@Marsha Crom: be careful with the advice, if the phone rings while someone is touching the wires, they will get a nice little shock.

so what you're saying is, your secretary does all your work for you because your IT-illiterate, judging by the fact that you use a Blackberry for nothing but phone calls, when you could save yourself a few hundred bucks by just buying a phone. Maybe you should let her do your shopping for you too .

Someone mentioned party line phones, - my granny had one.

I remember pictures of women sitting at phone switchboards that had to plug in lines to connect.

They say pay-phones are next.

I know of only 3 in my downtown area, 2 outside and 1 in a private secured building for the elderly residents, all are within 2 blocks of the phone company, but KMart may still have some, I'm not sure?

The part about videotapes implies that VHS came out in 1976. That's not correct. Beta came out in 1975. Then, VHS came out 2 years later, in 1977. I actually have a (non-working) Sony Betamax from 1976; as well as a (working) RCA VHS recorder from 1978. Incidentally, both of those videotape recorders use tuning dials to change the station!

I was hired by Bob Hope, in the early 70's, to send a letter to all the members of congress. I used a typewriter, I can only compare to what is known as a Flexowriter. It punched holes in a paper tape that you then fed back through the machine to automatically type your letter. You created pauses that enabled you to fill in the different names, addresses and salutations for each subsequent letter. Amazingly, these types of machines began appearing around 1910!

We have a record store in Downtown Chicago that still has that set up. My young adults thought it was a "new" thing.

can anyone remember being able to go to the record shop and actually listening to a record before buying it? You were told to go into a small booth and play it. We did this in the early 1950s and we rarely actually bought a record, just listened and learned the words.

My friend and I ran from one title to another in a record shop in downtown Minneapolis in June of 1963. We got everyone in the store, clerk or customer, laughing before we pooped out.

Worked in an accounting firm in the early late 60's. At the end of the day, one of the admin. secretaries would close (lock) her office door and none of us were allowed in. Upon knocking if we needed something, she would say, "I can't handle that now, I'm quipping."?? Never did know exactly what quipping meant, to us it was some mysterious(!?) way of sending information to the New York office. To this day I'm not sure what that is/was!l

The Quip machine was the original Fax machine. Six minutes per page.

I remember the Quip. What a horrible smell that thing gave off. I'm sure the toxic fumes have caused the untimely deaths of many former secretaries. I have looked for any information on the Quip on the Internet, but I have never found anything. It's the kind of machine that came and went without a trace--as well it should have. What a nightmare it was to use!

How many remember that the break key ( that is still on the
keyboard today) was to break the line of type into sentences.
always wondered why it is still there

Just wondering what the break key is? Just browsed my keyboard and I am stumped?

Pause/Break key - sometimes used to pause/break what is scrolling on the screen.

I am older than all those old appliances, except for the invention of the automobile

Remember Winchester disc from early/mid 80's...can't recall their memory capacity (far above mine, but way less than todyas GB/TB range). Dip switches to make changes to CMOS, etc. But, at least we lost "Big Hair" and parachute pants!

Dot-matrix's still used for multi-copy applications; Daisy wheel printers didn't last too long, and of course gave only the equavilent of an electric typewriters character range...actually just a computer controlled typewriter.
Oh...and those IBM Selectrics, some still serving!

I still have to use the IBM Selectric, when typing vehicle titles. And all states have different qualification for typing titles. So the typewriter is the thing to use. I love using it.

Not true. I have a rather simple (and several-years-old) flat-bed scanner that has a Form Typer function: scan the form, bring it up on the screen, and every horizontal line becomes a potential Text Box. Fill those out and print the completed form (or save it).

when u print an application online u cannot fill out the app. u must print it out & then fill it out. so therefore, a typewriter can be used to fill out those nasty applications needed for other than resume`s

Actually, if you are using Adobe Acrobat or another reputable PDF program, you can fill all of those items out from your computer without the print and fill method. So typewriters are a lot less important and even, dare I say, obsolete.

Remember typing on stencils and if you made a mistake, you had to paint this liquid on it and wait for it to dry and then type the correct letter or letters.

Remember typing on stencils and if you made a mistake, you had to paint this liquid on it and wait for it to dry and then type the correct letter or letters.

Well, the Floppy may be obsolete. But in hindsight, those things are far more secure than USB drives. Simply because 1, they still make floppys and 2, you can carry around your own USB floppy reader. Effectively creating a retroactive barrier between you and someone who wants to steal your files.
But honestly, if someone -is- trying to steal your files I don't know what to say. My whole comment is based off of paranoia to begin with.

the exhilarations occured in one single field

Does anybody remember the Kodak Eksound camera and projector. I think I still have mine kicking around somewhere. I used to develop my own movies so it was possible to shoot a movie and watch it three and a half hours later, amazing, can you imagine that; shooting a movie and watching it the same day in the 1970's.

