Electric Dreams 2

Today I got round to watching the episode of BBC's Electric Dreams based on the technology of the 90s. I decided to take notes as I watched and try and make notes of things that may be useful for my essay.

1990
Televisions were finally becoming cheaper, and many households had more than one. There were only 4 channels available in Britain.
Fax machines were brought into the home after being well established in business.
The gaming industry sees a massive take off. (The industry now rivals Hollywood in popularity).

1991
SEGA and Nintendo are the main competitors in the gaming industry. SEGA's Sonic the Hedgehog and Nintendo's Super Mario are both their own company's main weapons.
Handheld consoles are being introduced. (Gameboys, Gamegear (£200 in today's money)). Nintendo's most popular game is Tetris. 8,000 Britons own handheld consoles.

1992
Britons sign up for Satellite TV in their thousands. But at this time, it offers only and extra 5 channels.
Pagers look set to be the future of communication.
Video game violence raises concern over its effect on youths. Age ratings on games introduced soon after.

1993/4
Digital mobile phones introduced. (Motoral 3200 costs £1,400 in today's money).
Consumer digital cameras introduced. They hold around 8 images and have a resolution of half a mega pixel. (£740 in today's money).

1995
Portable technology develops. Laptops and mobiles become more sophiscated technology.
Cheaper home PCs.

1996
Sony launches the PlayStation advertising it as an adult lifestyle accessory. It outsold SEGA and Nintendo though it cost £500 in today's money.

1997
6 million Britons get online. (An estimated 45 million are today).
The Internet has around 1.5 million websites.

I very much enjoyed being able to look back on some of the technology I remember and grew up with. It was great to see the origins of some of the most widespread and popular gadgets of the modern day (mobiles, consoles, computers).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/electricdreams