By Isaiah Schmidt
Sports Editor

The tech industry has come out with some pretty cool stuff over the years. Technology has progressed from the personal computer to the portable computer, to the even more portable computer you can control with your finger, to the ridiculously small computer on your wrist. But that’s not slowing down. Here’s a quick recap of the smart tech industry:

History of computers:

1936: Most rudimentary computer invented by Konrade Zuse.

1946: The first digital computer is introduced to the world, under contract to the U.S. Army.

1971: First personal computer invented by John V. Blankenbaker is put on the market.

1981: First “portable” computer was released as the Osborne 1, weighing 24 pounds.

1992: IBM releases “Simon”, the first portable communicator, though it had few of the features considered basic for a smartphone.

2007: The iPhone is released by Steve Jobs, and faces competition two years later with the first Samsung smartphone.

Smartphones:

With that history in mind, there are a couple smartphones just released by two of leading competitors, Apple and Samsung. The Galaxy A50s was released Aug. 22 by Samsung, at $349.99 with updated features, including a 512 GB capacity storage with Micro SD card and 35-hour battery life.

Apple, on Sept. 10, dropped two new smartphones, the iPhone 11 and the iPhone 11 Pro. And while it’s possible to comment on the more technical improvements, (battery life, processing capacity, etc.) all that needs to be said is that you can take “slofies”- Slo-mo selfies. That’s Apple’s term. Also, the prices range from $699 to $1,449.

Smart new gadgets out now:

Besides smartphones, there are some new gadgets like smart self-heating mugs by Ember ($74.89 on Amazon), audio sunglasses by Bose (starting at $199) and a reusable electronic notebook from Rocketbook (sold on Amazon for $30).

For those interested in music, or just looking to have some fun, the Jamstik Smart Guitar is a mini guitar that operates electronically. Instead of recording in WAV files, for every note you can edit its placement, volume, and other aspects of sound (available for $249.99).

Future Tech:

But what’s next? Numerous new technologies are on the verge of making it to the mainstream. Data speeds will hopefully eliminate the “buffering” symbol that garners such hate, improving connection to virtually all wireless streaming. Wireless charging is approaching a more affordable and widespread platform. Smart homes are also on their way, becoming cheaper, common and more effective as the months go by.

For anyone looking to go down a massive rabbit hole, google “graphene,” which is set to totally change everything from smartphones to airplanes.

Interesting fact:

Bugatti recently broke speed records with a car runs at 305 mph. But Casa Bugatti also recently released a smart cooker for £1,849 that clamps food between two sheets of glass. It has a temperature that you can control with your phone. And you thought the cars were impressive.