0:00:00 > 0:00:02- This is... BOTH:- Absolute Genius.
0:00:02 > 0:00:04Aaagghh!
0:00:04 > 0:00:07Love technology? Love gadgets?
0:00:07 > 0:00:09Love this.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12'In this explosive series of Absolute Genius...'
0:00:12 > 0:00:14EXPLOSIONS AND CHEERING
0:00:14 > 0:00:17'..we've looked at some of the most incredible technology...'
0:00:17 > 0:00:18This is mind-blowing!
0:00:18 > 0:00:21'..from the past, present and future.'
0:00:21 > 0:00:23Stop!
0:00:23 > 0:00:27'But in this show, it's our turn to choose the tech.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30'We're going to travel back to the dawn of technology
0:00:30 > 0:00:33'to look at our favourite tech innovations.
0:00:33 > 0:00:34'To see how they work
0:00:34 > 0:00:37'and find out how they changed our lives at home.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39'We've got the help of tech experts...'
0:00:39 > 0:00:41Think Star Wars, basically.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44You're looking at your phone but this image comes out of it
0:00:44 > 0:00:46and you can talk to it, maybe interact with it.
0:00:46 > 0:00:47'..our celeb friends...'
0:00:47 > 0:00:49- Everyone was like... - HE GASPS
0:00:49 > 0:00:52They're bringing a new channel, there's now five channels!
0:00:52 > 0:00:53'..and our science buddy, Fran.'
0:00:53 > 0:00:54True genius.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56It's genius.
0:00:56 > 0:00:57Absolute genius.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37Technology is everywhere.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41There are gadgets to clean your room. Ooh!
0:01:41 > 0:01:44Apps where you can stream your favourite music.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47And some amazing ways to help you spend your spare time.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52Got it, ha! There is barely any time in the day
0:01:52 > 0:01:55when we're not using some form of technology.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59But not so long ago, some of our favourite tech didn't exist at all.
0:01:59 > 0:02:04So, we're going to take you on a journey through time and space.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10On this epic journey, we're going back in time to explore
0:02:10 > 0:02:13five of the greatest technological innovations that have
0:02:13 > 0:02:17transformed our lives at home and meet the geniuses behind them.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19From the origins of telecommunications,
0:02:19 > 0:02:22to the birth of the World Wide Web.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24OK, shall we do a bit of TV time travel?
0:02:24 > 0:02:26- Go on, then.- Here we go.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37The first on our list of tech breakthroughs happened
0:02:37 > 0:02:39well over 100 years ago.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41But we still use it every single day today.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48- Ah!- So, look, here we are, our first stop in 1876.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50But what happened in 1876?
0:02:50 > 0:02:53Well, Queen Victoria was on the throne.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56This tune was the top song of the year.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58CRACKLY MUSIC PLAYS
0:02:58 > 0:03:00And this thing made its first appearance.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02- Yes - the telephone.- Hello?
0:03:06 > 0:03:09In the 21st century, there are more phones than people,
0:03:09 > 0:03:12but, in 1876, there is just one,
0:03:12 > 0:03:16and the genius that invented it was Alexander Graham Bell.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20He created a device that turned the voice into an electrical signal
0:03:20 > 0:03:23and for the first time ever, people could speak
0:03:23 > 0:03:25to one another from a distance.
0:03:25 > 0:03:26'Hello?'
0:03:26 > 0:03:29But Mr Bell didn't want people to greet each other on the phone
0:03:29 > 0:03:31by saying... IN POSH VOICE: Hello?
0:03:31 > 0:03:34He wanted them to say... IN POSH VOICE: Ahoy!
0:03:34 > 0:03:37That didn't catch on, but the telephone certainly did.
0:03:37 > 0:03:38PHONE RINGS
0:03:38 > 0:03:40Ahoy?
0:03:41 > 0:03:45The telephone certainly was a genius invention, but how did it work?
0:03:45 > 0:03:46How did it work, Belly?
0:03:46 > 0:03:49Please leave a message after the beep. Beep!
