Technological Innovations in the 90s
How Technology Changed in the 90s
The ’90s was the decade when the age of digital technology really began to blossom. We went from VHS to DVD, from clunky tape players to smart cell phones.
Personal computers were now a staple of most homes, and software like Windows made it easier for people to use them without being tech-savvy. And of course, the first web browser was revealed, called Mosaic.
Windows 3.0
Microsoft’s bet on a graphical user interface paid off in big way with Windows 3.0. While it did not have quite the system resource management of the next iteration, codenamed Chicago (better known as Windows 95) it was stable enough to attract significant consumer traction.
The new graphical operating environment presented applications as clickable icons rather than text listings and provided basic networking capabilities. It also allowed multitasking of MS-DOS programs and sparked a flurry of new software development, including the classic game Minesweeper.
In the first year of availability, Windows 3.0 sold 4 million copies. That number may not seem very high by today’s standards, but back then it was huge. It was a milestone that effectively ended IBM’s dominance in the PC market.
The World Wide Web
The world was changing fast in the 90s. People were getting more comfortable with the idea of working remotely, and sleek new digital products began to pop up all over the place.
Computers were becoming increasingly common, but they still weren’t the essential devices we know and love today. They were expensive and cumbersome, making them a privilege for the rich and powerful.
In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web while working at CERN. He used a NeXT Computer, a close relative to Steve Jobs’ early Macintosh computers, and wrote the first browser-editor software (called WorldWideWeb) and the Web server along with the HyperText Markup Language (HTML). Mosaic debuted in 1993, and the Internet was never the same again. The ’90s gave us Kurt Cobain and The Simpsons, but it also launched some of the biggest tech companies in history.
Palm Pilots
In a era of nostalgia for the 1990s, one of the biggest contributions that the decade made to today’s world is Palm Pilots. The handheld devices paved the way for smartphones.
The Pilot is a personal digital assistant that runs on an operating system called Palm OS. It has a touch screen that accepts input from a stylus pen and runs down-sized versions of software applications such as address books, calendars and calculators.
After the failure of Casio’s clunky Zoomer, Jeff Hawkins founded Palm Computing to develop third party software for handhelds. He and his team, including Donna Dubinsky and Ed Colligan, vowed to create a PDA that would work for real people rather than impress them with raw, unusable technology potential. They did, and they succeeded.
Hit Clips
Back when iPods were a thing, kids could use HitClips to blast low-fi mono music from the likes of Simple Plan and Britney Spears. These little players were available as a McDonald’s Happy Meal toy and, later, in their own miniature boom boxes and even as a clip-on pen (which was probably the only way anyone could wear it – those earbuds are tough to fit in your ears, let alone comfortably).
[Ch00f] reverse engineered one of these players and found that the audio is transmitted over a digital protocol that can be demodulated with a pair of FETs. This, he points out, is the same principle as Fisher Price’s Pocket Rockers. The result is a tiny bit player that sounds like garbage, but works.
Electronic Diary
The electronic diary is a popular do-it-all gadget that can be accessed on smartphones and tablets today. It helps increase productivity, efficiency, and accuracy compared to paper diaries. However, some challenges with this technology include hardware and software problems, time required to enter data, and privacy issues.
The 1990s saw a lot of technological innovation and revolution. For example, laptops went from bulky monstrosities to portable do-it-all computers. Also, the mp3 player made music portable. And, although now obsolete, the Tamagotchi was a 90s toy that predicted our current obsession with smart phones. This scoping review found that a variety of factors determine the use of electronic diaries, including intervention characteristics, user characteristics, and the implementation process. Eleven themes were identified, but there was little evidence in the 2 other CFIR categories of inner and outer settings.