Digital Innovation Days: Recent Episodes
Vincent Giraud
With the introduction of IBM 701, the company’s first electronic computer, the tech giant entered the computer business. The development of this machine for commercial purposes was viewed as a radical move by many considering IBM was the largest supplier of punched card equipment and supplies worldwide at that time. However, 701 proved highly successful for the company with nineteen machines being built - a record volume for a computer of this type back then. This was the first production computer for IBM.
While scientific and research reasons were primarily quoted as the motivation for this computer, a major reason this machine was built was to assist the US in the Korean war. It was meant to contribute to the defence calculator which would help the UN in policing Korea. Of the 19 machines developed, most went to research facilities, government agencies, and aircraft companies. Besides this, IBM 701 came with many notable features for a computer at that time. It included electrostatic storage tube memory, had binary, fixed-point, single address hardware, worked with an electronic analytical and control unit, and used magnetic tape to store information. This computer was capable of performing over 16,000 addition or subtraction operations per second, could read 12,500 digits per second from tape, and had the ability to output 400 digits a second from the punched cards.
IBM started its computer journey with 701 and reached the highest rank among all computer companies worldwide in 2009. This computer played a pivotal role in IBM’s transition from punched-card machines to electronic computers. That being said, this machine did not just facilitate IBM in dominating the mainframe computer market during the 1960s,1970s, and later decades. It also, and quite importantly, brought electronic computing to the world.
When IBM’s Deep Blue defeated the then best chess player in the world on the 11th of May, 1997, the surprise was widespread. Developed by IEEE senior members Murray Campbell and Feng-hsiung Hsu, Deep Blue was a chess-playing supercomputer by IBM which competed against the best chess player in the world and became the first machine to defeat a reigning chess champion. This machine consisted of 2-meter tall towers, had more than 500 processors, and included 216 accelerator chips. This supercomputer was capable of exploring up to 100 million possible chess moves within a second.
The chess master, Garry Kasparov, claimed that the supercomputer could not outperform a human in chess. He was able to beat Deep Blue in the first match but lost in the second and sixth ones. The third, fourth, and fifth matches came to a draw. Kasparov, therefore, lost the game along with $1.1 million. IBM was even accused by Kasparov of building a supercomputer specifically to defeat him after he lost the final match. While many expected the chess champion to display unconventional and unpredictable moves, the swift moves of Deep Blue took everyone by surprise. However, what must be noted here is that programmers had been interested in and working on developing software to play chess since the early 1940s.
The victory of Deep Blue was a lot more than a sensational chess match - it was a true test of artificial intelligence and its capabilities. While Kasparov was described as devastated after the historic loss since he left the venue without even speaking to the reporters, the tech community - and the masses in general - could not be happier at the promise artificial intelligence had shown. With renewed confidence in artificial intelligence, Deep Blue inspired developers and programmers worldwide to incorporate this technology in their inventions.
12 years after winning the game show Jeopardy with its software Watson, IBM unveils Watsonx, a new product suite aimed at helping companies develop and deploy artificial intelligence more efficiently. Based on the Red Hat Openshift platform, the solution comprises three main offerings: Watsonx.ai, Watsonx.data, and Watsonx.governance.
Watsonx.ai provides access to prepackaged AI models and datasets, allowing users to train generative AI models and neural networks without starting from scratch. It includes models such as fm.code and fm.geospatial, which assist software teams in generating code and performing tasks like biodiversity monitoring and disaster pattern analysis. Watsonx.ai also offers access to open-source neural networks from the Hugging Face platform.
Watsonx.data is a data lakehouse where organizations can store the information used to train their AI models. It supports multiple query engines for optimized performance and provides automation features.
Watsonx.governance is designed to detect AI biases and model drifts, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations.
Alongside the Watsonx suite, the IBM Cloud platform is to provide new compute options with access to Nvidia GPUs, enabling customers to utilize them for AI training and inference tasks. Also introducing IBM Cloud Carbon Calculator, a machine learning-powered tool, to help enterprises measure the environmental impact of their technology infrastructure.
The suite offers a comprehensive end-to-end AI workflow, empowering businesses to adopt and customize AI for their specific needs. Watsonx also integrates with major IBM software products and establishes partnerships to expand the reach of AI capabilities across its ecosystem with companies like SAP.
In 2023, IBM faces strong competition from similar platforms in the market. Microsoft's Azure AI, Amazon's SageMaker and Google's Vertex AI offer comparable solutions to facilitate AI deployment. Also from AI-focused businesses like OpenAI, Cohere and Anthropic who provide state-of-the-art AI offerings.
But Watsonx sets a path forward for IBM who will establish a dedicated center of excellence for generative AI to assist enterprises on training, fine-tuning, and deploying AI models, but also address key challenges in AI adoption like security, compliance or transparency.
The introduction of IBM 704 on the 7th of May, 1954, marked a significant milestone in the history of computers as it was the first mass-produced computer in the world that featured indexing and floating-point arithmetic hardware. This was essentially a high-speed, electronic calculator which was controlled by an internally stored programme. A large-scale machine in its size, the 704 had extensive usage. To achieve high-speed computational power and versatility, this machine used stored programmes for every function.
IBM 704 came with a magnetic core memory that was far more reliable than the cathode ray tube memories used by its predecessors. The high-speed magnetic core memory was among the most advanced features of 704. This data processing system was a huge commercial success and by the end of the decade, IBM had produced 123 of these machines. The magnetic drum storage was another one of its highlights, a feature that allowed the storage of programmes, intermediate results, and tables, etc. The main purpose of this machine was to solve complex real-life problems in the fields of science, government, and business, just to name a few. For most of the problems, IBM 704 was able to process 40,000 instructions per second.
The significance of IBM 704 goes beyond its floating-point arithmetic hardware. This machine paved the road for many technological inventions further down the road and many high-profile tech developments occurred due to it. For instance, the programming languages FORTRAN and LISP were developed for this machine. In addition to this, MUSIC, the first-ever music application, was also meant for IBM 704. Furthermore, speech was also synthesised for the very first time on this mainframe. Thus, IBM 704 left its mark on the computer history not only due to its unique capabilities but also the inventions that it formed the basis for.