0:03:49 > 0:03:51Oh, how very helpful.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53Well, if only we had a piece of tech
0:03:53 > 0:03:55that could explain how all this tech works.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58- We have.- What?- The Fran App. - The Fran App?- The Fran App.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00Fran tells us all about technology.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03Brilliant. Extend your digit. Press it.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05Oi! Are you ready?
0:04:05 > 0:04:07This is Fran.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11She's our scientist friend who can explain stuff
0:04:11 > 0:04:13in a way that even we can understand.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16- Here's the magnet.- Yes.- Oh.
0:04:16 > 0:04:20And in this show, she's going to explain how our favourite tech works.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22Exactly.
0:04:22 > 0:04:23Believe it or not,
0:04:23 > 0:04:27the telephone that Bell invented was not unlike my telephone here.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30It's a bit more complicated than that, Fran.
0:04:30 > 0:04:31You talk into this cup
0:04:31 > 0:04:34and the vibrations from the sound of your voice travel along
0:04:34 > 0:04:37the string and then make the cup at the other end vibrate
0:04:37 > 0:04:39and act like a speaker.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43Bell's genius idea was to turn the vibrations from the sound
0:04:43 > 0:04:45of his voice into an electrical signal.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49So instead of just travelling along a short string, the signal could
0:04:49 > 0:04:51travel for miles, and then at the other end,
0:04:51 > 0:04:56be converted back into vibrations and played out of a speaker.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59- That's absolute genius.- I know!
0:05:00 > 0:05:03Bell's telephone was an incredible invention.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05And without him, we wouldn't have one of these.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08- What's that?- It's my mobile. - No, it's not.- Yes, it is.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10HE MAKES BEEPING SOUNDS See?
0:05:10 > 0:05:15- No, it's not!- Yes, it is!- No, it's not, it's mine, give it back!
0:05:15 > 0:05:19The first ever call on a mobile was made in 1973,
0:05:19 > 0:05:22But back then, they only worked for 30 minutes
0:05:22 > 0:05:24and took ten hours to charge.
0:05:24 > 0:05:29When mobiles first came out, the handsets were huge.
0:05:29 > 0:05:30Nearly as big as their cost -
0:05:30 > 0:05:34early models could cost around £3,000.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37But what were our celebrity friends' first mobile phones like?
0:05:37 > 0:05:41My first mobile phone was about this big,
0:05:41 > 0:05:44had an aerial about this big that you could pull out.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46My first phone was that simple,
0:05:46 > 0:05:48it couldn't even keep track of the time.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50It would take hours to charge up
0:05:50 > 0:05:52and then the battery lasted about three minutes.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55I can't tell you how excited I was when I got my first mobile phone,
0:05:55 > 0:05:56it was huge!
0:05:56 > 0:05:59Over time, the size of handsets began to shrink...
0:05:59 > 0:06:01..whilst their power increased.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04And phones stopped being all about...
0:06:04 > 0:06:05phone calls.
0:06:06 > 0:06:11And in 1992, text messages first appeared on our phones.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14My first mobile phone, there was a feature, I remember, on it
0:06:14 > 0:06:17that said 'text message'.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20And you could only hold ten text messages, so once you got to nine
0:06:20 > 0:06:23or ten, you had to delete one before you could get another one in!
0:06:23 > 0:06:25I think it was 10p a text so I used to be able to send about
0:06:25 > 0:06:27one per day, my mum allowed me.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31Basically, all you could do was either...phone call,
0:06:31 > 0:06:34text and play Snake.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37And Snake was...I mean Snake was the bomb!
0:06:37 > 0:06:38Everybody played Snake.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41The legend goes that you can actually complete Snake.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44You can eat so many of the little... I don't know what they're called...
0:06:44 > 0:06:48Pixelated apple things and your Snake can end up getting so long
0:06:48 > 0:06:49that you just complete the game,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52but no-one's ever actually seen it so...
0:06:52 > 0:06:54A mate of mine says he did it once. No-one else saw it,
0:06:54 > 0:06:57I think he's lying, to be honest with you.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00The question is, what will our phones be like in the future?
