subject: Electronics: An Evolution And Revolution [print this page] I often find myself pondering about the ways by which my everyday life has transformed over the recent twenty many years. Usually, I take a step back and wonder how my mother - who passed away seventeen years ago - would view today's world. Aside from the geopolitical changes which have taken place within the past twenty many years, and also the methods by which the landscape of our city has changed with explosive growth and development, there are the wondrous developments in electronics which have changed the methods we do business and also the ways we spend our leisure time.
Twenty many years back, I started using my first PC at work. I remember having to put in a floppy disk each and every time I wanted to do any word processing. It would be one more six many years before a friend told me about what he thought would be the following big thing - something known as the World Wide Web. Today, of course, it's crippling when my DSL goes about the blink; my work grinds to a halt and I marvel at just how dependent I am on the Web.
I look around my house and see all kinds of consumer electronics that I couldn't have thought of twenty years back. Sure, I had an Atari way back when, but I in no way would have imagined that Pong would evolve into a myriad of video games that my family could play on the PlayStation, Xbox, and GameCube.
Yes, I had a VCR, but I in no way would have conceived that the VCR would make room for the DVD player, and that my Tv screen would grow to such large proportions. Nor could I have imagined that my Tv would host such a myriad of systems: PlayStation, Xbox, DVD player, and DVR recorder. And then, obviously, there's the digital revolution in cameras. Not only can I take photos and share them via the internet, but I can also run slide shows on that same Television. I can take my digital camcorder, burn house movies onto discs and send them to relatives half a globe away.
What's even more amazing to me is that virtually all of the electronics consumer goods that I own have been given to me as gifts. I've been fortunate sufficient to enjoy the bounty of an electronics revolution that I couldn't have imagined twenty years back. Which, of course, leads me to wonder what the following twenty years might bring within the wondrous world of electronics.
