't ask me, I already think they're indispensable! I want to know what could possibly supersede the humble tumble... I'm beginning to think the chap who posted that they'd be obsolete was pulling our collective leg.

 

[Wozza]

It's not sensors that give you image quality, it's optics

Well, it's both. Bigger sensors need bigger lenses, which is why I suggested that some smartphones will have lens mounts. And more will have retracting lenses too.

But, again, the majority/mass market don't care about such matters. They just want convenience.

 

[Wozza]

So am I having just bought a condenser tumble dryer, what is going to superseed it...

I've got "superseed" - and three boys to show for it.

 

[Nibble]

You can already get additional lenses for Smart Phones. A video friend of mine has that new Nokia camera phone with the shit hot camera (for a smart phone). It's taken some craking shots.

 

[willyfantastic]

i think netflix is great
good selection of tv shows, documentaries and indie films and im set

us version is icing on the cake (once accessed)

 

[brakespear]

Don't ask me, I already think they're indispensable! I want to know what could possibly supersede the humble tumble... I'm beginning to think the chap who posted that they'd be obsolete was pulling our collective leg.

Maybe everybody will downgrade to airers like the ones we have at home (never having had a tumble dryer - I will try to maintain that it's because of the expense etc but it's also because we haven't got any room for one ).