0:07:00 > 0:07:01We asked some tech experts
0:07:01 > 0:07:04and what they have to say might blow your mind.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06Telephones will become kind of seamless.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08They'll be in our clothing,
0:07:08 > 0:07:11they might even be kind of hard-wired in our bodies.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15Your mobile phone will look nothing like it looks today,
0:07:15 > 0:07:17in five to ten years' time.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19It'll be a wearable product.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21There seems to be a lot of excitement
0:07:21 > 0:07:25around holographic technology, you know, think Star Wars, basically.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27You're looking at your phone but this image comes out of it
0:07:27 > 0:07:30and you can talk to it, maybe interact with it.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38Thanks to the genius of Bell, you can now speak to who you want,
0:07:38 > 0:07:39when you want.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43The phone is one true genius idea, but throughout history
0:07:43 > 0:07:46there have been one or two not so genius tech ideas.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50It's the Not So Genius Idea.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52Mobiles were a genius idea,
0:07:52 > 0:07:55but some early phone networks - not so much.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59One network, called Rabbit, opened for business in 1989
0:07:59 > 0:08:01and the phones worked great -
0:08:01 > 0:08:03just as long as you were stood in a specific area
0:08:03 > 0:08:05marked by a Rabbit sign.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09Great if you're in the city, but not so much in the countryside.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11Not so surprisingly, Rabbit Phone only attracted
0:08:11 > 0:08:1410,000 subscribers, most of whom were huddled
0:08:14 > 0:08:16around a Rabbit sign together.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18And the network closed.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21Definitely not so genius.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25One genius invention down - four to go.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28Our next genius tech idea revolutionised
0:08:28 > 0:08:30how we're entertained in our homes.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34It's the TV and we watch nearly four hours of it every day.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38You can watch TV on your phones, your tablet, computer console,
0:08:38 > 0:08:41- on demand, even on your...- What? - ..TV.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44You can watch TV anywhere and at any time.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46But TV didn't always used to be this great.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49- Shall we have a look? - Why not? Press that button.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00Next stop on our Tech Time Tour is the 1920s.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06IN POSH VOICE: Back then, things were very different.
0:09:06 > 0:09:07Why are you talking like that?
0:09:07 > 0:09:09IN POSH VOICE: Because back in the olden days,
0:09:09 > 0:09:13- everyone talked like this.- Right. Well, stop it.- OK.
0:09:13 > 0:09:14In the 1920s,
0:09:14 > 0:09:18home entertainment was all about the radio.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22That was until tech genius John Logie Baird came along.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26Back in the 1920s, the only way to watch any kind of moving pictures
0:09:26 > 0:09:28was to go to the cinema.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32So, lots of people were trying to bring the big screen to our homes,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35and the person that did it first was Scotsman John Logie Baird.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39Baird's television was an incredible mechanical system.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41And very, very complex.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44The first ever TV involved... knitting needles.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47The lid from a hatbox.
0:09:47 > 0:09:48A cotton bobbin.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50The lamp from a bicycle.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53And for good measure, a coffin lid.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58Somehow, Baird put all of these elements together to create
0:09:58 > 0:10:00a spinning disc-based scanning system,
0:10:00 > 0:10:04which actually made a working television picture.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08But how did this random collection of junk actually make a TV?
0:10:08 > 0:10:11- Hey, less of the junk, you!- Sorry!
0:10:11 > 0:10:14- Well, lucky for you lot, the Fran App's back.- Hey!
0:10:14 > 0:10:18Look, there it is! Go on, extend your digit. Press it.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21John Logie Baird's invention was incredible.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24There was a spinning disc with lots of holes in
0:10:24 > 0:10:28and each of these holes was in a slightly different place,
0:10:28 > 0:10:31so each of them had a slightly different view
0:10:31 > 0:10:32of what was being filmed.
0:10:32 > 0:10:34Correct so far!
0:10:34 > 0:10:37If the part the hole was looking at was light,
0:10:37 > 0:10:39then a lot of light would come through.
