What Was a Major Technology Development in the 1990s?
The 1990s saw the creation of several technologies that we use today. Computers, graphics, mobile phones and satellite mapping are just a few examples. Another important technological development that came about during the decade is the World Wide Web, a service that was created by CERN researcher Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1989, based on a markup language called HTML. These technologies were vital to the evolution of the world’s economy and spawned the Internet.
Computer technology
The development of computer technology in the 1990s has significantly altered the way people live, work, and communicate. From the first computer to the smart phone, computers have changed our lives in a variety of ways. In fact, the development of computer technology has allowed humans to express their values and priorities through their devices. One major technology development from this decade was the rise in popularity of laptop computers. Computers were also the basis for the development of the World Wide Web.
With the explosion of data and information, we are no longer limited by the ability to compute. Computer technology enables the integration and manipulation of disparate information, and will continue to do so in the next decade. In the 1990s, new generations of silicon chips, microprocessors, and software will enable computers to perform all this synthesizing. While technologists programmed computers during the 1980s, computers will be able to program themselves, communicate what they have learned, and even learn from previous experiences. By the end of the decade, we will have a VCR that can “learn” what it has taped and what to watch, and a plethora of other technological advances.
In addition to the World Wide Web, a large number of other technologies and products developed during the 1990s revolutionized the way we interact with the internet. During this time, the World Wide Web was created by Tim Berners-Lee, originally to make sharing information easier. It used a hyper-text format that allowed web users to view documents on their screen without having to downl**d them. In 1992, the first text message was sent. The first mobile phone that could send and receive texts was the Nokia 1011.
As the technology sector continues to develop, the employment and industry landscape changes. Until 1996, most high-tech employment in the U.S. was in manufacturing, accounting for 60 percent of the total high-tech workforce. By today, the tech economy is dominated by service firms, accounting for nearly eighty percent of the tech workforce. The computer systems design industry accounts for 41 percent of the overall tech workforce.
Graphics technology
During the 90s, graphics technology made great strides. In particular, the computer was used to make photo-realistic animations and movies. During this decade, computer graphics software was developed by many companies and individuals. During this decade, software developers and computer companies specialized in computer graphics and produced groundbreaking software. Among the early 3D animation software developed during this time period were Wavefront, Intelligent Light, and Alias v1.0.
In the early 1980s, many people favored big blocky text that looked like graffiti art. To improve the look of typography, a new software called MacPaint (MacPaint) was developed. Using this software, designers could assemble type and images on the same page without the need for complex mathematical equations. This new software enabled designers to create more complex and sophisticated computer graphics and send them to the printing press.
One of the first consumer computer graphics games was Odyssey, designed by Ralph Baer and later marketed by Magnavox. Other major developments during the 1990s included the development of the TWEEN animation system by Dr. Edwin Catmull at NYIT. Originally written in assembler language, TWEEN was rewritten in C for UNIX a year later. The software was renamed lMO-TRUCK but no one used it.
The invention of computer graphics began as a visualization tool for scientists and engineers in the 1950s. In the 1960s, breakthroughs in the field were made at universities such as MIT, Ohio State University, the University of Utah, and Cornell. Then, in the 1970s, these efforts expanded into major motion pictures and broadcast video. By the late 1980s, computer graphics had entered the mainstream of commercial CG production.
The first decade of the twenty-first century was marked by an explosion in computer hardware and software. The advent of the Internet and cable television expanded the number of broadcast channels and inspired creative advances in the field of motion graphics and broadcasting. These developments led to the widespread consumer adoption of the World Wide Web. Consequently, graphic design evolved to embrace this new medium and become a major part of contemporary culture.
Mobile phone technology
In the 1990s, the demand for mobile phones soared due to the economic prosperity of middle-class populations. Despite the technology’s popularity, the perception of mobile phones as a luxury item was still high. Then, in 2007, the first iPhone hit the market. The iPhone was a sensation. Although the iPhone had taken the world by storm, Nokia’s simple phones continued to do well. Meanwhile, Blackberry represented a happy medium between simplicity and durability.
Cellular phone technology was the first to reach the public. The Advanced Mobile Phone System was first introduced to North America in 1983. It was soon followed by AT&T’s Mobile Telephone Service. This pioneering technology had its share of problems, even by today’s standards. Its unencrypted analog signals were vulnerable to eavesdropping. Another drawback of this technology was its requirement for a large amount of wireless spectrum.
The success of the mobile industry depends on the success of competing companies sharing their IP. The licensing model allows new entrants to compete on an equal footing while ensuring global interoperability. The licensing model is a crucial part of this process because it ensures universal availability of patented technologies and compensates innovators with licensing revenues. But the process is not well understood by the industry.
One of the key components that enabled cell phone technology is the MOSFET. The MOSFET, short for metal-oxide-silicon field-effect transistor, was invented in 1959 by Mohamed Atalla at Bell Labs. This semiconductor is now the basic building block of modern cell phones. Through continuous scaling, the number of MOSFETs in cell phones increased exponentially, allowing them to be extremely small. This process made it possible to manufacture portable cell phones.
In the 2010s, 3G and 4G networks became available. At the end of 2007, there were 295 million subscribers on 3G networks, representing 9% of the total world subscriber base. The 3G and 4G standard releases were largely successful, with costs of network infrastructure decreasing by 95 percent between 2005 and 2013. Moreover, a large percentage of new phones in many markets were 3G. Two-year-old 2G phones were no longer supplied in Japan and South Korea.
ARPANET
During the late 1960s, the U.S. Department of Defense began developing networks of computers, called ARPANETs, to facilitate the exchange of information. These networks were built on a distributed architecture and would provide both centralized and decentralized information services. The UCLA Campus Computing Network was selected as the first node of the ARPANET. It installed the first IMP and was connected in September 1969. The NLS (Network Language Subsystem) was part of Doug Engelbart’s Augmentation of Human Intellect project. The Stanford Research Institute supplied the second node, and supported the Network Information Center, which was led by Elizabeth Feinler.
After being used by researchers and developers in the mid-1980s, the ARPANET was picked up by a variety of other networks. During the transition to the privatised Internet, the National Science Foundation, which had used the ARPANET since 1984, facilitated the development of “private” networks. These networks maintained and developed existing regional and local network infrastructure and provided access to the entire Internet.
In the mid-1970s, researchers and developers were interested in integrating multiple networks. Fortunately, they figured out a way to make ARPANET work across different networks. The network was made up of a series of IP packets, each of which could communicate with any other. This created the ARPANET. However, there were many challenges for the designers of the system. The main obstacle was how to integrate different networks into one.
The ARPANET was a public research project that connected major universities and research institutions. The results of the research were widely published. During the early years of the project, the ARPANET development team was highly active, involving many of the nation’s top computer scientists. They addressed all of the major technical challenges and changed the approach several times. However, the benefits of ARPANET development can be seen today.
The concept of the ARPANET dates back to the 1960s. It was an idea that first came about when Robert Taylor, director of the IPTO, saw three mainframe computers. He wondered: Why can’t a single terminal be used to communicate with all of the computers? In order to solve this problem, he proposed a network that aimed to connect these computers in real-time.