Bloomberg has published a very interesting article, examining twenty everyday technologies that are on their way to the scrapheap of history. I found their selection very thought-provoking, particularly because it includes many staple items in our everyday lives. For example:
Dying Technology: Credit cards
One billion credit cards in American wallets are landfill-bound. "We have reviewed more than 100 companies that are developing payment schemes that would eliminate cards altogether," says phone and card industry consultant Richard Crone, of Crone Consulting in San Carlos, Calif. Indeed, credit-card companies such as Visa and Mastercard might lose out on swipe fees if merchants are able to capitalize on direct payments from bank accounts, referred to as "decoupled debit." Cards and phone companies want so-called near field communication, a chip integrated into cards and phones that provides for contactless swipes. Paired with biometrics, such as fingerprint identification, other bygones could include a PIN number and your John Hancock.
There's more at the link. Recommended reading.
Peter
1 comment:
On some things, they're already obsolete (PDAs). On others, they're dead wrong (internal combustion engines). On yet others, maybe they're right and maybe they're wrong, but the end will be a while in coming (remote controls).
Things come, things go. The pace of that change is only going to increase, but we've been wrong before on some things being done away with. You don't always need a revolutionary change- sometimes you find that evolutionary changes are more cost effective and just less trouble.
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