How Did We Live Without Them?

[bumblebee]

It amazes me how much technology we take for granted that was little know, well to me anyway, 20 years ago.  I remember first seeing the internet in a computer cafe, well I guess it was an internet cafe but the concept was unknown to me back in 1997 or so.  A friend in college told me you could check information about various things by typing it into a browser and searching.  No idea what she was talking about.

 

A lecturer brought a digital camera into a lecture one afternoon about 1999 and told us this was a digital camera, and said it cost about 1000 pounds.  We looked at each other like he was mad.  A few years later a friend produced a small point and shoot and we were fascinated that we could see the photos on a small screen as soon as they were taken.  He said the thing was to see them better we could either get them printed or loaded onto a laptop and he also mentioned that in a few years people would be traveling with cameras like his and laptops, again I though he was mad.  I got my first digital camera in September 2004 and my first laptop in June 2005 and have been traveling with them ever since.

 

Where to start with mobile phones...again when they began to appear in general use in the mid to late 90s most of us thought they were for the pretentious, but I got my first Nokia in the summer of 2000 and would find it hard to be without one for more than 24 hours there days.

 

So how about you guys, when did you first come across modern, everyday technology and how did you feel at the time?

 

 

[Tomcat]

i met a guy in China a year ago and showed him a engineering drawing of a special hi fi device... i said how much to tool this up dear friend.

 

A week later he sent me a working sample ...  i was expecting a wooden mock up  but no... somehow he must have spent 20,000 USD on an injection mould....

 

Then i found out it was a 3D Printed fully working product... i hit the floor ..( its now in production and won 5 stars in WHAT HI FI and in with a shout of product of the year and im very happy and getting richer). Even my consultant Engineer fell off his seat...3D Printing is now so good and we are barely started with this technology

 

wow... you cant keep up with it

[xyzzy]

I worked at a multi national computer company in the 90s. We had internet/Email very early in the game. Wish I could put a year on it but too long ago. I remember when web sites were just starting and our IT guy thought they were the wave of the future. We were mostly doing newgroups/Usenet on the internet way back when.

 

The only film camera I ever owned was a Polaroid "instant"  (black and white photos developed in 60 second) about 45 years ago. Now I wouldn't be without my cheap digital camera on a trip. Even though I don't use them so much anymore. I've never spend more than ~US$120 on a digital camera and every new camera I bought has been much better than the last.

[SiamSam]

When I saw the title of this thread I thought you meant ladyboys but alas we are talking about technology. I have to rethink my response. 

[strocube]

I got my first laptop in 1998. It connected to the internet via a dial-ip modem. Stone Age tech compared to what we have now.

Got my fist cell phone in 1999. I remember being amazed that i could be driving down the road and have a phone conversation at the same time. Now, of course, if I am driving and the phone rings I don't pick it up.

Didn't really start texting until I got my first iPhone in like 2006 maybe.

Right now, I have two iPads, an iPhone, and a MacBook Pro.

Cannot even imagine going anywhere without my phone.

[bumblebee]

Got my fist cell phone in 1999. I remember being amazed that i could be driving down the road and have a phone conversation at the same time.

I never used to bring my mobile abroad in the early days as I was unaware I could change the sim and use it in another country.  I bought a nice new Nokia while I was doing a visa run to Penang in 2003 and it was great to suddenly be connected to people once I got back to Thailand.  One incident really brought it home to me how wonderful this new technology was.  I was on a night bus from Phuket to Bangkok, in the middle of nowhere, and suddenly there was a text alert.  I checked and it was a friend back home asking if I fancied coming going to Cuba in the new year.  I pondered for a few moments how fantastic is was that he was able to get a message straight to my pocket in rural Thailand.

[JustSumGai]

online in 95. first digital camera in 2006. I STILL hate cellphones but one saved me a few times in Thailand. Like the time i got to Khon Kaen to see a friend and found out she was in BANGKOK! She called her hubby and he came and picked up me and the gf and put us up in his "rubber tree farm" for a week.  So yeah, they can be handy, but in general that's one modern gizmo I have little use for.  The cam card going into the laptop for editing and backup storage is an almost everyday thing on my trips. Digital cameras...remember paying big bux for paper pics? Hell, in one trip up the Chao Praya I took 200 some pics. Could NEVER do that old school. The lappie? my movies, tv shows, news (tho MOST of what they peddle as news and info is bullshit, BIG grain of salt time), emails, skype, Magic Jack calls back to the states to talk with my bank or pay a power bill or somethin, it's endless. Laptops rule in my book. Got NO use for this new cloud computer stuff.