![]() You can see the concept of product evolution leading to the enhancement of human capability just about everywhere, too. Think about that for a second: We’ve gone from the concept of portable music being a novelty to the ability to have a universal translator in our ears - all in about 40 years. Those earbuds are more than just a means of listening to music they can also help read your messages, control voice-activated devices, and even translate foreign languages. Going back to our audio example, as the record player became the boombox became the Walkman became, eventually, wireless earbuds like the Pixel Buds, it enabled a lot more than just music. To take the concept a step further, the evolution of the transistor and its effect on product design has led to a commensurate evolution in human behavior and capability. I love that.” An evolution in technology, and humanity It's demonstrating its ability to make our lives better without being obtrusive. “There is quite a lot more innovation occurring in the consumer space under the banner of the transistor. “At the end of the day, someone said there has to be a better way to take measurements,” Floyd said. For instance, a gadget that we now think of as cheap and simple, a laser measuring device that uses a laser diode with some onboard computing to calculate distances instead of physical tape, would have been impossible before the transistor. The power of the transistor has transformed the realm of potential and possibility for just about every form and function we can imagine. In a matter of decades, the transistor has powered myriad technological advances. “You didn't know there was a better way to vacuum your floor until someone came up with a robot to do it for you,” Floyd said. With a commensurate decrease in cost, transistor-driven products have infiltrated nearly every type of product. Structures on a computer chip are now measured in nanometers. With the unimpeded march of Moore’s Law leading the way, computer chips built with transistors have become more powerful while consistently decreasing in size. The term “form follows function” was originally coined from the world of architecture, where “the shape of a building or object should primarily relate to its intended function or purpose.” While this general principle mostly holds up well in the realm of product design, in the context of the transistor, form more accurately follows capability. In a sense, the transistor has shaped our very relationship with music - and so much else. They are rapidly becoming computers with a purpose and provide the potential to evolve with our needs.” “Products designed today look very different from those five or 10 years ago. ![]() “One guiding principle of the transistor, and electronics in general, is that it provides increasing levels of functionality, but also it influences the form factor,” Floyd said. In time, the concept of portable and personal music would lead to the development of ever smaller and more useful devices, like the CD player, the iPod, and now wireless earbuds. The form factor of an entire industry was transformed. The Walkman changed the way people thought about their relationship with music, making it personal and portable. If you wanted portable music before the Walkman was released in 1979, the choice was to either blast it from the radio in your car, or lug around a massive boombox. (Photo: Jeff Keyzer/Flickr)įor instance, Floyd points out the case of the Sony Walkman. “Technology is defining the way we solve problems in our lives”Ī replica of the first transistor at the Bell Labs museum in New Jersey. “Thinking about the progression of product design over the years, it really has been incredibly influenced by the transistor,” Simon Floyd, the director of manufacturing and transportation industries at Google Cloud, said. But one interesting and underappreciated aspect of the transistor has been its effect on how we design products and what we do with them. The story of the transistor and its impact has been widely told. The transistor’s proliferation and evolution has made the modern world possible and changed the nature of human existence. Today, 114 billion transistors can fit into the best commercially available computer processing units, like those found in smartphones or high-end laptops. The transistor might be the most manufactured piece of equipment in history. It was this shift that helped usher in the era of modern computing. ![]() It was the brainchild of Walter Brattain and John Bardeen, a creation that would soon evolve and replace vacuum tubes as the first reliable solid-state electronic switch. Seventy-five years ago, Bell Labs - birthplace of the laser, photovoltaic cells, telecommunications satellites, and an encyclopedia-worth of programming languages - released one of its smallest, and biggest, inventions: the transistor.
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