Thinking back on the 70s, some may want to forget things like the bell bottom pants and thick sideburns. But one of the great things we never want to forget about the 70s were some of the innovations. Let’s take a look back on the 10 best electronic inventions from the 70s that made us look and feel as though the future was now.
1. Pong
Manufacturer: Atari
Inventor: Allan Alcorn
Year: 1972
Coin-operated games had been around for a while, but Pong brought the video arcade game to another level, pun intended. Pong wasn’t intended to be a commercialized gaming phenomenon; its original purpose was to be used as a teaching tool for its inventor Allan Alcorn, to learn how to actually develop a video game. But once released to the public, this electronic rendition of table tennis had gaming fans worldwide addicted. Gaming companies also took notice, creating an arcade game boom in the 70s that still resonates today. Pong was the first time electronic gaming and sports had come together, ultimately kicking off what has become the lucrative e-sports industry.
Pong by Atari arcade game next to other arcade games. Source: Wikimedia
"Pong was the first time electronic gaming and sports had come together, ultimately kicking off what has become the lucrative e-sports industry."
2. Email
System Used:ARPANET
Inventor: Ray Tomlinson
Year: 1971
When most people remember their first time using email, they may recall hearing ear-shattering dialup sounds and the “You’ve got mail” sound bite from AOL; but email was invented a couple decades before then. Ray Tomlinsonis widely credited as the inventor of email, citing his message sent from one computer to another via the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET). Before Tomlinson’s discovery, messages could only be sent to other users on the same mainframe. Tomlinson solved this messaging conundrum by separating the messages between computers, using the “@” sign to separate the user name and computer they were using had to be specified. By shifting computer messaging from single-computer usage to multiple computer usage, Tomlinson laid the groundwork for what was to become a revolutionary form of communication.
3. The Floppy Disk
Manufacturer:IBM
Inventor:Warren L. Dalziel (leading inventor)
Year: 1972
Our modern storage capabilities are literally endless, so it’s difficult to imagine a time when state-of-the-art storage was the 80 kilobytes floppy disk. Nevertheless, the floppy disc was the primary mode of data storage from its invention through most of the 90s. The task of creating this storage device was given to David L. Noble and his team of engineerswhile working at IBM in the late 60s. Multiple team members tested and contributed to the project. By 1972, the floppy disk was being sold worldwide and was the standardized data storage device for over 20 years after invention.
Photo of a floppy disk. Source: Wikimedia
4. Cell Phone
Manufacturer: Motorola
Inventor: Martin Cooper
Year: 1973
Anyone who has been around long enough to remember the history of the cell phone, may remember the first commercial cell phone in 1983—weighing in at a hefty 2.5 pounds, aptly being called “the brick.” But what many don’t know is that Martin Cooper made the first successful cell phone call with a prototype ten years prior in 1973. Many telecommunication companies had attempted and failed to make a phone call through a cordless, mobile device. Cooper achieved what they could not by making a phone call on a prototype cellphone. Not only did he successfully make the first cellphone call, he made a jest at his competition by calling Dr. Joel S. Engel of AT&T (Motorola’s competitor) while standing on a sidewalk in Manhattan.
A photo of the first commercial cell phone. Source: Flickr
5. VCR
Manufacturer: Philips
Inventor: Multiple Engineers
Year: 1972
240 minutes of recording time was now in the hands of the consumer, thanks to the invention of the home VCR and cassette. Before the 70s, watching a movie was all about taking your friends, S.O., or the entire family to the theater to watch the latest blockbuster. Then the VCR by Philips became available in 1972, and the very definition of “home entertainment” changed forever. For fans of the small screen, this also meant no more missing TV shows if you had to leave the house for an event. The VCR came with its share of competition in what would become known as the “videotape format wars,” notably the Sony Betamax; a tape with higher quality and a higher price. Initially, Sony lobbied the Japanese Ministry of International Trade & Industry (MITI) to make Betamax the standard format, which would allow them to license the technology. However, JVC created VHS as an open standard with no licensing fees, making the VHS the no-brainer choice for distributors. Sony Betamax was ultimately done in by the higher cost and shorter run-time of Betamax.
