All language subtitles for Modern.Marvels.S22E11.Tech.Treasures.1080p.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H264-BTN_track3_[eng]

-[Narrator] Today, they're
the most commonly

used devices
on the planet.

- Technology is
moving very quickly.

- [Narrator] A total
revolution in how we talk,

watch, and listen.

- I can just throw away this
tape 'cause it's all digital.

- But today's high tech wonders
weren't always so wonderful.

[tape whirring]
[exciting music]

From turntables to typewriters,

cathode rays to cassettes.

These are the gadgets that
were once state of the art.

You'll never boot
up your tech trashes

the same way again
on Modern Marvels.

[dramatic music]

[gears clanging]

- [Narrator] Not that long ago,
these relics were parts

that lived inside
our favorite gadgets.

The ones we absolutely
couldn't live without.

The ones we reluctantly
retired to attics and garages.

These seemingly
primitive products

were once our connection

to the world and to each other.

And no matter what new
innovations we embrace,

we'll always recall
the retro originals

with nostalgic fondness.

Remember that cumbersome
cathode ray tube TV set

and it's annoying antenna.

For decades this clunky icon
was your ticket to a world

of news and entertainment.

- We didn't pay for
anything, advertising paid

for everything.

You didn't have a cable box.

You didn't have
wires connecting it.

You didn't have
a satellite dish.

- [Narrator] To get
that free TV signal

you either had an
aerial roof antenna,

or a pair of rabbit ears
sitting atop the set.

The C R T TV owes its size
and heft to the large tube

and the lead laden glass
screen that protects the viewer

from the harmful x-rays
generated inside.

In a C R T, the cathode
is a heated filament.

It sits in a vacuum
inside a glass tube.

The ray is a stream of electrons
that pours off the cathode

becomes focused into a beam
and strikes the phosphor coated

back of the screen,
making it glow.

A magnet guides the beam as
it sweeps 525 horizontal lines

across the screen, odd
numbered lines first,

then the even, which
makes up a video frame.

This happens 30 times every
second to create the picture.

Up until 2010, when US
commercial products of C R Ts

had largely ceased new
C R T televisions could still

be purchased at your local
big box electronic store.

And while they were
large and heavy,

they were nothing compared to
their earlier counterparts.

- [Samuel] TVs back
then, I would say,

at least 150 to
200 pounds to lift,

so you'd need two strapping
males to lift that for you.

Now, an old lady can lift
one of the flat screen TVs.

- [Narrator] The original
television signal was analog

and it looked decent enough
because, well frankly,

we didn't know any better.

Today that analog signal
isn't just obsolete,

it's actually on
the extinct list.

Thanks to the digital revolution
powered by the binary code

of ones and zeros.

- An analog signal is a wave,

think of it as a up and
down and up and down wave

that's coming to you
versus ones and zeros.

The benefit of digital is
we can continually increase

how tight we pack those
zeros and ones to get

increasing high fidelity.

In other words, high
definition television today

will be considered in 10
years, low definition.

- [Narrator] Digital
TV broadcasts began

in the late 1990s

and a decade later
analogs fate was sealed.

These flat panel beauties
began to line the walls

of electronic stores.

- We have plasma screen TVs.

We have L C D screen TVs,
they're all high definition

and of course we're showing
a beautiful high definition

picture on these.

- [Narrator] Today's
standard L E D TVs like L C D

and plasma technology
before them rely

on small streamlined
components to deliver

that superior picture quality,

allowing the boob
tube to go tubeless.

And they don't produce
X radiation, so no need

for the heavy duty glass.

But if for whatever reason
you're still clinging

to your beloved
rabbit ears and C R Ts

You don't have to
part with 'em just yet.

- The converter boxes have
come out to actually boost

the signal of the rabbit ears.

C R T TVs can be hooked
up to cable or satellite.

- [Narrator] The digital
revolution triggered the decline

of many technologies.

Most notably the vinyl L P.

From the fifties
to the seventies,

perhaps no single possession
was more treasured

by American teenagers
then their collection

of vinyl records.

