I love tech history. I enjoy how we evolved from computers that fill a room to computers we wear on our bodies. I have put a full archive of tech history together at Wikazine. You can also talk history at Google +. I am also a podcaster and V-caster at Geekazine and a Podcast Coach at How to Record Podcasts. You can also sign up for a Helpout
Back in 1980, Pac Man graced the geek population. I remember spending many a quarter on munching dots, solving mazes and beating ghosts. But did you know the ghosts had their own agenda? Did you know that it was suppose to be Puck Man?
This infographic will show you 11 things you might not know about the iconic game.
Pac-Man was created by Toru Iwatani to pick up girls
Each Ghost has its own marching orders
The Japanese version translates to Puck-Man (Munch-Man)
Pac-Man Released in Japan on May 22, 1980. It released in the US October 1980
The president of NAMCO wanted all the ghosts to be one color: red. The staff convinced him to change his mind
A marketing exec realized the “P” could get vandalized with Pack-Man. Therefore, he suggested they change to Pac-Man
Pac Man is the most recognized video game character
Pac-Man holds 8 Guinness world records
Pac-Man Fever hit #9 on the Billboard hot 100 charts
The perfect game – clear 255 levels and earn 3,333,360 points
Ms. Pac-Man is considered by some to have de-throned Pac-Man in popularity
I don’t remember much of my past as a little child. What I do remember are bits and pieces. George Lucas and Star Wars was many of those pieces I remember. From watching Star Wars at the drive-in theater back in 77 to getting my first Star Wars figures that Christmas.
Then there was collecting the box tops for Boba Fett, the Emperor and more. I kept Fett in the packaging until my mother opened it up after a fight us kids had about it.
Lucas was my childhood. From Indiana Jones to American Graffiti. And yes – even Howard the Duck.
You might have only had a cellular phone for 10 years. Believe it or not cell phones have been around for 41 years. To put it in perspective – I am a year older than the cell phone.
Its amazing how the phone has evolved. From bricks and dead spots to LTE and social networks. Let’s take a look at how we got from one to the other.
Cell phones in the 80s
The First Cell Phones
Motorola was the first company to introduce the handheld mobile device. In 1973 the first call was made from such a device but in its early infancy it could only last a minuscule 30 minutes of talk time and took 10 whole hours to recharge. 1980’s saw a development of these mobile devices with them becoming slightly smaller and more portable for the user, despite the developments, these cell phone were still large and cumbersome and relied on the analogue system rather than digital that we know today.
The biggest leap to happen next was in the 1990s. During this decade we moved into the digital cell phone age. We saw two differing digital systems in 2G (aka: second generation) that were born in the 1990s, the european (GSM) system and the US (CDMA) system. The 90s moved from the large ‘brick’ style phones to a small and more portable style device.
2G cell phones also saw the birth of SMS messaging. The very first text message was sent in December 1992 in Finland. Since these early days of cell phones things have developed at a phenomenal rate – with over 91% of adults owning a phone (pew research).
The Internet Age of Cell Phones
Since the 2G network there has been the launch of 3G (third generation) and 4G networks. The 3G digital network has really enabled users to begin accessing information on the internet.
With these advances in technology the actual handsets have changed dramatically too. No longer the large and heavy devices, the digital cell device has become small, light and slim. Easy to hold in one hand and fit into the pockets of even the tightest fitting jeans.
The 2000s saw the biggest development in the ability to access high speed data resources. Mobile devices are now so advanced that we carry our entire social and digital lives around with us in our pockets. Our personal information is stored on our cell phones as well as being able to work and play on them.
iPhone ad
New Directions of the Cell Phone
Other advances have taken place with the cellular phone market. On June 11, 1997, Philippe Kahn shared instantly the first pictures from the maternity ward where his daughter Sophie was born. This was known as the first cell phone picture. Since then many top brand phones have become high resolution digital cameras and even video cameras.
Apple iPhone included a storage system outside the phone in iCloud so users could continually store and manage their data. Android launched data systems and management, along with a series of apps to create everything from documents to photos. Both systems have become immensely popular and lead the smartphone revolution.
As of January 2014, Kantar World Panel announced Android held 68% of world-wide phone market share. iPhone only holds 18% worldwide although its market share in the US does a lot better than Android.
We have seen recent technology advances when paying for goods. From NFC chips to apps like Square and Paypal – apps changed the way we live our lives. Even businesses have found uses for this technology, they can now use them in their advertising campaigns via the SMS messaging service.
With such advances in cellular technology and such great changes in technology history, the security of its users has had to stay up to date in order to prevent data fraud. Of course there have been scandals in recent years such as the media scandal in the UK where journalists hacked SMS data history for many celebrities and victims, using the content in their stories.
What other advancements in technology history we can expect to see in years to come we cant be sure of, what we can say is that cellular technology is part of our modern life and will be sure to stay.
1996 – Corel not only gets WordPerfect form Novell, but also Quattro Pro for $180 million in stock and cash. Michael Cowpland (Founder of Corel) called WordPerfect the “Pepsi to Microsoft’s Coke”. I guess that was not the case as OpenOffice (RC maybe?) surpassed WordPerfect users.WordPerfect and Corel have been in flux since 2006, when Vector Capital purchased 72% of the company. Just this last year, they bought up the remaining stock and became privately held once again.
2007 – Microsoft releases Windows Vista in many different versions to the public – Home, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, Ultimate, Home Basic N and Business N. With a Codename of “Longhorn”, this was the next version to XP and introduced many new features including the redesigned start button and glass borders. The Ultimate version even had active background, where your desktop picture could be moving.
The OS didn’t live up to expectation and caused a lot of driver errors including machines that were suppose to be “Vista Ready”. Vista was soon replaced by Windows 7.
1988 – Spectrum Holobyte releases the puzzle game Tetris for the Commodore 64 and IBM PC. This was the first game imported from the Soviet Union. The game was written by Alexi Paszitnov and Vagim Gerasimov at the Computer Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Moscow. The Commodore 64 version would cost you $24.95, and the IBM version cost $34.95.
First started as Beverly Hills Internet (BHI) GeoCities was one of the largest online user-created communities. At it’s height, GeoCities was the third-most visited website. Pages built by users to slice their piece of the Word Wide Web Pie.
Yahoo! saw this as a great addition to their web so on January 28, 1999 Yahoo! announced they were purchasing GeoCities for $3.6 billion dollars and $1 billion in stock options. Because of this news, GeoCities stock jumped up 42.25 points to $117/share. Yahoo! jumped up 31 points to $367/share.
GeoCities was closed by Yahoo! on October 26, 2009
1972 – Magnavox begins the production of the Odyssey Video game system. The final release date was not until May. It was a very primitive system with no processors and the cartridges are jumpered configurations. The system will be on the market for a year before being discontinued.
ghost, marching orders, most recognized, ms pac man, namco, pac-man, puck-man
