I find there are quite a few people who push the idea that everything that's new in technology is automatically better than any old technology. And whenever someone expresses any liking for things like Vinyl or 35mm film, they disregard them as being "blinded by nostalgia". Personally, I don't agree with this mindset. Sure there are many ways that newer technology is an obvious improvement over older technology. But as a movie guy, I really disagree with the idea of completely abandoning 35mm cameras. At least not during the current state of digital cinema.

While digital cinema has advanced over the years, it's still hasn't quite captured that "film" look. When I see movies nowadays, many of them seem colorless and empty. To quote Christopher Nolan, it's like watching "television in public". I'm not against the use of digital film. In fact, that's what got me into studying film. However, I'm against the idea of completely abandoning something that still works, just because it's older. And let's be honest, digital cinema is still a developing art form. While it has been around for a long time, it's only been very recently, that many companies have decided to go full-on digital.

Perhaps a day will come where digital film will finally be able to truly capture that "film feel", and it will truly replace 35mm film. However, that does not seem to be the case in 2015 (and likely won't anytime soon). I feel like we should embrace both formats. We have to acknowledge the fact that technology is changing, digital film is really taking off now. And it seems to be a great starting point for filmmakers in training, since it has more accessibility and is cheaper. So it does have some advantages over 35mm film. At the same time, we have to acknowledge that 35mm film still has a few advantages over digital cinema, from an artistic perspective. Therefore, it still has a place in the world of movies. Right now, there's room for both digital cinema and film cinema.

Then there's the whole digital vs analog debate over music. Once again, I feel like there's room for both. Many people are getting into vinyl again, but digital sales are still on the rise. People shouldn't disregard other people's choices. They should acknowledge that each person has their preference and that both formats have their advantages and disadvantages.

In particular, Apple products have jumped the shark ever since Steve Jobs passed away.  Nowadays, every new release provokes anger rather than awe.  From the redesigned ports, to the buggier iPhones, to the loss of PowerPC support, to passing off thinner designs and redesigned dashboards as "new", to now the need for special headphones for the upcoming iPhone 7, Apple has degenerated from the trailblazer of technological progress to little more than a greedy, devious, corporate behemoth.

35mm?  I still use my Dad's Brownie camera that uses 620 film with the huge negatives.

35mm?  I still use my Dad's Brownie camera that uses 620 film with the huge negatives.


Does that still work?

Does that still work?


Yep. It's all mechanical. No electronic cr@p to go haywire.

New is not better when it comes to everything. I prefer when TV wasn't digital because it was far less complicated. We have three remotes for the main TV and you have to mess with more settings to deal with when it comes to putting a movie in. You can't record on tape anymore either. It's On Demand or you're SOL.


In particular, Apple products have jumped the shark ever since Steve Jobs passed away.  Nowadays, every new release provokes anger rather than awe.  From the redesigned ports, to the buggier iPhones, to the loss of PowerPC support, to passing off thinner designs and redesigned dashboards as "new", to now the need for special headphones for the upcoming iPhone 7, Apple has degenerated from the trailblazer of technological progress to little more than a greedy, devious, corporate behemoth.

I only have an iPod, I will not buy an iPhone. Too expensive and it's just for the brand that people want it. There are better cameras on other types of phones really.

Now there are wrist watches that do what phones can and is that really worth it?

Now there are wrist watches that do what phones can and is that really worth it?


If you don't mind navigating a painfully tiny screen to do all the same things as any generic touchscreen device, then sure.  Personally, I only enjoy having a wristwatch to check the time and perhaps as a stopwatch.  The wrist watches that we have now are pretty much the modern-day equivalent of the Tiger Electronics wrist games from the 90s in my eyes; they're junk except for the gimmick of doing things on your wrist instead of a perfectly portable stand-alone device.

I only have an iPod, I will not buy an iPhone. Too expensive and it's just for the brand that people want it. There are better cameras on other types of phones really.