Records on turntables
and in jukeboxes

provided the soundtrack to
our most cherished memories.

Perhaps you or your parents
fell in love to the music

being played on one of these.

First eight track tapes
and then cassettes

challenged vinyls reign.

But it was this digitally
encoded piece of plastic

that ultimately toppled
the records regime.

By the mid eighties,
the recording industry

virtually stopped
releasing on vinyl.

Of course, if history
teaches us anything

it's that what goes
around often comes around.

Since the turn of
the 20th century,

audio files have been
grooving to the rich sounds

of needle on record.

In 1955 Rainbo Records in
Canoga Park, California

began pressing vinyl discs.

- At the time we were
probably making around six

to 8,000 pieces a day.

In the sixties we got
much larger and we were

in the neighborhood of 30
to 40,000 records a day.

Our heyday was in
'77 when Elvis died.

Within three days
of Elvis' death,

we were pressing 60,000 records
a day, seven days a week.

- [Narrator] By the late
eighties, Rainbo was back down

to pressing eight to 10,000
vinyl records per day.

But thanks to loyal listeners
and avid collectors,

records never
completely went extinct.

As their company founder
attested in 2009,

a hunger for vinyl
was still out there.

- We are pressing close to
25,000 a day, six days a week.

There's definitely a
resurgence in vinyl.

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] Creating a
vinyl record has always been

part science, part
mechanics, part craft.

The modern method has its
share of high tech tweaks,

but the basics have endured.

In a studio music is
recorded as sound waves

onto magnetic tape
or a digital medium.

Those sound patterns are fed

into a computer controlled lathe
where a heated sapphire tip

cuts a continuous spiral
groove into the surface

of a lacquer covered
aluminum disc.

The groove is a mechanical
translation of the frequency

and amplitude of
the sound waves.

Low base tones
produce a wide groove

while higher frequencies
are narrower.

Next, a lacquer is sent
to Rainbo for duplication.

- [Steven] We're gonna
spray it with silver

and then we're gonna
hang it into a tank

and build a nickel
surface on it.

- [Narrator] The silver coating
makes the surface conductive

to electricity, allowing
a current to pass through

and the nickel to adhere to
it through electro plating.

- Then we're gonna
separate the two pieces.

And then you had a positive
and now you have a negative.

- [Narrator] The A and B side
negatives called the master

are placed back in the
electro plating tank

to create positives
called the mother.

From the mother up to 40
pairs of negative stampers,

which will press the
final records can be made

before quality degrades.

Now, science gives way to
the mechanics and craft

of record making.

- This is a record press.

We have two labels.

Two stampers which have
the information on it.

We glue the stamper
onto the mold.

So you got an A
side and a B side.

You got an A side
and a B side label.

- [Narrator] Workers pour
PVC pellets into the machine

where they're melted and
formed into a malleable puck

that will become the disc.

- [Steven] The polyvinyl
fluoride or PVC

is about 330 degrees.

The press is about 330
degrees when it closes,

goes under 1,800 pounds of
pressure and it squeezes out

and it's kind of
like making a waffle.

Instead of pouring in batter
we're pouring in vinyl.

- [Narrator] About
30 seconds later,

the formed disc emerges
on the other side.

- [Steven] After the
record gets pressed

and it gets cooled
down, it comes out

to the trimming station

and the trimming station
trims off the excess.

This excess we'll
recycle and use again,

once the record is trimmed
that record is finished,

other than quality
control and packaging.

- [Narrator] While
Rainbo produced vinyl,

they simultaneously cranked
out about a hundred thousand

CDs a day on the other
side of the factory.

Industry wide, CDs
market share dwindled

from over 13 billion
dollars in sales in 2000

to just 483 million
dollars today.

Thanks in large part
to digital downloads

and in small part for
the resurgence of vinyl.

But for some, the record
was never superseded.

This is a digital free zone.

- Welcome to "The
Record Collector",

which I established in 1974
with my personal collection of

50,000 78s, another
450,000 L Ps,

300,000 classical, 100,000 jazz

and 100,000 other.

