History
We have come a long way since the early days of computing!
As we celebrate 40 years since the first mobile phone was used to make a call by Martin Cooper (a Motorola engineer), it is worth spending a little time reflecting on where today's smart phones and lightweight hand-held computers have come from. In doing so, we can appreciate the next step in even smaller wrist or head-worn computers that many companies, including Motorola, are working on. Before Word War 1, the word 'computer' had a greatly different meaning to what we understand today, considering organisations used mainly women to do calculations and referred to them as "computers". However, the first computer - the Z1 - was designed and produced by Konrad Zuse in Germany from 1935 to 1938. Shortly after, the war effort saw the military on both sides invest time and effort to produce faster computing machines; these machines were the beginnings of today's computers. |
Wearable Computing Timeline
1960's Elliott Computer used by many universities.
Photo courtesy of Mike O'Flynn.
Photo courtesy of Mike O'Flynn.
1940. CNC is demonstrated at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire by performing calculations in New York almost 300 miles away.
1941. Konrad Zuse completes the Z3 Computer. The Polish "Bombe" was completed and used by the Allied forces to decrypt Nazi communications.
1944. Hardvard Mark-1 Computer is completed and fills a large room. The Colossus computer with its 1,500 vacuum tubes is used to do weeks of calculations in hours by the Allies in the final months of World War 1.
1946. ENIAC Computer is 1,000 times faster than previous fast computers and has 20,000 vacuum tubes and has a footprint of 93 square meters.
1948. IBM's SSEC computer also has a footprint of 93 square meters, can do 50 operations per second and is used to produce tables that are used in the moon landing in 1969, 17 years after SSEC was shut down.
1949. EDSAC Computer, 714 operations per second. The Manchester Mark 1 computer can do over 550,000 operations per second.
1951. Whirlwind Computer is released and performs 20 million operations per second. Footprint 288 square meters. First commercial computers released the Leo in England and the UNIVAC in the U.S. The UNIVAC could do 1,905 operations per second and had a footprint of 88 square meters, sold for $750,000 + $185,000 for a printer (over $8.5 million in 2013 dollars for both items).
1953. IBM ships its first computer, the EDPM 701. 19 machines were sold, one could be rented at US$15,000 per month, equal to US$129,000 in 2013 dollars.
1954. IBM 650 is released as the first mass produced commercial computer.
1958. First Computer Chip (Integrated Circuit) is released.
1962. First computer game, Spacewar.
1963. Computer mouse is invented by Douglas Engelbart.
1969. Apollo Guidance Computer assists in man landing on the Moon and the "floppy disk" is released.
1973. The first mobile phone is used.
1976. Apple 1 is released with 4K of RAM and cost US$667 ($2,759 in 2013).
1981. IBM "PC" (personal computer) is released and uses Microsoft's MS-Dos.
1984. Apple releases its Macintosh computer. Cost $2,500, $5,666 in 2013 dollars.
1989. US Army starts working on the concept of "wearable computers".
2007. Apple releases the iPhone. The 2G was the first of the "smart phones" and has changed the way we access the Internet and all its features ever since.
Dates sourced from Computer History Museum and Bellis, except where identified. Inflation figures calculated by DollarTimes.
1941. Konrad Zuse completes the Z3 Computer. The Polish "Bombe" was completed and used by the Allied forces to decrypt Nazi communications.
1944. Hardvard Mark-1 Computer is completed and fills a large room. The Colossus computer with its 1,500 vacuum tubes is used to do weeks of calculations in hours by the Allies in the final months of World War 1.
1946. ENIAC Computer is 1,000 times faster than previous fast computers and has 20,000 vacuum tubes and has a footprint of 93 square meters.
1948. IBM's SSEC computer also has a footprint of 93 square meters, can do 50 operations per second and is used to produce tables that are used in the moon landing in 1969, 17 years after SSEC was shut down.
1949. EDSAC Computer, 714 operations per second. The Manchester Mark 1 computer can do over 550,000 operations per second.
1951. Whirlwind Computer is released and performs 20 million operations per second. Footprint 288 square meters. First commercial computers released the Leo in England and the UNIVAC in the U.S. The UNIVAC could do 1,905 operations per second and had a footprint of 88 square meters, sold for $750,000 + $185,000 for a printer (over $8.5 million in 2013 dollars for both items).
1953. IBM ships its first computer, the EDPM 701. 19 machines were sold, one could be rented at US$15,000 per month, equal to US$129,000 in 2013 dollars.
1954. IBM 650 is released as the first mass produced commercial computer.
1958. First Computer Chip (Integrated Circuit) is released.
1962. First computer game, Spacewar.
1963. Computer mouse is invented by Douglas Engelbart.
1969. Apollo Guidance Computer assists in man landing on the Moon and the "floppy disk" is released.
1973. The first mobile phone is used.
1976. Apple 1 is released with 4K of RAM and cost US$667 ($2,759 in 2013).
1981. IBM "PC" (personal computer) is released and uses Microsoft's MS-Dos.
1984. Apple releases its Macintosh computer. Cost $2,500, $5,666 in 2013 dollars.
1989. US Army starts working on the concept of "wearable computers".
2007. Apple releases the iPhone. The 2G was the first of the "smart phones" and has changed the way we access the Internet and all its features ever since.
Dates sourced from Computer History Museum and Bellis, except where identified. Inflation figures calculated by DollarTimes.