Skip Navigation

What's a technology that was cooler in its older iterations?

I don't mean BETTER. That's a different conversation. I mean cooler.

An old CRT display was literally a small scale particle accelerator, firing angry electron beams at light speed towards the viewers, bent by an electromagnet that alternates at an ultra high frequency, stopped by a rounded rectangle of glowing phosphors.

If a CRT goes bad it can actually make people sick.

That's just. Conceptually a lot COOLER than a modern LED panel, which really is just a bajillion very tiny lightbulbs.

481

You're viewing a single thread.

481 comments
  • Horsehide bomber jackets of the sort worn in WW2.

    We can make cheaper and lighter synthetic materials. But I like the look that leather jackets acquire with wear over time (and particularly horsehide, which is less-available today than cowhide, as we don't have many horses around any more).

    They aren't gone -- it's still possible to obtain them. But in 2024, they're really limited to people going out of their way to get them.

481 comments