With the launch of the iTunes Music Store by Apple on the 28th of April, 2003, the music world was forever altered. A software-based online digital media store operated by Apple, this was Steve Job’s attempt at creating a digital marketplace for music. It allowed users to burn an unlimited number of CDs and put music on an unlimited number of iPods. Customers could find, download, and purchase music for just 99 cents per song, without any subscription fees. With over 70 million songs today and availability in more than 167 countries, iTunes is among the dominant names in the music industry. In the year 2020 alone, Apple music generated a revenue of $4.1 billion (6% of Apple’s total services revenue) with 72 million users subscribed to it.
Although iTunes brought many changes to the way music was consumed at that time and consumers were excited about this new development, not everyone was thrilled with the idea. Record labels were disgruntled over losing control of how they priced their songs and many musicians and artists felt that they were not earning enough royalties from the sales of their digital music. Despite this, by 2010, iTunes was the largest music retailer worldwide.
Many credit iTunes for revolutionizing the music industry. This was an industry plagued with and highly wary of online piracy and it suddenly had a legitimate avenue to earn money by selling digital music. In addition to this, it eliminated the need to possess physical CDs, and thus, there was no need to travel to get music from a store or a friend. More importantly, with songs priced at 99 cents, a CD costing $18 did not seem an attractive option anymore. Interestingly, iPods - powered by iTunes - became a fashionable trend in themselves.
When Zoom was launched on the 21st of April, 2011, it entered a very competitive video conferencing market. Today, it stands as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the remote work boom due to the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic. With astonishing statistics such as 300 million daily meetings and 3.3 trillion annual meetings, it is no wonder that Zoom is among the leading video conferencing giants in the world with a market cap of $78.92 billion.
Funnily enough, Zoom was indirectly founded out of embarrassment. Eric Yuan, co-founder and CEO of Zoom, used to be the vice president of Cisco-WebEx. A year before he left the company, in feedback by customers, it was revealed that WebEx did not have a single happy customer. This was a huge wake-up call for Yuan who tried to introduce good services to customers. However, he left the company when he did not find success there and started Zoom. The aim was to build a simple but better video communication service.
Zoom was a game-changer in the industry because of the ease it offered. All that is required is simply clicking the invitation link, eliminating the need to download software, understand the setup process, and work through the dial-in activities. In addition to this, Zoom was the first cloud-based video architecture in the world. This was to leverage public cloud platforms such as Amazon and Oracle Cloud, in order to scale business. Zoom also highlighted the significance of accessibility as it is available on laptops, Android devices, desktops, iPhones, and iPads. This service also stood out from much of its competition by offering free video hosting. Moreover, along with Zoom’s ease of use and scalability, the customers can have fun by using its filters and backgrounds - something most video conferencing services consider completely unnecessary.
The development of Java, a high-level, object-oriented programming language, began on the 8th of April, 1991. An American technology company named Sun Microsystems started this project, with a team retreating to an unrevealed location to work on the development. It was initially called “Oak” and was later renamed to “Java”, as it is now popularly known. Today, Java is the number one programming language for developers and billions of devices run on this programming language.
Java was marketed as a programming language that offered the best universal operating system to the online community. The aim was to make its applications available to all operating systems. This resolved the issues pertaining to translation between Macintoshes, Unix machines, and IBM-compatible computers. Apart from this platform independence, which was a highly celebrated and novel feature at the time, Java also offered object orientation. This essentially means that Java programs are made up of elements called objects. With Java, developers could write code that would run on virtually any machine, irrespective of the architecture or platform. While this may appear to be a simple benefit, it completely transformed the programming landscape.
Having extensive usage, Having extensive usage, Java is being used in building Android, web, scientific applications and other software tools. Not only is this language found on desktops, mobile devices, and large-scale industry servers, it is also rapidly gaining credibility in cloud development and Internet of Things (IoT). Many of the popular websites that we regularly visit are powered by Java including YouTube, eBay, LinkedIn, Google, and Amazon. Additionally, Java has a very large and active community - a vital aspect for the survival and growth of any programming language. Decades after its release, Java shows no signs of decline and is constantly evolving by combining stability with innovation.
When Gmail was launched on the 1st of April, 2004, many considered it to be a huge joke by Google. Today, this free email service boasts a user-base of 1.8 billion users worldwide. Written in Java, C++, and JavaScript, Gmail is available in 105 languages. Gmail came with vast storage, a fresh new interface, and instant search, among other existing features. Initially, Gmail was an invite-only service and until 2007, users could sign up only through invites.
From the very start, Google strived to set itself apart from its competition. Apart from enjoying high storage, users were able to search through their inboxes at immensely fast speeds. Attachment sizes were also increased to 25MB. What truly made Gmail stand out was the search feature whose capability was far beyond what was offered by even the major webmail services at the time. This was made possible by a serious increase in the storage space - 1 GB for each user - which allowed users to keep all their emails instead of regularly deleting them to stay under the limit. While this figure may not be groundbreaking by today’s standards, back then Hotmail and Yahoo Mail only provided 2 to 4 megabytes of storage.
The launch of Gmail was a significant moment in tech history for various reasons. Not only was it the first true landmark service from Google since its search engine, but it also completely overshadowed Hotmail and Yahoo Mail - the two most dominant free webmail services of the time. With its array of advanced features, Gmail was the first major cloud-based application that had the potential to replace conventional personal computing software and not just complement it. Thus, what was naively presumed to be a hoax by many before its launch, turned out to be very real and revolutionary.
As the U.S. Census Bureau signed the contract for the first commercially produced digital computer in the U.S., it marked the beginning of a new era in technology. Short for “Universal Automatic Computer”, UNIVAC was dedicated a few months later and was able to perform classification for an average citizen, classifying them into categories of sex, age, marital status, birthplace, residence, education, and employment, etc. At the time of its creation, it was the fastest business machine built yet.
