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Elektro at the World's Fair
Built by Westinghouse, the relay-based Elektro robot responds to rhythm of voice commands and delivers pre-recorded on 78 rpm records. It first appeared at the World's Fair, and it could move its head and arms, and even smoke cigarettes for some reason. -
Cybernetics
Norbert Wiener publishes the book Cybernetics, which majorly influences the research into artificial intelligence and control systems. Wiener drew on his World war II experiments with anti-aircraft systems that anticipated the course of enemy planes by interpreting radar images. He coined the term Cybernetics from the Greek word for Steersman. -
Direct Keyboard Input to Computers
At MIT, researches begin experimenting with direct keyboard input to computers. Before, a computer user fed their programs into a computer using punched cards or paper tape. Doug Ross wrote a meme advocating direct access in February. Ross contended that a Flexowriter -- an electrically-controlled typewriter -- connected to an MIT computer could function as keyboard input device. An experiment conducted five months on the MIT Whirlwind computer proved how useful and convenient a keyboard is. -
C Programming Language
Dennis Ritchie and his team created C based on the earlier BCPL (Basic Combined Programming Language) and soon rewrote the code for Unix in C. Because of this, Unix was easily ported to other computers and spread fast. C is still widely used today. -
Apple Computer launches the Macintosh
Apple introduced the Macintosh with a television commercial during the 1984 Super Bowl. Through the power of personal computing found in a Mac, the Macintosh was the first successful mouse-driven computer with a graphical user interface and was based on the Motorola 68000 microprocessor. It's price was $2,500, included with MacPaint, which made use of the mouse, and Macwrite, which demonstrated WSYIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) word processing. -
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Director James Cameron's sequel to the 1984 hit The Terminator, features groundbreaking special effects done by Industrial Light & Magic. It was the most expensive move ever made at the time. Most of this cost was due to the expense of computer-generated special effects such as image morphing throughout the film. -
The Apple iPhone
Apple launches the iPhone - a combination of web browser, music player and cell phone, which could download new functionality in the form of "apps" (applications) from the online Apple store. The touchscreen enabled smartphone also had built in GPS navigation, high-definition camera, texting, calendar, voice dictation and weather reports. -
Edward Snowden
Former CIA employee and NSA contractor Edward Snowden copied hundreds of thousands of documents from his workplace covering dozens of confidential US national security programs. He worked with journalists in the US and UK to bring the programs to light. Among Snowden's revelations, exposed PRISM, where the NSA collected data with the assistance of companies such as Microsoft, Facebook, and Google. -
Apple Watch
Building a computer into the watch form factor has been attempted many times. But Apple did it. Incorporating a version of Apple's iOS operating system, as well as sensors for environmental and health monitoring, the Apple Watch was designed to be introduced into the Apple environment with compatibility with iPhones and Mac Books. Almost a million units were ordered on the day of release. The first series of Apple Watches were received with enthusiasm and criticism.
