My father-in-law had a never-opened, 48-year-old GE radio in his garage. No pairing, no logins, no setup. It just works.
My father-in-law had a never-opened, 48-year-old GE radio in his garage. No pairing, no logins, no setup. It just works. 98 comments
@glecharles @Newmy Well okay, but of course most old radios that just look like that do not work (and did not work they say the box was first opened). .....Also, radios released today DO work, and DO NOT "require pairing" or WTF-ever. The general idea, the reason you posted this, having nothing to do with musical radios, is of course true. This is a very bad example. @somegirl Not seeing a lot of well-designed tabletop radios with decent built-in speakers being released today tbh. @vandorb12 @kevinrns @Newmy You actually haven’t needed a license for a radio since before this one was made! And after they got the second tv channel they didn't know what channel you were watching. @Newmy Me: "I love old vintage tech like that, so cool!" Also me: "Wait, that radio is only 4 years older than I am." 😮 @The_Tim Not to worry. The first gig of the Rolling Stones is closer to the 19th-century than their current gig. @Eggfreckles @Newmy How did they even do economics back then? Must have been so poor without all the ways to make maximum profit! @Newmy Beware of those radios, you wil still get ads and in Canada, there is very little music left on the FM band, mostly ads and talking heads. In moving away from playing music to save money, the radio stations opened the doors to Internet-based music. @Newmy It's beautiful. Now slightly impaired in markets where FM stations couldn't leave well enough alone and are moving to "HD" because everything needs to be HD. Even tho HD has smaller range so I can no longer receive a local station at my house even with an "HD" radio. Some millennial somewhere: "What are those round things on the right?" You: "Those are knobs for adjusting volume and other things!" Same millennial: "What are knobs?" @jeff @DamonWakes @Newmy I'll be the one to tell you. Millenials grew up with knobs. It's Gen Z who are young enough they may not have seen them much. @slowenough @jeff @DamonWakes @Newmy I'm gen Z and I grew up with physical controls. Touchscreens are only good on the computer @ellenor2000 @DamonWakes @Newmy There are more and more cars with less and less knobs and such these days. I know most gen Z have seen knobs. Maybe it's more about how we respond when we encounter an interface that's all screen. My generation (X) or boomers might be more likely to be annoyed or confused. Figuring out physical interface, what's screen, and what's voice - and even moreso how those all work together - ought to be a fun UI challenge, but I don't see anyone having fun with it yet. @slowenough @ellenor2000 @Newmy I was originally just poking fun at "millennials" being used as if that generation were in its teens rather than its thirties, but the fact that older stereos/cars/ovens are still in use makes it unlikely that anyone - even the very young - would actually be confused by the existence of knobs and dials. From what I gather, touchscreens largely appeal to manufacturers because the UI can be localised more easily. I'm not sure users actually prefer them on cars etc. @Newmy Awesome radio. Amazing if it still works -- a lot can happen to capacitors in there over the years. @Newmy There is something sweetly naive about that radio. Maybe it should just go back to sleep and dream. @Newmy What a thing of design beauty! 📻 This was the GE back before Jack Welsh destroyed it. @Newmy but surely it needed a firmware upgrade and an account subscription set up and confirmed first? Congratulations on opening and enjoying it, and not immediately rushing to eBay to see how much one sells New in Box. :ablobhop: @Newmy @Newmy I strongly suggest not touching that shaped foam speaker covering. While it'll probably be somewhat preserved by never being unpacked and exposed to light, it's nevertheless almost certainly brittle by now and might crumble and disintegrate with any handling. (Yes, I once had speakers of that era with that kind of facing. And that was in fact their fate, after a lot less than 40 years.) @Newmy Dear God, YES! When the grands say "You just open then app, then you..." I dream of the days when you just plugged it in, turned the dial, and it worked. @Newmy other than that weird speaker grill pattern, I love the design of this radio, it very much screams 1970s techy to me @Newmy the thing is yeah it works but do you really want to be running 50 year old electrical appliances - maybe not - just like you don't want knob and tube wiring The Hidden Dangers of Knob and Tube Wiring I hope you have lots of good local radio. (Here in New Orleans we're well blessed with it.) Happy listening! @Newmy I hope the electrolytic caps haven't dried out and it still works. @Newmy @Newmy Wouldn’t it be nice if the tech industry focused on useful, lasting products for humans again? @Newmy |
@Newmy That’s beautiful!