EOTO #1 Reaction

Across the presentations, there were several interesting topics explored. The first being messenger pigeons. While I was always passively aware that birds were used as messengers. Especially learning how vital they were as communication tools in the past, especially in 

World War I. Likewise, it was surprising to learn they earned medals for their contributions. Their being named, which in hindsight makes a lot of sense, also came as a surprise.

Second, learning about the history of streaming services was interesting. Netflix, especially since they started their website in 1997 as a DVD rental service. Although I was aware of their Redboxes, I was surprised by their streaming service, as well as most of the other ones, when they seemingly suddenly popped out of thin air. 

YouTube started as a dating site, containing video clips that were unknown to me. Likewise, it was too successful for the original owners, which is why they had to sell to Google. They were unable to keep up with the traffic the website was generating, and were simply not able to make enough money to expand their servers enough.

As for some miscellaneous facts I found interesting, of radio's two modes, FM is far easier to connect to, making it ideal for spots with spotty connection, like camp sites. Another is that there were 100s of different kinds of magazines in the 1800s, which is completely different from today, where they are only seen in lobbies or maybe bathrooms. Lastly, email was invented as early as the 1970s by Ray Tomlinson, which is when the @ symbol became forever linked to email addresses. 

Overall, the history of communications technology is far more widespread and ancient than I believed it to be, and there is a lot I was completely unaware of, or simply had not thought about. I am interested to see how it continues to change in the near and distant future with the implementation of AI and other, more obscure, advancements.