And the records go 13 feet high.

- [Narrator] Sandy is
passionate about vinyl

and not shy with his
opinion of digital music.

- It's loses a lot of
the body and nuance

to the original performance
and authenticity is everything.

And if there's no
authenticity and no integrity,

and you're going to
superimpose technical gadgetry

as a good substitute for
your musical experience,

I think you're being had.

- [Narrator] Any record
lover would be hard pressed

to find a richer trove
of vinyl treasures.

- It is the first complete
recording of "Carmen by Bizet"

recorded in 1913, issued
in Berlin, Germany

on gramophone records.

The Mozart 40th Symphony
recorded in 1926.

Bruno Walter conducting the
Berlin State Opera Orchestra

recorded in Berlin.

["Mozart 40th Symphony" plays]

- [Narrator] It's not just the
classics that live on vinyl.

Today's big selling artists
are back on the turntable

and the kids are finding
out what their parents

already knew.

- [Steven] There's
audio file guys

who are still buying records,

but what's really driving it
today is 13 to 24 year olds

who have discovered this
new thing called a record.

You know, people always ask
you what you do for a living

and I would always
say, you know,

I make CDs and records
and I would always hear,

"They still make records?"

And you know, I'd tell
'em how many we make

and they're always amazed.

Recently I was at a
party sitting at a table

and same conversation, I
said, we make records, CDs

and the comment back to me
was, "They still make CDs?"

- [Narrator] Long before
the days of television

and recorded music, the masses
turned to the printed word

for entertainment
and enlightenment.

As we said goodbye to our
turntables and rabbit ears

we welcomed a new
era, the computer era.

The modern computer
is always evolving,

but one thing has remained
constant, the trusty keyboard.

The birthplace of the keyboard,

the typewriter became
obsolete in the 1980s,

but only after its reign is
one of the most ubiquitous

machines of the 20th century.

- The typewriter definitely
was a revolution.

Before that you had to
hand write everything

and a good typist can type
faster than the fastest writer

can write.

Let's face it, something
that I write may not be able

to even be read by anyone,
but from a typewriter,

you can all read what's typed.

- [Narrator] The
typewriter attracted women

into the workforce and brought
structure and uniformity

to the business world.

It became a virtual appendage
of writers, secretaries,

and news reporters.

American inventor, Christopher
Sholes and two partners

developed the first commercially
manufactured typewriter

in 1874.

- They had Remington and Sons.

It was a manufacturer of
guns and sewing machines

make their first typewriters.

- [Narrator] The odd
looking contraption

was more of a curiosity
at first and slow

to be accepted because business
and personal correspondence

had always been
conducted in long hand.

Mark Twain, who was
reportedly the first

to submit a typewritten
manuscript despised it

because he considered
it awkward.

Even the earliest
Remington's boasted

that initially confusing
letter key layout.

The QWERTY keyboard so-called
for the first six letters

on the top row became the
universally accepted design.

Some say this arrangement
allowed salesman

to type the word

typewriter more easily when
demonstrating the product

because all the required
letters are in the top row.

But the more practical
explanation is

that frequently used
letters had to be separated

so the keys wouldn't stick.

Early on, the
machine went through

some design modifications.

- [Mark] We pressed the
key and we can see exactly

where it's hitting the platen.

So this was called a
visible typewriter.

This particular one
is a Remington 10.

It was basically the
design that pre-dominated

for the next 60 years or so.

- [Narrator] In the 1930s,

companies began developing
electric typewriters

with limited success and
only in the business market.

- The huge development in
typewriters was in 1961.

When the IBM Selectric came out.

It had a single golf
ball type shaped element,

and you pressed the
key and it would spin

to the correct letter
and then strike.

Then in the early 1970s,
IBM created the

correcting Selectrics
typewriter.

'Cause before that time, you
either had to use a eraser,

which usually didn't work
too well and got a lot

of eraser crumbs
in the typewriter

or you had to use something
like liquid correcting fluid.

