What happened in 30 years, continued

There were lots of things missing in my summary of IT developments in the last 30 years, and I was aware of it when writing.

Typewriters are gone. The last manufacturer of typewriters is closing down. I guess museums around the world are fighting over the last batch.

The Hi-Fi-stereo is gone, at least from marketing speak. Now most audio is Hi-Fi, I suppose, but I'm only guessing.

The Telex network is apparently still in operation, but has been superseded by email and fax, Facebook and Twitter and what have you.

Short-wave radio isn't as fun as it was back then. Now it's internet radio and communications.

FM-radio is still going strong though, because they managed to modernize it with RDS (Radio Data System), which broadcasters can use for station identification and commercials.

The TV has gotten thinner. Surprisingly I forgot this important item in my first try. Shows yet again how quickly good things become part of the furniture. 30 years ago a 26" TV was about 45 cm (1.5 ft) deep. Now it's about 3 cm (1.2"), which means it's lost over 90% of its depth. Wow! On top of that it consumes a lot less power, it doesn't radiate, it doesn't flicker and there's much more detail in the picture. Downside is that broadcasters have had to improve make-up. I can live with that, since it doesn't affect me.

Gaming has changed. Graphics 30 years ago was extremely primitive compared to any of the current platforms and so was the processor. However graphics isn't what games are about. Of course I'm impressed by excellent graphics, but if the intrigue isn't good, the game isn't good. Some of the games running on Atari 2600 had the intrigue to make them great games. My sons still play a few of them, and the reason is that I bought a joystick with built-in Atari games about three years ago, which contains Ms PacMan, Pole Position and four more. The graphics and sound are sufficiently good, but the intrigues are excellent!

Games are approaching films in visual quality, while some films are using games technology. I guess one reason for films to use games tech is cost or perhaps logistics. It's easier to let computers generate an ancient army of thousands, than it is to build an army with walkers-on.

I'm still convinced I've left out important things in IT and consumer electronics.