Consumer electronics are electronic equipment intended for everyday use, most often in entertainment, communications and office productivity.
History
Consumer electronics derive from the invention of the transfer resistor in 1947 by Bell Laboratories. This led to significant research in the field of solid-state semiconductors in the early 1950s. By 1959 Fairchild Semiconductor had introduced the first planar transistor from which come the origins of Moore's Law.[1]
The development of transistors enabled manufacturers to build circuits on a single substrate as electrical connections between circuits could be made within the chip itself.
When we were patenting this [planar transistor] we recognized it was a significant change, and the patent attorney asked us if we really thought through all the ramifications of it. And we hadn't, so Noyce got a group together to see what they could come up with and right away he saw that this gave us a reason now you could run the metal up over the top without shorting out the junctions, so you could actually connect this one to the next-door neighbor or some other thing. – Gordon Moore
Bell's invention of the transistor and the development of semiconductors led to far better and cheaper consumer electronics. Here are some of the previous developments that led to transistors and semiconductors.
Timeline
1843-1923: From electromechanics to electronics
- 1843: Watchmaker Alexander Bain (inventor) develops the basic concept of displaying images as points with different brightness values.
- 1848: Frederick Collier Bakewell invents the first wirephoto machine, an early fax machine
- 1861: Grade school teacher Philipp Reis presents his telephone in Frankfurt, inventing the loudspeaker as a by-product.
- 1867: French poet and philosopher Charles Cros (1842 - 1888) presents the construction principle of a phonograph in his 'paréophone', which turned out not to be a commercial success at the time.
- 1867: James Clerk Maxwell (1831 - 1879) develops a theory predicting the existence of electromagnetic waves and establishes Maxwell's equations to describe their properties. Together with the Lorentz force law, these equations form the foundation for classical electrodynamics and classical optics as well as electric circuits.
- 1874: Ferdinand Braun discovers the rectifier effect in metal sulfides and metal oxides.
- 1877: Thomas Edison (1847 - 1931) invents the first phonograph, using a tin foil cylinder. For the first time sounds could be recorded and played. A phonograph horn with membrane and needle was arranged in such a way that the needle had contact to the tinfoil.
- 1880: the American physicist Charles Sumner Tainter discovers that many disadvantages of Edison's cylinders can be eliminated if the soundtrack is arranged in spiral form and engraved in a flat, round disk. Technical problems soon ended these experiments. Still, Tainter is regarded as the inventor of the gramophone record.
- 1884: Paul Nipkow obtains a patent for his Nipkow disk, an image scanning device that reads images serially, which constitutes the foundation for mechanical television. Two years later his patent runs out.
- 1886: Heinrich Hertz succeeds in proving the existence of electromagnetic waves for the first time - now the groundwork for wireless telegraphy and radio broadcasting in physical science is laid.
- 1887: Without any knowledge of Charles Sumner Tainter's experiments, German-American Emil Berliner has his phonograph patented. The turntable rotates at 150min−1 and is operated by a crank handle. A steel needle reads the data and transfers the vibrations mechanically to a membrane inside the horn. Berliner used a disk instead of a cylinder primarily to avoid infringing on Edison's patent. Quickly it becomes obvious that flat disks are easier to duplicate and store. This is the starting point of the phonograph record which is at first made of zinc and hard rubber and later, starting in 1896, of breakable shellac and bakelite.
- 1888:
- Alexander Graham Bell (1847 - 1922) significantly reduces interfering noises by using a wax cylinder instead of tin foil. This paves the way to commercial success for the improved phonograph.
- American Oberlin Smith describes a process to record audio using a cotton thread with integrated fine wire clippings. This makes reel-to-reel audio tape recording possible.
- 1890:
- The phonograph becomes faster and more convenient due to an electric motor. The electric motor brings on the first juke box with cylinders - even before flat disk records were widely available.
- Thomas Edison discovers thermionic emission. To this day, this effect forms the basis for the vacuum tube and the cathode ray tube.