- [Narrator] One version of
the correcting typewriter

contained a cartridge with
an ink coated cloth ribbon.

Another was a
correctable carbon film.

After a typo, the user
hit the corrector key

followed by the
mistyped letter key.

A coverup tape
strikes the mistake,

making it disappear.

A carbon film error could be
lifted right off the paper.

This primitive delete
function may have extended

a typewriter's lifespan
by a few years,

but once computers took
hold in the mid 1980s,

there was no fighting progress.

The mighty typewriter
that had served us so well

for nearly a century had
fallen by the wayside.

A similar fate befell another
printing icon developed

in the late 1800s.

The mimeograph.

The mimeograph employed
an ink fed drum

around which a cut
wax stencil rotated

as successive sheets of
paper were fed into it.

- [Daniel] Some of us might
remember having to make copies

in the old days,
by turning a crank,

getting blue on your
fingers and just trying

to get those copies
made, smelling that smell

of not just the ink,
but the paper itself.

And of course they didn't
look all that good.

Today 300 million tons
of paper are produced

worldwide every year.

And US companies spend over
120 billion dollars annually

on printing, but it
wasn't until 1959,

when the mimeograph was replaced
by the Xerox 914 copier,

which combined
photo conductivity

with electrostatic
printing that the world

of business changed forever.

- [Daniel] So we went from
a mimeograph where you had

to turn a drum to being
able to push a button

and make a thousand copies
on the Xerox machine

and have them
stapled and collate,

to now making digital
copies of things

that maybe will never
even be a paper copy.

- [Narrator] But
there's one industry

that must continue
relying on paper copies,

at least for the time being.

Since the first continuously
published newspaper emerged

in 1704, Americans have looked
to their trusty gazettes

to keep them aware of the
goings on in their community,

their country, and the world.

Reading the morning
paper over coffee

is a deep rooted
ritual that prepares us

for the day to come.

But after three
centuries of success,

does the newspaper have
an uncertain future?

In 1990, weekday newspaper
circulation in the US

was over 63 million, but the
numbers have steadily falling

over the last few decades.

By 2020, circulation dropped
to just over 24 million.

But why?

In a word, competition.

Newspapers have encountered
competition before,

but now they're creating it.

The Houston Chronicle, once
one of the top 10 US dailies,

is owned by the
Hearst Corporation.

The paper launched
its website in 1994.

- There's been radio,
there's been television,

and today we see the internet,

but what we've decided to
do this time is to embrace

and coexist with the
internet and use technology

to our advantage.

- [Narrator] Print and
online have joined forces.

- [Scott] The reaction of
the people in the newsroom,

they saw the web as an
interesting hobby that we had

as a newspaper.

What's really changed is
it's become mainstream.

- [Narrator] These days, the
Houston Chronicles website

chron.com averages about 95
million page views per month.

While circulation
of the print edition

hovers around
155,000 per weekday.

Under the supervision of the
Chronicles editor in chief,

both news entities collaborate
in an endeavor reliant

on hundreds of reporters.

For them, the lines between
prints and online are blurred.

Since both additions depend on
their work.

- Magazine, leading out with the
rate increase in the Dow.

- 19 people are probably
buried and dead in the rubble.

- Do we still have
the wind energy story?

- [Jeff] They go out
and they cover events

and then in a very
tight window of time,

they're bringing
that story back.

A headline writer is putting
a compelling headline on it.

Illustrators and page layout
people are making the stories

attractive and
visually pleasing.

They're adding a
contemporary look.

- [Narrator] The finalized
layout goes to the print plant

where these giant
presses spit out papers

at a dizzying speed.

- And then it is on the
doorstep of the reader

by 5:30 in the morning.

- [Narrator] Now
compare the expenses

of the printed daily paper
to the online version.

- We use about 200 metric
tons of newsprint every day

and about 9,000
pounds of ink a day.

- A newspaper website has
servers that maybe cost

thousands of dollars.

It doesn't have
multimillion dollar presses.

It does not have the delivery
cost the newspaper does.

You don't have the trucks
and the rising gas prices

to worry about.

