Everybody seems to be into startups nowadays. Though the risk is there, people are willing to invest in one. After all, creating one is not that difficult. The Internet has made running a startup an easier and a more affordable venture.

Today, you could just build a startup from a website. You do not necessarily need to have a physical office. Depending on the nature of your startup, you can already begin by hiring freelancers or remote workers then you are all set.

Regardless of how you set up your own company, there are definitely costs to incur. And, if you are wondering how much does it cost to run a startup, here is an interesting infographic from Staff.com.

The infographic compares running a basic tech startup from different major cities around the world. A basic tech startup would mean having only one designer, two developers and an office. The facts are surprising.

For example, it would cost you 6 times more to run your startup from Zurich than in Manila. In Zurich, you will need an average annual cost of $314,000 and only $45,000 in Manila. In the United States, it is a bit more expensive to run a startup in New York than in San Francisco.

Another interesting thing to take note is the difference in the rates of the designers, developers and offices. In San Francisco, the designers and developers are paid way more than those who are in Paris. But, their office costs are cheaper. Zurich and Sydney gets the most pay in these 8 cities on the list. Manila has the most affordable annual office cost.

Check out more of the facts below. Do they in any way influence your decision on where you would decide to build your startup?

Source: Staff.com

Related articles:
Inside the Mind of a Startup Entrepreneur [Infographic]

People of the digital era take the latest smartphone technology for granted. They rarely think that an iPhone in their pocket is the crown of the world’s engineering thought that led the human race from the primitive cave life to the digital age. But in fact an iPhone, however small it might be, is a concentration of centuries of scientific and engineering work. Mathematicians, chemists, inventors along with all kinds of engineers and scientists have dedicated their entire lives just to make another small step towards the technology level where creation of the today’s so popular smartphone would be possible. People of different calibers and talents, from unknown students to scientific legends, from all over the world, made their small and big contributions to the smartphone idea. Even a few wars had to break out to boost technologies that would eventually bring us to the iPhone.

Click for the full-size infographic

Working for an IT outsourcing company, I have always being amazed at the modern devices and gadgets our employees work with. How small and compact they are while being so powerful and advanced. I’ve been wondering how much time and efforts it took for mankind to come up with something like iPhone and other modern smartphones. So I started reading the history of smartphones and their parts such as camera, LCD display, touch-screen, battery etc. It was an interesting read. I could not help asking one of our graphic designers to create an infographic for me and others who think it would be cool to see the entire evolution of the human thought from the Stone Age to the digital age in one place.

It’s really interesting to observe how today’s ordinary things such as smartphones are linked with hundreds of inventions, innovations and sometimes seemingly unrelated events. This chain of links stretches throughout the entire human history. The odds are that if even the smallest link of this chain was missing we would probably have no iPhone today.

When working on the infographic I tried to take into consideration even the most unexpected historical events such as America discovery, for example, which however are important milestones in the global evolution and progress that led us to the latest technologies.

In the course of gathering information for this iPhone infographic I've made a few timelines of technology advances. So I’d like to share those timelines here for those who might have interest in the history of science and engineering.

The major groundbreaking discovery for any today’s gadgets was electricity. The discovery of electromagnetism made it possible to invent such vital things as telegraph (the basis for the Internet), telephone and radio (the basis for today’s wireless technologies). So here is my timeline of important electricity inventions and events:

Electricity Timeline

• Thales of Miletus: discovery of static electricity, Greece, 600 BCE
• William Gilbert: establishment of electrochemistry and electrical engineering, the term "electricity", UK, 1600
• Otto von Guericke: electrostatic generator, Germany, ca. 1650
• Stephen Gray: discovery of insulators and conductors, UK, 1720
• Pieter van Musschenbroek, Leyden jar (capacitor), Netherlands, 1746
• Benjamin Franklin: discovery of electrical potentials, USA, 1752
• Luigi Galvani: "animal electricity" (a bridge between chemical reactions and electricity), Italy, 1780
• Alessandro Volta: invention of the voltaic pile (zinc, copper disks), Italy, 1800
• Hans Christian Ørsted: electromagnetism discovery, Denmark, 1820 [also in Internet and Radio timelines]
• André-Marie Ampère: theory of electrodynamics, France, 1821
• Georg Ohm: Ohm's law (the concept of electrical resistance), Germany, 1827
• Michael Faraday, law of induction, UK, 1831
• Hippolyte Pixii: prototype DC generator (an early form of dynamo), France, 1832
• Nicholas Callan: induction coil (transformer), 1836, Ireland
• Floris Nollet: a practical AC generator, Belgium, 1850
• Heinrich Daniel Ruhmkorff: Ruhmkorff coil, Germany, 1851
• James Clerk Maxwell: Maxwell's equations (the foundation of classical electrodynamics and electric circuits), prediction of the existence of radio waves, UK, 1862
• William Armstrong: the world's first power station, UK, 1868
• Lucien Gaulard and John Dixon Gibbs: device for the transmission of alternating current electrical energy, France/UK, 1881
• Thomas Edison: Pearl Street Station (the first public steam-driven power distribution system), USA, 1882
• H.J. Rogers: Vulcan Street Plant (the world's first Edison hydroelectric central station), USA, 1882

After Alessandro Volta invented the voltaic pile it became possible to develop a battery. However it took almost two centuries for scientists to come up with the modern lithium-ion battery technology used in iPhones and other smartphones. Here is my li-ion battery timeline of important discoveries and events which branches off from the electricity timeline at the moment of Volta's discovery:

Battery timeline

See the electricity timeline for other relevant dates

• Benjamin Franklin: the term "battery" used to describe a set of linked capacitors, USA, 1749
• William Cruickshank: trough battery (first electric battery capable of mass production), UK, 1802
• Michael Faraday: laws of electrochemistry, UK, 1832
• William Sturgeon: zinc amalgamation for a longer life and increased power of a battery, UK, 1835
• John Frederic Daniell: Daniell cell (the first truly practical and reliable electric battery), UK, 1836
• William Grove: fuel cell, UK, 1839
• Gaston Planté: lead–acid battery (the first rechargeable electric battery), France, 1859
• Georges Leclanché: Leclanché cell, France, 1866
• Carl Gassner: zinc-carbon battery (the first dry cell battery), Germany, 1886
• Waldemar Jungner: nickel-cadmium battery (the first alkaline battery), Sweden, 1899
• Thomas Edison: nickel-iron battery patent, USA, 1903
• Lewis Urry: alkaline dry battery using the zinc/manganese dioxide chemistry, Canada, 1955
• M Stanley Whittingham: usage of titanium disulfide and the concept of intercalation, USA, 1970
• Koichi Mizushima and John Goodenough: lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2) (a stable positive electrode material), Japan/USA, 1979
• Rachid Yazami: the reversible electrochemical intercalation of lithium in graphite (graphite electrode), Morocco-France, 1980
• Michael M. Thackeray and John Goodenough: usage of manganese spinel as a positive electrode material, South Africa/USA, 1983 [University of Oxford]
• Akira Yoshino: the first prototype of the lithium-ion battery used for cellular phone and notebook computer etc., Japan, 1985
• Sony and Asahi Kasei: the first commercial lithium-ion battery, Japan, 1991

The discovery of electromagnetism and methods of electricity production led to one of the most important inventions of all times – the electrical telegraph. The history of the telegraph had started before the crucial developments in the sphere of electricity but electricity gave scientists a push towards the electrical telegraph which in its turn let to the Internet and World Wide Web invention. Therefore my Internet and World Wide Web timeline starts with the birth of the telegraph.

Internet and World Wide Web

• Robert Hooke: proposals for an optical telegraph system to Royal Society, UK, 1684 [also in Telephone timeline]
• Claude Chappe: the first successful telecommunications system (semaphore network), France, 1792
• Francisco Salva Campillo: electrochemical telegraph, Spain, 1804
• Francis Ronalds: first working electrostatic telegraph, UK, 1816
• Hans Christian Ørsted: electromagnetism discovery, Denmark, 1820 [also in Electricity and Radio timelines]
• Johann Schweigger: first galvanometer, Germany, 1820
• Pavel Schilling: pioneering contribution to practical telegraphy (binary system of signal transmissions), Russian Empire, 1832
• Carl Friedrich Gauss and Wilhelm Weber: first electromagnetic telegraph used for regular communication, Germany, 1833
• William Fothergill Cooke and Charles Wheatstone: first commercial electrical telegraph, UK, 1837
• Samuel Morse: long distance communication telegraph and Morse code, USA, 1837
• William Montgomerie: gutta-percha insulator for telegraph wires, UK, 1842
• John Watkins Brett: submarine telegraphy (the first line across the English Channel), UK, 1850
• Cyrus West Field: the first telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean, USA, 1858
• Commercial Pacific Cable Company: first trans-pacific telegraph cables, USA, 1902-1903
• Reichspost: teleprinter service (telex), Germany, 1933
• Claude Elwood Shannon: digital computer and digital circuit design theory, USA, 1937

See the computing timeline for other relevant events

• J. C. R. Licklider: the idea of the global computer network, USA, 1960
• Paul Baran: packet switched computer networking, USA, 1960
• Michigan State University, University of Michigan, Wayne State University: Merit Network, USA, 1966
• Lawrence Roberts, Leonard Kleinrock, Vinton Cerf, Bob Kahn:ARPANET (the first large-scale packet-switching based computer network), USA, 1969
• Norm Hardy and LaRoy Tymes: Tymnet public network, USA, 1971
• Elizabeth J. Feinler: The Network Information Center (the Internet governing body primarily responsible for domain name allocations and X.500 directory services), USA, 1972
• Vint Cerf and Jon Postel: The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), USA, 1972
• Louis Pouzin: Cyclades (the first network to make the hosts responsible for the reliable delivery of data), France, 1973
• International Telecommunication Union: X.25 protocol, Switzerland, 1974
• Robert Metcalfe, David Boggs, Chuck Thacker, and Butler Lampson: Ethernet, USA, 1980
• Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn: TCP/IP protocol suite, USA, 1981
• Jon Postel: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), USA, 1982
• Paul Mockapetris and Jon Postel: Domain Name System (DNS), USA, 1983
• Dennis Jennings: The National Science Foundation Network (NSFNet) Internet backbone, USA, 1985
• Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau: the first successful communication between a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) (invention of the World Wide Web), UK/Belgium, 1989
• Barry Shein: The World (the first commercial dialup ISP), USA, 1989

