Should've Brought a Lumia(Funny Story)

[Laura Knotek]

TRS80 and TI-99 4A were the machines I learned on at school.

First home computer was the Commodore 64, though a friend had the Vic-20.

TRS80 is what was at my school too. My cousin had a Commodore 64, which I thought was awesome at the time.

 

[Reflexx]

My first computer looked like this:

View attachment 51970

I was born in 1983. I remember buying the first regular nintendo with the orange duck hunt gun. I was a baby and started young lol

That reminds me that all of these "PCs" used to be called IBM Clones because they were just computers that were made to be compatible with software written for IBM computers.

 

[vaultsurvivor]

This thread has got me all nostalgic lol... Im a mid 80s boy but as a result of an older brother and a family determined to buy the previous generation of hardware, my first comp was a commodore 64 (with its mahoosive floppys lol). I distinctly remember using this from a very early age... And the little notebook we had full of run commands... We got all posh in the very early 90s and got an amiga 1200. I think that amiga may be one of my favourite pieces of hardware ever... I destroyed the original settlers on that. An a football management game from about 92/93 (it had Ian rush as a player)... Oh, and zool! Ah the nostalgia...

 

[onysi]

Why does a Flashlight app need access to my contacts?
......

Made me lol

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

Made me lol

haha I'm glad

 

[XP1]

That's how software works. Software tries to save historical data. For example, your browser history and search history are saved. Imagine that all browsers had no history. You would not be able to go back to your webpage if you have trouble remembering it. Also, many GPS devices will save your recent locations. This is for convenience so that you do not have to slowly retype the address.

I just got a Nokia 521, my first smartphone. There are like 10 different checkboxes as different settings for sharing data with Microsoft, Bing, and Nokia. Some of those checkboxes are enabled by default.

 

[kevm14]

Hmmmm....
Engaging thoughts there kevm14.

Makes me wonder how many youngsters here are PC\Mac fluent.
Are most who are riding the mobile wave not able to fix, repair or dig thru a PC's file system to wipe a system malware bug or find problems.
Is everyone now days just smart because of smart mobile devices?

I used to be somewhat Mac fluent in the 90s, but not these days.

I liken this situation to cars. Today, we have all kinds of features like traction control, stability control, self parking, lane change avoidance, active cruise control, etc. The general American public already can't drive very well (it's our own fault, we don't force them to), and now with the comfort of all this technology, we'll be breeding folks who are even LESS capable at the wheel. Which is, ironically, a safety issue when you arrive at a situation the technology cannot help you with (or it fails). Not sure what the solution is...many people call this progress but I'm not sure.

 

[worldspy99]

Search for ZX Spectrum, and you will see some pretty cool setups. It was the original Raspberry Pi! You hook it up to a TV ad instead of an SD card you used audio cassette tapes for memory and saving your programs! BBC Micro was a computer developed in the UK. Being originally from outside the US has is quirks....

 

[neo158]

I never heard of the ZX Spectrum or BBC Micro.

Both of those were built and sold in the UK. That's right, the UK once had a computer industry and the ARM processor that we all use in our phones and tablets today was developed in the UK by Acorn, the guys behind the Atom and the BBC Micro. I remember the BBC Micro from primary school, the BBC Doomsday Project used them.

If you want to find out more then see if you can find the TV program Micro Men.

 

[Tech friend]

I hope you find this story and my mom's reaction as amusing as I did ...

Mom: [-snip-] Why does a Flashlight app need access to my contacts?

Assuming that ?Brightest Flashlight Free? by Goldenshores Technologies is meant (the Android app that has been downloaded more than fifty million times from Google's Play-Store and that has shared IMEI, users' location and other personal information without consumers? knowledge and consumers' consent):

From my point of view that kind of unwanted data transmission and data analysis has reached a criminal extent in some cases.

In so far and with regard to Micah's thread title (... 'funny story'): It's a serious story, albeit told funnily.

 

[metalchick719]

It's common for people in my mom's age group(she was born in the 70s) who are not used to technology like I am at 18 to react in a way when she discovers that her phone knows more about her than she realized

Hey, now... I was born in 1972 and am very technology knowledgeable to the point that my favorite topics to write about (I'm a freelance writer) for work are smartphones, tablets, computers, etc. My mother just turned 63 and is tech knowledgeable as well - she has to be because she's been working with computers since 1978!

 

[Laura Knotek]

Search for ZX Spectrum, and you will see some pretty cool setups. It was the original Raspberry Pi! You hook it up to a TV ad instead of an SD card you used audio cassette tapes for memory and saving your programs! BBC Micro was a computer developed in the UK. Being originally from outside the US has is quirks....

That explains why I never heard of BBC Micro. Did it have any connection with British Broadcasting Corporation (the "BBC" that everyone knows)?

 

[neo158]

That explains why I never heard of BBC Micro. Did it have any connection with British Broadcasting Corporation (the "BBC" that everyone knows)?

Yes, it did. The BBC were creating a TV program about computing and wanted a computer to go along with it. The story goes that Sinclair, creators of the ZX Spectrum, wanted the contract and were outbid by Acorn.

 

[polomint]

If you want the story regarding Acorn and Sinclair then watch the tv programme "Micro Men". Its not perfectly accurate but close enough

http://m.youtube.com/results?q=micro men&sm=

 

[neo158]

If you want the story regarding Acorn and Sinclair then watch the tv programme "Micro Men". Its not perfectly accurate but close enough

http://m.youtube.com/results?q=micro men&sm=

I think I mentioned that earlier, it's a good one to watch if you're interested in the birth of home computing. I had and still have a ZX Spectrum +3 somewhere and my dad has a ZX Spectrum 48k.

 

[polomint]

Nice. I have a few speccies along with some addons, including a new spectranet device for connecting via a wired network. Pretty cool it is www.worldofspectrum.org is a great place for speccy stuff, the forums are great and we've even written a load of new games for it (mines called Bozxle, the first ever multicolor/rainbow gfx game, written in a week hehe)