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http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/qwerty.htm

From http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/flashlight.htm

Late in the 19th century, many attempts to devise a portable electric lamp had been made, but the early ones were unsuccessful. Now a common household item, the lowly flashlight was once considered a novel toy. The first flashlight, or electric hand torch, was invented about 1896. Early portable electric lights were called "flash lights" since they would not give a long steady stream of light. The flashlights introduced in 1898 by Conrad Hubert's company, that would later become Eveready, were more trustworthy making Eveready the leading name in flashlights.

Note that in most other languages, it's called a varation of "lamp" or "lantern".

Here he is.

http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/assbline.htm

Ahh, I remembered that there was some controversy about it but didn't know what it was about - thanks.

Ok, maybe second, but still a cookie-cutter one-size-fits-all car. My point is "don't confuse retro with unique/original". Come to think of it, everything recognized today as retro was almost necessarily a staple of its time.

Oh, the Model T is sure a cookie-cutter car (indeed the first to be churned out in an assembly line,

[citation needed]

http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/assbline.htm

COBOL is actually 50 years old. Commander Grace Hopper was the principal inventor of the language, starting in 1959. More on Grace Hopper at http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/hopper.htm

I disagree. Here's my citation:
"Is it Duct or Duck? We donâ(TM)t want you to be confused, so we will explain. The first name for Duct Tape was DUCK. During World War II the U.S. Military needed a waterproof tape to keep the moisture out of ammunition cases. So, they enlisted the Johnson and Johnson Permacel Division to manufacture the tape. Because it was waterproof, everyone referred to it as âoeduckâ tape (like water off a duckâ(TM)s back). Military personnel discovered that the tape was good for lots more than keeping out water. They used it for Jeep repair, fixing stuff on their guns, strapping equipment to their clothing... the list is endless.

After the War, the housing industry was booming and someone discovered that the tape was great for joining the heating and air conditioning duct work. So, the color was changed from army green to the silvery color we are familiar with today and people started to refer to it as âoeduct tape*.â Therefore, either name is appropriate."

Full page

Another Source
"The original use was to keep moisture out of the ammunition cases. Because it was waterproof, people referred to the tape as "Duck Tape." Also, the tape was made using cotton duck - similar to what was used in their cloth medical tapes. Military personnel quickly discovered that the tape was very versatile and used it to fix their guns, jeeps, aircraft, etc. After the war, the tape was used in the booming housing industry to connect heating and air conditioning duct work together.

Soon, the color was changed from Army green to silver to match the ductwork and people started to refer to duck tape as "Duct Tape." Things changed during the 1970s, when the partners at Manco, Inc. placed rolls of duct tape in shrink wrap, making it easier for retailers to stack the sticky rolls. Different grades and colors of duct tape werenÂt far behind. Soon, duct tape became the most versatile tool in the household. "

Nah they had duct/k tape way before Nam.

But Sholes had a problem. On his first model, his "ABC" key arrangement caused the keys to jam when the typist worked quickly. Sholes didn't know how to keep the keys from sticking, so his solution was to keep the typist from typing too fast.

http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/qwerty.htm

Just one of the many sources claiming that this was the idea.

This could be a major step change in the way media companies handle the internet. Holding onto copyright and soaking consumers each time the formats change has been lucrative for a while now but it's as obsolete a business model as buying caned food and then using the shop's can opener to get at it before taking the cans home. After failing to produce a DRM system that works, failing to stop the tide of piracy with law suits and faced with falling sales Warner is making the smart move and getting what money it can. More power to their elbow.

Actually it was invented by Johnson & Johnson (http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/duct tape.htm). The military doesn't invent anything, they contract the private sector to develop things for them.

A handful of large corporations -- RCA, AT&T, Zenith, etc -- held extensive patent portfolios. So large and broad, in fact, that it was difficult to build anything involving electronic circuits without infringing on one or more of them. These big players had cross-licensing agreements with each other, involving no exchanges of money, so for example, RCA didn't have to worry about AT&T's patents. But if you were a little player, it was a dangerous playing field.

