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The Invention of the First Smart Home System: A Connected Future
A cautious look at early home automation from the 1960s to the 1980s, what is sometimes called the first smart home system, and why the idea took decades to catch on.
Communication and Computing
Smart and Digital Devices
Chips, calculators, smart homes and wearable devices.
The Development of the Computer Mouse: From Laboratory Experiment to Commercial Use
How a pointing device built at a 1960s research lab became a standard part of personal computers, from Engelbart's prototype to the Xerox, Apple and Microsoft era.
The Development of the First Mobile Phone: The Motorola DynaTAC
The 1973 demonstration call, the 1983 commercial DynaTAC handset and the cellular networks that made a handheld cellular phone work, with the claims kept careful.
The Development of the First Smartphone: A Mobile Revolution
From 1990s phone-and-organizer hybrids to the touchscreen phones of the late 2000s, a hedged look at what counts as the first of the smartphones.
The Development of the Mobile Phone: A Portable Revolution
How cells, base stations and handoff made mobile calling possible, and how analog, GSM and later network generations carried phones to billions of people.
The Development of the Smart Home System: A Convenient and Connected Living Space
From early thermostats and X10-style remote control to app-controlled and voice-controlled homes, how everyday household controls became connected.
The Forgotten History of the First Calculator
Before electronics, people used tally sticks, counting boards and rods. This is the early history of calculating machines, from Schickard and Pascal to Leibniz.
The Forgotten History of the First Computer Programmer
Ada Lovelace's 1843 notes on Babbage's Analytical Engine, what they contained, and the long debate over how much credit she should receive as a programmer.
The Invention of the Calculator: From Abacus to Computer
A short history of the calculator from the abacus and gear-driven machines to commercial desk models and the electronic pocket calculators of the 1970s.
The Invention of the First Smart Home Device with a Built-in Speaker: A Connected Future
How voice-controlled smart speakers of the 2010s emerged, and the decades of speech recognition work behind the voice assistants they rely on.
The Invention of the First Smartwatch: A Connected Timepiece
From LED digital watches and calculator watches to data-syncing wrist devices and modern smartwatches, a careful look at disputed firsts in wearable watches.
The Invention of the Microchip: A Small but Mighty Innovation
How Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce developed the integrated circuit in the late 1950s, and how chips went on to shrink and cheapen electronics.
The Invention of the Smartwatch: A Fashionable and Functional Accessory
How digital watches and early wrist computers evolved into fashion-conscious smartwatches, with a focus on styling, materials, bands and the watch as jewelry.
The Story of the First Mobile Phone
From early car radio telephones of the 1940s to the first portable handsets, a general account of mobile phone beginnings with disputed firsts noted.
The Story of the First Smartphone App: The Snake Game
How Snake became the best-known game on early mobile phones, its arcade ancestors, and why calling it the first smartphone app needs careful qualification.
The Story of the First Smartphone: A Mobile Revolution
How phones that became pocket computers changed daily life, work, commerce and communication, and what the costs and open questions have been.
The Story of the First Smartphone: IBM Simon
The IBM Simon Personal Communicator, shown in 1992 and sold in 1994, combined a phone with an organizer on a touchscreen. Its features, limits and legacy.
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