A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch
Over the years, I’ve written many articles on technology terminology. This is another one of them. It originally started as a Mind Bender quiz, but soon evolved into a list of obsolete technology, terminology, companies, etc. I hope you enjoy learning the alphabet from A to Z.
A is for Amiga computers, the last product line of Commodore International. That was the company that brought us the VIC-20, the Commodore 64 and many other great computers.
B is for Beta Max tapes. They have become obsolete along with the letter V.
C is for Circuit City. After the bankruptcy, the brand name was purchased by Systemax and lived for a while on the internet. Even that is no longer with us.
D is for dial up modems. I imagine that someone somewhere is still using one. Can you remember calling someone on the telephone and getting that unique sound?
E is for ENIAC, the first computer. It was initially designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army.
F is for floppy disks. They started big and got smaller. Finally they disappeared. CDs and DVDs probably won’t be around very long.
G is for Google Reader, which was an RSS aggregator operated by Google. Although it was still popular, Google discontinued it.
H is for Honeywell computers. Still in business today, Honeywell International ceased manufacturing computers in 1989.
I is for Infocom. If you’ve read any of my past articles, you’ll know that I think they produced some of the best games ever. My all time favorite was Suspended.
J is for the Jupiter Ace. In 1983, it was advertised as possibly the fastest computer in the universe. Instead of BASIC or CP/M, the machine’s default operating language was FORTH.
K is for Kinescope, at one time the cutting edge of video technology.
L is for Laserdisc, a video technology that never really made it to the big time.
M is for Mosaic, one of the first graphical web browsers.
N is for Netscape, once the dominant browser for surfing the internet. The final version was released in February 2008.
O is for Olivetti, once a well known typewriter manufacturer that branched out into making computers. They are still in business as a subsidiary of an Italian telecommunications company.
P is for Pager. It used to be the machine that made the noise in movie theaters. Supposedly, you were important if you carried one.
Q is for Quantum Link which later became America Online. Q-Link was one of the first on line bulletin boards.
R is for Rolodex. Does anyone still use these index cards to keep track of their contacts?
S is for Slide Projector. The only time you hear about slides anymore is when someone wants to know how to digitize them.
T is for typewriters. There is still a company that makes them, but you won’t see them in use very much.
U is for UNIVAC, the first general purpose computer for commercial use. It was also the first computer to correctly predict the outcome of a presidential election.
V is for VHS tapes. They have become obsolete along with the letter B.
W is for Windows 1.0, Windows 2.0, Windows 3.0 Windows NT, Windows 95, Windows Millennium, Windows 98, etc.
X is for the xD-Picture Card. These flash memory cards were only used in Olympus and Fujifilm cameras. They were expensive and replaced by SD cards.
Y is for Y2K which on January 1, 2000 was going to be the end of the world because computers wouldn’t be able to correctly calculate the date.
Z is for Z-DOS, a forked version of MS-DOS designed to run on the Zenith computer. I was originally going to make Z for Zenith, but they are still around. LG owns the brand and sells a few items.
That’s all of my thoughts for January. My mind is empty again. Thanks for reading.