The 25 most brilliant inventions of the past

30 years

Some are obvious, such as laptop, cell phone or the Internet herself. But who makes a
fitting tribute to other great inventions such as velcro, microwave oven, the Post It or
Rubik's cube? Without neglecting others such as CD, USB flash drives, video games,
digital camera or GPS. And, within the Network, YouTube and Facebook also deserve
to be on the list.


1 Laptop
They are used in the waiting rooms of airports, on airplanes, in offices, in universities.
Mobility is his most prized feature. In April 1981 the first laptop launched: the
Osborne 1 The computer, which bore the name of its creator, Adam Osborne English
was very different to today's laptops. Weighed 11 kilos and was rudimentary. But the
success was immediate and in 1982 the company reached Osborne Computer billed $
10 million annually. 27 years after laptops gain in capability while reducing weight
and price.


2 Compact Disc

The compact disc (CD) was released a August 17, 1982 by the Dutch company Philips
and operated by a non-contact laser and read-physical-information contained in a
record of 12.7 inches in diameter. The CD revolutionized the way we listen to music
and meant to other formats (cassette, vinyl record). The first CDs were recorded the
album The Visitors of the Swedish group Abba and the Alpine Symphony by Richard
Strauss directed by Herbert Von Karajan. With the advent of mp3 and iPod, CD sales
have declined so the death of the CD is predicted.


3 USB Memory

Before 1998, the diskette was lord and master when it comes to storing information.
But CDs and USB (Universal Serial Bus) flash memories, grabbed his reign. In 1998,
IBM asked the Israeli company M Systems (later purchased by Sandisk), the first line G
USB for inkpad. They came in 8, 16, 32 and 64 megs. Today there are 64 models and
different presentations gigas (keychains, dolls, etc). It is common to see universities
ads like this: "I lost a black USB scandisk memory, 4 gigs on Thursday November 22."
4 GPS
Global Positioning System (Global Positioning System) is a technology developed in
the seventies for military purposes by the American army. Ivan Getting, a physicist
and electronic engineer was the inventor of this device which indicates the exact
latitude and longitude coordinates by their connection with satellites. At present, the
GPS are in cars, trucks, planes, boats or are used by geologists in exploration work.

5 Airbag

Inflatable flexible bag that cushions the impact of car occupants in a crash. The airbag
was patented in 1971 by the German company Mercedes Benz. The first serial airbag
was installed in a 1981 Mercedes S Class Gradually its use has spread and for example
in Spain in 2007, one hundred per cent of new cars were equipped with airbags.

6 DVD

In the eighties and early nineties it was normal to see a movie on Betamax or VHS
became better life with the advent of DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), which stored large
amount of information (4.7 gigabytes). The first DVD SD-3000 was made in November
1996 by Toshiba. The DVD changed the way movies: someone in the comfort of your
living room can see the special edition of your favorite film with additional material
(behind the scenes footage, interviews). Without fulfilling even 12 years, Blu-Ray, for
their technical and storage (25 gigabytes) qualities, is emerging as the replacement
DVD.

7 Cell Phone

The first cell created in Japan in 1979 were large and only transmitted sounds. Today
cell phones send text messages, take pictures, or music store. Like other inventions,
the "celu" marked changes in the lives of people. Thanks to this device can
communicate at any time. Advantage has its cons: boss calls absurd hours (seven
o'clock, nine night), having to hear other people's conversations at the office or
support cell rings in restaurants, theaters, cinemas, even funeral homes and churches.


8 Fax
Before the mass fax from 1980, if someone wanted to send a quote to another city, I
would have to mail it and he had delayed three days. Today in seconds an exact copy
(a facsimile, hence the word fax) of the sent document is received: a bill, invoice or a
waiver as of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, who resigned via fax from
Tokyo, the November 19, 2000.

9 Games
Many children do not understand how their parents spent their childhood playing
with spinning yo-yo or pellets. In 2008 any twelve year old boy is skilled at Halo 3 and
talk to property Xbox or Playstation, distant descendants of that Atari 2600 console in
1977 begin with telebolitos, Space Invaders and Pac Mans. The video game market is
worth more than 30 billion dollars annually.

10 Internet
Hard to imagine what the world would no Internet. There would be no email, no
Google, no YouTube videos, no calls for Facebook, let alone Internet Day (May 17).
There would be no chat rooms or blogs, or a student may consult books without
leaving home. What was a science project in 1972 in the United States, is now used by
over one billion people.

11 Ipod
The October 23, 2001 when the first iPod was introduced, Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO
prophesied, "listening to music will never be the same." The iPod is a portable device
that allows people to store their favorite music-from the Beatles to Fito Paez,
Beethoven and Hector Lavoe- hear in the parking lot or at a barbecue in La Calera.
This white box is a worthy successor of the Sony Walkman -designed in 1979 by order
of President Akio Morita- Japanese company who wanted to listen to music while
playing tennis. We have sold over 100 million iPods and new models can store 160
gigabytes 40,000 songs or 200 hours of video.

