Boss Plows 30th Anniversary – 30 Snowplowing Inventions Part 4 of 6

Boss Plows 30th Anniversary – 30 Snowplowing Inventions Part 4 of 6

This is a continuation and part 4 of 6 of the Boss Plows 30th Anniversary 30 Snowplowing Inventions series.

16. Radar

Similar to GPS, in its beginning stages, radar was highly limited to only Government agencies, primarily military and civil weather services; however, in the 1960s it was being used by commercial airlines and private aircraft for storm avoidance.  As time progressed, radar was more and more common among television stations for the weather segment of their broadcasts. Through the late 1980s and 90s, radar continued to be more affordable and available to more commercial weather services and was even available, though not in real time, on the internet.  Today, snow removal professionals rely on real time updates, often times sent to Smart Phones to warn them when snow or ice storms are beginning to develop so as to make proper servicing decisions for their accounts.

17. Personal Computers

Before Bill Gates founded Microsoft with Paul Allen, they worked and programmed for a company called MITS.  They were hired to write Basic for the first personal computer called Altair. If you could call it a personal computer at all really.  Altair only consisted of flashing lights, with no keyboard or screen to speak of, requiring users to input information through a series of toggles and switches. However, once Gates and Allen created Altair BASIC, they formed Microsoft and shortly after that, Steve Jobs and Stephen Wozniak created the first Apple.  Without these accomplishments in technology, we wouldn’t have the machines that allow many of us to run our businesses faster, more accurately and more efficiently today.

18. MP3 Technology

In 2015 the MP3 celebrates its 20th birthday.  MP3 technology has made listening to the music you want to hear easy, and we’re not just talking about iPods.  MP3 is the technology that makes all of our music players do what they do. And we know that spending long hours in a truck, listening to the radio and flipping through stations can sometimes make you crazy after hearing the same commercial break for about the hundredth time.  For those that spend hour after hour, and sometimes day after day in a vehicle, the MP3 player is a god-sent.

19. Satellite Radio

Just as appreciated as the MP3 is the satellite radio.  The perfection of Satellite radio can be credited to three people, Martine Rothblatt, Robert Briskman and David Margolese who are the founders of Sirius XM radio.  There’s a lot to be thankful for with a system that provides music anytime, anywhere and with minimal commercials.  We can’t stress enough the value of jamming out to your favorite tunes while on that snowplow job.

20. Smart Phones

The first “smart” phone was first developed and prototyped in 1992 by IBM.  Though not called a smart phone, it was named Simon and could perform mobile calls and had several simple applications like an address book, calendar and calculator.  Although, with all of the smart technology we have today, we may not consider Simon very smart anymore.  However, for its time, it was revolutionary and all technology must start somewhere!

Stay tuned for part 5!

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