Of course the Internet and the very smartphone would not be possible without computing hardware and software. The history of computing is closely connected with the history of the Internet and the modern mobile phone although it started in prehistoric times. So here is my computing timeline and it's really long as you can see:

Computing Timeline

• Tally stick, ca. 35,000 BCE
• Abacus, Iraq, ca. 2400 BCE
• Using a zero in calculations, India, ca. 500 BCE
• Pāṇini: the idea of describing the structure of language using rewriting rules (the world's first formal system), India, ca. 500 BCE
• Pingala: the first description of the binary number system, India, ca. 300 BCE
• Antikythera mechanism (a clockwork considered to be the first analog computer), Greece, ca. 125 BCE
• Heron of Alexandria: “Sequence control” (the first program), Egypt, ca. 60 AD
• Brahmagupta: description of the modern place-value numeral system, first rules to compute with zero, India, ca. 600 AD
• Liang Lingzan: the world's first fully mechanical clock (future computers would be based on the technology), China, 724 AD
• Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi: spreading the Indian system of numeration throughout the Middle East and Europe, the word 'algorithm', Uzbekistan, 820 AD
• Abu Rayhan Al-Biruni: the first geared mechanical astrolabe, ca. 996, Uzbekistan
• al-Jazari: astronomical clock (the earliest programmable analog computer), Turkey, 1206
• Ramon Llull: Lullian Circle (a notional machine for calculating answers to philosophical questions via logical combinatorics), 1300, Spain
• Joost Buerghi: natural logarithms, Switzerland, 1588
• John Napier: logarithm reinvention and Napier's bones, UK, 1614
• Blaise Pascal: Pascaline (mechanical calculator), France, 1642
• Gottfried Leibniz: Stepped Reckoner (multiplying machine), Germany, 1671
• Gottfried Leibniz: the modern binary number system, Germany, 1679
• Basile Bouchon: the first attemt to use punched paper stored program for a loom (continuous punched roll), France, 1725
• Jean-Baptiste Falcon: Falcon Loom (programmable loom using a deck of durable punched cards) France, 1728
• Joseph Marie Jacquard: the first workable programmable loom (punched cards tied together to form a long loop) France, 1745
• J. H. Müller: the idea of a difference engine, Germany, 1786
• Thomas de Colmar: Arithmometer (the first commercially successful mechanical calculator), France, 1820
• Charles Babbage: design of the first prototype of the decimal difference engine, UK, 1822
• Semen Korsakov: the first usage of punch cards for information storage, Russian Empire, 1832
• Ada Lovelace: the world's first computer program, UK, 1842
• George Boole: binary algebra (Boolean algebra), UK, 1848
• Karl Ferdinand Braun: the first written description of a semiconductor diode, Germany, 1874
• Dorr E. Felt: Comptometer (the first commercially successful key-driven mechanical calculator), USA, 1884
• Herman Hollerith: punched card processing patent (recording of data on a medium that could then be read by a machine), USA, 1889
• Lee De Forest: vacuum tube (triode tube), USA, 1906
• Herman Hollerith: plugboard, USA, 1906
• William Henry Eccles and F. W. Jordan: flip-flop circuit design, UK, 1919
• Walther Bothe: logic gate, Germany, 1924
• Kurt Gödel: work on universal formal languages and the limits of proof and computation, Germany, 1931
• IBM 601 Multiplying Punch, USA, 1931
• Gustav Tauschek: drum memory, Austria, 1932
• Alan Turing: the principle of the modern computer (Turing machines), UK, 1936
• Konrad Zuse: Z1 (the first mechanical binary programmable computer), Germany, 1938
• George Stibitz: 1-bit binary adder using relays, USA, 1940
• Tommy Flowers: Colossus (the first programmable electronic computer), UK, 1943
• Howard H. Aiken: IBM's Harvard Mark I computer (the Harvard computer architecture), USA, 1944 [Harvard University]
• Konrad Zuse: Plankalkül (the first higher-level programming language), Germany, 1945
• John von Neumann: computer architecture description (Vcomon Neumann architecture), Hungary/USA, 1945
• John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert: ENIAC (the first general-purpose electronic digital computer), USA, 1946
• Freddie Williams and Tom Kilburn: Williams–Kilburn tube (the first RAM device), UK, 1946
• William B. Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain: invention of transistor, USA, 1947 [Bell Laboratories]
• IBM: SSEC (the first computer to modify a stored program), USA, 1948
• Freddie Williams, Tom Kilburn and Geoff Tootill: Small-Scale Experimental Machine (aka “Baby”) (the first stored-program computer), UK, 1948 [University of Manchester]
• Maurice Wilkes: the first stored program on the EDSAC computer using paper tape input-output (birthday of modern computing), UK, 1949 [University of Cambridge]
• J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly: UNIVAC (the first commercially successful electronic computer), USA, 1951
• Jay Forrester: Whirlwind (the first real-time computer), USA, 1951 [Massachusetts Institute of Technology]
• John Mauchly, J. Presper Eckert, John von Neumann: EDVAC (the first computer to use magnetic tape), USA, 1951
• An Wang, Jay Forrester, Jan A. Rajchman: magnetic core memory development, USA, 1953
• John Backus: FORTRAN (high-level programming language), USA, 1954 [IBM]
• John McCarthy: LISP (programming language), USA, 1958 [Massachusetts Institute of Technology]
• Jack Kilby, Robert Noyce: integrated circuit (microchip), USA, 1958 [Texas Instruments, Fairchild Semiconductor]
• Grace Hopper: COBOL (computer programming language designed for business use) USA, 1959
• ALGOL (the first structured, procedural, programming language), USA/Germany/Netherlands/Denmark/Switzerland/France/UK, 1960
• Tom Kilburn: Atlas (supercomputer with many modern architectural concepts) UK, 1962 [University of Manchester, Ferranti, Plessey]
• IBM: System/360 mainframe computer, USA, 1964
[used to created the Merit Network]
• John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz: BASIC (programming language), USA, 1964
• James T. Russell: the concept of optical digital recording and playback (CD/DVD technology), USA, 1965
• Douglas Engelbart: interactive computing, USA, 1968
• Alan Kay: Dynabook (the concept of portable computer), USA, 1968
• Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie: UNIX operating system, USA, 1970 [Bell Laboratories]
• Niklaus Wirth: Pascal (programming language), Switzerland, 1970
• Ted Hoff, Federico Faggin, and Stanley Mazor: Intel 4004 (the first commercial microprocessor), USA, 1971 [Intel]
• Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie: the C programming language, USA, 1972 [Bell Laboratories]
• IBM: IBM 3340 Direct Access Storage Facility, aka Winchester (today's standard HDD design), USA, 1973
• Ed Roberts: Altair 8800 (the first commercially successful hobby computer), USA, 1975 [Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems]
• Chuck Peddle and Bill Mensch: MOS Technology 6502 (inexpensive 8-bit microprocessor), USA, 1975
• Bill Gates and Paul Allen: the first microcomputer implementation of BASIC, USA, 1975
• IBM, IBM 5100 (the first commercial portable microcomputer), USA, 1975
• Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs: the Apple I single-board computer, USA, 1976
• Stephen P. Morse: the 16-bit Intel 8086 chip (the first x86 microprocessor), USA, 1978 [Intel Corporation]
• Sony Corp. and Philips: compact disc, Japan/Netherlands, 1979
• Motorola, Inc.: Motorola 68000 microprocessor, USA, 1979
• IBM: IBM PC with MS-DOS (a perconal computer that became the industry standard), USA, 1981
• Borland Software Corporation: Turbo Pascal (software development system), USA, 1983
• David Patterson and Carlo H. Sequin: the Berkeley RISC project (optimized processor design), USA, 1984
• Jef Raskin: Apple Macintosh computer, USA, 1984 [Apple Inc.]
• Steve Furber, Sophie Wilson: ARM processor architecture, UK, 1985 [ARM Holdings]
• Bill Gates: Windows 1.0, USA, 1985 [Microsoft]
• Apple Inc.: Macintosh Portable, USA, 1989
• Atari Corporation: Atari Portfolio (the world's first palmtop computer), USA, 1989
• Apple Inc.: PowerBook (Macintosh laptop), USA, 1991
• Apple Inc.: Newton (touch-capable personal digital assistant), USA, 1993
• Nokia: Nokia 9000 Communicator, Finland, 1996
• Ericsson Mobile aCommunications: Ericsson R380 (mobile phone + PDA, the first device marketed as a 'smartphone') Sweden, 2000
• Apple Inc.: iPod (a device that truly ushered in the era of portable digital consumer electronics), USA, 2007
• Apple Inc.: iPhone and iOS (iPhone operation system), USA, 2007

The concept of the telephone is one of the greatest inventions of all times that has considerably boosted the industrial progress and evolution of people’s lives all over the world. And the history of traditional phones is no doubt a part of the iPhone history. Therefore here is my telephone history timeline reflecting the most important milestones:

Telephone Timeline

• Robert Hooke: acoustic string telephone, UK, 1667

The idea of the modern telephone was influenced by the first developers of the electric telegraph

• Innocenzo Manzetti: the idea of an electric "speaking telegraph", Italy, 1844
• Antonio Meucci: demonstration of an electromagnetic communicating device, Italy, 1849
• Charles Bourseul: description of a make-and-break telephone transmitter and receiver, France, 1854
Johann Philipp Reis: Reis telephone (the first make-and-break telephone) and microphone diaphragm, Germany, 1860
• Elisha Gray: electromagnet device for transmitting musical tones, USA, 1874
• Alexander Graham Bell: the theoretical concept for the telephone, USA, 1874
• Elisha Gray: patent caveat for the telephone, USA, 1876
• Alexander Graham Bell: patent application for the telephone, USA, 1876 [patent awarded]
• Tivadar Puskás: telephone switchboard exchange, Hungary, 1876
• David Edward Hughes (UK/USA); Thomas Edison (USA);Emile Berliner (Germany/USA): carbon microphone (telephone transmitter), 1877–79
• Ridge Telephone Company: the first long-distance telephone line, USA, 1877
• George W. Coy: the first commercial US telephone exchange, USA, 1878
• Almon Brown Strowger: patent for automatic telephone exchange (a telephone dial), USA, 1891
• Lee De Forest: vacuum tube (electronic amplifier), USA, 1906
• Reginald Fessenden: the first radio transmissions of voice and music (point-to-point wireless telephony), Canada, 1906
• William B. Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain: invention of transistor, USA, 1947 [Bell Laboratories] [Also in computing timeline]
• Douglas H. Ring and W. Rae Young: the hexagonal cell concept for a cellular mobile telephone system, USA, 1947 [Bell Labs]
• Erna Schneider Hoover: stored program control (computerized telephone switching method), USA, 1954
• Theodore Paraskevakos: method of caller's number transmition to the receiver's device (Caller ID technology), Greece, 1968
• Amos E. Joel, Jr.: mechanism for handoff in cellular communication, USA, 1972
• Kazuo Hashimoto: the first prototype of a caller ID display device, Japan, 1976
• Martin Cooper: Motorola DynaTAC (the first cell phone to be offered commercially), USA, 1983
• Friedhelm Hillebrand and Bernard Ghillebaert: SMS concept, Germany/France, 1984
• IBM: IBM Simon (the first touchscreen phone and the first smartphone), USA, 1993 [Also in touchscreen timeline]
• Giesecke & Devrient: the first SIM card, Germany, 1991

