61–70 of 153 posts
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Oooh now let's talk about PointCast. Who remembers when the future of the Internet was push ? https://www.wired.com/1997/03/ff-push/
Man I miss the enthusiasm and optimism of the 90's
Beautiful. The nostalgia hit me very hard with this. I remember in the original version you had all sorts of options, and could even combine screensavers. For people who may not remember: screensavers used to be a neccessity as old CRT tubes would 'burn in' an image if they held it static for too long - leaving a shadow of the static image permanently. Screensavers kicked in after a few minutes and displayed somethin…
> screensavers used to be a neccessity as old CRT tubes would 'burn in' an image if they held it static for too long Why didn't we just show a black image?
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Screensavers are a thing again on modern TV because OLEDs have a pretty serious burn-in problem apparently. Not much creativity there, probably because it should not be annoying, so it's stuff like art galleries or subtle fireworks effects that also 'train' the pixels. Best screensaver I used to have was the BSOD one from xscreensaver, so many people fell for it. Second best is the nyan cat screensaver. Currently hav…
The Apple TV 4k screensavers (city flyovers filmed in slow motion with a drone) are beautiful and I always end up staring at the screen for a while. https://youtu.be/lbj9kihTwcc
Just in case anyone wants to try it, please grab latest build here instead : https://github.com/JohnCoates/Aerial/releases
Or if you want an installer with auto updates, get it here : https://aerialscreensaver.github.io
Latest betas include Apple Music/Spotify integration, Speed control, and brings back the ability to put your videos anywhere (including an external drive!) on Monterey.
Always loved the Flying Toasters... the XScreensaver version of it stinks in comparison. I seem to remember there being a city skyline screensaver as well, was there an After Dark 2?
Was it the Starry Night screensaver in After Dark? I remember staring in awe at my parents’ Mac Plus showing this thing, when I was a kid.
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Screensavers are a thing again on modern TV because OLEDs have a pretty serious burn-in problem apparently. Not much creativity there, probably because it should not be annoying, so it's stuff like art galleries or subtle fireworks effects that also 'train' the pixels. Best screensaver I used to have was the BSOD one from xscreensaver, so many people fell for it. Second best is the nyan cat screensaver. Currently hav…
The Apple TV 4k screensavers (city flyovers filmed in slow motion with a drone) are beautiful and I always end up staring at the screen for a while. https://youtu.be/lbj9kihTwcc
My favorites were the "Totally Twisted" screen savers from Berkeley Systems - particularly the "Voyer" screen saver where you saw the silhouettes of all the people in their apartments doing crazy things at night. https://shorturl.at/fDGTW
Beautiful. The nostalgia hit me very hard with this. I remember in the original version you had all sorts of options, and could even combine screensavers. For people who may not remember: screensavers used to be a neccessity as old CRT tubes would 'burn in' an image if they held it static for too long - leaving a shadow of the static image permanently. Screensavers kicked in after a few minutes and displayed somethin…
Not just CRTs - I had an LCD around 2006 that I left on a browser window for hours and I had the browser's window & menu bar slightly burned in for a good few months after that.
Don't forget JWZ of Netscape fame. https://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/
When I "played" with the PC of my step dad, I somehow made everything a game. Paint, PowerPoint, even screensavers. Counting elements, making bets with my brother which will appear more often. Pointing fingers at the screen in the hopes nothing will touch it. Good times.
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Man I miss the enthusiasm and optimism of the 90's
I keep trying to figure out if the internet really was more fun back then, or if I was just younger and less jaded. Maybe both?
Every article I read back then was written by a real person about something they cared about. Now it feels like every search result is just 100 pages of AI generated, generic content used to drive clicks to the site. And what content is actually written by a real person, it's in service to their brand and it's tuned for engagement and sharing on social media.
A lot of software back then was open and didn't hide too many of the details. Today, all the technical bits are hidden away and user experiences are carefully controlled and tuned for engagement. Think IRC vs Slack or FB messenger. On irc, you can whois, dcc, technical bits everywhere in the UI.
In the 90s, there was a question whether or not you should include ads and banners on your site. Later, it seemed like the ads went away but actually they took over. So much of the internet experience now is about monetization. Even malware is about making money. You gotta jump into the new tech to get that feeling of wonder and possibly.