When I went from using a Toshiba netbook to an original iPad. That thing was so sweet when I first got it. The whole experience was top notch and one of my first touch screens.
Ask HN: What technology made your jaw drop the first time you used it?
31–40 of 65 posts
Re: Ask HN: What technology made your jaw drop the first time you used it?
#32Oculus Rift - The Climb specifically. Put my hand through a drop-ceiling.
Same here except I have the Oculus Quest which I purchased for our family for Christmas. Just the Amazon Prime app and Netflix app were reason enough to buy it for the different viewing experience it provides during these times of spending so much time inside of the house. It really feels like getting out of the house when you watch an Amazon Prime show in a large theatre with a cinematic screen.
Re: Ask HN: What technology made your jaw drop the first time you used it?
#33LASIK
I (glasses on) see what you did there. YEEAAAAAAH!!!
Re: Ask HN: What technology made your jaw drop the first time you used it?
#34Parsec. Being able to seamlessly use my home computer from anywhere in the world was pretty jaw dropping for me the first time I used it, it felt no different from using it directly in person. Playing local-only games with friends connecting to my pc from different parts of the country was equally seamless and amazing.
Re: Ask HN: What technology made your jaw drop the first time you used it?
#35> PSP. It introduced me to gaming really and switching on that elegant device for the first time and seeing the intuitive user interface was magic.
> I swear that when I got my 2015 MacBook Pro the Desktop would load instantly when opening the lid and by the time I had released the lid, everything was operational. In hindsight, I am not sure whether I am imagining things because my 2019 MBP is significantly slower and Apple is touting "Instant Wake" as a feature for the M1 MacBooks, but at the time, I was amazed anyway.
Re: Ask HN: What technology made your jaw drop the first time you used it?
#36Tech that blew me away, and the year I first tried/saw them:
- Battle Zone (3D vector graphics arcade game), early 1980s
- The Mosaic browser and World Wide Web, 1993.
- CGI (Jurassic Park), 1993.
- Virtual Reality, SIGGRAPH 1994.
- CUSeeMe video conferencing, 1995.
- Linux, 1995.
- FutureSplash (forerunner of Flash), 1996.
- Palm Pilot, 1997.
- Plasma flatscreen TV, late 90s?
- Apple iPod, 2004.
- Amazon Echo, 2014.
- Virtual Reality again (GoT Oculus demo at SXSW), 2014.
Re: Ask HN: What technology made your jaw drop the first time you used it?
#37I've taken them for granted most of my life, but once I stopped to really think about them, they began to amaze me:
- Clean running water, piped directly into my house, available on-demand.
- The system of technologies that enable me to live in peace while consuming just about any food, product, or information that I desire. It's stupefying to even try and fathom how it all functions, how I and others can consume so many resources, and it's simultaneously disturbing, because I wonder: how much longer can it really last?
Re: Ask HN: What technology made your jaw drop the first time you used it?
#38VR was exciting sure, but Half Life Alyx took it to another level and sorry to say ruined other VR games for me. My index now sits collecting dust in the garage.
The sounds, the textures, the interaction, the bosses, the level where you have to hold your breath to press the elevator button and avoid the monster. It elevated the medium so far beyond anything that exists or is coming, it's sad.
Valve please make more games. :(
Re: Ask HN: What technology made your jaw drop the first time you used it?
#39An electronic calculator. Early 1970’s, I think.
Also “Chuck Yeager’s Advanced Flight Simulator” on our office 80286, around 1987.
Re: Ask HN: What technology made your jaw drop the first time you used it?
#40The iPhone - light years ahead of what I was using at the time.
Multimedia CDs with video and sound, and in particular multimedia encyclopaedias. That was mind blowing to have all that media in one place and in an interactive format.