The transition from the landline telephone to the mobile phone was a huge step in giving humanity more freedom and endless opportunities for communications and business. However wireless communications would never be possible without the discovery of radio. Here are some key milestones in developing of wireless radio communication systems necessary for mobile phones to function as they do today:

Radio Timeline

See earlier relevant milestones in the electricity timeline

• James Clerk Maxwell: prediction of the existence of radio waves, UK, 1862 [Also in electricity timeline]
• David Edward Hughes: the first intentional transmission of a signal by means of electromagnetic waves, UK/USA, 1880
• Thomas Edison: thermal electron emission (Edison effect), USA, 1980
• Temistocle Calzecchi-Onesti: an early form of coherer and the principle of radio wave detection, Italy, 1884
• Édouard Branly: Branly's coherer, France, 1886
• Heinrich Hertz: proof and demonstration of the electromagnetic waves existence, Germany, 1888
• Oliver Lodge: demonstration of the radio waves reception with a coherer, UK, 1894
• Alexander Popov: the world's first radio receiver, Russia, 1894
• Guglielmo Marconi: the first complete, commercially successful wireless telegraphy system, Italy, 1895
• Karl Ferdinand Braun: cat's whisker diode, Germany, 1898
• John Ambrose Fleming: Fleming valve (diode), UK, 1904
• Ernst Alexanderson: Alexanderson alternator, Sweden/USA, 1904
• Reginald Fessenden: the first radio transmissions of voice and music (point-to-point wireless telephony), Canada, 1906

See later relevant milestones in the telephone timeline

The invention of radio was not only crucial for wireless telephony but also for wireless data exchange that makes it possible to access the Internet from your smartphone. Wi-Fi is one of the most popular such technologies. Here are a few important milestones and people behind the Wi-Fi history:

Wi-Fi Timeline

See other relevant milestones in the radio timeline

• John O'Sullivan: WLAN patent, Australia, 1992 [CSIRO]
• Vic Hayes: the 802.11 standard, Netherlands, 1997 [Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)]

iPhone would not be that fun without a camera. In fact this is the modern small-size camera that has made smartphones so extremely popular and wide-used all around the globe. Therefore the history of camera can obviously be considered a part of the iPhone history. So here are some key dates and events of the camera history.

Photo Camera Timeline

• The Nimrud lens (the oldest lens in the world), Assyria (modern Iraq), 750–710 BCE
• Euclid: Euclid's Optics (work on the geometry of vision), Greece, 300 BCE
• Lucius Annaeus Seneca: the earliest written record of magnification, 1st century AD, Roman Italy
• Claudius Ptolemy: studies of reflection and refraction, c. AD 150 – c. AD 168, Greece/Egypt
• Alhazen (Ibn Al-Haytham): the first pinhole camera (Camera Obscura) and the use of a convex lens, Iraq/Egypt, 1000 AD
• Invention of spectacles (the start of the optical industry of grinding and polishing lenses), Italy, 1268
• Daniele Barbaro: a book on perspective for artists and architects (usage of a lens with a camera obscura), Italy, 1568
• Hans Lippershey: the earliest known working telescope, Germany, 1608
• Johannes Kepler: the compound-lens system description, Germany, 1611
• Robert Hooke: iris diaphragm, UK, ca. 1662
• Leonhard Euler: works in optics (diaphragms on telescopes), Switzerland, 1762
• Joseph Nicephore Niépce: the first successful photographic image with camera obscura, France, 1822
• Louis Daguerre: daguerreotype (the first practical process of photography), France, 1839
• Henry Fox Talbot: the Calotype process (the first negative/positive photographic process), UK, 1841
• Frederick Scott Archer: the wet plate collodion process (shorter exposure time), UK, 1851
• Edward Sonstadt: magnesium wire for flash, UK, 1862
• Désiré van Monckhoven: the dry collodion process and one of the earliest books on photographic optics (distinction betweens stops and diaphragms in photography), Belgium, 1855/1867
• Richard Leach Maddox: lightweight gelatin dry plate (small hand-held cameras), UK, 1871
• Carl Zeiss and Ernst Abbe: the Abbe sine condition discovery (improved production of lenses), Germany, 1872
• David Henderson Houston: patent for a roll film holder, USA , 1881
• Adolf Miethe and Johannes Gaedicke: Blitzlicht flash powder, Germany, 1887
• George Eastman: Kodak (the first commercially successful box camera for roll film), USA, 1888
• Louis Boutan: magnesium flash lamp, France, 1890s
• Hannibal Williston Goodwin: patent for celluloid photographic film, USA, 1898
• Friedrich Otto Schott: borosilicate glass (glass with novel optical properties for lens manufacturing), Germany, 1893
• Eastman Kodak Company: Brownie (the first mass-marketed camera), USA, 1900
• Paul Vierkötter: electronically ignited magnesium flash bulb, Austria, 1925
• Johann Ostermeyer: patent on a safety flash bulb using aluminum wire or foil in oxygen, Germany, 1929 [Hauser Company (Vacublitz)]
• General Electric Company: the Sashalite (4-volt battery ignited photoflash bulb), USA, 1930
• Harold Eugene Edgerton: the first electronic flash tube, USA, 1931
• Ihagee Kamerawerk: Exakta (the first camera to implement a flash synchronizer), Germany, 1935
• CIA: The Corona photographic surveillance satellite (the push to develop an electronic image capturing technology), USA, 1959
• Willard Sterling Boyle and George E. Smith: charge-coupled device (CCD) (the first successful imaging technology using a digital sensor), Canada/USA, 1969
• Michael Francis Tompsett: patent on charge transfer imaging devices (compact, low power, high performance and low cost solid-state infrared imager), USA/UK, 1972
• Steven J. Sasson: the first digital camera, USA, 1975
• The National Reconnaissance Office: KH-11 KENNAN surveillance satellite (the first electronic imaging satellite), USA, 1976
• Sony Corporation: Sony Mavica (the first commercial electronic still camera, CDD development and mass production), Japan, 1981
• Eric R. Fossum: CMOS active pixel image sensor ("camera-on-a-chip"), USA, 1992
• Philippe Kahn: the first camera phone solution sharing pictures instantly on public networks, USA, 1997
• Samsung Electronics: SCH-V200 (the first cell phone with a built-in camera), South Korea, June of 2000
• Sharp Corporation and J-Phone: J-SH04 (the first CDD-based camera phone with the ability to send photos electronically), Japan, November of 2000

Video Camera Timeline

See other relevant milestones in the photo camera timeline

• Joseph Plateau: phenakistoscope (the first demonstration of the illusion of a moving image), Belgium, 1841
• Eadweard Muybridge: zoopraxiscope (stop-motion images sequence projector), UK/USA, 1879
• Louis Le Prince: the first patented film camera, France, 1888

The further development of the mobile phone video camera is closely connected with the digital camera technology.

Small size along with the ability to offer so much entertainment and practical benefits no other gadget seems to be able to provide is what makes a smartphone one of the most popular gadgets of all times. A multi-touch LCD screen is one of the main iPhone parts that enable its compactness and fun. Let’s see what the most important dates in this technology development are.

LCD Display Timeline

• Friedrich Reinitzer: discovery of liquid crystal properties, Austria, 1888
• Otto Lehmann: the "Flüssige Kristalle" article (the name “liquid crystals” coined), Germany, 1904
• Vsevolod Frederiks: electrically switched light valve, USSR (Russia), 1927
• Marconi Wireless Telegraph company: the liquid crystal light valve patent (the first practical application of the technology), UK, 1936
• Richard Williams: “Williams domains” phenomenon, USA, 1962
• George H. Heilmeier: the first operational liquid-crystal display, USA, 1968
• Martin Schadt and Wolfgang Helfrich: twisted nematic effect (lower power consumption LCDs for portable devices), Switzerland/Germany, 1970
• T. Peter Brody: first active-matrix liquid-crystal display panel, Hungary/UK, 1972
• George William Gray: cyanobiphenyl liquid crystals (correct stability and temperature properties for LCDs), UK, 1973
• Brown, Boveri & Cie: super-twisted nematic display, Switzerland, 1983
• Guenter Baur et al.: In Plane Switching (IPS) technology patent, Germany, 1990

Touch Screen Timeline

• E.A. Johnson: the first finger-driven touchscreen, UK, 1965, [Royal Radar Establishment]
• University of Illinois: PLATO IV touchscreen terminal, USA, 1971
• Bent Stumpe: transparent capacitive touch screen, Denmark, 1973 [CERN]
• Dr. G. Samuel Hurst: resistive touchscreens, USA, 1975 [University of Kentucky]
• Nimish Mehta: the first human-controlled multitouch device, Canada, 1982 [University of Toronto]
• Hewlett-Packard: HP-150 (one of the world's earliest commercial touchscreen computers), USA, 1983
• IBM: IBM Simon (the first touchscreen phone and smartphone), USA, 1994
• Apple Inc.: Newton MessagePad (touch-capable personal digital assistant), USA, 1993

As you can see iPhone has a considerable historical and scientific background. I really hope that this QuartSoft’s infographic will help people look at the smartphone at another angle they never thought of before. And I also hope people viewing the infographic will learn new things about technology and feel more respect for science and scientists who spend their lives to contribute so something as cool as the iPhone.

