What modern technology amazes you?
I'll start the disussion with Bin wagons reading water meters
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A memory card around the size of my thumb in my 25MP camera can store over 7000 photographs that can have enough resolution to be easily be printed A4 (or bigger if I had a bigger printer) at home in minutes. For someone who remembers 36 exposure film and a week's wait at Boots (and I thought one hour printing was pretty good) this never ceases to amaze me!
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The Internet generally. The ability to share information. e.g. I share my diary with my wife and vice versa (through Google). If I am out and about and need to add something to the diary, I can see at a glance if there is anything else going on (either in my diary or my wife's). I can add something to the diary and my wife knows instantly although I might be 200 miles away - she can do the same. Furthermore, I can share appropriate bits of my diary with other people who need to know and I can pick up the appropriate bits of other people's diary. e.g. I can see instantly if my parish priest has added a funeral or wedding to his diary when he is likely to want me to play the organ. I can then add copy it to my diary - he can then see if I have added it, to make sure I have it down - it minimises errors and is a very efficient way of working. Gone are the days of a calendar pinned to the fridge door - it all comes up on my phone instantly! (as do emails, texts, messenger messages, new appropriate facebook posts and twitter tweets!!!)
David
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I agree with all the above but as I think electricity is akin to magic that's no surprise!
Calendars that update across devices are good and even better for me is the same thing with pictures.
I do think that we have all become so used to the next great thing 'techy' thing that we hardly notice what is possible but, if I had to choose what does amaze me, it would in medicine and surgery.
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The way food appears on the table. I think it must be wifi as I never see any trailing cables.
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Social Media - being able to chew the fat with fellow human beings and bypass the selective spin on "news" offered by the mainstream media.
Youtube - 'nuff said!
Virtual Reality - wow!
The speed at which technology is developing - and as a result how quickly the devices we buy and the software we use becomes old or out of date.
Bugs
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Bluetooth/NFC, I can have my device 30' away set to play my downloads yet I sit with B/tooth headphones listening to the music I've set
. Touching my Camera on my Tablet to transfer a whole bunch of photos. Astounding technology, & it just gets better
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The ease and speed of modern communication. I can pick up my phone and video call someone half a world away, with a few touches of the finger. For someone who remembers the first live transatlantic TV pictures sent using Telstar, which because it wasn't geostationary could only transmit for a few minutes, it is truly amazing.
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For me its the technology that has gone into batteries.I have a collection of vintage mobile phones from the 80,s and 90,s and the change in not just the physical size but the staying power of the modern battery is nothing short of incredible.Its technology that has been driven by the ever increasing need for mobile electronic devices and they are still developing even smaller longer lasting examples.Almost all the devices we use owe there usefullness to the modern battery.
v9
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The ability to turn it all off and chill out whilst trying not to worry if the world is still working correctly without my input.
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I remember watching the James Bond film 'Goldfinger' where he was tracking the villain across Europe using a screen in his Aston Martin, which also showed where he was himself.
Despite being a massive fan of those early films, I still remember thinking "Naaaahhh! That would never be possible.......it would require something way up in the sky to track them".
Now we have sat-nav for less than £100.....
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SteveL, you have just said what I was going to say. Old fashioned I am, but the telephone for me. Yesterday I reached out for my phone, dialed and with a second I was talking to a lady in a pub 100's of miles away to arrange a meal. Also, my grandson phoning me, he is only 18 months old and his mother had no idea what he was doing.
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A few years ago we were on holiday in French France while No 1 daughter was in Ghana. We spoke on mobile phone from our field to her field as though we're at home. 30 odd years ago I used to have to use phone exchanges to make a call home from Spain, Denmark etc ...... Post Stanley was via a satalite phone & was bl00dy expensive
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The Vacuum Flask
Not exactly a modern technology (invented by Sir James Dewar in1892 and originally known as the Dewar Flask)
If you put Ice-cream in it, it comes out Cold
but if you put Tea or Coffee in it, that comes out Hot.
As it has no power source, no switches or programmable settings.
How does it know ???
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Like IanH, I recall the early 007 films showcasing new tech. I remember his 'extra curricular activities' being interrupted by a pager. Of course more recently Pierce Brosnan was driving a BMW with a phone. Although set up with a hidden driver, it is now actually feasible.
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For me it was the Man from UNCLE series in the sixties, and Illya Kuryakin asking to open channel D and speak to Mr Waverley a continent away on a pen like device. Science fiction at the time, but now possible for any of us with the right tech from our watch.
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I agree with you all .....W W W . Has to be the top , and Goole my best friend , tells me everything .
now looking to the future , personally I would like a PILL instead of a MENU , I'm a person who cooks because I have to NOT because I want to or likes to
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that's an interesting point Steve. You probably grew up watching the same programmes as myself. The thing is I never doubted that the things I saw would eventually happen. Most of them have or the theory is there. I often wonder if things like that are invented and produced now because people saw them in programmes like that and developed the technology to make it happen?
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I used to watch Wonder Woman!
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That is a fantastic link there MM!
It's amazing how many of the things in Star Trek have become reality! Interestingly enough there's only a few things still to catch up on, but even some of those are being done, We even have a universal translator on this website - English english to american english if you set it right of course
The money less society is slowly getting there with contactless and with the app to use your phone. Holodecks too with the VR glasses now being sold! Beam my caravan to the site direct please, Scientists, make it so.
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but you cannae change the laws of physics capt'n .....
I only found out about the ability to pay by an app the other week. My son went to buy Calpol for his daughter, the chemist didn't accept payment by app, he'd no cash on him ....... good old bank of Mum & Dad
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that's what mums and dads are there for!
On Thursday I was in my local Morrisons when all their systems failed and they couldn't process card payments. Luckily i had cash so sailed through. However on the other tills tey were doing the card payments the old fashioned way - by placing the card in a holder , piece of paper on top an sliding the handle across. (Took me back to my first Access credit card, still see odd shops with that Access sign up) the queues were quite long.
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Guess the staff cashing up the tills at Morrison’s had to work late that night.
For me it’s the sheer speed at which technology has moved during my life time. [the human brain works in amazing ways to develop such things]. For the OH it’s the microwave, so she can buy chilled meals to heat up when we’re away.
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