- approximately 1893: The invention of the selenium phototube allows the conversion of brightness values into electrical signals. The principle is applied in wirephoto and television technology for a short time. Selenium is used in light meters for the next 50 years.
- 1895: Auguste Lumiere's cinematograph displays moving images for the first time. In the same year, brothers Emil and Max Skladanowsky present their "Bioscop" in Berlin.
- 1897
- Ferdinand Braun invents the "inertialess cathode ray oscillograph tube", a principle which remained unchanged in television picture tubes.
- The Italian Guglielmo Marconi transmits wireless telegraph messages by electromagnetic waves over a distance of five kilometers.
- 1898
- The Danish physicist Valdemar Poulsen creates the world's first magnetic recording and reproduction, using a 1 mm thick steel wire as a magnetizable carrier.
- Nikola Tesla demonstrated the first wireless remote control of a model ship.
- 1899: The dog "Nipper" is used "His Master's Voice", the trademark for gramophones and records.
- 1902
- Otto von Bronk patented his "Method and apparatus for remote visualization of images and objects with temporary resolution of the images in parallel rows of dots". This patent, originally developed for phototelegraphy, impaced the development of color television, particularly the NTSC implementation.
- For the first time audio records are printed with paper labels in the middle.
- 1903: Guglielmo Marconi provides evidence that wireless telegraphic communication is possible over long distances, such as across the Atlantic. He used a transmitter developed by Ferdinand Braun.
- 1904
- For the first time, double-sided records, and those with a diameter of 30 cm are produced, increasing playing time up to 11 minutes (5.5 minutes per side). These are created by Odeon in Berlin at debued at the Leipzig Spring Fair.
- The German physicist Arthur Korn developed the first practical method for telegraphy.
- 1905: The Englishman Sir John Ambrose Fleming invents the first electron tube.
- 1906
- Robert von Lieben patented his "inertia working cathode-ray-relays". By 1910 he developed this into the first real tube amplifier, by creating a triode. His invention of the triode is almost simultaneously created the American Lee de Forest.
- Max Dieckmann and Gustav Glage use the Braun tube for playback of 20-line black-and-white images.
- The first jukebox with records comes on the market.
- The American General and researchers at HHC Dunwoody file for a patent for a carborundum steel detector for receiving radio broadcasts. It is the first semiconductor in history. GW Pickard suggests at the same time a silicon detector with tip contact. The envelope detector is an important part of every radio receiver. Thousands of amateurs tinkering in the following years with galena crystal (lead-sulfur compound) and some simple components their own radio receivers. Since these simple receivers are not active (amplifying) components are used, only strong local stations can be received.
- 1907: Rosenthal puts in his image telegraph for the first time a photocell.
- 1911: First film studios are created in Hollywood and Potsdam- Babelsberg .
- 1912: The first radio receiver is created, in accordance with the Audion principle.
- 1913: The legal battle over the invention of the electron tube between Robert von Lieben and Lee de Forest is decided. The electron tube is replaced by a high vacuum in the glass flask significantly improved properties.
- Alexander Meissner patented his process "feedback for generating oscillations", by his development of a radio station using an electron tube .
- The Englishman Arthur Berry submits a patent on the manufacture of printed circuits by through etched metal.
- 1915: Carl Benedicks leads basic studies in Sweden on the electrical properties of silicon and germanium. Due to the emerging tube technology, however, the interest in semiconductors remains low until after the Second World War.
- 1917
- Based on previous findings of the Englishman Oliver Lodge, the Frenchman Lucien Levy develops a radio receiver with frequency tuning using a resonant circuit.
- 1919: Charlie Chaplin founded the Hollywood film production and distribution company United Artists
- 1920: The first regularly operating radio station KDKA goes on air on 2 November 1920 in Philadelphia, USA. It is the first time electronics are used to transmit information and entertainment to the public at large. The same year in Germany an instrumental concert was broadcast on the radio from a long-wave transmitter in Wusterhausen.
