⚡ Welcome to The Weekly Authority, the Android Authority newsletter that breaks down the top Android and tech news from the week. The 235th edition here with a Google I/O 2023 date, a first (unofficial) look at the Xiaomi Mi Band 8, the engineer who broke Twitter, Meta Quest price cuts, and more of this week’s top tech news.
⛄ It’s currently snowing in Scotland, but I’m feeling rather smug as I have no need to leave the house today and am spending the day writing and editing, with a mug of hot chocolate. Pretty nice!
Today’s Weekly Wonder is inspired by Wired (and h/t to The Hustle), who wrote this great piece on why the floppy disk just won’t die. It also reminded me of this joke about the kid who thought a floppy disk was a real-life version of the save icon.
Despite the last major manufacturer ceasing production in 2010, floppy disks are still alive and kicking across many industries, being used in a surprising amount of tech.
- According to Wired, floppies are still used across the airline industry to update planes, including some Boeing 747-200s, newer 747 and 767 variants, Airbus A320s, and some business jets.
- The Pentagon used computers with floppy disk drives for its nuclear weapons system until 2019.
- Floppy disks are also widely used in embroidery machines and CNC tools designed for cutting metal and wood.
- Recently we saw a video of Chuck E. Cheese’s animatronics using floppy disks.
- San Francisco’s subway also uses 5-inch floppies for its train control system.
- Until last year, the disks were even used for official government procedures in Japan.
Now that they’re no longer being made, floppy disk supplies are dwindling and could run out in the near future. There’s already been a price hike: Tom Persky, owner of Floppydisk.com, sells 3.5-inch floppies from his California warehouse at $1/disk. Meanwhile, 8-inch floppies are close to extinction, selling for $5 per disk in boxes of 10.
