Period
Technologies from this long period were made largely by hand and driven by muscle, wind, water, or careful mechanical craft. Writing, printing, calculation, timekeeping, and navigation all advanced through skilled workmanship and slow accumulation of practice, and knowledge often traveled at the speed of a horse or a ship.
Placed by when the older technology emerged. Many of these stayed in wide use long afterward.
Computing
Abacuses compared with Electronic Calculators
Long before batteries and chips, people kept sums by sliding beads along rods. This comparison sets that hand-operated frame beside the electronic calculator, looking…
Navigation
Magnetic Compasses compared with Smartphone Navigation Sensors
Both a hand compass and the direction arrow on a phone respond to the same invisible field around Earth. This article follows how a…
Home Technology
Analog Clocks compared with Smartwatches
A clock answers one question, and it has answered it for centuries with hands sweeping a dial. A smartwatch answers that question too, then…
Photography and Media
Printing Presses compared with Digital Publishing Platforms
Publishing once meant casting metal, inking a bed of type and pressing paper against it. Today a text can reach readers without ever touching…
Navigation
Printed Maps compared with GPS Navigation
A folded sheet asks you to work out where you are; a satellite receiver tells you and draws the route. This comparison looks at…
Computing
Mechanical Calculators compared with Spreadsheets
A mechanical calculator answered one arithmetic question at a time; a spreadsheet keeps a whole web of numbers and recomputes it when one value…
Access and Infrastructure
Traditional Keys compared with Smart Locks
A brass key proves you own a door by being a shape that fits. A smart lock proves it with a code, a phone…
Navigation
Sextants compared with Satellite Positioning
One method measures angles to the sun and stars with a hand instrument; the other listens to timing signals from orbit. This article compares…
Information Storage
Printed Encyclopedias compared with Digital Knowledge Platforms
Every encyclopedia promises to gather what is known in one place, and every one falls out of date the day it is finished. This…
Communication
Postal Mail compared with Email
A sealed envelope and an inbox both promise that a message will reach the person named on the outside. This article compares how each…
