- Sponsored Links -
Home Fact Category

35 Facts About Outdated Technologies That Once Felt Cutting-Edge

- Sponsored Links -

26Beeper

Beeper

The first practical pager [beeper] was introduced in 1950 by physicians in the New York City area. It had a range of 40 km (25 mi) and weighed approximately 200 g.


27. Ding sound of a typewriter is called a margin bell, and it wasn't to tell you that you were at the end of the line, but that you had a few characters left, so that you could prepare for it.


28. Digital VHS tapes from 1998 could store 50GB of 1080i on a normal-sized tape. It was the only way to get HD commercial films until Blu-ray came out in 2004.


29. The groove on a vinyl record is on average around 500 meters long.


30. In 2007, an MP3 player called “iBeat Blaxx” had to be rebranded after causing controversy due to its name.


Latest FactRepublic Video:
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History


31Telephone of the Wind

Telephone of the Wind

On a hill overlooking the ocean in Otsuchi Town in northeastern Japan is a phone booth known as the "Telephone of the Wind". It is connected to nowhere, but people come to "call" family members lost during the tsunami of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.


32. The most valuable vinyl record of all time is not a rare recording, it's a plain, off the shelf, version of Double Fantasy by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. It's worth half a million dollars because John Lennon signed the cover for Mark David Chapman 5 hours before Chapman murdered Lennon.


33. Punchcards were invented to solve the problem of the 1890 US Census. It took 8 years to process the data of the 1880 census, so Herman Hollerith invented punch cards for tabulation, ushering in the era of data storage, databases, and supercomputers.


34. In 1994, IBM released a cell phone named IBM Simon with a touch screen and e-mail. It could also send and receive faxes, work as a pager, and was considered the world's first smartphone due to its features and capabilities.


35. Polaroid cameras don't have batteries. They instead have an individual battery in each cartridge to power the camera enough to take the required shots.

1
2

Sign up to our Newsletter & get

FREE!! 1000 Facts E-BOOK

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

- Sponsored Links -

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here