0:10:39 > 0:10:41The light was then converted into an electric pulse.
0:10:41 > 0:10:46This electric pulse was then sent on to a second disc
0:10:46 > 0:10:49and this disc would make the picture.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52And that is the genius of John Logie Baird.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56Logie Baird's television was the first ever to transmit pictures.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59And a picture looked a little bit like this.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01- Not exactly brilliant, is it?- Nah.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04That's better.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07But you're probably wondering what this is all about
0:11:07 > 0:11:09and what this is all about.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12Well, if you appeared on Logie Baird's format of television,
0:11:12 > 0:11:15you'd have to wear yellow and blue make-up, just to be seen.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17- Don't think it's going to catch on, really.- No.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19I mean, you look like Kevin the Minion.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22Well, you look like a banana!
0:11:22 > 0:11:26This is direct television from the studios at Alexandra Palace.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28In the end, a different way of broadcasting pictures
0:11:28 > 0:11:33overtook Baird and a new system was developed with a far better picture.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36Early TV sets looked like this - not much bigger than
0:11:36 > 0:11:38the size of your phone screen now.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41Back then, some people used to try and make their screen look bigger,
0:11:41 > 0:11:44using a magnifying glass.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47But what were our celebrity friends' first TVs like?
0:11:47 > 0:11:49My first TV was black and white
0:11:49 > 0:11:52and you had to get up off your chair or wherever you were,
0:11:52 > 0:11:54to go and press the button if you wanted to change the channel.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56Can you believe that?
0:11:56 > 0:11:58Get up and press the button to change the channel?
0:11:58 > 0:12:01I got quite adept at throwing a tennis ball in the general
0:12:01 > 0:12:03direction of the telly to try and change the channel.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05We didn't have any choice. We had a couple of channels.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08I think back when I was growing up, there were only four channels.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10And I remember Channel 5 coming out.
0:12:10 > 0:12:11- Everyone was like... - HE GASPS
0:12:11 > 0:12:14They're bringing a new channel, there's now five channels!
0:12:14 > 0:12:17If you wanted to watch something on a Friday at nine o'clock,
0:12:17 > 0:12:18you had to sit in, Friday at nine o'clock.
0:12:18 > 0:12:23Imagine - you had to race home to watch a programme,
0:12:23 > 0:12:26and if you missed it, that was it, you missed it.
0:12:26 > 0:12:27Sometimes it was a choice between,
0:12:27 > 0:12:29do I go in the shop after school and get a bar of chocolate
0:12:29 > 0:12:31or do I get home to watch my favourite show?
0:12:31 > 0:12:33That's a decision no-one should have to make
0:12:33 > 0:12:35and thankfully, now, we don't have to.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39TV has changed massively since Logie Baird's contraption
0:12:39 > 0:12:41but what will it be like in the future?
0:12:41 > 0:12:43We asked our tech experts.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45I think, in the future,
0:12:45 > 0:12:48we're going to move towards really detailed content.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52You're going to be able to see every blade of grass, every raindrop,
0:12:52 > 0:12:54even in more detail than you can see it now.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58We might actually be able to have things beamed small onto glasses
0:12:58 > 0:13:00or even onto the retina,
0:13:00 > 0:13:04so you can watch things as well as interacting with other people.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08TV is genius and it's all thanks to Logie Baird.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11Time for our next genius tech invention.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21For our next innovation, we're in the '50s.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23Now, in this decade,
0:13:23 > 0:13:24people looked to the skies.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29Our next innovation takes us to space.
0:13:29 > 0:13:30Believe it or not,
0:13:30 > 0:13:34so much of the technology we use today is reliant on being in space.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37Right now there are about 1,100 satellites working
0:13:37 > 0:13:41above our heads, bringing us GPS, internet connections and TV shows.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45But we wouldn't have any of that, had genius space pioneer,
0:13:45 > 0:13:48Sergei Korolev, not sent the first satellite into space -
0:13:48 > 0:13:50the Sputnik 1.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54After that, the world went space wild and technology changed forever.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59I love space, I do. Just to think there are all those satellites
0:13:59 > 0:14:01orbiting around above our heads.
