Ask Lemmy

1998. Bang. We needed to stop right effing there!

no

For some, yes. Automotive is one that comes to mind. I miss dumb TVs. I'd say laptop, but then I'm rocking a decade-old Thinkpad, so I might be a bit biased here. I also miss phones that aren't as locked down. I hate what the current streaming service industry have become, and how social media is filled with AI trash.

I'd say that our personal needs for shear computation power have peaked within the last ten years. Yes, people have been saying this since the dawn of personal computers. Yes, servers keep getting more powerful. However, the fact that some schmucks just released a thousand dollar laptop with more or less the same RAM & CPU specs as my decade old Thinkpad kinda proves that.

Other than that, a lot of things are getting better. As an open-source enthusiast, I see things keeps improving, FreeCAD 1.0 just got released, more improvements to Linux kernel, LibreOffice handles MS Office files better, etc. Manufacturing techniques keeps getting more advanced, like 3D printing metal, and for us mortals, faster FDM printing with better plastic material that's more UV resistant. Radio technologies comes to mind; with SDR, one can achieve what people from last decade would need expensive specialized equipments for, yes you can get your hands on these for cheap.

Last but not least, don't forget this very platform where you're reading this very comment ;)

I somewhat agree: tech peaked just when it was high end and absolutely not relying on manufacturer's cloud / subscription / customer portal enrollment ... 😓

Facebook's AR glass prototype is fire. It's too expensive to release to the public but in a few years...

Tech in general isn't accelerating as fast. Drives aren't twice as big every year at half the price. Processors aren't twice as fast. 2024 stuff is still better than 2021 stuff, but it's not twice as good. A few things have take a couple steps backward as they try to wrangle AI data capture into our lives. Up until recently, we've been able to scale thing down, so the same thing, only smaller and faster, but we're hitting the limit of that, which is why people are latching on to ML to distract us from the fact that our gaming system from 6 years ago is still fine.

You grew up in a time of huge technological innovation, so you see anything else as unusual

Boomers grew up in stagnation, and expect tech to keep progressing at the same rate.

Both are 100% normal ways for our brains to expect shit to go, but neither fit modern society.

Every dog has its day, I suppose. Smart phones were exciting when they first emerged on the market and no one knew where the tech was going. Today, they're an every day appliance and a bit more ho-hum as a result.

At the moment, my tech junkie sights are set on micro-mobility. There's all sorts of fun stuff coming out of ebikes, scooters, and other contraptions, and the sector is still innovating hard and experiencing some growing pains and backlash because it has yet to move past that disruptive tech phase. In other words, it's awesome!

No, I prefer my 2020 phone over my 2014 one... But maybe that is not entirely what you want to mean in your post.

You don't need to upgrade your "tech" yearly though.

Yes.

Computers are the worst in my opinion, everything is tens to hundreds of times faster by specs and yet it feels as slow as it did in the 90s, I swear.

Network speeds are faster than ever but websites load tons of junk that have nothing to do with the content you're after, and the networks are run by corpos who only care about making money, and when they have no competition and you need their service, why would they invest in making their systems work better?

I've certainly had the feeling that things aren't improving as quickly anymore. I guess, it's a matter of the IT field not being as young anymore.

We've hit some boundaries of diminishing returns, for example:

• A phone from 5 years ago is still easily powerful enough to run the apps of today. We have to pretend that progress is still happening, by plastering yet another camera lens on the back, and removing yet another micrometer of bezel.
• Resolutions beyond HD are not nearly as noticeable of an upgrade. It often feels like we're just doing 2K and 4K resolutions, because bigger number = better.
• Games went from looking hyperrealistic to looking hyperrealistic with a few more shrubs in the background.

Many markets are now saturated. Most people have a phone, they don't need a second one. Heck, the youngest generation often only has a phone, and no PC/laptop. As a result, investors are less willing to bring in money.
I feel like that's why the IT industry is so horny for market changes, like VR, blockchain, COVID, LLMs etc.. As soon as a new opportunity arises, there's potential for an unsaturated market. What if everyone rushes to buy a new "AI PC", whatever the fuck that even means...?

Well, and finally, because everyone and their mum now spends a large chunk of their lives online, this isn't the World Wide West anymore. Suddenly, you've got to fulfill regulations, like the GDPR, and you have to be equipped against security attacks. Well, unless you find one of those new markets, of course, then you can rob everyone blind of their copyright and later claim you didn't think regulations would apply.

This is industrialism. All tech does this. You may have also had some rose colored glasses about business.

I work in VR and AR. I traveled to a conference this week to showcase demos of my work.

I have in my backpack a headset that’s costing few hundred bucks and can spawn in front if your eyes 3D models you can directly manipulate with your hands or a pen.

It just works.

I even use it offline while flying.

This didn’t exist 10years ago. It’s amazing.

yep, and then tech companies began the big cull, taking all the free services and beginning to squeeze, at every level, all the time