- 1922: J. McWilliams Stone invents the first portable radio receiver. George Frost builds the first "car radio" in his Ford Model T.
- 1923
- The 15 year old Manfred von Ardenne is granted his first patent for an electron tube having a plurality of electrodes. Siegmund Loewe (1885-1962) builds with the tube his first radio receiver "Loewe Opta-".
- The Hungarian engineer Dénes Mihály patented an image scanning with line deflection, in which each point of an image is scanned ten times per second by a selenium cell.
- August Karolus (1893-1972) invents the Kerr cell, an almost inertia-free conversion of electrical pulses into light signals. He was granted a patent for his method of transmitting slides.
- Vladimir Kosma developed the first television camera tube, the Ikonoskop, using the Braun tube.
- The German State Secretary Karl August Bredow founded the first German broadcasting organization. By lifting the ban on broadcast reception and the opening of the first private radio station, the development of radio as a mass medium begins.
1924-1959: From cathode ray tube to stereo audio and TV
- 1924: the first radio receivers are exhibited at the Berlin Radio Show
- 1925
- Brunswick Records in Dubuque, Iowa produced their first record player, the Brunswick Panatrope with a pickup, amplifier and loudspeaker
- In the American Bell Laboratories , a method for recording of records obtained by microphone and tube amps for series production. Also in Germany are working on it since 1922. 1925 appear the first electrically recorded disks in both countries.
- At the Leipzig Spring Fair, the first miniature camera "Leica" is presented to the public.
- John Logie Baird performs the first screening of a living head with a resolution of 30 vertical lines using a Nipkow disk.
- August Karolus demonstrated in Germany television with 48 lines and ten image changes per second.
- 1926
- Edison developed the first "LP". By dense grooves (16 grooves on 1 mm) and the reduction of speed to 80 min -1 (later 78 min -1 ) increases the playing time up to 2 times 20 minutes. He carries himself with the decline of his phonograph business.
- The German State Railroad offers a cordless telephone service in moving trains between Berlin and Hamburg - the idea of mobile telephony is born.
- John Logie Baird developed the first commercial television set in the world. It was not until 1930, he is called a " telescreen sold "at a price of 20 pounds.
- 1927
- The first fully electronic music boxes ("Jukeboxes") used in the USA on the market.
- In Germany that sells German Grammophon due to a license agreement with the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company its first fully electronic turntables.
- The first industrially manufactured car radio , the "Philco Transitone" from the "Storage Battery Co." in Philadelphia, USA, comes on the market.
- The first shortwave radio - Rundfunkübertragung overseas broadcast by the station PCJJ the Philips factories in Eindhoven in the Dutch colonies.
- Opening of the first regular telegraphy -Dienstes between Berlin and Vienna.
- First commercial sound films ("The Jazz Singer", USA) using the "Needle sound" back in sync with the film screening for LPs over loudspeakers.
- First public television broadcasts in the UK by John Logie Baird between London and Glasgow and in the USA by Frederic Eugene Ives (1882-1953) between Washington and New York.
- The American inventor Philo Taylor Farnsworth (1906-1971) developed in Los Angeles, the first fully electronic television system in the world.
- John Logie Baird developed the first optical disc player. 30-line television images are stored on shellac records. With 78 min -1 mechanically scanned, the images can be played back on his "telescreen". Here it is possible with this technique, no sound. Also they can to higher resolutions in the rapidly evolving television not keep up. Therefore, it takes more than 40 years before the first commercial optical disc players come onto the market.
- 1928: Fritz Pfleumer can be the first tape recorder patent. In it the usual since 1890 steel wire is replaced by a coated iron powder of paper as a recording medium. He is so. According to Valdemar Poulsen (1898) to the second crucial pioneer of magnetic sound, image and data storage
- Dénes Mihály presented in Berlin a small circle, the first authentic television broadcast in Germany, having worked at least since 1923 in this field.