UNIVAC was a stored-program computer with 5,400 vacuum tubes, used alphanumeric characters, consumed 125 kW, possessed the ability to tabulate 4,000 items within a minute, weighed 16,686 pounds, and could verify its own work. Termed as a mathematical genius, UNIVAC both surprised the masses with its stellar capabilities and scared them with its ability to replace numerous jobs. Interestingly, in 1952, this machine was able to correctly predict Dwight D. Eisenhower’s unexpected landslide victory in the presidential election after only a small percentage of the votes had been cast.
The need for UNIVAC stemmed from the search for mechanical devices that aid and accelerate computation. Given the large volume of data associated with counting in a census, the bureau required faster processing speeds, which UNIVAC offered. It is undeniable that technology has evolved too rapidly for UNIVAC and similar machines to be of any practical use in this time and day. After UNIVAC, smaller and more power-efficient transistor computers were introduced, followed by the development of integrated-circuit machines. More recently, microprocessors enabled the development of personal computers and lastly, laptops. However, it is difficult to imagine all of these highly efficient machines into existence if it were not for UNIVAC and how it commercialised digital computers.
With the first-ever tweet made by Jack Dorsey, co-founder and CEO of Twitter, on the 21st of March, 2006, the immensely popular social media platform was launched. Interestingly, this tweet was sold for $2.9 million early in 2021 with its buyer Malaysian-based Sina Estavi likening it to Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. The tweet, which said “just setting up my twttr”, laid the foundation to what has now become a company with a market capitalisation of around $50 billion. Today, Twitter boasts roughly 400 million users which include celebrities, politicians, and journalists among a bevy of other celebrated personalities.
Essentially an online microblogging service, Twitter offers a network of users where communication is done throughout the day with brief messages called “tweets”. Initially, Evan Williams and Biz Stone, two ex-employees at Google, created a startup called Odeo, which was meant to be a podcasting platform. However, with the launch and rise of Apple’s iTunes, Odeo was not relevant anymore. Therefore, these two along with Jack Dorsey, an Odeo employee, decided to reinvent themselves and brainstormed new ideas. It was then that Jack came up with the idea of an SMS (Short Message Service) that would allow users to communicate within a small group. This plan eventually evolved into Twitter.
The real strength of Twitter lies in real-time. No other social media comes close to updating its users about the world and its latest happenings. Beyond technology, Twitter has also largely benefitted politics, science, business, journalism, and celebrity culture. By allowing far greater access to public figures than any other platform, facilitating and fueling activism (e.g. #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo), and changing the way news is consumed by the masses (multiple perspectives of the same story and democratization of information), Twitter continues to change the world - as any revolutionary technology is expected to.
When Hulu launched for the general public on the 12th of March, 2008, it offered access to all within the United States. Previously, a beta version of this video streaming platform had also been privately launched. Although Hulu offered only a selection of content (television shows, films, and news) free of cost, users could now watch content on the internet without paying satellite television or cable providers. It took this website only a year to become the fourth-largest video site in the United States. Owned by The Walt Disney Company and Comcast, today Hulu offers its services in the United States and Japan only owing to licensing restrictions.
In 2016, the platform was overhauled and converted into a subscription-based model which gave Hulu the chance to exponentially increase its library. Additionally, Hulu offers live streaming from 21st Century Fox, NBCUniversal, The Walt Disney Company, CBS Corporation, Turner Networks, The CW, A+E Networks, and Discovery Networks, allowing its users to choose from a diverse selection set - a feature not common in streaming services. In addition to this, certain features set Hulu apart from other video streaming sites, Netflix included, showcasing why the name is still relevant and successful over a decade after its launch. It has a fast turnaround of current television, has impressively strong network partnerships, and offers competitive pricing (it even has a free option with a limited catalogue!).
As it is important for any technological innovation aiming to stay relevant, Hulu has reinvented itself over the years to better suit its clientele’s requirements and preferences. It is no longer just the website users visit to watch the next-day TV show replays. It now offers its own live TV provider. Bringing convenience to its users, Hulu believes that TV should be mobile, suit one’s lifestyle, and be an application essentially. It is perhaps this user-centric approach to development and technology that helps Hulu stay a popular video streaming name.
Founded by David Filo and Jerry Yang, graduate students at Stanford University, Yahoo! was incorporated on the 2nd of March, 1995. Initially, the site was called “Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web” but as it grew in popularity, it was renamed Yahoo!, an acronym for “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle”. Back then, it was only meant to be a useful guide to navigate the world wide web, and not a business. Today, Yahoo! provides users with information, online utilities, and access to other websites. Its features include a search engine, an email service, a news branch, and a directory.
In the late 1990s, Yahoo! was among the major players in the internet frenzy. Although some losses were sustained, it even survived the collapse of numerous internet-based companies in 2001-2002. With multiple major moves, the company remained a notable name in the industry. It battled Google for many years to retain a higher share of the search engine market. It released its Yahoo! Instant Messenger and bought out Flickr, the internet photo network. Another astonishing step was its acquisition of a 40% share of Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant. Throughout the years, Yahoo has made multiple attempts at reorganisation and reconstruction, with David Filo believing that “technology is about constant reinvention”.
Although Yahoo! has lost its footing now, for some time in recent history, it was the biggest internet phenomenon. In fact, when the company was only 5 years old, it was worth more than Ford, Chrysler, and GM combined. Many of the apps and services that the internet is filled with today were either invented by Yahoo! or soon found a home there (Broadcast.com, Flickr, Yahoo Notebook, Yahoo Music, etc.). It was, additionally, the pioneer of the pay-per-click advertising model. In 2017, Verizon acquired Yahoo! for $4.8 billion, ending the run of what was once deemed the king of the internet.
On the 22nd of February, 1999, the First Internet Bank of Indiana (First IB) opened its virtual doors to the public. This was the first state-chartered FDIC-insured institution to operate only through the internet. Marketed as the first “extended value online bank”, it provided a full range of real-time internet banking products as well as personalised interactive services. Today, it offers services in all 50 states where customers can have checking and savings (both regular and money market) accounts with competitive interest rates. Besides this, First IB offers credit cards, instalment loans, mortgages, and personal lines of credit.
