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)

1 comment:

Fairygrl said...

I remember when there wasn't a way to watch television unless your antenna on top of the roof was positioned correctly. I remember a few times, my dad going up to the roof to reposition it and us yelling from in the house, "Nope not yet, no, that's not it. WAIT, don't move it, that's perfect!" Then he would let go to climb back down and we would say, "Oh, it's fuzzy again." LOL