Tech feed
1947
The first working transistor emerged at Bell Laboratories in December 1947: a small germanium experiment that showed how a semiconductor could amplify an electrical signal without a heated vacuum tube.
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.