history of multimedia · project silhouettes of puppets onto a screen. fundamentally, movies and...

1. History of Multimedia - Copyright © Denis Hamelin - Ryerson University

History of Multimedia


3000 B.C.E.

● Chinese entertainers use firelight to project silhouettes of puppets onto a screen. Fundamentally, movies and video representations throughout all future technologies rely on this same principle: casting light onto a flat surface to communicate visually.


62 C.E.

● Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy proves the phenomena of rapidly moving still pictures appearing as one moving image. This idea had originally been conceived by the Roman poet Lucretius in 65 B.C.E.


1450● Johann Gutenberg

invents movable type, allowing mass production of documents.


1834● Charles Babbage

designs the first automatic digital computer, the Analytical Machine.


1837● Samuel Morse debuts

the telegraph, connecting Philadelphia and Washington D.C. and revolutionizing long-distance communication.


1858● North America and

Europe are temporarily linked by transatlantic telegraph cable, but the connection is not permanent until 1866.


1876● Alexander Graham

Bell invents the telephone.


1877● Thomas Ava Edison

invents the phonograph. Two years later he invents the light bulb.


1889● Fusajiro Yamauchi begins

manufacturing "Hanafuda" playing cards in Kyoto, Japan. Over the next four generations, the Yamauchi family business will evolve from playing cards into electronic games, becoming the modern Nintendo Company Ltd.


1900● Nickelodeons become

popular in the United States. One of the first opens in Pittsburgh.


1901● Guglielmo Marconi perfects

a wireless radio system that transmits Morse code over the Atlantic Ocean.


1903● German scientist Arthur

Korn invents the fax machine.

● The Great Train Robbery becomes the first feature film.


1912● David Sarnoff, a Marconi

wireless operator in New York, receives the SOS from the sinking H.M.S. Titanic. (Sarnoff later goes on to create RCA and its spinoff, NBC.)


1920

● KDKA-AM radio signs on the air in Pittsburgh to becomes the world's first commercial radio station. That same year, CFCF in Montreal became the first Canadian radio station.


1926● J.L. Baird

demonstrates the first practical television system based on designs created in 1884 by German scientist Paul Nipkow. Baird debuts the first color TV two years later.


1927● Philo Farnsworth

transmits the first electronic TV picture. Bell Telephone Laboratories tests wireless TV broadcasts.


1947● AT&T proposes idea of cellular phones

to the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC responds by limiting frequencies for only 23 possible phone conversations, so AT&T drops research for decades.


1950● Computer technology is used in flight

simulators, arguable the first application of computer interactivity.


1953● In order to raise funds, Stanford University

in California starts leasing nearby land to high-tech companies. Varian Associates puts up the first building in Palo Alto's new Stanford Industrial Park, part of the area soon to become known as "Silicon Valley."


1958● Willy Higinbotham

builds a computer-generated tennis-like game which almost becomes the first video game, but the idea fails to gain popular support.


1966● Ralph Baer's

Odyssey, produced by Magnavox, becomes the first commercial computer game.


1972● Nolan Bushnell founds

Atari and introduces Pong, the first modern commercial video game. (In 1976, Bushnell sells Atari for $28 million. A year later he opens the first Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant, which he also later sells.)


1976● Steve Wozniak and Steve

Jobs found Apple Computers and introduce the Apple II, the first PC to use color graphics.


1978● Video laser disc

introduced. The system was not well-promoted, and after about 10 years disappeared from the market.


1980● Sony Walkman introduced,

changing music into a more exclusive/singular experience.

● Namco's Pac-Man hits coin-operated arcades worldwide.

● Ted Turner's Cable News Network (CNN) begins broadcasting.


1982● Disney releases the movie

Tron, featuring groundbreaking computer-generated images throughout most of the movie.

● Atari develops the data glove.


1983● Compact Discs debut as

a popular format for music albums, computer data storage, and multimedia.


1984● Apple Computers buys airtime

during Super Bowl XVII to preview its next new personal computer, the Macintosh.

● The first Mac released later in January features a 3.5-inch floppy drive, 128k of RAM, a built-in 9-inch b&w screen and speakers - no internal hard drive. A 512k Mac is released in September.


1985● The Commodore Amiga debuts as

the first true multimedia computer.

● Ninendo Entertainment System (NES) comes to the United States.

● Max Headroom: 20 Minutes Into The Future movie airs on British TV. (An American TV series on ABC debuts the following year.)


1987● CompuServe introduces the GIF

image file format.

● Apple debuts Hypercard, Bill Atkinson's hypertext-linking multimedia program.

● Adobe Illustrator released.


1988● Macromind (later renamed Macromedia)

releases Director.


1990● Adobe Photoshop is released.

● The development of Photoshop started in 1987 by the brothers Thomas Knoll and John Knoll.


1991● Adobe Premiere is released.


1992● Apple releases QuickTime.


1993● The videogame Doom motivates many home PC

users to upgrade in order to play the game.

● Broderbund releases the CD-ROM game Myst which goes on to sell more than 6.3 million copies.


1994● Netscape Navigator 1.0 is released to the public.

● The Web edges out Telnet as the second most popular service on the Internet.


1995● RealAudio introduces streaming

audio to the Web; streaming video soon follows.

● Disney and Pixar make Toy Story, the first feature-length movie totally comprised by computer graphics. (The 77-minute film takes four years to make and 800,000 machine hours to render.)

● Sony Playstation game system introduced.


1996● Affordable digital cameras become

widely available.● DVD video is introduced.


1997● Macromedia buys FutureWave

Software and begins producing the company's FutureSplash Animator program under a new name, Macromedia Flash.


1998● Apple iMac released, creating a

fashion for all types of small electronics. Phones, paper shredders, clothing irons and more gadgets become available sporting blue-tinted translucent plastic covers.

● Adobe ImageReady released.


1999● Northwestern University

freshman Shawn Fanning develops the original Napster application for sharing MP3 files. Napster Inc. is founded in May.

● The Matrix revives the model of science-fiction virtual reality with innovative special effects.


2000● Ananova.com launches a

lightweight British news site using "the world's first virtual newscaster," a talking animation of a green-haired woman.

● U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel issues an injunction against Napster Inc., halting the peer-to-peer trading of MP3 music files.


2001● The WiFi (wireless fidelity)

movement soon goes mainstream among consumers.

● Kazaa restructures its business operations to become a joint venture by companies operating from different countries, making effective prosecution almost impossible.


2002● George Lucas' Star Wars: Attack

of the Clones becomes the first major movie entirely shot with digital cameras.

● Sales of DVD players surpass VCR sales for the first time. Also a first, revenues from videogame sales surpass movie box office revenues.


2003● Apple releases an upgrade to its

iTunes software allowing users to purchase individual songs for 99 cents each. The service generates more than $1 million in revenue its first week.


2004● Apple introduces the iPod Mini, a

smaller version of its MP3 player.


2006● HD-DVD format

is introduced as the successor to DVD technology.


2007● Although HD

DVD has early successes, the competition with the Blu-ray format becomes intense.


2008● On 4 January 2008 citing consumer

confusion and indifference as a reason for lackluster high-definition software sales, Warner Bros. announced it would stop supporting HD DVD by June 2008, and the company would release HD titles only on Blu-ray Disc. On Feb 18, Toshiba announces that HD DVD player will no longer be manufactured.

● The final HD DVD release worldwide was Death Proof in Germany on December 18, 2008.


End of lesson

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