They Still Make You?

They Still Make You? The Business Insider Hopes Not

As the decade winds down, I have stumbled across several lists of technologies and customs that became either obsolete or far less prevalent over the past 10 years.

They Still Make You? covered New York Magazine's list a couple of weeks ago. 

We also covered the Law Librarian Blog's list of obsolete learning technologies.

The Business Insider has compiled it's slide-show of technologies it found had become obsolete in the past decade:

1. PDAs
2. E-mail accounts you have to pay for
3. Dial-up
4. Getting film developed
5. Movie Rental Stores
6. Maps
7. Newspaper classifieds
8. The Landline
9. Long-Distance Charges
10. Public pay phones
11. VCRs
12. Fax machines
13. Phone books, dictionaries, encyclopedias
14. Calling "411"
15. CDs
16. Backing up your data on floppies or CDs
17. Getting bills in the mail
18. Buttons
19. Losing touch
20. Boundaries
21. Paper
22. Bonus: Record Stores

One caveat is that many of these are still ubiquitous---no one knows quite why--- but still a good indicator of what we will be seeing less of in the years to come.

The article is worth the read for the commentary and pictures.

They Still Make You? Learning Technologies We Should Look Out For

As the decade winds down, I have stumbled across several lists of technologies and customs that became either obsolete or far less prevalent over the past 10 years.

They Still Make You? covered New York Magazine's list a couple of weeks ago.

Here is the list put together by the Law Librarian Blog of learning technologies that became obsolete during the aughts:

1. Scantron Sheets

2. Overhead Projectors and Transparencies

3. Classroom VCR/DVD Players

4. Course Packs and Course Readers

5. Photocopiers

6. Microfiche

7. Language and Computer Labs

8. Paper Journals and Periodicals?

Um, maybe not obsolete...or even rare enough to make They Still Make You?  But still, nice to see what our material might be down the road.

Albums Released on Vinyl

The New York Times reports that author and humorist (St.) David Sedaris's new audiobook, “Live for Your Listening Pleasure,” will be released, in part, on vinyl.

According to the Times,

Reminiscent of Blue Note albums from the 1950s and 1960s, the cover features a photograph of a woman sprawled on a white shag rug with a come-hither look, albums strewn about. Albums are enjoying something of a renaissance, posting $57 million in sales in 2008, more than double the previous year and the best for the format since 1990, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The format is so rare for audiobooks, however, that the Audiobook Publishers Association has never even tracked its sales.

While the vinyl album will feature 2 out of the 5 tracks from the compact disc version, the album

will [provide] a code enabling purchasers to digitally download the entire program.

Rest assured Gen-Y-ers.  If dragging your parents' old record player out of the attic proves too taxing (or your hipster sibling got to it first), you can just download the whole thing to your iPod and call it a day. 

Albums released on vinyl: They Still Make You?