Sources:

1. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/04/from-touch-displays-to-the-surface-a-brief-history-of-touchscreen-technology
2. http://authors.library.caltech.edu/5456/1/hrst.mit.edu/hrs/materials/public/Solid-state_batteries_intro.html
3. http://dailybarrage.com/2013/10/01/a-brief-history-of-wifi
4. http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone.htm
5. http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gps-phone.htm
6. http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/iphone.htm
7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GPP#History
8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Mobile_Phone_System#History
9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Computing_timelines
10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_visual_display
11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisha_Gray_and_Alexander_Bell_telephone_controversy
12. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber-optic_communication
13. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film#History
14. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_computer
15. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mobile_phones
16. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mobile_phones
17. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_camera
18. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_telephone
19. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_of_radio
20. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid-crystal_display#History
21. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IEEE_milestones
22. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery#History
23. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_pictures#History
24. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-touch
25. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor
26. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Timeline_of_iPhone_models
27. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_chemical_element_discoveries
28. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_computing_hardware_2400_BC%E2%80%931949
29. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_electrical_and_electronic_engineering
30. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchscreen
31. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi
32. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_telegraphy#History_of_development
33. http://evertiq.com/news/34667
34. http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/Photography.htm
35. http://photography.tutsplus.com/articles/a-brief-history-of-photographic-flash--photo-4249
36. http://shareulike.com/gif/Iphone-Inner-Look-every-Part
37. http://theinfographics.blogspot.com/2014/06/founders-of-internet.html
38. http://theiphonewiki.com/wiki/Timeline
39. http://utahrails.net/sp/sprint.php
40. http://victoriakp8.weebly.com/the-first-smartphone-and-the-origin-of-the-term.html
41. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_and_by_who_was_the_first_cell_phone_invented
42. http://www.batteryfacts.co.uk
43. http://www.cs.uah.edu/~rcoleman/Common/History/History.html
44. http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/camera-phone-history
45. http://www.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone.htm
46. http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Category:Computing_and_electronics
47. http://www.madehow.com/Volume-2/Camera-Lens.html
48. http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artmar00/hooke3.html
49. http://www.photohistory-sussex.co.uk/DAGapparatus.jpg
50. http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/05/the-evolution-of-cell-phone-design-between-1983-2009
51. http://www.webelements.com/
52. https://www.34sp.com/hosting-news/hosting-library/the-history-of-the-computer

By Dmytro Nesterov

One of the most overlooked aspects of web design and development, particularly amongst start-up entrepreneurs and businessmen, is web hosting. The focus is typically on graphic design and the user interface while hosting plays a crucial part in the performance, flexibility and security of your site as well.

There are several types of hosting packages available. The most important choice is whether you pay for a dedicated server which is faster and more versatile or a shared server which is more affordable and user friendly. Technically-minded web developers can also make use of more specialised options such as:

• Cloud server hosting
• Reseller web hosting
• Colocated web hosting
• Virtual private servers
• Virtual dedicated servers
• Content delivery networks

When developing or upgrading a commercial site, it is also important to choose the service in the right manner. Make sure the disk space, bandwidth, and server performance are suitable for your needs. It is also necessary to ask about additional development services and customer support options. Finally when choosing a web hosting provider, think about their reputation, experience, efficiency, flexibility and affordability.

Of course, the world of web hosting isn’t without its pitfalls. The wrong choice of packages or platforms can result in poor performance which hinders your site’s capabilities and makes it unusable. From badly-coded scripts to high amounts of traffic, there are a number of reasons why your site may seem sluggish. These issues should be sorted out by the web host that you choose.

Hopefully this information and infographic from Nerdster will help make the choice of choosing web hosting much clearer. Whether you develop websites for businesses or are a start-up entrepreneur, this tech area is absolutely necessary. Without it, your site won’t run at all or will at least experience performance issues that make it impossible to browse.

Source: Nerdster.com.au/

As you may know, 5g is expected to be implemented by 2020, and the UK just announced that a 5G testbed will be up and running in a year. 5G is a major innovation and advancement in our wireless technology, but let’s not undermine the advancements in past wireless networking achievements that have led to this point. The New Jersey Institute of Technology has put together an engaging infographic revealing the past, present and future of wireless technology. Highlights include the first wireless message ever sent, major changes from 3g to 4g and the solutions that 5g will provide for 4g challenges. Without our rich history of radio wave discovery, wireless fidelity and cell phone implementation, we would never be able to instantaneously communicate with someone around the globe, or even the country.

Source: The New Jersey Institute of Technology

Our company has been helping entrepreneurs build their web-based business platforms since 1999. Since its early history, our team has been behind the sciences of start-ups that tried to struggle their way to success through a fierce competition of the ever-evolving world of digital innovations. We witnessed ups and downs of business ventures and novice entrepreneurs. We saw entrepreneurial passion and disappointments. We saw both start-ups persisting in scaling despite all the troubles and those that pivoted quickly after a few unsuccessful iterations. After so many years of cooperating with entrepreneurs, we got interested in the start-up successes nature. So our Marketing Department has decided to create a series of articles dedicated to start-ups’ success stories.

Analyzing start-up failures is no fun and depressing. It’s better to focus on success stories to help entrepreneurs who would read this article discover some practical tips and strategies for developing a thriving start-up. The task for our Marketing Department is to distil the most significant and notable milestones in the development of successful business ventures, as well as the most crucial decisions of their founders and ordinary team members. We hope that by following our Start-up Success Story series aspiring entrepreneurs will find a key to success of their businesses.

We’d like to use some text formatting convention in our Success Story articles:

Risky and ineffective steps will be in italics
Crucial and highly successful practices will be highlighted with underlined bold text.

QuartSoft's marketing department is on a constant lookout for promising start-ups that could serve as good examples of the right strategy for team building, product development, advertising, client acquisition, funding, and business expanding. We came across an interesting SaaS start-up called Canvas. It looks like this company has a big future. So we decided to find more information on Canvas to understand what was done to bring the idea to success. And here is a distilled success story we can offer for entrepreneurs to learn from and get inspired.

Meet the CEO

Name: James Quigley

Education: United States Merchant Marine Academy (B.S., Marine Engineering)

Previous Experience:

• Service Manager - Latin America at United Technologies Corporation
• Regional Sales Manager at Nalco Chemical Company
• Director - Products: North & South America at Transamerica Leasing & Finance
• Director - Product Management at Orbcomm
• Sr. Director - Business Development at Aether Systems
• Director of the Mobility Solutions Division at PEAK Technologies
• VP & Managing Director - Mobility Solutions at Verisign, Inc.
• Vice President & Managing Director - Enterprise Mobility Solutions at inCode Wireless

Personal Qualities:

• Highly motivated leader
• Understanding of the mobility market and work force management
• Outstanding presentation skills
• Entrepreneur at heart

Click to enlarge the infographic

The Idea

Canvas is a service that enables businesses to replace expensive and inefficient paper forms with powerful apps on their smartphones and tablets.

Problems to be solved with the product:

• Cutting down too many trees to produce paper
• Expensive and inefficient paper forms
• Filling out the same data on multiple forms

The Team

• Hand picking the best team members from day one
• Partnering with trusted developers from the founder’s past
• Starting with the team of only 3 persons
• Zero salary and living on personal savings for 6 months
• Paying people in stock, options, beer, Xbox's for some time;
• No salary for non-coding members including founders for over a year
• Exhausting but exhilarating work on the idea whenever there is time
• Partnering with an outside team to help build the 2.0 product
• Enabling every employee to take their best ideas forward and turn it into impact
• Letting the team validate ideas through group thought
• Giving developers / designers free reign with 20% of their time to work on suggested ideas
• Letting team members act more like owners then employees
• Increasing the team around product innovation
• Having internal team members closely focusing on SEO
• Having inside sales team members for trial subscribers
• Creating a culture of empathy

Seed Funding

• Attempting not to raise money before getting a basic product
• Using founders’ own savings
• Friends and family contacts were early investors
• Bootstrapping for 6 months to bank money amid an economic crisis
• $20K seed funding
• Using the first investment money to buy must have-things like computers etc. but not for salaries.

The Solution

• Learning experience of lots of SaaS companies
• Signing up for dozens of products to look at their UX & UI, payment processing, subscriber communication etc.
• A very minimal viable product created early on with zero money
• The MVP serving a few critical needs and unable to scale
• A workable MVP with a certain value for customers
• Rewriting the code later on
• 18 months of work from the MVP to a decent customer-appealing product
• Engaging the outside help to go past MVP
• Adding productivity improvements for more value
• Integration with third-party services like Google Drive, Box, Dropbox, Evernote, SAP

Product Features

• Capturing information online or offline
• Capturing photos/GPS locations
• Conditional screens and lists
• Calculations;
• Workflow and dispatch functionality;
• Bringing other databases into apps;
• Sharing captured data to other systems and users based on a variety of criteria
• Customizable data output
• Downloadable pre-built templates
• Pre-built Application/Document Store
• Shareable cloud storage for customers and businesses (MyCanvas Cloud);
• Desktop client
• Integrations with Google Drive, Box, Dropbox, Evernote, SAP
• Built-in ROI tool

Marketing, Client Acquisition and Retention

• Engaging potential customers to test the idea and see if they pay for it
• Listening intently to users’ feedback and suggestions on enhancing the product
• Early discounts for active ongoing feedback
• Old school methods of reaching first customers: cold calling, stalking and knocking on the doors
• Finding local prospects in the target community
• The first paying customer: a HVAC provider hired on the condition that they become Canvas’ first customer
• Promoting both money-saving and environmental benefits of the product
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) including a proprietary app store allowing customers to share specific industry apps created with Canvas
• Automated marketing, redirective marketing, compelling content creation, advertising
• Partnering with wireless carriers to help promote Canvas’ cause
• 30-day free trial to convince non-tech-savvy customers;
• Establishing of a marketing team;
• Affiliate program;
• Cloud sharing solution to help Canvas subscribers share digital documents with their customers and thus spread the word about the brand
• Built-in ROI tool to show how much money subscribers are saving by using Canvas
• Gifting the Canvas application to nonprofit organizations of employees’ choice (Ante Up Program)
• Using dozens marketing tools such as Kissmetrics (metrics tracking) and Optimizely (A/B testing)
• Calling to trial subscribers only after some time in business

Venture Funding

• Attending lots of angel pitch events, asking for introductions to potential angel investors
• Using LinkedIn to approach people who could introduce the company to an investor
• Creating a pitch deck (about 12 slides) to tell the startup story to potential investors
• Starting to pitch venture capitalists years before money is needed
• Kurt Warner, a well-known football player and brother of one of the Canvas founders, became one of the first Canvas angel investors
• Saying “no” to early investors about changing course on company’s vision
• Showing investors the knowledge of how to scale the business and increase its value
• $750K in series A funding (March 2009) from a small private equity group;
• $325K in series A funding (July 2009)
• $1.2M in series B funding (July 2011) from Camber Creek and Motorola Solutions Venture Capital
• $3M in series C funding (March 2013) from Melanie Perkins
• $4M in series C funding (May 2013) from Camber Creek, Osage Venture Partners. Motorola Solutions Venture Capital
• $1.8M in venture funding (January 2014);
• $9M in venture funding (December 2014) from Camber Creek, Osage Venture Partners, River Cities Capital Funds

Growth and Revenue

Want to protect your software idea? Best way - MOVE FAST.

