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Tuesday 28 February 2012

Why Can't Things Be As Cool As The 80's?


When it comes to technology (and most other things to be honest) I’m pretty much clueless.


Right now, as I write this, my laptop is sat on a thing which keeps it from overheating; out the side of the laptop is another cable that goes to a white box that is a hard drive. I’m also charging my phone and doing something with the music, but I have no idea whether it’s working or indeed, what I actually want it to do.
Double click you *&$£
 
I am forever fiddling and changing things on my computer to make it work a bit faster or do something new. More often than not it doesn’t work and I have to uninstall something or delete things or, as is usually the case, just swear a lot and turn it on and off again.

Sometimes I do all three.

Nobody is more surprised than me that I haven’t broken something of value with all my gadgets and toys and doo-dahs.

I lose my I-pod cable more often than I care to mention.

I guess it’s a sign of growing old.
Saaaaaaaay-gaaaaaaar!



I remember way back when CD’s were the future and not the past, that if something went wrong with an electrical item or computer problem I was the go to guy in my family. Mainly because I was a child and children are made for technology. They go together like peas and carrots although I would never eat my veg as a kid which I’m sure proves some kind of point...

Anyway...

As a child of the 80’s I was used to such things as the spectrum zx +2 and megadrives with their amazing 16bit memories, unfathomable by today’s standards. These days there are shoe laces for sale with more technology in them!
It only takes 30 minutes to load a tape

I had a watch that was also a calculator AND it had a light so you tell the time at night.

My friend even had one that changed the TV and caused our English teacher to think she was magnetic because every time she went near the class TV he would turn it on and off. (Hilarious!)

The equivalent prank today would be performed via 3G Bluetooth Wi-Fi black magic and the sex offenders register. (Not that my English teacher was a sex pest, although there was a rumour she was in a mucky jazz mag.... and she looked the sort to do it as well...)

Mrs Morton was her name I think... I’ve googled her name but nothing naughty popped up so I might be wrong with that..
Victory!!!

Back to the point of this post...

Um..

Oh yes.

Twenty years ago it was unthinkable that we would have such amazing technology at our disposal. Not taking into account the fact that we satellite communications or are able to download entire films in a flash without need for postage and packaging, but we can do it all from a little plastic box no bigger than a normal sized hand.

Not even Carol Vorderman from Tomorrow's World could have guessed that one.
Don't even get me started on mobile phone signals...

Where will these progressive leaps in technology lead us to I find myself wondering as I sit beneath a cornucopia of wires and ever increasingly warmer plastic cubes of magic?

I don’t know, but I do know that I won’t understand any of it.

The more technology progresses the more I find myself becoming obsolete and outdated. Much like the original walkman.

As anyone under the age of 15 what VHS is or try to explain what a mix tape was and how you made one and prepare yourself for the blankest and wildest look of horror in your life.

Bloody kids.

5 comments:

  1. Hello Mr H did you know the muppets for justice blog gave you an award for being Kreativ, which Miss Lily had given then. I think you need to go and collect it (Sadly there is no money involved)

    The good old days of Betamax and Quad amps you cant beat the old Hifi and the like, they even used real wood sometimes

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  2. Whatwhatwhat? ive not been able to read blogs for a few what with real life getting in the... will pop over there right now and check it out. Cheers Rob.

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  3. Yes, sorry I've not been over here to hand you your award in person, but I've been a little busy (these celebrities won't stalk themselves). Hope you enjoy.

    Great post. The main thing I miss is the need to carry a massive boombox around with you if you want to listen to music.

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  4. I miss the massive boombox, too. That is what I would most want to bring back. I would totally carry it around everywhere and be all street. Okay, after I post this comment I am going straight to ebay. They've gotta have 'em.

    I certainly did enjoy the Bluetooth trend for a time. It was always amusing to play: are they crazy or are they just on the phone. You think "oh-that person is definitely on the phone", then you look closely and....no earpiece: crazy it is.

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  5. This post reminds me of last weekend and finally getting around to throwing out my old VCR...sad times bring back the 80's

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