I remember setting the counter on the VCR so there was no guesswork. I could simply RW or FF to the point the counter said 00:00. I thought I was a damned genius, still go caught somehow. After dad suspected I was using his porn tapes, he laid a tiny bit of thread on them, if the thread had moved next time he checked, he had me.
Lame. My dad would rent them (lol) and dub them with a second VCR. He had aptly enough a xerox box filled with tapes. Then my brother would dub those and sell them at school. One of my buddies was the first kid in school with a CD burner when they were new and 500 dollars. He sold those for a little bit but then internet porn blew up and no one has paid for porn since. Does remind me how much music consumption has changed. I remember thinking a mp3 player with a 15-20 song capacity was the tits. Even sold my first gen iPod for decent money in college as they were still hot ticket items. My friend was pumped when he got a mini-disc burner. Last time I bought a CD was at a small concert whose opener was amazing. I bought his 4 cds to support him at the merch table. I took them home to find out I didn’t have a CD player anymore to play them on. Are digital songs/albums still a thing people buy? Or do they just estimate plays on Spotify like tv networks count dvr streams? Hell I remember being blown away by the first time I heard a midi played of a popular song. Technologies kids won’t realize even existed.
I'll throw in weather prediction. Back in the day we had a little radio for the NOAA Weather broadcasts and a paper map on the refrigerator to track hurricanes. Estimates on it's projected path were almost non-existent and there was no "cone of probability." Now you have live broadcasts from the point of landfall that was figured out almost 24 hours in advance. Hell, now weather.com will tell you almost to the minute when to expect rain and when it will end. We get a decent forecast multiple days out that, while not perfect, will be accurate enough to plan your days accordingly.
I absolutely still buy the album of artists I like, especially new ones. I know they don’t get much from it on iTunes, but for how much entertainment I get from it, it’s my way to support them. I still don’t have a Spotify or understand how it works
I refuse to use Spotify because I’m not gonna pay for it, and the songs aren’t files I can keep if I stop paying. so I use youtubetomp3 to stock up my iTunes library. but I also collect records, so I don’t really have an aversion to buying music, just to renting it.
I'd argue that music streaming is still at that price point (and it's not fragmented) where it's a good subscription service - not for everyone, obviously, but the value is absolutely there depending on how you listen to music. The "listen to anything you want any time" is pretty amazing for the price. I have a playlist with songs on it from 400+ album; purchasing those albums would have cost a small fortune. Listen to Christmas music during the holidays. Any time a random song pops into your head, you can search it up and listen. Lots of the subscription services have turned into straight profiteering, where you pay the same amount for the software but don't own it. Or you see what's happening to the video streaming industry where each publisher has their own streaming service. That hasn't (yet) happened to music streaming, though. And I'd like to support people making my entertainment when it's reasonable.
Maybe not high tech, but suddenly soap started coming out of dispensers all foamy and noone seems to talk about it, and why this change has occured.
Cutting out the entire chain of manufacturing and delivering physical versions of the music probably dropped the per unit cost to its absolute minimum.
Don’t think so, at least in my experience. I have bulk liquid hand soap that is liquid until it squirts out of the dispenser, and that dispenser is what foams it up. The foam results in less waste as it’s easier to spread and use for cleaning with minimal water. You use less soap, and less of it gets washed down the drain while you’re lathering it up.
I am pretty sure Kubla Kahn is right, it is liquid, but they water it down so there is less soap and it is runnier. Then through the nozzle it foams.
Yeah the dawn foam bottles are like an 1/8th soap mixed with water. There are benefits of the design as there is less waste but they are charging you for the new “design” than the amount you are actually getting.
Oh, yeah, I’m not denying any of that, it’s just not my thing. I see the benefit of it, and maybe someday I’ll pay for Spotify. I just want my own files on my phone, for as long as I can have them, for free. When I buy records I always try to get something with a digital download if possible, unless it’s like a reissue of an album I already have in other media. Vinyl is a “sit at home with a drink and enjoy the sound” hobby, but I also like to have the song on my phone for when I’m at work or driving and need tunes to go. But if you are cheap like me, check out the youtubetomp3 program. Just copy and paste the YouTube link, and it rips the audio right to your iTunes. I use it to preview stuff I might buy on vinyl before pulling the trigger. Although there is the threat of Lars Ulrich killing me in my sleep.
what about applying and hiring? The entire process has changed entirely. 15 years ago, whenever we would be hiring, we'd place an add in the classified section of the local paper and people would come in to fill out an application. Now we have running ads on Indeed and I get all the resumes straight to my phone. Whenever I see a resume I'm interested in, I immediately take a few minutes to google them and look them up on the major socials to ensure there's nothing objectionable out there. On the applying end, they can sit at home, do one resume, and blast it out to hundreds of places locally (or tens of thousands if they're applying nationally) while they're netflix and chilling. You can apply nationally, or internationally, and be hired via zoom interview.
On the hiring front, people can stop submitting cover letters with their resume. I’m trying backfill a couple positions right now and I have not read a single cover letter submitted. You’re not going to dazzle me with your fan-fiction about working here. Just have some decent, relevant experience on your resume and don’t come off as a weirdo in the interview.
every once in a while I get a cover letter that is super nice. More often than that, I get a cover letter that has nothing to do with the job and is clearly aimed at another field entirely. Awesome, now I know you're just blasting it out to every job on the first few pages of search results. "Applying" for jobs so you can keep your unemployment has never been easier.
Might as well ask why go to a game, I've got Madden at home. It's the companionship, camaraderie, in person competitiveness, putting your quarter on the line. And even the feel of real arcade controls on a real cabinet versus a controller.
Do you have arcades near you with that experience? If so, I’m jealous. All I have is Dave and Busters and that novelty wears off when I’m waiting around to actually play the fun games.
Arcade bars were a thing here before COVID. I don't know what the status is these days, but when I went they were pretty well populated and had classic arcades (TMNT, Street Fighter, etc), not ticket-granting "games" like D&B. Also due to inflation games are way cheaper than they were back in the day. I finally dumped enough quarters into The Simpsons to beat it.