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Period: to
inventions
technological advancements in business -
Touch Tone Telephone
Nov 16, Touch-tone telephone was introduced. -
Minicomputer
Digital Equipment introduces the PDP-8, the world's first computer to use integrated circuit technology. Because of its relatively small size and its low $18,000 price tag, Digital sells several hundred units. -
Optical Fiber
Corning Glass announces it has created a glass fiber so clear that it can communicate pulses of light. GTE and AT&T will soon begin experiments to transmit sound and image data using fiber optics, which will transform the communications industry. -
Barcode
The first shipments of bar-coded products arrive in American stores. Scanners at checkout stations read the codes using laser technology. The hand-punched keyboard cash register takes one step closer to obsolescence. -
Microsoft
Old high school friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen form a partnership known as Microsoft to write computer software. They sell their first software to Ed Roberts at MIT, which has produced the Altair 8800, the first microprocessor-based computer. Gates soon drops out of Harvard. -
CD-ROM
"Compact Disc Read-only memory" is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback -
GPS
The Global Positioning System was opened for use by civilian aircraft in 1983, beginning a trend that ' combined with great advances in geographic information systems and mapping tools ' led to agency data visualized in layered maps and cars telling their drivers where to turn. -
PC
In January "Time" names its 1982 "man" of the year -- the personal computer. PC's have taken the world by storm, dramatically changing the way people communicate. IBM dominates the personal computer market, benefiting both from the production of its own machines as well as "clones" produced by other companies. -
Flash Memory
Invented in 1984 at Toshiba, it found its place in small devices. Smart phones, digital cameras, other devices (and, soon, laptops) all rely on Flash. -
Powerpoint
The one you love to hate. All the knowledge in the world boiled down to easy, succinct, bullet-pointed meaninglessness. -
World Wide Web
Invented by Tim Berners-Lee, it would soon change the way governments, business and people operate. -
The Browser
It made the Web work for the rest of us. -
Adobe PDF
Lawyers and other control freaks love it! Also, it was perhaps the first truly effective document- sharing technology. -
Google
We'd call it the portal to the Web, except portals aren't this easy to use. The search bar is rapidly becoming the sippy cup of culture ' with more than partial thanks to Wikipedia, Google's query shortstop. -
WI-FI
Wireless internet access. -
Digital Currency
This is expected to be an accepted form of currency in the US by 2015
