Sadly, fax machines and faxes are still only too alive and well in the real estate business…I hate them yet still we have to fax almost on a daily basis!

Let’s see…I’ve seen:
8 track tapes – obsolete
LP records – obsolete

I suspect we will eliminate DVD / blu ray discs altogether and just end up streaming from the net….

Although I still buy games on disc, because I like the idea of physical ownership and collecting, I do believe that buying games via disc and buying individual games digitally will be gone within 10 years and will be replaced with “freemies that has paid DLC and user generated content”. Why go out to a store to get the latest Call of Duty or paying 50 bucks for a digital walled garden that you can’t trade in or resell when you can download a small basic game for free, but purchase some add-ons for 5 or 10 bucks or purchase tools to create your own content?

@ stephen:

Our local Blockbuster actually has a promo on right now, unlimited renting for month for 10$. I remember when it used to be so expensive to rent, now my dad and I drive down 4 times a day to rent, watch and return movies.

Also no more late fees.

They are really trying to keep/get business. Only reason I like it… the owner used to run our movie theatre and he loves movies so much, he organizes the place in “if you liked this movie, you’ll like these” isles. It’s pretty clever.

Some of Leopold’s obsolete technology:

* Wrist-watch. Gave it up last year. Wore it by habit. Didn’t need it. In fact, I probably never needed it.

* CD’s. It’s just too easy to buy the digital version on my computer and have it “right now”. Same with software. Why wait for it when I can download it NOW.

And some long-term predictions:

* Mail. Definitely not obsolete yet. But how soon? Will we see a sharp curtailment in the next few years? Why pay almost half a buck to send a letter very slowly, wasting gas, and having vehicles and people tromp all over the place? Why not send it by e-mail, pay nothing, get it there in just a moment, save gas, etc. The explosion of e-mail has not curtailed my mailbox. . . yet.

* Keys. Wouldn’t it be nice if “losing your keys” was a thing of the past? My bank can get me to my account online securely with few overall breeches. Why can’t my house and my car? No, not a stupid 4 digit combination that someone might see me type in. Something secure, that reduces what I need to carry. Cell phones do everything else today, why not open doors too?

These days no one raises their hand when I ask that question. Dialup is long forgotten in these parts of the world.

I wanna cry. I live in Italy and here many people use dialup because IT IS THE ONLY CONNECTION AVAILABLE!
I can’t believe we’re still a G8 country…

In addition to 8 tracks, vinyl, bag phones, CBs, laser disks, cartridge-type game systems, and VCR/VHS…BetaMax. We had one. Of course, we lived in Korea, and everyone had a VCR and a Beta.

@ JKjoker:

Yeah, BluRay prediction is probably wrong. In fact, physical media will likely get replaced by streaming for the most part.

As for the smart phones – the competition on the market is becoming pretty fierce. Apple is starting to lose ground to Android phones and HP just bought Palm and will likely throw their money into the ring as well.

The battle between wireless providers is becoming pretty fierce too. Just look at the smack talking Verizon vs. AT&T commercials. These guys are not pulling punches anymore.

Eventually this competition will lead to lower prices for smart phones and the data service the require. They will give out the lower end, underpowered smart phones for free.

Also I know that the carriers will ridiculously discount the phones when they want you to sign a contract. For example, my coworker paid $100 when she preodered the HTC Incredible and renewed her contract for 2 years at the same time. I checked and I would have to pay $600+ for the same phone. But in a few months when my contract is up for a renewal they will likely offer me a similar deal.

@ Ferret:

I wasn’t clear on that one. I meant that desktop towers will be phased out from the home & leisure market and replaced by laptops and notebooks. You will still be able to buy towers but I just don’t see for example Dell marketing them to home users. You will probably have to go to their Business or Gaming pages to get one.

On the traditional tower, I wouldn’t count on them going away anytime soon. As long as the big broadband players in the United States keep the speeds down like they have been, we won’t be 100% cloud based, or anywhere close.

ill have to call you on part of your predictions

BluRay: i think it will get replaced by something else before i gets very far, its not getting cheap quick enough and is not “better” enough to take over dvd, the main advantage is for storage but its not big enough to justify the investment right now (disclaimer: my view is probably biased by the fact im living in a third world country)

the other two, while i agree with you i see a problem with the price, closed boxes mean brands and brands mean 3x price, 1/4 quality here and for smartphones services are 4 times more expensive than dumbphones (they are doing everything in their power to kill them tho) and the bills are definitely growing faster than paychecks

@ Rob:

Yeah, when they first came out my mid was blown. 100MB – I felt like I was living in the FUTURE. :P

@ SapientIdiot:

When I see a pay phone on the street I have an urge to call a friend and be like “Dude! I’m in a pay phone!”. Then I realize that I would actually have to take out my cell phone, look up the number, dial it… And then the person on the other end probably wouldn’t pick up because the pay phone number would not be in their address book.

So last time I saw a pay phone I took it’s picture with my phone and texted it to people with a description “LOL PAYPHONE!”

@ Eric:

Funny thing – I never used a laser disk. That technology somehow skipped by me altogether.

@ Tormod Haugen:

Yeah, writing on touch screens is always a pain. That’s why some people swear by the physical keyboard thing.

@ Timmy:

Very true – I see them used less – mostly because of cloud services. Hell, ever since I got Dropbox account I have had no need for these things. So instead of a data stick carry a copy of SLAX in my pocket.

@ copperfish:

Actually a friend just told me Polaroid went back on their decision and restarted film production. They also released a new camera model, and are using Lady Gaga to promote it (allegedly the new cam is product placed all over one of her recent music videos)

Oh, and arcade machines are still around – I still see them on boardwalks, amusement parks and food&games type establishments (like Dave & Busters). Also I have seen them in bigger movie theaters.

Granted they are not as ubiquitous as they used to be.

@ ST/op:

I never used a modem with speed measured in baud. Also never used an old school BBS. I do remember being excited about buying an external 26K modem. When I replaced it with a 56K one – oh man, the internet was FLYING! :P

@ Athanor:

I was the same way, but then I got myself a huge LCD monitor and I’m extremely happy with it. I took my old 17″ CRT to the attic and I think I strained my back int the process. That thing felt like it was full of bricks. Bricks made out of led.

@ Garrick:

Funny thing is that the typewriter will still probably work semi-reliably in 100 years. Our current technology is many things, but it does not age well.

Also, if you don’t mind me asking – what do you do that requires you to use a typewriter. And how do you get the analog copies back into the digital realm? Do you scan the typewritten forms/documents back in?

I mean I have seen it done in the past. A secretary would grab a form from a box (one of those things with multiple sheets and carbon-copy paper in between), fill it out on the typewriter, rip off the top copy and file the rest in her drawer. Then she would walk up to a scanner, scan the thing in, and email the resulting PDF out.

Fortunately at some point someone replicated that form in a PDF format with forms.