"The VCR came with its share of competition in what would become known as the “videotape format wars,” notably the Sony Betamax: a tape with higher video quality and a higher price tag. "
6. Digital Camera
Manufacturer: Cromemco
Inventor: Terry Walker, Harry Garland, Roger Melen
Year: 1975
Photo giants Kodak and Fujifilm were leading the film photography industry when hobbyists Terry Walker, Harry Garland, and Roger Melen invented the first commercial digital camera: The Cromemco Cyclops. This innovation by Cromemco, a company founded less than a year prior to the invention, featured an image sensor, which was simply a modified MOS memory chip, and developed digital images at a maximum of 32 pixels by 32 pixels. The camera was designed as a peripheral to the microcomputer; an old advertisem*nt of the Cromemco and the Altair in Popular Electronics has been archived for viewing.
A photo of a Cromemco Cyclops digital camera from 1975. Source: Wikimedia
7. The Microcomputer
Manufacturer: MITS
Inventor: Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS)
Year: 1975
The microcomputer came to be with the efforts of an established technology company and two college students (who would soon drop out at the chance of getting a head start in business technology). First came theAltair 8800, a computer kit designed by Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS). Gates and Allen realized that Altair 8800 was the first of many computers priced low enough for consumers—the likes of whom would also need software.They wrote a BASIC interpreter, which MITS agreed to distribute and became Microsoft's first product. The Altair microcomputer could also accept expansion boards which broadened the capabilities of the consumer-friendly computer. Those expansions allowed the addition of peripheral components, like a screen, a keyboard, and even a digital camera (see above). The Altair expansion bus, the S-100, became the standard for early home computers, until superceded by the IBM PC ISA bus in the early 80s.
8. The Apple Computer
Manufacturer: Apple
Inventor: Steve Wozniak
Year: 1976
We can’t list one major computer innovation without the other, so it would be unfitting to solely list the Altair microcomputer, when Apple’s first computerfollowed just a year later.The Altair and other competing computers needed expansion cards for video output and keyboard input. However, the Apple I natively supported those features, giving them a competitive advantage over other computer rivals. Wozniak, a former Hewlett-Packard employee, designed and built the prototype for the Apple 1 Computer to show his associates at the Homebrew Computer Club. He didn’t build the first Apple computer to become a household name in tech; he simply wanted to prove it was possible to build a computer that was affordable for both the builder the buyer. Steve Jobs, Wozniak’s good friend, convinced him to market and sell the Apple-1, and it became the first product created under Apple Inc. Out of the 200 models of limited stock, 175 were sold; not bad for an item that wasn’t initially intended to hit the market.
Photo of an Apple Computer. Source: Wikimedia
"[Wozniak] didn’t build the first Apple computer to become a household name in tech; he simply wanted to prove it was possible to build a computer that was affordable for both the builder and the buyer."
9. GPS
Manufacturer: U.S. Department of Defense
Inventor: U.S. Navy
Year: 1978
First came USSR’s Sputnik, then came America’s Moon Landing—the Space Race of the 60s had Americans and Russians anxious to see the next space venture. One venture in particular was the Global Positioning System (GPS). After almost a decade of experimenting and testing by the U.S. Navy, GPS made its official debut in 1978 with the NAVSTAR satellite. In the scope of 20 years after, the world would see more satellites of its kind launched, and would later experience this once private, exclusive [DM1]technology eventually allowed into the hands of civilians worldwide. Today, there are multiple NAVSTAR satellites in operation, orbiting Earth as a network, giving us the ability to track the location of nearby restaurants, our beloved pets, and even people nearby.
10. Portable Music Player
Manufacturer: Sony
Inventor: Multiple Engineers
Year: 1979
During the 70s, consumer technology was becoming more and more compact. It would seem that the height of portable entertainment at the time was the invention of the Sony Walkman. With the release of the first-gen Walkman (the Walkman TPS-L2) music-lovers could enjoy tunes on cassette wherever they wanted. For the first time, people didn’t have to stay home or stay in the car to listen to their music. It was so popular that, like ChapStick is to lip balm, and Kleenex is to tissue, the eponym for portable music devices was the Walkman. This year, Sony Walkman celebrates its 40th anniversary.
We hope you enjoyed our lookback on electronic inventions from the 70s. Did we miss anything? Reply to us on twitter and let us know!
Photo of a Sony Walkman. Source: Wikimedia
