When you think technology, you usually think of computers, cell phones, iPods, and the multitude of new consumer electronics. That really isn’t all there is to technology, however. The first wheel, the first process to build a fire, the first moving vehicle — all of these things constitute technology, and an in-depth history would focus on each and every single one of these. But instead of examining technological advancements of the stone age, this article will focus on one key technological advancement that has really shaped just about every new marvel that the typical modern man is confronted with: the computer.
The foremost modern technological advancement would have to be the invention of the modern computer. Charles Babbage, the “Father of the Computer,” probably had no idea the implications of his initial foray into the field with his different machine. However, this one technology, expanded upon, and made portable, is now a part of everyday life. From listening to music to complex business tasks we can see people using computers. There are large numbers of computer programs that are being used inside computers to perform a number of tasks like VLC media player to playback music and videos, video codecs like Xvid to support different video formats, Office suites like open office are being used in offices for spreadsheets, and word processing, P2P networks like Ares are being used for media and files sharing, FTP programs like filezilla are used for file transfers to FTP servers etc.
Not only computers are complex but all the different programs that are run within the computers are complex as well and it takes a lot of effort and time to get these programs to workable stage so that the end users could use those programs for their benefits. The layperson needn’t know what’s under the hood or how to write scripts and program executables. They may not even know what an operating system is. Be they tech savvy or not, just about everybody in the US will be able to identify with computers in some way.
The idea of the first computer has changed in uncountable ways, morphing into the gaming machines (whether you’re into the X-Box 360, the PS3 or the Wii) every teenager is familiar with. A computer is at the heart of your MP3 player and your GPS. Even cars need computers to run. And it’s a computer that drives your DVRs and DVD and blu-ray players. While so many inventions fall into obscurity, either through being fundamentally flawed from the start or having outlived their use, the computer has grown with time at every interval of history, and it will continue to change to meet the demands of tomorrow.