0:14:01 > 0:14:02But how do they work?
0:14:02 > 0:14:04It's all thanks to me.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06- Well, I don't know how it works. - Neither do I.
0:14:06 > 0:14:07Fran it.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09Good idea.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15Satellites are genius, though how they work is actually quite simple.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18They're like giant mirrors in space.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20Information is beamed up to them from Earth,
0:14:20 > 0:14:24which could be a telephone call or a TV show that's being broadcast,
0:14:24 > 0:14:28or in this case, my laser light.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31Put that away, Fran, you will blind someone!
0:14:31 > 0:14:33As the satellite is way up in space,
0:14:33 > 0:14:35it can see a lot more of Earth than we can,
0:14:35 > 0:14:39so information is simply reflected off them,
0:14:39 > 0:14:40back down to Earth.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44With one satellite covering a lot of ground.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49So this means we can not only easily communicate over the entire globe,
0:14:49 > 0:14:53but we can also see and monitor the Earth from high above.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55I'm a genius, innit?
0:14:59 > 0:15:03As people, we don't realise how vital satellites are -
0:15:03 > 0:15:04for phones, for navigation.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08They're being used so much without us even taking a second thought
0:15:08 > 0:15:09about them, really.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12If you've got a satellite on the outside of your house,
0:15:12 > 0:15:15that's facing a satellite in the sky that is directly above Britain
0:15:15 > 0:15:16all of the time.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18Satellites are amazing,
0:15:18 > 0:15:22but with so many of them orbiting the Earth, it can cause problems.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25They do collide, they do crash into each other sometimes.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28About two years ago, an American satellite and a Russian satellite
0:15:28 > 0:15:30crashed into each other. They were instantly vaporised
0:15:30 > 0:15:33because they were both travelling at ridiculously fast speeds.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36Satellites have given us some top tech right now on Earth
0:15:36 > 0:15:39but what about technology in the future?
0:15:40 > 0:15:43Here's our genius top five future tech.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46At five - ever wanted to grow your own meat?
0:15:46 > 0:15:48Because scientists have already artificially grown
0:15:48 > 0:15:52a burger in a lab, but it cost a quarter of a million pounds to make!
0:15:52 > 0:15:54- TILL RINGS - Oof!
0:15:54 > 0:15:56At four - it's Nanobatteries.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58These mini batteries are set to be smaller than a human hair
0:15:58 > 0:16:02and offer three times the charge capacity of current batteries.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04At three - it's telepathy.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06Facebook's big boss Mark Zuckerberg
0:16:06 > 0:16:08reckons in the future, we'll be ditching the keyboard
0:16:08 > 0:16:11and thinking our messages from our brains.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13Good thinking, Mark.
0:16:13 > 0:16:14At two - it's graphene.
0:16:14 > 0:16:18It already exists and is the strongest material in the world.
0:16:18 > 0:16:23In the future, it could be used to make super-thin, super-strong TVs.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26And at one - it's bioprinting.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30It will soon be possible to print parts of the human body.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33Scientists are working on tech to print fully-working human organs.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36I just hope one day they can print me a new co-host.
0:16:36 > 0:16:37Watch it!
0:16:42 > 0:16:44Next stop on our Tech Time Tour is...
0:16:46 > 0:16:47..the '80s.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50It was a decade of dodgy music...
0:16:50 > 0:16:52# Never gonna give you up... #
0:16:52 > 0:16:53..dodgy fashion...
0:16:53 > 0:16:55# Never gonna let you down... #
0:16:55 > 0:16:58And a decade where the genius invention of computer games
0:16:58 > 0:17:00went massive.
0:17:02 > 0:17:07It was all the way back in 1966 when gaming genius Ralph Baer
0:17:07 > 0:17:10began to look at ways of creating computer games that you could
0:17:10 > 0:17:12play on your home TV.
