The first compact cassette tape was introduced at IFA 1963

Explore 100 years of technological innovation at IFA Berlin

This retrospective highlights IFA Berlin’s century of innovation, including the unveiling of the world’s first tape recorder in 1935, the launch of color TV in West Berlin in 1967, and the first public look at HD TV in 1985.

What's behind the cassette renaissance

Cassettes fell out of fashion in the late 1990s as the popularity of compact discs ascended. But in the streaming era, tapes are having a moment thanks to changing audio preferences, the desire for tangible objects, and a healthy dose of nostalgia. This article explores the recent resurgence, asking whether it's the future of music consumption or just another passing trend.

CES debuted in 1967 amid a wave of miniaturization in at-home electronics

The rapid development of integrated circuits—the basis of computing power—in the 1960s catalyzed an industrial shift toward miniature devices, including pocket transistor radios, smaller TVs, and more. This first consumer electronics trade show (with a slate of 117 exhibitors and 17,000 attendees) sought to make everyday electronics accessible and portable. See a timeline of early consumer tech with photos.

A 'boombox' is the cool term for a Portable Radio Cassette Recorder

The technology debuted in the mid-1960s, revolutionizing portability of recording radio and playing music. As urban culture, especially hip hop, took advantage of the innovation, the "boombox" was born. See a gallery of old boomboxes and learn their history.

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

The first ATM—dubbed a 'cash dispenser'—was installed in 1967 in London

Specifically, the first ATM (which stands for “automatic teller machine”) made its debut at a Barclays bank in London. A timeline of ATM history can help illustrate and visualize other key events in ATM history.

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

Abbey Road Studios invented stereo recording (and was the site of most of the Beatles' recordings)

Built around 1830 and bought by the Gramophone Company in 1929, the St. John's Wood property became the world's first purpose-built recording studio. Its legacy spans stereo sound's invention, the Beatles' entire catalog, and blockbuster film scores from Star Wars to The Lord of the Rings.

The concept of CDs dates back to the 1600s in Europe

Banks in the US started issuing CDs in the early 1800s as the banking system began to take shape following the Revolutionary War. The federal government did not formally insure CDs until the FDIC was formed in 1933.

DNA cassette tapes could store 36,000 terabytes of data

By translating binary code into the base-pair code found in genetic sequences, researchers in China are storing digital data on DNA-coated tapes for compact, durable, and energy-efficient storage. The tapes use a blend of polyester and nylon with barcode patterns for data addressing.

Tetris was launched in the US at Summer CES 1988

Tetris first appeared in the US at the 1988 Summer CES, where Henk Rogers—who would later publish and market the game—first encountered it. This interview revisits that moment, with creator Alexey Pajitnov and Rogers reflecting on how the game gained global recognition.

World War II soldiers received specially-made vinyl records

"V-Discs" were vinyl records featuring popular folk, classical, and jazz songs. This was one of the first widespread uses of vinyl, rather than shellac, records.

'The Jazz Singer,' the first film with synchronized sound, changed Hollywood

Movies changed forever in 1927, when Warner Bros. released "The Jazz Singer," the first feature film with integrated dialogue. Based on a Broadway musical, the movie starred Al Jolson as the son of a Jewish cantor who wants to be a popular singer.

Mort Sahl released the first stand-up album

There were comedy records that came before “The Future Lies Ahead,” but Sahl’s 1958 album, released by jazz imprint Verve, was the first official recording that captured a complete stand-up set.

Famicom was the predecessor to the NES

Before the Nintendo Entertainment System was released in the US, Nintendo released a similar console in Japan with some interesting differences, including a Delorean-like exterior and a built-in microphone for karaoke.

The first Eurovision took place in 1956

The contest was organized by the European Broadcasting Union, a collective of public broadcasters, to help unify postwar Europe. The first Eurovision took place in the spring of 1956 in Lugano, Switzerland, and was broadcast in black and white.

The massive gathering that rang in the first Earth Day

Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970 and helped inspire a significant nationwide environmental movement. In Philadelphia, the holiday was rung in with a gathering in the city’s Fairmount Park featuring musicians, speakers, and over 10,000 attendees. This video from CBS offers remarkable footage from the day and explains why Philadelphians were especially drawn to the environmental cause.

Nixon secretly recorded nearly 3,700 hours of conversations

The White House taping system was secretly installed on Feb. 16, 1971, beginning with the Oval Office and Cabinet Room, and later expanded to Nixon's offices, Camp David, and telephones.

Georges Méliès directed what many consider the first science fiction film

The French director was behind 1897's "Gugusse and the Automaton," a silent film that scholars believe features the first appearance of a robot in cinema and one of the earliest films to feature scientific experimentation.

An electric pipe organ in Germany is playing a song for 639 years

Created by composer John Cage, the Halberstadt organ first began playing the piece in September 2001, and has since made only nine chord changes. The device within a medieval church utilizes compressed air to play continuous tones. The next chord change is scheduled for August 2026.

DJ Kool Herc pioneered the use of breakbeats for hip-hop

Inspired by Jamaican dancehall culture and Manhattan's disco scene, Herc used a new style that used two turntables, seamlessly mixing and looping "breakbeats"—isolated drum breaks from funk, soul, and rock records—that kept dancers at the "back to school jam" moving. Herc's technique would be the basis for modern sampling and hip-hop's first few decades.

The Cannes Film Festival was created as a response to fascism

Initially called the International Film Festival, Cannes was created as an alternative to the Venice Film Festival, which French diplomat Philippe Erlanger believed had been politicized by the influence of Hitler and Mussolini.

LSD (better known as acid) was created in 1938 by Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann

Lysergic acid diethylamide, better known as LSD or acid, was first developed synthetically in 1938 by Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann. It's since become a linchpin for an entire aesthetic, fueled a counterculture movement, and is being studied for potential therapeutic uses.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

A brief history of augmented reality (w/photos and videos)

Different sources trace the history of augmented reality back to the beginning of the 20th century,. The term augmented reality however was coined by Thomas P. Caudell in the '80s.

A 1962 concert at Carnegie Hall introduced the American press to bossa nova

Bossa nova was still largely under the radar when João Gilberto, Luiz Bonfa, Sergio Mendes, and others performed at the storied Carnegie Hall in New York. Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil noted that the showcase's success was surprising to both the musicians and Brazilians, who began taking the music more seriously as a cultural export.

View the first photos ever taken from the Martian surface

NASA's Viking 1 landed on Mars on July 20, 1976, with Viking 2 following on September 3, 1976. The two captured 4,500 images of Mars as the first spacecraft to land and transmit data from the Red Planet successfully.

The first horror movie is believed to be George Méliès' 1986 short 'The Haunted Castle,' which pioneered the use of special effects

Watch a 1934 short film starring jazz legend Cab Calloway, a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance's music scene

The history of many kitchen appliances involves unexpected discoveries and applications, including wartime radar turned hamster defroster and replacing an 'ice king' with heat-stealing boxes.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

70 years ago today, city officials in Santa Cruz, California, banned rock 'n' roll to protect its youth from corruption after witnessing a 'provocative' concert the night before.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

Sears sold DIY house kits starting at $600 in its famous catalog from 1908 through the 1940s, resulting in roughly 10,000 'Sears and Roebuck houses' being built.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

'Saturday Night Fever,' the 1977 film that introduced disco to the mainstream, was based on a fabricated magazine story.

Graffiti dates back to at least ancient Pompeii, where citizens scrawled messages to one another on public walls

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

About 12.5% of US adults experience a phobia in their lifetime, a diagnosis that hinges on the intense fear interfering with daily life and persisting for at least six months.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.