How about anti-radiation elastomers for cell phones?

 

I don't agree. There is a momentary mystery because of the lack of an obvious power source, but the explanation is trivial.
What is "magical" to me is a supercomputer I can carry in my pocket that has five different radio transceivers, a display better than many desktop computers (and all of them only a few years ago) is a few mm thick, and somehow also has a power source inside it that can run it for hours.

There isn't even a hope of a comprehensive explanation of that, and yet, here it is.

But smartphones are still being made and sold! Unlike those cell phone LED stickers.

 

I once worked in an office in the rehabbed factory of the Waltham Watch Company. Shortly after moving in, a hazardous waste company showed up the clean the sewer pipes of the old building.

They were still filled with radioactive material!

 

But smartphones are still being made and sold! Unlike those cell phone LED stickers.

Phone (nail) stickers are still being made.

Believe it!

 

Machu Picchu

 

Bagger 293

 

Machu Picchu

Bravo!
How about the
Analog computer
Antikythera mechanism.

 

Bagger 293

 

Toyota Hilux

 

Toyota Hilux

 

I watched that video series. I could not believe what that kid did to that hilux. It is the closest thing to a truly "indestructible" production automobile that has ever been made.

 

I watched that video series. I could not believe what that kid did to that hilux. It is the closest thing to a truly "indestructible" production automobile that has ever been made.

 

But smartphones are still being made and sold! Unlike those cell phone LED stickers.

They are not being sold because the move to higher frequencies and lower power made them impractical. For me trouble with your thesis is that somehow there were things in the past that are bafflingly sophisticated or improbable, and that we couldn't reproduce them.

I don't think your LEDs are an example of such a thing. Maybe you could cite Antikythera mechanism, it seems much more appropriate.

I suppose this idea makes me upset because there really are amazing things being done by scientists and engineers, and in the current climate people are rejecting science in a deadly combination of ignorance and hubris.

I apologize if my response seems harsh or dismissive, it's not my intention. If I have offended you, please accept my apology.

 

They are not being sold because the move to higher frequencies and lower power made them impractical. For me trouble with your thesis is that somehow there were things in the past that are bafflingly sophisticated or improbable, and that we couldn't reproduce them.

I don't think your LEDs are an example of such a thing. Maybe you could cite Antikythera mechanism, it seems much more appropriate.

I suppose this idea makes me upset because there really are amazing things being done by scientists and engineers, and in the current climate people are rejecting science in a deadly combination of ignorance and hubris.

I apologize if my response seems harsh or dismissive, it's not my intention. If I have offended you, please accept my apology.

I chose to interpret it as things that are truly impressive but will never be made again because they (or their method of manufacture) have been displaced by some evolution (in technology, in the needs of the populace, in regulation, in consumer interest, etc.).


For example the steam tractor below. I doubt any commercial agricultural tractors made today could match what it's doing in the video. Farming methods have evolved and left behind the need for machines that can slowly flay off massive patches of the face of the planet. The new machines are impressive in their own way, but the old ones are also impressive in their own way. And, since the way in which the old is impressive is a way which has fallen out of common understanding, it may add a measure of mystique.

 

View attachment 263529

War lords worldwide can't all be wrong! (About trucks)

 

People born after 1950 would have trouble comprehending that voice and music were recorded on a roll of magnetic wire.from 1898 until the late 40s. Wire recorders were eventually superseded by reel-to-reel tape recorders which had a much better frequency response and storage life.

 

People born after 1950 would have trouble comprehending that voice and music were recorded on a roll of magnetic wire.from 1898 until the late 40s. Wire recorders were eventually superseded by reel-to-reel tape recorders which had a much better frequency response and storage life.
View attachment 263534

Wire recorders were still being as plot devices in TV shows in the 60's.

and likely still being used operationally in the 60's in the US and later in the USSR.
https://historictech.com/cold-war-espionage-the-1950s-minifon-wire-recorder/

 

They are not being sold because the move to higher frequencies and lower power made them impractical. For me trouble with your thesis is that somehow there were things in the past that are bafflingly sophisticated or improbable, and that we couldn't reproduce them.

I don't think your LEDs are an example of such a thing. Maybe you could cite Antikythera mechanism, it seems much more appropriate.

I suppose this idea makes me upset because there really are amazing things being done by scientists and engineers, and in the current climate people are rejecting science in a deadly combination of ignorance and hubris.

I apologize if my response seems harsh or dismissive, it's not my intention. If I have offended you, please accept my apology.

I don't think it's the power levels, they have been the same for cell phone signals, newer frequencies have been introduced but the old frequencies are still used. I had two such stickers which worked with 2G and 3G signals. With newer and higher frequencies, such stickers would be even more easy to make, because the wavelengths required will be even smaller. With nano technology, the tiny LEDs can become even more smaller.

With 5G and it's requirement of more transmitters, do you think such stickers would make a reentry in the market?

People born after 1950 would have trouble comprehending that voice and music were recorded on a roll of magnetic wire.from 1898 until the late 40s. Wire recorders were eventually superseded by reel-to-reel tape recorders which had a much better frequency response and storage life.
View attachment 263534

Amazing! Thanks for posting this, I didn't know about it.

 

I don't think it's the power levels, they have been the same for cell phone signals, newer frequencies have been introduced but the old frequencies are still used. I had two such stickers which worked with 2G and 3G signals. With newer and higher frequencies, such stickers would be even more easy to make, because the wavelengths required will be even smaller. With nano technology, the tiny LEDs can become even more smaller.

The radiated power of mobile phones has reduced considerably, the higher frequencies are harder to harvest, and the power for the signal doesn't come free it is part of the phones output being used for something other that phone calls.

Do you remember how mobile phones used to make noise on computer speakers and microphones? Why did that stop?

The size of the LED doesn't change its forward voltage or current requirements.

Take look at this post to see how such LEDs operate. IN this case the frequency is much lower and it requires a coil with many turns but the idea is the same as what was in those stickers and the pens that would light up when the phone rang.

​

 

The radiated power of mobile phones has reduced considerably, the higher frequencies are harder to harvest, and the power for the signal doesn't come free it is part of the phones output being used for something other that phone calls.

Do you remember how mobile phones used to make noise on computer speakers and microphones? Why did that stop?

The size of the LED doesn't change its forward voltage or current requirements.

Take look at this post to see how such LEDs operate. IN this case the frequency is much lower and it requires a coil with many turns but the idea is the same as what was in those stickers and the pens that would light up when the phone rang.

View attachment 263554​

Cell phone signal activity still interfere with my speakers, it never stopped. Did it stop for you or you stopped using speakers with computers?

That post is about magnetic induction making the LEDs light up.