Technologies That Will Soon Disappear

I never thought I’d see the end of VHS or telephone land lines, but one is dead as a hammer and the other is on life support. And the list of technologies that are predicted to soon become extinct is growing. Children born today may never see a landline phone or fax machine. Check out the list of dying devices:

Wired Home Internet

At some point in the next few years, broadband providers are going to realize that giving everyone home antennas is more scalable than wiring and maintaining each street’s network of fiber-optic cables. At that point, the paradigm will shift and it will be cheaper to purchase wireless than wired Internet. Clear already offers a 4G WiMax home Internet hub with unlimited service, though it’s not fast enough to compete with cable Internet. –Avram Piltch, via Yahoo

 

Dedicated Cameras and Camcorders – Smartphones will seal the coffin for dedicated cameras. As our phones get “smarter” with higher resolution cameras and fancy recording capabilities the need for a separate camera decreases. 

Landline Phones – 10 years ago I never would’ve guessed that landlines would be so scarce now. I bet some of you still remember party lines. Wow, phones have come a long way in the past 30 years.

Slow-Booting Computers – this is one disappearance that I will celebrate!

With the move toward always-on computing, future users will almost never turn their computers off, instead waking them from sleep in a second or less. New operating systems will be able to install updates and patches without requiring a reboot. However, if for some reason, you do need to restart the computer, boots will take only a couple of seconds because of SSDs and fast-starting operating systems like Windows 8. –Avram Piltch, via Yahoo

Movie Theaters – No way! This can’t really happen?! But, it is predicted that movie theaters will eventually go away. Eventually as in the next few years. High prices at theaters and increasing home theater advances are to blame.

First, with large HD televisions going mainstream and 3D sets becoming more affordable, the average home theater is almost as good as the average multiplex theater. Second, studios and their cable partners have begun releasing some movies for on-demand viewing on the same day they debut in theaters, a trend which is likely to continue. –Avram Piltch, via Yahoo

Remote Controls – Gary has a friend who uses his smartphone as a remote control for his television! Who knew? Well, turns out the traditional remote will phase out as smart phone applications take their place. We are still a three remote household, maybe the smartphone controller transition will make working the DVD player easier for me. . . maybe.

Prime-time Television – We DVR everything, so this one is no big surprise to me. Why does it even matter these days what time slot shows are airing, when we DVR everything anyway. If we aren’t catching our shows by DVR we can hop online and catch most episodes for free.

Fax Machines

Three things will finally slay the fax. First, more companies will start accepting online forms with electronic signatures as valid, so someone’s illegible signature on a hard copy isn’t needed. Second, for those who just can’t let go of the signature requirement, touch devices will allow people to scribble their John Hancocks into digital forms. Finally, the death of landlines will also mean death for fax machines. –Avram Piltch, via Yahoo