Computer History

  • Werner Siemens

    Werner Siemens
    Siemens' name was as the SI unit of electrical conductance, the siemens. Founder of the electrical and telecommunications company Siemens. German inventor and industrialist.
  • CSIRAC Runs First Program

    CSIRAC Runs First Program
    While many early digital computers were based on similar designs, such as the IAS and its copies, others are unique designs, like the CSIRAC. Built in Sydney, Australia by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research for use in its Radio physics Laboratory in Sydney, CSIRAC was designed by British-born Trevor Pearcey and used unusual 12-hole paper tape. It was transferred to the Department of Physics at the University of Melbourne in 1955 and remained in service until 1964.
  • Pong is Released

    Pong is Released
    Nolan Bushnell hires a young engineer Al Acorn to design a car driving game, but when it becomes apparent that this is too ambitious for the time, he has Alcorn design a version of Ping Pong instead.
  • Inventing The Internet

    Inventing The Internet
    Early networks successfully connected computers. But different kinds of networks couldn't link to each other, limiting the size of online communities. So the next challenge has been creating "networks of networks," a process called internetworking or internetting.
  • IBM Releases the ThinkPad 701C

    IBM Releases the ThinkPad 701C
    Officially known as the Track Write, the automatically expanding full-sized keyboard used by the ThinkPad 701 is designed by inventor John Karidis. The keyboard was comprised of three roughly triangular interlocking pieces, which formed a full-sized keyboard when the laptop was opened -- resulting in a keyboard significantly wider than the case. This keyboard design was dubbed “the Butterfly.” The need for such a design was lessened as laptop screens grew wider.
  • Web Users Reach 36 Million, is Now Biggest User Community

    Web Users Reach 36 Million, is Now Biggest User Community
    At the end of 1996, the 36 million Web users surpass the 30 million or so on France’s Minitel, until now the most popular online system. By the decade’s end, the Web will hit 360 million. By 2010, two billion.
  • The First Camera Phone is Invented

    The First Camera Phone is Invented
    Japan's Softbank introduces the first camera phone, the J-Phone J-SH04; a Sharpe manufactured digital phone with an integrated camera. The camera only had a maximum resolution of 0.11 megapixels a 256-color display, and photos would be share wirelessly.
  • MacBook Air

    MacBook Air
    Apple introduces their first ultra notebook, a light, thin laptop with a high-capacity battery.to reduce the size of the MacBook the traditional hard drive was replaced with a solid-state disc.
  • Apple Pay is Invented

    Apple Pay is Invented
    The Apple Pay mobile payment system is introduced into the Apple product ecosystem. Initially only available for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, iWatch, IPad Air 2, iPad mini 3, many major banks and credit card companies participated in the Apple Pay system. Apple Pay could also be used for online shopping.
  • Apple Watch

    Apple Watch
    Building a computer into a watch has been attempted many times but the release of the Apple Watch leads to a new level of excitement. Almost a million units were ordered on the day of release.