A high resolution display. first the iPhone 4 then my retina MBP. I can't stand shit displays anymore.
Ask HN: What technology made your jaw drop the first time you used it?
41–50 of 65 posts
Re: Ask HN: What technology made your jaw drop the first time you used it?
#42For me it's the Gun used in classic nintendo console, I played that game where we shoot ducks and there's dog laughing.
Re: Ask HN: What technology made your jaw drop the first time you used it?
#431. MP3. I had played with audio before (.wav and .rm, for those who remember). The first time I heard the audio quality out of a 4 MB audio .mp3 file was shocking.
2. HDR. I saw a demo monitor back in the early 2000s. It was a 12-inch display with a full array of white LED backlights, individually addressable. They had it running next to a normal monitor and the difference in dynamic range was unbelievable. The company that made that demo unit was ultimately purchased by Dolby.
3. VR. I got a demo of the HTC Vive when it was still pre-market and could not believe the lack of latency and true sense of realism. It was a mind-expanding moment.
Re: Ask HN: What technology made your jaw drop the first time you used it?
#441. MP3. I had played with audio before (.wav and .rm, for those who remember). The first time I heard the audio quality out of a 4 MB audio .mp3 file was shocking. 2. HDR. I saw a demo monitor back in the early 2000s. It was a 12-inch display with a full array of white LED backlights, individually addressable. They had it running next to a normal monitor and the difference in dynamic range was unbelievable. The compa…
Thank you, that reminds me of the Diamond Rio 500 which is on topic here...
Re: Ask HN: What technology made your jaw drop the first time you used it?
#45First one ever was Expedia CD ROM in college watching JFK give his famous speech. Never seen anything like that from a computer.
Duck Hunt was a memorable second. That gun shooting light amazed a kid.
Re: Ask HN: What technology made your jaw drop the first time you used it?
#46Vacuum robot cleaner.
Man was I sceptic about these things and thought they were just marketing. I bought one a few months ago and it's an amazing piece of technology.
Re: Ask HN: What technology made your jaw drop the first time you used it?
#47The early days of the internet were amazing. Dialing into my Dad's university account via 56k modem in the early 90s, I had access to an astounding amount of quality text-based documents. I did research, read works of fiction, wrote poems and essays, communicated with politicians and scientists, etc all from a simple remote terminal. To my teenager brain, I felt like I discovered secret access to the entirety of human knowledge.
Re: Ask HN: What technology made your jaw drop the first time you used it?
#48TRS80. I was in high school, and I was taking a FORTRAN class. We dropped off a card deck to the teacher, who went twice a week to a mainframe somewhere. So you'd put in your code, get the results half a week later, make a fix, and put in the change a week after you put in the first program.
Then the school got five TRS80s. You could make a change in a minute instead of in a week. That changes some things...
Re: Ask HN: What technology made your jaw drop the first time you used it?
#49Fax - the idea of sending a document by wire was and still mind-blowing to me.
Re: Ask HN: What technology made your jaw drop the first time you used it?
#50Scanning QR code to sign in. Simple functionality that links an account on a smartphone app to your desktop/other devices by scanning QR code, like Whatsapp. Seems straightforward and I wonder if that can be brought on to authentication frameworks, without us having to deal with usernames and passwords. 'Giving' something access feels cooler than 'requesting' something access.