The first Kodak Instamatic camera – the 50 – arrived in the UK in February 1963 and was swiftly followed by the 100, which had…
Browsing: Technology
In 1978, Phillips began selling the LaserDisc (abbreviated as ‘LD’) – a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, beating the…
Bette Nesmith Graham never set out to be an inventor, believing her vocation in life was to be an artist. However, shortly after the Second…
Calculators became portable during the 1970s following a breakthrough that enabled their development with just a few low-powered chips. In 1973, they also became affordable…
A pixelated woman named Maxie appeared in the confines of an Apple Macintosh in 1987. MacPlaymate was the brainchild of Mike Saenz, who spent all…
Looking back, It is almost impossible to convey the wonder and awe these devices inspired when they were first introduced. Cooking food on paper plates…
The first mobile phone call in the UK was a strange publicity event. To show off their new network, Vodafone chose comedy legend Ernie Wise…
The Moog Synthesizer was originated by Dr Robert Moog in the mid-sixties and launched commercially in 1970. The synthesizer used electronically modulated oscillators to produce a…
Before there was Atari, before there was even Pong, there was the Odyssey. We take it for granted now, of course, but try to remember…
It used to be the case that if you wanted to telephone somebody while walking down the street you would go into a phone box,…
In the 1960s, the scientific advances and upheavals in post-industrial society collided to create the sexual revolution. From its roots in Britain and the US…
Prior to Decimalisation in February 1971, Britain’s currency featured an eclectic range of coins much loved by the nation, though visitors from overseas were often baffled…
In order to encourage people to save again following the end of the second world war, Premium Savings Bonds went on sale from 1 November…
Most of those responsible for the European development of the Quadraphonic stereo system would probably rather forget that they were involved. To say that it…
If you went to see Earthquake (1974) at a cinema, chances are that it was in “Sensurround”. The Sensurround system was designed to envelop the audience with…
“Imagine a vehicle that can drive you five miles for a penny. A vehicle that needs no petrol – just a battery. And that takes…
Launched on5 March 1981, Sir Clive Sinclair’s second home computer (following the ZX80) was a massive success, selling hundreds of thousands across the UK. Available…
In July 1979, people began to stare nervously at the sky. After six years in space, Skylab, the orbiting US space laboratory, was due to re-enter…
In the 1950’s and 1960’s, the USA and the Soviet Union raced each other to be first into space. The Soviet Union won. On 4…
