We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
AS AN EXHIBITION opens in London to celebrate fifty years of the gadget king, James Bond, Business Insider has taken a look at the impact of real-life technology in the 21st-century.
Although we’re only 12 years into the 100-year-period, it’s already been a busy one for technology.
Here is what they believe are the 10 most important devices to emerge in recent years. Do you agree?
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
The kettle still leaves them all in the dust. Nothing like a cuppa Tay.
You’re right. How did we survive without kettles prior to 1999?
The E-Voting Machines….I’II get my jacket
Personally I couldn’t survive without the iPhone or any type of smartphone!
Without doubt, the flow of information is in our hands.
Personally we all would survive without our iPhones, or any type of phone, we might even become more selfless as a result…oh well as if that’s likely.
I love gadgets, not a day goes by without me picking up my smartphone and being totally amazed by it. I often take a picture of my dinner and send it to my sister 4000 miles away and within seconds I have her opinion on it! Looks ok or YUK.
Seriously?
Yep
And I like all my comments on 3 different devices.
Ahhh jayus you got to be kidding.
I do honestly.
That’s funny Jim you never lost it boy!
Hi Ed, i can’t think who you are, can you click on my name and go into my Facebook and leave a message. i bet your from Kilkenny.
Sky Plus Box ?
is that you George
is that you George Hook
USB drive by a mile. I remember buying a 1GB one for college on 2003 for €100. Sigh.
Imagine still copying stuff to DVDs?? Or not downloading tv shows and plugging it straight into the TV?
ah oops just noticed its 21st century gadgets…um…ok so..the 8kg washer drier!
High speed broadband surely… This enabled the gadgets to become practical… I.e uploading downloading data at a speed that wouldn’t drive ya mad with impatience
Hooky here on the right Hook ? Seriously, pause live TV, record, rewind what you miss, great invention. Now for further Sky products go to………
What gadgets are the most important so far?. Let me think. Hi honey,I’m home. Where are the kids?. Eh, one’s on the laptop, the other one’s on the I pad. When I left, we had three?. Oh, yeah, I think the other one’s on the X box. Which one?. The smaller one. Do you remember it’s name?. Eh, well yeah, sort of. So, what’s its name?. Eh well, I can’t quite remember but the last time I saw him, he was looking for the play station. Thank you, that’s a great help. You’re welcome. Where’s my goddamn I phone?. Sorry honey, what did you say?. I said, oh never mind, I’ve got mail on my I pod, of all places. You ok honey?. Yeah, for now. My god, I’ve got mail on my II pod. I haven’t used this in ages. It must be at least two or three months since I used that ancient piece of outdated rubbish. Jesus!. It says here that the neighbours are coming over to visit. It’s the national get to know your neighbour day. Gerry. Gerry quick tell me it’s not true, it can’t be happening. Yes it is darling, but no need to panic, they are already here. Agh! Where, where, where are they . No need to worry darling, they’re right down there at the end of the room. Who?, you mean those people talking into their phones? Yes darling, isn’t it great to get to know our neighbours at last.? Well, yes, I suppose, but who are all these children?. Oh, they’re nothing to worry about dear, they’re their children. Thank god for that, for a moment there, I thought that we were going to have to be responsible for them.
The iPod was not the first (nor best) MP3 player, the RIO Diamond from 1998 or Creative Zen would have been a better choice.
the Zen was a piece of crap. seriously, like!
in typical apple fashion it was a stolen idea repackaged and labelled new and innovative sold to the masses.
Cling film or tin foil
Smartphone, it’s all the other gadgets rolled into one.
eh helloooo…the humble washer drier!!!
With the rate of innovation steaming ahead the next 5 to 10 years will be nice and interesting.
I own quite a few of those gadgets. Posting on my iPhone actually. For me though my favourite is the iPod. Yes there were hd based mp3 players but none did it so well, I owned a RioRiot and was fecking huge compared to the iPod. iTunes was a game changer for it. Never before had it been so easy to make new playlists and find new music. With the iPod Classic I can have access to massive amounts to music. A playlist for every mood.
I still cant believe its not butter.
I think cloud computing should’ve been in there. It does away with the need for a USB (providing you have an Internet connection) and I think personally a hell of a lot safer (i.e. losing your dissertation that was on a USB. Yes, I know you should back it up but there is always one in every year).
your all wrong. the greatest invention was Undercover Brother’s hot sauce squirter built into his watch.
um um um I just love hot sauce! I can’t remember the year, I hope it qualifies.
It was 2002 in case anybody is pedantic.
Digital cameras .
As someone who worked with film cameras, i agree totally. Ah, the freedom!
Xbox Kinnect is a devolution in technology simply awful… Nintendo whoops it’s fat ass
With the Wii’s stereoscopic cameras, voice controls, facial recognition, motion tracking and wide application beyond console gaming?
2/10 for making me reply, my jimmies otherwise remain unrustled.
It is truly amazing how fast technology has improved even in the space of 7 years. I type this on a IBM T42 and whenever this laptop comes into discussion you’d swear I bought it in the eighties. The rate of change is incredible when compared to say, cars.
Also, I think the humble printer should get a mention here. At the start of the century it was big and slow. Now, they come cheap with scanner/copiers attached.
GPS, since “selective availability” was switched off in 2000.
Not really a big gamer any more but the I’d say we’re not far off having projected 3D or 4D game in the middle of your room
The LEAP card :P
Oh btw when were Laser cards, credit cards invented?
1946 for the credit card
21st Century, ie AFTER 1999.
*Face Palm*
wouldn’t the first year of the 21st century be 2001?
sorry , but the macbook air didnt usher in a new era of small portable computers without optical drives , the laptop that kicked off all of that was the original asus eeepc 701 , released 2007.
Geniunely cannot believe this isn’t on the list!
http://www.amazon.com/Chillow-604232777510-%C2%AE-Comfort-Device/dp/B0000V0E14
It could be argued that the netbook ushered in the tablets we have today. It focused on the 10″ and smaller form factor while maintaining maximum functionality and increased production (and thus reduced cost of the components that would ultimately become tablets. I.e. 10″ screens, high density battery’s, solid state memory and touchscreens. The iPad, Moto Xoom and Asus Transformer are all just netbooks without the keyboard.
The red thumbs on the journal.ie.
It gives people the chance to disagree with you without having to explain their indifference.
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say