Be Kind, Rewind, One Last Time

VHS tapes, 1-900 numbers, and more

(NEWSER) - Oh, 1999. A time when we used to drive all the way to the video store to rent a VHS tape. Those, along with VCRs, became obsolete this decade, officially dying, quipped the Washington Post, at the youthful age of 29 in 2005. The Huffington Post lists 19 other things that have been forever replaced by new gadgets and gizmos since 2000:

• Watches: They remain a funky accessory/status symbol, but when it comes to telling time, we rely on our phones.

(NEWSER) - General Electric has announced a new DVD-sized disc that holds 500 gigabytes of data—the equivalent of 20 Blu-Ray discs or 100 DVDs. Aimed at archivists but likely headed for the consumer market, the micro-holographic disc saves more data by storing it in three dimensions rather than on the disc's surface. Storage experts have been researching micro-holographic technology for years, the BBC reports. More»

New Blu-ray feature allows viewers to chat on screen; other innovations on way

(NEWSER) - As technology takes movie-watching ever further from the days of clunky film reels, the Wall Street Journal rounds up some developments to look for:

• A new Blu-ray feature—called BD Live—combines movies with social networking, letting people viewing the same movie chat on screen.
• Technology in the works will wirelessly transfer movies among portable gadgets, for watching anywhere, on any device.

As formats change, your digital data could be endangered

(NEWSER) - Cuneiform tablets have kept information safe across millenia, but hard drives have lifespans of just a few years. Even if your CDs survive the century, their players might have become obsolete, warns the Boston Globe. "Who knows how long they're going to last—how much time before the information on a zip disk just goes into cyberspace heaven," said one archivist. More»