End of the newspaper, gas cars & analog TV eras. What other "eras" are coming to a close?

[astro]

Over the air analog TV is dead
Paper newspapers are dying
Paper magazines are dying
Gasoline powered cars (http://www.wired.com/reviews/product/pr_veyron_convertible)are (slowly) on the way out

What else is ending?

[luv2draw]

Working/jobs--as we know it/them
Physical currency--bills, coins
Radio
CDs
DVDs
Writing instruments--pens/pencils, etc.
Paper
Books

ENOUGH! I'm scaring myself.......

[luv2draw]

(delete duplicate post - Rico)

[Hari Seldon]

Pay phones are nearly gone.

Corded phones are dying, but we save one for power failures.

It may be that land line phones are on the way out.

Dialup is here and gone in about 25 years (my brother was using it in the 70s).

Oil heating is slowly disappearing.

Vacuum tubes are on life support.

Students today (and for a couple decades) don't know what a slide rule is.

Then there are log and trig tables. Babbage's original purpose for his analytic engine was to automatically compute and typeset such tables since the extant ones were full of errors.

Seen a typewriter lately? Or an electromechanical calculator?

Eight inch diskettes disappeared nearly thirty years ago, 5 1/4 nearly 20 years ago and 3 1/2 about 10 years ago. Hard drives are still around, but I predict that there will, within another 10 years, a new storage medium that will drive them out.

I predict that printed newspapers and magazines will disappear, but I don't see it happening to printed books. Not yet anyway.

Good Jewish rye, the kind I grew up with, disappeared while I wasn't looking (I was in the midwest and didn't expect to see it, but when I came back east, it was gone. Even in NYC, it doesn't exist as far as I can tell).

It looks like incandescent lights are on the way out.

[AskNott]

Film cam"eras" are circling the drain.

[Bijou Drains]

Tubes are very much alive for guitar amps and probably will be for a while. Most are now made in Russia or Slovakia.

[RealityChuck]

Paper newspapers are dying
Paper magazines are dying
Yes, the are dying, just the same way that television killed radio and movies. Too bad we can't see movies or listen to the radio any more, since they're completely gone and newspapers and magazines will follow them.

[Ludovic]

Yeah, and what's up with metal money? It served us great for thousands of years, too bad I can't buy anything with coins anymore :)

[JohnT]

I wouldn't exactly bet my mortgage on the death of gasoline cars anytime soon, either.

[Dewey Finn]

How about incandescent light bulbs? I don't think they're going to be around in a decade.

[Little Nemo]

Western Union stopped sending telegrams in 2006.

Distribution Video Audio, the last distributor of VHS movies, stopped in 2008.

[Frank]

It may be that land line phones are on the way out.
Not as long as there are still electricity outages and internet failures, and not as long as there are still gaping holes in cell coverage.

[Alex_Dubinsky]

Good Jewish rye, the kind I grew up with, disappeared while I wasn't looking (I was in the midwest and didn't expect to see it, but when I came back east, it was gone. Even in NYC, it doesn't exist as far as I can tell).
Go to any russian grocery store. There will be a dozen different varieties. (Most aren't the heavy German style, if that's what you're referring to, but they certainly are my favorite.)

[Alex_Dubinsky]

The era of space exploration seems to have come to a close. (Especially manned.)

[Little Nemo]

The era of space exploration seems to have come to a close. (Especially manned.)Or it's moved to Asia. China, India, and Japan are all expanding their space programs.

[Shakes]

I'm gonna go with desk top computers.

On that note I'm going to predict that all external hardware for computers will come with a built in wi/fi.

So if you're at home and you need to print or scan a document; you can just do it from your laptop from what ever room you happen to be sitting in.

I'm also sure cell phones will all be just a flat mothly rate no matter how much you use it. (These plans already exist. I'm just waiting for the day when the price comes down and it's affordable to everyone.)

Also, music.

I'm dreading the day when me and my sons are cruising down the road jamming out to that catchy tune about Armor Hot Dogs.

"Hot dogs.... ARRRmor Hot Dogs..."

[DJ Motorbike]

I'm gonna go with desk top computers.[/i]

I seriously doubt this.

Terrestrial AM & FM broadcasting isn't going anywhere & neither are petroleum powered cars.

I could see solid state drives replacing hard disc drives.

