1. How a 75 year old piece ofpaper started modern communicationIn October 1938, an American physicist, inventor and patent attorney, Chester Carlson spent a Saturday morning with his assistant creating the world’s very first dry copy. The world’s first xerographic image read “10.-22.-38 ASTORIA”. It took another 4 years before Carlson was issued a patent on his new process, which was eventually renamed xerography, a name which was later appropriated by the multinational printing company Xerox. Carlson’s invention heralded the beginning of modern computing and prompted the invention of the photocopier, which changed the way that people work in offices forever.

   2. Augmented reality

   Augmented reality is a view of the real world which has been edited or augmented by technology in some way. The idea of augmented reality has been around since 1901 when L. Frank Baum, the author best known for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, spoke about the idea of an electronic display overlaying data onto real life. Despite this, nothing was put into practice until 1962, when cinematographer Morton Heilig invented and patented Sensorama, a simulator with visuals, sound, vibration, and smell. Between 1901 and 2013 a lot has changed, technology has moved from a simple idea to Google announcing the beta phase of Google Glass, turning the idea into reality.

However, it is not just those lucky few Google Glass users that can get to experience augmented reality. Increasingly, there are a wide variety of mobile apps that use augmented reality to enhance your real life experience. This year, Ikea and Audi have released augmented reality apps that are not just for fun. Ikea’s app lets users ‘try out’ furniture and artwork in their home before they buy it and Audi have developed an augmented reality handbook app for their newest Audi A1 model.

3. Shared endorsements from Google

This week, Google updated its terms and conditions and the changes might give you cause to think carefully about the comments or ratings you give to anything on Google’s services like Google+ and YouTube. Google can now use adult users’ comments and ratings and provide them to companies to use as endorsements for internet advertising. These are accompanied with the endorsers’ names and photos.

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