- [Narrator] And online
offers another big advantage

that print does not.

- The biggest difference
between online and print

is print is a snapshot
of a point in time.

It's a picture of what
the world looked like

at 10:30 last night.

The website is continually being
updated throughout the day.

- [Narrator] To feed
the online edition,

as well as print, journalists
have had to adapt.

- When I was a reporter
many years ago,

I could spend most of the
day writing a 750 word story.

But today that's not the case.

- With the development of
the web virtually every job

in the newsroom has changed.

Reporters become bloggers,

photographers have
become videographers.

You know, editors have
become web producers.

Even our editorial cartoonist
today is producing animations

in 3D.

- [Narrator] So were newspapers
ready to pull the plug

on the press?

- [Scott] Today, if we
shut down printed newspaper

and just published a website,

we'd be isolating ourselves
from about a third

of the population in Houston.

Because as much as the
internet has become ubiquitous,

it has not reached everyone.

- [Narrator] But how long will
the two additions continue

to coexist?

- There are a lot of people,
78 million baby boomers

to be precise that are
using both right now,

but the young
teenagers of today,

they are growing
up fully digital.

- We're in the middle
of a media revolution

and revolutions
don't end in a tie.

- [Narrator] Still, there will
always be something soothing

about doing a Sunday
crossword puzzle in pen.

Okay, maybe pencil.

The smartphone replaced you
have tthe MP3 player.

The MP3 player
replaced the Discman.

The Discman replaced the Walkman

and the Walkman
replaced the turntable.

No matter how much
we loved each one,

the availability of
more compact options

was certainly attractive.

The same held true for our
cameras, phones and organizers.

- The first cameras were
definitely not personal cameras.

It was a big giant device that
went on a big giant tripod.

You had to be a pro, but
then as they were able

to make the camera
smaller and smaller,

it started to become something
that you and I could do.

- [Narrator] Capturing
and sharing memories

became family traditions, but
it wasn't always so convenient

until one company
indulged our need

for instant gratification.

- [Brad] You bought a roll
of film, put it in the camera

and when the film
was all exposed,

you took it to the drugstore
or you mailed it away.

The model 95 was
introduced in 1948.

And with the introduction
of this camera

and Polaroid instant film,
we could produce pictures

right on the spot,
wherever you were.

- [Narrator] Instant
pictures, today we take them

for granted but in 1948,
Polaroid was revolutionary.

The user took the picture,
then pulled the tab.

The negative and receiving
sheet slid through a set

of rollers, causing a
pod of chemicals embedded

in the receiving sheet to burst.

The rollers distributed the
chemicals across the negative

triggering a chemical reaction
that processed the image.

90 seconds later, the
negative was peeled away

and discarded.

In 1972, Polaroid
introduced the SX 70,

which was able to develop
images without tabs to pull

and negatives to peel.

It wasn't that long ago that
we had a separate camera,

phone, address book, calendar,
music player, and computer.

But today the market is
flooded with feature laden

combination gadgets that fit
in the palm of your hand.

Each rendering a previous
version obsolete.

The aptly named
Palm Incorporated

in Sunnyvale, California
pioneered the granddaddy

of must have pocket tools.

- In 1997, we came out
with the Palm Pilot.

This really represented
cultural phenomena

in mobile computing,
'cause it gave you a way

of entering information on the
go without a full keyboard.

It was a stylist based
interaction where you would

actually write in characters.

It actually forced you to
learn a very specific way

to write your letters.

- [Narrator] Despite the
added effort required

on the part of the user,
this glorified address book

was surprisingly successful
and entered the vernacular

is a synonym for personal
digital assistance or PDAs,

regardless of the brand.

- [Peter] The original Palm
Pilot had your contacts,

it had tasks and memos,
basic calculator,

and it organized
it into one place

with one magical killer app.

That killer app

was synchronization
with your computer.

So all of that
information was protected.

- [Narrator] While the Palm
Pilot was organizing your life,

the cell phone was
keeping you in touch.