[Mogle]

Yeah, and what's up with metal money? It served us great for thousands of years, too bad I can't buy anything with coins anymore :)
That's just you 'mericans, metal money is alive and well(or at least no worse off than paper money) over here.

It wouldn't surpise me if Bluray turns out to be the last optical storage medium and the next generation is based on solid state devices.

[Siam Sam]

Most of the items I see listed in this thread are in no danger of dying out in the Third World anytime soon.

[Alex_Dubinsky]

Or it's moved to Asia. China, India, and Japan are all expanding their space programs.
But they haven't got anywhere yet! It'll be another 20 years before any of them get to the Moon, and who knows when to anywhere beyond. And sample-return from Mars or a Jovian moon? Even that is taking far too long, with no concrete plans.

This whole decade we've relegated ourselves to Checking Shit We Already Knew Was True. Past water on mars? Holy shit, like we didn't know that already. A US planned return to the moon (taking twice as long and costing almost as much as Apollo)? That just adds insult to injury.

Face it, space exploration is an era that's ended (for the foreseeable future).

[Justin_Bailey]

Most of the items I see listed in this thread are in no danger of dying out in the Third World anytime soon.

Most of them are alive and kicking in the first world as well.

Magazines, newspapers, physical currency, DVDs, CDs, desktop computers (!), gas-powered cars (!!!). I will be an old man (I'm 27 right now) before any of those things disappears for good.

[Raguleader]

Working/jobs--as we know it/them
Physical currency--bills, coins
Radio
CDs
DVDs
Writing instruments--pens/pencils, etc.
Paper
Books

ENOUGH! I'm scaring myself.......

Somehow I really doubt that paper and writing utensils are going anywhere at any point near in the future; they're just too useful. I'm a technophile, and even I grab for the notepad before I open up Notepad on my computer when I get a phone call.

Also, as long as toll booths and vending machines require paper and metal currency (and what the heck is up with toll booths not taking plastic yet? It's 2009!), I'm sure we'll continue to have paper and metal currency to spend there.

[Dewey Finn]

Actually, toll roads are going cashless (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124658505980890241.html). The North Texas Tollway Authority did so last week on the President George Bush Turnpike, as are toll roads in Colorado, Florida and Maryland.

[DrDeth]

I wouldn't exactly bet my mortgage on the death of gasoline cars anytime soon, either.

Right. The future is not electric but plug-in hybrid.

Newspapers, the daily kind you subscribe to, may be going out. The free kind you get in a rack will be around for decades.

[Rayne Man]

The ability to repair a piece of electronic equipment down to component level. Now with modern electronics you have to replace the whole circuit board.

[Thudlow Boink]

Working/jobs--as we know it/them
Physical currency--bills, coins
Radio
CDs
DVDs
Writing instruments--pens/pencils, etc.
Paper
Books

ENOUGH! I'm scaring myself.......These may have limited lifetimes, but I don't see any of them "coming to a close" any time soon—they're still around and will be so for awhile.

The cassette era (both audio and video) is, depending on how you define "era," either already over for a number of years now, or on its way out.

So is the CRT era. Plenty of people still have and use CRT TVs and monitors, but as they become replaced, unless there's some usage that I'm not aware of, CRTs, which were ubiquitous not long ago, will become extinct.

[Alex_Dubinsky]

Somehow I really doubt that paper and writing utensils are going anywhere at any point near in the future; they're just too useful. I'm a technophile, and even I grab for the notepad before I open up Notepad on my computer when I get a phone call.
Yeah... If you question the value of pen and paper, I suggest you try picking them up.

I'm quite a technophile too. For some things, many things, I like to open up wordpad and quickly type some notes. But paper has a free-form quality to it that's not matched by computers. You can draw, you can format, you can annotate, freely. Now, maybe I don't use the right progs, but it's just too cumbersome to do that in software. (At least, in OneNote.) Touch-screen/tablet tech is the "obvious" answer to pen and paper, and I'm sure it'll eventually have them beat, but right now it really sucks. Horrible fidelity/responsiveness.

