The 1960’s held an unprecedented advancement in all types of technology. While most of these advancements became obsolete within a few years, some have been so important to technological advancements that we still use them today.
5mm Jack
Until recently, the 5mm headphone jack was our only option. The 5mm jack has been used on consumer devices since the ’60s. The actual technology has existed since telephones were first invented in the 1890’s, making it one of the oldest technologies still in use today.
ATM
The ATM was first installed into the Enfield branch of Barclays bank in North London in 1967. 3 million have been installed worldwide. The first cash machine worked by inserting a check that had been marked with carbon-14 so that the machine could read it. It wasn’t until a few years later that fully automated cash machines were invented which used a pin number to identify the customer.
Mouse
Douglas Englbart was the inventor that helped in developing ground-breaking computer innovations such as the internet, video conferencing, email and also the computer mouse. Englbart saw the need for a way to control computers that would link to a cursor on the computer screen. He built the first ever mouse, which was made out of wood with a single button on top.
Internet
The internet, was first invented in the 60s as ARPARNET-a military project designed to link computers around the United States to facilitate the rapid transfer of data. Started in 1969, ARPARNET consisted of only a small team of engineers and scientists who could not possibly have known how world changing their work was to become. The project led to the development of parceled data transfer which is the foundation of the internet. It took until the ’80s until the internet became commercially available and nearly two more decades before it was common in homes.
