Name things that will vanish in our lifetimes

[TridenT]

floppy disks, zip drives, HDDVD, VHS, cassette tapes, and vinyl.

Oh, you mean things that haven't already disappeared in our lifetime?

SD cards: I think memory density will increase to the point that cameras, etc will just simply not need to have removable media. In fact, with the advent of wireless communication, it wouldn't surprise me if these devices eventually just uploaded their data to some server somewhere.

Thumb drives: My bet is that in the future, you'll just keep the device on your person and transfer the data wirelessly. Plugging in will be a thing of the past. Heck, the device you have on your person might act as a key of sorts rather than a storage device (unlocking the ability to open a remote storage location.)

Land lines: I hate this one, but I'm betting that telephony over a land line will go away. At very least, VOIP will probably kill it off.

Analog media in any form: I'm a bit iffy on this one, but I really do hope for it. There is no reason for our AM and FM radio stations to be sucking up as much bandwidth as it does now.

It'll be quite a while before memory cards go away. Their capacity has gone up, but fact is... I have a 16GB that only can hold maybe an hour of video being recorded or about 500 RAW photos. With megapixeelz goin' up that will only become less.

I think the whole cloud thing might happen for SOME, but not in America...


So, things that will vanish in our life time. Unlimited data plans for home connections. (They've gone away somewhat, but this will make them vanish)

 

[JulesMaximus]

So you think those that know it now will forget it? I think it'll still be in elementary school curriculum.

It is. My son is doing long division and multiplication in 3rd grade.

 

[Jaskalas]

It is. My son is doing long division and multiplication in 3rd grade.

After 10 years of never having to write it out yourself, it is easily forgotten.

 

[Jaepheth]

ATMs

A cursory look at porn trends would suggest ATM isn't going anywhere. :sneaky:

 

[Cogman]

It'll be quite a while before memory cards go away. Their capacity has gone up, but fact is... I have a 16GB that only can hold maybe an hour of video being recorded or about 500 RAW photos. With megapixeelz goin' up that will only become less.

The resolution of a photo will stop at some point. There is a point in time where humans can't tell the difference (we may be there already). Already, the resolution of display screens have pretty much stagnated at 1920x1680 max.

I think the whole cloud thing might happen for SOME, but not in America...

If my small home town of 300 people can get high speed internet, I'm pretty sure that most if not all of america can. There is already tons of fiber in the ground. The next step is to start using it.

So, things that will vanish in our life time. Unlimited data plans for home connections. (They've gone away somewhat, but this will make them vanish)

I doubt unlimited plans will completely disappear either. The moment they do, some upstart will start offering it, get more business, and force everyone else to start offering it.

I believe that the amount of bandwidth needed for media will eventually plateau. We will get to a point where nobody really wants better quality stuff. Heck, the fact that SD television has been around for as long as it has should be a pretty good indicator that most people really don't care about really high resolution stuff.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

It'll be quite a while before memory cards go away. Their capacity has gone up, but fact is... I have a 16GB that only can hold maybe an hour of video being recorded or about 500 RAW photos. With megapixeelz goin' up that will only become less.

I think the whole cloud thing might happen for SOME, but not in America...


So, things that will vanish in our life time. Unlimited data plans for home connections. (They've gone away somewhat, but this will make them vanish)

If I can't save data directly and instantly to the cloud or my brain I'll be pissed.

 

[Zeze]

Compact digital cameras.

It's only a matter of time smartphone cams catch up completely. I cannot wait til they fucking go away. I hate carrying smartphone + camera whenever I'm going out.

 

[JulesMaximus]

After 10 years of never having to write it out yourself, it is easily forgotten.

That's ridiculous. I can still do division and multiplication by writing it out.

 

[guyver01]

www.anandtech.com


it will be completely irrelevant in 5 years.

 

[Bateluer]

Io - After it gets hit by that asteroid in 2035 and falls into Jupiter

Seriously? I need to make sure I have a telescope . . .

 

[Kadarin]

here is already tons of fiber in the ground. The next step is to start using it.

Not going to happen, not if the current internet provider duopolies that exist in most of the US can enforce an artificial scarcity.

 

[Kadarin]

Another thing going away in our lifetime: A US government that both represents and acts in the best interest of the general population.

 

[Pardus]

US Post Office. Mail delivery will come by another company 3 times per week. Places like UPS Store will handle all other postal transactions.

Newspapers/Magazines/Books. Will all be delivered by subscription electronically, trees will be happy.

Privacy. Social security numbers no longer used as identification. Every person now issued a encrypted id card that will store your drivers license, bank/credit/debit card, passport, birth certificate,medical records etc. The card will only work by the user's dna.

Electronics. Your tv, phone, gps, ipad, p.c., e-reader, mp3 player, cable box, router, radio, alarm clock, etc. will all be integrated into one device that will run a new intelligent operating system. Windows, mac, linux are history. This new device will be voice activated, portable and incredibly secure and storage in zettabytes.

 

[spacejamz]

courtesy, respect for others and the desire to work hard to achieve something...all of this is pretty much gone with most of today's younger generation already...

