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21 Things That Became Obsolete This Decade

8 points by Hunchr 17y ago

DanielStraight 17y ago
Mostly true. Dead wrong on maps. GPSes are not nearly advanced enough to make maps obsolete, and I'm not sure they ever will be. Maps allow you to gain an overall understanding of an area. Directions will get you where you're going, but you'll never be able to navigate intuitively unless you know the whole area. I still greatly prefer maps to GPSes and often to directions. Sure, GPSes can provide maps, but GPS are much smaller than any reasonable map, which defeats the whole purpose of getting a wide view of an area. Also, until GPSes are nearly perfect, there's still the issue of them being wrong or of a road being closed. Maps are very rarely wrong. If you're heading South, you're probably getting further South on the map, but I've had a GPS tell me to head South when the destination was miles to the North, eventually leading to a dead end no where near the destination.
- pwnstigator 17y ago
  Maps are also cool and have prestige benefits. Whereever my family moves, we get a map of the area and create a map table. We've been doing it for hundreds of years, and if we have to pay a lot for a paper map, we'll still do it.
  - wlievens 17y ago
    Hundreds of years? Awesome. I don't know anything about my family more than 2 generations back.
wglb 17y ago
Confuses obsolete with less of a trend.
- pwnstigator 17y ago
  "Obsolete" isn't easily defined, just as "Microsoft is Dead" yet the company is still worth billions. Then we have that which is obsolete but remains for political reasons, such as private health insurance.
  - wglb 17y ago
    Actually it is easy to define: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/obsolete http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/obsolete The term is misused in conversations that talk about fashion. I like the 100 year rule mentioned there. My hp200lx still has a way to go.
pwnstigator 17y ago
22. Malls, and all of the stores that populate them. 23. The bar scene, "single's night" at the grocery store, and other means of finding dates. 24. The penny. No one cares, at this point, if they pay $20 for an $18.43 grocery bill and get back $1.55. 25. 1980s-style conservatism. 26. Stock brokers.
- tome 17y ago
  How does one find dates in the new decade?
  - pwnstigator 17y ago
    Good question. A mix of online dating and activities (cooking classes, hiking groups). Also, lucky breaks with friends of friends.
sketerpot 17y ago
Since when were buttons obsolete? They're cheap and they give some nice haptic feedback if they're well-designed. I'm typing this comment with buttons on a keyboard, and I'm not too keen to trade it in for a touch-screen keyboard anytime soon.
- roc 17y ago
  Business Insider seemed to notice some time back that two things are great for bumping up page views: manufactured controversy and slideshows. Shame too. It was a decent-enough rag before they started optimizing for hits.

8 points by Hunchr 17y ago

Mostly true. Dead wrong on maps. GPSes are not nearly advanced enough to make maps obsolete, and I'm not sure they ever will be. Maps allow you to gain an overall understanding of an area. Directions will get you where you're going, but you'll never be able to navigate intuitively unless you know the whole area. I still greatly prefer maps to GPSes and often to directions. Sure, GPSes can provide maps, but GPS are much smaller than any reasonable map, which defeats the whole purpose of getting a wide view of an area. Also, until GPSes are nearly perfect, there's still the issue of them being wrong or of a road being closed. Maps are very rarely wrong. If you're heading South, you're probably getting further South on the map, but I've had a GPS tell me to head South when the destination was miles to the North, eventually leading to a dead end no where near the destination.

pwnstigator 17y ago
Maps are also cool and have prestige benefits. Whereever my family moves, we get a map of the area and create a map table. We've been doing it for hundreds of years, and if we have to pay a lot for a paper map, we'll still do it.
- wlievens 17y ago
  Hundreds of years? Awesome. I don't know anything about my family more than 2 generations back.

wglb 17y ago

Confuses obsolete with less of a trend.

pwnstigator 17y ago
"Obsolete" isn't easily defined, just as "Microsoft is Dead" yet the company is still worth billions. Then we have that which is obsolete but remains for political reasons, such as private health insurance.
- wglb 17y ago
  Actually it is easy to define: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/obsolete http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/obsolete The term is misused in conversations that talk about fashion. I like the 100 year rule mentioned there. My hp200lx still has a way to go.

pwnstigator 17y ago

22. Malls, and all of the stores that populate them. 23. The bar scene, "single's night" at the grocery store, and other means of finding dates. 24. The penny. No one cares, at this point, if they pay $20 for an $18.43 grocery bill and get back $1.55. 25. 1980s-style conservatism. 26. Stock brokers.

tome 17y ago
How does one find dates in the new decade?
- pwnstigator 17y ago
  Good question. A mix of online dating and activities (cooking classes, hiking groups). Also, lucky breaks with friends of friends.

sketerpot 17y ago

Since when were buttons obsolete? They're cheap and they give some nice haptic feedback if they're well-designed. I'm typing this comment with buttons on a keyboard, and I'm not too keen to trade it in for a touch-screen keyboard anytime soon.

roc 17y ago
Business Insider seemed to notice some time back that two things are great for bumping up page views: manufactured controversy and slideshows. Shame too. It was a decent-enough rag before they started optimizing for hits.