40 Random Bits of Pop-Culture Trivia We Didn’t Know Were Freaky Like That

40 Random Bits of Trivia That Already Have Big Plans for Your Brain’s Decor

40 Frigid Bits of Trivia That, If Consumed Too Quickly, Will Surely Give You Brain Freeze

21 of the Most Reckless Acts People Have Witnessed

33 Unofficial Fan Theories That Have Been Largely Accepted As Canon

30 Ubiquitous Technologies That Have Overstayed Their Welcome

Thank you for your service, fax machines

30 Ubiquitous Technologies That Have Overstayed Their Welcome

March 08, 2024

It’s not that we don’t appreciate their service. We just think it’s time they retired, and made room for younger, hipper technology.

Click right here to get the best of Cracked sent to your inbox.

30

- - CRACKED.COM C 2 S 1 7 2 5 a 5 0.0 = 1 S a 18 & is de 45 & . S 51 62 53 54 is 1 2 2 uses 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 22 22222 system. a 3 3 3 3 3 В 3 - 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 3 3 3 4 4 - 4 4 AND 4 S 4 IRS 4 4 5 5 5 4 4 IT 5 Retorn 0 5 COFF 5 5 CJ 9 6 6 6 U.S. - Time 7 The 7 — Source

29

VCRs were made until 2016. The last VCR manufacturer was Japan's Funai Electric, which stopped producing them in 2016. 750,000 units were sold in their last year, but finding the parts to make them was becoming increasingly difficult. LACKE CRACKED.COM — Source

28

CRACKED.COM Drug dealers use NOKIA old Nokia NOKIA 8210 phones. An illegal use is still a use, isn't it? Drug dealers prefer old handsets, 100 as their movements are harder to 200 San Good S trace with those-with the a NO Nokia 8210 being a favorite. . — Source

27

There are still 100,000 payphones in the U.S. Not only are these payphones still used, but their operators are turning a hefty profit - 2 L as few as three calls a 5 6 E - day make a single + D 11 phone sustainable. CRACKED.COM — Source

26

COBOL

CRACKED.COM Finances run on an ancient CASH computer language. $3 trillion moves every day through ATMs, banking services, and other financial systems programmed in COBOL, a computer language from the 50s. Only older programmers are usually trained in it, which is shaping up to be a problem. — Source

25

U.S. nuclear weapons relied on floppy disks until, uh, yesterday. SS/SD We don't mean the cute, plasticky things on your Save button-we're talking about eight-inch monstrosities from the 1970s that couldn't hold a single photo taken with your phone. The system wasn't upgraded until 2019. CRACKED.COM — Source

24

The Pentagon still uses Windows ХР. With some of their computers performing vital functions, paying Microsoft for extended support is often easier than an upgrade. icrosoft Windows xp CRACKED.COM — Source

23

Audio jacks were invented in the 19th century. The jack you use today to plug in your headset is just a smaller version of the one created in the 1870s for telephone switchboards. The little fellas were adopted by the radio industry in the early 20th century, and became really popular with the arrival of Sony's Walkman in 1979. CRACKED.COM — Source

22

You can still send an old- school telegram. Telegrams can still be useful, as the time stamp is a legal verification of when a message was sent to, say, cancel a contract. 175 CRACKED.COM — Source

21

Vinyl records sell as much as CDs. While most of the music industry's revenue comes from streaming, many people like to physically own the music they listen to. Vinyl records are a favored format for this, with sales going up as CD sales keep falling. CRACKED.COM — Source

20

CRACKED.COM Rural America still uses dial- up internet. About one third of rural residents browse the net like it's the 1990s, because they don't have access to broadband. In an increasingly digitized economy, this leaves these areas at a disadvantage. — Source

19

Airports use dot matrix printers. In an airport you won't just hear the PA system and the hubbub of people - but also the whiiiir- whiiiiir of these ancient, clunky devices. Reasons given are cost, reliability, and compatibility with legacy computer systems. rend i I E - PRODUCE COOP NEW JAME - - DEL CHOLP eno - 11 PARA E 8: In 11 CRACKED.COM — Source

18

The NYPD still used M typewriters as of 2015 A few years ago, if you reported a crime in New York City, the report wasn't typed on a computer, but on an old- school typewriter. This was to be expected in, say, the 1970s-but certainly { 2 20 E 1/2 not in the 21st century. - Q W E R T Y I A S D F G H Z X с V в N CRACKED.COM — Source

17

Doctors still use pagers. In hospitals, some walls are built to stop X-rays - which also block cell phone signals. Pagers use a different radio range, which can go through these sturdy walls. CRACKED.COM — Source

16

Hospitals share patient records through fax. Even when records are digitized, hospital computer systems aren't really made to communicate with one another. So pages are constantly printed out, faxed, and then scanned on arrival-a solution that frustrates everyone. PRESAL ARM BUCCH en - 2 - , MRO RYLASH STOP - 5 6 4 - COPY - INTIZADOS Per MUTE FAX 8 9 7 VOLUNE SOPHONE LOCATION And INTERCOM PRINT REPORT MENC PHONEBOOK * o # TONE START CRACKED.COM — Source

15

Batteries

ALKALINE BATTERIES +IAA HAVE BEEN AROUND SINCE THE 1890'S. 22 THEY LEAK CAUSTIC CHEMICALS (A.K.A. ACID) WHICH CAN GET INTO THE LOCAL WATER & AIR SUPPLY FROM I 3 LANDFILLS. HTTP://GHN.JIEEE.ORG/WIKIG/INDEX.PHP/EDISONS27S_ALKALINE_BATTERY HTTP://WWW.EPA.GOV/OSW/CONSERVE/MATERIALS/BATTERY.HTM Energizer® GRAGKED.COM — Source

