Startling example of the falling cost of technology

[jellied]

Speaking of watches - any one remember the MS Schedule+ feature where you could hold a certain make of watch to the screen, click a button and it would sync your appointments onto the watch?

I also recall getting a phone call from one of our larger customers not that long ago saying they were about to get install a Gigabyte of memory on their Dec Alpha. No one at the time could contemplate what a Gig of memory might look like, nor how big the armour car might be to deliver it.

[Dave]

I also remember the crowds of people surrounding the first kid in my school to turn up with a Sony Walkman...

I remember when we were so amazingly primitive that we thought digital watches were a pretty neat idea

So do I /:(

I got a Star Wars LED watch for my birthday in, ooh, 1978. It had stickers that fit over the frame. You had to press a button to get the time to display.

Ace it was.

I think I had the same watch! Was yours almost impossible to read outside?

Hmm. That rings a bell.

I wonder how much they'd go for now?

Wow. Only $54. I'm sooooooo tempted...

[tonycollinet]

Infamously "no one will ever need more than 640K of Ram"

The laptop I have just bought has more than 3000 times that amount.

[rogerzilla]

not really 'technology', but how can an umbrella (1.99) cost less than a coffee (2.30)?

either we're getting screwed by the coffeeshop or we're screwing the chinese labourers in the umbrella factories.  I suspect both.

Apparently ready-to-drink coffee has the highest markup of any consumer good (the actual coffee cost is about 2% of the price).  Popcorn is somewhere up there too.

[Dave]

not really 'technology', but how can an umbrella (1.99) cost less than a coffee (2.30)?

either we're getting screwed by the coffeeshop or we're screwing the chinese labourers in the umbrella factories.  I suspect both.

Apparently ready-to-drink coffee has the highest markup of any consumer good (the actual coffee cost is about 2% of the price).  Popcorn is somewhere up there too.

I thought that was printer ink?

[Maladict]

not really 'technology', but how can an umbrella (1.99) cost less than a coffee (2.30)?

either we're getting screwed by the coffeeshop or we're screwing the chinese labourers in the umbrella factories.  I suspect both.

Apparently ready-to-drink coffee has the highest markup of any consumer good (the actual coffee cost is about 2% of the price).  Popcorn is somewhere up there too.

I thought that was printer ink?

I've certainly had coffee that's tasted bad enough it could've been printer ink. 

Our filter machine at work is currently out of action, resulting in having to drink instant... it's lucky there's no union otherwise strike action would be being discussed.    It's taken over a week and so far no sign of a replacement. 

[Dave]

[threadjack]
We occasionally get visitors from Italy, France and Spain in the office. Without exception, the response to "tea or coffee?" is "tea please"

Then again, the only time I ever drink coffee is when I'm abroad. Especially in Spain when it comes with a sachet of sugar the size of a pillow...
[/threadjack]

[mike]

My indian colleagues all ask for tea too.  Then they put about 20 sugars in it and ask for an extra teabag

[andrew_s]

[threadjack]
We occasionally get visitors from Italy, France and Spain in the office. Without exception, the response to "tea or coffee?" is "tea please"

Then again, the only time I ever drink coffee is when I'm abroad. Especially in Spain when it comes with a sachet of sugar the size of a pillow...
[/threadjack]

I also drink coffee when in (most) foreign parts, on the basis that there's no chance of a decent cup of tea.
Are your visitors drinking tea because they expect bad coffee, or because they want to sample proper tea when it's available?

[Sergeant Pluck]

Re memory costs, just had an email from 7 day shop offering 2 GB SDs for £4.99.

[FatBloke]

Round about 1992 I was working on a project that would see the introduction of the company's first DB2 database.

I did all the analysis and designed the database so that we could do what we intended with it, then worked out the storage requirements, which came in at around 13 gigabytes to which we added a 2 gigabyte contingency.

When we submitted the request for the 15 gig it was turned down because it would have cost £150,000 and put the project way over budget.

The project requirements were pruned drastically and the database redesigned accordingly.

I can now get a 400 gig hard drive for fifty quid! 

[redshift]

Speaking of watches - any one remember the MS Schedule+ feature where you could hold a certain make of watch to the screen, click a button and it would sync your appointments onto the watch?

Timex DataLink.  They've now moved on somewhat too - my Ironman datalink watch talks via usb, and you can download a developer kit.  I think someone did space invaders for it at one point, but I mostly just need it for the notes and timers.

[alecstilleyedye]

1991 macintosh classic, 1mb ram, 40 gb hard disk, 9" screen - £834

2007 macbook, 1gb ram, 120gb hard disk, 13" screen - £750

says it all

[Maladict]

1991 macintosh classic, 1mb ram, 40 gb hard disk, 9" screen - £834

2007 macbook, 1gb ram, 120gb hard disk, 13" screen - £750

says it all

ITYM 40mb.

[border-rider]

ITYM 40mb.

ITYM 40 MB

[Maladict]

ITYM 40mb.

ITYM 40 MB

ta. 

[alecstilleyedye]

1991 macintosh classic, 1mb ram, 40 gb hard disk, 9" screen - £834

2007 macbook, 1gb ram, 120gb hard disk, 13" screen - £750

says it all

ITYM 40mb.

sorry, yes indeed mb.

[tiermat]

Another startling example today:

ASDA offer PAYG phones for a fiver!!!

My first mobile (many many moons ago) costs >£200!!!

[nuttycyclist]

Re memory costs, just had an email from 7 day shop offering 2 GB SDs for £4.99.

 

[andygates]

How about a thumbnail sized USB stick with 8Gb for twenty quid?

As someone who started in IT changing twenty-meg Winchester disks (you could see the platters, huge gert things) my mind is boggled every day. 

[Mr Larrington]

How about a thumbnail sized USB stick with 8Gb for twenty quid?

As someone who started in IT changing twenty-meg Winchester disks (you could see the platters, huge gert things) my mind is boggled every day. 

We used to have ten-meg removable platters even into the early 90s...

[Rich753]

How about a thumbnail sized USB stick with 8Gb for twenty quid?

As someone who started in IT changing twenty-meg Winchester disks (you could see the platters, huge gert things) my mind is boggled every day. 

We used to have ten-meg removable platters even into the early 90s...

   oh yes, remember it well.

Used to visit customer sites with a sodding great suitcase  holding a single removable platter containing a full sales/purchase/nominal ledger suite, all carefully handcrafted (and bug ridden)

tell that to the youngsters nowadays ...

[nutkin]

not really 'technology', but how can an umbrella (1.99) cost less than a coffee (2.30)?

either we're getting screwed by the coffeeshop or we're screwing the chinese labourers in the umbrella factories.  I suspect both.

Apparently ready-to-drink coffee has the highest markup of any consumer good (the actual coffee cost is about 2% of the price).  Popcorn is somewhere up there too.

I thought that was printer ink?

Someone told me that drop for drop, printer ink costs more than vintage champagne!

[Mr Larrington]

Someone told me that drop for drop, printer ink costs more than vintage champagne!

This would not surprise me.  The last time I bought new ink cartridges for my old HP printer, well, a new printer would have been about half the price