Table of Contents
Definition of Consumer Technology
Consumer technology refers to any form of technology intended to be used by consumers in the general public instead of technology developed for government, military, or commercial purposes. Consumer technology comes in many forms and offers a wide range of technology capabilities that encompass many of the most common elements that people use daily.
A brief history of Consumer Technology
The roots of consumer technology go back to the 19th century. Inventions such as David Edward Hughes, Heinrich Rudolph Hertz, Nikola Tesla, Jagadish Edward Bose, and a few others made it easy to manipulate electricity for widespread use throughout the biosphere. In 1896, Guglielmo Marconi advanced the first practical radio wave communication system that made it possible for the first time to contact distant participants.
Marconi’s radio waves opened the door to mainstream technology and allowed others to explore cutting-edge methods to improve our interactions with our world. Bose’s experiments introduced the use of highly high-frequency transitions and semiconductors. At the same time, John Ambrose Fleming and the combination of Robert von Lieben and Lee De Forest may have pioneered the use of diodes and tube amplifiers in the first decade of the twentieth century.
In 1927, Philo Farnsworth held a public demonstration of the first television. It was not until 1947 that William Shockley and Bell Labs invented the transistor, which fundamentally changed signal amplification and drastically reduced the size of electronic components. In 1959, transistors developed small enough to be packaged in large quantities on a single chip called an integrated circuit (IC). They laid the foundation for technological innovations that implement today.
Description :
Much of the consumer technology that we still interact with daily manufacture during this phase of innovation. However, between the late 19th century and the microwave oven (1946). Technology has advanced over time, creating products a thousand times better than their predecessors as form factors shrink and prices drop.
Computers were once a proprietary product and took up a whole space to hold a few megabytes. Today, 81% of Americans have more powerful computers in their pockets in the form of smartphones. Moreover, that can grip hundreds of gigabytes of data and have unlimited cloud storage available at all times. If we give it a few more decades, advances in consumer technology would be unfathomable to us today.
Also Read: Remote Recruitment: Discipline, Communication, Focus, and More
Types of Consumer Technology
Technology has evolved to serve people’s needs better, and as a result, people are now constantly interacting with mainstream technology. There are several categories and subcategories of customer technology with a lot of overlap. As more and more products present at conferences like the Consumer Electronics Show and others, these categories inevitably expand. Some of the most notable types of consumer technology today are:
IoT Devices
- The Internet of Technology, or IoT devices, connects to specific applications over the Internet or other forms of wireless networks. And also, for unparalleled user control and visibility. The most common consumer tech IoT devices include smart devices like thermostats, locks, app-controlled lights, sensor-based products like doorbells with cameras that alert users to motion, and various BlueTooth devices.
Computers
- Computers have grown enormously over time. As their skills have increased and costs have fallen, more and more people will have access to the resources. To use different computers for different purposes, from work to play to production and much extra. Laptops, desktops, tablets, gaming computers, video-ready consoles, smartphones, firm drives, and various other devices. They fall into this category of consumer technology.
Autonomous cars and vehicle technology
- Since their rise in the early 20th century, automobiles and motor vehicles of all kinds have become primary forms of consumer technology. And also, for most societies worldwide. And as technology has improved, cars have improved too, with today’s vehicles often being equipped with high-tech features. Such as built-in GPS, autonomous driving functions, automatic braking, lane sensors, medical oxygen sensors. Reversing cameras, power steering, and a group of additional vehicles online and offline. Processes that increase both safety and comfort. Many cars today run entirely on electricity, eliminating much of the need to waste natural gas resources.
Smart TVs and screens
- Television became a national phenomenon in the mid-20th century and has since established itself as the focal point of modern society. The average American adult will watch 4 hours and 16 minutes of television per day starting in 2020. Which only compounds the many advancements the medium has made in nearly a century. Today’s high-end intelligent TVs come with WiFi / 5G features, built-in apps. The internet search features, built-in gaming features, computer monitoring, and more.
Also Read : Women in Technology: Description, Information, and More