Technology has shaped the modern world. From helping us connect with friends and loved ones, to allowing us to work from home – technology has made it possible and fun. Recent technological innovations have revolutionised the entertainment sector with streaming services that have changed the way we watch, listen and read content. Games are also not excluded. Online casinos completely reinvent slot games, creating new features and exciting ways to play. Most of them also offer free spins and other bonuses that were not possible in past decades.
Technology is constantly changing and evolving. Just a decade ago, the Internet was still something we accessed through our computers; Websites were full of flash content and electric cars were often on slot car tracks.
Given the speed of developments and the nature of technology, it seems that all the gadgets we take for granted today are relatively new creations that have come into being in the last few years.
However, the reality is completely different. Most technologies can be traced back decades or more, you just need to know where to look.
Virtual Reality
Virtual reality is definitely a very new technology. It has become mainstream in the past few years after the crowdfunding campaign for Oculus headphones; and the subsequent purchase of Meta.
The first device created by Oculus was the Rift. It launched on Kickstarter in 2012 but didn’t reach consumers for the next four years.
So the company only has six years of sales time.
But virtual reality is much older than that. In 1995, Nintendo released the virtual boy; A rudimentary virtual reality headset that lacks many of the features we expect from devices today; Including motion tracking and a strap to attach to your head.
Instead, users place the virtual boy on a table, adjust the height, and rest their heads on its open side. It has red monochrome graphics, with characters like Mario displayed as hollow stick figures.
It was a huge flop and was pulled from sale in 1996, selling less than a million units.
This is not the first example of virtual reality. Modern The concept dates back several decades. The first piece of virtual reality technology is widely believed to be Sensorama, created by Morton Heilig in 1962 using ideas documented in a paper he wrote in 1955.
Sensorama was different from modern VR glasses. Users don’t strap it to their heads, instead, they practically have to climb into it. Then a video is played on the screen, while the smell spreads and the fans blow air at the user at different speeds; Based on what happened on the screen.
The idea has evolved a lot in the sixty years since; It’s hard to say whether an aroma-producing speaker will sell well in the 21st century.
Smartphones
Smartphones have completely changed the world in just a decade. Released in 2007 with the first iPhone, it took a few years for a pocket-sized computer to reach the hands of a broader cross-section of society. Once smartphones reached critical mass, the entire modern world began to look completely different.
Suddenly, everyone had something to see on the train or bus; People started using them to pay for shopping and QR codes started popping up everywhere.
Although the iPhone helped popularise the smartphone; Most of us probably know that this isn’t the first device to hit the market.
Many years before Apple threw its hat into the ring, smartphones were the domain of BlackBerry, Symbian, and Microsoft. Their devices are very different from modern products aimed at business users who need to access emails and calendars on the go and have no options to expand functionality with apps.
Microsoft released its Windows Mobile operating system in 2000 as Pocket PC 2000. It ran a Windows CE kernel and included features such as web browsing, word processing, and email.
On the other hand, BlackBerry started releasing primitive smartphones like the Charm in the early 2000s. An upgrade from its late-’90s pager models.
But they still came after the first smartphone. In fact, the concept is almost 30 years old with the first known device of its kind being built in 1992.
It was the IBM Simon personal computer, a (relatively) portable device packed with PDA features (emails. Faxes, and calendar) with the ability to make calls. It costs around $899 ($1899 today) and has a battery life of just one hour.
However, it had a touch screen, which many early BlackBerry phones lacked.
Read More: IPhone 14 launch Conference Preparations Begin At Apple
Electric Cars
The electric car revolution is in full swing. And they are of course not a panacea for solving all of our environmental problems. But it is certainly in a position to make a significant impact in the future.
Tesla is a leader in many areas of electric cars, although it does not have a monopoly. Almost all conventional car manufacturers work on and/or sell all-electric hybrid and electric vehicles.
However, these are not entirely new concepts. Tesla’s first car was the Roadster, which was launched in 2008.
However, this was a full 118 years after the first electric car debuted in the United States. In 1890, William Morrison created a vehicle that could travel at 14 miles per hour (similar to other cars at the time) and could accommodate six passengers.
Porsche also created an electric car called the P1 in 1898, as the demand for these battery-powered tankers increased.
However, efforts by Ford and other manufacturers to create better gasoline-powered cars mean that electric cars are no longer preferred. This is now beginning to reverse; Thanks to the improvements in battery technology that have occurred in recent years.