Retrospective Tech: 4 Innovations We Have the 1990s to be Thankful For

All this talk of iPads, touch screens, and open source phone software is refreshing, but also a little difficult. Technology has never been simple, but it’s always been something that almost anyone could understand with the right degree of explanation.

Try explaining MySQL to your grandmother. Try explaining the PlayStation 3′s processor to a toddler. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work. Technology has grown to a point so complex that even with endless explanation, analogies, and non-techie metaphors, it’s just impossible to explain.

That’s why it’s good to go back to the ‘old days’ of technology once in a while. These four 1990s technology innovations aren’t particularly complex on their own, but they’re developments ended up laying the foundation for today’s hottest technology items.

Nintendo Game Boy

While the Game Boy was technically released in 1989, it’s one of the most vital parts of 1990s gaming culture and a shining example of amazing technology from the decade. The Game Boy was Nintendo’s second handheld gaming console, and by far their most successful.

This innovative piece of technology laid the ground for 1998′s Game Boy Colour, 2001′s Game Boy Advance, and 2004′s Nintendo DS. No matter what gaming console you’ve got at home, if you were a child of the 1990s you’ll have one of these bad boys stored somewhere in your bedroom.

Apple iMac

Before the iMac was a fixture in design offices and art studios, it was a revolutionary all-in-one PC. The ultra-simple computer was created at the height of Apple’s 1990s sluggishness, and was one of Steve Jobs’ first creations since returning to the troubled company.

As any Apple enthusiast can tell you, the first iMac was an incredible hit. It was a design masterpiece, a powerful computer, and an inexpensively priced product – just what PC users needed. Now in its fifth design phase, the iMac has been Apple’s most popular desktop PC since its 1998 introduction.

The Internet

When it comes to technology, the internet is a pretty big deal. While officially ‘developed’ by Tim Berners Lee in the 1980s, the internet was launched during the 1990s and became a piece of technological art during the same decade.

It’s difficult to think of a single innovation that shaped the world as much as this one. The 1990s were undoubtedly the peak of technology culture – the ‘net, high-end technology, and gaming all colliding – and without the internet it’s unlikely many of those important developments would have been possible.

Sony PlayStation

While CD-based was first made possible by the Sega Saturn, it was Sony’s 1994 PlayStation console that bought digital gaming to the masses. Built on the technology industry leaders Nintendo and Sega pioneered during the previous decade, the Sony PlayStation shook up the gaming world and inspired two generations of disc-based gaming consoles.

The PlayStation managed to sell over 100 million units before the system’s production run ended in early 2006. Close to 1 billion games were sold in total – an average of almost ten games per consumer system purchased.

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