An Animated QR Code of Bad Apple
a.exozy.me
a.exozy.me
I have a very slight problem in that I went to grad school when professionals still used calculators, and real professionals used HP calculators. And so I still own, and use, a variety of HP scientific calculators. I can quit any time I want, I swear.
The HP-48 line (for instance) transferred files via an LED/photodiode pair. You'd point the calculators at each other and let them flash away until they were done. This seems to be that, but much better. Or at least much faster.
They were quite popular before Bluetooth (Bluetooth file transfers are actually a different physical layer for the same protocol called OBEX) and quite ironically interoperable across phone and PDA manufacturers, as far as I remember.
It’s extremely sad that we’ve gone from being able to send a photo or business card across manufacturers to needing (incredibly clever!) contortions like this, on vastly more powerful hardware that can literally talk to satellites and run local LLMs.
Silly me and my slide rule. When your cells run out, I'll still be calculating logs like there is no tomorrow.
I also own a quite early Texas Instruments calculator (it was my Dad's and so are the slide rules) but I only keep that to spell out BOOBIES.
... you firmly grasp your slide rule (its plastic is comfortingly warm).
You take the logs of the two numbers with swift aplomb note them down with your trusty crayon on the SO's thigh (first available place to scribe) and without wavering, you add them together.
Armed with the crucial sum you deliver the answer to the multiplication with a casual flick and a careful read of the slide rule.
Yes, we have progressed somewhat. However, there is something rather satisfying using a slide rule. You do somehow feel the numbers within your hands. With a slide rule you can deal with far bigger numbers than you feel comfortable within your noddle (head). You can do that too with a calculator but you "feel and touch" the numbers with a slide rule.
All of the non-internet ios > android file transfer options I've seen are very clunky.
This is really neat.