In our first series of blog posts as we enter the 30 day countdown to our 20th anniversary in March we thought we’d have fun looking look at some of our favourite technology highs and lows.
It’s incredible thinking back 20 years and remembering we didn’t have much of the technology that today we take for granted. Much of this technology has helped shape our current lives – helping make it easier to connect with and enjoy the things we love. For me one of the main things was the introduction of online streaming and it’s add on services.
I can still remember the times I would go to Blockbuster to rent a film which came in a big plastic box. In 2007, Netflix introduced online streaming to personal computers and the next year saw the addition of streaming to Xbox 360s, blue ray disc players, and TV set-top boxes. At Liberty we have been lucky enough to have worked with some of the biggest names in this space helping make TV on demand a reality for many.
The last 20 years has also seen a whole slew of new mobile technologies capture the public’s imagination – from smartphones to MP3 players, USB sticks and touchscreens to Wi-Fi, 3G and now 5G and more. As a nation we have become increasingly plugged into an always-on, totally portable, always-connected existence.
But whilst these innovations may have helped change the quality of our lives in the lucky developed world, it’s the technological changes further afield that I think really matter – those advances that have literally changed lives – helping give people access to clean water and electricity for the very first time, to immunisations and healthcare services and to education.
As consumers in the UK and US, our view of ‘technology’ is often limited to smartphones, tablets and other gadgets that make our daily lives better but there is so much innovation happening –ways in which technology is changing people’s lives for the better, where poverty is high and quality of life can be poor.
It’s this innovation which I think is so humbling. It certainly makes me proud to be involved in tech!