I have several that aren't developed and I understand Kodak no longer does this. Can you provide info.?

Check Walmart or Walgreens, I believe they still process film.

the slide rule... every engineering student had one.

It used to be faster than a calculator and never ran out of batteries. Now it its retired together with my first programmable calculator with magnetic stripe cards [TI-59]

You may still be able to buy 1/4, magnetic tape, 1200 ft., 7 inch reel from:
National Parts
279 Bayview Drive,
Barrie, ON L4M 4W5
Canada
I bought 4 reels at $14.95 in August 1996

You may still be able to buy 1/4, magnetic tape, 1200 ft., 7 inch reel from:
National Parts
279 Bayview Drive,
Barrie, ON L4M 4W5
Canada
I bought 4 reels at $14.95 in August 1996

Does anyone remember what they called the device that was like a viewfinder? But they put postcards in it instead and viewed them through it. It was in the late 1880's to early 1900's I believe.

that contraption from the early twentieh century is called a stereo optical viewer.. my ex mother in law had one.

in honor of those who came before us we must remember the chalk and slate, silent films, and all of those inventions in the back of my mind which are forerunners of the things we have mentioned. The party line phone is the funniest I can personally remember.

Does anyone know whether it is might still be possible to buy reel-to-reel tapes for tape recorders and for 8-track players? I was in high school and in undergraduate school when these were popular. If I were able to locate a supplier, I would like to buy some blank tapes. It used to be so easy to find Sony or 3M reel-to-reel tapes. I would like to have bought more back then, but they were more expensive than I was able to afford.

Days when you actually had to get out of your chair to change the channel.......only had 5 channels............no cable. And we lived in a big city......New York

I can remember when Chicago first got a TV channel... we all watched Captai=
n Kangaroo, the Howdy Doody show, with Princess Summer/Fall/Winter/Spring, =
Chief Rain in the Face, Buffalo Bob, Woody Woodpecker cartoons, Phineas T. =
Buster, and sing along...

Days when you actually had to get out of your chair to change the channel.......only had 5 channels............no cable. And we lived in a big city......New York

Days when you actually had to get out of your chair to change the channel.......only had 5 channels............no cable. And we lived in a big city......New York

I remember as a kid the day the telephone company replaced the phone in our home with one that had a rotary dial. No more clicking the receiver to get an operator to dial your number. It was about 2 later we got a private line no more party-line.(a line shared with 4 households each one had their own distinct ring).

how about the Sports illastrated Shoe phone. Hade one of those as a kid and was the fist push button phone my mom ever bought.

We have a black wall mounted rotary dial phone in our basement that still works. We also have a red desk rotary phone. If I can find someone to hard wire it, I would like to be able to use my "bat" phone.

At the end of the wire that goes into your phone, there might be an old 4 prong plug. Remove the plug, and locate the red & green wires. Take the face plate off the wall where the phone plgs in. Locate the screws that have the matching red & green wires. Loosen the screws, wrap the stripped ends of your phone's red & green wire around the corresponding screw. Tighten them down, and check for a dial tone. Replace the face plate.

I see no mention of that marvel of technology..THE IBM SELECTRIC TYPEWRITER. Could accept input at around 105 words a minute..Want a new font? Just change the "daisy wheel". They even came with self-correct!

I still have an 8mm projector. Still works. I recently had my old 8mm film transfered to a disc.
If anyone is interested in purchasing this antique let me know.............

The IBM typewriter used an IBM-specific ball shaped device. The Daisy Wheel was different, it was a flat disk with each character on a 'finger' radiating from the center of the (flat) disk.

Get up & walk to the TV to turn the knob to tune in other channels ? Or change channels on the tv ! (knob , no remote)

we just moved to the southwest area of Va. and no cable or satellite is availible so we had to go to the outside antena, it has the rotor motor on it and we are in the mountains so with no wind we get 5 channels. Things are progressing everyday and this is the first day of internet for me for weeks, high speed too! lol

Who can forget IBM punch cards that ever worked in IT during the 60's and 70's before dumb display terminals took over. Now dumb terminals have been obsoleted by the PC.

I remember taking those data cards to the office so they could feed them to a computer to record attendance. Of course the computer was some huge machine we weren't allowed near. You could always bribe one of the monitors to "lose your card" so you could ditch a class or two...