• An average revenue growth of 300-600% a year
• Over 45,000 paying subscribers in 65 countries
• 106 partners including 5 telecoms
• Library with 15,000+ pre-built fully customizable apps for 30+ vertical markets
• Around 50 employees (end of 2014);
• CoWorking Space built into the company
• Opening an office in Sydney, Australia
• HIPAA Hi-Tech certification;
• Strategic partnership with Telstra, Australia’s leading telecommunications and information services company;
• Raising a financing round of $9 million

Conclusion

One of the main reasons why Canvas proved to be so successful is because their SaaS solves environmental problems besides allowing customers save money on buying paper and managing paperwork. A green and money-saving solution simply cannot be ignored by thousands of businesses. Who wouldn’t feel good to save money while saving trees for a greener world?

The question is how to make customers discover the product and love it. What Canvas did is a great lesson for other start-ups willing to harness the power of the World Wide Web for customer acquisition. They let customers submit content to the Canvas web platform (App Store) thus turning customers into volunteer marketers. A significant amount of user-generated content as well as own SEO efforts led to the constant inflow of leads that use Internet search engines to look for problem solutions that Canvas can offer. By investing into SEO and the content sharing platform, Canvas could grow their customer base and revenue successfully and fast to catch venture capitalists’ attention.

The Canvas CEO has no problem with selling parts of the company to investors as he believes that a SaaS company should grow fast to win the market. And it’s hardly possible to do so without attracting outside funds. So after the first results of a successful SEO strategy the canvas team had something to pitch and have angel investors’ attention. Being persistent and regularly attending investment pitch meetings, they eventually managed to raise millions in venture capital to keep their business moving fast and revenue growth well over 100% a year.

No doubt one of the most important success factors for the start-up was Canvas founders’ passion, confidence and self-sacrifice. The initial team had no salaries for 6 months and the founders for over a year during the MVP creation period. Not many founders, let alone ordinary team members, can stay loyal to a company for such a long time when paid zero salary. That’s probably why every time the Canvas CEO is asked for a tip on how to build a successful start-up, he says that the most crucial thing for an entrepreneur’s success is finding co-founders, employees and even investors who are passionate about the idea. With enough passion, he says, one can walk through walls.

By Dmytro Nesterov and Anastasiya Plaksiy

We see logos every single day. On the Internet, on TV, in our cars – they’re practically unavoidable. Our daily life is saturated with logos competing for our attention. So how does one logo triumph over another?

Graphic design is an art, not a science, so there’s no single formula that you can follow to craft the ultimate logo. But all of the best logos have several traits in common. Logos are complex creatures, and the best ones have more than just one good quality, like standing out in a crowd or using the right color to trigger a viewer’s emotions. Successful logos need to reach an audience from many different angles at once, appealing to their modern sensibilities while also remaining timelessly relevant.

Company Folders has created a handy illustrated infographic that spells out all of the guidelines an effective logo designer should be aware of. That includes focusing on a single message, using fonts and white space correctly, using negative space to convey images, and being adaptable enough to be displayed in a variety of different mediums.

infographic source

The graphic also includes some information about color psychology, pointing out that different colors convey specific emotions and values to the viewer. Red, for example, is all about energy and aggression, while a cool shade of blue is more likely to communicate professionalism and success.

Keep in mind that these rules are not set in stone. In the same way that an experienced cook might occasionally switch up their recipe or an avant-garde filmmaker might bend the rules of visual language, expert designers can play with the rules of logo design to create something unexpected and unique. But you have to learn the rules before you can understand how to break them effectively.

Be sure to share this infographic with friends and colleagues to help them understand that the logos they see every day are much more complicated than they appear.

With technology in a constant state of change and progression, many are excited to see what future developments can be made, especially in the field of electrical and computer engineering. These advancements affect many different types of applications, helping to improve many different facets of everyday life. Below, a few of these exceptional advancements are highlighted, setting the stage for other innovative developments all over the world.

Infographic source

Nanotube Transistors

These transistors can operate devices on a much more compact level. The current generation of these devices is made up of silicon-based transistors. Moving forward, it is expected that carbon nanotube transistors will be even smaller in size, provide users with higher processing speeds, and establish a lower degree of power consumption than silicon transistors.

Nanoscale Devices

These devices, as the name implies, are tiny processors that are comprised of nanoscale electrodes, nanopores, and carbon nanotube transistors that interface to integrated circuits. Through the use of this technology, medical professionals can develop more widespread improvements in DNA sequencing and biotechnology. As current technology stands, the process of DNA sequencing is very time consuming and expensive. With developments in this field, however, it is possible for more and more medical professionals to use DNA sequencing in their regular duties. These devices will be powerful enough that they will be able to scan the entire human genome in as little as twenty hours.

Electric Cars

In the past, one of the biggest faults with electric cars has been the limited battery life. However, with improved battery and charging technologies, electric cars are expected to completely replace the combustion engine based vehicle. Tesla Motors has been continuously improving its battery and the charging technologies behind it, helping set the stage for future innovations in the field of electric efficiency. It is expected that future electric cars will be able to store energy better, recharge it faster, and use it more efficiently.

Prosthetics

Through electrical engineering, advancements in prosthetics control and development are expected to be groundbreaking. One team expects to be able to establish prosthetics that function flexibly with direct nerve to nerve and nerve to muscle interfaces that connect nerves with electrode sites, creating movement and sensation. Another team is using brainwave analysis with wearable neural interfaces that allow users to control their prosthetic limbs through their thoughts and desires. There are over two million people currently living the United States with missing limbs, and better functioning prosthetics will allow them to recover more control in their lives, helping them enjoy things that many take for granted.

To learn more about recent electrical and computer engineering advances, take a look at this infographic created by Ohio University’s Online Masters in Electrical Engineering degree program.

You may also like:

iPhone: How Did We Get There? [Technology History Infographic]

We live in an age now where there are new and innovative startups rising up almost every day - almost as frequently as they are falling apart. It’s no secret that starting a startup is a difficult endeavor; it takes a lot more than just ambition and a strong aptitude for the market, it also takes time, practice, skill, a smart business plan, and a little bit of luck. The majority of startups fail in the beginning, and not because they have bad ideas – it’s because entering the business world is like entering a shark tank. Just like ABC’s hit show, “Shark Tank” the real world isn’t too different – of the hundreds of daily pitches, only one third actually make it.

As tough as it sounds, there are certainly things that your startup can do to get ahead of the competition and make it in the “big world.” A successful startup requires a unique vision for the market; the trick lies in the pitch. In this infographic, the big sharks who have been in the market for a long time offer some detailed advice for new startups trying to make it in the market – the key lessons lie in a few fundamental steps. Most importantly, you need to know the need of your product, and understand exactly how your brand or your product can help someone, or create a niche economy where one doesn’t exist. It’s fundamental that you are always prepared for surprises and sharp corners, as the markets are never stable. Make sure you are properly networking with great minds and “bigger fish,” to cast your business circles as wide as possible. In the process, you’re building your investor network– just make sure you know your negotiating limits so you don’t sacrifice yourself at too low a price, and also don’t go too high. Here are some important reminders to help you get your feet on the ground and run a successful startup:

If you have just set up a small online ecommerce business it may be tempting to keep a store of your stock around the house and set up an office space in your home. Advantages of working from home include fewer overhead costs and a greater flexibility in working time. However, this flexibility of working hours can put a strain on you, creating a list of subtle problems that will affect both your working and social life.

If you own an ecommerce website (or run a store on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, etc) and can’t afford to hire a genuine office/warehouse setup it may be worth your time to consider working from a self storage office. Many of these self storage facilities offer storage and a flexible pricing structure with a small office space included, this is perfect if you only have a small amount of stock.

Like anything with business, it’s worth weighing up the merits of this to see if it suits your business model. An infographic from My Storage Pod looks at some of the pros and cons:

Arguably the most important points to take from this infographic revolve around your routine and free time. It may seem more flexible to work from home at first but the lack of structure to a working day can leave you feeling as if you never finish work. If you can’t literally shut the door behind you when you finish work you may find yourself picking up some work you left behind at an unusually late time of the day. Enjoying your leisure time in the same space as your work time can be stressful, for example you could be on constant edge during free time incase the phone rings for a work related issue. If you couple these problems along with the problems of isolation and distractions you may find that working from home is putting too much strain on your working and social life as well as your mental health.

If you find you are experiencing these problems then a self storage / office setup may be able to help you. A lack of routine and order will be restored to your working life and the cost of utilities, security and insurance will be more tailored to the needs of a business rather than a homeowner. Working from a self storage facility is a growing trend, for example in 2013 in the UK there was a 3% increase of businesses using self storage facilities to run their business from.

Ecommerce is increasingly competitive, and any advantage your business could gain can lead to growth and meeting your objectives quicker. Flexible warehousing is just one way to do it, but it might be the right way for you.

When Google translate was first introduced, the world of translation services seemed doomed for an inevitable revolution that would eventually eliminate the need for human translators in favor of machine translation services. However, more than a decade later, Google Translate is yet to become a perfect substitute for the human translator, as the results of a recent Verbal Ink study indicate.

The groundbreaking study pitted Google Translate against a professional human translator, and the results are nothing short of surprising, if not a little shocking. There are gaping differences between Google translations and human translations, which essentially means that Google Translate is not going to replace the human translator any time soon.

For one, Google Translate lacks the capacity to choose appropriate wording and understand the syntactic as well as the semantic aspects of the original text. Basically, Google does a literal translation and is not even able to provide grammatically correct sentences when translating. In comparison, human translation, is virtually flawless – there was the correct use of grammar in the translated text, and the accuracy of the original text in terms of meaning and syntax was well-preserved.