Sitting at the intersection of finance and technology, First IB introduced a branchless financial institution that conducted transactions over the internet exclusively. This was at a time when only around 5% of the world population had access to the internet and only one-fourth of all U.S. banks had websites, with very few offering any kind of online banking services. To even consider that technology could do banking better than well-established financial organisations was a downright outrageous idea at the time to many. Interestingly, First IB was able to offer higher interest rates on deposits and charged no fees for most of its services since it did not have to maintain any branches and had lower overhead than most traditional banks. Moreover, such a bank has fewer access points than a brick-and-mortar structure, leading to stronger security.
First IB made banking available and convenient outside of the regular hours and introduced a completely new style of banking. Above all else, this venture signifies how efficiently technology can rival traditional, non-technical solutions - even when masses are sceptical about its success initially. Additionally, the idea of First IB reinforces how technology is truly meant to be employed - to bring convenience to the lives of people.
The introduction of the IBM Portable Personal Computer 5155 - a product whose roaring success surprised many, including IBM itself - on the 16th of February, 1984 popularised personal computers for everyday use. Weighing about 30 pounds, this computer had the following specifications: built-in ROM Basic, 256K memory standard, 9-inch 25x80 monochrome amber screen which could display graphics, DOS, and Intel 8088 4.77MHz CPU. The keyboard could be detached or folded and snapped shut in the case covering the computer. Priced at $2900, it was an immediate hit with the public and became the first personal computer to gain widespread adoption by the industry.
Initially, IBM could not find enough applications for this PC to justify acceptance on a broad basis. Moreover, even if this idea could be approved, it would not have been completed in a short timeframe. However, Bill Lowe, a lab director at IBM, stepped forward and claimed that he could develop a portable personal computer within a year. It was then that a team consisting of 12 developers was established which set out to create this device in 12 months. They were tasked with devising a plan for the software, hardware, marketing setup, and sales strategy. As the plan progressed, more talent and expertise was brought into this project.
Although personal computers were available as early as the 1970s, they provided very few applications that did not justify widespread and mainstream use. However, IBM offered a full suite of important applications that could justify broad adoption by the market. It became so popular that for a year or two, the Columbia Business School required every student to have this computer. In addition to this, it was IBM’s brand recognition as well as the massive marketing campaign that led to the fast growth of the personal computers industry. Furthermore, this computer was widely cloned and gave birth to a vast ecosystem of hardware, software, and peripherals to use with it.
The revolutionary launch of Google Maps on the 8th of February, 2005, transformed the way we use maps for directions and navigate the world with our smartphones. Initially, it was launched for desktop as a solution for people to get from one point to another. Today, it’s a gateway to exploration - whether you are travelling by car, bike, public transport, boat, wheelchair, or on foot.
Google Maps makes use of a combination of data sources such as aggregate location data, real-time users feedback, historical traffic patterns and local government data along with machine learning. There are multiple views that a user can switch between depending upon their need(s). With over 1 billion monthly active users, it ranks high among the leading mapping applications worldwide. It offers driving directions for 194 countries, spanning over 28 million miles of road. It can provide local information for more than 80 million places across the world and live traffic data from over 50 countries. All of this data is kept up-to-date and reliable with tens of thousands of updates daily.
Although Google was not the first to introduce online maps (the world wide web supported the first online maps in 1993), it brought digital maps to the mainstream and popularised their usage. Interestingly, a wide array of other applications and services today rely on Google Maps - Uber, Airbnb, WhatsApp, and UrbanSpoon all are based on Google Maps application user interface (API). This service was invented with the vision to “create one seamless, browsable map of the entire world” - a daunting task that Google Maps has accomplished exceptionally well. The marriage of complicated technologies and diverse data sources in Google Maps has humanised and contextualised location to make it more relevant to us, as should be the purpose of technology and innovation.
Facebook was founded on the 4th of February, 2004, as “The facebook” by Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Chris Hughes, and Dustin Moskovitz, following the high popularity of Facemash. In 2003, these four Harvard students created Facemash, an online service to judge and rate how attractive their fellow students were. The pictures received 22,000 votes from 450 students. However, since this was in violation of the university rules, Facemash was shut down after just two days. Zuckerberg, however, noticed how well-received and popular Facemash was and registered the domain name: thefacebook.com. In February 2012, Facebook filed to become a public company, raising $16 billion in May - the largest Initial Public Offering (IPO) for any internet company till then.
What started as a Harvard social networking website is now the biggest global internet phenomenon today. With nearly 3 billion monthly active users, it is the leading social media platform. However, today, Facebook has transitioned beyond just a place for people to share their lives with their friends. It is an entire ecosystem offering opportunities to thrive in multiple facets of life - business, entertainment, politics, journalism, communication, etc. In fact, this tech giant has grown to the point where it owns a few of the most popular social media networks available to us - WhatsApp and Instagram, for instance.
Over the years, among the challenges that Facebook had to constantly battle, privacy and misinformation remain significant problems. Users have been sceptical of the confidentiality of their data and concerned over the veracity of the information they consume. That being said, it is undeniable that Facebook has forever altered computing and technology. It has been a driving force in open source for many years and shared its innovative hardware and software tools with the broader community. It has, furthermore, given birth to Big Data (in the form of Cassandra database), created millions of jobs, became a major platform for political parties to contest elections, helped organise revolutions, and decided what news is. To put it simply, we have not seen a bigger and more powerful internet phenomenon in our times than Facebook.
The introduction of Macintosh by Apple on the 22nd of January, 1984, revolutionised the computing industry by making computers easy to use for any and everyone, not just experts. The Macintosh, or Mac as it is now known, is a series of several lines of personal computers, developed by Apple. The original Macintosh was the first commercially successful personal computer that included two known yet unpopular features at the time - mouse and graphical user interface (GUI) instead of the command-line interfaces that were in common use. It was also the pioneer in print preview, the ability to see how a document would look once printed before printing it. However, while this computer was a visionary product, it did not offer very much to the users. In fact, when Macintosh was first launched, it was not a hit, was unaffordable, and was not completely workable. Today, there are more than 100 million Macs in use.
