Thomas Edison changed the notion of attention with his famous invention of the motion picture exhibition device (The St. Paul’s daily, 1894). The device was called the Kinetoscope, which was designed in a way only one view would view the film at a time. The Kinetoscope has a peephole on top of it where a viewer would place his or her eye to view.
Although the machine was fundamental in building the basis of the modern projectors, the technology used by Edison was not as advanced as current projectors do. Thomas Edison introduced the thought but his employees who largely developed the thought into the famous Kinestone between 1888 and 1892 (The St. Paul’s daily, 1894).
His prior invention, the phonograph, which was a record player that would capture sound to record and reproduce, attracted amazing attention. Nonetheless, the introduction of the Kinetoscope was overwhelming.
His desire to develop a motion picture system was inspired by ideas from Eadweard Muybridge, one of the pioneers of the photography. From one of the lectures of Mr. Muybridge, Edison captured the idea of developing a system that would allow audio and visual contents to be played concurrently (The St. Paul’s daily, 1894).
As he famously used to say, the Kinetoscope did with the eye the same thing the phonograph did to the ear (The St. Paul’s daily, 1894). The name given to the system was derived from the Greek words, Kineto, which means movement and Scopos, which means to view.
Although Edison takes the entire credits for the development of the Kinetoscope, history has taught that the title of a creator hardly goes to an individual. In the development of the first audiovisual system involved a number of talented employees in Edison’s laboratories.
The invention of the Kinetoscope attracted the attention of many with a Kinetoscope parlor being set up in San Francisco in 1894-95 (The St. Paul’s daily, 1894). Edison changed the entire entertainment industry through his invention. People used to read or see pictures of events such as wrestling, great speeches by their favorite orators to mention but a few.
However, with Edison’s invention of the Kinetoscope, things changed dramatically. Because of his technology, people would enjoy watching motion pictures matching up with sound. These outdid the voice recording technology as well as photography.
Edison gave rise to the lucrative film industry. His first recording house the Black Maria was being one of the first film record studios. He was determined at the onset of his invention to create a system that would turn pictures into motion and attach audio on the same so that viewers can watch and listen at the same time. This was turned into a reality, which shifted the attention from the inventory of photography.
In the current world of technology, history seems to be repeating itself. As it happened with the Kinetoscope, today’s world of technology has become one of the most fast growing worlds. Invention in technology is not enjoying much time in existence before they are rendered outdated and inefficient.
The mobile phone industry is the greatest victim of rampant technological advancement. Within the last five years, a generation of phones called the Smartphones has overwhelmingly taken over the phone industry.
Cell phones are being developed on a yearly and sometimes a daily basis rendering the preexisting ones useless or outdated. Phones were introduced in the market with big shapes and long antenna.
The phones that are currently being released in the market today are very small and slim, and shockingly without an antenna. Surprisingly they have better reception compared to the previous ones. Smartphones has overwhelmed phone users with their lack of the basics of a conventional phone, keypads. The Smartphones are operated by use of touch screen displays.
Tablets on the other hand have brought an alternative to personal computers and laptops. These gadgets come with enough memory to store personal documents as well as other applications that are used in computers. These inventions have contributed in the shift of attention from older modeled gadgets.
Computers especially the desktops have been overtaken by the recent technology where mobility is of the essence. The smaller and the mobile a gadget is the better for consumers who are more interested in convenience.
Evidently, the current technology is facing the same challenges as the Edison invention. Edison’s invention was later developed by other people without his permission a case that has been repeated in the modern development in technology.
People are inventing new technologies but other are quickly adapting and improving the new inventories such that the inventors seem irrelevant even before benefiting from their creations. Therefore it is true that the situations that surrounding Edison’s invention are still affecting or influencing the current technology as well.
However, the factors influencing the shift of attention from one discovery to the other are competitive in nature. The final beneficiary of the result is the consumer. If a product is improved to function more efficiently, then the customers are the beneficiaries of such improvements.
References
The St. Paul’s daily, (1894). Edison’s Latest Invention. The Kinetoscope and he marvels it accomplishes, 1(1), 18.