0:17:12 > 0:17:17A year later, he created the first ever gaming console prototypes.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21Fast forward to the 1980s and gaming is big news
0:17:21 > 0:17:24and there is an explosion in home computer companies
0:17:24 > 0:17:26who all wanted to get in on the game.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29Sega and Nintendo came from Japan.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32Commodore and Atari came from North America.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36And here in the UK, we were making our own games machines, too.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40Yes, in the UK, it was all about the ZX Spectrum,
0:17:40 > 0:17:43complete with games like Stunt Car Racer.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47Throughout the 1980s, gaming technology changed
0:17:47 > 0:17:50beyond all recognition, but why?
0:17:50 > 0:17:53- Well, I'm not going to tell you. - Who is?- The Frapp!
0:17:53 > 0:17:55Game over.
0:17:55 > 0:18:00This is a computer's RAM, which stands for Random Access Memory.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03And it's a bit like the notebook of the computer world.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06It's where the computer temporarily stores information.
0:18:06 > 0:18:12At the beginning of the 1980s, the RAM could hold just 128 bytes
0:18:12 > 0:18:15and that meant, the games you could play looked like this.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19Oh!
0:18:19 > 0:18:23But ten years on, the RAM could hold more than 60,000 bytes
0:18:23 > 0:18:26and that meant the games looked like this.
0:18:28 > 0:18:29Better!
0:18:29 > 0:18:33Nowadays, we can fit more than eight billion bytes on to the RAM,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36which is why we've got such awesome games.
0:18:36 > 0:18:38I love RAM!
0:18:38 > 0:18:42Cheers, Franny, but what kind of gaming tech did our celebrities have?
0:18:42 > 0:18:44I used to love computer games.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47I had the Super Nintendo which we called the SNES.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50I had the Megadrive with Sonic on it. Loved Sonic.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52I never had a first video console.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55I had a computer.
0:18:55 > 0:18:56It was called a Dragon.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00You couldn't buy games for it, you bought magazines, and the magazines
0:19:00 > 0:19:03would have all the coding, line by line in basic,
0:19:03 > 0:19:06and then once you'd typed it and saved it, you had a game.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09Back then, it was a massive computer, on a table,
0:19:09 > 0:19:12and you'd have to go upstairs into that special room
0:19:12 > 0:19:14and fight your little brother to play on it.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16The thing is, with a lot of those old consoles,
0:19:16 > 0:19:18you didn't have any save function.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21I know it sounds mad to say it now, you weren't able to save.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24So, say, for example, if I got up extra early to play a couple of
0:19:24 > 0:19:28computer games before school, and I got to a really far level,
0:19:28 > 0:19:32I'd hit pause, turn off my TV, go to school, come back and carry on
0:19:32 > 0:19:36playing cos I didn't want to lose the point that I was on in my game.
0:19:36 > 0:19:38My mum started to get suspicious
0:19:38 > 0:19:41when the electricity bills would come in, but I never told her
0:19:41 > 0:19:45anything. I suppose the truth's kind of out there now, though, isn't it?
0:19:45 > 0:19:48Today, gaming has become an immersive experience
0:19:48 > 0:19:52and in the future, virtual reality technology will take the gamer
0:19:52 > 0:19:55off their sofa and into the game.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58By the time it comes to the mainstream, gaming is just going to
0:19:58 > 0:20:01blow people's minds. It's just going to be unbelievable.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04It's gaming that we've never experienced before, I think.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08You will be able to transport yourself into a different world
0:20:08 > 0:20:11and all your senses...
0:20:12 > 0:20:16..will start to think it's a different world.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18I think the future of computer games,
0:20:18 > 0:20:21it's going to get to the point where people can actually step
0:20:21 > 0:20:23into the computer game and battle aliens themselves.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26Imagine that, cocker, it'd be great, wouldn't it?
0:20:30 > 0:20:34On our tech time-travelling journey, we've seen some of the biggest
0:20:34 > 0:20:36innovations that have changed our home lives forever.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40But our last genius technological breakthrough
0:20:40 > 0:20:42is perhaps the biggest of them all.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47Welcome to Switzerland, 1989.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51There's chocolate, there's skiing, but there's no World Wide Web.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53Where did the World Wide Web come from?