- August Karolus and the company Telefunken put on the "fifth Great German Radio Exhibition Berlin 1928 "the prototype of a television receiver before, providing with an image size of 8 cm × 10 cm and a resolution of about 10,000 pixels a much better picture quality than previous devices.
- Meanwhile, there are in New York (USA) already the first regular television broadcasts of the experiment station WGY, which the General Electric Company (GE) operates. Irregular television news and television dramas radiates from these stations by 1928. Also in the USA the first commercially produced is television receiver of the Daven Corporation in Newark for the price of $ 75 available.
- John Logie Baird transmits the first television pictures internationally, and the same across the Atlantic from London to New York. He also demonstrated the world's first color television transmission in London.
- 1929
- Edison withdraws from the phono business - the record has the cylinder ousted.
- The company Columbia Records developed the first portable record player that can be connected to each tube radio. It also created the first radio / phonograph combinations, the usual precursor to the 1960s music chests.
- The German physicist Curt Stille (1873-1957) leads the "German Cinema Society" a magnetic sound system before, is used in the perforated steel band as phonograms. First, this has Magnettonverfahren no success. Only much later it is for amateur films rediscovered, because it provides an easy way for dubbing. Before silence has been a "Daylygraph" developed called Magnettongerät with amplifier and equalizer and a mature Magnettondiktiergerät called "Textophon".
- Based on patents, which he had purchased of silence, brings the Englishman E. Blattner the " Blattnerphone "the first magnetic sound recording on the market. It captures on a thin steel band.
- The first sound film after the optical sound will be premiered. Since the early 1920s, various people have developed this method in which the film has an optical sound track. The soundtrack carries brightness fluctuations and is sensed by a photocell that turns this into electrical vibrations. After amplification, the playback over loudspeakers done. In the early years of sound film optical sound that competes with the Needle sound before the optical sound can enforce. The same optoelectronic method also allows for the first time the post-processing of recorded music to sound recordings of it.
- The director Carl Froelich (1875-1953) turns "The night belongs to us", the first German sound film.
- 20th Century Fox presents in New York on an 8 m × 4 m big screen the first widescreen movie.
- The radio station Witzleben begins in Germany with the regular broadcasting of television test broadcasts, initially on long wave with 30 lines (= 1,200 pixels) at 12.5 image changes per second. It appear first blueprints for television receiver.
- John Logie Baird starts in the UK on behalf of the BBC with regular experimental television broadcasts to the public.
- Frederic Eugene Ives transmits a color television from New York to Washington.
- 1930
- Manfred von Ardenne invented and developed the flying-spot scanner, Europe's first fully electronic television camera tube. Instead of the mechanical Nipkow disk , an electronic component can now be based on the principle of the channels on the transmission side, cathode ray tube can be used.
- In Britain, the first is television advertising and the first TV interview aired.
- 1931
- The British engineer and inventor Alan Dower Blumlein (1903-1942) invents " Binaural Sound ", today called" Stereo "known. He developed the stereo record and the first three-way speaker. He makes experimental films with stereo sound. Then he becomes leader of the development team for the EMI -405-line television system. By his early death in the Second World War he no longer experienced the success of his inventions.
- The company RCA Victor presents to the public the first real LP ago, the 35 cm diameter and 33.33 min -1 sufficient playing time for an entire orchestral work offers. But the new turntables are initially so expensive that they are only at the second attempt after the Second World War - then as vinyl record - gain broad acceptance.
- The French physicist René Barthélemy leads in Paris the first public television with clay before. The BBC launches first Tonversuche in the UK.
- Public World Premiere of electronic television - without electro-mechanical components such as the Nipkow disk - on the "eighth Great German Radio Exhibition Berlin 1931 ". Doberitz / Pomerania is the first German location for a tone-TV stations.
- Manfred von Ardenne can be the principle of a color picture tube patent: Narrow strips phosphors in the three primary colors are closely juxtaposed arranged so that they complement each other with the electron flow to white light. A separate control of the three colors has not yet provided.
