Tech feed
1804
Long before electronic computers, Jacquard weaving used punched cards to direct the production of patterned cloth. Changing the card sequence let a loom produce a different design without replacing the underlying machine.
1991
The camera widely remembered as the first webcam watched a coffee pot at Cambridge in 1991, initially over a local network. It became accessible through the World Wide Web in November 1993.
1964
The first mouse prototype in Douglas Engelbart’s research program was built in 1964 with a wooden body. Engineer Bill English constructed the device, which tracked movement using two perpendicular wheels.