By today's standards the
earlier versions were pricey,

unreliable and goofy looking.

But it was freedom from the
cord and that was worth it.

If you had one of these,
you were pretty cool.

The evolution of
cellular phones rendered

some old faithfuls obsolete
from rotary dial models

and payphones to car phones.

Some predicted the demise
of the hallowed landline.

The cornerstone of modern
communication had served us

so well since the days
of Alexander Graham Bell.

Eventually cell phones evolved
to combine the organizer,

the computer, the music player,

and a bunch of other features.

It was called the smartphone
and unlike its ancestors,

it had a keyboard and
it's still smaller.

- [Peter] Keyboards are a
big story because they are

the transition from
handhelds to smartphones.

The unconventional wisdom
here is that really big,

full size keyboards work,

but tiny keyboards
work just as well

because you're
using your thumbs.

- [Narrator] Even
in its early days,

smartphones were a nail
in the coffin for many

of our trusty devices,
because it really is the sum

of its parts.

- Our first real iconic phone,

which was the Trio 600 in 2003

was one of the first
true smartphones.

- [Narrator] Even back
in the late 2000s,

people predicted
what smartphones

would one day become.

- [Daniel] It's
gonna be your bank.

It's gonna be your credit card.

It's going to be your
educational tool.

It's going to be
your training tool.

It's gonna be your radio.

It's going to be your keys.

It's gonna be how
you buy things.

How you board a plane.

This is gonna be your ticket
for your next airplane flight.

You see it's evolving
into many, many aspects

of different infrastructure
that'll be all emerged together

in a wireless way because
that phone is going

to get smarter and smarter.

- [Narrator] But will all
these advantages render

face to face human
interaction obsolete?

- [Daniel] The biggest
problem with smartphones

is we don't always
have smart users.

We get addicted to the
phone so much that we forget

a very important thing.

There's a time to plug
in and a time to unplug.

Everyone remembers their first
love and their first car.

For some, they were
one and the same.

Few car aficionado's are more
enamored with their vehicles

then classic Mustang lovers.

They drive their
collectibles, shine them up,

show them off and
discuss them with other

classic Mustang lovers.

But underneath the hood
of their retro babies

is an outdated technology.

This 1968 Shelby
KR 500 is equipped

with a 428 Cobra jet
carburetor motor,

which exhales a
signature vintage roar

that gearheads love.

Up until the 1980s, most
cars relied on a carburetor

to power the combustion engine.

Air travels in from
outside passed a filter

and into the carburetor.

Pressure on the gas pedal
allows a regulated amount of air

and a regulated amount
of fuel into the chamber

where they mix.

The throttle valve
allows the air fuel blend

to enter the engine.

As mechanics and emissions
regulations evolved

over the decades so
did engine design

and today's Shelby GT
500 models are complete

with the works.

Fuel injectors on each cylinder,

a fuel rail, an equalizer too,

a throttle body and an
electronic fuel equalizer

pressurized pump.

So what's the upside
to this complicated

fuel injection system?

By replacing carburetors
with more efficient systems

like fuel injection,
vehicles can now operate

at higher mileage per gallon.

For instance, this older Shelby
may get only 12 to 15 miles

per gallon,

while the latest models can get
up to 20 miles per gallon.

One downside to the
state of the art tech

is the time honored
engines could be worked on

by amateur mechanics, but
newer versions may require

more expertise.

Just another case of
mechanical versus computerized.

For some, no computer
chips can ever replace

the soulful roar of the engine

and a familiar smell of exhaust.

It's not just the insides of
cars that demanded a makeover,

bumpers and paint
have also evolved.

Imagine today's freeways
full of these lead painted

steel bumper dinosaurs.

- Some of the interesting
ingredients that have been used

in the paint are metal
flakes, fish scales,

which were added to give
another kind of iridescent look.

These paints used to be lead
then they went to water base.

- [Narrator] Body styles and
bumper designs have changed

to reflect tastes and ever
improving safety regulations.

- Back in the 1970s,

when we started the heavy
focus on safety standards,

we went to the five
mile per hour bumpers,

which when applied to
existing automobile designs

of the time were
pretty unattractive.