Now there are wrist watches that do what phones can and is that really worth it?


I feel the same way. I still prefer using flip phones and still have a lasting iPod Touch with lack of updates I didn't notice.

It took me years to finally accept touchscreen.  I had one a few years back and it still had a slide keyboard. I didn't like it all. Two years later I gave it another try and decided I really enjoy it. Granted some things are still a pain in the neck it works much better for the internet. I wouldn't mind having one of the newer "hip" phones but I don't care for iPhone. I haven't even had an iPod as I've always preffered CDs. Now that's one form of technology I miss being abundent. Now I have to use amazon for an album that was popular just a decade ago. It took forever for me to try bluray. I found it ridiculous that the DVD formats were being released weeks later then their bluray alternative. Really aside from the fancy menus there isn't much of a difference. And don't get me started on HDTV. Its very destructive as I can't even get the local channels for free now. And cameras shouldn't just be digital. Heck even non-phone digital cameras are not so popular anymore. And the less popular something is, the harder it is to find. I prefer big photographer cameras where you develop the film yourself. Those Kodak disposable ones are still good too but unfortunately the kind itself has been disposed.

I sound like a big anti new technology but. But I'm not saying all new technology is bad. Its just not fair that the kind that is better in many ways is disappearing or has already disappeared. But the one thing I hate is HDTV.

This decade's technology just seems awkward. I can't really stand people using iPhones compared to the last decade. But that's me.

New is not better when it comes to everything. I prefer when TV wasn't digital because it was far less complicated. We have three remotes for the main TV and you have to mess with more settings to deal with when it comes to putting a movie in. You can't record on tape anymore either. It's On Demand or you're SOL.

http://www.gunaxin.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/rabbitears.jpg
http://ryancoelho.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Remote.jpg

remember when TV was like this?

Now there are wrist watches that do what phones can and is that really worth it?

I'd rather stick with an old school watch.

It was so much easier when TV's had an on and off switch, a volume knob, and a tuning knob.

With the "advance" in technology, the man-machine interface has been completely ignored and it is a mess.  8-P

It does not have to be this way.  The TV manufacturers and the cable companies could agree upon a standard so that one simple remote could get the job done.

Back when my Mother was still around (and with Alzheimer's) I was able to buy a remote control ("Flipper remote") that was at least simplified and had big buttons on it.  I could program all of her favorite channels on it so that she could only scan through those channels and not get lost in all the cr@p that is out there.  But even that remote was lacking because the TV and the cable box were too complicated.  But at least it made things easier for Mom who got all confused with the buttons and hundreds of channels.

http://www.independentliving.com/images/434322.jpg

I think I'll be the odd one out and say I prefer newer technology. I don't know anything about film though, you might be right on that one.

But for cameras, people want photos instantly, don't really want to go to the photo shop to get them developed like in the '90s. I'd have my thumb in front of the lens and I wouldn't know until I got them developed! A pain. It works for professionals but not for the general population.

And smartphones beat flip phones for me any day of the week. Owning a flip phone felt like a chore. I hated being accessible 24/7 like that, it had no tangible benefit except in emergency situations. I still preferred talking on my landlines to avoid the crazy charges. Smartphones on the other hand introduced apps and 3G, which completely changed my life (whose life didn't change after smartphones?). It also got me interested in programming and automation, which is mostly how I make money these days. I love how I can do my university level math and get step by step solutions with the Wolfram Alpha app, things like that.

With TVs, I don't really care one way or another. I get all my TV from the Internet (Netflix, Hulu) and it's all HD, streamed from my Chromecast. (that would be newer is better :p) I can see why people who still do cable would be upset though, but it's not really HDTV's fault. The cable package model was a long time coming since the early 2000s, when illegal satellites were all the rage.

^^ My grandma had a TV like that, antenna and dials and everything LOL. It couldn't play my N64 games in colour. x_x I so miss the simple remotes and non-existent user interfaces. There is no reason for million button remotes or clunky, bloated channel guides. Thankfully, most my Internet TV remotes (my smartphone) have only the necessary 5 or 6 buttons.

