What old technology are you surprised is still in use today?
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Fax, still in official use in Germany.
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Kia/Hyundai uses cameras and screens instead of mirrors in South Korea but that technology is illegal here in the US so we get mirrors. Its not too different than adaptive headlights which can adjust themselves to not blind other drivers. Legal in Europe but illegal in the US.
I think those are legal where I'm at, but if you have both mirrors and cameras it should be allowed by default. Also in the case of Honda e, I wonder how much power the screens and "mirrors" are eating, in a tiny car like that it might be noticeable.
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Steam engines.
The vast majority of our power comes from making something really hot and boiling water. Coal plant? Oil plant? Gas plant? Nuclear fission plant? Geothermal plant? The grand holy grail of energy production that would be a nuclear fusion plant? All steam engines.
Yes, unbeknownst to everyone, this is what a steampunk society realistically looks like.
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Fax, still in official use in Germany.
Very common in the US medical field as well
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The sewing machine.
Like we got 3d printers than can give me whatever I want in 20 hrs but I still got to fight with a sewing machine to stitch an outfit. Like why no polyester clothes printer? -
The sewing machine.
Like we got 3d printers than can give me whatever I want in 20 hrs but I still got to fight with a sewing machine to stitch an outfit. Like why no polyester clothes printer?For one, polyester fabric and clothes are just terrible
Two, technically you can 3d print a chainmail shirt, but it'd suck to wear normally
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Legally defined as secure, not actually secure.
They are fairly insecure in practice, since they are throwing the data at misdialed numbers and they are frequently placed in shared and insecure locations in the building where lots of people can access whatever comes through.
In the US they cannot be in "insecure locations" legally. And sending HIPAA materials to the wrong number is a reportable offense.
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I think those are legal where I'm at, but if you have both mirrors and cameras it should be allowed by default. Also in the case of Honda e, I wonder how much power the screens and "mirrors" are eating, in a tiny car like that it might be noticeable.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Most cameras are around 5W when in use, and it looks like the Honda e has a 35.5 kWh battery, and real world testing of the Honda e comes to around 167 Wh/km or 270 Wh/mile, so if you assume 3 cameras (2 side, 1 rearview) to replace mirrors, every hour of uninterrupted driving will have the cameras reducing your range by around 90 meters?
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Fax, still in official use in Germany.
It's considered a secure method of document transfer over email, despite email being able to be secured and fax can be hacked with like a length of wire and a knife. Fucking irks me.
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Most cameras are around 5W when in use, and it looks like the Honda e has a 35.5 kWh battery, and real world testing of the Honda e comes to around 167 Wh/km or 270 Wh/mile, so if you assume 3 cameras (2 side, 1 rearview) to replace mirrors, every hour of uninterrupted driving will have the cameras reducing your range by around 90 meters?
Thank you. I was mostly worried about running 5 screens at all times. Every mirror replacement system I've seen in pictures uses really bright screens and the E has 3 infotainment screens on top of that.
So if we count them as 5W each (12.3 main displays are probably hungrier, but camera displays are way smaller, and they're almost certainly IPS), that's ~25W, so 150 meters by your calculation? Doesn't sound that bad tbh. And on top of that the 12.3" ones can be turned off.
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The IRS still use COBOL.
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The IRS still use COBOL.
That's not even a government thing. It's a finance/banking thing, as most major banks are still using mainframes and legacy COBOL code for most of their business logic.
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Steam engines.
The vast majority of our power comes from making something really hot and boiling water. Coal plant? Oil plant? Gas plant? Nuclear fission plant? Geothermal plant? The grand holy grail of energy production that would be a nuclear fusion plant? All steam engines.
Yes, unbeknownst to everyone, this is what a steampunk society realistically looks like.
We made steampunk a reality by developing the technology to transfer steam power efficiently over long distances through metal wires.
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I'm surprised nobody mentioned jack plugs yet. Basically unchanged since 1877 when it was invented for phone switchboards, roughly as old as safety pins or modern hairpins (give or take a few decades)
If it ain't broke don't fix it.
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The sewing machine.
Like we got 3d printers than can give me whatever I want in 20 hrs but I still got to fight with a sewing machine to stitch an outfit. Like why no polyester clothes printer?wrote last edited by [email protected]We have knitting machines, and automated looms (weaving machines,) we even have sergers for fancy sewing. Its just plain easier to make the finished product as a custom job since humans aren't uniform in size, and it's way easier to weave a rectangular piece of cloth than any other shape.
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The IRS still use COBOL.
wrote last edited by [email protected]So does pretty much the whole banking and credit industry. When you get money out of an ATM there's usually some COBOL code involved.
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Welcome to "That's not surprising at all!"
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There's a used bookstore near me that has the oldest cash register I've ever seen. It has keys like a typewriter, and makes the most satisfying "ka-ching" sound when it opens. They always use it to add up your purchase and print a receipt, even when you're paying with a credit card. But I always try to bring cash when I'm there so that the drawer gets used. (And also, y'know, screw credit card companies taking their cut.)
I know that's not really "in widespread use" today, which is probably what the question meant, but that was the first thing that came to mind for me.
Wow. Many years ago I bought an old cash register to use as a prop in a play, sounds like the type you're talking about, and it was already way outdated then. Thing was amazingly heavy, like a refrigerator.
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So does pretty much the whole banking and credit industry. When you get money out of an ATM there's usually some COBOL code involved.
True, we stack old technologies on top of older technologies, and somewhere at the bottom, there is z/OS with COBOL running. A young person right now learning COBOL has a secure future with big paychecks.
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True, we stack old technologies on top of older technologies, and somewhere at the bottom, there is z/OS with COBOL running. A young person right now learning COBOL has a secure future with big paychecks.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Depends on your tolerance for code spelunking. Back in the 90s I was encouraged to do Y2K prep because I had some COBOL experience, but I really hated pawing through old code. To be fair, COBOL was designed to be self documenting and English-like. But I'm glad I got into web dev instead back then. It was right at the dawn of "dynamic HTML" when web pages started actually doing things. Very cool time. Right now I'd be more inclined to go into helping companies recover from failed AI projects.
