New(ish) technologies that have fallen flat....

[gremlin]

I saw my B-I-L's Oculus sat gathering dust the other day. Must have been a couple of years back he spunked about a grand and half on it (not got a pot to piss in, mind), as it was the future of gaming, the next big thing, etc...

Does anybody still use them? Are games still being made?

Made me start thinking about other technological 'next big things' that we've seen come and flop, like 3D telly. I recall having a go in Bluewater and thinking it was decidedly underwhelming, as I suppose the rest of the world did, along with having to buy each family member a pair of £400 glasses to watch Eastenders in glorious faux-3D.

Ditto the craze of the Internet of Things, such as kettles you could switch on via your phone, notwithstanding that you have to fill the thing anyway, and by the time you've grabbed a spoon and a teabag, a normal kettle would have boiled anyway.

And then of course there's the creepy Apple glasses and countless other things that promised to change the world but ended up being quietly killed off or left languishing in the bottom of a cupboard somewhere.

[Taipan]

I think you'll be able to add Sky Glass to the list...

[Taipan]

Oh and Microsoft's Windows phone!

[Taipan]

[Horse]

I saw my B-I-L's Oculus sat gathering dust the other day. Must have been a couple of years back he spunked about a grand and half on it (not got a pot to piss in, mind), as it was the future of gaming, the next big thing, etc...

Does anybody still use them? Are games still being made?

Had to Google it to find out what it was ...

VR headsets are being used outside of gaming. A couple of applications are scenario training for emergency workers and visualisation of underground utilities (pipes, cables, etc) before starting groundworks.

However, I'm only aware of the marketing hype, don't know about actual implementation.

And the utilities example requires completed BIM - building infrastructure modelling - or similar. For context on that, when extensive works were underway on the M3 a few years ago they found drains that weren't on the original [paper] plans.

[McNab]

I did buy into the 3D TV thing and, as you say, it was underwhelming, apart from 1 shot in the Force Awakens and most of Pacific Rim.

I also have a PSVR2 which does get used occasionally, but it's a bit of a faff to set up and it only gets used for a shortish time. Moss 1 & 2 are amazing games though.

Anyway, It's all AI now innit.

[KungFooBob]

Does anyone remember all the fuss around Project Ginger in the early noughties?

It was super secret, massively hyped, the future of urban personal transport.

We know it today as the Segway.

Now you only ever see them on holidays were people do tours on them.

[Cousin Jack]

Going back in time, CPM. I had a desktop running concurrent CPM with 4 windows aeon ago, then DOS took over the world and eventually after abut 30 years we got Windows with a capital W.

[Rockburner]

And then of course there's the creepy Apple glasses and countless other things that promised to change the world but ended up being quietly killed off or left languishing in the bottom of a cupboard somewhere.

Do you mean the Google Lens things?

The idea isn't dead - Meta (Facebook) are currently selling something similar, in cahoots with Ray Ban (of all brands), which apparently are ridiculously easy to hack. It's almost like Meta want them to cause controversy....

https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/04/ ... t_glasses/

[Yorick]

I once watched a game of footy in Cornwall with the 3D glasses.

It was shit, apart from laughing at everybody else wearing silly glasses

[McNab]

I once watched a game of footy in Cornwall with the 3D glasses.

It was shit, apart from laughing at everybody else wearing silly glasses

A game in real life or on the TV.

It's Cornwall, so it needs asking.

[Yorick]

I once watched a game of footy in pub in Cornwall with the 3D glasses.

It was shit, apart from laughing at everybody else wearing silly glasses

A game in real life or on the TV.

It's Cornwall, so it needs asking.

Telly, obvs

[Taff]

And then of course there's the creepy Apple glasses and countless other things that promised to change the world but ended up being quietly killed off or left languishing in the bottom of a cupboard somewhere.

Do you mean the Google Lens things?

The idea isn't dead - Meta (Facebook) are currently selling something similar, in cahoots with Ray Ban (of all brands), which apparently are ridiculously easy to hack. It's almost like Meta want them to cause controversy....

https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/04/ ... t_glasses/

Honey bees don't like them glasses.
One of my neighbours came with me to inspect my bees a couple of months ago, it was his first time and he didn't know what to expect but the bees deffo didn't like him, he had quite a few bouncing off his veil while I had none.
I spotted the little light on his glasses and asked him WTF? He was wearing and recording on those meta glasses.
Once he switched them off the bees went away and left him alone.

[Rockburner]

And then of course there's the creepy Apple glasses and countless other things that promised to change the world but ended up being quietly killed off or left languishing in the bottom of a cupboard somewhere.

Do you mean the Google Lens things?

The idea isn't dead - Meta (Facebook) are currently selling something similar, in cahoots with Ray Ban (of all brands), which apparently are ridiculously easy to hack. It's almost like Meta want them to cause controversy....

https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/04/ ... t_glasses/

Honey bees don't like them glasses.
One of my neighbours came with me to inspect my bees a couple of months ago, it was his first time and he didn't know what to expect but the bees deffo didn't like him, he had quite a few bouncing off his veil while I had none.
I spotted the little light on his glasses and asked him WTF? He was wearing and recording on those meta glasses.
Once he switched them off the bees went away and left him alone.

Did he ask your permission before recording?

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

5G - it really isn't as good as 4G

[Pirahna]

5G - it really isn't as good as 4G

I've got my first 5G phone on order, it should arrive Saturday. My phone company only does 4G so I won't need a tinfoil hat just yet.

Despite working in technology I've always been a very late adopter of anything new. One of the very few things I bought which I felt deserved a longer life was a Palm Pilot.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I'd forgotten about 3D TV even being a thing. That really did die, didn't it?

Seaways seemed like a good idea, but hammered by "nowhere you can use them" rules. Doesn't seem to have harmed e-scooters though. Maybe Segways were just too big and expensive.

[Wscad]

Going back in time, CPM. I had a desktop running concurrent CPM with 4 windows aeon ago, then DOS took over the world and eventually after abut 30 years we got Windows with a capital W.

I’m sure the very first amstrad computers had cpm. Was it a acronym for computer processors for microcomputer ? Did it run under the zilog z80?

[Sadlonelygit]

The irony is that with new battery/motor technology, they could be viable nowadays!

[cheb]

Not in that format, mt grandfather bought a couple of them and they were horrible things to use, quite easy to roll when cornering. Two wheels at the front would have been much better.

Back to disappearing technology, all the various recording formats, DCC, minidisc and more.