1.1.2 The computer

• Computer


  In the 1950s, they were treated as objects of wonder with almost mythical powers, huge, delicate, and consumed a lot of electricity
• Computers in the 1950s


  • Very few in existence
  • Huge
  • Delicate
  • Consumed a lot of electricity, wasting much of it as heat
• Nowadays, a computer is just another item stocked in supermarkets
• Computers today


  • Cheaper
  • Smaller
  • Incorporated into a kaleidoscopic range of devices
  • Powerful computers now sit at the heart of objects as diverse as smartphones and games consoles, cars and vacuum cleaners
  • Cost of computer power continues to decrease, making it possible to incorporate computer technologies into almost any object, no matter how small, cheap or disposable
  • Smart devices are 'talking' to one another across the world via the internet, using the world wide web
• Ubiquitous


  The computer becomes vastly more powerful and ever-present
• Convergence


  The combination of computing and telephone technologies in one device, such as a smartphone
• Convergence of computing and telephone technologies


  • Enables new goods and services, such as taking and sharing photographs on mobile phones
• The internet is a global network of networks: an internetwork
• The web (short for world wide web) is a service that links files across computers, allowing us to access and share information
• It is technically incorrect to refer to 'searching' or 'browsing' the internet, as you are in fact searching the web