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by rhizome 3049 days ago
Eight years on and I'm not sure that essay, while confident, has been borne out by time.
2 comments
tlb 3049 days ago
You could add substance to your comment by listing some things that became big after 2010, and saying whether or not they seemed like toys early on.

One example: Bitcoin (2009, but few had heard of it before 2010), cryptocurrencies and blockchains. I think these support cdixon's claim.

Another: Snapchat (2011) and other ephemeral messaging apps. These certainly seemed like toys.

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qbrass 3049 days ago
Beanie Babies looked like toys early on, too.

Just because something found a market doesn't mean it's not still a toy.

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philipkglass 3049 days ago
How about battery powered quadcopters with camera feeds and remote control? The Parrot AR.Drone was introduced in 2010, the first (AFAICT) consumer-priced drone to offer this kind of functionality. It was just a toy. Today similar low cost drones are used in film and TV production, wind turbine blade inspection, mapping, surveying... Consumer drones have even been weaponized by ISIS with small droppable grenades. Not that the latter is exactly a positive development, but it's not a toy use either.
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