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Compact Discs
The very first CD-Roms are sold this year! It was a product made by the combined efforts of companies Sony and Phillips, but it's invention is often attributed to James Russel. Compact Discs and their players moved technology away from crude tapes and reels and ultimately helped music step into the new digital era. Although most have moved to streaming music or owning MP3s, CDs are still withstanding the test of time. -
Apple Macintosh
Steve Jobs saved Apple with his bold and daring advertisement campaign: A superbowl ad declaring "1984 won't be like 1984". The invention, launch and success of the Macintosh represented computers becoming accessible to real people. Instead of corporations, the Macintosh represented a counterculture of more casual consumerist useage, and it was a computer for You. Now, computers are completely normalized in day to day life, and personalized, as our phones. Apple changed the game. -
Domain Name Service
Paul Mockapetris invented the Domain Name Service and by doing so made the Internet more accessible towards the average person. Symbolics.com was the very first domain registered on March 15, 1985. Ever since then, countless amounts of domains have been registered online, and it changed the internet forever. DNS were what gave the Internet a name, and thus a voice. With domains the internet is accessible for everyone as long as they have the right URL. Thanks Paul! -
Nintendo Entertainment System
Although originally introduced to the Japanese market in 1983 as "Famicom", the NES quickly caught the attention of the west due to it's ability to bring the arcade into consumers homes. It was invented by a team but designed by Masayuki Uemura. At the time, the concept of keeping a video game system in the home was a completely novel idea! Video games were done outside the home. But ever since, video games have been a part of our lives and how we spend our free time at home. -
Gameboy
The Gameboy took what the NES had already revolutionized and expanded on it even further -- video games aren't just for at home, but are for everywhere and any time! The Gameboy made entertainment portable, endless fun in the palm in your hand as long as you had the battery life for it. Although a team at Nintendo helped bring the vision together for the Gameboy, Gunpei Yokoi is credited for it's design and ultimately success.