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Slashdot Asks: What Do You Think Is The Most Influential Gadget Of All Time? (macrumors.com)
TIME has published a list ranking the 50 most influential gadgets of all time, from cameras and TVs to music players, smartphones, and drones. Can you guess what was the number one most influential gadget on the list? That's right, the Apple iPhone. "Apple was the first company to put a truly powerful computer in the pockets of millions when it launched the iPhone in 2007," according to TIME. "The iPhone popularized the mobile app, forever changing how we communicate, play games, shop, work, and complete many everyday tasks."
There's a lot of interesting gadgets on the list that have had a profound impact on mankind in some form or another, for better or worse. Do you agree with TIME's number one choice? What do you think is the most influential gadget of all time?
There's a lot of interesting gadgets on the list that have had a profound impact on mankind in some form or another, for better or worse. Do you agree with TIME's number one choice? What do you think is the most influential gadget of all time?
A Refrigerator. Next crap question.
Zune.
Air conditioning. Made possible the industrialization of the south, and the popularity of Arizona for retirees, so basically A/C has triggered mass migrations of people to hotter climates, with an accompanying huge energy cost. Also made possible modern architecture, which is basically huge glass greenhouses with no opening windows -- try working in something like that without A/C!!!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Hey Slashdotters!
Which is the most influential letter in the alphabet of all time? Not just the one that's had the most impact through the years, but the letter whose combination of style, utility, and inspiration will take us through the early part of the 21st century and beyond!
My pick? You might think it's going to be a vowel, but I'm going to surprise "u" and go with... "C". A little "controversial", maybe, but hey, I think it's a "classy" "choice"!
Well, now you know my pick. What's yours?!! And don't forget to tell us "y"!
As much as I admire the quality and intentions of the iPhone, I don't see it as being that important. People were texting, calling, and (gasp!) yes, even browsing the web before an iPhone ever showed up. The locked-in experience of the time was vastly inferior to what the iPhone brought to the game, which is of course the main reason that it did so well. But, without the iPhone, the smartphone market would still have developed, and people still would be carrying tiny but powerful little computers in their pockets.
And the worms ate into his brain.
the gun
Seems to me that the printing press has probably brought down more governments and effected more change that the gun. Indeed if it had not been for the gun it would probably have done this with fewer people dying.
Although in terms of influence, Penny and her pet dog did most of the work.
Agreed. The 4 most influential gadgets have been:
* Wheel
* Gun
* Printing Press
* Computer
How would one even begin to quantify "how much" influence they have had though??
Firearms have forever changed both warfare and personal security. You can say, bow and arrow had a similarly dramatic effect — Spartans captured by Athenians 2500 years ago complained bitterly, that reed (from which arrows were made) does not distinguish between the brave and the cowards. But arrows weren't useful against fortifications and bow was not a good short-range weapon.
Now, refrigerators have dramatically altered the way we buy and prepare food... I'd nominate them if only because they tend to be underappreciated these days.
Railroads, airlines, personal cars — not sure, if you can call them "gadgets". Telegraph and telephone — sure!
And then cellular phone, followed by "smart" phone. But I think, telephones were more revolutionary than these next stages.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
I feel like my brain just got dumber reading that list. The Wii? Fit bit? Oculus rift? Nest Thermostat? Roku Netflixs?
None of those things should even make the top 10,000 let alone the top 50. Initially I thought they were limiting it to post 1970s stuff and then they throw in an 1850s record player.
Everybody knows it's the TOWEL.
:T:R:A:N:S:
My grandmother, who before passing away not too long ago at the age of 99, felt that despite seeing automobiles, computers and television all come of age, the microwave oven was the thing that made the largest impact in her life as a housewife. Her husband was a doctor, and with his irregular hours, it was nearly impossible to have a hot dinner ready for him when he got home, but the microwave changed that completely. It was a revolution in the production of hot meals, which is something most of us take for granted.
Agreed. The 4 most influential gadgets have been:
* Wheel
* Gun
* Printing Press
* Computer
I'd like to note the irony of a magazine not mentioning the printing press anywhere on their list.
They would look far less stupid if they had simply limited the list to the last 50 years (which is where almost all their items come from).
I'm sorry but PalmOS and even Windows Mobile did all of this way before the iPhone even hit the drawing board. There were even mobile phone versions in the the form of the Treo and Tungsten C.
The only revolutionary thing about the iPhone is it broke out of the techie niche that previous devices had been trapped in and brought it mainstream, but I suspect the biggest reason for that is fashion rather than technical.
Exactly. Multi-touch aside, the iPhone wasn't particularly innovative technologically, but it was the first mainstream non-techie smart phone.
I do not deploy Linux. Ever.
Flint, that started fire. Best gadget ever. Also the fire starting kit made of a couple of sticks and piece of string.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Plough, spear, cooking pot, shoe, clothing, stirrup, wheel, compass, boat, sail, steam engine, sextant, knife, lightbulb, refrigeration, fishing hook, vacuum cleaner, broom, roof, walls, toothbrush, doors, scissors, calculator, windows, saw, axe, lathe, printing press, telescope, telegraph, slide rule, mirrors, drill, screw, radio, TV, to name a few.
I was reading for example that the bicycle literally changed the DNA of England in a measurable way when people could now find mates a few villages over. The train would have had a similar type impact but might not qualify as a gadget.
As for the iPhone (which I have one of) they will be something quaint we find in yard sales in 10 years. Basically like having a kickass VCR in 1982.
I would say that the iPhone mostly just shook up the complacency of the telcos more than anything else. The iPhone was one of these technological developments that was inevitable. Just like ever improving battery technology makes the electric car inevitable. Tesla may very well move things along a bit more quickly but the electric car pretty much completely depends upon modern processors, batteries, and brushless motors.
Penis.
No wonder you posted anonymously. A gadget is a small tool.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Without low cost paper of consistent quality, none of the other gadgets could have been designed.
My first choice would have been the pencil, but I thought again and realized that pencils are not very useful without good paper.
I had a PDA back in those days. It was obvious to most everyone (except Microsoft, who completely missed the boat) that PDAs and phones were going to converge. The only question was if PDAs were going to pick up phone capability, or if phones were going to pick up PDA capability. Microsoft was in a position to make the former happen - they had vanquished Palm and controlled most of the PDA market with Windows CE/Mobile/their name of the year. But even when HP tried to make a WinCE PDA which could also make phone calls, Microsoft didn't lift a finger to help them.
Blackberry ended up taking the first step to adding general-purpose computing to a phone. Once they opened that floodgate, it was a race to see who could make their phone the most general general-purpose computer (except Microsoft, even though that was exactly what they were trying to do with PDAs - trying to port the Windows API to PDAs).
The only real contributions of the iPhone was lack of a physical keyboard - everyone else (except LG) was using a Blackberry-style keyboard, or a sliding keyboard, or a Palm Graffiti-style writing space. That was a huge bet by Apple, and the iPhone served as the proof of concept which green-lighted everyone else's touch-only on-screen keyboards most of them were already playing with in R&D. (The app ecosystem - instead of a handful of apps baked into the phone by the manufacturer - came later). A lot of the form and functionality people attribute to the iPhone actually came out first in the LG Prada, indicating the industry was already moving in that direction even when the iPhone hadn't yet seen the light of day.
Rather than go with "most influential" and to avoid a lot of bickering over "gadget" (by conforming to the most cited criteria here) I'll offer a few items more influential than the iPhone, in no particular order:
I could easily go on. The point, of course, is that the iPhone (or any specific smartphone) shouldn't even make the top 10.
Required reading for internet skeptics