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Category Archives: Extinctions/disappearances
Bye Bye Banks?
I found this online. Six Banking services that will disappear in the future. All highly questionable in my view. Would help if the article attached predicted expiry dates.
1. Bank branches and bank tellers
No. According to McKinsey, between 32% and 60% customers (depending on country) still prefer physical banking. That’s not to say both branches and tellers won’t become less common, but how do you expect a bank to sell high value products without face to face interaction? Visiting a bank to conduct payments, pay in or take out money is going (with exceptions) but when it comes to big financial decisions I don’t think so. There’s also no consideration of the impact of ageing populations on this.
2. Passwords and PINs
I used to think this too, but then it was pointed out to me that one major benefits of passwords and PINs is that you can change them. With biometrics, you can’t. Once someone has hacked your biometrics you are pretty much stuffed. PIN + Biometrics is the future.
3. Checks (sic) and paper statements
True at the moment, that’s certainty the trend, but trends tend to bend and I think paper statements could make a comeback. Easier to spot mistakes on paper.
4. Cash
By when? Could go either way in my view. Governments would love to get rid of cash, then they would have total control. Businesses would probably like to get rid of it too, because it would save them money, but I think quite a few people still like the anonymity of cash.
Spending habits are quite different with digital vs physical money too.
5. ATMs and debit cards
Maybe, eventually. Unproven.
6. Traditional loans
Doubt it. Even in a buoyant economy a lot pf people still prefer the accountability associated with traditional lenders. But in a downturn, I can’t see people borrowing large amounts of money and especially not lending money to people they’ve never met.
The Death of Imaginary Friends
I haven’t been very active recrently, largely because I’ve been thinking. But this is too good to resist. A survey by a face-paint company (you read that correctly) says that there has been a sharp drop in imaginary friends over the last 16 years. The culprit, of course, is digital technology, especially phones and online gaming.
I wish I’d anticipated this finding, but I’m afraid my imagination isn’t what it once was.
News here Bit of background on imaginary friends here and here and best of all here.
The re-invention of public libraries
It’s funny. The moment someone declares something as dead, chances are that whatever it is (vinyl records, fountain pens, paper books, watches, dumb-phones, bespoke tailoring, cinema, polaroid cameras, postcards, beer, butter, cider, cycling, Russia …) it reappears, often with renewed vim and vigour. I think public libraries are a good example.
Excellent article on this subject from the Guardian newspaper (thanks Corrina over in Sydney).
Things we no longer do (really?)
I’m researching a new info-graphic on dead technologies and came across this list of things we supposedly don’t do anymore. I don’t know about you, but I still do quite a few things on this list (exactly half actually), but then I’m weird.
I’ve highlighted in bold the things I still do…
TOP 50 THINGS WE DON’T DO ANY MORE
1. Ring the cinema to find out times
2. Going into the travel agents to research a holiday
3. Record things using VHS
4. Dial directory enquiries
5. Use public telephones
6. Book tickets for events over the phone
7. Print photos
8. Put a classified ad in the shop window
9. Ring the speaking clock
10. Carry portable CD players
11. Write handwritten letters
12. Buy disposable cameras
13. Take plenty of change for pay phones
14. Make mix tapes (hardly ever though)
15. Pay bills at the post office
16. Use an address book
17. Check a map before or during car journey
18. Reverse charges in payphones
19. Go into the bank or building society to conduct your business
20. Buy TV listings
21. Own an encyclopaedia
22. Queue to get car tax in Post Office
23. Develop and send off for photographs
24. Read a hard copy of the Yellow Pages
25. Look up something in dictionary
26. Remember phone numbers/ Have a phone book
27. Watch videos
28. Have pen friends
29. Use a telephone directory
30. Use pagers
31. Fax things
32. Buy CD’s/ Have a CD collection
33. Pay by cheque
34. Make photo albums
35. Watch programmes at the time they are shown
36. Dial 1471 when you get home
37. Warm milk or other hot drinks on stove
38. Try on lots of pairs of shoes on high street
39. Hand wash clothes
40. Advertise in trading papers
41. Send love letters
42. Hand-write essays / school work
43. Buy flowers from a florist
44. Work out how to spell something yourself
45. Keep a personal diary
46. Send post cards
47. Buy newspapers
48. Hang washing out in winter
49. Keep printed bills or bank statements
50. Visit car boot sales
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8949090/50-things-killed-by-technology.html