Hello all, The Belfast Telegram has developed a list of 101 "gadgets" that have changed the world. The mobile phone and SMS are among them (albeit it is hard to think of SMS as a gadget). Rich L.
101 gadgets that changed the world 101 gadgets that changed the world <http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2007/11/017878.htm> Alongside aspirin, barbed wire, bras, easers, fire, toilet flushing, microchips, floppy disks, light bulbs, laptops and iPods, text messaging and also mobile phone are some of the 101 gadgets that changed the world, according to Belfast Telegraph <http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/technology/article3129960.ece> SMS, 1992 Linguist purists H8 txtspk. The Short Message Service (SMS) has developed the thumbs of a generation of communicators who have devised their own shorthand, textspeak, to stay in touch (and uncover extra-marital affairs). The British engineer Neil Papworth sent the first (unabbreviated) text 15 years ago. It read: "MERRY CHRISTMAS". Their popularity exploded in the late 1990s and now in the UK alone we send millions every day (a record 214 million last New Year's Eve). Mobile phone, 1947 There are more than two billion mobile phones in the world, and the EU is home to more "cells", as the American's call them, than people. It is difficult to quantify the economic and social impact of the device - of all the gadgets in the average person's arsenal, it is surely the one we would be worst off without. Those who disagree can blame Bell Laboratories for their invention; the firm introduced the first service in Missouri in 1947. Widespread coverage in Britain did not begin until the late 1980s. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "mobile-society" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/mobile-society?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