Additionally, when it came to audio translations, Google Translate was even more inaccurate, though still impressive considering how far this translation technology has come. Human translation, once again, trumped Google translation when it came to audio translations. Google seemed to settle for a word by word translation, largely missing the true meaning of the verbal statements and completely ignoring words it did not understand.

Still, Google Translate is better than human translation when it comes to speed and cost, hands down. To begin with, Google Translate is free for everyone to use, which makes the cost less of a factor when using it. On the other hand, it can translate a whole document in a matter of seconds, and no human can top that.

The bottom line is, both Google Translate and the human translator have their uses. When looking for high quality and professional translation services, Google is a complete no-no. A human translator provides better quality translations through semantically and syntactically accurate translations that Google cannot offer. On the other hand, if anybody is looking for a fast and inexpensive translation service that offers a general idea of what the original text is about, then Google translate is the way to go.

Below is the Verbal Ink infographic showing how Google Translate did against the human translator in the study.

We see familiar logos everywhere we go. So when you redesign a logo, you’re not just rebranding your company. You’re changing part of your customers’ daily lives. Your customers may need some encouragement to accept a new logo, especially when they liked your old design.

Both of you will benefit if you follow the necessary steps to create a truly great redesign, such as keeping the best parts of your old logo. When you retain some sense of familiarity, your customers will warm up to the new design and appreciate the improvements you made—whether that’s greater readability or a simpler look.

Company Folders has made an infographic of the seven most important steps of redesigning a logo. Each step uses an example of a world-famous company logo, from Bacardi’s throwback design to MailChimp’s new look, to show you how to do your redesign right. You’ll see how to successfully restyle your logo by learning from the best.

Seven most important steps of redesigning a logo

The following video and blog post are dedicated to Steve Jobs – a man who had revolutionized the world of technology and put that dent in the Universe. This dent is now filled with the thriving IT industry offering jobs to millions of employees as well as benefit and satisfaction to an uncountable number of consumers. The video was created by amateur animators working at QuartSoft’s Marketing Department. We hope this post will inspire young people to keep on changing our world for the better with their innovative minds, artistic taste, and entrepreneurial instincts. Thank you, Steve, for letting us enjoy the perfection of the products you created for us. RIP.

The Computer Revolution for the Sake of Us All

People who inspire us deserve talking and writing about them in any form, anywhere, anytime. Luckily, in our IT company most of us are inspired by people who push the progress forward and revolutionize the world with groundbreaking innovations. So we think it’s important to pay tribute to those inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs who have introduced new technologies into the world to make our lives better and more fun. And it’s not only because people like them create new opportunities and entire industries with millions of jobs. Although we recognize that our web design and development company may have not existed if not for a few dozens of people who have brought to life brilliant ideas such as the computer, smartphone, Internet etc.

Best moments of Steve Jobs’s life: the original Apple Computer team assembling Apple I (1976)

"What I was proud of was that I used very few parts to build a computer that could actually speak words on a screen and type words on a keyboard and run a programming language that could play games. And I did all this myself."– Steve Wozniak

Their contributions are even more important if we regard them from the perspective of their global influence on the human society. I can hardly think of any sphere of human life that has not been facilitated or streamlined with a computer. The personal computer helps people create, cure, educate and entertain themselves. These wonderful machines have been powerful, compact and cheap enough for less than half a century, but they’ve made an incredible impact on our today’s lives. Thanks to the computer the humanity learned how to identify and fight some dangerous diseases, how to learn and teach more efficiently, how to reach faraway planets, how to see the entire world from your home and how to find new friends without distances being a problem.

Best moments of Steve Jobs’s life: Paul Terrell of the Byte Shop agrees to order 50 assembled Apple-1 units (1976)

"What I needed was an assembled and tested unit that could sell to people that really just wanted to use them and not just to the technical audience."– Paul Terrell

Best moments of Steve Jobs’s life: Mike Markkula's serious investment in Apple (1977)

"Mike really took me under his wing. His values were much aligned with mine. He emphasized that you should never start a company with the goal of getting rich. Your goal should be making something you believe in and making a company that will last."– Steve Jobs

Here at QuartSoft, we believe that revolutionary inventions such as the affordable personal computer have given us the most incredibly amazing things people have ever got in the history of humanity. We are lucky to live in the ever-evolving digital era. And we want this evolution to go on and on. We need new genii to push the human race forward. That’s why our team has decided to undertake a mission of inspiring our audience with the world of revolutionary technologies and groundbreaking inventions as well as innovators and entrepreneurs involved in introducing them to masses. We want to convert young people into admirers of science and engineering. We want talented geeks, inventors, engineers and scientists to be as famous and popular as rock stars. We want the representatives of the new generation to believe that they can change the world and make it better for each of us just as Steve Jobs did.

Best moments of Steve Jobs’s life: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak introduce the Apple II at the first West Coast Computer Faire (1977)

"Steve Jobs didn't really set the direction of my Apple I and Apple II designs but he did the more important part of turning them into a product that would change the world. I don't deny that."– Steve Wozniak

Steve Jobs – the Mercurial Genius

Steve Jobs had been a rather controversial person as a manager, colleague, and friend. But controversy is something that seems to be a part of any genius. Lots of brilliant minds have been criticized and unappreciated by the general public because of their personality during their lives, but the fruits of their work make us stand in awe of their talent, intellect, flair, and charisma.

Best moments of Steve Jobs’s life: Steve's visit to Xerox PARC with a group of Apple engineers and executives (1979)

"We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas."– Steve Jobs

Yes, Steve Jobs used to be a jerk sometimes. But he was a genius jerk. He seems to be such a genius that Apple employees he treated so harshly are even thankful for his assholeness today because it had helped them push all the limits of the computer world they re-invented. I can imagine what a nightmare it was to work for Steve Jobs for some of his employees and partners. But when I think of all the revolutionary things created under his management and supervision I start to believe that it was worth the pain. I’m sure one must be really tough to get ahead of time and push the others to follow.

Best moments of Steve Jobs’s life: Steve with the original Apple Macintosh team (George Crow, Burrell Smith, Joanna Hoffman, Bud Tribble, Andy Hertzfeld, Susan Kare, Jerry Manock, Bill Atkinson) (1983)

"Mac stands for what we are as a company, taking technology that’s out of reach of the people and making it really great. That’s what we did with the Apple II, and that’s what we’re going to do again with Mac."– Steve Jobs

It’s true that Steve Jobs had made many mistakes and had some bad failures because of his nasty temper during his management career at Apple and NeXT. His mercurial and defiant personality was the main reason why he was ousted from the company he had started, he was betrayed by people he considered to be like his fathers and many of his good old friends like Steve Wozniak and Dan Kottke used to have a grudge against him. But he was smart and strong enough to persist with his dream to contribute and achieve. His passion, entrepreneurial instinct and audacity finally helped Jobs triumph as an honorary Apple’s CEO and idol for many geeks and technology enthusiasts from all over the globe. And what’s especially important he learned how to suppress his craziness for everybody’s benefit.

Best moments of Steve Jobs’s life: Steve unveils the NeXTcube computer (1988)

"It'll make your jaw drop."– Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs was not a programmer or hardware inventor, but he had that special instinct for what was good and what would revolutionize the future. He had a brilliant intuition of the impact he wanted his brand to have on people. He knew that an outstanding product could be in great demand even if its price is higher than what competitors produced. He did not care about in-house relationships, but he did care about the product. Steve wanted to add value to the product and amaze the world no matter what. Even if he had to break the established rules, lose money and rebel against the majority of skeptics around him. It would be devastatingly frustrating for a normal guy like me but not for such a crazy person like Steve Jobs.

Best moments of Steve Jobs’s life: Steve’s involvement with the Pixar team and cooperation with John Lasseter during the Toy Story project (1995)

"We believe it's the biggest advance in animation since Walt Disney started it all with the release of Snow White 50 years ago."– Steve Jobs

QuartSoft’s Tribute to Steve Jobs

I thought it would be great to pay tribute to the great Steve Jobs on our blog to reflect our admiration and desire to inspire the would-be tech genii with insanely great examples of innovative minds.

Best moments of Steve Jobs’s life: iMac launch after Steve's return to Apple (1998)

"iMac is not just the color or translucence or the shape of the shell. The essence of the iMac is to be the finest possible consumer computer in which each element plays together."– Steve Jobs

So I asked QuartSoft’s new illustrator and graphic designer Helen Stoyka to work on this project and help me create the animation. With this animated bio, I wanted not only to capture the key moments of Steve Jobs’s life but also to let viewers live a few seconds with him as if observing his life from the sidelines. Of course it’s fun to read a bio of a brilliant guy like Steve Jobs, but when reading, our imagination often focuses on main characters and misses lot of details such as appearances, surroundings and other people that interact with the main characters. That’s why watching a video can offer us another dimension to perceive the information. The cartoon format also helps us better imagine and recreate the scenes of Steve Jobs’s life that have never been captured on film.

