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The Philips Company of the Netherlands invented and released the first compact audio-cassette in 1962. They used high-quality polyester 1/8-inch tape produced by BASF. Recording and playback was at a speed of 1.7/8 inches per second.
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It was in 1962 when a young computer programmer from MIT, Steve Russell fueled with inspiration from the writings of E. E. "Doc" Smith*, led the team** that created the first popular computer game. Starwar was almost the first computer game ever written, however, they were at least two far-lesser known predecessors: OXO (1952) and Tennis for Two (1958).
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BASIC (standing for Beginner's All Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) was written (invented) in 1963, at Dartmouth College, by mathematicians John George Kemeny and Tom Kurtzas as a teaching tool for undergraduates. BASIC has been one of the most commonly used computer programming languages, a simple computer language considered an easy step for students to learn before more powerful languages such as FORTRAN
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Adolph Fick first thought of making glass contact lenses in 1888, but it took until 1948 when Kevin Tuohy invented the soft plastic lens for contacts to become a reality.
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A compact disk (cd) is a popular form of digital storage media used for computer files, pictures, and music. The plastic platter is read and written to by a laser in a CD drive. It comes in several varieties including CD-ROM, CD-R, and CD-RW.
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Born 1857 Rochester, N.Y - Died 1898
In 1885, Burroughs filed his first patent for a calculating machine. However, his 1892 patent was for an improved calculating machine with an added printer. William Seward Burroughs invented the first practical adding and listing machine - National Inventors Hall of Fame. -
Douglas Engelbart changed the way computers worked, from specialized machinery that only a trained scientist could use, to a user-friendly tool that almost anyone can use. He invented or contributed to several interactive, user-friendly devices: the computer mouse, windows, computer video teleconferencing, hypermedia, groupware, email, the Internet and more. In 1964, the first prototype computer mouse was made to use with a graphical user interface (GUI), 'windows'. Engelbart received a patent
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Drum memory, an early form of computer memory that actualy did use a drum as a working part with data loaded to the drum. The drum was a metal cylinder coated with recordable ferromagnetic material. The drum also had a row of read-write heads that wrote and then read the recorded data.
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On a cold war kind of day, in swinging 1969, work began on the ARPAnet, grandfather to the Internet. Designed as a computer version of the nuclear bomb shelter, ARPAnet protected the flow of information between military installations by creating a network of geographically separated computers that could exchange information via a newly developed protocol (rule for how computers interact) called NCP (Network Control Protocol).
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The first patent for a bar code type product (US Patent #2,612,994) was issued to inventors Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver on October 7, 1952. The Woodland and Silver bar code can be described as a "bull's eye" symbol, made up of a series of concentric circles.
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On October 23, 2001 Apple Computers publicly announced their portable music digital player the iPod, created under project codename Dulcimer. The iPod was announced several months after the release of iTunes, a program that converted audio CDs into compressed digital audio files, and could organizes your digital music collection.
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YouTube was invented by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim out of a garage in Menlo Park. The inventors became millionaires when they sold their invention for 1.65 billion dollars to the search engine Google.
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Harman Kardon TC 30 Remote Anyone can set up this universal remote control. Connect it via USB to a computer, answer a few questions, and it takes charge of your home theater, presenting you with plain-English options like "Watch DVD." harmankardon.com $300
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Optoma MovieTime DVD Player/Projector Want a cinematic experience but dread wiring up all that equipment? MovieTime is an all-in-one home theater. It projects DVDs on the wall or a screen, with player and speakers inside a tidy 8-lb. box. There's an external subwoofer too. www.optoma.com $1,500
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Sonos Wireless Music System It's an easy way to pipe music from a PC around the house without tearing up the walls. Each ZonePlayer hooks up to a stereo speaker. Wander with the user-friendly remote, and music jumps from player to player. sonos.com $1,200 and up