12 Microwave
Although it was created in 1946 by Percy Spencer, an engineer in the United States,
the microwave oven became popular in the late seventies. In 1986, the microwave
was present in 60 percent of households gringos. Microwave ovens change the routine
in the way of cooking and heating food, and although some groups have pointed
naturist health hazards assumptions for its use, convenience and time saving
microwave energy have made him one of the favorite appliances.

13 Velcro
In the 80s the use of velcro on shoes and clothing in fashion joined replacing laces and
buttons. The velcro was the brainchild of Swiss engineer George De Mestral in 1941
De Mestral was walking in the countryside with his dog when he noticed cocklebur
seeds clung to his clothes and hair of your pet. By observing the seeds under the
microscope he saw that they were surrounded by tiny hooks that facilitated
adherence. Reflecting on the fact, created a system of opening and closing is now used
in gloves, jackets, shoes or suits of astronauts. The word comes from velcro velvet,
velvet in English, and that means crochet hook.


14 Post It
In 1974 Art Fry working at 3M and sang Sunday in the church choir. Fry despaired
when the papers pointing his scores, fell to the ground. Then he remembered that 3M
had created a glue that had the peculiarity that beat little. Experimenting with
different media created the Post It. In 1980, Post It already successfully marketed in
the United States.

15. Facebook
Recent marches February 4 and March 6 were called by Facebook social network that
receives 5,000 million views. Facebook was created in 2005 by a student at Harvard
University, led by Mark Zuckerberg (1984). Yahoo tried to buy Facebook by 1,000
million dollars but Zuckerberg did not accept the offer. And he was right. On October
24 2007, Microsoft bought 1.6 percent of pay Facebook 240 million dollars.


16 Remote Control
Whoever owns it is the boss. So you wives and kids have it in their hands. This device
was invented in 1956 by Eugene Polley and Robert Adler, who worked with Zenith.
The remote zapping think, jump the channels until you find something interesting,
(which is sometimes very difficult).

17 You Tube
Launched in November 2005 by former employees of PayPal eCommerce site. In
addition to funny situations videos on YouTube you can watch music videos,
commercials, videos and erotic messages to campaigning politicians. With 20 million
users a month, this site has great potential. Since October 2006, YouTube is part of
Google.

18 Digital Camera
Steven J. Sasson, an engineer at Kodak company, established in 1975 the first digital
camera. It was the size of a toaster, 0.01 megapixel and required 23 seconds to save a
picture. Very different from today's cameras that fit in a pocket and easy to use.

19 Rubik's Cube
The Hungarian Erno Rubik designed a colorful cube that bore his name. Rubik was a
professor of architecture in Budapest. Your hub has 4 different colors and aim to sort
it by color. In 1979 more than 100 million units sold. Recently a mathematical United
States showed that 26 moves could assemble the cube.

20 Palm Pilot
PC World magazine included the PalmPilot digital agenda in its 1000 list of the most
important devices in the last 50 years. This PDA fit in a pocket but had the capacity to
store 500 names and phone numbers. In the nineties were very popular, still used, but
cell generation and bring incorporated many of the features of these agendas.




21 iPhone
Time magazine noted in this cell phone as the "Invention of 2007". Apple CEO has a
goal of selling 10 million iPhones in 2008 the iPhone was launched on June 29, 2007 in
the United States to $ 499 4-gigabyte version and $ 599 for the 8 gig version. The
iPhone will only be used with an official wireless carrier such as AT & T in the United
States. Hackers Unlocked iPhones so they can actually be used in any country.

22. Google
It is the search engine most used Internet (800 million queries per day). The Google
company was founded in 1999 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, students at Stanford
University. Google publicly traded and its value is estimated at 66 billion dollars. In
October 2006, Google acquired 1,650 million by the famous video site YouTube.

23 Karaoke
Invention as Japanese as sushi. In 1971, Daisuke Inoue invented rocker karaoke,
Japanese word meaning "empty orchestra". The invention was taken up by large
companies -Daisuke never patented his creation that is estimated lost at least 150
million dollars and crowded in karaoke bars where people drink is believed to third
Shakira and Juanes.

24 Wi-Fi
Short for Wireless Fidelity (Wi-fi). The Wi-Fi is a technology that allows computers
without using wires or plugs. In tel world is discussing the issue of access Wi-Fi and
the goal is to reach cities completely "disconnected".

25 Email
Ray Tomlinson, a gringo engineer in 1971 created the email. It was the time of
Arpanet, the predecessor of the Internet, and Tomlinson's invention was used to send
messages within the network. Tomlinson chose the @ (at) characters to specify the
message recipient. With the popularization of Internet, the creation became
indispensable. The email also revived the epistolary genre. So a couple of boyfriends
emails may be written as passionate as the old letters written in ink and wrapped in
envelopes.