Ten Most Significant Inventions

Barcode, 1973             
Barcodes were conceived as a kind of visual Morse code by a Philadelphia student in 1952, but retailers were slow to take up the technology, which could be unreliable. That changed in the early 1970s when the same student, Norman Woodland, then employed by IBM, devised the Universal Product Code. Since then, black stripes have appeared on almost everything we buy, a ubiquity fuelled by their price – it costs about a tenth of a penny to slap on a barcode.

The internet, 1969           
The simplest way to illustrate the inestimable impact of the internet is to chart the growth in the number of people connected to it: from just four in 1969 to 50,000 in 1988; a million by 1991 and 500 million by 2001. And today - 1.2 billion, or 19 per cent of the world's population use the internet. Conceived by the US Department of Defense in the 1960s, the internet, together with the World Wide Web, invented in 1989 by Brit techie, Tim Berners-Lee, has shrunk the world like no other invention.

Fridge, 1834               
Jacob Perkins was the first to describe how pipes filled with volatile chemicals whose molecules evaporated very easily could keep food cool, like wind chilling your skin after a dip in the sea. But he neglected to publish his invention and its evolution was slow – fridges would not be commonplace for another 100 years.

Light bulb, 1848          
Joseph Swan in fact developed a bulb before Thomas Edison, but the pair later joined forces and share credit for creating the gadget we perhaps take for granted more than any other.

Telephone, 1876              
Frenchman Charles Bourseul first proposed transmitting speech electronically in 1854, but he was ahead of his time and it took another six years before Johann Reis used a cork, knitting needle, sausage skin and a piece of platinum to transmit sound, if not intelligible speech (that took another 16 years). Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell raced to make the first working phone in the 1870s, Bell winning in a photo-finish. Today there are 1.3 billion phone lines in use around the world.

Mobile phone, 1947         
There are more than two billion mobile phones in the world, and the EU is home to more "cells", as the American's call them, than people. It is difficult to quantify the economic and social impact of the device – of all the gadgets in the average person's arsenal, it is surely the one we would be worst off without. Those who disagree can blame Bell Laboratories for their invention; the firm introduced the first service in Missouri in 1947. Widespread coverage in Britain did not begin until the late 1980s.

Microscope, 1590          
When the British polymath Robert Hooke published his 1665 masterpiece, Micrographia, people were blown away by its depictions of the miniature world. Samuel Pepys called it "the most ingenious book that I ever read in my life". Until then, few people knew that fleas had hairy legs or that plants comprised cells (Hooke coined the term "cell"). Zacharias Janssen, a Dutch spectacle maker, had invented the first microscope in 1590, although it was then regarded as a novelty rather than a revolution in science.

Computer, 1935-1938         

Konrad Zuse builds Z1, world's first program-controlled computer. Despite certain mechanical engineering problems it had all the basic ingredients of modern machines, using the binary system and today's standard separation of storage and control. Zuse's 1936 patent application (Z23139/GMD Nr. 005/021) also suggests a von Neumann architecture (re-invented in 1945) with program and data modifiable in storage.

Syringe, 1844                  
Syringe devices have been in use since the 9th century, when an Egyptian surgeon used a glass suction tube to remove cataracts from a patient, but the first hypodermic syringes with needles fine enough to pierce skin did not appear until the 1840s. The Irish physician Francis Rynd used the first syringe to inject a sedative to treat neuralgia, revolutionising medicine with a single push of a plunger.

Battery, 1800                  
For the battery we must thank the frog. In the 1780s, the Italian physicist Luigi Galvani discovered that a dead frog's leg would twitch when he touched it with two pieces of metal. Galvani had created a crude circuit and the phenomenon was taken up by his friend, the aristocratic Professor Alessandro Volta, whose voltaic cells stacked in a Voltaic pile amazed Napoleon. The pile was also the first battery, whose successors power more than a third of the gadgets on this list.

Me and my phone

Cellphone!, who  among us doesn’t have one? --even a 3 year old child has one. We already know what mobile phones are. Right? According to webopedia.com, a mobile phone is electronic telecommunications device often referred to as a cellular phone. Mobile phones connect to a wireless communications network through radio wave or satellite transmissions. Most mobile phones provide voice communications, Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Message Service (MMS), and newer phones may also provide Internet services such as Web browsing and e-mail.

