Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles Boy, modern tech is ever-changing. Hey, don’t blink, you’ll miss it! You look back just a few years ago and think, “Remember when mobile games weren’t even a thing? Ah, yes – headphone jacks and home buttons – those were the days!” (Just wait until you see what the future has in store!) But for now, check out some past vs. present… 1. – Power banks Nobody needed a power bank 10 years ago, and only 1 or 2 firms made them. It took forever to juice up the simpler batteries of the day, and the thing had just 1 connector. Granted, the push-button phones of the time could stay charged all day since we didn’t use them as much and for such big tasks as we do these days. Now, power banks are common since we need to charge our mega powerful phones on the go. You still have to charge the power bank before you leave the house. But it beats being stuck without a phone because your battery ran out! (By the way, the power banks of yesteryear would only be able to charge a modern phone battery about halfway!) 2. – Tablets – “You be fine. Take two tablets and call me in the morning.”c Talk about yesteryear, when you could actually talk to your doctor on the phone! Oh well. Oops we were talking about tablets… When the first iPad came out, you couldn’t really do much with it. Internet surfing was slow and not very convenient because of the small RAM and single-core processor. You needed to connect the device to a computer to update the software and transfer content to it from other devices. Now, the iPad and other tablets are full-fledged mini-computers. You can already connect a mouse, keyboard, and gamepad to them. You can display two apps on one screen, open full desktop versions of sites, play games with console-worthy graphics, and, well, I’m sure you know what they do! 3. – E-readers In the early 2010s, switching paper books for electronic ones was a trend on the rise. But this reading-of-the-future started out on computer and phone screens – inconvenient, to say the least. Thus, a new gadget emerged: e-readers. Their main perk is that they don't reflect light, making it easier on the eyes. That, and the battery can last for weeks! Over time, backlighting for night reading appeared, and the screen and speed have also increased. It seems like an ideal book, but, surprisingly, paper editions have started gaining popularity again! Even with so much tech around us, sometimes you just want a good ol’ fashioned book! 4. – Phones With such a low screen resolution 10 years ago, you couldn't watch movies or videos on your phone for long. Early smartphones didn’t have front-facing cameras, which meant you had to guess if your selfie is centered in the frame! (It usually wasn’t for the first 5 tries!) All music was downloaded through a computer or transmitted via Bluetooth, and a game with 3D graphics seemed mind-blowing. Mobile Internet wasn't so common either – if you did have it, it moved at a snail’s pace. Now, modern phones are practically useless without mobile Internet. Cloud services mean you’ve got pretty much endless memory. Displays have become larger, and you can easily go without a TV if you have a newer-model cell phone. The cameras have become so cool that you can shoot movies, panoramas, and, yes, perfectly centered selfies…with fun filters! But the main change affected the appearance. Smartphones are thinner, lighter, and more elegant now. Every inch on the phone has become important. Because of this, modern phones refuse space-wasters like home buttons. Headphone jack ports are also disappearing for the sake of increased battery life. …And for wireless headphones sales of course! Which brings me to my next point… 5. – Headphones 10 years ago, Bluetooth headphones were a small wire that could be hung around the neck. It had a mini remote with buttons to switch songs and change the volume. The headphone's energy was enough for 1-3 hours of continuous listening. Ooh! Now, there are no wires at all. Modern technologies mean getting rid of analog mechanisms and switching to wireless. The battery lifespan has increased, and charging cases have appeared. We have touch and "smart" controls on the headphones instead of analog remote control. A smart noise reduction system means better quality sound streaming into our ears! 6. – Gaming laptops We might’ve gone from a 4- to an 8-core processor and are now enjoying much better graphics – but the appearance and price of these laptops haven't changed much. They’re still bulky, heavy, expensive, and give you about two hours of battery life. But now, a new type has appeared – portable gaming laptops. They weren’t around at all 10 years ago. They launch games on high graphic settings, and the battery life has doubled. 7. – Portable consoles In the early 2010s, PSPs were the thing. You could play 3-4 hours without recharging, enjoy 3D graphics, convenient controls, a large screen, and an affordable price – any teenager’s dream! However, their popularity fell quickly... Because phones began to support the same graphics! Don’t worry though – PSPs came back with a vengeance when the Nintendo Switch was released. The key to success? It can compete with those impeccable smartphone graphics! 8. – Watching movies First, DVDs replaced VHS in the early 2000s. So we switched to DVD and threw away the VHS. But it was a short-lived victory since the disc soon found itself competing with the Internet. Which is one reason why you can by a DVD player for peanuts! Now, movie-streaming services give you a huge library at your fingertips. You can binge-watch your favorite shows for hours, maybe days! The best part: no need to wait until they come out on DVD or spend hours scanning the shelves at the movie rental place looking for something to watch! Wow, remember movie rental places? 9. – The Internet Anyone old enough to remember dial-up knows how far we’ve come. But even just 10 years ago, Wi-Fi wasn’t very fast. Back then, no one could’ve imagined that it’d be possible to watch 4K videos online without constant buffers and crashes! Oh yeah, and in the not-so-distant past, it took about an hour to download a 100-megabyte music album! Now, wireless connection has become available for free almost anywhere you go! You can download 20 gigabytes of your favorite show in minutes. The Internet has replaced flash sticks – you don't need to carry it everywhere when you have cloud storage with an almost unlimited supply of memory! After hearing all that, it might feel like we’re now at the peak of our technological evolution – but we’ve only just begun! Let’s see what your favorite devices will look like in the near future… 10. – Super memory discs So-called “5D data storage” has already been invented. These are small thin glass disks that can withstand extreme temperatures and accommodate 360 terabytes of data (that’s over 1,400 laptops-worth of memory). The most mind-boggling part: it can save this data for billions of years! They’ll become as commonplace as USBs in the future. 11. – Rolling screens You won't surprise anyone with ultra-thin TVs now, but imagine a large plasma panel that can be rolled up like a piece of paper. Major electronics manufacturers are already working on this. The same fate awaits phones. There are already phones with folding screens now! On that note… 12. – Phones Gaming graphics on them will reach the same level as powerful PCs today. And the battery won't require charging from electricity – it’ll be fueled by solar or kinetic energies (that is, when the phone is charged from your movement). 13. – Augmented Reality AR-lenses will appear. They won't only complement our reality with an amazing computer interface, they’ll also be able to improve your vision! 14. – Watching movies One of the coolest technologies of the future will allow you to watch your own dreams on any screen! True, probably won’t happen in the next 10 years. But scientists have already managed to scan the visual parts of the brain of a person watching videos. A computer then calculated the signals and converted them into an image. They got a very low-quality picture, but it was a big step towards the visualization of dreams! 15. – A.I. Artificial intelligence – we’re already making baby steps into depending on it, what with personal robo-assistants like Siri and Alexa. Long story short, thanks to AI, humanity will be able to increase the speed of huge technological advancements hundreds of times! It’ll make our lives easier in countless spheres – transportation, medicine, banking, research, entertainment – get ready for some big changes! So if you learned something new today, then give the video a like and share it with a friend! Here are some other cool videos I think you'll enjoy. Just click to the left or right, and stay on the Bright Side of life!
B1 BRIGHTSIDE battery modern headphone computer screen Why All Phones Got Rid of Their Headphone Jacks 4 1 林宜悉 posted on 2020/03/06 More Share Save Report Video vocabulary