0:20:54 > 0:20:56Oh, sorry. Couldn't help myself.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00- The chocolate was for us, not just for you.- Have that bit.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03Anyway, here's how the World Wide Web began.
0:21:03 > 0:21:04Get off.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10Back in 1954, 12 European countries began to work together
0:21:10 > 0:21:13in Switzerland on a project to find about the physics of the universe.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15'This is CERN.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18'The European organisation for nuclear research in Geneva,
0:21:18 > 0:21:21'only yards from the French frontier.'
0:21:21 > 0:21:26CERN was a big success and by 1989, the team were uncovering
0:21:26 > 0:21:31so much information, that storing all the data was becoming a big problem.
0:21:31 > 0:21:36So, in stepped genius computer scientist, Tim Berners-Lee,
0:21:36 > 0:21:40who had a brilliant plan on how to share the data.
0:21:40 > 0:21:41And this is that plan right here.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43It might not look like much,
0:21:43 > 0:21:46but this was the basic plan for the World Wide Web.
0:21:46 > 0:21:47Look at this -
0:21:47 > 0:21:50Information Management: A Proposal.
0:21:50 > 0:21:56But Tim Berners-Lee's boss wrote at the top, "Vague but exciting."
0:21:56 > 0:21:59And from this vague but exciting proposal,
0:21:59 > 0:22:02Tim Berners-Lee went on to create the World Wide Web.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06And in 1991, the first website went live and this was it.
0:22:06 > 0:22:08It looks pretty basic,
0:22:08 > 0:22:11but it went on to be something truly massive.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14The problem is, no-one really actually knows what the difference
0:22:14 > 0:22:17between the World Wide Web and the internet actually is.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21- Fran? Fran?- Pardon?- Fran it!
0:22:22 > 0:22:26Tim Berners-Lee was a true genius for creating the World Wide Web
0:22:26 > 0:22:31in 1989, but the four parts that make up the World Wide Web,
0:22:31 > 0:22:33actually existed before then.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35Firstly - the internet.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39This allowed computers to connect to other computers.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41Second - hypertext.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44This allowed you to click on a certain word
0:22:44 > 0:22:47and then get taken through to another page of information.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51Thirdly - Universal Resource Locator, or URL.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53This was just used to name sites.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55Fourth - HTML.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58Now this was a computer programming language,
0:22:58 > 0:23:02which allowed pages to display fonts of different sizes
0:23:02 > 0:23:05and to display colours and pictures.
0:23:05 > 0:23:09What Tim Berners-Lee did was bring these four components together,
0:23:09 > 0:23:11to give us the World Wide Web.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16After the invention of the World Wide Web in 1989, it was still
0:23:16 > 0:23:19years until it became widely available in people's homes.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22And even when it did, things were pretty slow.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24I remember really clearly, getting the internet
0:23:24 > 0:23:28and I remember us having a go at the internet for the first time.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31Ha! So slow.
0:23:31 > 0:23:32So slow.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36Back then it was just, right, if you were trying to get on the internet,
0:23:36 > 0:23:38nothing else goes on, you just focus on that.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40You didn't just switch on your computer
0:23:40 > 0:23:43and get up your web browser, you had, like, connects.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47I remember the internet used to make a weird, weird noise.
0:23:47 > 0:23:48DIAL TONE BLEEPS
0:23:50 > 0:23:52INTERNET CONNECTION BEEPS
0:23:53 > 0:23:58THEY MIMIC THE INTERNET CONNECTION NOISE
0:23:59 > 0:24:01HACKER MAKES HIGH-PITCHED SQUEAKING SOUNDS
0:24:01 > 0:24:06THEY MIMIC THE INTERNET CONNECTION NOISE
0:24:06 > 0:24:09I've no idea what that noise was, what it was for,
0:24:09 > 0:24:12but for some reason, it happened and there you were -
0:24:12 > 0:24:13connected to the internet.
