30 votes

In most of the Western world teletext has disappeared, but in Sweden it's going strong and will soon celebrate its 45th anniversary

Posted by mycketforvirrad
Tags: sweden, technology, information systems, teletext, media, internet, anniversaries, nostalgia, television.public, channels, svt, author.miranda bryant, source.the guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/11/teletext-lives-on-in-sweden-thanks-to-nostalgia-and-trusted-content

Link information

This data is scraped automatically and may be incorrect.

Title
Teletext lives on in Sweden thanks to nostalgia and trusted content
Authors
Miranda Bryant
Published
Jan 11 2024
Word count
538 words

10 comments

  1. [3]
    X08
    Link
    the Netherlands also has an active teletext! https://nos.nl/teletekst

    the Netherlands also has an active teletext!

    https://nos.nl/teletekst

    6 votes
    1. [2]
      creesch
      Link Parent
      Even recently updated the entire system to make use of modern technologies so they can keep using it in the future.

      Even recently updated the entire system to make use of modern technologies so they can keep using it in the future.

      5 votes
      1. adutchman
        Link Parent
        Here is a dutch article that reports on the updated system.

        Here is a dutch article that reports on the updated system.

        1 vote
  2. [3]
    SpruceWillis
    Link
    I wish we still had teletext here in the UK. It was such a great little system. I remember looking at video game reviews, reading the news, and even playing games like Bamboozle and Worms, which...

    I wish we still had teletext here in the UK. It was such a great little system. I remember looking at video game reviews, reading the news, and even playing games like Bamboozle and Worms, which felt like a technical marvel at the time!

    I understand why it went the way of the dodo with the rise of Internet enabled devices like TVs and phones but the loss of the service was a shame.

    3 votes
    1. [2]
      PetitPrince
      Link Parent
      My first thought was "Wait what ? How ?" whether after a little digging I found an article by Team17 themselves explaining how and why they did a teletext version of worms. It turns out they...

      Worms

      My first thought was "Wait what ? How ?" whether after a little digging I found an article by Team17 themselves explaining how and why they did a teletext version of worms. It turns out they encoded all of the game state as different pages !

      6 votes
      1. SpruceWillis
        Link Parent
        Wow, that's incredible. I didn't realise it was only released on a test basis for a while before being canned, I remember playing it a couple times and it stuck with me because it's Worms...on...

        Wow, that's incredible. I didn't realise it was only released on a test basis for a while before being canned, I remember playing it a couple times and it stuck with me because it's Worms...on teletext!

        1 vote
  3. [2]
    JamaicanSpiderman
    Link
    Oh what a weird coincidence. I was telling my girlfriend about 2 days ago how when I was a kid I used to play Teletext games like "bamboozle" when I was bored at my grandmothers house.

    Oh what a weird coincidence. I was telling my girlfriend about 2 days ago how when I was a kid I used to play Teletext games like "bamboozle" when I was bored at my grandmothers house.

    3 votes
    1. g33kphr33k
      Link Parent
      I spent so much time playing that! It's weird to miss Teletext but at the same time, it's like missing dial-up and BBS. The world has moved on and nostalgia covers the slow and miserable steps to...

      I spent so much time playing that!

      It's weird to miss Teletext but at the same time, it's like missing dial-up and BBS. The world has moved on and nostalgia covers the slow and miserable steps to even connect to online content like that. Now everything is a WiFi connection away at high speed.

      2 votes
  4. Fiachra
    Link
    For anyone struck by nostalgia after reading this, a group of hobbyists maintain a teletext platform called TeeFax that you can view online or install on a raspberry pi that plugs into your old...

    For anyone struck by nostalgia after reading this, a group of hobbyists maintain a teletext platform called TeeFax that you can view online or install on a raspberry pi that plugs into your old TV, to use the old-fashioned way.

    2 votes
  5. shrike
    Link
    Finland is still using Teletext too: https://yle.fi/aihe/tekstitv?P=190 There are people like my father in law who use it as their main source of news pretty much. Computers are too complex, but...

    Finland is still using Teletext too: https://yle.fi/aihe/tekstitv?P=190

    There are people like my father in law who use it as their main source of news pretty much. Computers are too complex, but hitting the TextTV button on the TV remote and typing in the page number is second nature to them.

    2 votes