I remember all of these! lol... and the Ditto Machine! LOL... i remember quite well from elementary school.. ahhhh... the good ole days

First time on here, and find it really interesting, I remember a lot more that I want to mention, butt sure enjoyed reading. Better than watching TV these days.

I would add to your list the hectograph- a jelly-like material in a flat pan. You laid your copy on the material, remove it, and then place a blank page and there is your purple copy!!!!

Yes, my parochial school used the hectograph. You made your original with a purple pen and then laid that on the gel that had been moistened with a sponge. After several minutes, maybe ten, the original was removed and one could make about twenty copies one at a time periodically moistening the surface again. Then the hectograph was put aside and after about a day the image in the gel disappeared. Our copies were always in purple.

I'm only 30 and I have the exact same memories as you BCL1, my 3rd grade teacher use to take a few of the late bus riders back behind the stage where the ditto machine and the laminator sat along with the big razor blade paper trimmer. Thanks for the memories guys!

My students would always hold a freshly run page to their noses before settling down to work.

This article stated " 8 technology revolutions that have become extinct ". I counted 9. Portable personal radio/tape players, Polaroid instant photo cameras, Ditto copy machines
The vhs/vcr, Laserdisc ,8 track tapes/players, slide film projectors, floppy discs and cassette tapes.
The slide show listed 1st thru 10th photo at upper right !

How about the famous (I loved it) TRS-80 portable word processor for newspaper reporters ... transmitted at 80 baud over any telephone line.

LOL!!! I remember that! Boy, these comments are bringing back alot of memories... doesn't seem that long ago, we were using all of these, look how far we've come! kind of mind boggling

The Mico-fische is still being used in libraries, right? I don't think that it will ever go out of "style". I think that it's too important, really.

300 baud is correct. Bill Gates wrote some of the code. http://oldcomputers.net/trs100.html
May bring mine out to show-and-tell at work.

We used 3 in a large consignment shop as cash registers. Scanned barcodes in, allowed 100 sold items stored in each, printed receipts w/parallel port, opened a cash drawer electronically, and at the end of the day sent the sales via serial port, one at a time in 10 minutes to the Model 4 and 5 meg hard drive. Unbelievable high tech and small footprint for the day.

This doesn't mention the micofiche film and it's readers that read small squares of microfilm. We used those in business to keep records but I suppose they were not a common household item/

Funny that you mentioned microfiche. My place of employment still uses microfilm to back up some of our payroll and tax records records and I have a reader sitting in my office collecting dust. We only use it a few times a year but it's one of those things that when you need it, you NEED it and we have to keep it around for now.

April Fool's joke, right? There can't be a company is the U.S. that still uses microfilm in 2011.

I know it sounds bad but every Auto Dealership Parts department I have dealt with still use microfische.Not everyday mind you,but when it is needed to look up older parts for older cars it is very NEEDED!

The typewriter and the word processor were once the thing, but now are not used except for filling in certain forms that require typing. I learned how to type on a manual typewriter (50 words a minute), went to electric ball (70 words per minute) Now i use nothing but computer (haven't got my smart phone yet). My favprite way of communicating is e-mail or phone. i will not use facebook, thank you. But my wife and I are going to skype (sp?) You also forgot palm pilots.

upon advice of the maker of my vcr-dvd recorder i went to dvd. i have 50 years experience with tape reorders but i have used dvd for 2 years and have quit entirely on recording on tape. no drop outs and no head wear.

You forgot to add "run out of tape" at the crictical moment of your recording . Ahhh!!!!!! what a memory, thanks for the flashback.

Giving away MY age here - but does ANYONE who ever smelled it EVER REALLY get the smell of the "ditto fluid" from those early generation copy machines totally out of their nostrils..?? I know I never did... LOL ;-)

as soon as I saw the ditto machine, the first thing I thought of was the smell of the papers from school, that were fresh off the machine....they were still a little damp and had "that smell"! :)

as soon as I saw the ditto machine, the first thing I thought of was the smell of the papers from school, that were fresh off the machine....they were still a little damp and had "that smell"! :)

Aaaaa eeeek I feel so old.

I have used every single one of these inventions, and I also can still smell the ditto fluid if I think hard enough. I have a question, though. The title of the article says 8 things, yet there are 9 slides and items. Hmmmmm....

You're commenting on the first slide, which is the intro text, not one of the numbered items.

Wow. I forgot all about this machine. I remember being a kid and helping out the teacher by turning the crank and making the copies. They smelled so good when they first came out of the machine. I can still smell it!