Flash Memory- Computer Memory began as large magnetic drums and shrank to core Memory and solid-state Memory. Fujio Masuoka invented flash Memory at Toshiba in 1981 after wanting to improve the performance of EEPROM. Flash is dense, reads and writes quickly, and is resistant to environmental shocks. Intel began manufacturing flash Memory chips in 1988, and several competing consumer formats emerged by the mid-1990s. Flash memory drives the modern electronics world: MP3 players, Cell phones, computer hard drives, and more.

CD-Rom-Music formats evolved from records in the 1950s to cassettes in 1980s, and laserdisc failed to replace VCRs. Philips and Sony jointly developed the CD audio format, and then the CD-ROM format afterward in 1985. CD-ROM is a small plastic disc that stores 650 MB of data in the aluminum foil layer as pits that vary light intensity. Software companies began shipping their software on CDs in 1987, and CD-ROM drives became standard PC features. The CD format led to the DVD format, which enabled digital video streaming to go mainstream.

Cellular Phone- The telegraph, and then the telephone, had major impacts on business and global communication. As the idea of cellular networks was developed at Bell Labs, Motorola invented first cell phone in 1973. Cellular phones allow us to communicate at any time with anyone on the go, and also browse the internet. Cell networks were launched around the world in the early 1980s, and Motorola’s phone became a symbol of wealth and the arrival of the future. The cell phone has irreversibly changed how we communicate, both in personal relationships and in business.

World Wide Web- The Internet existed, as did concept of hypertext, and different computer types struggled to work together. Tim Berners-Lee, working at CERN, solved this problem by bringing the two together into the WWW in 1990. The World Wide Web is a global digital network where information is stored and accessed through a web browser. Companies, led by Berners-Lee, developed guiding principles for the Internet early on with a commitment to keep it as free or cheap and accessible as possible. It has transformed personal communication, business processes, commerce, and entertainment.

We would be making less money and communication would be much harder.