The Tube

Philo Farnsworth. Ask most people to name an inventor who's had a profound effect on modern society, and they may say Bell, Edison or if they're really hip, Tesla. Rarely, though, does the name Farnsworth appear, except perhaps from fans of Sports Night.

While countless people helped bring about what we call TV, Farnsworth was the first to demonstrate a complete electronic system. From the image dissector that received the image to the cathode ray tube that showed it, a media revolution was born.

The Other TiVo

The name TiVo, much like Kleenex, iPod and Velcro, has become almost synonymous with its product category. These days, nearly every cable and satellite provider offers a DVR (or PVR), usually not branded by any name other than their own, despite boxes made by Scientific Atlanta, Motorola and others. But in the beginning, during the dark ages of digital TV recording, there was another: ReplayTV.

Big. Shiny. Analog.

Released to the public in 1978, LaserDisc offered consumers a trifecta of the perfect product: no recording, expensive media and players and the need to flip the disc during the movie.

The response, historically speaking, was tepid.

70:1 and Still Awesome

It actually started in the ’60s. The technology that eventually became the world's first big screen flat-panel TVs started life as small computer displays—monochromatic computer displays. Like any technology, development continued, and in the mid-’90s several companies started showcasing real, full-color, flat-panel plasma TVs. Fujitsu takes credit for the first available plasma TV, but most consumers will remember the Philips.