0:24:13 > 0:24:18And then, this kind of new world popped up onto your screen.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21Then, it would take about ten minutes for the page to load.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24And this is the worst thing, right, if your mum picked up the phone
0:24:24 > 0:24:28to speak to your Auntie Sandra, it cut you off the internet.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30Oh, it was a nightmare.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32Nowadays, the web is huge.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36Every minute, there are a massive four million searches on Google.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40And - get this - every day, there are 1.8 billion photos
0:24:40 > 0:24:43uploaded or shared on the Web.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46If you took all of those photos and printed them out onto a picture,
0:24:46 > 0:24:48and then stacked them on top of each other...
0:24:48 > 0:24:50..then, that stack of photos
0:24:50 > 0:24:55would actually be five times higher than Mount Everest!
0:24:55 > 0:24:57We just take the internet so much for granted.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01I can't think of a single thing that I do in my day,
0:25:01 > 0:25:03that doesn't involve the internet.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06The internet and me, we're like that.
0:25:06 > 0:25:07There's no breaking us.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11What a bizarre thing, to have all of human knowledge
0:25:11 > 0:25:13in the palm of your hand.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17On my phone, I have access to anything I want to know.
0:25:17 > 0:25:19Who built Stonehenge? Who built the Pyramids?
0:25:19 > 0:25:21What year was the moon landing?
0:25:21 > 0:25:23I can find all of this out in an instant.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26And what do we...? We like looking at cat videos.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32The World Wide Web and the internet have come a long way,
0:25:32 > 0:25:34but what will it be like in the future?
0:25:34 > 0:25:36I think the next step of the internet
0:25:36 > 0:25:39is what they say is called the internet of things.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42So not just the connectivity of computer to computer,
0:25:42 > 0:25:43but everything.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46Essentially, it means, taking bog-standard appliances
0:25:46 > 0:25:49and everyday items and connecting those things to the internet.
0:25:49 > 0:25:51This could be something as simple as your light bulbs.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54They're internet-connected light bulbs which you can control
0:25:54 > 0:25:55from anywhere in the world.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58We're seeing refrigerators, ovens, washing machines,
0:25:58 > 0:26:00all these things connected to the internet.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03Ultimately, to make life a bit more easier for you.
0:26:10 > 0:26:11So, there we have it.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15From surprising origins came a truly genius idea
0:26:15 > 0:26:17that has transformed our lives.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20In this episode, we've learnt about five geniuses
0:26:20 > 0:26:24whose genius technology has transformed the way we live.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29And in the next episode, it's your turn.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33In September 2015, we made a massive announcement.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36We are looking for an absolute tech genius.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40We want you to design a piece of tech for the future.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44- This is a contest like no other. - Oh, my life!
0:26:44 > 0:26:47Eight tech fans have been chosen to take part,
0:26:47 > 0:26:49and like us in this series,
0:26:49 > 0:26:52they'll have to face their own genius tech challenges.
0:26:52 > 0:26:53Is this his brain?
0:26:55 > 0:26:59From those eight, only three will get to be the first ever kids
0:26:59 > 0:27:01to go to CES in Las Vegas -
0:27:01 > 0:27:03the world's largest tech show.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07Not only that, they will then travel to Silicon Valley to go inside
0:27:07 > 0:27:11the headquarters of the largest tech company on the planet - Apple!
0:27:11 > 0:27:14There, they will get to meet Apple's Chief Design Officer -
0:27:14 > 0:27:17the one and only, Sir Jonathan Ive.
0:27:17 > 0:27:22But, only one will be crowned the Absolute Tech Genius.
0:27:27 > 0:27:29LAUGHTER
0:27:37 > 0:27:40Where's Rich gone?
0:27:40 > 0:27:42- It's stopped!- Aaaaggghh!
0:27:42 > 0:27:45Along the line is a... HE MAKES A BURBLING NOISE
0:27:45 > 0:27:47Wow! His head's fallen off!
0:27:47 > 0:27:50How did you find that? 'Blew my head off.'
0:27:50 > 0:27:52You can't end it like that!