Today we put to rest two technologies, one 67 years old and the other came to exist, majorly altered your life, and died all within your lifetime.
In a move that marks the beginning of the end for a hugely successful chapter in technology history, Britain’s biggest high street electronics retailer Dixons has announced that it’s taking VCRs off its shelves for good.
Kodak projector, 67, slides into history Kaachingk Clang “And this is little Doug feeding the sea gulls on the ferry…” *laughter* “Oops. Slide is upside down.” Who can forget the whir of the fan, the hot air blowing, the clunky noises and that distinct smell of a slide presentation. This looks like the one I grew up using.
The Eastman Kodak slide projector, that magical box of light and lens that turned snapshots into tools of family bonding, passed into history Thursday night in Rochester. It was 67.
Its financial health failing for several years, the projector succumbed to a variety of technological and societal factors. Families eventually got too busy for home slideshows and cultivated a preference for photographic prints, while businesses migrated to computer-driven multimedia presentations.
The end had been expected since September 2003, when Kodak announced it would stop making the money-losing projectors as part of a shift from film to digital imaging. The last projectors came off production lines to cheers and tears at Kodak Park on Oct. 22.
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Kodak presented the final five projectors to the Eastman House and the Smithsonian Institution for historical display.
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The company estimates it made 35 million projectors in seven decades…
