Two days ago, I reported on a little known machine named Dynabook. That got me thinking about other little known technological breakthroughs, or maybe you do know. Anyway, here we go:
10. Dynabook: This device, thought of in the early 1970s, was to have been the first hand held computer device. In some ways, it paved the way for devices we enjoy today. Just don’t tell Alan Kay that.
9. DynaTAC Phone: In 1973, Martin Cooper made the very first cell phone call to Bell Labs, also trying to build a cell phone. Need I say more.
8. The First Floppy Disk: Most people?under 21 don’t know what a floppy disk is. In 1970, IBM came up with a 100KB disk to store, hold and trade data. As the decades continued, floppy disk got smaller and smaller and magically turned into hard drives.
7. The First Hard Drive : Can you believe the hard drive was invented before the floppy disk was? In 1956, IBM invents the RAMAC 305,?for $10,000. It was over the size of a refrigerator and held 5MB of data.
6. The First Video Game Console: Before Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, even Atari, there was Magnavox Odyssey. In the 1970s, this console sold 330,000 units and had 27 different games to choose from.
5. Telstar: Telstar is the first communication satellite, launched in 1962. That year, President John F. Kennedy had a press conference that can be seen in Europe. If there was no Telstar, there would be no Skype.
4. First?Windows System: In 1983, Bill Gates reveled an operating?system that was guaranteed to?create a multitasking environment.?And?30 years later…
3. World’s First MP3 Player: In 1998, the Saehan’s MPMan sold in Asia. A few months later, the Eiger Labs MPMan sold in the US. Let the battle with record companies and recording artist begin! And begin they did!
2. The First PC: It wasn’t Apple, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Commodore, or Xerox. It wasn’t invented in the 1970s. It was the Berkeley Enterprises Simon, in the 1950s! It was the first take home computer, to be used as a think tank. It only sold 400 machines during that decade, but paved the way for future home computers.
1. Internet: Believe it or not, it didn’t come out in the 1990s. As early as the 1960s, programming and linking between computer systems in existence were coming together. Now, we can’t picture life without the Internet.
If I missed any, let me hear from you!