- 1932
- The company AEG and BASF start for the magnetic tape method of Fritz Pfleumer to care (1928). They develop new devices and tapes, in which celluloid is used instead of paper as a carrier material.
- In Britain, the BBC sends first radio programs time-shifted instead of live, previously with the Blattnerphone have been (1929) was added.
- The company telephone and radio apparatus factory Ideal AG (today Blaupunkt ) provides a car radio before, the means of Bowden cables can be remotely controlled from the steering column.
- 1933
- After the Nazi seizure of power in Germany is broadcasting finally a political tool. Systematic censorship is to prevent opposition and spread the "Aryan culture". Series production of the " People's recipient VE 301 "starts.
- Edwin Howard Armstrong demonstrates that frequency-modulated (FM) radio transmissions are less susceptible to interference than amplitude-modulated (AM). However, the FM method remains long time consuming for a broad introduction to radio communications.
- In the USA the first opened drive-in theater.
- 1934: First commercial stereo recordings find little favor - the necessary playback devices are still too expensive. The term "High Fidelity" is embossed around this time.
- 1935
- AEG and BASF place at the Berlin Radio Show, the tape recorder " Magnetophon K1 "and the appropriate magnetic tapes before. In case of fire in the exhibition hall all four exhibited devices are destroyed.
- In Germany the world's first regular television program operating for about 250 mostly public reception points starts in Berlin and the surrounding area. The mass production of television receivers is - probably due to the high price of 2,500 Reichsmarks - not yet started.
- At the same time, the research institute of the German Post (RPF) begins with development work for a color television methods , but which are later reinstated due to the Second World War.
- 1936
- In Germany, see live broadcasts of the Olympic Games in Berlin. The right receiver for the 1936 also introduced battery-powered portable radio receiver " Olympia suitcase ".
- The first mobile television camera (180 lines, all-electronic) is used for live television broadcasts of the Olympic Games.
- Also in the UK are first regular television broadcasts - now for the perfect electronic EMI system, which soon replaced the mechanical part Baird system - broadcast.
- From Berlin TV rooms can from video telephony connections are mediated by Leipzig, later coming connections from Berlin to Nuremberg and Munich added.
- The Frenchman Raymond Valtat reports on a patent, which describes the principle of working with binary numbers abacus. At the same time begins in Germany Konrad Zuse with the development of its dual electromechanical computing machine that is ready in 1937.
- 1937
- First sapphire – abtastnadeln for records of the company Siemens
- The interlace method is introduced on TV in order to reduce image flicker. The transmitter Witzleben now radiates television to the new standard with 441 lines and 25 image changes, ie 50 fields of each 220 half-line from. Until the HDTV era into the interlace or interlace method remains in use.
- First movie encoder make it possible not to send the TV live, but to rely on recordings.
- 1938
- The improved AEG tape-recorder " Magnetophon K4 "is first used in radio studios. The belt speed is 77 cm / s, which at 1000 m length of tape a playing time of 22 minutes results.
- Werner Flechsig invents with the shadow mask method for separate control of the three primary colors in a color picture tube.
- 1939
- On the "16th Great German Radio and television broadcasting exhibition Berlin 1939 ", the" German Unity television receiver E1 "and announces the release of free commercial television. Due to the difficult political and economic situation on the eve of the Second World War, but only about 50 devices are sold instead of the planned 10,000.
- In the USA the first regular television broadcasts take place.
- 1940
- The development of television technology for military purposes increases the resolution up to 1029 lines at 25 frames per second. The commercial television reached only at the turn of the millennium with HDTV such a resolution.
- The problem of band noise with tape devices is the invention of radio frequency bias of Walter Weber and Hans-Joachim von Braunmühl reduced dramatically.
- 1942 : The first all-electronic computer is used by John Vincent Atanasoff completed, but quickly gets back into oblivion. Four years later the ENIAC completed - the beginning of the end of Electromechanics in computers and calculators.
- 1945-1947 : American soldiers capture in Germany some tape recorders. This and the nullity German patents leads to the development of the first tape recorders in the United States. The first home device " Sound Mirror "by the Brush Development Co. is there on the market.
