In the year 1979, both Sony and Philips corporations were on the verge to launch incompatible audio discs format when instead they decided to join hands and formulate a single industry standard disc format. Philips contributed to the physical design of the compact disc, which was quite similar to its previous laserdisc format. On the other hand, Sony’s contribution to this new development was in terms of digital encoding and error-correction code designs.

In the year 1980,both companies announced the CD-DA standard, which included specifications regarding sampling, recording and the physical format of present Compact Disk. Once the specification was set, both companies raced against each other to be the first to launch the compact disk in the market. However due to its extensive experience with digital electronics, Sony managed to beat the chase and introduced the first commercial CD featuring Billy Joel’s 52nd album, on 1st October 1982.

Etienne Montgolfier and his brother Joseph from France noticed that bits of paper floated in the hot air escaping the chimney when the fire of their kitchen was alight. They tried an experiment based on the same process with paper bags in 1782. They made paper bags out of cloth lined with paper. In a public square they set up fire under the bags and the bags floated like balloons for a mile. A year later they arrived at Paris in the month of September with a big hot air balloon and sent few animals afloat in the balloon. It has said to be been watched by King and queen of France and the balloon carried the two brothers safely for about eight kilometres in 30 minutes.

In the meanwhile, JAC Charles, a Physicist in Paris heard about this story of the balloon and two brothers in Lyons. But he was not aware of any details and in August he used Hydrogen to fill up a small balloon. When in 1783 he witnessed the Montgolfier brothers fly their balloon, he was excited that his balloon was a totally different type. In December the same year, he flew his balloon, just like a modern gas balloon and travelled safely with two people for about 27 miles.

Michael Faraday invented rubber balloons in 1824 after experimenting with various gases.

The noted first use of gunpowder happened in the year 1132. However, the most historic known cannon belongs to 1282 and was found in Manchuria. A Chinese poet Xian Zhang had written the first description of cannon in his poem The Iron Cannon Affair. The use of cannons in various wars and invasions can be found in the history of many countries like China, Japan and Korea.

The war of Ain Jalut between the Mamluks and Mongols, it was known for using a form of explosive gunpowder. Much later the Mughal Empire developed many forms of cannons generation after generation. Fathullah Shirazi who worked for the great emperor Akbar is credited for developing the Volley Gun. In the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth century, the use of cannons and its further developments happened very fast as wars increased during this period.

There are several versions of Bluetooth and the first Bluetooth in the market for use was introduced in the year 1999 known as Bluetooth1.0. With major developments in last few years, Bluetooth services have gone major changes. There are no more failures in data transmission and pairing of devices and the speed of data transfer is much higher. Due to the cost of development and research, initially only high priced gadgets used Bluetooth technology. But most companies have Bluetooth as a common feature in the majority of the phones and laptops. It makes data transfer and sharing faster and much more convenient.

Modern air conditioning system was developed in the 19th century. It is a device or an appliance that stabilizes the humidity and temperature and uses a refrigeration cycle for cooling the atmosphere. Willis Haviland Carrier availed the credit of inventing the first large scale electrical air conditioning system in the year 1902. The system introduces by him was used widely in Asian and Middle Eastern nations. It was more common and popular among the capital cities and urban regions where people lived in small apartments or flats. They considered the air conditioning system as a necessity and not a luxury, which made it very popular.

Japanese made the compact system of air conditioning for domestic purpose in two type namely window systems and split types. Split type air conditioning system is more effective and expensive when compared with the other type.

In 2003 when blue ray DVD was first introduced in the market, there were no movies that were released in the same format. However after major wars between HD and Blu ray technology, Blu ray had carved a good market share for itself. Warner Bros, the major distributor and producer, decided to release the movies under the banner only in Blu ray with effect from May 2008. The effectiveness of Blu ray discs and the use of the technology have triggered many production houses to release movie DVDs in this technology. Around 3300 titles have been released only in Japan itself where as Australia has about 1500 titles in Blu ray discs.

A blog may contain text, images, web pages, links to other blogs, etc. Most of the blogs are interactive; allowing as well as expecting the visitors to leave their opinion or comment. They provide information and comments on a particular subject. There are few blogs that focus on art – art blogs, photographs and photography – photo blog, music and songs – mp3 blogs, graphics and videos – video blog, etc.,

Blogs range from a simple web journal just for the sake of entertainment to a big business blog and several types of blogs include personal blogs, corporate blogs and topic blogs. Recently blogs are used for money making through posting advertisement for online merchants.

The development of inexpensive sources of electricity in the latter half of the century enabled the use of arc lights on a large scale. A generator producing direct current power known as the Dynamo was one of the first developments that catapulted the chain of events. The installation of arc lights thereafter became widespread in places such as mills, factories, railway stations etc.

American scientists worked simultaneously to make major contributions in the improvement of arc lights. The first commercial arc lamp was made in the United States in the year 1877 by William Wallace. Around the same time, a pioneering American scientist, Charles Brush invented a way to operate multiple arc lights using a single generator thus saving on the electricity used. Many more lighting systems which went easy on power were consequently introduced.

Arc lights have come a long way today. They have now found applicability in more advanced functions like testing of aerospace materials and hardening metal surfaces rather than traditional lighting purposes for which they were originally developed.

The balance beam is a long and narrow beam that is raised from the floor area on one leg. This event is performed only be female gymnasts. The components used to create balance beam are manufactured and marketed by several companies. It is used in gymnastics competitions held at international level and must comply with all guidelines and specifications insisted by the International Gymnastics Federation academy.

Originally surface of the beam was polished and only plain wood was used. But a few years ago, the beams were made of a material that resembled a basket ball. But these types of balance beams were banned soon as they were too slippery. In the beginning of 1980s’, the balance beams were covered with suede and leather. In addition, spring is accommodated to balance the high difficulty tumbling and dancing.

At the initial stage of learning new skills of balance beam, a gymnast works on a low beam set at a shorter distance from ground. The learners may also work on mini beams, practice beams and lines on mat.

Romans too have a huge history of boxing in their record. Mainly there were two types of boxing- the athletic and gladiatorial. Initially only low class people and criminals used to fight but with growing popularity of the game even rulers and aristocrats too started playing the game. The rules of boxing saw many modifications starting for no rules. Now there are standards that are generally followed for every professional match.

Modern boxing presently has two forms known as the amateur boxing and professional boxing. Olympics and commonwealth games follow the rules of amateur boxing. The man difference between amateur boxing and professional boxing is the time and rounds which is much higher in professional bouts.