- [Earl] In the seventies we
had shock absorber bumpers.

And at the same time, we
started with the rubber

across the front
chrome of the bumpers,

which became a standard later
on in the design of cars.

This is an '89 Porshe Speedster,

the heavy rubber across here
and no chrome to the car.

This is an '06 Ford Mustang
and here you can see

the fiberglass bumper as
opposed to the chrome bumpers

and no rubber integrated here.

It's all part of the
whole design of the car.

- [Narrator] But
first things first,

before you can enjoy
your car's fuel injectors

and safety features
you have to get in.

Even that has changed.

Nearly gone are the days of the
metal door and ignition key.

- [Jim] You still have a
driver's side key entry,

but you don't see a door lock
anywhere on the passenger side

door in due course,
we're gonna see an end

to the ignition key door key.

- [Narrator] In the past decade,

modern cars began to incorporate
smart key technology.

Smart keys triggered door
locks and ignition buttons

simply through sensors that
detect the keys proximity

to the vehicle.

- This car was locked,
but it senses my presence,

and now is unlocked.

How it did that is
with this smart key.

I didn't have to take
it outta my pocket.

Don't have to do anything,
but just keep it on my body.

It'll actually open the
car for me and to start it,

I just sit in the car, hit
the button, it starts itself.

Don't have to stick
this in anything,

it's called smart
key technology.

- [Narrator] Perhaps
someday all old doors

will unlock instinctively,

but until then this plastic
key card, isn't a bad option.

It's what has made millions
of metal hotel room keys

and those obligatory dangling
numbered key chains obsolete.

In the late 1970s
to combat key theft

and subsequent hotel crime,
the lodging industry started

to do away with a standard
metal key in favor

of a reprogrammable
disposable solution.

The Flamingo hotel in Las
Vegas has over 3,500 rooms

and issues 2.4 million
key cards each year.

- Upon registration,
we gain access

to the customer's reservation.

Actually go to the key
making application,

punch in for a brand new
key, and we're all set.

- [Narrator] The computer
encodes the cards magnetic strip

with a check in, check
out dates as well

as the particular room
sequential numeric access code.

- [Jay] The locks understand
what keys due to come in

based on the previous
customers of sequence.

Since we cut this key
downstairs just now,

this would be the next
one in the sequence.

You'd be get the green
light, you'd be able

to access the guest room.

If you were to try
to access the room

through a non-sequential
or an expired key,

you'd be getting
the yellow light,

which would not
allow you access.

If you improperly insert
the key into the guest lock,

you will get a red light.

- [Narrator] 400,000
Of the key cards

the Flamingo issues each
year are never returned.

And at four cents a pop that
costs the hotel 16 grand

but it's a small price to pay
for the increased security

and convenience over metal keys.

So how long before the
old faithful metal key

goes completely extinct.

- [Daniel] Physical metal
keys that we deal with today

will increasingly become
obsolete, but it will be slow.

The reason it'll be slow is
there are a lot of us that still

have homes and still have
devices that need metal keys

and let's face it to change
all of the locks in your home,

a lot of people are not
gonna do that very quickly.

- [Narrator] And there's
something to be said

about the secure feeling
of hearing that lock turn.

If your favorite music
and videos still live

on the obsolete formats
and your players bite

the proverbial dust,
are you out of luck?

Fear not, there are ways
to salvage and preserve

your treasures in
more current formats

like this early method of
using media transfer hardware

and software.

- We recognized that everyone
had some of the old media,

either L Ps, VHS
tapes, tape cassettes,

and they were storing them,
but they weren't playing them.

The actual hardware to
play back this medium

is disappearing.

That's when we
conceived that the idea

of transfer technology,
turning this into something

you could use.

Basically it takes an analog
format and transfers it

into a digital format.

So it's kind of like old
school meets new school.

- [Narrator] And with the
introduction of MP3 players

in the late 1990s,
turning old school media

into portable files could
be done with a click.

