Evolution of the Desk is an initiative borne out of the Harvard Innovation Lab. The goal is to illustrate the impact that technology has had on our lives over the last 35 years. A cluttered desk, complete with a rolodex, a file cabinet, and a fax machine, transforms into a much cleaner, simpler surface consisting of only a laptop and a mobile phone. Of course, some things in life - like the sun - are everlasting, so the shades persist throughout the years. All of the vintage items featured in this video are authentic. The Macintosh Classic, corded phone, fax machine, globe, cork board, Polaroid camera, and rolodex were all purchased through individual sellers on Ebay. The radio was acquired from Goodwill, and the picture frame came from pictureframes. The rest of the items were found lying around in basements, storage units, and garage sales. And the sunglasses? Those were easy since we actually still own a pair. How has YOUR desk changed over the years? bestreviews/best-home-office-desks#evolution-of-the-desk Photography by dougthomsen.tv/ Engineering by Anton Georgiev APP Description: - Excel: First released in 1985 for the Macintosh, Microsoft Excel was one of the first spreadsheet programs with a graphical interface. Since then, it has been used by billions of people and has become essential software for any financial analyst. - Powerpoint - Launched in 1990, Microsoft Powerpoint became the go-to slide-show presentation program, allowing users to easily create slides with visual effects, animations and multimedia, without any physical prop. Powerpoint currently has 95% market share in the presentation software market. - Amazon - First launching the site in 1994 as Cadabra, Jeff Bezos changed the name to Amazon so that it would be at the top of the alphabet in web directories. Amazon didnt need the preferential treatment, quickly becoming the worlds largest online retailer and essentially replacing the mail-order catalog. - Dictionary - Founded in 1998, Dictionary became the leading online reference destination on the Internet, supplanting the physical dictionary. The property was acquired by Ask in 2008. - Craigslist - Started by Craig Newmark as an email distribution list in San Francisco, Craigslist rapidly expanded throughout the US and then internationally to become the leading classifieds advertisement website on the Internet, essentially killing the classifieds section of the local newspaper. - Acrobat - Originally released in 1993, Adobe Acrobat set the standard for viewing, copying, printing, and managing files using the Portable Document Format (PDF), essentially rendering the fax machine useless. - Blogger - Launched in 1999 and later acquired by Google in 2003, Blogger has become one of the most popular blog-hosting services on the Internet. Why keep a journal, when you can blog? - google Maps - There were many web mapping services available by the early 2000s, but when Google Maps burst onto the scene, trip-planning was changed forever, and the globe became nothing more than a paper-weight. - Gmail - Email has been around since the dawn of the Internet, with services provided by AOL, Yahoo, and Hotmail leading the charge. But Googles introduction of Gmail in 2004 significantly altered the standards for email functionality, storage capacity, and user interface, making snail mail a thing of the past. - Facebook - Started in a Harvard dormitory by Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook made the concept of social networking a mainstream part of everyday life and entirely replaced the need for a physical contact book. - Google Calendar - Google Calendar was introduced in 2006. While it provides a similar service to other calendar applications such as Outlook and iCal, its main differentiating feature is the ease of sharing and searching for multiple calendars within ones social or professional graph, rendering the physical calendar to be nothing but a decorative piece. - Skype - Skype was one of the first VoIP services, allowing users to communicate using voice, video, or text over the Internet. Created in Estoia and later purchased by Ebay and then Microsoft, Skype has killed the need for an old-school office phone. - Pandora - Dubbed the Music Genome Project, Pandoras personal music streaming service turned the radio into an old-time relic. - YouTube - With billions of minutes of footage served per day, you can find just about anything on YouTube. Videos of cute dogs? There are hundreds of thousands to choose from. - Yelp - The Yellowpages of the Internet, Yelp provides ratings, reviews, and discount for almost every local business in your area. - LinkedIn - The premier professional social networking portal on the Internet, LinkedIn has replaced the need for the rolodex, the business card, and even the resume. - Wikipedia - Wikipedia has literally made physical encyclopedias like Britannica go extinct. While Microsoft Encarta started the movement, Wikipedia took over and has never looked back - all while run within a non-profit business structure. - Google News - The demise of print newspapers began with the advent of the Internet, but personalized services like Google News did nothing but add fuel to the fire to change the landscape of news delivery. - Ticketmaster - Ticketmaster has become the leading primary ticket service on the internet, selling tickets for thousands of concert venues, sports teams, and event organizers and rendering the physical ticket useless. - StubHub - The leading secondary-ticket marketplace online, StubHub process about one sports or entertainment ticket every second. - Twitter - If you have a short burst of information to share with the world, why write it on a post-it note when you can use Twitter? Since its launch in 2006, Twitter has revolutionized the way information is shared across the Internet. - Box - Boxs leading enterprise file storage and collaboration tools put the finishing touches on the death of the file storage cabinet. - Dropbox - There are many cloud storage services on the Internet, but none offer the synchronization and ease-of-use features of Dropbox. The physical file cabinet is truly no more. - Zynga - With the billions of gaming hours spent across Zyngas platform of games, who has time for the Book of Crosswords anymore? - Groupon - Groupon introduced the deal-of-the-day concept to the world, introducing millions of Americans to new services that they previously wouldnt have considered and making the physical coupon a thing of the past. - PayPal - PayPal has revolutionized the way payments and money transfers are made online. Dont have cash? Just PayPal me. - Square - Square allows merchants to process credit card transactions through their mobile phones, essentially removing the need for business to set up credit card terminals and making it unnecessary for consumers to carry around cash with them. - Pinterest - Why pin together a scrapbook when you can create and share everything from articles, pictures, recipes, and videos with millions of people on Pinterest? - Instagram - Offering a variety of digital filters, photo enhancements, and sharing options, Instagram makes the digital camera a thing of the past. - Snapchat - Launched in 2011, Snapchat was processing more than 700 million messages per day by 2014, making the digital camera vanish as quickly as its ephemeral Snaps. - Uber - Connecting drivers with passengers, Uber makes it possible for everyone to have their own personal driver. Forget about the car keys and hail an Uber instead! - Lyft - Lyft facilitates peer-to-peer ride-sharing among a community of drivers. Why own a car, when you can call a Lyft? - Airbnb - With over 500,000 listings in over 33,000 cities, Airbnb makes it possible to ditch those hotel keys and live like youre at home anywhere in the world.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 12:35:54 +0000
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