- 1948
- The American physicist and Industrial Edwin Herbert Land (1909-1991) launches the first instant camera " Polaroid camera place of birth, Model 95 "on the market.
- Three American engineers at Bell Laboratories ( John Bardeen , Walter Brattain and William Shockley example ) invent the transistor. With the advantage of a much smaller compared with electron tubes size and power he holds initially (from 1955) in portable radio receivers feeder before he starts his generally triumphant in all areas of electronics.
- The Hungarian-American physicist Peter Carl Goldmark (1906-1977) invents the vinyl record (first published 1952), the much less noisy than their predecessors shellac. Thanks to micro-groove (100 grooves per cm) can thus implement a playing time of 23 minutes per side. The LP is born. This one is the redemption of the claim "high fidelity one step closer" to the end of the shellac era.
- The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) leads the music format with 45 min -1 that is to conquer the market with cheap players. The first publication in Germany in this format appears 1953rd
- The British physicist Dennis Gabor (1900-1979) invents holography. This is a method of recording and reproducing image with coherent light. In contrast to conventional photography to store and reproduce three-dimensional images is possible. It was not until 1971 when the procedure has gained practical importance, he received the Nobel Prize for Physics.
- 1949
- In Germany, the first ultra-short (take FM -) channels on their regular program operation.
- Experimentally since 1943, series production since 1949 there are for professional use stereo - Tonbandgeräte and matching ribbons. Also portable devices for reporters, initially propelled by a spring mechanism, has been around since the 1949th
- 1950
- In the USA the first finished recorded are audio tapes marketed.
- Also in the USA brings the company Zenith the first TV with cable remote control for channel selection on the market.
- 1951
- The CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) shines in New York the first color television program in the world, but according to a standard, not reaching to the resolution of the black and white television and was to be incompatible.
- With the " tape recorder F15 "from AEG 's first home tape recorder appears on the German market.
- RCA Electronic Music is the first synthesizer prior to the creation of artificial electronic sounds.
- 1952
- Reintroduction of regular television broadcasts in Germany after the Second World War.
- 20th Century Fox developed with "Cinemascope" the most successful wide-screen process to better compete with widescreen movies to television can. Only some 50 years later pulls the TV with the 16: 9 size screen after.
- 1953
- The "National Television System Committee" (Abbreviated as NTSC) normalized in the USA named after her black-and-white-compatible NTSC -Farbfernseh process. A year later, this method is introduced in the United States.
- The car radio top model "Mexico" from Becker for the first time to an FM area (in mono) and an automatic tuning.
- 1954
- RCA developed for the first apparatus for recording video signals on magnetic tapes. 22 km magnetic tape are needed per hour. By 1956, succeeds the company Ampex through the use of multiple tracks, the tape speed to more practicable 38.1 cm / s lower.
- The European Broadcasting Union is founded "Euro Vision".
- First regular television broadcasts in Japan.
- 1955
- The first electronic computer, the second generation "TRADIC" (Transistorized Digital Computer) uses transistors and is therefore much smaller and more powerful than its predecessor tube fitted.
- The Briton Narinder S. Kapany investigated the propagation of light in fine glass fibers (optical fibers).
- The first wireless remote control for a television US-based Zenith consists of a better flashlight, with which one lights up in one of the four devices corners to turn the unit on or off, change the channel or mute the sound.
- 1956
- The company Metz is in her radio device type 409 / 3D for the first time in the series manufacture, PCB one. This follows since the 1930s, several improvements to the manufacturing technology.
- The company Ampex introduces the "VR 1000" the first video recorder before. That same year, radiates the CBS with such a device for the first time a magnetic recording (VTR) from. Although other programs are produced in color since 1954, this program has to make do with black and white: The VCR can record still no color.
- 1957 : The Frenchman Henri de France (1911-1986) developed the first generation of color TV system SECAM ( Système électronique couleur avec mémoire ), which avoids some of the problems of the NTSC method. The weaknesses of the SECAM system be fixed in later modifications of the standard for the most part.
