Radio Shack Disappearing

[ZetaX1]

@darkrage, here's a general, all-purpose comment you can use.  Just copy-n-paste when you want to reply to anyone, regarding any topic...

   I disagree with everything you said.  Every opinion you had has been superseded by mine.

There, nice and concise.

[scotland171]

While modernity has lots of benefits like chatting with people in Newfoundland and modern medicine, some interpersonal things are diminished. I think M0zart shared his dad's love of the cinema before television. In my area we still have 100 year old dance halls where people used to come together with live music and do the lindy hop. Families would take a shortline to a resort area and spend the day together. And so on. Technology is great, but it does reduce our connection built with others doing things together. No one wants to return to spanish flu pandemics or polio, but people do look back to simple things done together.

[darkrage61]

ZetaX-Your post adds absolutely nothing to this thread. 

There, nice and concise.

[darkrage61]

 

I remember begging my parents to get a computer when I saw commercials for websites, getting on the internet for the very first time was just amazing, and it only got better and better as the years went on.  Personally i'm not scared by new technology, yes it can be abused, but technology has always been abused by some people throughout history(people didn't exactly have as much privacy back then as you think, wiretapping has been used by the FBI to spy on people since the 60s) so I don't really see that as a reason to be against it, especially since it can also be used for some pretty amazing things, ultimately I feel the good outweighs the bad and for all the false promises, there have been many fulfilled ones as well.  I think sometimes people have a tendency to idealize the past a little too much and forget all the bad aspects(I would not want to live in a time where minorities were treated like second-class citizens).

I still do enjoy interacting with people face-to-face moreso then online, problem is I simply don't have any friends that live close to me(i've lost touch with all my high school classmates and I haven't really made much in the way of friends at college), so while I would prefer to meet in person, it's still nice talking to people online who I share interests with, that is the main reason why I joined this forum after all. I certainly haven't got my "life sucked away" or anything like that, the thing about only wanting a "virtual life" is largely a stereotype.

I'm neutral about Radio Shack, I certainly don't wish for another chain to go bust(particularly since my grandmother depends on the store near her), But if they do go, then I can't say i'll be as down as I was when Hollywood Video and Borders closed their doors for good.

[ActRaiser1]

I had one of those build your own electronic sets from Radio Shack when I was a kid!

Now, I work at a company that actually builds its own hardware (in China and Mexico) but the design is done here.  Being more from the software side I decided to research how electronic hardware actually works.

My research brought me to instructables.com.  They have guides posted by Radio Shack of cool stuff you can build with Arduino boards.  I bought one.  It's pretty sweet.

I think Radio Shack could really expand and grow with the hobbiest community by really focusing on the cool stuff you can build yourself.  There are even tutorials on how to build a pong game using the Arduino.

I think we could come up with an electronic toy/game that took the best of videogames and combine them with real world objects.  Maybe, there's an option to build a new laser tag like game with parts surfaced from Radio Shack.  Okay, I'm a bit off the subject.  Maybe, we need a separate thread on how to save Radio Shack?

[scotland171]

A year ago we had this discussion, and now Radio Shack is filing chapter 11 now.   The conversation definitely brought out some generational tensions about if the advance of technology comes at the loss of something too.

Radio Shack is sort of a symbol (for me) of tech from about 1975 to 1995, from the rise of home computers to the rise of the internet.  Those 20 years were a time when tech was still a hobbyist venture, but also quite populist and attainable. It was the beginning of moving tech from the rarified world of massive machines with their spinning mag tape looked after by a team of slide ruler using white collar clean cut technicians, or one of unshaven blue collar repairmen in their basements with their soldering irons and volt meters, to being approachable, affordable, understandable...democratized really, for everyone with some disposable income and the willingness to learn.  Everyone was invited to join in...but you still had to put in the effort to learn something of the craft, and that effort gave you a feeling of reward and accomplishment.  You did not have to become an electronics guru or go to MIT, but you did have to struggle with some jargon, read some books, put in some time.  You did not learn so much how to use a computer program, but you learned a computer programming language and wrote your own programs.  

Just like Sears and the Sears Catalog represented something, so did Radio Shack.  So did Kinkos.  So did Polaroid or Kodak film. So do Office Depot and Zynga today represent businesses on the edge of yesterday.

[VideoGameCritic]

I always liked the idea behind Radio Shack (how many places specialize in electronic parts?) but I always thought they were badly mismanaged.

For one thing, for a store that is supposed to specialize in technology, why did they always insist on using those old, mechanical credit card swiping machines (with the carbon paper)?  I swear they were using these well into the 2000's and it was ridiculous.

Second, why did they always want to gather so much personal information?  I have to provide my home address and telephone number?!  I'm buying a wire for crying out loud.

I think the last time I bought something there was a few months ago when I needed an A/B switchbox for my TV.  Bought this overly clunky, overly priced thing, but it works.

So in the end while I do get nostalgic about seeing them around the mall, I probably won't miss them very much.

[Gentlegamer1]

After Radio Shack is gone, where could one find soldering supplies?

I have a few novice soldering projects for mods I want to use to learn, but aside from Radio Shack, I don't know where I would find the materials.