Skype's influence on instant messaging and conference calls (Week 3)

In 2003 two men from a Swedish telecom company Tele2 named Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis created Skype. With the help from three Estonian men the software for Skype was developed. These three men Jaan Tallinn, Ahti Heinla and Priit Kasesalu had previously created the first ever computer game that was sold by Estonians. Zennström, Friis and Tallinn had also worked on an early (now discontinued) peer-to-peer file sharing service called Kazaa.

 

Download Skype: https://www.skype.com

These men partnered up and in the August of 2003 the first public version of Skype was released. Skype is a service that allows for instant messaging, voice and video calls, file transfer and even calls over landline networks. It was revolutionary in that it reduced the cost of voice calls because it used a peer-to-peer protocol for which, Friis and Annus are credited for.

In 2005 Skype was acquired by eBay for 2.5 billion dollars. In 2011 it was acquired by Microsoft after which it was integrated into many Microsoft products including the Windows Store for desktop and mobile apps. Microsoft even discontinued their own Windows Live Messenger and replaced it with Skype. Today Skype is available on almost any platform such as iOS, Linux, macOS, Android and even the Xbox.

Skype's traffic continued to grow, reaching 40% of all international calls made with Skype in 2014. However, a security flaw was discovered in Skype in 2010. Anyone could get your IP address from Skype. Because of the peer-to-peer technology used in Skype you were directly connecting to other users which meant that their IP address was revealed. It took them 6 years to finally fix this issue.

During the 2020 coronavirus outbreak people were forced to work and learn from home, which drove users to video conferencing services such as Skype. Skype saw a massive increase in its user count, about 70%. But there was a better option. In 2021, Zoom became the most used video call service worldwide and with that Skype lost about 25% of its users.

Today, Skype isn't the preferred choice for personal use for a lot of people. Services like Discord and Zoom have taken over for many reasons such as privacy or massive calls with dozens of people. But Skype still has its uses. It is still built in to Windows making it convenient to use. A lot of businesses still choose Skype over anything else and you can make calls over landline which is a unique feature.

Sources:

https://www.skype.com

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/09/skypes-secrets/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazaa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype

https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-CIOB-286

https://www.cnet.com/news/microsofts-skype-sees-massive-increase-in-usage-as-coronavirus-spreads/

https://www.pcmag.com/news/zooms-success-during-the-pandemic-came-at-skypes-expense

Two different technologies with different outcomes (Week 2)

The typewriter

A typewriter is a mechanical machine that is used for writing by pressing keys instead of using a pen. It features a key for every letter, number and some symbols. When a key is pressed a hand is pushed against an inked ribbon, which hits the paper, creating a character. The hands have the characters physically on them which makes them act like a stamp.

Typewriters have been around from at least the 1700s when a patent was filed in England. A typewriter was much faster than writing by hand, also blind people could use them. There was a specific typewriter made for writing music and other ones have been created for other specific uses.

https://www.engadget.com/2014-10-17-dico-typewriter-messaging.html

Eventually, the typewriter evolved into the modern keyboard. Also the QWERTY layout that is widely used today, was first used on a typewriter. Today people have a hobby of restoring these machines. You can buy new ink ribbons and replacement parts for your typewriter. You can even buy brand new and modern typewriters. Even though they are not as widely used anymore they are still around.

The laptop

It wasn't very long after personal computers were becoming more widespread that the idea of a portable computer came about. The first idea of the laptop was in the 1970s. In about 25 years computers went from filling an entire room to fitting on your lap. Though, at first they weren't very portable. They were pretty big, some upwards of 10kg, and barely even fit on your lap. Today some can even fit in your pocket.

As with every new technology, the first laptops weren't very affordable either. A Grid Compass 1100, released in 1982 cost $8000. Laptops continued to evolve in the following decades, becoming smaller and more powerful. The Apple Powerbook was the first ever laptop to come with a touchpad (instead of a trackball) that we are used to today.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/d/surface-laptop-go/94fc0bdgq7wv?rtc=1&activetab=pivot:overviewtab

 

Laptops are still very much around today, replacing a regular PC tower for some. They're also more affordable with some costing as little as $100. You might even be provided one for school or work. They can do everything a normal-size computer can do. Battery technology has also evolved so they don't have to be plugged in during use.

