[Misc] Items that made you think "GAME CHANGER"

[Garage_Doors]

The internet,
Really did not see that coming

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

Ribbed Ticklers.

 

[Reagulls]

Spotify and a decent streaming amp....many, many cds now redundant

 

[cheshunt seagull]

Got my first re-conditioned VCR from OTV in Hackney in 1985 for 150 quid; a lot of money then. It was a huge, ugly machine with massive buttons and was incredibly complex to set up and set but I found the thought that I could watch a programme when I wanted to, could be out when things were on and still see them etc. totally mind-blowing.

At work we started searching data online in 1987, expensive and slow with modems and acoustic couplers and complex search languages but it seemed amazing that I was logging into computers in California to get scientific papers, newspaper articles etc. I wouldn't have imagined then that we would now all be doing basically the same thing all the time.

 

[Klaas]

Good thread!

Another vote for Mini-disc recorders. I thought they were amazing, still have mine.

VCR is a great shout.

Mario 64, the first time you climbed a hill then looked out on the world below.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

Walking football - invented at the perfect time for my age.

See Mexico World Cup 1970, played in 100 degree heat and predominantly at walking pace. Fast forward to Qatar in 2022.

 

[The Clamp]

Podcasts and Iplayer. Transformed my commute. I have quite literally never been bored since I got into them a few years ago.
Try explaining to anyone under 25 what being bored is, they won't understand.

DVD's. I have always loved films and love DVD's. You have a menu, extra features, can skip to any scene. I still buy and watch them, much prefer it to online viewing.

Flat screen tv's . Overnight we went from watching stuff on a huge lumps of cathode with bulging glass screens to sharp images on a lovely flat surface.
Although I will always have fond memories of my Matsui portable TV/VHS combo set. Playing Sega on one of those sums up the early 90's for me.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

Health experts.
How on earth did we cope before them? I didn't know you had to drink 2 litres of water a day. I only drank water when I felt like it or when I was thirsty. Incredible to live in such ignorance. The criminal activities of school canteens, serving up great dollops of heavy puddings and custard and stodgy main meals to starving kids, who then, knowing no better, went and ran it all off in the playground. Serving up wholemilk free to the kids was tantamount to trying to kill us but we didn't know!!

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Parcel tracking. No more waiting in from 7am til 6pm for a vital delivery only to find they'd somehow managed to sneak a 'We Called But You Were Out' card through your letterbox anyway. Nowadays as standard you get a SMS with a one hour delivery window and you can follow the delivery van on a map and see how many streets away it is. Gadzooks!

 

[Weststander]

This changed my life.



The only downside was saying farewell to our horses.

 

[Bozza]

Parcel tracking. No more waiting in from 7am til 6pm for a vital delivery only to find they'd somehow managed to sneak a 'We Called But You Were Out' card through your letterbox anyway. Nowadays as standard you get a SMS with a one hour delivery window and you can follow the delivery van on a map and see how many streets away it is. Gadzooks!

I think you've missed the point. We're not discussing things that, when they arrive, will be game changers but things that we've already got.

Agree though - that sounds amazing. Bring it on.

 

[cjd]

Tony Bloom

 

[Triggaaar]

For me it was email. It was in use way before I was aware of it of course, but once it became ubiquitous it unlocked cheap communication in a way that nothing else has. The world got a lot flatter the day email was invented.

IT also killed off the motorcycle messenger industry really quickly. There is a business that was born and died within the space of 10 years. For a while they were everywhere, same-day couriers whizzing stuff all over Cities, helping business chug along. And then they are basically wiped out in a short period, through a combination of email and relatively cheap broadband.

Why couldn't those companies use fax machines?

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

Can't believe no one has mentioned this and I don't know what its' called, but the bit of string/ribbon thingy towards the end of a packet of biscuits that makes it SO much easier to open them. .

This is basically the perfect answer.

Something invented/amended that you think WHY THE HELL weren't they doing this before!?

 

[The Clamp]

The "child £". As soon as restaurants, pubs, and any number of leisure/tourism platforms started tapping into our generations' compulsions to re-live our childhoods through our children, they overran the place. A game changer in a negative way as we now have a generation of indulged children, a sad side effect of a generation that couldn't grow out of toys, superheroes and video games.

Also pills.Turned an aggressive punky, skinheady nightclub scene into a blisssd out love in.

 

[LlcoolJ]

Why couldn't those companies use fax machines?

Oh God, that brings back memories of "could you just fax me over our last 3 years accounts" at 4.45 on a Friday afternoon when the secretary had already ****ed off home. With a fax machine that only accepted one page at a time and crashed every four pages...........

 

[Triggaaar]

Oh God, that brings back memories of "could you just fax me over our last 3 years accounts" at 4.45 on a Friday afternoon when the secretary had already ****ed off home. With a fax machine that only accepted one page at a time and crashed every four pages...........

So before email, you'd have been getting someone (not the secretary, he's gone home) to book a courier?

 

[Titanic]

Ctrl-c and Ctrl-v

#wizardry

 

[tinx]

Camera Phones. No longer can you go out with friends for a night out act like a complete idiot and then deny everything in the morning, nowyou have a record of everything you do.

Game changer but not for the better.

 

[The Clamp]

The man bag.