Every day we live more and more surrounded by technology; technology that makes our lives easier, faster and more automated. The inventions are overlapping each other in an escalation that is directed (supposedly) to our comfort and our ease. But what are those inventions that made the process more dynamic, on which modern technology was built (and continues to be built)? Telephone, radio, television, microwave ... were some of the great inventions of the era 1.0 technology , now we have to know the architects of the technological world 2.0, so let's briefly review to know what they were and what they contributed to our way of seeing and living the world.
Internet
How could it be otherwise, it is the number one of modern inventions , the one that has changed modern life in a 180º turn, making the world a much bigger and richer place, as well as accessible and small, where everyone can connect. This invention, of military origin dating from the 70s, was developed from the 90s for mass consumption through the World Wide Web which, in case anyone does not know, is the origin of the three w's that precede the addresses Web.
The connections initially went through the same telephone line, to the point that the landline and Internet could not be used, but this was soon corrected, giving way to ADSL and nowadays to fiber optics, which allows a broadcast of much larger data. It seems like yesterday when we connected through a modem and simply surfed the internet without social networks yet existing. The Internet has brought together the way of seeing the world, a world in which everything is known and everything is found.
Directly related to the previous invention, email used the Internet to transform correspondence forever. In seconds we could talk to people from anywhere in the world (as long as they had Internet), close deals, get testimonials… With email, the world became smaller. Email technology allowed access to chats and discovered a new mode of communication, burying traditional mail almost forever. Where were the love letters that never arrived?
Mobile telephony
Another invention without which today we could not even imagine our day to day. Mobile phones have become indispensable to modern life. These devices have their roots in radio frequency devices such as Walkie-Talkies, once again of military origin. The mobile phone has evolved to become a fundamental element around which our life revolves. We have turned smartphones into a command center from where we can do almost everything , from calls, work, and even photographs.
MP3
Just as few people will dispute the usefulness of the inventions listed above in this article, MP3 is an invention at best, controversial . Why? The music industry blames this audio format for the huge crisis in which it is involved. But what is MP3?It is an audio file encoding system, which allows us to compress in very little space, compared to the wav file (a wav song occupies an average of 30-40 Mb, while an mp3 song, depending on the compression level, ranges between 1 and 5 Mb). This originally allowed the possibility of downloading music, and with the advancement of Internet connections, streaming, which is finishing dismantling (since streaming does not have the piracy component that downloading does) the record industry and tradition purchase of records.
The encoding of audio files was only a prelude to video encoding, which has led us to a similar process as far as the audiovisual product is concerned , empowering giants like YouTube and, without which, it would be impossible for us to share our beloved GIFs.
Digital photography
Photography is an invention of the 20th century. A reflection of reality such as drawn or painted interpretations. In the 21st century, we invented digital photography, which allowed us to streamline the process through instant digital development , which did not require printing, becoming simply a file, easy to transmit and at a cost of practically 0. Thanks to the appearance of the digital photo this art was able to expand, being integrated into other devices, such as mobile phones, thus making photography available to everyone.
Geolocation
GPS is a satellite-based location system , which allows you to find connected devices with amazing reliability. Initially intended for military (surprise) tactics, it was later adapted to facilitate driving, and today it has also been introduced into mobile technology to facilitate shopping or socializing.
Touch technology
This may seem like a minor invention in relation to the others that we have enunciated here, but nothing is further from the truth: touch technology has dealt a hard blow to keyboards, facilitated the jump to smartphones, and from there it has been adapted to commercial devices of all kinds, from ATMs, ticket machines… soon that of “a click away” will stop saying “a… tap?”
Bluetooth
Thanks to Bluetooth technology, we are saying goodbye to cables: headphones, chargers, audio devices… It makes life easier and avoids the annoying snags with cables.
3d print
This is one of the most recent innovations, and it is still in development, but it promises to be one of those drastic changes, with a number of applications that we still cannot even imagine. In essence, 3D printing allows you to build, immediately, through a 3D design, and with any material, practically everything that we can imagine , from orthopedic prostheses to weapons, through cars ... even pizzas! The development of this technology could shatter the concept of storage stock to open the doors to a time of "build on demand", reducing costs and multiplying production efficiency in almost all sectors. Fasten your seatbelts, technological advancement has only just begun.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial Intelligence is one of the technological inventions that most aim to change our way of life and relationships . Currently some intelligences such as Siri or Cortana are already capable of helping us with our day-to-day tasks but this field is advancing so, but so fast, that in not too many years environments like that of the movie "Her ", in which a man establishes an almost human relationship with an artificial intelligence, they may be real.