TDMTLTAM
They don't make 'em like that any more: filament fairy lights (Jan 2026)Decorative Christmas lights were better in the past. No, really, they were.
Categories: TDMTLTAM
They don't make 'em like that any more: the Casio VL-1 pocket synthesizer (Dec 2025)This mostly-forgotten device was the very first commercially-available all-digital music synthesizer. It was also a lot of fun.
They don't make them like that any more: the Yamaha DX7 keyboard (Dec 2025)Nothing says '80s pop' like a DX7.
They don't make them like that any more: Denshi block electronics kits (Dec 2025)Denshi block kits were a unique way to learn about electronics back in the 70s.
Categories: TDMTLTAM, electronics
They don't make 'em like that any more: Playmobil RC model trains (Oct 2025)Why did this splendid toy um... run out of steam?
Categories: TDMTLTAM
They don't make 'em like that any more: Honda's ATC110 all-terrain cycle (Sep 2025)Perhaps it's no bad thing that they don't make'em like this anymore...
Categories: TDMTLTAM
They don't make 'em like that any more: Dyson Pure Cool-Me personal air purifier (Sep 2025)If you didn't like it, it's because you didn't use it. Now you can't.
Categories: TDMTLTAM
They don't make 'em like that any more: tone controls (Sep 2025)Hi-fi snobs and complacent manufacturers colluded to rob us of our tone controls in the 90s. Why should we care?
Categories: TDMTLTAM, electronics
They don't make 'em like that any more: Sony DTC-700 audio DAT player/recorder (Jun 2025)What offers the convenience of a cassette tape, and the sound quality of a CD? Digital Audio Tape (DAT) does. So why wasn't it more successful?
They don't make them like that any more: the BMW C1 (May 2025)BMW's C1 was an odd combination of car and motorcycle. It seemed to offer the advantages of both, and yet it wasn't a commercial success. Why?
Categories: TDMTLTAM
They don't make 'em like that any more: 3D movies (May 2025)3D movie technology is fading away. Perhaps we should be asking why movie studios embraced it so fervently, when it had already tanked in the 1950s?
Categories: TDMTLTAM
They don't make them like that any more: the Raleigh Chopper (May 2025)The bicycle that did for our legs what the Sony Walkman did for our ears.
Categories: TDMTLTAM
They don't make them like that any more: Sony PRS-500 e-reader (Dec 2024)In a market dominated by the Amazon Kindle, it's easy to forget that Sony, not Amazon, made the first commercially-successful e-book reader.
Categories: TDMTLTAM
They don't make 'em like that any more: things you can switch off (Dec 2024)How worried should we be, that we're wasting electrical energy for no benefit?
Categories: TDMTLTAM, science and technology
They don't make them like that any more: Epson MX-80 dot matrix printer (Dec 2024)There was a time when we didn't hate printers. Unfortunately, it was forty years ago.
Categories: TDMTLTAM
They don't make 'em like that any more: the 3.5mm headphone jack socket (Sep 2024)What's the real reason that cellphone manufacturers stopped fitting this simple, robust connector?
They don't make them like that any more: the Quad 306 amplifier (Jul 2024)The elegant simplicity and serviceability of this compact power ampliifer has given it an enthusiastic following for nearly forty years.
They don't make them like that any more: the Xircom REX 6000 PDA (Jul 2024)The REX was the world's first, and last, credit-card-sized personal computing device. Why did it fail?
Categories: TDMTLTAM
They don't make 'em like that any more: how the Vectrex almost revolutionized video gaming (Apr 2024)The Vectrex used an entirely novel display technology that was superior to the TV-based displays of the time. Why didnt it catch on?
Categories: TDMTLTAM
They don't make 'em like that any more: Borland Turbo Pascal 7 (Feb 2024)Why half a million people learned to program in Pascal, when you'd think they had no earthly reason to.
Categories: TDMTLTAM, retrocomputing
They don't make them like that any more: Garmin Nuvi 300 (Jan 2024)One of the earliest mass-market car satnav units, the Garmin Nuvi 300 still has features that modern devices lack. Why is that?
Categories: TDMTLTAM
They don't make 'em like that any more: Blackberry Bold 9700 (Jan 2024)The Bold 9700 was a premium cellphone from a company at the top of its game. Does it merit the fawning reviews it collected in 2009?
Categories: TDMTLTAM
They don't make 'em like that any more: Archos 605 media player/recorder (Nov 2023)You think Apple was an innovator in the world of personal media players? Think again.
Categories: TDMTLTAM
They don't make them like that any more: the slide rule (Oct 2023)This simple analog computer has served humanity for more than four centuries. Shouldn't we try to preserve it?
Categories: mathematics, TDMTLTAM
They don't make 'em like that any more: NVIDIA Shield K1 tablet (Sep 2023)Despite its low initial price, the Shield K1 continues to put modern Android tablets to shame.
Categories: TDMTLTAM
They don't make 'em like that any more: The Philips Pronto remote control (Jul 2023)The Pronto offers a salutary lesson in how an excellent product can die, leaving a gaping hole in the market that nobody wants to fill.
Categories: TDMTLTAM
They don't make 'em like that any more: a paean to the Cowon D2 DAB (Jul 2023)The Cowon D2 DAB was a media player ahead of its time. There was nothing like it in 2005, and there still isn't.
Categories: TDMTLTAM
Why is there a vinyl revival? (Aug 2022)Why are sales of vinyl records increasing, when digital streaming services provide access to almost any recording ever made, in superior technical quality?
They don't make 'em like that any more: the Lenovo W520 (Jun 2022)In praise of an iconic laptop computer.
Categories: TDMTLTAM
Have you posted something in response to this page?
Feel free to send a webmention
to notify me, giving the URL of the blog or page that refers to
this one.
