Impacts of the evolution of technology

With technology continuously evolving, the way in which people live their lives are changing each and every day by having to adapt to what current technology there is. Simple tasks such as answering a phone, turning on a TV or navigating a device are all becoming less of an inconvenience by capabilities such as voice control and hand gestures becoming more popular. Other examples include 3D TV's which enhance people's viewing experiences, hand-sized tablets that can produce more power than computers and devices with the capability to communicate with people from across the world. However, as much as these capabilities make life easier, there is one important factor that is being affected and that is our health.

With technology making tasks so ridiculously simple, the amount of effort required to operate tasks is becoming less needed resulting in people becoming lazy, unfit and unsociable. With technology becoming so advanced, jobs such as security, graphic design and teaching are becoming less common due to this technology being able to manage these jobs. This will eventually result in there not being any jobs available for people. Overall, the physical activity once required to operate tasks is no longer needed in the world today because of this technology but is resulting in the worlds population becoming all the more worse.

As for specific pieces of technology, 3D printers and GPS tracking devices are becoming more commonly used by general services such as the police force, graphic designers and doctors. With the concept of 3D printers becoming real, doctors can print body parts which people can use if their original parts are damaged and food can be printed for people eat. This would quite likely be beneficial to the world by the inconvenience of having to search for something soon becoming extinct. However, this process would likely cost a lot of money rendering it only available to those who are wealthy.

With GPS tracking devices, services such as the police force are using these more often so that they can track what ever it is they are searching for. Its primary benefit is being able to locate someone or something which could prove useful but could also be the act of invading ones privacy. Also, for these devices to work, the object or area which is being searched for would need some sort of tracking beacon for these devices to detect.

Televisions

Televisions
1900's

Throughout the years, televisions have advanced miraculously in many ways by image quality, internal features and the design of them being improved upon. Back in the 1940's when televisions were first invented, image quality was very poor with there being very few pixels and the image being displayed being in only black and white. These televisions were also very small in size making the image quality even worse and the only feature they was once capable of was displaying a majority of channels. The price of them ranged from £200 to £500 making them available to those of a good standard of living.

The Television was first invented in the 1940's after the radio eventually died out and had a screen which was no more than 12", was only capable of displaying images in black and white and had no other features other than displaying a majority of channels.

By the end of the 1950's, the size of televisions had only slightly increased to about 14" to 16" but nearly 90% of the US population had one making them a common household item. Programs such as 'I Love Lucy', 'The Lone Ranger' and 'Leave it to Beaver' were popular during this period of time.

During the 1960's, most televisions were still in black and white but the feature of coloured televisions were introduced along with a remote to control them. Popular programmes which are still shown today such as 'Batman', 'The Flinstones' and 'Star Trek' were first broadcasted during this period of time which is one of the reasons why they are so popular today.

By the 1970's, nearly all television broadcasts were in colour and the feature of a VCR was introduced which could record broadcasted television. Soap operas such as 'The Cosby Show' and 'Cheers' were then very popular in the 1980's along with the popular television programme, 'The Simpsons' being broadcasted for the time in 1989.

Once the 1990's came, televisions could be purchased worldwide and was common to be found in all houses. The programme 'Seinfield' became very popular during this time but marked an end to an era and a start to a new beginning...

2000's

As the years progressed, image quality, features and the design of televisions have been improved upon in many ways. There are now televisions which can display 62 million pixels a second (1080p) and are capable of displaying three dimensional images. As for features, televisions are now capable of doing what a computer can do. These include browsing the internet, using social applications such as Twitter, YouTube and MySpace, listening to music, viewing pictures and much more. There are even actions such as voice commands and hand gestures which can now control televisions making television remotes obsolete. The size of televisions have also massively increased to an average of 32"-42" and can range from £200 to £2'000.

In the year 2000's, the way televisions were viewed had changed dramatically by the image being displayed being a projection from inside the television. This aloud for the size of television screens to be greatly increased to around 20" to 40". Plasma, LED and LCD televisions were also introduced during the 2000's which all used some sort of light to project high quality images on to a screen. These lights varied from being either fluorescent, crystallized or polarized. Television programmes such as 'Friends', 'CSI' and 'American Idol' were very popular during this period of time. By the mid 2000's, HD televisions became very popular along with the first LED-based TV being commercially released in 2006.

By 2007, the company 'Apple' soon began shipping a product called 'Apple TV' which is assisted by an internet connection to give an amazing high quality image. The ability to also connect to Apple's primary programme, 'iTunes' was also made available within this product which can manage music, films and pictures straight from a television. The capability to use the social application, 'YouTube' was only made available with this product. In response to this, the company 'Microsoft' soon created the software, 'Windows XP Media Centre' which could be used on computers to transfer videos, images and music to a television.

