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IBM PC: Computers as a low-cost assemblage of electronic Lego parts made every neighborhood electronics geek a computer technician and every small office and home work room a data center.
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GPS/GIS: The Global Positioning System was opened for use by civilian aircraft in 1983, beginning a trend that ' combined with great advances in geographic information systems and mapping tools ' led to agency data visualized in layered maps and cars telling their drivers where to turn.
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CD-ROM for computers: Flattened two entire industries, data storage and music dissemination. Its successor, the DVD (1996), killed off the video tape. FLASH MEMORY: Invented in 1984 at Toshiba, it found its place in small devices. Smart phones, digital cameras, other devices (and, soon, laptops) all rely on Flash.
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NETWORK FILE SYSTEM: The file system that brought us to the age of network storage. No longer would your data be hostage to the computer in which it was created ' or to backup tape.
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POWERPOINT: The one you love to hate. All the knowledge in the world boiled down to easy, succinct, bullet-pointed meaninglessness. PERL: God's own duct tape, at least when working in Unix-based systems.
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WORLD WIDE WEB: Invented by Tim Berners-Lee, it would soon change the way governments, business and people operate.
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the American government passed the Clean Air Act, which among other things asked automobile companies to develop cleaner and more fuel-efficient cars.
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The world's first "webcam" comes into existence at Cambridge University. The actual camera remained in use for ten years (until 2001). It was invented by James Quentin and Paul Jardetzky.
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Prior to the invention of Java programming language, C and C++ were the only popular languages used by coders and software developers.
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Mobile wireless file sharing came into the picture with the invention of Bluetooth technology.
