What do you remember being invented?

[Archie_tect]

The Austin Allegro, Maxi, Princess, Montego, Marina... why.

 

[TheDoctor]

The Minidisc... digital recording in your pocket.

Shame it never lasted/took off

Oh, I dunno. Launched in 1992, I bought one in about 2000 and used it until I got an iPod Shuffle in 2008 or so. Had Sony not hamstrung them by not having a means of copying music digitally (ie faster) then they'd have lasted longer...
In the face of the flash-based MP3 player they didn't stand a chance though.

 

[Davidc]

All this about calculators - I still have my slide rule in a cupboard. Present from my dad in 1968, I had to have one for A levels. Superceded by a Texas Instruments calculator set in 1971. The calculator set had an 8 digit pocket calculator with a green LED display, and a bigger thing it sat on (the term docked hadn't come into use then) which had a printer that used unaffordable thermal rolls about 10cm wide, a keyboard with big keys, and 7 segment filament displays.

It didn't recharge the calculator though but it did provide it with power. The calculator could get through a standard PP3 battery in about 2 1/2 hours!

 

[Davidc]

The Austin Allegro, Maxi, Princess, Montego, Marina... why.

The Maxi and Montego were great cars. I had a Montego for 12 years. It did 240,000 miles with no* faults. An automatic so it didn't even need a clutch change. Amazingly comfortable too, and towed a caravan well. Sadly written off by a woman who drove her car into the back of it. My brother had similar experience with a Maxi that he bought with 110,000 on the clock and ran until it had done 180,000. That one is now over 30 years old and in use by the friend who bought** it. It has had a recon. engine though.

My father in law had the successor to the Marina - the Ital. Reliable and tank like but uncomfortable with dismal handling.

OTOH the Allegro was possibly only beaten by the Trabbant as a bad car.

*not quite true. A few light bulbs burned out.

** For £1, same as my brother had paid for it - just to make the change of ownership legal. Total depreciation cost since about 1988 = £0.!

 

[Archie_tect]

Thanks David... OK, that's one good one out of thousands. Biut look at them... and this from the maker who built the mini... desperate.

 

[Chromatic]

Spot on flea treatment stopped hours of carefully combing pussies and throwing the catch onto the fire to hear them crack as they exploded.

What sort of girls did you used to associate with then?

 

[MontyVeda]

Oh, I dunno. Launched in 1992, I bought one in about 2000 and used it until I got an iPod Shuffle in 2008 or so. Had Sony not hamstrung them by not having a means of copying music digitally (ie faster) then they'd have lasted longer...
In the face of the flash-based MP3 player they didn't stand a chance though.

Blimey Doctor... are you me!?

the NetMD was pretty good and quick for transferring music. annoyingly though, it wouldn't let you transfer stuff already on MD to the PC in the same way.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

My dad worked on the development of the Maestro and Montego and from the things he's told me it's not surprising they weren't great.

To start with, at the time many of the top management weren't from an engineering background so didn't understand the issues involved, then after the fully engineered prototypes had already been built and were being tested it was decided by someone high up that they would buy gearboxes in from VW instead of using the in-house one which had just had all the kinks worked out of it.

Fitting the new gearbox involved turning the engine round in the car and realigning wiring and driveshafts among other things. By this time the launch date is imminent but the gear shift linkage now isn't right and if you go out in the wet, water centrifuges off the driveshafts onto the distributor causing the car to break down.

Instead of having a good well thought out car at launch they ended up completing the development after the first batches of cars had already been sold.

 

[Paul J]

[QUOTE 1829268, member: 45"]I've still got a minidisc player. Lovely little thing it is, and really good for recording until solid state gear got good enough not long ago.[/quote]

Me too bud as well as a Sony DAT Player and a Philips Laser Disc.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

I remember going on holiday to France when I was 5 and coming across this strange new fangled thing called Mineral Water.
Water, but only sold in a bottle!! We're these Frenchies stupid or something, didn't they HAVE taps in France??

Also, the first CDs, the ill fated Chocolate flavoured Crisps, Push Pops, Pop Tarts, Tab Clear and Alcopops.


Oh yes, and that great staple of Student viewing, The Teletubbies!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Oh yes, and the Soda Stream!!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Actually, regarding the Mineral Water thing, I just remember thinking that it must have been expensive to live in France if you had to buy water and that the French were rather strange. A feeling some people never shake off.

The whole concept of bottled water was completely alien to me - juice in a bottle yes, but, water?? It had never even occurred to me!

Incidentally, I first remember seeing it on the Brittany Ferry over to France as my Dad had bought a 2 litre bottle to 'try' before he let us have some. I still remember seeing him with the bottle. I seem to remember him complaining that it tasted a bit strange, so we never got any

 

[tyred]

The Maxi and Montego were great cars. I had a Montego for 12 years. It did 240,000 miles with no* faults. An automatic so it didn't even need a clutch change. Amazingly comfortable too, and towed a caravan well. Sadly written off by a woman who drove her car into the back of it. My brother had similar experience with a Maxi that he bought with 110,000 on the clock and ran until it had done 180,000. That one is now over 30 years old and in use by the friend who bought** it. It has had a recon. engine though.

I've known a few people with Meastros and Montegos and I have to agree, they are a very under-rated car. None were ever troublesome, one, a 2L Estate, is still going strong today with over 300,000 on the clock. They were supremely comfortable, spacious, light and airy inside (in complete contrast to todays claustrophic cars imo) with excellently calibrated suspension giving a firm but well controlled ride with respectable road holding. It's possible to coax 70mpg from the one with the Perkins Diesel engine. Rust was their only real enemy, but no worse than the Fords of the era.

 

[redjedi]

The Minidisc... digital recording in your pocket.

Shame it never lasted/took off

MD are still going for some people. I've just placed our latest order for a shipment of mini discs to be shipped in from Korea to be supplied to the broadcast and production industry, although they becoming harder to come by now.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

The Ford Mondeo and the KA.

I had a friend who counted every Mondeo he saw. He eventually saw a staggering amount before giving it up

KAs were just ugly. Full stop.