Best moments of Steve Jobs’s life: iPod presentation (2001)

"If there was ever a product that catalyzed what’s Apple’s reason for being, it’s this. Because it combines Apple’s incredible technology base with Apple’s legendary ease of use with Apple’s awesome design, it’s like, this is what we do. "– Steve Jobs

The following key events in Steve Jobs’s life have been featured in the animated bio:

• One of the first days of Steve’s life with his biological mother and father in San Francisco (1955)
• Baby Steve with his adoptive parents (1955)
• Jobs family moving from San Francisco to Mountain View, California (1961)
• Steve’s father is showing him how to work on electronics (1961)
• Steve's 4th-grade teacher Imogene Hill bribing him back into learning with candy and money (1965)
• Steve Jobs looking at HP 9100A – the first desktop computer in his life (1968)
• Bill Fernandez introducing Steve to his neighbor Steve Wozniak (1971)
• Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs using a "blue box" designed by Wozniak to call Vatican City (1972)
• Steve Jobs enrolling at Reed College in Portland, Oregon (1972)
• Steve dropping out of college (1973)
• Steve still attending a course on calligraphy in college (1973)
• Steve’s first job at Atari (1974)
• Steve Jobs’s spiritual trip to India with his friend Daniel Kottke (1974)
• Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak selling their stuff to get the first money they needed to print out Apple I circuit boards (1976)
• Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne founding Apple Computers (1976)
• Jobs and Wozniak are presenting their computer to the Homebrew Computer Club (1976)
• Steve Jobs talking with Paul Terrell about the possibility of selling the Apple I kits in his computer store (1976)
• Jobs and Wozniak negotiating the purchase of $15,000 worth of parts needed to fill the Byte Shop order on credit at Cramer Electronics (1976)
• The Apple Computer team assembling 50 computers for The Byte Shop in the Jobs family garage (1976)
• Steve Jobs delivering the first 50 Apple computers to Paul Terrell (1976)
• Mike Markkula investing $92,000 in Apple for about a third ownership in the company (1977)
• Steve Jobs presenting the Apple II at the first West Coast Computer Faire (1977)
• Steve Jobs is visiting Xerox PARC with a group of Apple engineers and executives in exchange for 100 000 Apple shares at about $10 each (1979)
• Jobs working with the Lisa project team (1981)
• Jobs attending the annual International Design Conference in Aspen to get inspired with the spare and functional design philosophy of the Bauhaus movement (1981)
• Jobs working with the Macintosh project team (1983)
• Steve Jobs and Bill Gates discussing the Mac GUI and future cooperation between Apple and Microsoft (1983)
• Jobs offering the position of Apple’s CEO to Pepsi-Cola president John Sculley (1983)
• The Macintosh launch event (1984)
• CEO John Sculley and the board firing Steve from Apple (1985)
• Establishing NeXT Inc. (1985)
• Buying the computer division of George Lucas' ILM for $10 million and incorporating it as Pixar (1986)
• Jobs introducing the NeXT cube computer (1988)
• Negotiating a cooperation agreement between Pixar and Disney (1991)
• Visiting the Pixar team working on the Toy Story animated film (1995)
• Steve Jobs returning to Apple as an "informal adviser" to CEO Gil Amelio (1996)
• Becoming an interim CEO of Apple (1997)
• The peace pact between Apple and Microsoft and the Microsoft’s $150 million investment in Apple (1997)
• Jobs discussing design of the iMac computer with Jony Ive (1997)
• Steve Jobs introducing Apple's revolutionary iMac at the Flint Center auditorium in Cupertino (1998)
• The iPod team sharing ideas on the product with Steve Jobs (2001)
• Steve Jobs introducing iPod (2001)
• Steve Jobs is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer (2003)
• Jobs is on a secret meeting discussing the multi-touch technology for the future Apple’s cell phone (2005)
• Steve Jobs introducing iPhone (2007)
• Steve Jobs selecting the right size of the future iPad (2007)
• Steve Jobs introducing iPad (2010)
• Steve Jobs dies at 56 on October 5, 2011

Best moments of Steve Jobs’s life: iPhone presentation (2007)

"Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. It's very fortunate if you can work on just one of these in your career. … Apple's been very fortunate in that it's introduced a few of these."– Steve Jobs

Not only did we capture some key moments of Steve’s life but we also did something that cannot be achieved with the plain text of traditional biographies. Using a “meanwhile bar” in the video, we showed some other influential events that were happening around that time in the world of technology as well as in Steve’s personal and entrepreneurial life. All those events had directly or indirectly impacted Steve Jobs’s destiny and made the very existence of Apple possible. Due to the “meanwhile bar” the video got packed with information. So you’ll probably have to watch it more than once to see the central events of Jobs bio and learn what kind of other events were happening at the same time to keep Steve going and fertilized the IT soil for the Apple to grow so fast and nicely.

Best moments of Steve Jobs’s life: iPad presentation (2010)

"Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. It's very fortunate if you can work on just one of these in your career. … Apple's been very fortunate in that it's introduced a few of these."– Steve Jobs

In fact, we wanted to add even more “meanwhile” events to the animation but this would make the video even longer. So we decided to create an infographic to hold some extra information for real Apple fans and technology geeks.

Steve Jobs biography infographic

We also wanted our audience to see other people who surrounded Jobs such as friends, coworkers and partners. That’s why the majority of characters featured in the animation, although being cartoony, bear a certain resemblance to real-life persons who played a significant role in Steve’s life and career. This resemblance of secondary and even tertiary characters is something I love the most about the animation, and I’m happy we did not forget some key Apple employees including programmers and designers whose talents and abilities helped Jobs’s creativity thrive. Those people are really important. If Jobs was the one who knew exactly where a dent in the Universe could be made, those employees were using their chisels and picks to make that dent possible.

The majority of cartoon characters featured in Steve Jobs animated bio bear a resemblance to real-life Steve’s friends, co-workers and partners.

In fact, Steve Jobs was incredibly lucky to have all those talented and inspiring individuals around him starting with his adoptive father and people living in his neighborhood. The rising of the new personal computer era had brought forth lots of talents destined to lay another solid brick in the wall of the human civilization. Steve Jobs was one of the visionary leaders of the new technology revolution. However without hands and brains of such talents as Steve Wozniak, Jef Raskin, Bill Atkinson, Larry Tesler, Burrell Smith, Bud Tribble, Jony Ive and many others Jobs would never have become a cult figure in the digital world. He probably would have never succeeded in building the legendary company without money from Paul Terrell and Mike Markkula and their trust in him and Woz. Even Bill Gates, Apple’s eternal adversary, played a big role in making Apple one of the most awesome and loved companies of the world. Not many know that Bill was the one who had helped Apple to get stronger and survive a dangerous crisis. There were also people who had to direct Jobs or otherwise he would have failed early in his career. There were people such as John Sculley who had to play a seemingly negative role in Steve’s life but who, in fact, helped Jobs mature and correct some of his management flaws through a bitter lesson to eventually become Apple’s CEO. It wouldn’t be fair not to give those people credit for their valuable contributions in Apple product execution and financing as well as in inspiring and mentoring of Steve Jobs.

Interestingly enough, Bill Gates was not only Apple’s biggest rival but also one of Apple’s biggest contributors and investors. In fact he had saved Apple with his money during the company’s most serious crisis.

The authors of Steve Jobs animated biography did their best to take into consideration some minor details from the Steve’s life. While working on the animation, I was reading the biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson not to miss such details. For example, when reading the book, I learned some seemingly minor facts such as Steve’s head being shaven while in India and him being barefoot when negotiating with Paul Terrell of The Byte Shop as well as with a man in charge at Cramer Electronics. So we have reflected those peculiar facts in our animation for as much historical truth as possible.

Did you know that Steve Jobs had his head shaven while in India? With our animated bio you can add more historical truth to what you know about Steve’s life.

Some old photos of Steve Jobs and Apple employees were used as the reference to draw a few scenes for the animation.

The majority of cartoon characters featured in Steve Jobs animated bio bear a resemblance to real-life Steve’s friends, co-workers and partners.

There are a couple of buildings in the video such as Reed College and the Byte Shop. We made sure their cartoon representation would bear resemblance to what they look like in real life.

We took into consideration the real-life look of buildings featured in the animated bio of Steve Jobs.

We also took into consideration the real-life look of the computers and other tech equipment featured in the video.

The authors of the animated biography of Steve Jobs made sure the computers and other gadgets featured in the video looked like in real life.

Looking back at the life and legacy of Steve Jobs, I understand the full importance of his contributions to the recent digital revolution that has changed the entire lifestyle of the civilized society. He was capable to find the right people and motivate them for the successful pioneering journey to then-undiscovered realms of information technology. His mission has helped shape the digital world into what we enjoy so much today in times of work and leisure. These are only a few fields where Steve Jobs and his team have changed the IT industry:

• Fully assembled personal computer for non-tech users (Apple I, 1976)
• Computer with the ability to display color graphics (Apple II, 1977)
• Floating and overlapping GUI windows, improved mouse, computer fonts, speech synthesis (Macintosh, 1984)
• New standards for 3-D graphics rendering (RenderMan at Pixar, 1980s)
• Searchable electronic books and dictionaries, simulated learning environment (NeXTcube, 1988)
• Connecting art with technology (iMac, 1998)
• Secure online system for selling/buying audio and video content (iTunes, 2001)
• Miniature high-capacity storage drive (iPod, 2001)
• Digital keyboard, multi-touch display, Gorilla Glass on a portable device (iPhone, 2007)
• Ultra compact personal computer (iPad, 2010)

Steve Jobs once said: “One way to remember who you are or want to be is to remember who your heroes are.” And Steve Jobs is definitely a hero for many Apple fans. And we want as many people as possible to remember him and keep on proclaiming this great man their hero. We want people to get inspired with the technology’s foremost visionary in order to plant a desire to invent and innovate in their hearts. The life of Steve Jobs could be a great lesson for tech entrepreneurs, startup founders, investors as well as technology and design enthusiasts that simply want to impress customers with what they do if not to re-invent or revolutionize the entire industry.

We hope this post will be another QuartSoft's step towards cultivating design and engineering taste as well as popularizing creativity and innovative mindset through inspirational examples from those belonging to the pantheon of the world-changing figures.

Sources

Our primary source for this project was the Steve Jobs biography written by Walter Isaacson. However, the author of the animated biography of Steve Jobs had to read some articles including those of Wikipedia as well as watch videos and check some pictures of Steve Jobs and Apple/NeXT/Pixar team members to properly create the characters and objects featured in the video. Here is a list of some sources of information used for this project:

Books

1. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
2. Steve Jobs: Thinking Differently by Patricia Lakin

Videos

3. Steve Jobs - The return to Apple (1997)
4. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak reflect on early Apple days in rare video
5. Steve Jobs building NeXT
6. Steve Jobs featured in internal video about the Macintosh Team (1984)
7. Steve Jobs introduces Original iPad - Apple Special Event (2010)
8. Steve Jobs iPhone 2007 Presentation
9. Steve Jobs previews Toy Story at Siggraph '95 (1995)
10. The First iMac Introduction
11. The Lost 1984 Video: young Steve Jobs introduces the Macintosh

Articles

12. “Apple, Rising” 1976-1985
13. Apple History Timeline
14. Apple’s 10 most important keynote announcements of all time
15. Did Steve Jobs steal everything from Xerox PARC?
16. Early Apple Employee Reunion Celebrates the Twiggy Mac Resurrection
17. Firing Steve Jobs
18. Former Apple CEO John Sculley says he never fired co-founder Steve Jobs
19. Good-bye Woz and Jobs: How the First Apple Era Ended in 1985
20. Instant Expert: A Brief History of iPod
21. John Sculley Just Gave His Most Detailed Account Ever Of How Steve Jobs Got Fired From Apple
22. Regrets from the Man Who Fired Steve Jobs
23. Secrets of the Little Blue Box
24. Steve Jobs Biography
25. Steve Jobs biography
26. Steve Jobs: Steve Wozniak Remembers
27. Steve Wozniak Biography
28. The birth of Lisa
29. The Mac at 25: Andy Hertzfeld Looks Back
30. The Man Who Jump-Started Apple
31. The story behind Steve Jobs’ 1985 resignation from Apple
32. Who Is Jonathan Ive?

