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DEL.ICIO.USWhat’s your favorite technology or gadget?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hey, it’s only fair. Yesterday we talked about the worst technologies, or products, so lets talk about the best today.
I’m linking to a story about that here.
But I already have my own favorite in mind for the best technology ever. It’s not an iPod, or a computer, or a big screen TV. In fact, my grandfather was a small (very small) part of rolling that technology out.
So I’ll hang back and see what you have to say. Feel free to talk about your favorite tech product, or technology. The rules are pretty loose - if you think it was Silly Putty, that’s OK with me … or maybe it was the first artificial heart.
The linked story only talks about products invented since the personal computer - but I think that’s way too limiting. Besides, my own favorite wouldn’t qualify under those rules.
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Comments
By PatrckB
April 12, 2007 2:10 PM | Link to this
My favorite is the internal-combustion engine. This made possible the automobile, the airplane, and a whole host of other useful tools.
Patrick
By snooky
April 12, 2007 2:38 PM | Link to this
It’s gotta be computers,where/how can you do so much,for so little,and gain so much, for everyone.
By Bill
April 13, 2007 7:36 AM | Link to this
For my money, the technology that had the biggest impact - that made us what we are now - is the electrical grid … the grid of electrical circuits that deliver electricity to people and businesses.
It’s really hard to use a computer by candlelight, smile, especially if there’s no way to get electricity for the computer.
And the factories that make all the stuff that we use wouldn’t exist.
I said in the posting that my grandfather had a very small role in this. He was a lineman for Arkansas Power & Light … and used to tell me stories about running lines to homes in rural areas where the only light had been from a kerosense lantern. And about the awe of simply flicking a switch and having light.
It was all a long time ago, of course. But not all miracles of technology are new.
By PatrckB
April 15, 2007 5:23 PM | Link to this
I’m initially from East TN and there’s a story floating around the hills about when TVA first put in the power grid in that area.
The story goes that a farmer got upset that they just drove through his land and erected these high-tension lines. So, the story goes, he puts a barbed wire fence right along underneath the high-voltage lines. He cuts the fence to be an exact 60Hz wavelength and starts drawing free power off his barbed wire. The problem is that it causes a huge load on the lines above and they notice it at the power station. To get him to take down his fence they offer him free power for life.
That’s the story but it is probably an urban legend.
Patrick
By TVA Farmer
April 18, 2007 11:58 AM | Link to this
Dang right I get free power. I also get free DSL thinks to that doggone phone company that went down my land…