Sources:

https://www.engadget.com/2014-10-17-dico-typewriter-messaging.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typewriter

https://www.officemuseum.com/typewriters.htm

https://steemit.com/history/@rahmat6457/history-and-development-of-laptop-from-the-time-to-the-time-7929ee28f4c3a

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laptop

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/d/surface-laptop-go/94fc0bdgq7wv?rtc=1&activetab=pivot:overviewtab

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_laptops

Interesting IT solutions (Week 1)

Juku E5101 (1980s)

The Juku E5101 was a personal computer made in Estonia in the late 80s and 90s. It featured a Russian clone of the Intel i8080A processor, and an 8 bit microprocessor running at 2MHz. They were used in several schools in Estonia. It had 64 kB of RAM, a floppy drive and a tape reader for memory. It had a very bulky keyboard and mouse combination, as well as a monochrome monitor with a resolution of 320 by 240 pixels or 384 by 200 pixels. They were produced in a Narva based factory "Baltijets" and later in a factory called "Estron".

Arvutimuuseum: https://arvutimuuseum.ee/computers/list.shtml?n000

Raspberry Pi (2010s)

Raspberry Pi is a line of small computers. There are multiple models with different features and hardware. Raspberry Pi Foundation, the non-profit company that creates these computers was founded in 2009. The first model of Raspberry Pi was launched in 2012. The most recent model Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W was released in October of 2021. These single board computers are more powerful than a microcontroller like an Arduino, but less powerful than a full size computer. However a microcontroller model does exist (Raspberry Pi Pico). 

Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W: https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-zero-2-w/

The most powerful model Raspberry Pi 4, released in 2019, has a quad core processor, up to 8GB of memory as well as onboard Bluetooth, WiFi, an Ethernet port and 4 full size USB ports. It supports running 2 4K monitors at a time and was built as a replacement for a desktop computer. These computers are cheap, accessible and meant to teach programming to young people. The name Raspberry came from a tradition of giving a computer the name of a fruit, for example Apple, and Pi came from the programming language Python. Apart from the microcontroller, the cheapest model is the Raspberry Pi Zero, which costs only $5, but that is without any peripherals, like an micro SD card which is used as storage for all the models.

 

UltraHLE (1990s)

When the Nintendo 64 released in 1996 people thought that emulating the system on a consumer PC wouldn't be possible. On forums and chatrooms people were spreading fake emulators that turned out to just be viruses. But in 1999 two developers had taken a different approach to developing an emulator and in just 3 months created UltraHLE. Instead of trying to emulate every single instruction as accurately as possible, they had mapped specific instructions like drawing a graphic to existing ones on a Pentium II computer. This was known as high-level emulation (HLE) instead of low-level emulation (LLE).

UltraHLE: https://www.christopherbonhage.com/software/2017/05/31/flappy-bird-nintendo-64-part-1.html

This was very impressive for the time because it could run games like Super Mario 64 and Starfox 64 on resolutions bigger than the Nintendo 64 itself could. However there was a major flaw. Mapping instructions differed from game to game. UltraHLE could only play about 20 games in total.

Sources:

Juku E5101

• https://arvutimuuseum.ut.ee/index.php?m=eksponaadid&id=165
• https://arvutimuuseum.ee/computers/list.shtml?n000
• https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juku_(arvuti)
• http://kalev35.planet.ee/ajaleht%20Maaleht/Maaleht%20nr%2021,%2024.%20mai%201990.pdf

Raspberry Pi

• https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2657
• https://www.raspberrypi.com
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi

UltraHLE

• https://www.christopherbonhage.com/software/2017/05/31/flappy-bird-nintendo-64-part-1.html
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NF5sU_n0uk
• https://www.emulator-zone.com/doc.php/n64/ultrahle.html