Most Important Computers From The Last 30 Years

 

Image: Wikimedia Commons

30 years ago today, IBM released the 5150, marking the birth of the personal computer as we know it today.

Modern computing exploded and suddenly there was a rush to see who could improve on the idea of a "personal computer."

Plenty of people threw their hats into the ring, designing machines that were alternately duds and breakthroughs.

We like to focus on the breakthroughs, so we've collected the 10 most important computers since the release of the original IBM PC.

1981: The IBM PC

Image: Wikimedia Commons

It broke all kinds of preconceived notions about computers -- it was affordable, it was small, and it made the term "PC" commonplace.

1982: Franklin Ace 100

Image: Old Computers

This machine is the cause of the first software copyright lawsuit -- it was more or less a physical clone of the Apple II's operating system and hardware. After an appeal, the courts found in favor of Apple, a decision that established that computer software could be copyrighted.

1982: Commodore 64

Image: Wikimedia Commons

The Commodore might just be the most famous home computer. Between 1982 and 1993, almost 30 million of them were sold around the world.

1982: ZX Spectrum

Image: Wikimedia Commons

The Spectrum did for the UK what the Commodore 64 did for the US -- it got people excited about computing and it got companies developing software for it. It was produced by Clive Sinclair, who earned a knighthood for services to British industry.

The Spectrum sold roughly 5 million units.

1983: IBM PC XT

Image: Wikimedia Commons

An update on the original IBM PC, the XT came with an internal 10 MB hard drive, something that just wasn't done at the time. It quickly became the standard afterwards.

1983: Apple Lisa

Image: Wikimedia Commons

The Lisa was the first consumer-grade computer with a graphical interface. The $10,000 price tag presented quite a barrier to consumers, though.

1984: Macintosh

Image: Wikimedia Commons

This computer was such a hit that today's Apple computers are its direct descendants, nearly 30 years later. It had a graphical user interface just like the Lisa, but its reduced price tag made it much easier to sell.

1990: NeXT Turbo Dimension Cube

Image: FivePrime

Yes, NeXT was the computer company that Steve Jobs started after getting booted out of Apple, but this specific computer is important for a different reason -- it was the model used by Tim Berners-Lee to host the World Wide Web in its infancy.

1996: Deep Blue

After losing in chess to Garry Kasparov, IBM engineers got busy improving Deep Blue (renaming it "Deeper Blue"). It came back to beat Kasparov in 1997, demonstrating incredible processing capability.

1998: iMac

Image: Smashing Lists

Up until the iMac, computers were boring beige boxes. Apple revolutionized the idea of what computers could look like when they unveiled a curvy, jaw-dropping new line available in a number of explosive colors.

BONUS: iPad

A controversial idea, we know -- the iPad is arguably a mobile device. But consider this: in 5 years, will computers look more or less like an iPad?

Chip and skin: How hi-tech 'tattoo' will monitor patients' vital signs

Monitoring a patient’s vital signs - such as temperature and heart rate - could soon be a simple as sticking on a tiny, wireless patch similar to a temporary tattoo.

Eliminating the bulky wiring and electrodes used in current monitors would make the devices more comfortable for patients, according to an international team of researchers who report their findings in today’s edition of the journal Science.

The researchers embedded electronic sensors in a film thinner than the diameter of a human hair, which was placed on a polyester backing like those used for the temporary tattoos popular with children. The result was a sensor that was flexible enough to move with the skin and would adhere without adhesives.

Skin-deep: The sensor is so thin it can be worn comfortably on the skin without the patient noticing it

The researchers said the test devices had remained in place for up to 24 hours.

Although normal shedding of skin cells would eventually cause the monitors to come off, the team believe the new device could remain in place for as long as two weeks.

 

 

'What we are trying to do here is to really reshape and redefine electronics to look a lot more like the human body, in this case the surface layers of the skin,' said John A. Rogers of the University of Illinois. 

'The goal is really to blur the distinction between electronics and biological tissue.'

In addition to monitoring patients in hospitals, other uses for the devices could include monitoring brain waves, muscle movement, sensing the larynx for speech, emitting heat to help heal wounds and perhaps even being made touch sensitive and placed on artificial limbs.

Changing face of electronics: the research team believe their new device merges electronics with the human body

The device will help fill the need for equipment that is more convenient and less stressful for patients, permitting easier and more reliable monitoring, said Zhenqiang Ma, an engineering professor at the University of Wisconsin, who was not part of the research team.

