SPS Extinct Technologies?

In the May issue of IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, the editorial article, by Dr. Ghassan AlRegib, raised a very interesting question. Which signal processing algorithms or theories have gone extinct (if any), and which ones have the highest impact on our current products and technologies?

These questions were motivated by recent blog by Robert Krulwich, in which he requested all readers and listeners for suggestions of extinct factual (not fanciful) technologies or innovations. Among around 2,500 received suggestions, he reported three products or actual inventions that do not exist: radium suppositories, roman corvus, and jukebox core. There were also discussions on whether technology has ever gone globally extinct on the planet, in a new book by Kevin Kelly, who is the founding executive editor of Wired Magazine.

For our readers, if you think of an algorithm or a theory in signal processing that was popular at certain point in time and now is extinct, please let us know. You can reach the eNews team by visiting http://signalprocessingsociety.org/newsletter/contribute, and put the subject line as “SPS Extinct Technologies”.