Tag: obsolete
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Obsoletion Watch: Portable TVs
Analog full-power TV got a bit of a stay of execution this month, with Congress voting to delay the digital TV transition until June 12. The passage of the stimulus bill should loosen up some more money to fund DTV converter boxes to help more households avoid the loss of TV service. However, Bohus of…
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I Think I Must Admit that Laserdisc Is Dead
I have the sinking feeling that I might be forced to define my terms…. My pal Aj alerted me to this boingboing post about the news that Pioneer is ending production of laserdisc players. The funny thing is, I honestly didn’t think Pioneer was still making laserdisc players. That’s not a joke. Although I’ve been…
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Film’s not dead, either
Oh, no. I’m not ready to give up on the anti-planned-obsolescence rant just yet… The world of photography has been much less chaotic than the worlds of audio and video over the last century. There’s really only been one significant technological disruption–from film to digital. Yes, there have been multiple formats of film over the…
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Rumors of VHS’s Death Are Greatly Exaggerated
Oh, planned obsolescence, you are such an insistent mistress. It seems like the end of the year news hole combined with the imminent digital TV transition (which does not necessarily mean the end of analog TV…) has sparked additional interest in the press ringing the funeral bells for that most ubiquitous yet unloved video medium,…
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Don’t Be Spooked by Threats of Obsolesence
One of the unfortunate effects of our capitalist economy is the constant drive for new and better. Well, really it’s mostly new and novel, with better being a secondary consideration. That means obsolescence is something that constantly looms over industrial products, especially tech products. But obsolete does not equate with useless or worthless–not remotely. With…
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Watch Those VHS Tapes!
It was only ten years ago when DVD players cost over 500 bucks. And it seems like only yesterday that people were trampling each other in Wal-Mart on Black Friday to buy up $25 DVD players. At this point we’ve probably all taken for granted the inevitable obsolescence of the VHS video tape. Yet, how…