Wikipedia

33. Apple A4
34. Apple Inc.
35. ARM Holdings
36. Blue box
37. FingerWorks
38. iPod
39. OS X
40. Pixar
41. Steve Jobs
42. Steve Wozniak
43. Timeline of Apple Inc. products
44. Toy Story
45. VisiCalc

Pictures and Photo Galleries

46. All Apple Computers and artifacts at the DigiBarn
47. Behold, Some of the First Apple Computer Photos Ever
48. Pictures of Steve Jobs 1955 – 1985
49. Remembering Steve Jobs: Photo Gallery Throughout The Years
50. Sir Jonathan Ive’s career in pictures

Websites Dedicated to Steve Jobs and Apple

51. All about Steve Jobs
52. Apple History
53. AppleInsider
54. Every Steve Jobs Video
55. Folklore.org: The Original Macintosh
56. Low End Mac
57. Mac History
58. The Apple Museum
59. Woz.org

Miscellaneous Sources

60. An illustrated history of Apple
61. Apple History Timeline
62. Excerpts from an Oral History Interview with Steve Jobs
63. Steve Jobs bio timeline
64. Steve Jobs: A timeline
65. The Pixar timeline

Authors

Idea and animation: Dmitriy Nesterov
Illustrator: Helen Stoyka
Music: SaReGaMa

You probably have heard that human nature is innate and behavior patterns are constant. Most of the people confuse behavior with habits. Habits are acquired attributes and they evolve in response to the environment. You are probably wondering why i'm giving you this philosophy lecture. It is because I want to give you an overview of evolving online shopping habits. Online shopping or eCommerce has completely revolutionized the retail scenario of the world. Backup up by heavy funding and mass-scaling, they are able to provide whopping discounts which are not viable for brick and mortar businesses to provide.

According to a survey, only 45% of the participants preferred Online shopping (No, not everyone prefer eCommerce and in fact, it is the minority). Contrary to the commonly believed misconception, it is the Gen Z (18 - 24) who spend the highest proportion of their income on online shopping. As they are the lowest earning group, it is natural to go wrong. But if we factor in the facts that they are the highest proportion of internet users and being the least income group, they are believed to spend more time hunting for better deals and discounts. Obviously, eTailers offer the best discounts most of the times. Older generations on the other hand, are less tech-savvy and some prefer instant buying instead of having to wait a few days to get the product.

According to Quantcast and Alexa metrics, men spend an average of 10 minutes and women 12 minutes before making a purchase online. Well, it's an obvious fact that women are slow shoppers. Coming to the category-wise statistics, Clothing and apparel top the list followed by Food-related goods, computers and electronics. For a better visualization, I have also put together an infographic depicting the online shopping habits and related facts and figures.

Infographic created by DTDCTrack

As you may know, today is “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day,” a day designated to encourage girls of all ages to explore engineering related subjects and careers. Such a day is extremely necessary, especially considering that women comprise only 13% of the engineering workforce. The following infographic, created by NJIT’s Online Civil Engineering program, highlights more interesting statistics on how women are closing the gender gap in STEM. Feel free to check it out and share to do your part to celebrate this day and close the gender gap in STEM!

Source

Any and all businesses online rely on their website performance to run their operations successfully, primarily because their website carries out end to end transactions; i.e. from displaying products to taking orders, completing transactions to delivering products.

Such businesses essentially need to focus on their website speed and performance at all times. All seems well if they continually experience surging trends in sales and conversions; however it calls for an immediate attention if a downtrend is noticed over a period.

Analyzing the data for customer contacts is important which helps the businesses to figure out the reasons behind the slide.

Filtering out the requests and queries with an extensive focus on complaints can clearly determine if there is an issue with the website performance.

A slow website can be attributed to a number of factors though. Paying a hefty amount to the web development agency doesn’t necessarily promise a great website.

Businesses should be careful while getting the site designed. For instance, the design theme suggested by their developers shouldn’t outweigh the core functionality of the site. User interface should be simpler too. Image optimization, integration of analytics code, sign up form and other items at the backend, can very well affect the site speed if not implemented correctly.

Being cost effective, extensions and plugins are vastly popular these days. Not only they provide the users’ with some great experience but also bring down the development cost to a great extent.

Quality and trusted plugins should always be preferred as they hardly interfere with the website performance. A well designed website is nothing if not supported by a good web host. A cumulative uptime of 99.99% is a MUST with superior page speeds.

Numerous hosting vendors can be found with attractive offerings but it’s important to ensure if they really deliver what they promise.

Businesses just can’t afford to have a slow website, for its impact is far extending and makes them vulnerable on all counts.

Source: HostingFacts

The ability to communicate is a vital part of human existence in more ways than one can imagine. Thanks to the evolving growth of communication technologies, the globe has been interconnected in unforeseeable ways. And this is how May 17th, World Telecommunication Day, is to be celebrated--by acknowledging the history of interconnectivity.

A Brief History of Communication Tools

Communication between long distances, or even through time, has been part of the human condition. There is some anecdotal evidence that shows that storytelling was one form of communication that passed information along. Storytelling transcended both time and distance in a very limited way.

In the prehistoric era, early man developed beacons where they used fire to communicate simple messages to neighboring clans. This could have been anything from "danger" to "help."

Back in the 6th century, when Cyrus the Great ruled Persia, there was another system of communication established. It was a very crude version of a postal service. Cyrus the Great's empire was so vast that he needed a communication tool to send and receive messages from every corner of his empire.

Persia and Syria, in the 5th century BCE, are credited for discovering that a pigeon can fly to his or her nest no matter the distance. This discovery led travelers and voyagers to take pigeons on their journey. The voyager or travel would later attach an update and release it with the birds.

Communication took some time to get where it is today. One of the biggest discoveries that laid the groundwork for what telecommunication is today is Alexander Graham Bell's invention. In 1876, Bell invented the very first telephone as he was trying to transmit speech electronically to help his deaf students, marking a huge step forward in telecommunications.

In fact, in 1880, Bell invented a photophone, which was much like his telephone except it transmitted sound using a beam of light. This call could be called the first wireless call made by a human being.

5G is Necessary to Accommodate the Globe

The ability to communicate globally gave human beings a hunger to improve communications even more. In fact, experts have estimated that by the year 2020, networks of communication will need to accommodate about 1,000 times more data traffic if they want to stay in business.

What one should take into account is that the need to communicate faster can be seen in the present. 4G networks only account for 4 percent of mobile connections, yet people use 40 percent of all data traffic through 4G.

The number of people using cellphones and mobile data just keeps growing. But, in retrospect, it is humorous that it all started with simple stories and signals.

Source: New Jersey Institute of Technology

You might also like:

iPhone: How Did We Get There? [Technology History Infographic]

Computer technology has been improving steadily since the 1960s, with incredible leaps forward at regular intervals. Processing power, graphic rendering, local storage, and the devices which bring everything together have changed the way we interact with each other and the world around us. But what about the way we interact with these devices?

The mouse and keyboard have been a long standing staple of interaction with computers, but this is rapidly changing. Smartphones have put the full range of computer function in the palm of your hand. Touchscreens are at the center of this technological revolution, enabling greater functionality and innovation in a world that moves as fast as we can handle. But there are always people looking for the next big thing to take hold.

There is always room for innovation. Where touchscreens are ubiquitous in modern society, we can only imagine as to what could take their place. Motion sensing could allow for hands-free interaction with devices not unlike present day Virtual Reality. Flexible displays would be ideal for portability and storage while simultaneously increasing product resistance to accidental damage. Holograms are still being researched, and may be able to offer an interesting and unique way of interacting not just with devices but the world around us. It may even be possible for a sensor to detect your thoughts and translate them into actions on a linked device.

The future is anything but certain. With technological advances springing up around the world and innovators creating bold new ideas, we can only imagine as to the interactive technology of tomorrow. From augmented reality through holographic lenses to controlling your preferred devices with your thoughts, the world we live in is primed for some amazing things. And it's not just science fiction anymore: this technology is right around the corner.

Source: ShopSmart

There are over 3.2 billion people using the internet today and due to slow adoption of IPv6, IPv4-configured routers are stretched to the limit and are now at their breaking point. This is what caused the internet blackout in August 2014 and something electrical engineers do not want to see happen again. Unfortunately, the current IP addressing system has a limited number of IP addresses, which means they’ll soon be running out. Electrical engineers have developed an improved IPv6 system that will greatly improve capacity limits, but currently only 6.23% of Google users around the world are using IPv6. However, some of the largest global organizations such as Twitter, Google, Facebook, and YouTube have adopted IPv6 and it is quickly becoming apparent that larger organizations are the ones making moves towards this new technology. As internet user numbers increase, it becomes increasingly important that more businesses and users move over to the IPv6 system. To learn more, check out the infographic created by the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Source New Jersey Institute of Technology

Did you know that 1 in 5 Americans have been impacted by data breaches and that approximately 3,000 American companies are annual victims of cybercrime? Most of these cyber attacks are the result of risky employee behavior, some of which include password problems and issues arising from malware. Yet it is important to note that even when companies and employees are very careful, cyber attacks can still occur due to the increasing intelligence of cyber criminals. In fact, a recent university study found that 92% of passwords can be hacked, 54% of which can be hacked within a matter of minutes. Considering these numbers, it is clear to see the importance of keeping your data and accounts safe, so to learn more about implementing and promoting security protocol check out this educational resource below!

Did you know that in 2015, an estimate of 13.1 million Americans were victims of online identity theft? In fact, over the past 7 years, cyber security attacks involving identity theft has resulted in approximately $112 billion stolen. There are a number of ways to know if you've been a victim of identity theft, some of which include unexplained withdrawals, calls from unfamiliar debt collectors and medical bill services you didn't use. To learn more about how to protect yourself from the growing number of identity related cyber crimes, check out this educational resource created by Boston University's Online Criminal Justice program.

Source