While Australia is home to lots of people with big ideas, there’s also a surprising number of modern day tech inventions that we can also claim as our own too.
Despite a number of stereotypes placed on us internationally, us Aussies really are a bunch of smart cookies. From Pavlova to Paul Kelly, our home grown exports have all made significant contributions to the global community. While we’ve never really been regarded as a hub for innovation when it comes to tech inventions, the reality is that couldn’t be further from the truth. So much so, that Australians don’t even realise our claim to some of our most famous creations, with just a handful including the following.
It’s no secret that as Australians, we take great pride in our ability to solve problems and innovate – we’re a nation that is home to surf champs who fend off potential shark attacks via a swift uppercut. However, many people make the mistake of assuming that modern day tech inventions are all birthed in Silicon Valley, when quite a number of these creations were born right here on home turf.
WiFi – It’s difficult to imagine that there’s now an entire generation that’s never known a world without wireless internet. Now used by more than a billion people across the world, the origins of WiFi have many contributors, but the modern day version as we know it was originally developed by a team from the CSIRO. Led by renowned Australian physicist and engineer, Dr John O’Sullivan, the team used core components adapted from radio astronomy research collected in the seventies.
Google Maps – Can you actually imagine backpacking or even a road trip without Google Maps to help you find the way? In 2003, Australia’s hometown heroes Neil Gordon and Stephen Ma went into business with Danish brothers, Lars and Jens Rasmussen. Together, they went on to found a small tech start-up in Sydney, known as Where 2 Technologies. Just twelve months later, Google purchased the company and hired all four gents, turning their web mapping platform into what we now know as Google Maps.
Black Box Flight Recorder – The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, or black boxes as they are often called, store data about planes. They can provide vital information in air accident investigations, and are purposefully designed to survive plane crashes. While it’s easy to assume that tech inventions of this nature would surely originate from the United States, the claim actually belongs to Australian scientist, David Warren. When investigating fatal plane crashes, he noted the need for data from the plane’s final moments, and voila!
Electronic Pacemaker – A pacemaker is a small device used to treat some arrhythmias, or when the heart can beat too fast, too slow, or with an irregular rhythm. There are around three million people worldwide with pacemakers today, and may not have stuck around this long without them. Developed by an Australian doctor Mark Lidwill and physicist Edgar Booth, a pacemaker uses small electric charges to stimulate a regular heartbeat. While the device was first used in 1928 to revive a newborn baby, it’s now a staple in cardio treatment globally.
Refrigeration – While iceboxes were used for centuries as a means to keep all kinds of things cool, ice is not exactly a medium that’s easy to come by in a hot and humid climate like Australia. As such, our island nation can actually claim refrigeration as one of our most valuable tech inventions, with the concept originating all the way back in 1855, when Aussie engineer and politician James Harrison received a patent for his vapour-compression system. In fact, his refrigerator was the result of a commercial ice making machine he’d created a year earlier.
Power Board – In an age where we’re increasingly reliant on a wide range of digital and electronic devices, we’re not quite at a point where they recharge themselves. As such, there’s nothing more frustrating than a lack of power points to do so, which is when the use of the extremely handy power board comes in. Aussie inventor Frank Bannigan had this same issue all the way back in 1972, but failed to patent his idea and ultimately cost him and the company he worked for millions in royalties – poor Frank!
Digital Sampler – A sampler is an electronic or digital musical instrument which uses sound recordings of real instruments or recorded songs. Without it, the world of EDM, or electronic dance music, wouldn’t exist. While it’s easy to assume that it would surely have been a German creation given their love of the genre, it’s actually Australia that can claim it’s invention via the 1979 Fairlight Computer Musical Instrument digital sampler, created by Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie. On its release, it retailed for an eye watering £18,000, or roughly $34,000 dollars by today’s standards.
Technology certainly is a wonderful thing, there’s simply no doubt about it. However, in order for it to stay relevant, beneficial and glitch free, the dark side of it is the constant updates that the humble consumer is required to keep up with. Thankfully, if you’re having issues with a device and are out of options, the good news is that help is only a phone call away.
SOS Phone Repairs are specialists in high-quality, cost-effective phone repairs, tablet repairs, and PC repairs, all backed with a six month warranty. Founded in 2015 in Coffs Harbour and now with over sixteen outlets located all over Australia, our primary driving factors remain the same: people and phones.
Whether it’s to get a few more years out of your trusted iPhone, to fix one up to sell, or to repurpose an old one as a gift, repairing a smartphone might just be easier and cheaper than you think. However, if you’re in the market for a new smartphone, SOS Phone Repairs also stocks a wide variety of refurbished handsets at a fraction of the cost of a brand new one. While each has been carefully restored to perform at their best, all refurbished smartphones purchased through SOS also come with a twelve month warranty, and can be purchased at any of our sixteen store locations.
If you are on the hunt for a quote, diagnostic, or even just some good old fashioned, friendly advice, please don’t hesitate to get in touch or give us a call today at SOS Phone Repairs.