Macintosh or Mac has changed computing significantly, introducing innovative concepts and inspiring breakthroughs in technology. It introduced the idea of icons and turned them into art. It made networking easy since Macs could be connected to each other using AppleTalk. Furthermore, Microsoft Office was born on Mac and following its success, Microsoft released a Windows version. It made pointing portable before touchpads and enabled playing digital videos with QuickStart. Moreover, it brought forward the idea of a backlit keyboard and light sensors.
While the creation of Macintosh is undeniably a remarkable technological achievement, what’s even more inspiring is its relevance and significance even today, almost 4 decades later. Not only has it existed for this long but it also mattered all these years. A major reason for this enduring relevance is Apple and Mac’s commitment to staying fresh by getting rid of redundant and unnecessary features - truly incorporating the spirit of evolution.
On the 15th of January, 2001, Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger launched Wikipedia, a free and collaborative online encyclopedia. Written and edited by the internet community, it is the largest of its type of websites and is available in over 300 languages besides English. With more than 6.3 million articles and 42 million users, it is ranked among the most visited sites on the internet today.
In 2000, Bomis, a web advertising firm owned by Jimmy Wales, among others, launched Nupedia. This was a free online encyclopedia whose editor in chief was Larry Sanger. By January 2001, fewer than two dozen articles were completed and there were rarely any contributions. Concerned about the growth of Nupedia, Sanger and Wales decided to lend it support with an open-source encyclopedia based on wiki software. Initially, Wikipedia was launched as a feature of Nupedia but following certain objections from the advisory board and reluctance among the editors and reviewers to associate Nupedia with a wiki-based site, Wikipedia was relaunched as an independent website a few days later. It grew at a staggering pace and by the end of the year, Wikipedia was available in around 19 languages.
Throughout the years, the most serious challenges that Wikipedia has faced are plagiarism, inaccuracies, and vandalism. Despite this, impressively, Wikipedia has maintained its role as the go-to site for millions of users to access information online. It continues to be a reliable database of information without a large number of paid moderators and editors. Additionally, the site owners and policymakers have implemented various strategies to counter its problems and ensure that their original vision is truly fulfilled - allowing people to collaborate and build an online portal of easily accessible knowledge. Thus, what keeps Wikipedia relevant and reliable today despite its collaborative nature is the review of all information by broad groups of people, stringent requirements regarding the data, its transparent discussions, and the willingness to swiftly delete inaccurate content.
There are very few technological events in recent history that can rival the introduction of the iPhone by Apple on the 9th of January, 2007. Dubbing it the “reinvention of the phone”, the company claimed that it was a revolutionary product that was five years ahead of any other mobile phone. Starting at $499, this first-generation iPhone offered a 3.5-inch diagonal screen, had a 2-megapixel camera, and featured the then-new multitouch features. This device was marketed as a combination of three products - a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough internet communications device. The first iPhone sold 1.39 million units. Today, this device holds a major share in the global smartphone market revenue.
With every new line of iPhone introduced, this smartphone has gained loyal fans and become a highly popular brand. A few of the aspects that make the iPhone so uniquely desirable are as follows. This device was not the first to feature a multi-touch screen but it was the first to make using one highly intuitive and easy. Using an iPhone is a luxury experience since it is made from high-quality products. The design is extremely simple and minimalistic yet elegant, adding to the ease of use. The seamless integration with the Apple ecosystem offers greater security and better software optimisation. And of course, the extremely positive perception and image attached to this phone are almost unparalleled.
At the time of its release, critics did not foresee the iPhone performing well in the market due to its price range. Interestingly, since 2009, this product has been ranked among the top 5 smartphone vendors in the world. In the year 2020 alone, iPhone revenue was over $137.7 billion. In fact, this product is so revolutionary that it has separated the smartphone market into two categories - the iPhone and everything else.
When Bitcoin was created by its mysterious pseudonymous developer Satoshi Nakamoto on the 3rd of January, 2009, the world was introduced to a completely new form of currency - cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is a form of binary data which acts as a payment medium. Since then, thousands of cryptocurrencies have been launched taking the current total to over 7,812. However, Bitcoin remains the most popular and traded cryptocurrency in the industry. In fact, the price movement of Bitcoin strongly impacts the entire cryptocurrency market.
Bitcoin was initially created to be an electronic, peer-to-peer cash system but now it is also viewed as a store-of-value currency, such as gold. The concept of this cryptocurrency was introduced in a white paper in 2008 under a pseudonym. To this day, the identity of the author is unknown; in fact, it is not even known whether this paper was by a single person or a group of people. What makes Bitcoin so valuable is its scarcity. With the maximum supply set at 21 million, there will not be any more Bitcoins - no one can create or duplicate them, not even the original inventor(s). As with all cryptocurrencies, the parameters (for example, the rules of buying and selling, the total amount, how new Bitcoins can be added to the market, etc.) for Bitcoin have been set.
Today, Bitcoin is not only significant because it is merely at the top of all cryptocurrencies. It is crucial because it established an altogether new financial ecosystem. Cryptocurrencies offer multiple benefits, some of which are as follows. They provide anonymity which is paramount for many when it comes to financing. With the world economy shifting to digital currency in the future, the worth of cryptocurrencies will only increase. With cryptocurrencies, settlements are instant, transactions extremely simple, and availability is high due to easy internet access for many.
The launch of Bitcoin created a digital currency ecosystem that has just truly begun and will inevitably transform the world economy in the future.
The creation of the Domain Name System (DNS) on the 1st of January, 1985 transformed the way the internet was browsed. Essentially the phonebook of the internet, the DNS allowed users to access information using domain names instead of IP addresses.
Each machine or device connected to the internet has a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address that is used to find and interact with a particular device. These IP addresses can be in the IPv4 format (such as 192.168.1.1) or the newer, alphanumeric IPv6 format (like 2400:cb00:2048:1::c629:d7a2). Web browsers interact and load internet resources using IP addresses. While this is completely understandable for machines, it is exceptionally difficult for humans to memorise more than a few IP addresses. To make accessing websites easier, the DNS was created which translates domain names (such as google.com) to IP addresses. While the way the DNS works involves several servers and can be a long-winded process, it takes a few milliseconds only to fetch an IP address given a domain name.
