Contributed by Robert Blaine, Catalogs.com Top 10 Guru

Life changes like Diddy’s name. And technology changes like Diddy’s wardrobe.

For years, technology has given us fabulous gadgets that we’ve used graciously, only to replace them with much more efficient, more convenient and more trendy gadgets soon after. So what can you say? Gizmos get old. As much as technology has been outdoing itself, we should still shed some light on ten of the best gadgets of yesteryear, even though they’re “virtually” dead. Consider this a eulogy.

So let’s get on with this list before the computer goes out of fashion. Here are the top ten already defunct tech gadgets

10. Dial up internet

Only the really old people (like… 20 year olds) can remember the cacophonous jingle dial up internet made every time you turned it on. That was during a time in technology where if things sounded like they were malfunctioning, you were doing the right thing. Although it’s still useful for travelers and rural areas, dial up internet, or internet used from a telephone line, has long been replaced by broadband.

9. Pager

The pager isn’t dead, yet. Since cell phones came out, the beeper has, however, been injured. Badly. This tech gadget is still used in some places with weak or inconvenient cell phone connectivity such as hospitals, restaurants, Mars, etc. Sadly, it was a good thing, but today it’s almost nowhere to be found.

8. Floppy disk drive

Until the advent of the USB flash drive, the floppy disk, the little square device people stored small computer files on, used to be hot. However, these days, it’s only good for a table prop.

7. BetaMax home recording system

If this is the first time you’ve even heard about BetaMax home recording system, join the club. It’s been so dead and gone, who can miss it? The once rival to the VHS, the BetaMax could record videos from home quite easily. People loved it. However, the VHS turned out to be the more popular choice for most buyers and outlasted the BetaMax by decades.

6. Typewriter

One mistake and the whole page is ruined? OMG! Not only would that never work with today’s computer users, but we’d also see an EVEN greater increase in internet acronyms. LOL.

5. Walkman

If you still have a walkman on your belt, even Rip Van Winkle would say “Dude, where are YOU from?”

4. Portable CD player

The Ipod has virtually dethroned the clunky CD player, replacing it with more advanced Mp3 technology. The only similarity is that both of them tend to skip. Oh, well, let’s wait until the Ipod upgrades…

3. Polaroid camera

Though it sounds fun, Polaroid cameras, the instant camera with self-developing film, is unfortunately defunct. Due to the convenience of digital cameras, no one seems to have anymore need for the old instant camera, thus resulting in Polaroid’s going out of business. However, it isn’t dead. It is kept alive by Outkast’s hit song “Hey Ya!”

2. VCR

The VCR, or videocassette recorder, was the most popular way to watch video cassettes at home back in the day. And guess what. It still is. But guess what. Who cares? Along came DVDs. And along came DVD players. Today, because nobody uses VHS tapes anymore, the VCR has joined the Model T.

1. CRT television

CRT television screens, or cathode ray tube screens, were the TVs before liquid crystal. They were the kinds made up of vacuum tubes where a little electron gun shot images onto the TV screen. As popular as they used to be, they took a large fall as soon as LCD screens rose to fame. Now, all CRT stands for is “Can’t recall that.”