Yea, it was dangerous playing against the likes of RCA and RCA's vp David Sarnoff as Philo T. Farnsworth who invented the television found out.

Keeping food fresh is pretty important, though.

and that's easy enough to do without a fridge, the fridge is only a hundred of so years old and people have been about a bit longer that that (even if you only think it's 3000 years)

Could the same logic behind using Eminent Domain
to take real property be used to take a Patent?


This happenen in France in the 1800's, with the Jacquard loom.

Joseph-Marie Jacquard began his invention, and was interrupted by the French Revolution, and then afterwards completed his invention in 1801. He presented his invention in Paris in 1804, and was awarded a medal and patent for his design, however the French government claimed the loom to then be public property, giving Jacquard a slight royalty and a small pension.

Source: Idea Finder

But they did give us velcro

Are you saying that NASA gave us velcro? A simple search on the web seems to bring up a number of different sites stating a different history.

The invention of the wheel must have happend some time around 3000 B.C.

That can't possibly be correct as pottery wheels were in use in Mesopotamia as far back as 3500B.C. Mesopotamians also had chariots before 3k B.C.

Still, my main point stands: the wheel was not invented in pre-historic times, nor was it invented by pre- or proto-humans: the wheel was invented by people essentially identical to ourselves well after the inventions of agriculture and writing.

Henry Ford's contribution, believe it or not, was to add conveyor belts. Not a lot of people know that.

Try pre-1480 levels, before newpapers, books, and the the first printing press.

Oh, before I forget...

Jon, the grits are heated. Please send Natalie's pants.

Where is Nolan Bushnell, creator of pong, which launched a generation of games that could be plugged into the TV, ancestor to the xbox, playstation, and nintendo?

One humuna humuna humna...
Two humuna humuna humna...
Three humuna humuna humna...

Enjoy!

Re: Mecano...

I had a real Erector Set, with the metal plates, mini girders, a whole pile of nuts, bolts, and screws to assemble it with, etc. The coolest part - the DC electric motor and battery clip you could use, with some string and pulleys (also included), to power a car, run a crane up and down, etc. That was an *awesome* toy...

I found some for sale (and lots of other cool stuff there too BTW), might have to get some for under the tree this year...

I always loved my erector set. I don't know about these new-fangled sets, but maybe they'd be ok.

Along that line of the "Technics" legos -- how about the old Erector sets (or the equivelant Meccano sets)?
I used to play with those a lot -- mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, physics, gear/pulley ratios, etc. Although Techics Legos are cool, I think that Erector sets are much more time tested.

'nuff said.

http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/erect orset.htm

It sounds like they couldn't do it with a fountain pen (maybe they weren't skilled enough), but could with other tools.

Small point: BICs are ballpoint pens, not fountain pens. There is a difference.

They think Apple invented the GUI, 64 bit computing, Unix and portable digital music.

While I understand your need to troll, sir - I'd like to point you to two famous inventors: Thomas Newcomen and James Watt. The latter is much more famous, as he is often identified (incorrectly) as the inventor of steam engine. In fact, the first practical steam engine was built by Newcomen, but it was Watt who has improved it to the point of triggering industrial revolution. I think Apple is a bit like James Watt in history of personal computing. They didn't invent GUI, but they improved it to the point of triggering revolution in UI concepts. They didn't invent UNIX, but they improved it to the point that even Joe Sixpack can use. They didn't invent portable digital music, but they improved it to trigger a revolution in how we purchase and listen to our music.

Its always the case. The Brits invent the prototype, then the Americans refine it, market it, and take the credit. From Democracy to Computers, from Trains to Planes.

Now wait a second. We Americans have invented some pretty useful stuff like the light bulb, the telephone, and the automobile. You can't take those away from us!

I thought the idea was great, if they could work a large wooden beaver into the design.