- 1958
- By merging the Edison patents and the Berliner Blumlein recording method is stereo - Schallplatten commercially viable. The company Mercury Records launches the first stereo record on the market.
- The company Ampex expands the video recorder with the Model "VR 1000 B" to the color capability.
Products
Main consumer electronics products include radio receivers, television sets, MP3 players, video recorders, DVD players, digital cameras, camcorders, personal computers, video game consoles, telephones and mobile phones.[2] Increasingly these products have become based on digital technologies, and have largely merged with the computer industry in what is increasingly referred to as the consumerization of information technology such as those invented by Apple Inc. and MIT Media Lab.
Trends
One overriding characteristic of consumer electronic products is the trend of ever-falling prices. This is driven by gains in manufacturing efficiency and automation, lower labor costs as manufacturing has moved to lower-wage countries, and improvements in semiconductor design.[3] Semiconductor components benefit from Moore's Law, an observed principle which states that, for a given price, semiconductor functionality doubles every two years.
While consumer electronics continues in its trend of convergence, combining elements of many products, consumers face different decisions when purchasing. There is an ever increasing need to keep product information updated and comparable, for the consumer to make an informed choice. Style, price, specification, and performance are all relevant. There is a gradual shift towards e-commerce web-storefronts.
Many products include Internet connectivity using technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, EDGE or Ethernet. Products not traditionally associated with computer use (such as TVs or Hi-Fi equipment) now provide options to connect to the Internet or to a computer using a home network to provide access to digital content. The desire for high-definition (HD) content has led the industry to develop a number of technologies, such as WirelessHD or ITU-T G.hn, which are optimized for distribution of HD content between consumer electronic devices in a home.
Manufacturing
Many consumer electronics are built in China, due to maintenance cost, availability of materials, quality, and speed as opposed to other countries such as the United States.[4] Cities such as Shenzhen have become important production centres for the industry, attracting many consumer electronics companies such as Apple Inc.[5]
Electronic component
An electronic component is any basic discrete device or physical entity in an electronic system used to affect electrons or their associated fields. Electronic components are mostly industrial products, available in a singular form and are not to be confused with electrical elements, which are conceptual abstractions representing idealized electronic components.
Software development
Consumer electronics such as personal computers use various types of software. Embedded software is used within some consumer electronics, such as mobile phones.[6] This type of software may be embedded within the hardware of electronic devices.[7] Some consumer electronics include software that is used on a personal computer in conjunction with electronic devices, such as camcorders and digital cameras, and third-party software for such devices also exists.
Standardization
Some consumer electronics adhere to protocols, such as connection protocols "to high speed bi-directional signals".[8] In telecommunications, a communications protocol is a system of digital rules for data exchange within or between computers.
Trade shows
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) trade show has taken place yearly in Las Vegas, Nevada since its foundation in 1973. The event, which grew from having 100 exhibitors in its inaugural year to more than 3,600 exhibitors in its 2014 edition, features new consumer electronics and speeches by industry pioneers.[9]
Retailing
Electronics retailing is a significant part of the retail industry in many countries. In the United States, big-box store retailers include Best Buy and Sears, with Best Buy being the largest consumer electronics retailer in the country.[10] Broad-based retailers, such as Wal-Mart and Target, may also sell consumer electronics.[10] In April 2014 in the United States, retail e-commerce sales were the highest for consumer electronics and computers.[11] Some consumer electronics retailers offer extended warranties on products with programs such as SquareTrade.[12]
Electronics districts
An electronics district is an area of commerce with a high density of retail stores that sell consumer electronics. An electronics district exists in Shenzhen, China, where consumers "can buy every type of gadget and component imaginable."[13]
Industries
The electronics industry, especially meaning consumer electronics, emerged in the 20th century and has now become a global industry worth billions of dollars. Contemporary society uses all manner of electronic devices built in automated or semi-automated factories operated by the industry.
