Things started to look like the world we live in today in the 1990s : People used cell phones and had computers in their homes.
People were exposed to fancy new digital products that were advertised by many of the devices we use today. In 1996, the world said goodbye to VHS and embraced a new technology for watching videos: DVDs. With the advent of Google in 1998, people gained the ability to search just about anything online. And a person no longer had to pick up the phone and call a friend to break the news, they could instead send a quick text message.
From Nokia’s first mobile phone to Google.com , a lot of great things came in the 90s. Take a look at these 10 inventions you probably didn’t know were invented in the decade we grew up millennials .
1. Adobe Photoshop (1990)
Image: Adobe
Fascinated by technology and art, brothers Thomas and John Knoll noticed the lack of photo editing features on computers and decided to code some of their own. After years of development in the late 1980s, the Knoll brothers sought out investors and eventually came to the attention of Adobe . With investment from Adobe and the help of its staff, Photoshop 1.0 was released in February 1990.
2. Linux (1991)
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In 1991, Linus Torvalds was in his second year at the University of Helsinki when he began developing the industry-changing open source Linux operating system. He originally set out to build a new operating system for his Intel PC, but Torvalds ended up creating one of the largest platforms for internet companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter.
3. Text messages (1992)
In 1992 Neil Papworth, a former developer at Sema Group Telecoms, successfully sent the first text message to Richard Jarvis, a director at Vodafone. At the time, cell phones didn’t have keyboards, so Papworth typed his “Merry Christmas” message on a PC. The Nokia 1011 (next image) was the first mobile phone to support SMS text messages.
4. Nokia 1011 (1994)
Image: Nokia
Although mobile phones appeared on the market in the 1980s, it was not until 1994 that Nokia launched its first cell phone , the Nokia 1011 . The device changed the way cell phones were viewed, being the first mass-produced GSM phone. Before the Nokia 1011, mobile phones were bigger and more cumbersome, which made them difficult to transport.
5. Sony PlayStation (1994)
Image: Sony
On December 3, 1994, Sony released the first PlayStation in Japan. The Playstation , which sold for 37,000 yen (about $ 387), skyrocketed in popularity and was considered Sony’s most important product since the Walkman . It was released in the US in September 1995 and was an instant hit.
6. Nintendo 64 (1996)
Image: Nintendo
On June 23, 1996, the Nintendo 64 was released in Japan, becoming the first home console to feature an analog stick as the primary controller. In September of that year, the N64 made its way to the US The console was a breakthrough in the gaming industry, allowing users to aim with precision and control like never before.
7. Tickle Me Elmo (1996)
Image: James Keyser | The LIFE Images Collection | Getty Images
After coming up with the idea of creating a stuffed animal that would laugh when someone tickled it, inventor Ron Dubren teamed up with engineer Greg Hyman to create a stuffed animal with laughing technology. Although that toy was never successful, Dubren’s idea lived on. In 1996, the Tyco toy company asked to use Dubren’s technology to create a doll with the character of Elmo from Sesame Street . Tickle Me Elmo (or Elmo Cosquillas as it was known in Spanish), became one of the most popular children’s toys and was named the most desired toy of the 1996 Christmas shopping season. It now lives on the list of “Los 100 Greatest Toys of All Time “from TIME magazine.
8. The DVDs (1996)
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The replacement for VHS, DVD (short for “digital video disc”) was developed in 1995 and released in 1996. In addition, the world’s first DVD player, the Toshiba SD-3000, instantly became popular. No single company or person can be credited for the invention of DVD – several tech companies created variations and each came to an agreement on one format, thus avoiding a repeat of VHS and Betamax competition.
9. Tamagotchi (1996)
Image: Bandai
The Tamagotchi , the original virtual pet , is a childhood staple of the 1990s. Released in 1996 by Bandai, more than 40 million units were sold worldwide. In a way, the portable handheld device taught children to be responsible, from playing with the pet to picking up their virtual waste.
10. Google (1998)
Image credit: Google
Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin met in 1995 at Stanford University. In 1996, the two were writing a program for a search engine called Backrub, and after the success of this platform, Brin and Page registered the domain name Google.com in 1997. They continued to develop what would become the largest search engine. of the world of all time in the garage of her friend Susan Wojcicki (current director of YouTube). Google was officially incorporated as a company in September 1998.