A business in Texas still uses a 1949 IBM 402 punched card computer. It still runs all of its accounting work (payroll, sales, and inventory) through the IBM 402.
technology
Instead of using refrigerated trucks to deliver medical supplies to people…
Instead of using refrigerated trucks to deliver medical supplies to people who live in the deserts of Africa, inventors have built solar-powered refrigerators that can be carried by camels, and so the medicines are delivered via refrigerated camel. Apparently it wasn’t that easy to build a camel-carried refrigerator. It had to be lightweight, but also sturdy enough to survive the motion of being on the camel as well as the extreme desert conditions.
The rotary phone was invented by an undertaker…
The rotary phone was invented by an undertaker. The operator in his hometown was married to his competition, so the rotary dial was a way to bypass the human operator.
A programmer developed an operating system…
A programmer developed an operating system called TempleOS since 2003. Hospitalized for mental health problems, he believes that TempleOS is literally the Third Temple as biblically prophesied. Per God’s “instructions,” the OS uses a 640×480, 16 color display, and uses the language HolyC.
The New Zealand town of Brightwater had…
The New Zealand town of Brightwater had 5 electric street lights in 1911 powered by a hydroelectric generator which was auto-controlled by a flock of chickens. At night, the chickens would go inside their coop and their weight would close an electric circuit, turning on the street lights.
Wireless phone chargers use resonant inductive …
Wireless phone chargers use resonant inductive coupling which Tesla tried to use to provide free wireless electricity and may be used to create roads that can charge electric cars.
Many tech companies stayed away from the use of male computerized …
Many tech companies stayed away from the use of male computerized voices because of HAL-9000 (from ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’).
The first “iPhone” was actually released in 1998…
The first “iPhone” was actually released in 1998 by a company called Infogear, a good nine years before Steve Jobs introduced Apple’s iPhone. Infogear was subsequently acquired by Cisco which then got into a trademark battle with Apple in 2007 over the name. The two companies eventually settled.
An astronomical clock was found in an ancient shipwreck…
An astronomical clock was found in an ancient shipwreck. The clock has no earlier examples and its sophistication would not be duplicated for over 1000 years.
The computer mouse, video conferencing, teleconferencing….
The computer mouse, video conferencing, teleconferencing, hypertext, word processing, hypermedia, object addressing and dynamic file linking, bootstrapping, and a collaborative real-time editor were all demonstrated for the first time in what is the called the “mother of all demos” back in 1968.