Technology Facts

Motorola is the first company to manufacture a handheld mobile phone.

Martin Cooper is the “father of the handheld cellphone” and the co-founder of several communications companies. It was in the 1970s, Cooper was with the Motorola (an American multinational telecommunications company) when he invented the first handheld cellular mobile phone. Martin Cooper led Motorola with his inventions and brought it to market in the year 1983. He was the first-ever person to make a handheld mobile phone call in public.

IBM created the first Smartphone.

Although IBM takes the credit for making the first “Smartphone” in the early 1990s, it was in the year 2010-2011 when the “real” Smartphone started to breakout. Concurrently, the mobile phone pioneer Motorola started to penetrate the market by selling smartphones such as Motorola Atrix 4G in 2011. Subsequently, other companies such as Apple, Samsung, and LG join the party from the year 2012 onwards. Simultaneously, Samsung, Apple, and China phones grab the Smartphone market share as of 2020.

Nokia's epic come back?

When Smartphones went mainstream in the year 2012-2013 it dethroned the leading and dominant basic phone manufacturer, Nokia. With this mind, it is evident that the world of technology is forever changing. Hence, no one is assured that they can keep their business empire permanently. Nevertheless, Nokia is coming back today in full force with its Smartphone versions and it is fun to see them fight once again for glory in the cutthroat business of technology.

Technological updates can be costly.

Since the year 2009, Android is constantly upgrading and updating its system. Moreover, updates are important due to security purposes such as hacking prevention, repairing security holes, and as well as removing outdated features while adding a better one. While it may be true, consumers “buy” the idea and they are willing to give in at its market price and play catch up with these technological updates.

From 2008 to 2019, Android already has 17 updates.

Take Android for instance, since its inception in 2009 it already went on a series of updates.

• Android 1.0 – September 23, 2008
• Android 1.1 – February 9, 2009
• Cupcake 1.5 – April 27, 2009
• Donut 1.6 –  September 15, 2009
• Eclair 2.0 – October 26, 2009
• Froyo 2.2 – May 20, 2010
• Gingerbread 2.3 – December 6, 2010
• Honeycomb 3.0 – February 22, 2011
• Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 – October 18, 2011
• Jelly Bean 4.1 – July 9, 2012
• KitKat 4.4 – October 31, 2013
• Lollipop 5.0 – November 12, 2014
• Marshmallow 6.0 – October 5, 2015
• Nougat 7.0 – 7.1.2 August 22, 2016
• Oreo 8.0 – 8.1 August 21, 2017
• Pie 9.0 – August 6, 2018
• Android 10.0 – September 3, 2019

Furthermore, upon looking at Android’s trend for its updates, it looks like it does not have any plan of slowing down.

Jaap Haartsen invented the Bluetooth.

Jaap Haartsen is a Dutch electrical engineer who invented the Bluetooth. Moreover, the Bluetooth technology uses the short-wavelength, a type of electromagnetic radiation, to transfer data or files in-between the mobile devices over short distances without the use of direct wirings.

The Green Revolution started in the early 1900s.

During the 20th century, a huge amount of money flowed into modern scientific research for agriculture which is known as the Green Revolution. As a result, crop production reached new heights that provide enough food for everyone. Moreover, the term “Green Revolution” was used to represent the massive growth in agriculture.

The Green Revolution is now reaping dividends.

The first investments in research of the Green Revolution went to rice and wheat since it is the most important food crops for developing countries. Furthermore, the breeding developed different plant varieties, combined with the expanded use of fertilizers and pesticides, and irrigation. To this end, Asia, as well as North and South America are reaping the dividends of the Green Revolution and they are now one of the major sources of food.

The technology of nuclear power plants is commonly used for steam turbines.

Nuclear power plants generate heat from nuclear reactions. In particular, nuclear power plants use it for the steam turbines, a device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, to produce electricity. Although different techniques may vary, the production of steam is common among all nuclear power plants.

Nuclear bombs are one of the most advanced technological weapons.

Nuclear bombs are one of the most advanced technological weapons of mass destruction. Moreover, it’s an explosive device that acquires its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either from fission or a combination of fission and fusion reactions. Furthermore, these weapons are much known today as Nuke, Atomic Bomb, Atom Bomb, A-Bomb, Nuclear Warhead, or simply Nuclear Bomb.

Nuclear fission's process usually includes the isotopes of uranium or plutonium.

Nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction or a radioactive decay process in which the nucleus of an atom breaks into two or more smaller and lighter nuclei. Moreover, this process usually includes the isotopes of uranium (uranium-235, uranium-233) or plutonium (plutonium-239).

Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei.

Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei. Accordingly, two smaller atoms are brought together which is usually hydrogen or hydrogen isotopes (deuterium, tritium) to form a larger one (helium isotopes). In like manner, this process is similar to how the sun produces its energy.

Tsar Bomba is the most powerful nuclear weapon.

The Tsar Bomb or Tsar Bomba is the most powerful bomb known as of the moment. At first, the Tsar Bomb was tested as an experimental verification for multi-stage thermonuclear weapon designs in the year 1961. To this end, the Tsar Bomb or Tsar Bomba is the single most physically powerful nuclear weapon ever deployed and detonated on earth.

Four nuclear physicists from Russia designed the Tsar Bomb.

The Tsar Bomb or Tsar Bomba is classified as a hydrogen bomb and was designed by 4 nuclear physicists from Russia (Yulii Khariton, Andrei Sakharov, Yuri Babayev, Yakov Zeldovich) for their country. To illustrate its power, the Tsar Bomb is 1,400 times more powerful than the famous nuclear bombs detonated over Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Furthermore, it’s also much stronger than all the bombs exploded in World War 2, combined.

The North American X-15 is the fastest aircraft.

The fastest aircraft ever flown by a human is the North American X-15 aircraft. In detail, the United States Airforce and NASA operated the hypersonic rocket-powered plane as part of the X-plane series of experimental aircraft. Above all, the North American X-15 can fly as fast as 7,200 kph. In other words, the X-15 is faster than the speed of sound.

The Tupolev TU 144 was the fastest commercial airline.

The Tupolev TU 144 was the fastest commercial airline on earth running at 2,430 kilometers per hour. Although the Tupolev TU 144 is not anymore running today as a passenger aircraft due to some system failure issue, the Russian military continues to use it for conducting various space programs and training. Nevertheless, the Russian government published the concept of the Tu-144 in an article in the January 1962 issue of the magazine Technology of Air Transport. In particular, the TU 144 started its business on December 26, 1975, flying mail and freight between Moscow and Alma-Ata in preparation for passenger services which last for several years.

The technology of robotics is getting better and better every year.

The technology of robotics is getting better and better every year. Thus, robots are commonly used in various industries such as automobile manufacturers, perform simple or hard repetitive tasks, and most importantly, the robots are deployed in a hazardous environment to replace human intervention which removes the risks for injuries or even casualties in the dangerous workplace.

Artificial intelligence is the future.

Artificial intelligence is the next “big thing” in the robotics industry. Hence, researchers, scientists, and inventors are working hand in hand to build a robot that can truly mimic human intelligence. Moreover, artificial intelligence is on its way to becoming a reality in the short to medium-term future. For instance, a “Robo-Doctor” can perform surgery on its own, a “Robo-Maid” do all the household chores, a “Robo-Businessman” can create a successful business.

Ancient Greece used rail transport as early as the 6th century BC.

The history of rail transport started in the 6th century BC in Ancient Greece. In detail, the ancient rail system is 8 kilometers long that uses Diolkos paved trackway technology (a trackway that enables a boat to move overland) which allowed them to transport their boats across the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece during the 600 BC. Moreover, the Diolkos was in service for over 650 years and lasted until the 1st century AD.

For over 500 years, the technology of the train system continues to get better.

From the introduction of the wooden rails in the year 1515, where trains run not more than 16 kilometers per hour, the train system technology today truly exceeded above the expectations. Currently, the Shanghai Maglev is the fastest train in the world with a maximum operating speed of 45o to 500 kilometers per hour.

Car manufacturers are eyeing for fully-autonomous vehicles.

The transportation industry is one of the significant areas where new technological advancement happens every now then. For instance, some cars today can drive themselves along predetermined routes. Thus, it won’t be anymore a surprise to see 90% to 99.99% self-driving cars in the future. Moreover, it is expected that by the year 2050, around 95 percent of the cars in the advanced countries will already run as autonomous vehicles (self-driving cars). Currently, more than 10 automobile manufacturers are developing these autonomous cars.

Peugeot Citroën successfully created a self-driving car.

In July 2015, PSA Peugeot Citroën, a French multinational manufacturer of automobiles, receive an authorization to carry out open-road tests for autonomous cars. Accordingly, the plan is to run the car without a driver involved for the entire trip. During the drive, the car was able to adjust its speed and change lanes successfully without accidents or scratches for a 600-kilometer trip. Furthermore, PSA Peugeot Citroën plans to market its self-driving technology in 2020.

