2. Alphabet 1800-1900 BC
A collection of written symbols fit together to
describe certain sounds within verbal language,
a way to communicate without verbal contact.
Possibly the largest milestone in media.
3. Camera Obscura (Latin for ‘dark room’)
470-391 BC
The oldest known record is a description by
Hans Chinese Philosopher, Mozi. This is where
an image on one side of a screen is projected
through a small hole in that screen as a reversed
and inverted image. This became popular as an
aid to painting and drawing.
4. The Printing Press 1436
There are disputes as to when exactly the
printing press was created officially, the closest
resemblance to what we have today was created
by Johannes Gutenberg in 1436.
5. Newspaper 1605
In 1605, the first printed weekly
newspaper to be published in
Antwerp was called ‘Relation’.
Johann Carolus (1575-1634) was
the publisher of the ‘Relation aller
Furnemen und gedenckwurdigen
Historien’ ( Collection of all
Distinguished and Commemorable
News).
6. Camera 1685
Johann Zahn designed the first camera in 1685,
but the first photo was not clicked until much
later.
8. Discovery of Radio Wave Lengths 1860
James Clerk Maxwell discovered
that the air held something called
Radio Wave Lengths, which could
be altered and used to
communicate. This led to the
creation of Radio at a later date.
9. The Telephone 1876
It was invented by Alexander Graham Bell in
1876, this form of communication was a huge
step in the advancement of technology. He was
assisted by Emile Berliner, who sold him the
telephone transmitter.
10. Photographic film
1885
Pioneered by George Eastman, who
started manufacturing Paper Film in 1885
before switching to celluloid in 1888-1889.
His first camera called “Kodak” was first
offered on sale in 1888. It was a Simple
Box Camera, with a fixed-focus lens and
single shutter speed.
11. Gramophone 1887
Emile Berliner was the first successful inventor
to stop recording on cylinders and start
recording on flat disks or records. He was
assisted by Thomas Edison and Eldridge R.
Johnson.
12. Kinetograph Camera 1891
Powered by an electric motor, it was capable of
shooting with the new sprocketed film. The inventors
of this device were Thomas Edison and William Friese
– Greene.
13. First music video 1894
In 1894 the first ever music
video-like product was invented
and called the ‘Little Lost Child’
and was created by Edward B.
Marks and Joe Stern. It is
considered to be more like the
first illustrated song.
14. Electronic Television (Prototype 1925)
-1927
Designed by Philo Taylor Farnsworth, it was first
successfully demonstrated in San Francisco on
September 7th 1927.
However, John Logie Baird employed the Nipkow disk
in his prototype video system, which was
demonstrated in March 1925, in a public
demonstration of televised silhouette images in
motion.
15. First Computer (1935-1938)
First ever electrical binary programmable system
was created by Konrad Zuse and his parents in
their home living room.
16. First TV commercial 1941
The first TV commercial to air was for the
Brooklyn Dodgers who were facing off against
the Philadelphia Phillies at Ebbets Field in New
York.
17. VHS Player 1956
The Sony company engineers developed this
invention which again shaped our Media.
Movies could now be purchased and watched
from home over and over again.
Released for sale in 1976 by the President of JVC
in Japan.
18. The Radio 1920-1957
Rather than one person having invented the
Radio, there have been numerous contributions
over a period of almost 200 years. The Radios
referred to, which in 1957, Sony launched the
TR-63 which was a portable battery powered
Radio.
19. First Video Game Unit 1972
In 1972, the Magnavox Odyssey Video Game
Unit was created, followed by the Atari Ping-
Pong game months later. This was the first home
video console unit to be made.
20. Cellphone 1973
Martin Cooper was the first man to create this
portable communication system, a telephone
that could be taken with you anywhere.
21. The Internet 1973
Invented by Vinton Cerf in 1973, the internet
was created to connect computers in close
proximity to one another making file sharing
easy. There was more than one inventor of the
internet, and 10 years later in 1983, researchers
began to assemble the “network of networks”
that became the modern internet.
22. CGI 1973 + 3D imagery 1976
2D CGI was first used in movies in 1973’s Westworld,
though the first use of 3D imagery was in its sequel,
Futureworld (1976), which featured a computer-
generated hand and face created by then University
of Utah graduate students Edwin Catmull and Fred
Parks.
23. The Laptop Computer 1979/1981
There is much dispute over the true inventor, but
the first design for the laptops most commonly
used today were invented by William Moggridge in
1979, primarily used by NASA. The laptop was
however released on sale in 1981, under the
inventor Adam Osborne.
24. 24-hour Video Music Channel 1981
MTV was the first TV programme wholly
dedicated to music videos.
25. WWW (World Wide Web) 1990
The online world took a more recognizable form
in 1990, when computer scientist Tim Berners-
Lee invented WWW.
26. MP3 Player 1998
This evolutionary portable music device was first
introduced by the Saehin/Eiger Labs engineers.
Although portable music devices before the
MP3 had been known for awhile (such as
walkmens and cassette players), this was the
first portable device that required no CD or
additional disc information.
27. Netflix 1998
Netflix was launched on April 14, 1998, as the world's first online
DVD rental store, with only 30 employees and 925 titles
available, which was almost the entire catalogue of DVDs in print
at the time, through the pay-per-rent model with rates and due
dates that were similar to its bricks-and-mortar rival,
Blockbuster. It’s founders were Reed Hastings and Marc
Randolph.
28. The IPod 2001
The IPod was created by Tony Fadell in 2001.
The Ipod was traditionally designed as a MP3
Player, but it was different to traditional MP3
players because it had a built in battery which
you charged.
29. Facebook 2004
Invented by Mark Zuckerberg, to share information with
friends from hundreds of miles away, Facebook changed
the world in the sense that any information your friends
had on themselves was available for easy access, as well
as the wide opportunity to meet new friends, with the
ability to make new social networking easily available.
30. I Phone 2007
IPhone was the first smartphone of its kind. It could
connect to internet, send and receive emails, shoot
videos and photos, and text and make phone calls, etc.
this was an important creation as it meant that all media
inventions over the years could be combined it one single
device. Its creator was Steve Jobs, the head of and
founder of Apple.
31. Spotify 2008
It was created by Daniel Ek, as an application for
users (free or paid subscribers) to listen to music
without having to download them onto the
device, as well as being able to play them
offline.
32. Snapchat 2011
One of the most popular social media apps. Allows the user
to take photos with filters that last for 24 hours as a story,
or send photos to friends on a timer, as well as texting. It’s
creators were Evan Spielgel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie
Brown.
