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This Week in Tech History: Bell Patents the Telephone

On this edition of “This Week in Tech History”, we head back to the 19th century to remember the invention of the telephone. Also, CDs give us a new way to listen to music.

This was a big week in tech history for Alexander Graham Bell. First This week in 1876 – He ‘rang’ up a patent for his invention, the telephone. It was an invention, incidentally, that almost bankrupted his company in the beginning.

A year later, in 1877 – Emile Berliner came up with a thing called the microphone. Good thing, too, because the Bell System — run by Alexander Graham Bell, of course — was in desperate need of something to help the progress of the telephone.

Then, in 1885 – The American Telephone & Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York by Alexander Graham Bell. 133 years later, after going through numerous divestitures, mergers and name changes, AT&T is still around.

This week in 1983 – After being available only in Japan, Compact discs and players were released for the first time in the United States and other markets.

And this week in 2017 – Nintendo released the hybrid Nintendo Switch video game console worldwide to critical acclaim, later becoming the fastest selling console in the United States.

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Written by Chris Graveline

Chris has covered consumer technology for over 20 years. He is the host of This Week in Tech History as well as a regular co-host on "Into Tomorrow with Dave Graveline" and our Technical Director.

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