If it weren’t for the DNS, we would still be using difficult-to-remember strings of numbers like 192.58.9.34 instead of the easy and memorable domain names that we use today. DNS enabled users to have a more user-friendly, collaborative, and diverse internet. With over 363.5 million registered domain names, the DNS is not only a fundamental part of the internet today but also its backbone. In fact, if a DNS is not responding, a connection to other websites over the internet cannot be established. Interestingly, before personal computing became popular, the few users over the internet could memorise and recognise some familiar IP addresses but this is beyond practical in today’s time and age with millions of domain names and even more IP addresses, which further underscores how significant the DNS is.
When the world’s first ever web server (http://info.cern.ch/) went live at CERN (the European Organisation for Nuclear Research) on the 24th of December, 1990, it marked the creation of one of the four essentials of the World Wide Web: HTML, web protocol, web browser, and web server. Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, set up a NeXT computer at CERN as the first ever server. However, this web server was more of a small intranet for information sharing among CERN physicists rather than being “world wide”.
By 1991, several other web servers had been created, all located at CERN. By this time, it had been successfully tested that document retrieval could be performed from web servers on incompatible computer systems. However, since all the web servers were at CERN, the possibility of retrieving data from halfway across the world was questionable. To do so, a computer was set up with the help of Paul Kunz, a physicist at Stanford University. This server was located at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) and by the end of 1991, it went live, becoming the first web server outside Europe.
What started from a single NeXT computer at a nuclear research lab in Europe has now grown into an indispensable part of the internet globally. A world without web servers means a world where information cannot be retrieved from any part of the world within an instant - essentially unimaginable. The millions of servers online are responsible for displaying website content by storing, preprocessing, and delivering the requested web pages to users. The sheer significance of this invention can be gauged by the fact that all data that are shared over the internet today are hosted on web servers. And while the first web server could only retrieve data from other servers located in CERN, today this retrieval can quickly be done across oceans and continents.
Larry Wall released the general-purpose programming language Perl on the 18th of December, 1987. It was meant to offer text manipulation, web development, network programming, system administration, and Graphics User Interface (GUI) development, among other tasks. With its tagline, “easy things should be easy and hard things should be possible”, Perl was designed to make computer programming easier and faster.
With the advent of the web, Perl also gained momentum. In fact, it became the dominant language for Common Interface Gateway (CGI) programming. The regular expression and string parsing abilities that this language offered brought it immense popularity as well. System administration tasks that were too complex for a shell script but not worth the effort when coding in C, were easily done with Perl. This also became the perfect language to interact with databases, leading to its widespread use to implement dynamic websites. True to its motto of TIMTOWTDI (“there is more than one way to do it”), Perl cemented its position as a very versatile and flexible language since it allowed the user to adopt any kind of programming style, be it procedural or object-oriented.
Although Perl may not be sitting atop the list of the most commonly-used programming languages today, its uniqueness largely stems from its compatibility with other programming languages. Perl is being used throughout the web and it is also termed as the “duct tape of the Internet” because it tied together systems and interfaces that could not work together prior to Perl. While many think that Perl has “died” as a language now, it is still being heavily used not just for maintaining existing projects but also for creating new ones. In fact, it is still considered among the best coding languages to increase one’s employability as well as remuneration.
Google marked the release of its web browser on the 11th of December, 2008, when it launched the first stable public version of Chrome. Although the tech giant had previously released 3 versions for testing, they were beta versions. With the release of version 1, Chrome entered a market where users were growing frustrated with Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox was gaining momentum. By 2013, Chrome was dominating the web browser industry, clearly surpassing Internet Explorer and Firefox.
The software used certain features from Apple’s WebKit open-source rendering engine as well as Firefox, and its source code was made available by Google as part of its Chromium project. Google Chrome stood out due to a multitude of features. For starters, it strictly focused on web standards. This came at a time when Microsoft was struggling with proprietary web standards for its own web navigator, Internet Explorer. Chrome also introduced the idea of sandboxing in a web browser. By sandboxing individual tabs, if one of them crashed, the others would not be affected. This led to improved speed and stability although it required each tab to use as much dedicated memory as the first one. However, when any tab was closed, it released its allocated memory, effectively solving a problem many older browsers were facing and which could only be fixed by restarting them.
Today, Google Chrome is the undisputed leader in web browsers. With a market share of nearly 65%, it is the most popular web browser in 2021. It is more than just a web navigator now. In fact, it can be viewed as a complete platform that can run on different operating systems including Windows, Android, Linux, macOS, and iOS. From its release till now, Google Chrome has added value for the users and helped drive innovation in the field.
On the 2nd of December, 1991, Apple released its first public version of QuickTime and brought video to Mac users. This original version contained graphics, animations, and video codecs and garnered Apple much popularity as a leading multimedia technology giant. Though it was a huge win for the company, the reason QuickTime was highly celebrated at its release is that it brought videos to personal computers, a major ambition in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Since bringing video to personal computers was considered a huge milestone to achieve in the 1980s, significant work had been done to accomplish this goal even before the release of QuickTime. Steve Perlman, an engineer at Apple, wrote a program that allowed video playback on Mac. This was called QuickScan and was publicly demonstrated before Apple decided to cancel it, citing that this software required its own graphics chip to run. Though this program was never released, it eventually led to the development of QuickTime.
QuickTime is often praised for letting users play videos. However, what was even more revolutionising was the manner in which it played the video. QuickTime worked by letting the soundtrack play while the frame rate of the video varied accordingly. For instance, if a CPU was too slow to handle a high frame rate, some of the frames were skipped altogether to keep up with the soundtrack. To give an estimate, back then, you could play movies with 160×120 pixels at roughly 10 frames per second, on say, a Mac IIci or IIcx system.
Although this was criticised by a few at the time, what is noteworthy here is that back then, Windows was struggling to even provide a standardised audio playback, let alone a video option.
