Technology Progression

  • charles babbage analytical engine

    charles babbage analytical engine
    The analytical engine was a proposed mechanical general-purpose computer designed by English mathematician and computer pioneer Charles Babbage. It was first described in 1837 as the successor to Babbage's difference engine, which was a design for a simpler mechanical calculator.
  • Electromechanical tabulating machine

    Electromechanical tabulating machine
    Herman Hollerith, a German-American statistician and inventor, created an electromechanical tabulating machine for punched cards, patented in 1884. This invention marked the onset of mechanized binary code and semiautomatic data processing systems. Hollerith's punched card tabulating machine played a pivotal role in summarizing information and accounting, dominating the landscape of data processing for nearly a century.
  • HP

    HP
    HP was founded by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard in 1939. Their first product was an audio oscillator and one of their first customers Walt Disney. Disney used the oscillator to test audio equipment in the 12 specially equipped theaters showing Fantasia in 1940. HP entered the computer market with the HP 2116A in 1966.
  • COBOL

     COBOL
    In 1959 COBOL (short for “common business-oriented language”) was introduced as the first standardized general business computer language. Although many people contributed to the “invention” of COBOL, Hopper promoted the language and its adoption by both military and private-sector users.
  • THE GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE

    THE GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE
    In the late 1960s, researchers at the Stanford Research Institute, led by Douglas Engelbart, developed the On-Line System (NLS), introducing text-based hyperlinks. In the 1970s, Alan Kay at Xerox PARC extended Engelbart's ideas to graphics, incorporating a graphical user interface (GUI) for the Smalltalk programming language on the Xerox Alto computer released in 1973. This system, with its GUI, became a foundational influence on most modern general-purpose graphical user interfaces.
  • Apple Computer Inc.

    Apple Computer Inc.
    Apple Computer, Inc. was founded on April 1, 1976, by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, college dropouts with a vision to change how people perceived computers. Their goal was to create user-friendly computers small enough for homes or offices. Starting in Jobs' garage, they initially sold the Apple I without a monitor, keyboard, or casing.
  • The iPhone

    The iPhone
    The iPhone, retroactively known as iPhone 2G, iPhone 1, or original iPhone, was Apple Inc.'s inaugural smartphone model. Following years of anticipation, it was officially announced on January 9, 2007, and subsequently released in the United States on June 29, 2007.
  • Google Chrome Released

    Google Chrome Released
    Google Chrome is a web browser created by Google, initially launched in 2008 for Microsoft Windows. It utilizes free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Over time, versions were released for Linux, macOS, iOS, and Android, where it serves as the default browser. Google Chrome is a key element of ChromeOS, functioning as the platform for web applications.
  • Apple Watch

    Apple Watch
    The Apple Watch, a smartwatch by Apple Inc., combines fitness tracking, health features, wireless communication, and seamless integration with watch IOS and Apple's ecosystem. Launched in April 2015, it rapidly became the best-selling wearable device, with 4.2 million units sold in the second quarter of fiscal 2015. By December 2022, an estimated 115 million people were using an Apple Watch.