Monday, April 11, 2011

Technology...

I was speaking with one of my friends about the amazing advancements in technology that have occurred since even I was a kid. I wanted to make a list of sorts about the technology I remember being debuted in my life time: When I was a young kid, I listened to music on a record player, we had a old TI computer that didn't have a backspace button. The Atari was considered top of the line. Since then.... Music -I listened to Tapes and had a Cassette Tape Walkman. The first tape I ever owned was "Whoomp, There it is" ha ha. -The CD player made its debut. My dad bought one of the first generations. I believe he spent quite a bit of money on it! I had several CD walkmans throughout the years, and I remember being very excited to get a Walkman that was "Skip Resistant"...until I found out how fast it sucked through AA batteries. When going on long roadtrips I always had to have at least a twelve pack of batteries to keep it going. Lugging around my 3 cases of CDs was also enough to cause anyone a headache. -The mini-disk was introduced, but short lived, since MP3 players were nipping at its heels. -Finally, many MP3 players were introduced, but one reigns supreme, the Ipod. I got my first Ipod when I was 20. My Dad bought it for me for my birthday. -I have 2 Ipods now, as technology expands. One of which has more memory than my first laptop. Movies -While I have been alive, I have watched movies in many formats, including Beta Tapes, Laser Disk, VHS, DVD, and finally BluRay. Computers -I remember the TI computer, the Atari, the DOS system, Windows 95 (a triumph! And still one of Windows BEST platforms), Windows 98, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. -I remember distinctly having to type in commands to use the computer. (Especially when players computer games). -I remember FLOPPY DISKS, and not the hard cased floppy disks that are also now defunct, but truly floppy, giant disks, that probably only held 1 KB of memory. -I remember a time where I could easily go to download a song, watch a movie, come back and the song would still not be done downloading. -I used IRC, mIRC and Pegusus mail. None of my friends have any idea what any of those are. Ha ha -My first laptop has a 40GB harddrive. I filled it up with music. :o) -I remember the switch from Dial Up (my mom much more recently than my dad) -I bought my first mini-pc two years ago. It is already a relic, but I love it. Communication -While I was really too young to be aware of the cell phone era where you talked on a brick and got no reception anywhere, I clearly remember the days of the black brick flip phones that all the biggest business honchos carried around. My mom later owned one, and I thought it was so cool. -We actually had a car phone, in my mom's BMW. We never used it. Mom said it was too expensive. -I remember having a cordless phone and a caller ID box, I thought I was soooo cool. -I was jealous when my sister got a "Beeper", even now it amazes me that these were as popular as they were. You got a page, then had to locate a pay phone to call the person and see what they wanted. So archaic compared to today. -My friends all got Nokia phones in high school. I remember that they all had interchangable faces, the annoying Nokia ringtone, and Snake. I wanted one so badly, but I never got one. -My first phone did not have a camera, I'm honestly not even sure it texted. It was a cell phone in the purest form. At least it was small. :o) -My next few phones got fancier and fancier, first, texting, then a camera, then a camera with a flash! Then it could make movies, and even go online, for a price. Now I use my phone more than I use my computer. About 80% of the time, I don't use it as a phone. It is a gaming device, a camera, a video camera, a computer, and almost lastly a phone. No wonder my data usage is through the roof (thank god for unlimited data!) and my phone usage has barely reached a quarter of the way through the limit (despite there being 4 people on the plan). Well, there are so many other amazing inventions and advancements that have been made in my lifetime, but I am going to end here. I hope you enjoyed my journey through technology :o)