It's Amazing

[raymac46]

I know I am a pretty old guy but it is amazing how far we have come in IT in my lifetime.

I saw my first actual computer in 1964. It occupied the space of my family room. Today I went out to get some additional storage space for my new laptop. Came home with something the size of my fingernail that can store 256 GB of data. And it was on sale. Boggles the mind.

[securitybreach]

Yup and it is forever changing.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

The next 50 years are going to be pretty interesting. Oh, and speaking of fast changes, think about this...

 

- Just 100 years ago (1920), cars, phones, etc. were "new" things and very primitive.

 

- Just 200 years ago (1820), there were NO cars, phones, etc, and only very primitive machines of any sort.

 

- Just 600 years ago (1420), Gutenberg hadn't even invented the printing press yet (1440); although, the Chinese were using a primitive wood block type printing since the 8th century.

 

- Just 5,000 or so years ago, was the beginning of the Bronze Age and the invention of writing, which played a major role in starting recorded history.

 

- Just 10,000 years ago, Neolithic culture and technology had become widespread in the Near East by 8000 BC. It was gradually spreading westward but is not believed to have reached Europe, still Paleolithic, until about the end of this millennium.

 

All in all, we humans have come a long way in just a short 10K years. Time flies when you're having fun!

[securitybreach]

And the first smartphone (iphone 1) was only 13 years ago with the first android 14 years ago. Now almost every person on the planet has one, including tribes in the middle of the jungles where they were not even aware of other humans 20 years ago.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

And I'm still using this...

 

 

HAHAHAHA!

[securitybreach]

2 minutes ago, V.T. Eric Layton said:

And I'm still using this...

 

 

HAHAHAHA!

 

 

Well most enjoy being able to actually browse the net, read emails, use social media, text people or use chat applications and remote into their machines. Well only use computer geeks do the latter.

[securitybreach]

More people use smartphones than they do actual computers.

[goretsky]

Hello,

 

A smartphone is just a computer that has been optimized for telephony operations.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

  

2 hours ago, securitybreach said:

More people use smartphones than they do actual computers.

 

[securitybreach]

Very true, I almost started to point it out but did not .

[raymac46]

I suppose smartphones are where my Luddite streak kicks in. I have one, but the prospect of surfing the net on a 5 inch screen and writing exclusively with a virtual keyboard does not appeal. Nice to have mobility though.

[zlim]

Eric, your phone is "new" compared to what my husband uses.

 

When I gave him his first USB stick which was one that didn't hold much maybe 512 MB, he asked, "how many floppies would fit on here?". He still hasn't come close to filling that 512 MB stick. But we sure formatted and threw out a lot of floppies!

[V.T. Eric Layton]

12 minutes ago, zlim said:

"how many floppies would fit on here?"

 

512/1.44 = 355 and change.

 

I had a flip-fone like that before I got this current one. I've been using the little Motorola flat-fone for about 10 years now. It needs a new battery, though.

[zlim]

I guess you just keep it plugged in so it is ready to use.

We have a car charger, a house charger and even one of these

that allows you to use the car charger in the house. (I've had that thing since my first bag phone.)

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Meh... the batt on mine lasts for a while off the charger (about 4-5 hours) without talking on it. And that's fine. The ONLY reason I have this phone is for emergencies when I'm not at home. When I am home it's actually powered down and plugged into the charger. I rarely ever actually use the thing. I still have a home phone, which is my primary telephonic communications device. It's in my hallway and looks like this:

 

[sunrat]

On 3/11/2020 at 11:01 AM, securitybreach said:

And the first smartphone (iphone 1) was only 13 years ago...

 

They've come a long way in that short time. You can even add emojis to your selfies now!

[securitybreach]

6 hours ago, V.T. Eric Layton said:

Meh... the batt on mine lasts for a while off the charger (about 4-5 hours) without talking on it. And that's fine. The ONLY reason I have this phone is for emergencies when I'm not at home. When I am home it's actually powered down and plugged into the charger. I rarely ever actually use the thing. I still have a home phone, which is my primary telephonic communications device. It's in my hallway and looks like this:

 

 

 

I am surprised that you still have the copper lines.

[securitybreach]

14 minutes ago, sunrat said:

 

They've come a long way in that short time. You can even add emojis to your selfies now!

 

Yes, they have. Now they are faster than a lot of laptops. My current smartphone has an 8 core processor, 8gb ram and 256gb on board.

 

[V.T. Eric Layton]

41 minutes ago, securitybreach said:

I am surprised that you still have the copper lines.

 

Well, I don't. I have FIOS, but that old phone still works fine.

[sunrat]

@securitybreach I pronounce you have a serious case of SNS syndrome.

[securitybreach]

18 minutes ago, sunrat said:

@securitybreach I pronounce you have a serious case of SNS syndrome.

 

What is that??

[V.T. Eric Layton]

https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/SNS

[sunrat]

Hmmm, not listed at Free Dictionary. It stands for "Shiny New Stuff". The syndrome is an insatiable desire to have the latest version of everything.

We use it regularly at forums.debian.net when people complain that Debian Stable doesn't have the latest version of ${software}. Debian Stable is called that because it mainly retains whatever version it has when it was released. If you want a later version you wait until the next stable release. Some software gets updated more regularly for security reasons though, eg. browsers.

[securitybreach]

Well with my wireless plan on Tmobile, they let me change out phones whenever I want so I do so about 2-3 times a year.

[sunrat]

54 minutes ago, securitybreach said:

Well with my wireless plan on Tmobile, they let me change out phones whenever I want so I do so about 2-3 times a year.

 

What a waste! I'm still running the original Pixel, 3 1/2 years old. Battery is starting to feel noticeably old though. And I use an LG G3 as my music player, works great.

[securitybreach]

32 minutes ago, sunrat said:

 

What a waste! I'm still running the original Pixel, 3 1/2 years old. Battery is starting to feel noticeably old though. And I use an LG G3 as my music player, works great.

 

How is that a waste? I turn in the old phone and get a new one. Then they sell the old devices as refurbs. Whatever I paid towards the old device goes towards the new device. It's basically like leasing phones.

[sunrat]

If something works well, I prefer to use it until it doesn't work well any more. I drive a 12 year old car which works great and I take good care of it. My daily computer is a Core2Duo which works well.

[securitybreach]

Oh, with computers I require power. I need at least 32gb ram on my desktop to be functional and laptops need a minimum of 16gb ram. But I am a bit of a power user though.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

"It stands for "Shiny New Stuff". The syndrome is an insatiable desire to have the latest version of everything. ;)"

 

4 hours ago, securitybreach said:

...change out phones whenever I want so I do so about 2-3 times a year.

 

Yeah, he's got it bad alright.

 

 

 

[raymac46]

I have the same problem when it comes to cameras. It's called Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS.)

Actually the Happy Snaps thread that sunrat set up here has helped with that. I have been posting some of my better pics and in reviewing them I find that many were taken with cameras I'd consider hopelessly obsolete today. A better camera doesn't necessarily make one a better photographer.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Well, we all have similar quirks. Personally, I like to try never-before-tried bourbons and whiskeys. Most are OK. Some are excellent. However, I always return to my Jack.