No really, if they could build some mouse-jigs they could use the modified Electr-O-Sketch to design loom components. Soon they'd innovate Punchcards, then the Difference Engine - and finally the mouse.

With recent advances in transistors and microprocessors they'd soon be able to design childrens toys without the need of the highly inefficient clay tablet

I predict a bright future for this group of stalwart free thinkers!

things that have been a direct result of the space program (like ball-point pens)

Huh?

The history of the ball point pen

"By 1950, Paper-mate was making good, cheap ball-point pens, and in 1954, the Parker pen company, which had stood aloof from the fray, brought out a quality ball-point. In 1957, the badly wounded Eversharp sold its pen division to Parker, and Eversharp assets were finally liquidated in the 1960s."

Fascinating facts about the invention of the Ballpoint Pen by Ladislas Biro in 1935.

History of Office Products: Ballpoint Pen

Sorry to burst your bubble, but NASA didn't invent Velcro, an individual Swiss scientist did. See this for more info.

In fact, I remember hearing that someone using that same argument against the printing press....

Wow, for someone who was around in 1450, you've got a pretty high Slashdot ID.

Lots of cool stuff was developed that has found it's way into YOUR house. Everything from ink pens

Ink pens were invented WAY before 1960, BALL POINT pens themselves were invented way back in 1935.

You may be thinking of the SPACE PEN, which most people DO NOT have in their house.

Actually, Philo T. Farnsworth was a resident of Idaho, he waw just born in Utah and moved when he was 11.

From what I remember of history, Edison didn't invent the electric light bulb he perfected the vacumn technique. A man named Swan made the first electric light bulb in 1879 but he had trouble with the vacumn later that year Edison sorted the vacumn. His bulb lasted for 40 hours. A year later in 1880 he had a bulb that could last for 1500 hours and he began marketing it. In 1910 Coolidge invented the tungsten filament which increased how long the bulb could last.

So depending on what you want from an electric light bulb it the 'inventor' could have been any of the three Swan, Edison or Coolidge. In fact Swan filed a law suit against Edison for 'stealing' the idea. Edison wasn't really an inventor he was more the head of a research department.

More info here here here and some info on the law suit that Swan filed against Edison.

From what I remember of history, Edison didn't invent the electric light bulb he perfected the vacumn technique. A man named Swan made the first electric light bulb in 1879 but he had trouble with the vacumn later that year Edison sorted the vacumn. His bulb lasted for 40 hours. A year later in 1880 he had a bulb that could last for 1500 hours and he began marketing it. In 1910 Coolidge invented the tungsten filament which increased how long the bulb could last.

So depending on what you want from an electric light bulb it the 'inventor' could have been any of the three Swan, Edison or Coolidge. In fact Swan filed a law suit against Edison for 'stealing' the idea. Edison wasn't really an inventor he was more the head of a research department.

More info here here here and some info on the law suit that Swan filed against Edison.

I'll argue the Frank Lloyd Wright example of genius.

The guy is a moron whose disasters should never have been let off a drafting table.

Nice article specifically on Falling Water falling apart.

His son was much more the genius as the inventor of the Lincoln Log.

Thanks for the Duck Tape Uncle Sam!

That rumor is most likely a myth.

http://www.ideafinder.com/resource/archives/wow-du ell.htm

Even if you were right, there are millions of us youngsters born in the 70s and 80s who don't know a lot of these names, much less ever heard the music. It's new music to our ears.

There would be lots of life left in jazz if the music got more exposure and promotion.

Considering the fact that the number of patent applications has increased every year since the Patent Office was formed (I'm 90% sure of that), it would seem unlikely that anyone at any point of time would have made a statement like that.

Also, it isn't whether new code can be created in the future, but what the utility of the new code will be and the efficacy of new business models which can profit from new software. For instance, can word processing software really improve much over what is already available and if not, why should people continue purchasing new versions of MS Office? (BTW, I don't feel that the software industry is dead, just trying to play devil's advocate)

We've all heard the quote, but it just ain't so

This guy brought us the GLH hair spray/paint and the Pocket Fisherman among other gadgets. He's considered something of a snake oil salesman except that some of his products can be useful. In the 70's and 80's, his ads were everywhere and RONCO was somewhat a household name.

