Most Attractive Old-School Technologies In Modern Packages

We are a nostalgic society. As soon as we shuck off old technology in favor of something newer, faster, and smaller, people start looking back with fondness to what came before. Hence the popularity of the idea of “classic”, “retro”, and “old school”.

Any given decade, you’ll find fashion and technology movements pushing back to the technologies of old. From the resurgence in typewriter use on college campuses, to the skeuomorphic design of most phone interfaces, people like to be reminded of how things used to be, even if they rely heavily on modern technology in every other aspect of their daily lives.

Here are a few of the most attractive old school technologies that have received face lifts for modern packaging.

The Corvette

The same could be said about any number of vehicles, but few are as iconic and storied as the Corvette. First released in 1953, the Corvette is now entering its 7th full iteration with the 2014 Corvette Stingray.

During the last 60 years, the Corvette has been one of the most attractive, desirable, and often most powerful vehicles on the market. From movie stars like John Wayne to modern day car collectors like Jay Leno, it’s a car everyone wants to drive.

Of course today’s Corvette is a lot different from the open top 1953 Corvette – carbon fiber body, 500+ horsepower and all. But the flavor, speed, power are still as desirable as they originally were.

Internet Radio and Podcasts

Radio is one of the oldest broadcast technologies on the planet and whenever it starts to fade, something brings it back. Whether due to nostalgia or the fact that there is something intrinsically soothing about a voice on the radio sharing the news, telling a story or introducing your favorite band, radio’s recent resurgence isn’t that surprisingly.

While radio will never regain the heyday status it had in the early 20th century, the rise of podcasts, digital radio, and music curation services has resurrected what was once almost considered a dead medium, while pay-for-use satellite radio has opened a new revenue stream very similar to traditional radio.

Headphones

For a long time, headphones got smaller, sleeker and near invisible. And then something happened to change all that. Audio fidelity rebounded and the days of digital everything and portability being the next big thing faded. With portability more or less a given for any consumer product, people started wondering what level of quality they could reach.

Beats Audio led the charge with powerful, exceptionally high quality headphones that resembled the head-wrapping options of the 70’s but it continues with other brands following suit, releasing headphones that focus on the sound, not the convenience of the devices.

These are just three examples of technology finding something new in the roots of the past. As the Internet grows and technology continues to change our lives, this will continue, people clinging to the familiar even as their lives rapidly change to adjust to the shift currently taking place in the consumer technology industry.