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Konrad Zuse created what became known as the first programmable computer, the Z1, in 1936 in his parent's living room in Berlin. He assembled metal plates, pins, and old film, creating a machine that could easily add and subtract. -
John Mauchly created the ENIAC during World War II to help the Army. The machine could calculate thousands of problems each second. It weighed 30 tons and needed a 1,500-square-foot room to house the 40 cabinets, 6,000 switches, and 18,000 vacuum tubes that comprise the machine. -
The JOHNNIAC computer was completed in 1954 and was used by researchers. The massive machine weighed just over two tons with over 5,000 vacuum tubes. This early computer operated for 13 years or 51,349 hours before being dismantled. -
The first personal home computer, the Programma 101 was launched in 1964. The 65-pound machine was the size of a typewriter and had 37 keys and a printer built-in, but no screen. -
The Xerox Alto PC was released in 1973. It included a keyboard, mouse and screen. It is probably one of the earliest models that is recognisable as a computer today. -
Apple releases the first Macintosh computer, the 128K. It included a screen and a disc drive. The computer weighed in at 22 pounds and cost $2,495 -
In 1998, Apple releases the colourful iMac G3 computer. The company sold 800,000 computers in the first five months, saving Apple from going out of business. -
In 2008 Apple releases the first MacBook Air, the lightest and most portable laptop at the time. Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, shocked the audience by taking it out of a padded envelope. Nobody at this time would have expected a laptop to be so thin and light. Even though it is almost 20 years old, it still looks like the computers of today. -
1998 - The Google search engine was released. At the time, people used a variety of different search engines including Yahoo, Ask Jeeves and Lycos. Google quickly gained popularity with its unique features such as image search. By the early 2000s it had become the most widely used search engine in the world. -
Youtube was launched in 2005 by 3 former PayPal employees. On November 13, 2006, less than 2 years later, YouTube was purchased by Google for US$1.65 billion. Today, Youtube has more than 2.7 billion monthly active users and is the second most visited website in the world after Google search. -
The first iPhone was released in 2007. It was the first "smartphone" allowing users to easily access the internet from their mobile phones, and is essentially like having a computer in your pocket. -
In 2010 the first iPad was released by Apple. It was the first of its kind touchscreen tablet, and used the same interface as an iPhone minus the ability to make phonecalls. -
In 2011, the first Chromebooks were released. Smaller than laptops, they were also different in that no software or programs can be installed, everything is web-based. Software can be downloaded from the Google Play store in the same way as the Apple app store. -
On 30th November 2022, OpenAI released the first version of ChatGPT. It was quickly followed by other companies all released their own generative AI products, which are revolutionising the way we work.