[Alex_Dubinsky]

Also, as long as toll booths and vending machines require paper and metal currency (and what the heck is up with toll booths not taking plastic yet? It's 2009!), I'm sure we'll continue to have paper and metal currency to spend there.
The real problem with plastic is that while it's free to you, it can cost a lot to the merchant. Something like $0.30 per transaction (which I'm sure costs $0.0001 to the processor). As long as this continues, paying for small things with CC's will either be impossible or really mean to the storeowners (who are forbidden by contracts from charging you extra or insisting on cash or complaining). Only big firms with negotiatory power, like some vending machine operators, can afford to take CC's for small transactions.

The ability to repair a piece of electronic equipment down to component level. Now with modern electronics you have to replace the whole circuit board.
What I found really cool when first learning about this, is that it's still possible to solder together circuit boards and swap out components by hand, even those that use the most advanced tech. Circuit designers do this all the time. (Mostly you need a tool that blows hot air, versus the traditional soldering iron.) It's just no repairman bothers with it, because repairmen expect to get ridiculous wages per hour and the stuff they're repairing is dirt cheap.

[commasense]

Thirty-five millimeter film for theatrical projection of movies will probably be replaced by digital projection in North America in no more than ten years.

[Bijou Drains]

I paid cash on the Florida turnpike a month ago. There are some exits where they don't take cash, it's all electronic at those. Since Florida is a tourist area I think they will take cash for a while.

[Hari Seldon]

Go to any russian grocery store. There will be a dozen different varieties. (Most aren't the heavy German style, if that's what you're referring to, but they certainly are my favorite.)

I will try it next time I am in NY. I assume that Sheepshead Bay (where my wife is from) would be a good place to start. Last time I was there, everyone was Russian.

[Raguleader]

The real problem with plastic is that while it's free to you, it can cost a lot to the merchant. Something like $0.30 per transaction (which I'm sure costs $0.0001 to the processor). As long as this continues, paying for small things with CC's will either be impossible or really mean to the storeowners (who are forbidden by contracts from charging you extra or insisting on cash or complaining). Only big firms with negotiatory power, like some vending machine operators, can afford to take CC's for small transactions.

Well, I would hope that the freaking state of Oklahoma would be a big enough entity to have some negotiating power, albeit not anywhere near the scale of the Coca Cola Corporation :D

[Really Not All That Bright]

I paid cash on the Florida turnpike a month ago. There are some exits where they don't take cash, it's all electronic at those. Since Florida is a tourist area I think they will take cash for a while.
The Orlando Expressway Authority says they're not going cashless in the next ten years, but the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority is converting all their booths to cashless ones by 2011.

I don't really understand that system - how do they expect to collect unpaid tolls from foreigners?

[Dewey Finn]

Perhaps rental cars will come with the electronic toll transponders, and some way for the rental car agency to check usage and charge it back to the renter.

[Belrix]

Perhaps rental cars will come with the electronic toll transponders, and some way for the rental car agency to check usage and charge it back to the renter.
The last car I rented in Boston had just this option. A toll-pass was in a shielding, hinged, metal box on the windshield. Swing it open to use it. They added the fees (and a service charge) to your bill on your car's return.

[DrDeth]

The real problem with plastic is that while it's free to you, it can cost a lot to the merchant. Something like $0.30 per transaction (which I'm sure costs $0.0001 to the processor).

Generally, it's a % fee, with the % decreasing as the average purchase gets higher. It usually runs from 3%- 1%. So, a 3% fee on a $3 toll would be 9 cents.

[Jettboy]

conversation
courtesy
manners

[MeanOldLady]

conversation
courtesy
mannersThose were gone a long time ago. Keep up.

[Mahaloth]

That's just you 'mericans, metal money is alive and well(or at least no worse off than paper money) over here.


:confused:

We have coins here, too.

:confused:

[Freddy the Pig]

We have coins here, too. But with inflation, and our stubborn and asinine refusal to change the demarcation line between coins and bills, they're increasingly worthless.

[Alex_Dubinsky]

the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority is converting all their booths to cashless ones by 2011.

I don't really understand that system - how do they expect to collect unpaid tolls from foreigners?
Small price to pay to know where all the nationals are.

Generally, it's a % fee, with the % decreasing as the average purchase gets higher. It usually runs from 3%- 1%. So, a 3% fee on a $3 toll would be 9 cents.
It is both a percent and a flat fee, with the flat fee becoming ever more important the smaller the transaction.

[Wallenstein]

Supermarket checkout staff.

