Gyroscopic Navigation (Autopilot)Gyroscopic navigation enables planes and ships to stay on a straight course without human intervention. Long before GPS, airplane pilots used compasses and waypoints to navigate. Natural landmarks or even giant arrows guided planes when to turn and in which direction. Of course, between waypoints, it was necessary to fly straight or the pilot would … Continue reading "Gyroscopic Navigation (Autopilot)"
Clusters of Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)CRISPR is like a word processor for DNA. It allows easy and inexpensive gene editing. Edited genes are passed to future generations, making mutations permanent. Doudna and Charpentier Doudna and Charpentier worked on and invented the technology as a team. First, they worked on plants and, later, on animals. History becomes murkier with the involvement … Continue reading "Clusters of Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)"
Rechargeable Battery1859 Frenchman Gaston Planté invented the lead-acid rechargeable battery. In the early years, his battery lacked commercial value. Planté’s battery stored electricity and recharged easily but tended to release the electric in enormous bursts that, at the time, offered limited utility value. Before the Planté battery was the Voltaic Pile and later derivatives. These were … Continue reading "Rechargeable Battery"
Automation Armageddon: a Legitimate Worry?Right now, we have 122 major innovations that involve some type of automation. Click here to see the list. Putting it mildly, many of them were not met with enthusiasm. For example, Frenchman Barthélemy Thimonnier invented the sewing machine only to see his factory burnt down by worried tailors. The “American Manufacturing Method” using standardized … Continue reading "Automation Armageddon: a Legitimate Worry?"
Personal Computer, Xerox Alto (the “interim Dynabook”)Dynabook was at the heart of Xerox PARC. Eventually realized as the Xerox Alto, it is essentially the first personal computer. Easy-to-use with a graphical interface, what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSISYG) programs, icons, the mouse, networking. Everything we take for granted today started as the Dynabook/Alto. Background The Dynabook dates to Kay’s doctoral thesis and the first interview … Continue reading "Personal Computer, Xerox Alto (the “interim Dynabook”)"
MP3MP3 enables the digitization of high-quality audio to small files. File sizes are small enough to easily store many or transfer them over the internet, even with 1990s slow transfer speeds. The small file size is primary the benefit of MP3 over digitized compact disk file because MP3 files are much smaller with good enough … Continue reading "MP3"
Spinning MuleFew inventions on innowiki have inspired as much social unrest at the spinning mule. The mule is a minor innovation compared to most others on the list. However, it caused a massive freak-out. The Luddite movement, that still exists to this day, if often wrongly credited to the printing press but actually began with the … Continue reading "Spinning Mule"
TelephoneThe telephone vastly lowered the cost of communication by eliminating the need for Morse Code and enabling real-time voice conversations. Bell was a Scottish immigrant, a teacher for deaf children. The inventor of the telephone would go on to marry one of his students, a then 15-year-old deaf young woman. Due to his work with … Continue reading "Telephone"
Steel ShipsWooden ships were limited in size and their hulls could be more easily penetrated than metal ships during war. Ironclad ships reduced the cost and risk of shipping by enabling larger ships that were more difficult to sink. The first known ironclad warship was The Nemesis, built for the East India Company, in 1839. Soon, … Continue reading "Steel Ships"
The Role of Education in Automation TechPart I, “Automation Armageddon: a Legitimate Worry?” reviewed the history of automation, focused on projections of gloom-and-doom. Part II, “Automation: Robots in Real Life” reviewed how robots are ubiquitous and create jobs. My first real job was creating a print estimating and production control system for five print plants scattered around the US. Each had … Continue reading "The Role of Education in Automation Tech"
AutomobileIt’s difficult, and arguably pointless, to separate the innovation of the automobile and Internal Combustion Engine (ICE). The use of an ICE for a “horseless carriage” was so obvious that early engines were all used for cars. Engine propelled buggies were, by far, the most popular use case though ICE’s also powered other applications. Early … Continue reading "Automobile"
Optical Character Recognition (OCR)Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology increases productivity and decreases cost by alleviating the need for humans to type printed information into computers. It also reduces the risk of typos. David Shepherd’s OCR machine was used in few places. Most notably, Reader’s Digest used it to manage subscription information, transforming printed material to punch cards. Other … Continue reading "Optical Character Recognition (OCR)"
Roll Film & Roll Film CameraKodak’s original camera contained plates. Later versions contained one-hundred exposures; customers would take their pictures, mail in their camera, and the company mailed back developed pictures and a refilled camera. Roll film changed all that, vastly lowering the cost and complexity of photography and eventually enabling the creation of movie film. Ordinary people could purchase … Continue reading "Roll Film & Roll Film Camera"
LaparoscopyFor centuries surgeons have been purposefully cutting holes in people trying to heal them. Background Before anesthesia, antibiotics, and Lister’s germ theories surgery often meant a slow and painful death from infection. Putting things into perspective, more people died in the US Civil War from infection than from direct strike of a weapon. Purposefully cutting … Continue reading "Laparoscopy"
Mass Market Broadband Internet (DSL & Cable Modems)Broadband definitions continually change, but in 2017 the US definition of broadband is 25Mbps (megabytes per second) downstream and 3Mbps upstream. This is fast enough to stream music, movies, web surf, and read blurbs on innowiki. Background Early internet users used slow dial-up modems. The last mass-produced dial-up model ran at 56Kbps, about 1/450th the … Continue reading "Mass Market Broadband Internet (DSL & Cable Modems)"