I have been screwed over by my "newer is better" mentality before though. I bought a laptop in 2004 when that stuff was still in infancy. It had a 15GB hard drive, 256MB of RAM and was loud as a plane. I never took it out and its battery life was awful, I would've been better off with a good ole' desktop. Then I made the mistake of buying an iPod Touch in 2009 to replace the iPod I bought in 2005; it was useless by the next update. I'm 90% sure smartphone manufacturers do that on purpose.  And I made the mistake of buying a Netbook in 2010,  we all know how that went down.

This decade's technology just seems awkward. I can't really stand people using iPhones compared to the last decade. But that's me.


I agree on the awkward part. Now, I probably mentioned this before, but I feel like the 2010s (so far), are the "adolescence" of the 21st century.

It was so much easier when TV's had an on and off switch, a volume knob, and a tuning knob.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/6d/5f/b3/6d5fb31eadebbb47f6c9b51ebdd415ed.jpg

This is what I remember.

Believe it or not, I still watch t.v. on my console t.v. that I bought back in 1988. The picture isn't the greatest but it works. I was planning on retiring it this year but we decided to get a new car instead. So, next year I will retire the old t.v.


Cat

If you don't mind navigating a painfully tiny screen to do all the same things as any generic touchscreen device, then sure.  Personally, I only enjoy having a wristwatch to check the time and perhaps as a stopwatch.  The wrist watches that we have now are pretty much the modern-day equivalent of the Tiger Electronics wrist games from the 90s in my eyes; they're junk except for the gimmick of doing things on your wrist instead of a perfectly portable stand-alone device.

Admittedly, I am curious about the Jawbone or FitBit devices, but not enough to buy one. If I want the time I look on my phone. I have a watch and seldom wear it.

Admittedly, I am curious about the Jawbone or FitBit devices, but not enough to buy one. If I want the time I look on my phone. I have a watch and seldom wear it.


A few months ago I was in a meeting with a technology company that was trying to sell me on the idea of my company buying some of their gadgets.  I won't go into the details of the gadgets, but let's just say they were in my opinion extremely intrusive and I had no interest in requiring our employees to use them.

Anyway, one of their reps was fawning all over his "Fit Bit" device and was explaining to me that "the data driven life can be quite fulfilling". Blah blah blah.

I told him that I doubted that many people, when on their death beds, ever lamented that "I wish I had more data".

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/6d/5f/b3/6d5fb31eadebbb47f6c9b51ebdd415ed.jpg

This is what I remember.


I wish we had that sort of TV set controls these days.  :)

I wish we had that sort of TV set controls these days.  :)


I wish we had those too, I miss the pain every time you turned the channel from the knob.

A few months ago I was in a meeting with a technology company that was trying to sell me on the idea of my company buying some of their gadgets.  I won't go into the details of the gadgets, but let's just say they were in my opinion extremely intrusive and I had no interest in requiring our employees to use them.

Anyway, one of their reps was fawning all over his "Fit Bit" device and was explaining to me that "the data driven life can be quite fulfilling". Blah blah blah.

I told him that I doubted that many people, when on their death beds, ever lamented that "I wish I had more data".


I'm a huge Quantified Self nerd! I think what he meant by fulfilling is that you get an objective look on your behaviour, and from there you can tweak it so that you get the desired results.

It's the difference between a goal such as "I should go out for a walk more often" vs. "I should take 10,000 steps a day, currently I average 3,300." (the metric that a FitBit tracks)

Admittedly I don't have weight issues, so I don't have a FitBit. I do use other Quantified Self tools such as RescueTime (tracks how you spend your time on your computer). Once you know some basic programming (HTTP POST/GET requests), you can do really powerful things with that kind of data.
I.e. I wrote a computer script where if I spend more than 10 minutes an hour on distracting websites, I get locked out of my Internet browsers for two hours.