The Xbox 360 was released on the 22nd of November, 2005, to glowing reviews and stellar sales. In fact, the launch event was a wild time in itself with a Best Buy representative announcing that everyone who wanted an Xbox 360, would be able to leave with one. This happened at the “Zero Hour” event in the Mojave Desert where Microsoft launched its new Xbox.
This seventh generation video game console is the successor to the original Xbox and competed with Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s wii. Although this product did not fare as well as its competitors in terms of sales and sheer numbers, the Xbox 360 was lauded for the innovation it brought to video gaming. Some of its exciting new features included the ability to stream music, videos, and movies, the inclusion of wireless controllers, and expanded hard drives. However, what was truly needed at this point and was provided by the Xbox 360 was an unparalleled level of hardware and software security in video games. In fact, Chris Satchell, an engineer for this device, claimed this box to have the levels of security that the hacker community had never seen before. Two other versions of this device were also released later; the Xbox 360 S in 2010 and the Xbox 360 E in 2013.
In 2009, the Xbox 360 became the world's best-selling video game console and by 2014, this console had sold nearly 84 million units. Also, from 2011 to 2013, the Xbox 360 held the record for the best-selling console for 24-months straight. This further tells how this device was immensely successful not only across the U.S. but Europe as well owing to its best-in-class online play at that time and strong third-party support due to easy development. In fact, with exclusive games such as Halo, even non-gamers were excitedly buying the Xbox 360.
When the Kindle by Amazon went on sale on the 19th of November, 2007, it entered a market where tablets, phones, personal computers, and e-readers existed. Notwithstanding, this device was sold out within 5.5 hours and was even dubbed the “iPod of reading”. Then what was so revolutionising about this e-reader? Kindle’s main aim was to bring books to people and this is one goal that it has consistently stuck by and which has allowed it to evolve through all these years. This device was never meant to compete with any of the other fancy electronic gadgets at the time or offer everything in just one device. It was simply created to let users read.
The original Kindle had a 6-inch E ink display, offered wireless connectivity, included a full keyboard, featured navigation buttons, and came with a wedge-shaped design for easier holding. Additionally, it had a speaker and a headphone socket along with expandable SD storage. It also had a second display with a scrollable wheel to make navigation easier. All of this came with 90,000 books included in the Kindle, available to purchase and download.
With the kind of support and overwhelming response the Kindle got, this device has seen many upgraded and evolved versions with the latest one released in 2019. Perhaps, this is a true testament to the fact that Kindle popularised digital reading. While Kindle did not introduce the idea of digital reading, it made it so comfortable and easy that users found the experience equally appealing as reading on paper. Besides this, Amazon’s Kindle also brought forward the idea of self-publishing books, a concept that has democratised publishing and depicts the true spirit of technology - giving people more choice and control (to authors) as well as options (to readers).
The idea for the world wide web officially surfaced on the 12th of November, 1990, when Tim Berners-Lee, the British computer scientist who invented the world wide web, submitted a proposal for a hypertext project. This was termed “WorldWideWeb” (W3). At this point, Berners-Lee was working at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, and this project was meant for automated information-sharing between scientists in universities and other institutes around the world. Almost three months after this proposal, he introduced the first web browser and an additional three months later, the world’s first web server went online. The world wide web had been launched.
In his proposal, Berners-Lee described his vision of providing a common and single user interface through which stored information could be accessed. To enable this, he expounded on the implementation of a simple scheme whereby several servers loaded with information and already available at CERN were to be used. The project was divided into two phases: the first phase was to use hardware and software to develop browsers for workstations from where information could be accessed; in the second phase, users could extend this application by adding their own material and information.
The idea for the world wide web was simple: merge existing and evolving technologies, data networks, and hypertext into a global information system. The impact of this concept was anything but simple. While hypertext and the internet already existed at this point, Berners-Lee found a way to link one document to another directly. This opened the internet to the general public, not just scientists anymore. Now, anyone could share information and communicate with others. With this, many new avenues sprung up: speedier instant messaging, social networking, blogging, and internet forums. In fact, it would not be wrong to term this the most significant technological breakthrough in recent history.
The world’s most used mobile operating system, Android, was launched on the 5th of November, 2007, with the release of the Android beta version. It is primarily an operating system for cellular phones and tablet computers. The idea behind Android began as early as 2003 when Android Inc., an American technology company, started working to develop an operating system for a digital camera. However, the plan soon changed to an operating system for a smartphone.
In 2005, Google bought Android Inc. and, for a certain project, decided to base the new operating system on an open-source one - Linux. Then Google introduced Android to the world and in order to promote it as a free open-source software, it created a consortium of multiple technology and telecommunication companies. This association was called the Open Handset Alliance. After a little more than a year, the first Android phone arrived: the T-Mobile G1.
When Android was launched, critics were sceptical of its success. After all, Apple had entered the smartphone market a year earlier, Symbian was about to do so, Microsoft was going to launch Microsoft Phone, and BlackBerry was already ruling the place. But today, around 75% of mobile devices use Android as their operating system. What is, then, so revolutionizing about this os?
With a diverse range of peripheral and wearable third-party devices, Android has a very large ecosystem. Not only does this create ease in the transfer of data but while syncing it as well. In addition to this, there is high customisability. Furthermore, because Google included its services in the software, manufacturers had to do less work to create smartphones and hence preferred this system. As such, Android phones come in a wide variety of prices - nearly every segment that phones come in, from extremely affordable to high-end.
These reasons and more led to Android becoming the dominant mobile operating system in the world 10 years ago. To this day, it holds this title.
On the 23rd of October, 2001, Apple Inc. started its line of portable media players with the release of the iPod. With its tagline of “1,000 songs in your pocket”, this device came with a 2-inch 160x128 pixel screen, included a state-of-the-art 5 GB hard drive, used a scroll wheel for user interface, and had a battery life of 10 hours. Initially, the iPod was released for the Macintosh platform but in the next year, the company introduced a version for the Windows operating system as well.