The electronic skin can simply be stuck on or peeled off like an adhesive bandage, he noted in a commentary on the report.

The team declined to speculate on how soon the electronic skin would be ready for market or what it would cost.

The monitor resembles a bandage and contains an antenna that could be used to transmit data, though a radio to do that transmitting has not yet been tested.

The current design has a small coil and could be powered by induction - by placing it near an electrical coil. This would permit intermittent use, and for longer-term monitoring a tiny battery or storage capacitor could be fitted.

The monitor does not use an adhesive, relying on a weak force that causes molecules and surfaces to stick together without interfering with motion. For longer-term use the electronic skin could be coated with an adhesive.

UK Riot Exclusive Pictures

 

 

Keep away from Britain! Governments around world warn citizens to avoid riot-hit UK

• Germans warned to exercise 'special caution'
• Latvians told to get health and life insurance
• Sweden, Denmark and Finland also issue safety advice

The world’s media reacted with shock and horror to the riots that have swept Britain, with London portrayed as ‘a lawless city’.

The story made front pages around the globe, and was among the top items on TV news shows in dozens of countries.

Germany led the way, with Der Spiegel magazine comparing London to the capital of Somalia.

Burning down: Several foreign governments have started issuing advice to their citizens thinking about visiting the UK

Embarrassing: The Portuguese Jornal de Noticias (left) and the Belgian De Standaard (right) both put photographs of the London riots on their front pages

‘The television images dominating screens this week could be right out of Mogadishu,’ it wrote. 

‘As difficult to imagine as it might be, the pictures aren’t from Somalia, but from London, right in  the centre of Europe. And they will never be forgotten.’

In newspapers, TZ in Munich asked: ‘What has gone wrong with Britain? Like the Sex Pistols said, it truly is anarchy in the UK.’ 

The tabloid Bild summed up the feelings of many with the headline: ‘Chaos reigns in London!’ 
On its website, other stories were titled ‘England in flames’ and ‘London’s night of horror’. 

Many looked ahead to next summer, with the respected Süddeutsche Zeitung warning that ‘fears are concentrated on the Olympics’.

Countries including Canada and Australia were left stunned that the kind of unrest seen in Greece and France had befallen Britain.

Headline news: Dutch newspaper Het Parool (left) and the Argentinian paper Clarín (right) both led on the London riots

In the U.S., cars burning across the English capital featured prominently even as Washington and Wall Street struggled amid the  debt crisis. 

The New York Times called the riots ‘the worst outbreak of social unrest in Britain in 25 years’. 

Online, the Huffington Post news website ran the headline ‘London’s Burning’ while one contributor to the venerable Wall Street Journal wrote: ‘These people are welcome to march and protest, but when they start robbing and destroying others’ property then I’m all for declaring them targets for target practice.’ 

An editorial in Le Monde, one of France’s leading newspapers, said the UK was asking itself: ‘How to put an end to the destruction, which has in three days devastated whole neighbourhoods in London and its suburbs, as well as the cities of Birmingham, Bristol and Liverpool?’ 

The riots also led every TV bulletin  in Spain, with laSexta describing ‘a  lawless city’.

Foreign news: Spanish newspaper El País (left) and Austrian newspaper Voralberger Nachrichten (right) have both published in-depth coverage of the riots

The Coalition Government’s response came in for criticism as well, following the belated decisions of senior politicians – including Prime Minister David Cameron – to return from their holidays.

'These people are welcome to march and protest, but when they start robbing and destroying other's property, then I'm all for declaring them targets for target practice.'

- Wall St Journal contributor

Yesterday, it was announced that Parliament would be recalled tomorrow from its summer recess.

The Spanish newspaper El País said: ‘Far from reacting quickly, the Government was missing during the crucial hours and has responded with a vagueness which has failed to calm  the violence. 

Cameron’s credibility  has suffered a new reverse in these  days of fury.’  

El Mundo blamed the riots on an unintegrated immigrant population living  in poverty.

Warning: The editor of India's Lonely Planet magazine Vardhan Kondvikar told his Twitter followers to avoid coming to the UK at all

It said: ‘That is why the British authorities – in fact, you could say all of Europe – should bend over backwards to stop these violent outbreaks which, if they get worse, would have unforeseeable consequences.’ 

Demonstrating the extent of the devastation, newspapers in Syria compared  the situation to trouble within its  own borders.