The other day I needed to watch a program on TV, but the TV in my
room wouldn't receive the station that the program was on. I wasn't
sure what I could do - the only thing I could think of was try to get
another TV. I borrowed a TV from my grandparents so I could watch the
program.
TV Progress
The TV that they let me borrow was made by RCA and is probably close
to 40 years old, if not older. The first thing I observed was how small
it is for its age. It can't be more than 16" deep, yet the screen is
about 15". The knobs are on the top: there are four of them, two
control changing the stations, one controls brightness, and the other
controls volume. There are four knobs in back: one for horizontal hold,
another for vertical hold, another for contrast, and another for
fine-tuning. The speaker is on the top in between the knobs.
We also have a Motorola TV from about 10 years before the RCA. It
has the same size screen as the RCA, and yet is probably twice as deep.
The case is made of wood with two doors over the upper portion of the
front. Inside is the screen and four knobs (it looks like there are
two, but they are "double" knobs). It can receive channels 2 through
13. The back is half covered up with a perforated piece of cardboard.
Part of the chassis is exposed and has controls for brightness,
contrast, vertical hold, and horizontal hold. According to a diagram on
the back, there are 30-some tubes aside from the CRT.
Compare that to the RCA, which is much smaller, has the same size
screen, and can receive not only the basic channels, but UHF channels
14-83 as well. In just ten years they managed to cut the size in half
and still add some features. There is no diagram on the back, but my
guess is that the number of tubes had been reduced by at least
half.
Around the time of the RCA, color TVs were still very large and
expensive, and even though they were decent, most people didn't have
them.
Ten years later they had color TVs not much bigger than that RCA -
and completely transistorized, which meant no longer waiting several
minutes for it to warm up. The price had dropped considerably, and they
were now starting to become widely used.
Computing Progress
The same can be said about almost everything else that people take
for granted today, including computers.
When computers started to be used, they weren't common in the home.
Starting in around 1992, a lot of people started buying computers for
their homes. They basically had two choices: a Macintosh with System
7.1 or a 486-based PC with Windows 3.1. Each one had some software
available for it, but was somewhat primitive in ease of use and setup.
Like the Motorola TV, they did the basics but were somewhat clumsy and
basic.
In 1995 you could buy a slightly better integrated Macintosh with
System 7.5 or a PC with Windows 95. Windows 95 was a big improvement to
version 3.1 in terms of ease of use, and System 7.5 added more features
to 7.1. In 1995, the idea of the CD-ROM drive and Internet was starting
to become popular, but many people still did not sign up with an
Internet service provider. Yes, the Internet and multimedia were out,
but it would be several more years until they both became widely
used.
In 1998 the iMac was
released and people started signing up for Internet access. Most of
those people who bought an iMac used it on the Internet. Windows 98 was
also released, which greatly improved Internet access in Windows.
In 2000, the release of QuickTime 4 with "QuickTime TV" brought
video to the computer, and Microsoft's Media Player offered another
alternative. The next year, Apple released iTunes, and making CD-ROMs
and music CDs became popular on the PC and the Macintosh.
The computer in the home went from a large, ugly beige box sitting
on a desk with 20 different wires coming out the back to a much nicer
looking unit that one may argue even looks nice. It went from having
4 MB of RAM and a few educational programs and home office
applications to having 128 MB of RAM with thousands of applications
doing almost anything you could imagine.
Time spent on the computer has also increased. In 1992, a family
might have spent an hour a day on the computer, not even using it some
days. In 2002 most families keep their computers on all of the time,
using it from 2 to 6 hours a day.
The same can be said for the TV. In 1950, a family might have
watched it during the evening for an hour or so; now people frequently
keep their TVs on for 4 or 5 hours, sometimes not even actively
watching it. I find that I can't sit there and watch the TV without
doing something else as well.
The changing and improving technology can be a good thing. You may
have noticed that I described where the knobs that control the picture
are on both of the TVs I have. You may have noticed that I said they
were on the back. How are you supposed to watch how the picture changes
as you are adjusting it if you are in back of the TV? (I know, you can
use a mirror - but it's not a great solution.) Someone obviously wasn't
thinking when they designed both of these TVs.
This is exactly how changing technology is a good thing.
Improvements are made to what is already there. I don't know of a
single TV made today that has the picture adjustment controls in the
back.
Expansion options were improved when Apple started building Power
Macs with PCI slots instead of NuBus slots. This meant that the Mac
could use some PC cards if Mac drivers were available. Connectivity to
peripherals was made better when the iMac made USB the standard. PCs
and Macs could now use the same peripherals; only drivers had to be
written for each platform.
New features are also added, such as when the CD-ROM drive started
becoming available on most home computers by 1994 and when, in 1999,
Apple started including FireWire with new Power Macs, which let you
connect fast external hard drives, CD-RW drives, or video cameras - and
transfer files much faster than you could with USB.
New computers can be had for $799 (for an iMac) or as little as $499
(for a cheap PC). Just 12 years ago might have paid $6,000 for a decent
Macintosh and at $4,000 for a decent PC. Nowadays $4,000 will buy you a
top of the line Macintosh, and $6,000 will get you a top of the line
Mac, scanner, printer, monitor, and 1.5 GB of RAM - and you may still
have money left over.
Just think, in another 10 years we may be complaining about having
to pay $999 for a 10 GHz Power Mac.