Google is using self-driving cars in Silicon Valley.

Google started to develop its self-driving technology in January 2009. Furthermore, Waymo is the original project of Google that became a stand-alone company in December 2016. Today, Waymo LLC an American autonomous driving technology development company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. Currently, Google is running several self-driving cars on the road in Silicon Valley. Although there are more than 11 accidents occurred from these cars, according to the investigations it is not the fault of the self-driving cars.

Using self-driving cars has a lot of advantages.

Based on the research, as soon as cars become autonomous vehicles or self-driving, there will be an estimated 80% fewer emissions, 90% fewer accidents, and as much as 40% less traffic congestion, and space saved in parking. Even more, the driving efficiency will further improve as driverless cars will result in less braking, proper accelerating, less gridlock on highways and it will detect a better route or lane and help ease up traffic congestion.

The technology in this era will dramatically change.

The emerging technologies in the last few years have reached unprecedented heights. And what might be called “high-tech” today, can simply be called “low-tech” tomorrow in the blink of an eye. Accordingly, schools are incorporating emerging technologies, such as Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality, into the school curriculum. Above all, the goal is to empower more innovative and engaging teaching methods and learning experiences for the younger generations.

Today, the young and old generations are more open to the latest technology.

Here are 3 instances to prove this point:
1. Out of the 10 teachers in New Zealand, 8 of them say that digital technologies are having a positive effect on student achievement.
2. More than 80% of teachers in the United States think that using technology will enhance the student’s career in the future.
3. Around 50% of teachers in Australia have a strong interest in professional development using digital learning to engage students.

The technology of virtual reality is not just for entertainment anymore.

Virtual reality, or also known as VR, is a simulated experience that can be the same or different from the real world or environment. Moreover, the functions and the use of virtual reality vary in one way or another. With this purpose in mind, virtual reality technology in entertainment or video games, educational purposes, medical research, and as well as military training.

Intelligent Apps are designed to make everyday tasks much easier.

Intelligent Apps or I-Apps are bits of software formulated for mobile devices based on artificial intelligence and machine learning technology that is designed to make everyday tasks much easier. Furthermore, Intelligent Apps can help its user for diversified tasks such as scheduling meetings, organizing, prioritizing emails, which works like a virtual assistant.

Our current technology is far away from perfect, but it will always strive to get better.

Currently, mobile apps are going mainstream. Not very long ago, many people rely upon media, TV, weather reports, newspapers, magazines, radio, etc. However, today, the mobile phone has all the answers. Due to the ongoing technology updates, humans can now say goodbye to the long lines for paying utility bills, horrible lines of banking transactions, inconveniences in groceries or shopping, long wait for taxis, a long wait for your favorite TV show, and so many more. Hence, all of these are now one tap away from the mobile phone.

MyFitnessPal is a mobile app that can save your fitness problems.

Are you physically getting out of shape? Or maybe your body is out of shape ever since? This mobile app might save you from your challenging problem. MyFitnessPal, which was acquired by Under Armour (a company that manufactures footwear, sports, and casual apparel), has been here since the year 2015 and yet very few take advantage of their free services. Furthermore, MyFitnessPal is a mobile app that tracks your diet and exercise, which gives you the “map” to your fitness goal either you want to go up or down in weight.

MyFitnessPal's technology gives its users the optimal chances of staying fit.

One of the hardest things to do in fitness is to count and track your calorie intake especially if the person has “no clue” about the science behind it. Accordingly, MyFitnessPal’s technology allows its users to track nutrients by scanning the barcodes of various food items or manually find them in the app’s large pre-existing database. Moreover, since the users precisely track their progress and intake, results are almost certain.

SpaceX, Boeing, and Virgin Galactic are pioneering aerospace tourism.

In terms of tourism, the outer space tour or space tourism is currently one of the most advanced. Space tourism is for a “regular civilian tourist” intended to go in the outer space for recreational purposes. Furthermore, SpaceX, Boeing, and Virgin Galactic are currently the two big companies behind this tourism technology.

The space tour can be expensive and relatively risky with our current technology.

The space tour would cost around $250,000 per seat. However, as it may sound a lot, the companies try trying their best to lower the cost. Thus, the resources and labor costs going out in the space is not cheap at this point. Moreover, companies are acknowledging that there are risks involved in space travel. Of course, the outer space is uncharted territory and the current technology we have is relatively new. Nevertheless, our brave entrepreneurs are willing to take the risk for exploration, and they truly believe that it will be rewarding not just on the business side but to humanity as well.

