In 1964, his "conversation machine" became the first commercial device to give telephone callers access to computer data by means of their own voices.
Classic 80s toy the View-Master is making a comeback as a high-end (though still only around £21) Cardboard reader and became the first VR device to be stocked in Apple stores last month.
The product became the first medical device the FDA has approved that can diagnose a condition without a doctor's interpretation.
Android experienced a 10x jump in shipments from 640,500 units in 2008 (when the HTC Dream became the first consumer device to offer it) and 2009, so Wear could still grow if someone else can truly show shoppers the value of wearing a smart device on your wrist.
It became the first automatic timing device used in sports, the company said.
In 1993, Computer Motion filed a patent for its Automated Endoscopic System for Optimal Positioning (AESOP), a robotic arm with motorized joints, which became the first active robotic device approved by the USA's Food and Drug Administration FDAA).
I say "trying" to catch up, because last week I encountered a few glitches testing a loaner unit of the Zoombak, which in May became the first of the new devices to hit retail shelves at Circuit City and PetSmart.
In 2004, Matthew Nagle, who is paralyzed due to a spinal-cord injury, became the first person to test the device, which translated his brain activity into action (see "Implanting Hope," March 2005, and "Brain Chips Give Paralyzed Patients New Powers").
The uranium-based Little Boy device became the first nuclear weapon used in war when it was detonated over the Japanese city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945.
In 1994, Stanford Hospital became the first to buy and use the device; more than 200 health-care centers worldwide now have one.
