History of Multimedia

Invention of Printing Press

1440

German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, allowing for the mass production of books and newspapers

Boston News-Letter

Apr 24, 1704

The Boston News-Letter was America's first continuously published newspaper. The first issue was published in 1704 and was edited by John Campbell. Newspapers would prove to be one of America's best and only ways to share media for many years.

First Camera

1816

Nicéphore Niépce used a piece of paper coated in silver chloride contained in a dark wooden box to successfully take the first photograph in 1816.

Invention of the Telegraph

1835

Samuel Morse invented the telegraph in the 1830s to allow for easy and convenient long distance communication.

First Logistical Phonograph

1877

Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877, and while other phonographs already existed, his was the first to be able to record and reproduce sounds.

First Televised News Broadcast

1940

Lowell Thomas hosted the first televised news broadcast in 1940, taking the news from the radio to TV.

ENIAC Computer

1946

The first fully functioning digital computer was invented by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly. It weighed almost 50 tons and took up 1,800 square feet

Martin Cooper Cellphone

Apr 3, 1973

Motorola released the first ever portable telephone in April of 1973 after overcoming 10 years of technical and financial difficulties. The phone was nicknamed "The Shoe" and weighed 2 1/2 pounds. It cost between $3,500 and $4,000.

Copyright Act

Jan 1, 1976

The copyright law of 1976, which completely revamped the already existing laws to account for new forms of media.

Google

Sep 4, 1998

Google was founded in the garage of Susan Wojcicki in Menlo Park, CA.

MySpace

2003

MySpace was the first extremely popular social media platform created in August 2003 from Beverly Hills, California. MySpace was the most visited social networking site in the world from 2005-2008.

64 bit Processors

2003

The first 64 bit processor (AMD Athlon 64) was introduced to the personal computer industry in 2003, and allowed for the higher quality of media production.

YouTube

Feb 14, 2005

YouTube was founded by three former PayPal employees in February of 2005 in San Mateo, CA. Google bought YouTube in November 2006 for $1.65 billion.

IPhone 1

Jun 29, 2007

Apple inc. officially announced the creation of the worlds first smartphone. The IPhone 1 was a huge advancement in the cellphone industry and would soon prove to further expand media.

Ray-Tracing GPUs

Aug 20, 2018

Nvidia announces their new line of GPUs at Gamescom 2018, opening up new opportunities for graphical realism in gaming and higher video production quality.