Good to know, 2015 is the 15th year in the 21st century.
Here are some of the most important social technological invention of 21st century.
Portable MP3 players had been around for many years before Apple launched its version in 2001, but the iPod – together with Apple's iTunes software – was the technology that really transformed the way people listened to music. The device's large internal storage capacity meant it was no longer necessary to carry around CDs or cassette tapes, and the sleek design made it a desirable item to own.
Firefox was the first web browser to challenge the dominance of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, after Netscape Navigator was killed off in the 'First browser war'. It was free and open-source, so it appealed to Windows users who did not want to be locked into Microsoft's software ecosystem. However, it has since been left in the dust by Google's Chrome browser.
Skype has transformed the way people in different countries communicate. It used to cost an arm and a leg to call family or friends abroad, but Skype made it possible to speak to them – and even video chat – for free over WiFi. Initially Skype was only available as a desktop client, but over time it has launched on mobile, and many people now use it to talk loved ones and colleagues at home as well.
LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking service. It was founded in December 2002 and launched on May 5, 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. In 2006, LinkedIn increased to 20 million members. As of March 2015, LinkedIn reports more than 364 million acquired users in more than 200 countries and territories.
Facebook was not the first social network – it built on the success of earlier sites like MySpace and Bebo. However, it quickly overtook its predecessors thanks to its simplicity, ease of use and exclusivity, (users initially had to have a registered university email address to become a member). Today the website connects over 1.3 billion people worldwide, with users from a vast array of backgrounds, nationalities and ages.
Created by three former PayPal employees in 2005, YouTube has grown to become the world's most popular video-sharing website. Key to its success is the ability for anyone from anywhere in the world to broadcast themselves for free. As a result, YouTube is a melting pot of news events, political messages, music clips, hilarious blunders, adverts and cat videos.
Twitter is an online social networking service that enables users to send and read short 140-character messages called "tweets".
Registered users can read and post tweets, but unregistered users can only read them. Users access Twitter through the website interface, SMS, or mobile device app. Twitter Inc. is based in San Francisco and has more than 25 offices around the world.
Apple's iPhone was the first touchscreen smartphone to gain mass-market adoption. Part of the reason for its appeal was the fact that it could be controlled using a finger rather than requiring a stylus. The iPhone went on to spawn an entire industry, with electronics manufacturers all over the world developing their own versions of the device. Apple has now sold over 500 million iPhones globally.
Following the ecstatic response to Apple's iPhone in 2007, other mobile phone manufacturers were desperate to get in on the action, but they needed an operating system that could compete with iOS. Android was originally created as an open source OS for cameras, but was bought by Google in 2005 and launched as a mobile OS in 2008. It is now the primary operating system for Samsung, Sony, LG and HTC phones, among others, and boasts over 80 per cent marketshare worldwide.
In 2008, the International Telecommunications Union specified a set of requirements for fourth generation (4G) standards. 4G provided significantly faster mobile broadband internet access than 3G, with a much higher data capacity, supporting IP telephony, gaming services, HD mobile TV, video conferencing, and cloud computing. 4G services are now available to around 75 per cent of the UK's population.
Apple did it again in 2010 with the launch of its tablet PC, the iPad. It was by no means the first device of its kind, but it succeeded in capturing the public's imagination, and kickstarted a new trend. It has remained the single most popular tablet PC ever since, but Android overtook Apple iOS to become the number one tablet operating system in terms of user numbers earlier this year, thanks to a wide variety of cheap alternatives.
Learn more: Telegraph, Wikipedia
No comments:
Post a Comment