 

[TridenT]

The resolution of a photo will stop at some point. There is a point in time where humans can't tell the difference (we may be there already). Already, the resolution of display screens have pretty much stagnated at 1920x1680 max.


If my small home town of 300 people can get high speed internet, I'm pretty sure that most if not all of america can. There is already tons of fiber in the ground. The next step is to start using it.



I doubt unlimited plans will completely disappear either. The moment they do, some upstart will start offering it, get more business, and force everyone else to start offering it.

I believe that the amount of bandwidth needed for media will eventually plateau. We will get to a point where nobody really wants better quality stuff. Heck, the fact that SD television has been around for as long as it has should be a pretty good indicator that most people really don't care about really high resolution stuff.

We're far from it. The megapixel war will continue to rage. I have an 18megapixel camera and I think it is still not enough. I want to be able to crop a lot of a picture out and maintain some pretty boss quality. Most screens are maxing at 1920x1080, but that's only because it's so cheap. It costs far too much to do 2K or 4K.

Again, there will be data caps. Small start ups are not going to do anything significant. The fact is: The fiber in the ground is owned by someone. If they don't want you being their competition then you won't get to be.

It's all about cost. People rather have HD, but don't want to pay for it. There is still a premium for HD. Also, most streams of HD content are the equivalent of upscaled shit.

 

[Zeze]

We're far from it. The megapixel war will continue to rage. I have an 18megapixel camera and I think it is still not enough. I want to be able to crop a lot of a picture out and maintain some pretty boss quality. Most screens are maxing at 1920x1080, but that's only because it's so cheap. It costs far too much to do 2K or 4K.

Again, there will be data caps. Small start ups are not going to do anything significant. The fact is: The fiber in the ground is owned by someone. If they don't want you being their competition then you won't get to be.

It's all about cost. People rather have HD, but don't want to pay for it. There is still a premium for HD. Also, most streams of HD content are the equivalent of upscaled shit.

FYI- A traditional 35mm film's equivalent digital megapixel count is 25-mp. Canon Mark series already achieve this count.

We're already at 15~ for cheap general consumer market. It'll plateau very soon (~5 yrs).

Also note that MP is ONE aspect of picture quality. It just means the sensor spits out more pixels. If optics are crap to begin with, it's shitty.

I have a first-gen 2.1 MP canon camera. The quality still rapes 5-7 MP phone cameras today.

 

[CPA]

Hopefully reality TV and Facebook.

 

[Zeze]

Hopefully reality TV and Facebook.

FB isn't going anywhere. Just few yrs ago I thought FB would be another phase just like Myspace/Xanga/Friendster, etc.

But FB is really firm rooted and is a perfect tool for today's social media.

 

[MotionMan]

Losing track of old friends and classmates.

Our kids will be able to find them all on Facebook, Twitter or whatever comes down the road in their place.

MotionMan

 

[SunnyD]

Me.

 

[Ruptga]

Social Security, Medicaid

I came here to say this. But I would go a step further and say "the global economy as we know it." Many countries are going further into debt every year (the US, the PIGS, etc) and that's just not sustainable over the long term.

 

[Zeze]

Losing track of old friends and classmates.

Our kids will be able to find them all on Facebook, Twitter or whatever comes down the road in their place.

MotionMan

Wow that's a good one.

It'll be rare to see "OMG LOOK AT YOU!". Social media will have you look at their pic at least.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

lame ass parody threads, when there's finally a face-stab-o-matic built into every monitor.

 

[Cogman]

We're far from it. The megapixel war will continue to rage. I have an 18megapixel camera and I think it is still not enough. I want to be able to crop a lot of a picture out and maintain some pretty boss quality. Most screens are maxing at 1920x1080, but that's only because it's so cheap. It costs far too much to do 2K or 4K.

Cost has little to do with it. They have higher resolution screens that are relatively cheep. The thing is, few people buy them.

Again, there will be data caps. Small start ups are not going to do anything significant. The fact is: The fiber in the ground is owned by someone. If they don't want you being their competition then you won't get to be.

Again, competition won't allow it. We started with data caps, someone introduced non-data capped internet, we lost data caps. It will very much be a cyclical processes.

It's all about cost. People rather have HD, but don't want to pay for it. There is still a premium for HD. Also, most streams of HD content are the equivalent of upscaled shit.

It isn't. A large portion of the population can't tell the difference between upscaled dvds and high definition. Where they can tell the difference is in low bandwidth transmissions (which isn't a fair comparison).

http://www.hifi-writer.com/he/bdreviews/toystory3.htm

You'll notice that they have to zoom in pretty close before the loss of detail become apparent. (you'll also notice some subtle color shifts... The pictures are brighter in the bluray version vs the DVD version. This is an added visual cue to trick people into believing the picture quality of one is better than the other... It is really a dirty trick if you ask me. Ken's face really shows off the difference)

I'm not saying that nobody can tell the difference, but rather it isn't as big as you think. In fact, it is small enough the companies have resorted to purposefully crippling and distorting their dvd versions to make the bluray versions look better in comparison.

 

[twinrider1]