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The PCB
Paul Eisler invented the Printed Circuit Board while working on a radio in 1936. This advance allowed for smaller circuits, which was very useful for making technology more compact. The PCB became essential for technology found in computers, and is found in almost all electronic devices today. -
ENIAC Computer
The Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer was the first computer, and was invented for military purposes. It could solve various computing equations. It was thousands of times faster than the electro mechanical machines of it's time, making it the fastest advance in computing power in history. -
The 701 Computer by IBM
The 701 was the first computer made by IBM, and was also the first mass produced computer. Before Thomas Watson visited 20 companies interested in the 701, he said, "I think there is a world market for maybe 5 computers." He got orders for 18 computers. -
Digital introduces the PDP-1.
The PDP-1 was the first minicomputer, and became influential in the underground hacker culture. It ran the first word processor, text editor, and one of the first videogames, Spacewar. -
ARPANET
ARPANET, (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), was fully operational on December 5, 1969. Started by the Advanced Research Projects Agency, it began as a military project for communicationm. It would lay the foundation for the internet as we know it today. -
First Dot Matrix Printer is Released
The first dot matrix printer, was developed by Centronics in 1970. Dot matrix printers are an older form of printer in which the print head directly impacts the paper, and forms images by using patterns of dots. -
Xerox Star
The Xerox Star was the first computer to incorporate many technologies that are found today, such as the GUI and mouse. Although it was very influential in the use of these technologies, it was not a commercial success because of it's high price. -
The Dept. Of Defense Declares TCP/IP as Standard
The Dept. Of Defense declared the TCP/IP protocol as it's standard method of networking. The TCP/IP, or Internet protocol suite, is the set of communication protocols that is still used for the Internet today. The Dept. Of Defense's would allow for the TCP/IP's growth. -
Windows 3.0
The Windows 3.0 operating system was released in 1990 and became the first succesful Windows operating system. -
The World Wide Web Launched
The World Wide Web was officially launched by Tim Berners-Lee in 1991. The World Wide Web allows users to view web pages. -
USB is released
The Universal Serial Bus (USB), is released by Intel in 1996. It would become the standard method of connecting accessories to computers. -
Google is officially launched
Google was officially launched in 1997, after being initially named BackRub. The website sought to be better than the other search engines available at the time. It quickly became the largest search engine in the world, and is one of the largest tech corporations in the world. -
Napster is launched
Napster, one of the first peer-to-peer networks for music, was launched in 1999. By 2001, it had over 26 million users. The controversial website is considered by many to have ushered in a new era of piracy, and was shut down in 2001. -
The POWER4 is released by IBM.
The POWER4, the first multicore processor, is released by IBM in 2001. It was the first commercial multicore processor ever released, and would help usher in an era of dual and even quad core processors. -
The first Microsoft Tablet PC's are released
In 2002, manufacturers began to release the very first Microsoft Tablet PC's. However, tablet PC's never gained popularity among mainstream consumers. It wasn't until the release of the iPad that tablet PC's became popular in the mainstream computer market.
