Obsolete

All in all… another predictable list but a fun one for sure.

PDA – A Taiwanese friend working with an OEM gave me a sample WinCE device back in the early 2000s. I loved that device and its little stylus too. My smartphone has replaced that WinCE device as a PDA but I do have a Nintendo DSi that uses a stylus so the stylus is still around.

Email accounts you have to pay for – Did anyone really ever pay for email? I never paid only for email. It was bundled with my ISPs internet package… my college provided one (early 90s)… I started using Yahoo mail in the late 90s and still use it today.

Dial up sound: Here it is. Actually there was a setting to make the device silent that apparently I was one of only a few people in the world who knew about it.

Maps – I definitely find this a little bittersweet. I remember long car trips when I was a kid and the map was a source of joy and sometimes mom and dad’s fights.

Landline – my landlord won’t allow us to give up her landline because she has a “lucky” phone number. Seriously… that’s what she says. But we don’t ever use it. edit: except for Jajah (see below)

Long distance charges – a favorite of ours is Jajah.com which initiates calls via a website but then rings your own phone so you talk on your own phone and are not tied to the computer after the call is placed. Come to think of it… we use that landline for this… oops.

Public Pay Phones – are still found in Taiwan and they are still an excellent value. NT$1 for a 3 minute call… that is about US$0.01 per minute and most phone calls would fit in the 3 minute time. These phones are not ubiquitous as they once were, but they are still around and still useful.

VCRs – I *wish* they were obsolete because my reading of copyright law is that our library could convert our old VHS tapes to DVD if we can’t find a commercial DVD replacement *IF* VHS becomes obsolete. It is obsolete in its usefulness… but VCRs are apparently still good for something.

CDs – They are not obsolete until my wife says they are. I’m looking at a giant storage shelf full of CDs that could be ripped to digital and done away with. We still even have some cassette tapes… but the tape deck died a few years ago.

Buttons – I love the button on my Samsung Galaxy S3 (and the S before it). I’d give up some other features to keep this button. Fortunately with the Galaxy devices, you don’t give up anything.

Losing touch – I can’t seem to keep people unfriended on Facebook. Even when I *try* to lose touch… these people keep coming back into my life.