Robert Thomas Bigelow is building an inflatable space hotel to orbit the moon.

Robert Thomas Bigelow, a real estate mogul and the founder of Bigelow Aerospace, is taking the biggest risk of his life. Several years ago, Robert Thomas Bigelow thought about building an inflatable space hotel to orbit the moon. At first, Robert consulted his wife and talked about his inflatable hotel in outer space, and the initial reaction of his wife was, “YOU WANT TO BUILD A WHAT?!”. Despite all the criticism, the idea is on its way and the plan is to create a very durable material using the same concept of “how tires hold the car” and equate it for outer space use.

Bigelow Aerospace is on track for its target.

Bigelow Aerospace estimates its inflatable space hotel could be ready for lunar orbit by 2022 since one of the company’s pods is already attached to the International Space Station.

The development of humanity in outer space is starting.

Many might wonder, what would the tourists do in an outer space hotel. First and foremost, the view. Nothing is like outside our planet earth, and seeing the galaxy in front of their very own eyes is beyond your regular travel tour. Second, there is no gravity. Millions and millions of adventure enthusiasts are longing for that one of kind experience. Although our current technology limits the tourist’s “to-do list” in outer space as of now, more and more developments await us that our yet to be discovered.

There is a future for "Space Sports".

Creating a recreational or professional sport outside our planet is of the plans. For instance, “Space Football” will be played inside a huge “space arena” where athletes and audiences are safe to play, watch, and cheer to their favorite teams even without wearing a spacesuit and still enjoying the gravityless environment. Futuristically speaking, “Space Sports” will be part of the Olympics.

Moreover, with all of these brilliant ideas coming from all over the place, our current technology right now as a whole is just as good as the “dinosaur age” a thousand years from now.

Every single person, every single astronaut that has been to outer space says they completely changed as a result.

The good side of exploring and living outside our planet is that it can ease some planetary problems such as overcrowding, land security issues, climate change, etc. Above all, it changes everyone’s perspective in life since they already know that there is an opportunity to live outside earth. And instead of wasting the massive funds for world wars and weapons of mass destruction, people can now consider uniting as one and all together conquer our galaxy.

“Every single person, every single astronaut that has been to outer space says they completely changed as a result”
“My goal is to put regular people in space”
– Richard Branson, British business magnate, investor, author, and founder of the Virgin Group.

NASA's 1977 technology holds the record of the farthest spacecraft from earth ever sent by a human.

Voyager 1 is currently the farthest device or spacecraft from the earth that was created by a human. NASA launched Voyager 1 as a space probe on September 5, 1977. Initially, the mission of Voyager 1 is to flyby Jupiter, Saturn, and Saturn’s largest moon which we call Titan. Moreover, Voyager 1 observed the weather, magnetic fields, and rings of the two planets. It is also the first probe to take detailed images of their moons. Furthermore, upon completing its mission to flyby on the planets of our solar system, Voyager 1 became the third of five artificial objects to accomplish the escape velocity required to leave the Solar System. Above all, Voyager 1 became the first spacecraft to cross the heliopause and enter the interstellar medium (the matter and radiation that exists in the space between the star systems in a galaxy) on August 25, 2012.

Voyager 1 is already more than 11 billion miles away from us.

Voyager 1 may be more than 11 billion miles away from our planet right now but it continues to communicate with us by sending signals. However, it is estimated that nuclear powered Voyager 1 will eventually die in the year 2030. Nevertheless, as long as she’s alive, it will keep reporting back on magnetic fields and charged particles, a cross between a weather satellite until her power dies.

Voyager 1 continues to travel at the speed of 62,140 kilometers per hour.

Traveling at 62,140 kilometers per hour, the body of Voyager 1 will wonder the universe more than the earth’s lifetime even after its “death” in the year 2030. Above all, Voyager 1 will represent the human’s intelligence on earth along with our “humble” technology (if she will ever encounter another alien intelligence). Most noteworthy, any extraterrestrial life who encounters Voyager 1 needs to figure out the Earth’s technology called the “record player” since she’s carrying our recorded greetings and music.

Thomas Edison started the use of electricity in the 1870s using Direct Current.