- [Felix] The LP dock is the
easiest way to convert music

from vinyl to digital.

It's actually going to record
a wav file that you can

then process in your
computer if you wanted to,

or just for easy
play on your iPod.

- [Narrator] Anticipating
that some customers

might be technologically
challenged,

they've made it as simple
as installing the software

on your computer and
following a few easy steps.

- [Felix] Once my

recording is done,

I can just go ahead and
type the name of the artist,

name of the album
and the track title.

- [Narrator] The tape
to PC cassette converter

works much the same way.

- [Felix] And now
what was once in here,

I can just throw away this
tape, 'cause it's all digital.

- [Narrator] But not
all memories are audio.

Odds are you still
have a few VHS tapes

or cherished home movies
lying around your house.

With a VCR to PC, all of
this can now fit onto this.

- Where you can take thousands
of videos and just put 'em

on your hard drive and once
I have it on my hard drive,

I can go ahead and burn
it into a DVD or put it

into a portable device.

- [Narrator] All your
old stuff can now live

on your new computer.

But what happens in the
future when that new computer

is suddenly old.

It's inevitable that you'll
eventually bid farewell

to your once treasured
electronic gadgets.

You have a choice, you can
toss them into the drawer

or the trash, or you can
give them the respectful

and responsible
end they deserve.

Back when C R T TVs
became obsolete,

a recycling facility like this
one in Commerce, California

became the resting place.

- Our facility here is
about 40,000 square feet

and we take anywhere from
200,000 to 300,000 pounds

of e-waste a month.

- [Narrator] These
gadget graveyards serve

as collection hubs
for discarded tech,

including TVs, computers,

office equipment,
and cell phones.

- The most common item we
get here are TV C R Ts.

And we get about
5,000 of them a month.

- [Narrator] These TVs
are among the 27 million

that were taken out of
service in just one year.

So what happens to them
and the rest of the e-waste

that comes here.

- [Dana] We weigh it, we
sort it and it's taken

to the dismantling line where
the metals are taken apart,

the plastics are taken out.

The circuit boards
are taken out, the glass.

Everything gets demanufactured.

So think of a manufacturing
line, but backwards.

- [Narrator] This process
is mostly done by hand.

So as not to contaminate
the reusable materials

with the harmful ones like
the lead found in C R T TVs.

Some of the reusable components
need to be compressed

for easier transport.

- [Dana] Imagine a
giant trash compactor,

but for plastics and metals,
and these are sent off

to processors where they will
be melted and remanufactured.

- [Narrator] There just
may be life after death,

but be careful because some
of that outdated equipment

might contain important data.

- Because everybody has
sensitive information

on their computers,
whether it's personal use

or for business use, make
sure that when you take it

to an e-waste recycler to ask
them to physically destroy

your hard drive,
deleting it will not do.

As part of the recycling process
we remove the hard drives

from the computer
and upon a request,

we will destroy the hard
drives by punching three holes

into the disc itself so that
the data is unretrievable.

- [Narrator] But it's
not just the information

that might leak into
the wrong places.

- The rate of technological
change and obsolescence

of course has a dark,
deep and bad downside.

- [Narrator] Some
environmentally

and socially irresponsible
companies export

unwanted electronics overseas,

where they're dismantled
unsafely.

Often by children
paid pennies a day.

- [Dana] There are a lot
of quote unquote recyclers

that will send their electronic
waste to underdeveloped

countries where they don't
have strict environmental laws

and labor laws.

So right now there are
villages where people

are actually cooking
the circuit boards,

inhaling the toxic fumes and
then disposing of the waste

into their water supply
as well as their soil.

However, recyclers like us,

we use responsible
downstream vendors who have

high tech facilities to handle
these hazardous materials

in the proper way.

- [Narrator] Today with
technology evolving

at near light speed,
don't get too attached

to your TVs and cell phones
'cause their days are numbered.

- I'm sure that our
laptops and our MP3 players

in 10 or 20 years will
be collecting dust.

- Innovation and change
is not slowing down.

It is speeding up.

Be ready.