From watches to passwords on paper, everything that's old is new again
- ID
- 19790
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 31 Aug 2026, 8:33 PM
- Fetched
- 31 Aug 2026, 9:16 PM
- Provider
- The Register
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://www.theregister.com/offbeat/2026/08/31/from-watches-to-passwords-on-paper-everything-thats-old-is-new-again/5293348
- Source URL
- https://www.theregister.com/headlines.atom
Summary
- Score
- 3.0
- Created
- 31 Aug 2026, 9:21 PM
- Tags
- Audience
- developersai_agent_users
What happened
The Register's Kettle podcast revisits retro tech trends: Windows XP's 25th anniversary RTM date, Casio remaking classic digital watches with basic smart features and two-year battery life, and security veterans endorsing $4 paper password notebooks sold in Australia as a hack-resistant alternative to digital password managers.
Why it matters
The paper-password angle is the only actionable thread: if security professionals are seriously recommending offline paper notebooks over digital managers for certain threat models, builders designing auth or password-management features should consider that their most security-conscious users may simply opt out of digital solutions entirely. The rest is nostalgia with no builder takeaway.
Discussion angle
Debate whether paper password books gaining traction signals a real failure of digital password managers and passkeys, or just nostalgia — and what that means for anyone building consumer-facing auth tooling.