14

CRACKED.COM G H V В N Oh, you wanted to type? Well, too bad, you're going to move the mouse instead. — Source

13

30 Ubiquitous Technologies That Have Overstayed Their Welcome — Source

12

BOTTLED WINE: BOX IT UP. WINE BOTTLES HAVE BEEN AROUND SINCE ROMAN TIMES; WINE BOXES, SINCE 1965. HOW DO THEY STACK UP AGAINST EACH OTHER? VS. BOTTLES BOXES LIFESPAN AFTER OPENING JANUARY JANUARY FEBRUARY SUN MON TUE WED THU PAY SAT SUN MON TUE WE: THU FRI SAT sun MON THE NED THU FR SAT x x X x x 6 7 X X X x x 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 x X x x X X x x x X . 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 x x x e x 20 X x — Source

11

GRACKED COM LET OP! BUMP SPEED BUMP AHEAD DREMPA S Farthinder . Speed bumps slow down emergency vehicles, thus costing lives They increase pollution They increase noise They damage cars They irritate the fuck out of drivers http://www.modestogov.com/ced/pdf/traffic/speehump.pdf http://news:bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3084331.stm — Source

10

The Incandescent Light Bulb 10% of 90% is wasted making the electricity TTA WEB 200 heat and creates the OTEL ultraviolet light. visible light. CRACKED.COM — Source

9

You can still find shops in China where the merchants use an abacus to calculate a customer's bill. CRACKED.COM A few schools in the West still teach students how to use an abacus too. — Source

8

CRTS may be old, but they're making a comeback in the gaming world. MELEE 2-minute KO feeli BACK MADIA LUISS SOMBER and VOLKI READY to FIGHT PICTS BOY CPU Перт N/O For ... SONY CRACKED.COM People are rediscovering the joys of playing on CRTs, which look and feel different than modern screens. — Source

7

In the 80's, students were told that COBOL was a dead language- but now, governments and banks are pleading for COBOL programmers. + WHEN 3 MOVE WIN-DATA (1:5) TO 5-100 to MOVE WIN-DATA (6:) TO 5-1000-1000 MODIFY EF-ROAD-HIERARCKE our H MODIFY LB-ROAD-HIERANCHY-IXX TITLE WHEN 4 MOVE WIN-DATA (1:5) TO 5-ROAD-TIME CRACKED.COM M E ١٤٠١ This is because compared to common programming languages today, COBOL is different- it can't do dynamic memory allocation or easily access low-level features of the operating system, for example. However, these qualities make it well suited to business programming domains. — Source

6

Magnetic tapes were first invented in 1928 and became a common way to store media in the 1950's. GRACKED.COM Many people have opted for newer storage mediums such as hard disk drives or DVDs which has made magnetic tapes become forgotten about, however they still have many benefits that makes them a viable option compared to digital storage solutions. — Source

5

In Japan, the fax machine is still a central pillar of communication in both corporate and government environments, despite being obsolete in the West. for CRACKED.COM An effort to banish faxes from Tokyo's bureaucratic district has been met with surprising backlash. — Source

4

After the Edward Snowden US surveillance scandal, Russia avoided global electronic snooping by ordering 20 Triumph Adler typewriters. 721 COMMUN OF CRACKED.COM These machines create a unique handwriting, allowing its source to be traced, which would come in handy after reports of secret document leaks. — Source

3

Windows XP

Windows XP was first launched in 2001 and it is still being used by some people today. CRACKED.COM NetMarketShare reported that 1.26% of laptops and desktop computers were running on the 19-year-old os last month. This means that there are 25.2 million PCs running on Windows ХР, which is a problem because it is a highly insecure system. — Source

2

Despite Microsoft Word's ubiquity, there is still a passionate community of writers who swear by the software WordStar. IBM CRACKED.COM George R.R. Martin, for example, exclusively uses WordStar 4.0 to write A Song of Ice and Fire. What people love about the application is that it was the first word processor able to render documents on screen formatted almost exactly as they would appear when printed. — Source

1

Kodak Alaris and Fujifilm are seeing an increase in demand for film products as interest in analog photography grows, especially among young people. Nikon en ALLE FE2 NIKKOR 50mm BOYLEES ١:١٨ Nikon CRACKED.COM Prices for cameras and photographic film have spiked in recent years due to the popularity of vintage models. — Source

Tags:

Visual

Scroll down for the next article

Must Read

Trivia & Jokes

40 Random Bits of Trivia We Forged From Melted-Down Encyclopedias

Movies & TV

Despite No Airtime, Chevy Chase Did A Victory Lap Leading Up to ‘SNL50’

Movies & TV

40 TV and Movie Tropes You’d Be Hard-Pressed to Experience Out Here in the Real World

Movies & TV

40 of the Funniest Tweets from Monday, February 17, 2025

Movies & TV

12 Random Bits of Pop-Culture Trivia Who Popped Up in Your Facebook Newsfeed, But You Can’t for the Life of You Remember How You Know Them

Movies & TV

These Are the Two Subjects Dave Chappelle Wasn’t Allowed to Talk About When He Hosted ‘SNL’

VIRAL ON CRACKED

1

Somehow It Was Tim Allen Who Told the Only Funny Pronouns Joke Ever

2

20 Cast Changes They Thought They Could Slip Past Ya

3

21 Movie Deleted Scenes (That Change A Lot)

4

19 Gifts So Bananas They Could Only Be Given By Celebrities

5

13 Comedies With Not-So-Funny Behind The Scenes Stories