Wide Angle: TV Tech Crawls Out of the Past

June 19, 2009

This week our in-depth look at the future of television wraps up, for now, with a top 10 list of spectacular and defunct TV tech. The Smithsonian's Elliot Sivowitch loaned his expertise to my hackneyed ideas and illuminated short-lived TV-related inventions in history.

Of course, the list was highly subjective so inevitably there are glorious obsolete television-related technologies that I overlooked. What are they? What do you remember wanting to throw out the window? Feel free to write your comments below.

Now, into the future. Many of us still have a separate television and computer, even though there are combos on the market. One option I just spotted: Clickable TV--a system that adds interactivity to your set. However, it does require a "special set-top box." And we know what usually happens to those.

Photo: Bye bye rabbit ears. Credit: Flickr user dailyinvention.