Week 1 - From ENIAC to iPad: Moments from IT History

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 "Three interesting examples of IT solutions from three different decades"



From the start of the 19th century, there have been many IT inventions. Every IT invention has either a  positive or negative effect on people's life. 


First Dot Matrix Printer (1957) - First of all, the use case of dot matrix printers is that they can be used to print multiple copies simultaneously. This feature is essential in some business places like banks to provide security between clients and the bank. However, dot matrix printers are generally outdated in the modern world, because, they are unable to print in high-quality, and they usually cost more than the usual (inkjet, laser) printers. IBM introduced its first dot matrix printer in the year 1957 (also the same year when IBM reaches $1 billion in revenue). Fritz Karl Preikschat was the one who marketed this printer. To illustrate how expensive they were - the DEC LA36 dot matrix printer was sold for $1,600 per unit in 1978 which equals about $6000 in today's dollars (the figures are calculated using the inflation calculator).







SSD (1991) - Undeniable one of the most useful inventions of the 1990s. SSD(Solid State Drive) sometimes referred to as a semiconductor storage device, is a storage mechanism that utilizes semiconductor cells to store information. Back in time storage drives were slow and a bit clunky to use so SSD's were invented to solve that issue. Unlike HDDs (Hard Disk Drive), an SSD does not have moving parts inside them like spinning disks or moving read-write heads and thus are more resistant to physical impact and have a lower latency in terms of read/write speeds. Additionally, SSD uses NAND memory which is a non-volatile memory type that can be erased or reprogrammed electrically without mechanically interacting with the hardware itself.






Ethereum (2015) - Ethereum as a whole is a blockchain-powered cryptocurrency which is shortly called ether or ETH. Blockchain technology is native to many cryptocurrencies and is preferred because it uses a sophisticated algorithm that is really difficult to crack. Blockchain is a database that is shared among all nodes of systems on a network the data is stored in a digital format and is decentralized thus making it really secure. The difference between blockchain and a normal database is that in blockchain technology, the data is stored in groups called blocks and these have a certain memory limit, so when a block is filled with information it is closed and linked to the closest previously filled block. This structure creates an irreversible timeline because each block is given the exact timestamp when it is filled and connected to the chain. Ethereum project became crowdfunded in 2014 and by 2015. Vitaly Dmitriyevich is the creator of Ethereum who is a programmer and known as "Vitalik" in the cryptocurrency world.




References:

https://www.storagesearch.com/chartingtheriseofssds.html

https://semiconductor.samsung.com/consumer-storage/world-no1-flash-memory/episode2/

https://www.bankrate.com/investing/what-is-ethereum/

https://ethereum.org/en/history/

http://edition.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9905/12/1957.idg/index.html

https://greedhead.net/when-did-the-dot-matrix-printer-come-out/#Who_marketed_the_first_dot_matrix_printers_in_1957


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