Once 2010 came, the capability to browse the internet was soon implemented into Samsung and Panasonic televisions. These televisions were capable of doing what a standard computer could do such as search for music, watch videos and socialise with others. There was however the exception of flash-based content which required a certain media player that company's such as Panasonic and Samsung did not include within the televisions. Three dimensional televisions were also introduced during this time which were capable of producing life-like images that emerged from out of the screen with the use of three dimensional glasses.

As for the future, concepts are already being considered with some even starting to be produced. These concepts involve the use of Ultra 4K HD which displays an image four times more cleared than standard HD (1080p), the size of televisions being almost triple of what they are today and the image being displayed by televisions being in mid-air. However, these televisions are estimated to be £10,000 - £50'000 making it only available to those with a higher standard of living.

Video Game Consoles

Video Game Consoles

Over the years, console gaming has evolved in many ways by graphics becoming more realistic, consoles being made able to process more data at quicker speeds and the ability to communicate and play with others from around the world becoming more and more advanced. Also, new ways of playing video games have been introduced over the years to enhance peoples gaming experience which will be explained further throughout this post.

The first ever console was called the ‘Brown Box’ and was created in 1967 by a corporation called Sanders Associates. It included many features which consoles today still consist of which include multi-player, two controllers, the console itself and a multi-game program system. The 'Brown Box' could be made to play a variety of games such as checkers, ping-pong and target shooting by pressing switches located on the front of the console.

In 1975, the PONG console was then created which had the capability to play the arcade hit ‘PONG’ which is simply a simulated tennis game which two people must participate in with only one winner. The chip which was included in the console was one of the first to be able to process sound and data for users. However, this console was made only to play 'PONG' which didn't give much of a variety for people.

10 years after the 'PONG' game console was made, the Nintendo Entertainment System was introduced by a company called 'Nintendo' which soon became the best-selling console in video-game history. It included multiple buttons on the controllers, a much faster processor than previous consoles and two controllers. It was also capable of playing games which are still being played on todays consoles such as Super Mario Bro's, The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy.

In 1995, the next best-selling console was then created which was called the Playstation 1 (PS1) and was created by a company called 'Sony' who are one of the two major leading brands in video-gaming today. It was capable of playing games with advanced graphics, had various buttons on the controllers, included a memory card which could be used to transfer data to other PS1's and was operated by the use of discs. It was also a very small onsole but was capable of producing more than what any other previous console could produce.

In 2001, the next major selling video game console was released which was called the Xbox and was created by 'Microsoft' who are currently top competitors with 'Sony'. It was capable of playing with others through the use of internet on a service called 'Xbox Live', had four controller ports and online features such as movies and music. There was only a slight increase in graphic quality when compared to the PS1 but games which are still played today were first found on this console such as Halo and Fable. It was however a much larger console than the PS1 but was clearly more advanced.

By 2005, one of the first ever portable game consoles was created which was called the PSP and was capable of doing everything the PS2 could do at faster speeds and even had the feature to access the internet. However, there were limited games as to what the PSP could play due to some games being too large for the PSP to operate.

The rivalry then soon continued with Microsoft creating a new Xbox called the Xbox 360 which could outperform the PS2 by having a much faster processor, improved graphics and be able to play exclusive games. It was also able to access the internet, have multiple ways of viewing TV programmes and movies with features such as Sky and YouTube, and have group chats with familiar people. The PS2 was not capable of this.

However, in attempt to tackle the Xbox 360, Sony created the PS3 which was able to do everything the Xbox 360 could do except from group chats which is a major disadvantage. There were multiple versions of this console released with different storage amounts and features. One of the exclusive features of the PS3 was that it was capable of playing Blu-Ray DVD’s.

Now upcoming in the next couple of weeks are the next generation of both Microsoft and Sony’s consoles which are the Xbox One and PS4. These will be the most advanced consoles to date and both have similar features which make it a tough competition. However, the PS4 is expected to have slightly better graphics but the Xbox One features more famous exclusive games than the PS4. The Xbox One is also the first console to be fully operated with the use of speech and hand gestures.

The Evolution of Technology

The Evolution of Technology 

Over the years, technology has evolved in many ways by computers, consoles, mobile phones and other types of technology being improved in multiple ways. These include improvements in graphics, processing speeds, interactive features and capabilities. One of the first ever inventions of computer-generic technology was the microprocessor which was created in 1974 and was able to process speeds of 2 MHz (Megahertz) which isn't fast at all compared to today's GHz (Gigahertz) which include over a 1000 MHz.

Within technology, there are multiple aspects as to what can define it which include modification, production, concepts and knowledge of electronic-based equipment. Examples of this equipment can be mobile phones, TV screens, tablets, mobile phones and gaming consoles.