You can’t always guess what the future will hold. But you can bet your bottom dollar on one thing—there’s bound to be a whole bunch of tech breakthroughs that seemed incredibly important at the time only to have been left by the wayside.
Our team here at Bored Panda has spelunked into the darkest corners of the net to find you some of these tech innovations that seemed so amazing just a handful of years ago but which sound bizarre, hilarious, or even useless now. Check them out below and, as you scroll down, upvote the pics that you liked the most. Got a strong sense of nostalgia? We’d love to hear all about the tech you remember the most fondly, so be sure to write us a comment or two with your thoughts.
Even the best experts can’t accurately predict which technologies will stand the test of time and which ones will just be so much junk. However, that doesn’t mean that we should give up trying to guess what our future’s going to be like.
#1 These iPhone Apps Where You Drank Fake Beer
Image credits: onmilwaukee
#2 Movies On An iPod With A 2-Inch Screen
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#3 TVs With A VHS Player Built Into Them
Image credits: Wikimedia Commons
Nobody can deny that the pace at which technology changes is incredibly fast. So much so that some of us (e.g. me) get left behind, clinging to what’s familiar, safe, and doesn’t require us to feel like we’re already pensioners. (No shade on pensioners, though—most of the ones I know are better at adapting to new tech than I am!)
Ramona Pringle, the Director of the Creative Innovation Studio and Associate Professor at the RTA School of Media at Ryerson University, told me all about the changes in tech during a previous interview with Bored Panda.
#4 Remember When Laptops Used To Have That Little Rubber Clit For A Mouse?
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#5 See-Through Electronics
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#6 Watches That Lit Up Blue
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“We don’t know what the future holds, and anyone who says that they do is selling snake oil. But, there are certain things we can count on: we love stories, and we love to be part of something biggest than ourselves. Be it oral storytelling, books, blogs, movies, or video games, we’ve never lost our love of narrative,” Pringle told Bored Panda earlier.
#7 Netflix's DVD Service
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#8 Robot Dogs
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#9 Thick Big Screen TVs Only Rich Kids Had
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“Equally true, even when we can’t go into a concert hall or colosseum, we look for ways to be together, connected, and part of a communal experience. The tech might change, but these will continue to be the drivers of our entertainment experiences,” she said that entertainment and connectivity will most likely continue to drive changes in technology in the future.
#10 Car Phones
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#11 Cassette Tape That Let You Connect Your iPod To Your Car Stereo
Image credits: reddit
#12 Batteries That Let You Check How Much Energy Was Left
According to Pringle, over the next decade, we should see big changes occurring in the entertainment tech industry. “Immersion and interactivity have long been goals for creators and media makers when it comes to how technology can influence entertainment,” she said.
#13 A DVD Or VHS Player In A Car
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#14 Portable DVD Players
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#15 Digital Mp3 Players With These Songs
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“For the last decade, we’ve leaned into virtual reality because of how it enables both of these. We can step inside a world and have influence over it, and the story or experience that unfolds. I think one of the things we can expect moving forward is, in a sense, the opposite of virtual reality. Instead, more of an enhanced reality or fictional reality, wherein the entertainment isn’t in a headset, but instead, all around us,” Pringle highlighted what we might see start popping up with more frequency over the next few years.
#16 The Original Ipod And The Million Buttons It Had
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#17 The Motorola Razr. Still The Coolest Cell Phone To Be Produced
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#18 That Singing Fish
Image credits: StevenBalthaser
“A decade ago, we didn’t talk to robots. Today, many of us do. Siri and Alexa are some of the more common bots, but we already interface with non-human characters regularly. As technology advances, including augmented reality and mixed reality, I think we can expect that entertainment will be something we can engage with off of the screen, but out in the world, with characters and stories we can engage with throughout the day, or throughout our houses,” the researcher said.
#19 Fake Lighter Phone Apps
Image credits: play.google.com
#20 Paper Toss iPhone Game
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#21 Having The Option And The Ability To Update Your Facebook From A Text Message
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How we engage with one another will also have a large impact on entertainment, according to Pringle. One example of this is the unexpected rise of e-sports. “Whoever would have thought that people would pay money to watch other people play games? Media that engages us and gives us something to gather around, be it together, or virtually, is something that will always appeal to us,” she said.
#22 Phones With Internet On Them In The First Place
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#23 CD Players With 45-Second Skip Protection
Image credits: Philips
#24 Hit Clips
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We’re also likely to see “the ebb and flow” of experiences that focus on bringing people together offline, on-screen, and online. “In the last few years, we’ve seen the rise of interactive and immersive venues like the museum of ice cream or the Dr. Seuss experience,” Pringle told Bored Panda about how the divide between what we consider to be tech and not might get blurry. Especially in the field of entertainment.
#25 Digital Cable And Being Able To Watch A Ton Of Useless Channels
Image credits: photobucket
#26 A TV With A DVD Player In It
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#27 The GE Alarm Clock That Everyone Seemed To Have
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“These are places we can go, with friends and family, and have a shared experience. It feeds back into our online experiences because we can share photos or memories and these environments are designed to foster that. Certainly, as we find ourselves in a time of social distancing, we’re seeing new creative ways of “being together” even when we’re apart. So I think we can expect to see entertainment that helps us connect, be it online or off, and immerses us in an experience, story, or community.”
#28 Those Backwards Seats In Station Wagons
Image credits: or_worse__EXPELLED
#29 Cd Players That Held Multiple Cds At Once
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#30 Pagers Are Now Collecting Dust
Image credits: Wikimedia Commons
#31 Can I Interest You In A Sidekick II With Aol Messenger?
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#32 Old School PC Microphones
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#33 Speakers That Attached To The Monitor
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