Quoth MvdB:
"It doesn't matter at all if the design of the keyboard is over 100 years old."

I agree. But the problem is that the QWERTY keyboard was designed to solve a technical problem of over a century ago that no longer exists. That is, there is no good technical reason to have maintained the QWERTY arrangement...
The QWERTY keyboard was designed in the days of those mechanical typewriters where each key was attached to a lever that would strike the page through an ink ribbon, leaving the appropriate character on the page. If you've ever typed on one of those, you know it's not hard to hit one key and then hit another one too soon after hitting the first one and have the two levers jam together. If you weren't using a QWERTY keyboard, this would be even worse. The QWERTY keyboard was designed to minimize jams of this type.
References:
QWERTY Ref 1
and
QWERTY Ref 2
By the 1970s, there were already good electric typewriters (they may have come sooner, but that's when I remember seeing them) using a single ball with all the characters, avoiding the jamming lever problem completely by reducing the number of parts that have to strike the page to one. There was no longer any technical reason to maintain the QWERTY layout. The introduction of word processors and personal computers also represented chances to use more efficient keyboard layouts.
That said, there are many millions of people who have learned to type, whether through formal training (like my mom) or through natural evolution of "hunt and peck" (like me), using the QWERTY keyboard. I personally have typed this entire message without looking once at the keyboard. I use most of my fingers and I don't need to look at the keyboard. I can even continue typing--to finish a sentence, for example-- while I turn and talk to a coworker. This horrifies some of my coworkers.
My guess (and yes, I admit it's just a guess) is that increases in efficiency (Words per Minute, for example) would for most users be offset by the need to learn a new keyboard and the fact that a QWERTY-trained user would be completely lost trying to use a new keyboard layout, which could create a lot of problems.
On the other hand, there may be significant ergonomic benefits available from more efficient designs. I haven't enough knowledge of the field to even express an opinion one way or the other on that, much less weigh any possible ergonomic benefits against the time required to train a user on a new layout (no problem for new users) and against the problems the existence of multiple layouts would cause.
Maybe the new technologies that allow a computer case to change color can eventually lead to a way out of this-- imagine keys that change depending on which keyboard layout you've selected. You'd be restricted to a keyboard in the same shape, with the same key positions (unless you used a flat "keypad" with no keys... yuck!), but the identities of the keys would be different depending on the selection of a layout.
With such a keyboard, it would be possible to introduce more efficient layouts for new users and interested QWERTY-trained users, while still permitting QWERTY users to use their training and/or experience using that layout.

--Mark

Here, at least, is a page indicating that LadyLucky is correct. Snopes doesn't appear to have an entry about this quote, but this page makes a decent case that it's a myth.

Invented more than 100 years ago and still going strong.

Written, yes. Printed, no. Gutenburg invented the printing press about 550 years ago. Before that it was all handwriting. Unless you count evidence from China using clay printing processes 450 years before.

Disclaimer: I'm not associated with this book in any way, just found it in, er, Google. Maybe the next edition will include this lovely search engine...

Take the mouse, for example. According to this article, the mouse was invented in 1968. And it didn't become popular until the Mac came out in 1984. That's 16 years of obscurity before general adoption. Granted, there wasn't really any general widespread use of computer technology in that 16 years, so these days it'd be a good bit less. Still, people are really slow to switch away from something familiar that "works".

America invented the internet. No, not Al Gore, but Tim Bernstein-Lee and Mark Andreeson created the World Wide Web ...

Erm, Tim Berners-Lee is not an American.

And Marc Andreessen created MOSAIC, the first graphical browser, but did not create the WWW itself.

Logitech claims this is the first true breakthrough in pen technology in 200 years, but I guess the invention of the ball-point pen in 1888 doesn't qualify. Sigh... gotta love marketing hype!!