According to Newsweek and Vice, cassette tapes are making a comeback. Vinyl sales are on the rise. Websites like Hulu and Netflix are slowly making DVDs obsolete. But not all older technologies are abandoned. In this era of innovation, many of them are getting an update. We’ve done our research and have found some amazing examples of old-school updates that will blow your mind!

Deconstructed Polaroid Camera / Via Todd Mclellan Motion/Stills Inc.

#4 – The Freewrite Cloud-Typewriter

First on our list is the Freewrite cloud-enabled typewriter! We first heard of this awesome processor when it was still called the Hemingwrite. They’ve since changed the name, but kept everything else the same. The goal of the Freewrite is to give writers all of the advantages that the typewriter has (the tactile sensations, the intentionality of a slower gait, etc.), but also gives them the advantages of modern data storage. Marketed as a distraction-free writing tool, the Freewrite has a 4 week battery life and a daylight-readable E Ink screen. But what truly makes this device special is that it has access to wi-fi, but only for uploading your words to the cloud to access elsewhere! No longer will you get distracted with ads, social media, or cat videos. The Freewrite leaves you free to…well, write!

The Freewrite / Via Facebook.com/astrohaus

#3 – The Instant Lab Photography Kit

Next on our list of old-school technologies receiving updates is the camera. Photography has been a fascination for humans since the invention of the daguerrotype in the early 1800’s. We like to capture moments, to preserve them, as a way of fighting against the permanence of the past. Photography is, essentially, cheating time and stopping a single moment so that its image may forever be in the present. Fast forward 176 years through all of the different cameras that have come since and you arrive at the Instant Lab.

To go along with their newly developed film, the Impossible Project also created a portable film lab that would adapt to modern cell phones. The Instant Lab is an entirely analog film kit that takes images from you smart phone and, through an app, uses the screen on the phone to burn the image into an exposure of instant film.

The Instant Lab replicates the wonder of instant camera but allows users to snap their photos using a camera phone, making it a perfect blend of old-school and new-school technology.

Check out the next page to see more old-school updates!