2. Telephone
• "The telephone," wrote Alexander
Graham Bell in an 1877
prospectus drumming up support
for his new invention, "may be
briefly described as an electrical
contrivance for reproducing in
distant places the tones and
articulations of a speaker's voice."
As for connecting one such
contrivance to another, he suggested
possibilities that admittedly
sounded utopian: "It is conceivable
that cables of telephone wires could
be laid underground, or suspended
overhead, communicating by branch
wires with private dwellings,
country houses, shops,
manufactories“
3. Internet
• The conference held at the
Washington Hilton in October
1972 wasn't meant to jump-start a
revolution. Staged for a
technological elite, its purpose was
to showcase a computer-linking
scheme called ARPANET, a new
kind of network that had been
developed under military auspices
to help computer scientists share
information and enable them to
harness the processing power of
distant machines. Traffic on the
system was still very light, though,
and many potential users thought
it was too complex to have much of
a future.
4. Radio and Television
• In the autumn of 1899 a new
mode of communication wedged its
way into the coverage of a
hallowed sports event. Outside
New York's harbor, two sleek
sailboats—Columbia of the New
York Yacht Club and Shamrock
of the Ulster Yacht Club in
Ireland—were about to compete
for the America's Cup, a coveted
international trophy. In previous
contests the public had no way of
knowing what happened on the
water until spectators reached
shore after the races. This time,
however, reports would "come
rushing through the air with the
simplicity of light," as one
newspaper reporter breathlessly
put it.
5. Cheap, Efficient
Computer Memory
• Researchers at Cornell University have created what could develop into instant-on
computers.
• Ferroelectric material (the stuff in ATM cards) has been added to material used in
common computer transistors, giving the ability for researchers to create low-power,
high-efficiency electronic memory.
• This new technology could pave the way for a next-generation of memory devices that
are faster, more powerful, and more convenient to use. For computer users, it could
mean no more waiting for the operating system to boot up or to retrieve data from the
hard drive.
6. Cheap, Efficient
Computer Memory
• Researchers at Cornell University have created what could develop into instant-on
computers.
• Ferroelectric material (the stuff in ATM cards) has been added to material used in
common computer transistors, giving the ability for researchers to create low-power,
high-efficiency electronic memory.
• This new technology could pave the way for a next-generation of memory devices that
are faster, more powerful, and more convenient to use. For computer users, it could
mean no more waiting for the operating system to boot up or to retrieve data from the
hard drive.