On brand with Apple’s minimalist and user-friendly style, 400,000 units of this sleek device were sold in 2002, accounting for 2% of the company’s revenue. By 2004, Apple was generating around 15% of its annual revenue from iPods. Not only did this product transform the business landscape of the company but to this day, the iPod is considered one of the most revolutionary tech gadgets of the 2000s.
The later releases in this product line introduced features such as higher storage capacity, touchscreen interface, additional case colours, smaller sizes, greater battery life, as well as game and video playback facility. Most of the iPods were a huge success and this product line was even once considered the cash cow of Apple. In 2008, 54.83 million iPod units were sold worldwide. However, with the rise of iPhones, a declining trend has been observed in iPod sales globally. In fact, while referring to the original iPhone, Steve Jobs is reported to have joked, “It’s the best iPod we’ve ever made.” After iPhones, there was not any practical need for iPods anymore.
With just one product (iPod Touch) in this line still existing today, the iPod now has dwindling relevance in a world dominated by smartphones. However, its significance is undeniable in the sense that it altered the way music was consumed (for instance, the shuffle option affected music sales worldwide) and had a huge impact on the entire ecosystem it operated in (links with iTunes and iCloud).
On 18th October 1958, physicist William Higinbotham developed what is considered the world’s first video game - an invention that would later lead to a $180 billion industry. Called “Tennis for Two'', this was an electronic tennis game with controllers connected to an analogue computer. An oscilloscope served as the screen which could display different curves including the path of the bouncing ball (just a dot). A knob was used to adjust the angle of the ball and a button was pushed to throw it to the other player. While some designs and blueprints were built for this game, the actual time between the conception of the idea and the development of the game was surprisingly very short - nearly two weeks. This was largely because Higinbotham had already done extensive work on displays for radar systems and various other electronic devices.
Many wonder today how a nuclear physicist came up with the idea of a video game. While serving as the head of the Brookhaven National Laboratory’s instrumentation group, Higinbotham was tasked with creating an exhibit showcasing the group’s work on the annual visitors’ day. The existing exhibits, unfortunately - or fortunately in this case - were unable to capture the audience’s interest or excitement. Hence, he decided to create an engaging demonstration that would make the event more lively and interactive. This decision turned out to be a huge success with visitors enjoying the game thoroughly and even standing in long queues awaiting their turn to play.
Beyond offering an interactive exhibit to the visitors, Higinbotham’s vision entailed showcasing how even complex technological endeavours are relevant to society and that, above all, technology can lead to a lot of fun. Although the heavy use of augmented and virtual reality in today’s video games is a far cry from this game’s basic circuitry of resistors, capacitors, transistors, and relay, the underlying goal virtually remains the same 6 decades later: leveraging technology to offer entertainment.
With more mobile connections than humans in the world today, it is difficult to imagine a time without cell phones. However, it was nearly 4 decades ago, on 13th October, 1983 when the first commercial cell phone was launched by Ameritech, which is now a part of AT&T. While the world of cellular connections has reached 5G technology today, it started with a simple 1G network.
Advanced Mobile Phone System or APMS went online in Chicago first where people could make and receive calls. The first call, interestingly, was made by Bob Barnett, the president of Ameritech, who called the grandson of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone.
However, this was not the beginning of cell phone technology. In fact, even the APMS was under development for nearly 15 years and a mobile call was made on a prototype network about a decade before the first commercial cell phone network was launched. This is a large amount of time and is rightly indicative of the complications in achieving this major technological milestone. Hardware, software, and radio frequency issues had to be repeatedly troubleshot.
The launch of APMS was a historic moment in the domain of technology: it laid the foundation of what has become a $1.08 trillion industry today and all the advanced features we enjoy in our cell phones. The introduction of 2G allowed text messages to be sent, 3G brought the ability to transmit data over the internet, and 4G was responsible for faster speed. The latest of these advancements, 5G, now offers lower latency and higher bandwidth, even enabling real-time data transmission. Today, cell phone networks are expected to continue to evolve, introducing breakthrough technologies, but there is a high probability that none of this would have been possible had the APMS not introduced its 1G cell phone network commercially.
Now more than ever, digital technology has become a staple in our professional and private life.
The revolution can’t be ignored as it is changing the way people travel, work, interact & organize their daily activities. And it does it at high speed.
With some of the enthusiasm brought by this digital age, this podcast is about celebrating impactful innovations on their day of birth.
We’ll find out how some brillant minds set the path with new ways to solve old business problems, create new opportunities, and changed the society entirely.
I’m your host, Vincent Giraud. Welcome to the digital innovation days!
When Instagram was launched on the 6th of October, 2010, many disregarded it as just another photo-sharing application that would sooner rather than later fizzle out. However, its co-founder Kevin Systrom believed that the visual medium held an untapped market and foresaw immense technological growth in this domain. This proved true when within its first week, 100,000 people were using Instagram and by December 2010, the application had over a million accounts. The platform had such a remarkable upward trajectory that Facebook, threatened by the competition Instagram posed, bought it for $1 billion in 2012, a short while before Instagram’s initial public offering (IPO).
Today, Instagram is the world’s largest photo-sharing application. It boasts over 1 billion active monthly users and is the 3rd-most downloaded mobile app. In fact, it’s not even just a photo-sharing app anymore; with full-screen videos, stories, Reels, and in-app shopping, it has established itself as a multi-billion dollar entertainment centre and a major business platform.
That being said, the significance of Instagram goes far beyond these astronomical numbers as it has made a huge impact on the world we inhabit, creating and disrupting large industries.
- It has changed the way we travel. Research conducted by Facebook revealed that 67% of travel enthusiasts use Instagram to choose a destination to travel to.
- It has massively heightened the popularity of certain industries, such as the fashion and beauty industries.
- It has created and brought into the limelight careers like content creation or being an influencer.
- Interestingly, the app has successfully mobilised activism with its unique dynamic of a young audience that is highly receptive to social justice.
It’s important to note here that even nearly 11 years after its inception, Instagram continues to win despite there being many applications that started out with a similar vision. However, what makes Instagram stand out is its constantly evolving model - bringing in new features, removing obstinate options, catering to market trends, and experimenting now and then - which is, arguably, the true essence of technology.