Understandig New Media Essay

Four technologies and how have changed my life

Choosing four pieces of technology that have changed my life was rather demanding at first, because there are so many things I use today, which I take for granted. I really had to think about my four objects and the ones I finally decided on are key to my everyday life. While researching my objects, I noticed they each focus upon a popular area in today's world, which is why I feel they support me for every aspect of my life.

My first choice has to be my laptop without doubt; it has been my most important piece of technology, or any item for that matter, for the past two years. I was rather late to the whole laptop scene, receiving my first on my 18th birthday. Beforehand I used the home PC but now that I had my own laptop, I had so much more freedom and privacy.

The following year my laptop became extremely useful and had a major part to play in choosing animation as a career path. There is some debate as to which was the first ever laptop, with Bill Moggridge in 1969 inventing the first laptop for Grid System Corporations, which was eventually used by NASA. However, it wasn’t until 1981 that the Grid Company produced commercial versions of the laptop to sell to the public.

In 1981 Epson produced there HX-20, which included the first LCD laptop screen. Apple, who is famous for its Macbook, didn’t produce its first laptop till 1989 and was called the “Macintosh Portable”, which evolved into the Powerbook. My laptop is a Compaq, who brought out its first laptop in 1987. Since the creation of laptops, numerous models have followed, from thinner to small ones but they still have the same clamshell design.

However, in 2010 Apple released the “ipad”, which is a touchscreen tablet, with all the capabilities of the Macbook. Apple’s ipad is revolutionary and with interaction becoming more popular, it could be the next step forward.





Before my laptop, my iPod was my biggest and most favourite item, I literally take it everywhere with me because it keeps me motivated, where as I used to be distracted easily. A portable CD player was my former music device, but was too big and could only play one album at a time, so being able to have your whole music collection on one device was mind blowing and is something we all take for granted in today's world.

But according to an article I read in FHM’s magazine, it might not have even seen the light of day. Apple were losing billions when Napster came out because Steve Jobs had brought out the imac with a built in dvd drive, instead of tackling the increased music software popularity, Steve jobs was quoted saying “I feel like a dope” and apple needed to seriously catch up. In 1995 Companies such as, Creative had realised the “jukebox” and Samsung the “yepp” but apple had nothing.

However, in 2001, during a trip to Tokyo, the iPod’s head engineer Jon Rubinstein is shown by Toshiba executives a new 1.8in hard disk, which is perfect for the iPod. Steve Jobs knew that the iPod needed to be sleek, quick and wanted people to be able to listen to “any piece of music in three clicks of a button” but how was this going to be achieved? Well the key to all of this and the iPod’s success was its clickwheel feature.

The clickwheel was new and different but was not thought up by the design team, instead by Phil Schiller, who was head of marketing. Phil’s idea sprouted from him saying “All the other MP3 players had these little plus and minus buttons to go down a menu one song at a time”, “So I figured, if you can’t go up, why not go around?” Now that everything was in place, the name of the iPod was needed and copywriter Vinnie Chieco was the one to provide it, saying how much it reminds him of 2001: A Space Odyssey and the end scene, quoting the hero “Open the Pod door, Hal!”

Since then, the iPod has gone on to have major success in the music world, 6 generations, 4 different models and is one of the biggest technologic advancements this century. Currently my model is the 160 GB version, which can hold up to 20,000 songs, and of that I have only filled 50 GB, proving the iPod is the best mp3 player on the market to date.




I was tempted to put this choice first, seeing as I don't know how we would communicate without it but Facebook is such a common part of my daily routine that I don't know how long it’s been since I haven't gone without it. Setting my account up in 2008, I have slowly become addicted to this social networking site, along with millions of other users. The site was foundered by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, who was a Harvard sophomore.

Zuckerberg founded the website with his roommates and was originally intended for just Harvard students, but soon expanded, so that everyone in the world could use it. According to Wikipedia, the idea of facebook stemmed from Philips Exeter Academy, who published a manual of all the pupils and staff called the “face book”. The networking site soon stood out from the crowd because of its “imposing Spartan design ethos”, which was written in a recent article for the New York Times, which I believe sums up its success, not allowing users to add third party features, which often included spam and has ruined sites such as, Myspace.

Like most big companies, Facebook has had its fair share of legal proceedings and has been banned from several countries, such as China and Iran for national security reasons. In 2009, facebook changed its privacy settings, improving how information was shared between friends; users could say which friends saw what information. As with every networking program, something will surpass facebook and be even more popular, but for now I will settle for facebook.





Certainly not my first gaming console and probably not my last either but my Xbox 360 is my last choice of the four. This is the most recent piece of technology I have required, only having it since Christmas. In terms of other consoles I have had, the Xbox 360 has a unique online gaming experience different to that of the PS3 or any other console. The online system is run by microsoft, who have vast experience with the internet and know what the gamers want, which is speed and the ability to stay in contact with your friends.

The Xbox 360 was first unveiled on MTV on May 12th 2005 and has since sold 39 million consoles. It is easy to say the Xbox 360 has major success but it all falls down to three major factors, the first is its time of release. The PS3 was going to out sell the Xbox 360 and was eagerly awaited but came out a year too late on November 11th 2006, this whole year allowed the Xbox 360 to capture the gaming market with its Xbox Live feature, allowing gamers to play against each other.

Secondly, the price, as when the PS3 came out it was an alarming £400, were the Xbox 360 was practically half the price. Thirdly and most importantly, Xbox were targeting the true gamer audience, bringing out their own titles such as, Halo and Gears of War, which were fast passed shooters that worked harmoniously with their excellent online system.

However, there are a few major draw backs with the Xbox 360, one being its online system isn’t free, unlike the PlayStation 3. The system itself when first brought out was full of internal bugs, which cause a ring of red lights to appear round the power button that is infamously known as “The Ring of Death”. According to Wikipedia, in February 2008 the warranty company Squaretrade, published a report of the Xbox 360’s they tested saying, “1 in 6” had a fail rate.

Other symptoms consist of discs that have been scratch from the internal drive, if the Xbox is moved while switched on. In the midst of all these problems, the Xbox 360 still shines through as the best console and has big plans for the future. In 2009 at the E3 expo in Las Vegas, Microsoft announce their plans for Project Natal, which is a package for the Xbox 360, that allows users to interact with their gaming, similar to that of the Nintendo Wii. With the backing of famous director Steven Spielberg and plenty of money from Bill Gates, the project is sure to bring big success in the future of gaming.

Overall, I feel that researching into my objects helped me appreciate them more and see how important they are, not just to me, but for technological advancement. Choosing just four objects gave me the chance to research them in depth, not only finding out their history, but what is next for them in the future. Finally and most importantly, looking at the history of my objects has taught me that things can always be improved.