 

In today's world, most people communicate through the use cellular phones. It's hard to believe that fifteen years ago cell phones were a rarity.  Cell phones may be new devices, but they originated in the 1920’s. The concept of the cellular phone was developed in 1947 which originated from the mobile car phone. The concept of the cellular phone was produced by Bell Laboratories. In 1973 Dr Martin Cooper, considered as the inventor of the first portable handset, made the first actual cell phone. Motorola touts a prototype of the world's first mobile cellular phone, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X. Public cell phone testing began during1977. The city of Chicago was where the first trials began with 2000 customers, and eventually other cell phone trials appeared in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore area. In 1982, Nokia introduces its first mobile phone, the Nokia Mobira Senator. Before Palm acquired Handspring, the company released its Handspring Treo 180 cellular phone in 2001, which came in two versions. The Treo 180 was available with a QWERTY keyboard as well as in a separate version with text input method called Graffiti. The BlackBerry 5810 hits the market in 2002, and though it's not the first BlackBerry, it's the first such device from Research In Motion (RIM) to include voice functionality--though a headset is required because it doesn't have an external microphone or speaker. Motorola announces its RAZR v3 cell phone in 2004 and starts a trend toward ultra-thin, stylish phones that's still influencing mobile device manufacturers today. In 2007 Apple releases the iPhone, a beautifully designed device that includes an innovative--and much hyped up--touch screen navigation interface, which doesn't require the use of a stylus. 

One cannot deny the fact that cell phones is one of the most popular gadget all over the world, as it is not just a fashion accessory anymore, but is a gadget that has lots of use and benefits.

            One main use of our cell phone is as a means of communication. Cell phone made life our easier, that it allows us to stay connected with the world no matter where we are. Unlike before that our means of communication is by sending mails where we have to wait days or even weeks for that letter to arrive. Cell phone is so important now that it gives as the access to send messages as quickly as we want. Another use of it is that it can be our database, where we can save information of our friends, family members and anyone we want. With the use of our cell phone, we can get rid off our pen and paper when we have data to keep. An added benefit of our cell phone is its applications --calendar, notes and task applications where we can input there our important dates in our life to be remembered, --alarm clock where it is useful for us when we have to be awake in the early morning for us not to be late in our class, or work.

            Cell phone also has the feature of internet connection, where we can connect to the internet with the use of our GPRS connection, for FREE! if you know how to set the internet settings of your phone. J Additional features are the e-games on our cellular phone, where it can be a way to unwind it the midst of a stressing work. Lastly would be the camera feature of our cellular phone. It is so useful because it can capture shots of our everyday activities that we need not to bring anymore a digicam, just to have those memorable shots. In a nutshell, the benefits of having a cell phone are just so many that it can now be named as an all-in-one gadget. J

For most of us, our cellular phones are gifts from heaven- meant to solve our problems and satisfy our unending needs, as stated above. However, all good things just have a downside with them. Cell phones are really getting smarter and smarter with all sorts of applications and devices embedded in them making our life better but some inconveniences come with their use. First on the list is a dying battery. How can anyone not feel sorry when her cell phone just cuts off when it is most needed just like when you are trying to make an urgent phone call or waiting for an important message. In fact, most of us had experienced this problem more than once. At times when the phone is in its “frozen state” because of its dying battery it fails to serve its purpose. It can’t be used to for text messaging or making no phone calls nor can its high-tech application be utilized. So what’s the use? It just has to be kept in our pockets until we get home and charge it. However, charging is another frustrating problem with cell phones. You may charge it for hours, take it off when you need to go but still see the low battery indicator after using it only for a few hours. It is as if the hours of charging haven’t done it any good to make it last. In more severe cases, a replacement battery or charger needs to be purchased to resolve the problem. However, purchasing a brand new cellular phone is a more desirable option in some instances. The money spent on replacement batteries, charger or brand new phone serves as an additional expense for us users. Another foe of cell phone users is the weak reception or signal making it hard to connect with others. The weak signal tends to make phone calls “choppy” causing miscommunication and misunderstanding between the receiver and sender. Also, it creates difficulty in receiving and sending of messages causing disruptions in the communication process. Aside from these shortcomings, the health-related problem that may arise from its use is also feared by many. A lot of news had circulated stating that the use of cellular phone can cause cancer and other serious health hazards due to the emittance of radiofrequency energy. However, studies have shown that there is no proven association between the RF from cell phone use and health hazards. Still caution should be taken by users because too much exposure to large amounts of RF energy can increase body temperature and cause tissue damage. Indeed, cellular phones are one of the major technological advancements that had crafted a new and better way of living but we should also accept the fact that the uses of it have some drawbacks we must deal with. J

Cellular phones have both benefits and shortcomings, however, with the advent of technology and the growing need for easy communication, the benefits outweighs the problems of using cellular phones. Today, almost all people from all walks of life has cellular phones not only because of the main uses but also for the added features available for different types or brands of cell phones. In today’s world, it is hard to imagine someone who can survive without the use of cell phones since it has become today’s most widely used medium of communication. In this fast- pacing environment, one can’t get enough of just having cellular phones; others have two or even three cell phones for different uses and purposes to make life better. All in all, it is safe to say at least for now that cellular phones have become a constant factor in the day- to- day lives of everyone.