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10 Technologies MIA
Fantasy Football writes "CNet lists ten technologies they miss, which includes Napster, the originial Palm Pilot, good keyboards, and more. From the article: 'Technology evolves. Good technologies and products usually survive; poor ones usually go extinct. But not all of the technologies and tech products that have swirled down the drain of the tech gene pool deserved their fate. Here are some big, and some small, ideas that we thought we'd have with us forever, but that unfortunately have gone the way of the dodo.'"
You can still buy a real keyboard. Those guys bought the design from IBM and still produce it in the USA.
I like the feel of an old Antec clicky keyboard better, but the layout on the Unicomp is better.
Get a PS2USB adaptor and it even works great on a Mac.
Yeah, CNET is having a top 10 celebration for its 10th aniversary... can we just point everyone to it rather than having to make each one a new article!?
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http://www.cnet.com/4520-11136_1-6250162-1.html?t
Good keyboards
There are plenty of good keyboards, Microsoft even makes some good ones. What they are asking for are those loud IBM keyboards that feel like the clumsy typewriters they were adapted from.
Microsoft makes some good ones? I've oned one MS natural and one MS natural elite, but both died due to the contacts wearing out.
While the IBM clicky keyboard (can't remember the model number off hand) might not be your bag IIRC they used metal on metal contacts basicly looking like tweesers inside the key hole.. where the pressing down action caused the contacts to meet and behold a key press is registered. Dec keyboards I believe are made in much the same way though i'd have to check mine... but you phone up support if you dumped coffee in your keyboard and they tell you to put it in a bucket full of soap and water and let dry, and most of the time the problem was resolved.
The current keyboard trend is circuit traces on one membrain, a seperator, and a membrain with a solid contact spot. They are cheap, easy to mass produce, and rub away after a couple of years. I mean it "nice" not having to spend $50 to $100 on a keyboard, but those who spent $50 to $100 on a keyboard likely have something that can still be used today.
There was a time when the keyboards were made by using a large PC board with basic contacts, with a flexable bubble material on top with a little metal contact. While these will eventually wear away, they don't do so nearly as quickly as plastic membrains.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
From what I've read the zero emissions policy was at first a reaction to unbelievable amounts of pollution from automobiles in L.A. - any other slant that was put on it after that was people playing politics and the nuclear lobby trying to get green credibility (and possibly succeeding).
We must reduce population growth, and the best way to do that is to grant more political power to women, especially in developing countries (where in many cases, they are considered chattel). There's a good article on Wikipedia discussing the theory of demographic transition and how it affects population, and how giving women more economic and political control naturally reduces the birth rate. Of course access to contraception and (gasp!) abortion is important as well.
I agree that the "what, me worry?" approach will not help, and unfortunately that is the one adopted by most of our political leaders. No one wants to tell people to stop having kids. In a few countries with declining populations citizens are actually encouraged to accelerate the birth rate!
Soylent Green is peoplicious!
Kozmo started charging for delivery on orders under $30 at least a year or so before they went under.
Further, they were turning a profit in both Boston and New York -- both very dense cities where deliveries were easily made via bicycle. Not so in some of their later expansions (Dallas comes to mind).