INTERESTING IT FACTS

1. The first computer was almost 2.5 metres (8ft) high and weighed nearly 30,000kg – more than 600 times heavier than an average computer today.
   Source: ‘IBM's ASCC introduction’, IBM Archive online
   
2. Programmer Charley Kline sent the first computer-to-computer message in 1969; only the first two letters got through before the system crashed.  Today, over 80 billion emails are sent a day worldwide.
   Source: ‘Behind the Net - The untold history of the ARPANET’, Michael Hauben, Columbia University
   
3. American inventor Douglas Engelbart created the computer mouse in 1964, made almost entirely out of wood.
   Source: ‘The computer mouse turns 40’, Benj Edwards, Macworld
   
4. Just one gigabyte (GB) in computer memory is the equivalent to storing a stack of documents that would reach around the height of an average two storey house. The average computer has around 100GB of memory.
   Source: AOK Networking
   
5. More than 37 million Brits regularly use the internet – enough to fill Wembley Stadium almost 5,000 times over.  The number of internet users worldwide is 200 times the population of London.
   Source: ‘Internet Access’, Office for National Statistics 28.08.09; ‘Worldwide Internet Users Top 1.5 Billion’, Computer Industry Almanac
   
6. The first spreadsheet program available for personal computers, called VisiCalc, is often considered the application that turned the microcomputer from a hobby for computer enthusiasts into a serious business tool.
   Source: ‘The First Spreadsheet - VisiCalc - Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston’, About.com
   
7. The QWERTY layout used for English language computer keyboards is 135 years old.  It was originally invented for a new form of typewriter.
   Source: ‘Consider QWERTY’, Darryl Rehr
   
8. A group of artists in Berlin created ‘Powerpoint-Karaoke’ in 2006, a spin-off from traditional Karaoke where, instead of singing songs, participants had to present a random improvised PowerPoint slide show.
   Source: Spiegel Online 01.02.06
   
9. The first portable computer, the Osborne I, weighed 11.88kg (1stone 12lbs) and three ounces, and measured 52 cm (20.5 inches) wide.
   Source: Osborne Computer Corporation
   
10. A group of Cambridge University boffins invented the webcam in 1991 so they could check when their coffee pot, in another room, was empty.  This has since been spoofed in video game Hitman 2: Silent Assassin and the pot was auctioned on eBay for £3,350.
    Source: ‘The Story of the Trojan Room Coffee Pot’, Quentin Stafford-Fraser