Many people knew about the famous inventor Thomas Edison. In contrast, most people are not familiar with Nikola Tesla. Born in Croatia, Nikola Tesla came to the United States in the year 1884 and worked for Thomas Edison. At first, at was the feeling of a “dream come true” for Tesla to work with the famous inventor Thomas Edison. Furthermore, as the brilliant mind of Nikola Tesla learns about the electricity with Edison, he suggested to him the use of Alternating Current. Back in the 1870s, Edison believes that the Direct Current is far better than Alternating Current because he knows that it is much safer. In other words, Edison rejected the idea of Tesla. Thus, Nikola Tesla offered the Alternating Current to somebody else.

Nikola Tesla brought the Alternating Current technology to George Westinghouse.

Nikola Tesla brought his idea to George Westinghouse (an American entrepreneur and engineer) about using the Alternating Current technology to light up the homes, and most importantly to compete with Thomas Edison’s Direct Current. Moreover, George Westinghouse saw the opportunity and gambled with Tesla’s idea about the Alternating Current. In particular, Thomas Edison is no pushover since Edison’s Direct Current is already established and above all, Edison is funded by the Legendary Investor John Pierpont Morgan or much known today as JP Morgan.

Thomas Edison launched black propaganda to discredit Alternating Current.

As soon as JP Morgan and Editon felt the pressure about the rise of the Alternating Current, Edison launched a black propaganda campaign to discredit Alternating Current and convince the public that it was dangerous such as using the technology of Alternating Current for the electric chair for the death penalty. However, even with all of those efforts, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse won the contract to supply electricity to the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago—beating out its rival, Edison Electric. Above all, Westinghouse also received a contract to construct an Alternating Current generator for a hydro-electric power plant at Niagara Falls. Finally, in 1896, the plant started to produce electricity to Buffalo, New York, with a 41 kilometers stretch.

GE or General Electric was born out of the fierce competition of electric wars.

After the fall of the of Edison’s Direct Current technology, JP Morgan confronted George Westinghouse and threaten him for infringement (the use of works protected by the law without permission for a usage). As a result, JP Morgan took over the business to the Westinghouse, removed Thomas Edison in the company and change its name from Edison Electric to General Electric or much known today as GE, which became one of the most powerful companies on earth. Nikola Tesla continued to work for JP Morgan while Thomas Edison moved forward and created his company and continued his productivity creating one new invention after another. Fast forward today, we continue to use the Alternating Current technology of Nikola Tesla. Meanwhile, Edison’s Direct Current is still used today in batteries.

Hydropower generates more than 16% of the world's total electricity.

Hydropower is the energy coming from falling or fast-running water, which may be harnessed for different purposes. During ancient times, the use of hydropower has been present in different forms such as watermills, irrigation, etc. Furthermore, this relatively old technology continues to help our current challenges and issues we face about energy shortage. Accordingly, hydropower generates more than 16% of the world’s total electricity and 70% of all renewable electricity.

Solar power continues to get better.

Compare to all renewable energy, solar power looks to be the easiest and less complicated way to generate power. But our current technology today limits us to maximize the abundant sunlight, which seems to be not enough in terms of productivity. However, as technology gets better and better every year, it is expected that by the year 2050, solar photovoltaics and concentrated solar power would finally be more dominant and should contribute around 15% or more already.

Wind energy provides mechanical power through wind turbines.

Wind energy takes advantage of the windy environment to provide mechanical power through wind turbines to turn electric generators. Moreover, it is a renewable and sustainable source of energy which gives a better impact on the environment (like hydro and solar) in contrast to the burning of fossil fuel. Denmark has the highest production of wind power, with more than 40% of its consumed electricity comes from it.

GMO uses the technology of genetic engineering techniques.

The genetically modified organism, or also known as GMOs uses genetic engineering techniques whose genome (the genetic material of an organism) has been engineered in the laboratory to favor the expression of desired physiological traits or the generation of certain biological products. Moreover, it has long been a practice for breeding the selected individuals of a species such as livestock, crop farming, and even pet breeding.

E-waste is the garbage of technology.

Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials or objects, making them reusable and useful again. There are many advantages to using recycled materials. For instance, using recycled paper instead of brand new or “virgin paper” saves water and trees.

Furthermore, one of the most technologically advance garbage problems right now is the E-waste (electronic waste). Each year, E-waste contributes around 20 to 50 million metric tons of global waste. Due to the massive production of mobile phones, computers, and other gadgets year after year, the E-waste is starting to be an issue.

In conclusion, one of the best things to do is to use electronic gadgets for as long as possible before thinking about the next upgrade or buying a “better one” which most of the mobile companies impose on the general public. Even more, some companies are starting to recycle E-waste and offer their clients’ old gadgets for a swap.