iPad's History

The iPad is a computing device, developed by Apple, meant for internet browsing, media consumption and light content creation. Released in April 2010, it is considered to have introduced a class of devices between smartphones, and laptops.

Like the older iPod Touch and IPhone devices, the larger iPad runs the iPhone OS operating system and uses a multi-touch LCD display for most user interactions. It runs iPad-specific applications as well as ones written for the iPod touch and iPhone, including e-book readers.

The iPad uses wireless connections — WiFi or a 3G cellular network — to browse the internet, load and stream media, and install software.

Apple's first tablet computer was the Newton MessagePad 100, introduced in 1993, which led to the creation of the ARM6 processor core with Acorn Computers. Apple also developed a prototype PowerBook Duo-based tablet, the PenLite, but did not sell it to avoid hurting MessagePad sales. Apple released several more Newton-based PDAs, and discontinued the last, the MessagePad 2100, in 1998.

Apple reentered the mobile-computing market in 2007 with the iPhone. Smaller than the iPad but featuring a camera and mobile phone, it pioneered the multitouch interface of iPhone OS. By late 2009, the iPad's release had been rumored for several months; iSlate and iTablet were among speculated names. The iPad was announced on January 27, 2010 by Steve Jobs at an Apple press conference at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

Three days later, at the 52nd Grammy Awards, Stephen Colbert used an iPad in announcing the nominees.

Apple began taking pre-orders for the iPad from U.S. customers on March 12, 2010. The Wi-Fi version of the iPad went on sale in the United States on April 3, 2010, at 9:00 am local time, with hundreds of customers lined up outside stores nationwide. The Wi-Fi + 3G version will be released at the end of April. The iPad will also be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK beginning in late May.[26] 3G service in the United States will be provided by AT&T and sold with two prepaid contract-free data plan options: one for unlimited data and the other for 250 MB per month at half the price. The plans will be activated on the iPad itself and can be canceled at any time.

Like the iPhone, the iPad shares its name with existing products. The most publicized is the Fujitsu iPAD, a mobile multi-functional device sold to retailers to help clerks verify prices, check inventory, and close sales. The Japanese company Fujitsu introduced the iPAD in 2002, and the following year applied for the trademark, but the firm found the mark was already owned by Mag-Tek. Fujitsu's trademark application was listed as "abandoned" in April 2009, and the ownership of the mark is unclear. Fujitsu consulted attorneys over what, if any, action it may take. On March 17, 2010 the Fujitsu IPAD U.S. trademark was transferred to Apple.

In the first days after the iPad's announcement, some media and many online commenters criticized the name "iPad", noting its similarity to "pad", the common name for a sanitary napkin. Shortly after the launch announcement, the hashtag "iTampon" became the number-two trending topic on the social networking site Twitter.

Outline of Railroad History

Roads of rails called Wagonways were being used in Germany as early as 1550. These primitive railed roads consisted of wooden rails over which horse-drawn wagons or carts moved with greater ease than over dirt roads. Wagonways were the beginnings of modern railroads.

By 1776, iron had replaced the wood in the rails and wheels on the carts. Wagonways evolved into Tramways and spread though out Europe. Horses still provided all the pulling power. In 1789, Englishman, William Jessup designed the first wagons with flanged wheels. The flange was a groove that allowed the wheels to better grip the rail, this was an important design that carried over to later locomotives.

The invention of the steam engine was critical to the invention of the modern railroad and trains. In 1803, a man named Samuel Homfray decided to fund the development of a steam-powered vehicle to replace the horse-drawn carts on the tramways. Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) built that vehicle, the first steam engine tramway locomotive. On February 22, 1804, the locomotive hauled a load of 10 tons of iron, 70 men and five extra wagons the 9 miles between the ironworks at Pen-y-Darron in the town of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales to the bottom of the valley called Abercynnon. It took about two hours.

In 1821, Englishman, Julius Griffiths was the first person to patent a passenger road locomotive.

In September, 1825, the Stockton & Darlington Railroad Company began as the first railroad to carry both goods and passengers on regular schedules using locomotives designed by English inventor, George Stephenson. Stephenson's locomotive pulled six loaded coal cars and 21 passenger cars with 450 passengers over 9 miles in about one hour.

George Stephenson is considered to be the inventor of the first steam locomotive engine for railways. Richard Trevithick's invention is considered the first tramway locomotive, however, it was a road locomotive, designed for a road and not for a railroad. Stephenson was extremely poor growing up and received little formal education. He worked in local collieries and was self-taught in reading and writing. In 1812, he became a colliery engine builder, and in 1814 he built his first locomotive for the Stockton and Darlington Railway Line. Stephenson was hired as the company engineer and soon convinced the owners to use steam motive power and built the line's first locomotive, the Locomotion. In 1825, Stephenson moved to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, where together with his son Robert built (1826-29) the Rocket.

Colonel John Stevens is considered to be the father of American railroads. In 1826 Stevens demonstrated the feasibility of steam locomotion on a circular experimental track constructed on his estate in Hoboken, New Jersey, three years before George Stephenson perfected a practical steam locomotive in England. The first railroad charter in North America was granted to John Stevens in 1815. Grants to others followed, and work soon began on the first operational railroads.

Designed and built by Peter Cooper in 1830, the Tom Thumb was the first American-built steam locomotive to be operated on a common-carrier railroad.

The Pullman Sleeping Car was invented by George Pullman in 1857. Pullman's railroad coach or sleeper was designed for overnight passenger travel. Sleeping cars were being used on American railroads since the 1830s, however, early sleepers were not that comfortable and the Pullman Sleeper was very comfortable.

Advanced Train Systems
In the 1960s and early 1970s, considerable interest developed in the possibility of building tracked passenger vehicles that could travel much faster than conventional trains. From the 1970s, interest in an alternative high-speed technology centered on magnetic levitation, or maglev. This vehicle rides on an air cushion created by electromagnetic reaction between an on-board device and another embedded in its guideway.