Load a shopping trolly (cart?) with your goods, each of which has an RFID chip, walk through the exit archway and the cost is automatically totalled and deducted from your account.

We already have self-scan aisles in the UK which is reducing the number of checkout staff needed (or the Waitrose model where you carry a hand-held scanner and scan as you pick items off the shelf), but there's still a risk of theft. RFID would pretty much eliminate that.

Edit: so maybe also the end of shoplifting :)

[eldowan]

Supermarket checkout staff.

Load a shopping trolly (cart?) with your goods, each of which has an RFID chip, walk through the exit archway and the cost is automatically totalled and deducted from your account.

We already have self-scan aisles in the UK which is reducing the number of checkout staff needed (or the Waitrose model where you carry a hand-held scanner and scan as you pick items off the shelf), but there's still a risk of theft. RFID would pretty much eliminate that.

Edit: so maybe also the end of shoplifting :)

Maybe not the end of shoplifting after all...


A shopping bag lined with aluminum foil acts as a Faraday cage. It is often used by shoplifters to steal RFID tagged items.

[Kozmik]

The era of the music star who is known worldwide.

[TruCelt]

noise ordinances, ringtones, the electric "bing" when I enter a store, the blooping scanner in the grocery store. . . when was the last time you heard an actual bell ring?

Shoe laces

round clocks (even the face fo a digital watch used to be round, remember?)

Racism (Yay!)

9-5 jobs (i.e. the limitation that made your boss apologize for calling you outside those hours) Boo!

[Raguleader]

Shoe laces


I've not seen any indication at all that shoe laces are going anywhere. Even the latest greatest Air Force uniform includes boots with laces (fuzzy green IR-masked boots with laces).

[Snickers]

Perhaps rental cars will come with the electronic toll transponders, and some way for the rental car agency to check usage and charge it back to the renter.

What if you drive your own car? Getting around Chicago to go on a road trip back east would be impossible. And I'm not buying a pass; we (mostly) don't have toll roads in Minnesota.

[BMalion]

But with inflation, and our stubborn and asinine refusal to change the demarcation line between coins and bills, they're increasingly worthless.


I have been wishing for years for a $5 coin.

[An Gadaí]

Supermarket checkout staff.

Load a shopping trolly (cart?) with your goods, each of which has an RFID chip, walk through the exit archway and the cost is automatically totalled and deducted from your account.

We already have self-scan aisles in the UK which is reducing the number of checkout staff needed (or the Waitrose model where you carry a hand-held scanner and scan as you pick items off the shelf), but there's still a risk of theft. RFID would pretty much eliminate that.

Edit: so maybe also the end of shoplifting :)

End of littering too. Litter warden finds a RFID'd bit of litter, automatically fines the person who paid for it.

[Larry Mudd]

Yes, the are dying, just the same way that television killed radio and movies. Too bad we can't see movies or listen to the radio any more, since they're completely gone and newspapers and magazines will follow them.In some ways, this is almost true.

Radio drama survives in some small way, but we're never going to see another Lux Radio Theatre, The Shadow, or Inner Sanctum.

It's mostly just background noise, now - I don't imagine anyone sitting 'round the radio for an hour of entertainment.

[Rayne Man]

There is at least one place where radio drama is alive and well. This is BBC Radio 4. Everyday of the year this station broadcasts at least one, and usually two radio plays, ranging in length from thirty minutes to an hour-and-a-half. In addition the station has a good mix of other speech-based programmes, including comedies, quizzes, documentaries and news magazines.

[DrDeth]

The Fraternal org's heyday is certainly at an end- many buildings in downtown used to be the Odd Fellows, Elks, Moose, Lions, Masons, Eagles, Foresters, Jaycees, Kiwanis, Knights of Columbus, Optimists, Rotary, and so forth. Every male who was anyone belonged to one of these. Now- the Masons still are somewhat active and some of the others continue as mostly charitable orgs.

[Really Not All That Bright]

Colleges campuses are becoming increasingly hostile to social fraternities. That's not that big a deal- Greeks tend to donate significantly more money to their alma maters than the average alumnus. However, if Lloyds' of London ever goes under, fraternities are done for.

[Siam Sam]

Now- the Masons still are somewhat active and some of the others continue as mostly charitable orgs.

That's because the Masons secretly rule the world.