Back to the Future: It's Google in a BBS Form

[Adrean]

Blast from the past.

It's scary to think that the children of today have never known a time when the internet didn't exist. For those of us that are a bit older (ahem), the pre-internet era seems like just yesterday and we vividly remember the early days of the web, when BBS was the coolest thing ever and the dial-up modem's funky little tune was the best thing we'd heard all day. Now, with sites like Google, Facebook, Wikipedia, Wordpress, Instagram and Tumblr, the internet is a very different place. Still, just because we now have this vast online playground to entertain ourselves, that doesn't mean we have to leave the good old days behind. Granted, we have no desire to revisit the cold, dark days of dial-up, but how about a little trip down BBS memory lane?

Developer Norbert Landsteiner has put together a HTML/JavaScript emulation BBS Google that affords us a peek at what it would have been like 'if Google had been invented in the 80s.' You can search away to your heart's content (Landsteiner has even included the search giant's famous 'I'm Feeling Lucky' feature) and absorb the dulcet tones of a modem while wondering where the years have gone. Check it out for yourself at masswerk.at/GoogleBBS.

:view:Original Article: Tom's Guide

[Alanon]

Hell, I'm 18, and already I feel old as far as techology's concerned. I still have the privilege of being half-analog. I can still tweak a few hardware issues, and recognise them.

The other day, I was in a bus and saw a couple of 10-year-olds discussing about the latest Android tablets and the new touch-interfaces. Never saw it coming, never knew about the new update, and never felt so out-of-touch. I can only imagine how kids growing up with tablets directly will be... Scares the buhjeesus out of me.