Mobile phone industry
By country
Service and repair
Consumer electronic service can refer to the maintenance of said products. When consumer electronics have malfunctions, they may sometimes be repaired.
In contemporary times in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, increased popularity in listening to sound from analog audio devices, as opposed to digital sound, has sparked a noticeable increase of business for the electronic repair industry there.[14]
Environmental impact
Standby power
Standby power – used by consumer electronics and appliances while they are turned off – accounts for 5–10% of total household energy consumption, costing $100 annually to the average household in the United States.[15] A study by United States Department of Energy's Berkeley Lab found that a videocassette recorders (VCRs) consume more electricity during the course of a year in standby mode than when they are used to record or playback videos. Similar findings were obtained concerning satellite boxes, which consume almost the same amount of energy in "on" and "off" modes.[16]
A 2012 study in the United Kingdom, carried out by the Energy Saving Trust, found that the devices using the most power on standby mode included televisions, satellite boxes and other video and audio equipment. The study concluded that UK households could save up to £86 per year by switching devices off instead of using standby mode.[17] A report from the International Energy Agency in 2014 found that $80 billion of power is wasted globally per year due to inefficiency of electronic devices.[18] Consumers can reduce unwanted use of standby power by unplugging their devices, using power strips with switches, or by buying devices that are standardized for better energy management, particularly Energy Star marked products.[15]
Electronic waste
Electronic waste describes discarded electrical or electronic devices. Many consumer electronics may contain toxic minerals and elements,[19] and many electronic scrap components, such as CRTs, may contain contaminants such as lead, cadmium, beryllium, mercury, dioxins, or brominated flame retardants. Electronic waste recycling may involve significant risk to workers and communities and great care must be taken to avoid unsafe exposure in recycling operations and leaking of materials such as heavy metals from landfills and incinerator ashes. However, large amounts of the produced electronic waste from developed countries is exported, and handled by the informal sector in countries like India, despite the fact that exporting electronic waste to them is illegal. Strong informal sector can be a problem for the safe and clean recycling.[20]
See also
- Digital electronics
- List of home appliances
- Product teardown
- Timeline of electrical and electronic engineering
References
- ^ Schaller, Bob (26 September 1996). "The Origin, Nature, and Implications of Moore's Law. The Benchmark of Progress in Semiconductor Electronics". Microsoft Research.
Moore viewed the 1959 innovation of the planar transistor as the origin of "Moore's Law.
{{cite journal}}
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(help) - ^ "Consumer Electronics Manufacturing Industry Overview". Hoover's. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
- ^ Mike Deng (23 October 2012). "China Moves to Automate Electronics Manufacturing". Quality Digest. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
- ^ Baker, Phil (11 August 2014). "Why can't the US build consumer electronic products?". San Diego Source. The Daily Transcript. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
- ^ Gamble, Craig (22 August 2014). "Shenzhen in China becomes a power source for the electronics industry". brisbanetimes.com.au. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
- ^ Hachman, Mark (4 September 2014). "Microsoft announces two Lumia phones, always-on Cortana, and clever new mobile accessories". PC World. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
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- ^ Hornyak, Tim (2 September 2014). "Jack Wayman, founder of CES trade show, dies at 92". pcworld.com. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
- ^ a b Murphy, H. Lee (27 January 2014). "Why consumer electronics retailers are the next record store". Crain's Chicago Business. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
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- ^ Sherman, Erik (19 December 2011). "Hold off extended warranties until you read this". CBS News (Moneywatch). Retrieved 11 September 2014.
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- ^ Lippert, John (17 August 2009). "Please Stand By: Reduce Your Standby Power Use". Energy.gov. United States Department of Energy. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
- ^ Harvey, Fiona (26 June 2012). "Leaving appliances on standby 'can cost UK households up to £86 a year'". theguardian.com. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
- ^ Carr, Matthew (2 July 2014). "Electronic Devices Waste $80 Billion of Power a Year, IEA Says". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
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