Technology Timeline

By bnforman

  • First Text Message (SMS) Sent

    First Text Message (SMS) Sent
    Neil Papworth, a British programmer, sent the first text message using a PC instead of a cell phone, which said "Merry Christmas". The first cell phone that was capable of texting was the Nokia 1011.
    Text messaging in the U.S. started at an average of 0.4 texts per month in 1995 but increased to 35 texts per month per person by the year 2000. A Brief History of Text Messaging

  • Amazon Created

    Amazon Created
    In 1994, Jeff Bezos launched Amazon.com from Seattle, Washington. Some options for names of his new website, which sold only books at that time, were Cadabra and Relentless. Relentless.com will redirect you to Amazon.com if you go there right now.
    According to reports, Bezos settled on "Amazon" after scouring through the dictionary, focusing on words starting with "A", reasoning that it would give the company a competitive edge by being listed towards the beginning of alphabetized directories.

  • Sony Playstation Invented

    Sony Playstation Invented
    A Sony executive/engineer, Ken Kutaragi, created the Sony Playstation to rival Nintendo's game systems because of a deal/project between Sony and Nintendo that fell through because Nintendo not following through with their end of the deal and ultimately made Sony look bad. Then Nintendo gave Philips the contract Sony should have had.
    Sony first released the PlayStation in Japan on December 3, 1994 where it cost $387 US, and then in the United States in September 1995.

  • DVDs Invented

    DVDs Invented
    The DVD (digital video disc) was created when several companies with a couple of different formats of DVD-like discs decided to come together and agree on a single version of the disc technology. Those companies were Sony, Philips, Toshiba, Time Warner, Pioneer, and JVC. The History of the DVD

  • USB Invented

    USB Invented
    Ajay Bhatt, an employee of Intel, spearheaded a collaborative effort that created the standard USB, involving these 7 companies: Compaq, DEC, IBM, Intel, Nortel, Microsoft, and NEC. This groundbreaking invention has revolutionized the way we connect and transfer data between devices.

  • Google Search Engine Launches

    Google Search Engine Launches
    Sergey Brin and Lary Page invented Google's search engine while students at Stanford University.
    They originally wanted to call it Backrub but made the switch to Google before it launched.
    The search engine was named Google, a nod to the term "googol," which refers to the number 1 followed by 100 zeros, meant to represent how much information and how many websites it planned to make sense of and organize
    Who Invented Google