Something Different
Something Different - where I talk about what you want to hear.
Technology
Remember the time when the computer was only for word-processing? When the internet was designed as a file-sharing local hub?
Well, believe it or not, it still is.
Just on MUCH wider scale.
The very first computationale device was the Abacus, invented in c3000 BC by the Chinese and it was what was used for solving arithmetical problems before the days of computers and calculators.
Next came the invention of the algorithm in c800 by the Persian mathematician Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Musa al-Khwarizmi, then a German scientist named Wilheml Schikard invented one of the first mechanical versions consisting of a machine that used 11 complete and 6 incomplete sprocketed wheels that could add and, with aid of logarithm tables, multiple and divide.
In 1642 a mechanical adding machine was invented by a 19-year-old french boy named Blaise Pascal.
In 1801 the Jacquard loom invented the first use of information for the devices being stored on cards in order to cut back on human labour and be able to be used over and over again in the exact same way - provided the cards weren't damaged of course.
1820 - Charles Cabbage, British mathematician and inventor, designed and built mechanical computing machines like The Difference Engine, on principles that pre-dated the modern electronic computer itself by a century!
1843 - Ada Lovelace wrote the first ever instructions, forever crediting her as the first computer programmer.
1890 - Herman Hollerith devised the punch card system of encoding data on cards.
1939; the world's first prototype of a digital computer was born by Dr John Vincent Atanasoff and his assistant Clifford Berry - they called it; the Atanasoff Berry Computer, or simply, the 'ABC'.
From there is flurry of scientists and engineers making grabs for funding to be the invent the next best thing and become immortalized in history.
The birth of International Business Machines, or IBM, was in 1944 - and they built the first program-controlled calculator. 
Next came Mauchley the physicist and Eckert engineer, two Americans that were credited with the invention of the first successful general digital computer called Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer, or ENIAC, in 1946.
1947 - the Bell Labs scientists invented the transistor; one of the biggest leaps in the computer history since the idea's conception.
Next came the first random-access magnetic core (memory), invented by Jay Forrester in 1951, who also supervised the building of the Whirlwind digital computer and studied the applications of computers to management problems.
1952 - Grace Hopper invented the first computer compiler; a program that translated instructions from English to machine language.
1954 - Jerome Lemelson invented a machine vision that used computers to analyze digitized images from a video camera.
1958 - invention of the integrated circuit by Jack Kilby; an invention that would quickly revolutionize the electronics industry.
1966 - the hand-held calculator was invented at Texas Instruments Inc. by a development team which included Jerry D. Merryman, James H. Van Tassel and Jack St. Clair Kilby.
1967; Robert Heath Dennard invented DRAM - it soon became known as RAM and is now standard for industry; it was what gave birth to the microcomputer revolution.
1968 - invention of the 'computer-on-a-chip', also known as a microprocessor, by Ted Hoff. In this year, Douglas Engelbart also invented a number of interactive user-friendly interfaces; like the computer mouse.
1973 - birth of Ethernet by Robert Metcalfe, and Internet and Transmission Control Protocols (TCP/IP) by American computer scientist Vinton Cerf.
Invention of a prototype for the first personal computer by Xeno Pal Alto Research Center (or, PARC), called the Alto with innovations including the first what-you-see-is-what-you-get editor, first commercial use of a mouse, graphical user interface, and bit-mapped display. Commerically known as the 8010 Star.
In 1975, the 8010 Star was followed by the Altair 8800, a build-your-own computer that at it low price, sold thousands in only its first month; the Altair is aloso widely recognized as one of the sparks that led the microcomputer revolution. It's also what inspired the widely known Bill Gates, who invented an interpreter program for the computer called Altair BASIC, and went on to be one of the developers of the operating system Mircosoft Windows in 1983, and one of the founders of the company Microsoft in 1975.
1976 - birth of the Apple Personal Computer by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak; who created a homemade microprocessor computer board.
1977 - Dennis C. Hayes and Dale Heatherington invent the PC modem, establishing the critical technology that allowed today's online and Internet industries to emerge and grow.
1982 - The HX-20, the first notebook-sized portable computer, is introduced by Epson.
So there you have it, the history of computers - from the Abacus to the Notebook.
