Fluidwire Blog
Notes from the bench.
Practical writing on IoT, embedded firmware, PCB design, and shipping connected products.
The First .com Domain Was Symbolics.com
The first .com domain ever registered was Symbolics.com on March 15, 1985 - the oldest .com on the internet, and still online today. Here is the story.
Read →The First Webcam Watched a Coffee Pot
The world's first webcam was built in 1991 at Cambridge to watch a coffee pot over the network - an early, very human ancestor of the Internet of Things.
Read →Why MQTT, the IoT Protocol, Was Built for Oil Pipelines
MQTT is the lightweight messaging protocol behind modern IoT. It was created in 1999 to monitor a remote oil pipeline over costly satellite links.
Read →Why Bluetooth Is Named After a Viking King
Bluetooth is named after Harald Bluetooth, a 10th-century Danish king who united warring tribes. The logo is even a bind rune of his initials.
Read →The First Visible LED Glowed Red
In 1962, Nick Holonyak Jr. built the first visible-light LED at General Electric. That red glow is now on nearly every IoT device and microcontroller.
Read →The First Website Is Still Online
On August 6, 1991, Tim Berners-Lee published the world's first web page at CERN. It is still online - and still the blueprint for every web service today.
Read →The First IoT Device Was a Vending Machine
In 1982, Carnegie Mellon students wired a Coca-Cola machine to ARPANET - the first internet-connected appliance and the earliest ancestor of IoT.
Read →The MOSFET: Most Manufactured Device in History
The MOSFET, invented at Bell Labs in 1959, is the most manufactured device in human history - the tiny switch inside every chip and IoT sensor.
Read →The First PLC Was Built in 1968
The first programmable logic controller, the Modicon 084, was built in 1968 by Dick Morley. Here is the origin story and why it still runs industrial IoT.
Read →Who Coined the Term Internet of Things?
The term Internet of Things was coined in 1999 by Kevin Ashton in a Procter & Gamble presentation about RFID. Here is the origin story and why it still matters.
Read →The First Integrated Circuit Was Built in 1958
In 1958 Jack Kilby built the first working integrated circuit at Texas Instruments. Here is the story of the microchip and why every IoT device descends from it.
Read →The First Text Message Said Merry Christmas
On December 3, 1992, engineer Neil Papworth sent the first SMS text message: two words, Merry Christmas. Here is the story and why SMS still powers cellular IoT today.
Read →Why Email Uses the @ Symbol
In 1971 Ray Tomlinson sent the first networked email and chose the @ sign to separate user from host. Here is the story and why that tiny design choice still matters for IoT.
Read →The First Transistor Was Built in 1947
On December 23, 1947 Bell Labs built the first transistor. Here is the real story and why that single device underpins every microcontroller and IoT sensor today.
Read →The First Computer Bug Was a Real Moth
In 1947 a moth jammed in Harvard's Mark II became the first computer bug ever logged. Here is the real story and why debugging still defines IoT and embedded work.
Read →The First Microprocessor Was Built for a Calculator
Intel's 4004, the first commercial microprocessor, launched in 1971 to run a calculator. Here is how it became the ancestor of every IoT microcontroller.
Read →What Is the I2C Bus? Two Wires Behind the IoT
Philips invented the I2C bus in 1982 to let dozens of chips talk over just two wires. Here is how it works and why it still powers IoT and embedded systems.
Read →Tesla's Radio-Controlled Boat: The First Remote Control
In 1898 Nikola Tesla demonstrated a radio-controlled boat, the first wireless remote control and a direct ancestor of modern IoT and embedded systems.
Read →Why the QR Code Was Invented to Track Car Parts
The QR code was created in 1994 to track automotive parts, not to open menus. Here is the story behind it and why it still matters for IoT and connected devices.
Read →Why Ethernet Is Named After a Physics Myth
Ethernet, the wired standard behind almost every connected device, is named after the luminiferous ether - a physics idea that was debunked. Here is the story and why it still matters for IoT.
Read →The 555 Timer Is the Best-Selling Chip Ever Made
The 555 timer is the best-selling integrated circuit in history - designed at Signetics in 1971 and still made by the billion. Here is why it still matters for IoT and embedded builders.
Read →The First Message Sent Over the Internet Was 'LO'
On October 29, 1969, the internet's first message was meant to be LOGIN - the system crashed after two letters. Here is the 'LO' story and what it still teaches IoT builders.
Read →The First RFID Patent Was a Toll Device
In 1973 Mario Cardullo patented the first RFID tag with rewritable memory, a 16-bit toll transponder that became the ancestor of every contactless IoT tag.
Read →How Hedy Lamarr Invented Wireless Frequency Hopping
In 1942 movie star Hedy Lamarr co-patented frequency hopping, the spread-spectrum idea now inside every Wi-Fi router, Bluetooth device, and GPS chip.
Read →Wi-Fi Doesn't Stand for Wireless Fidelity
Wi-Fi isn't an acronym for Wireless Fidelity. Branding firm Interbrand coined the name in 1999, and the story is a lesson in how IoT standards win.
Read →Why Arduino Is Named After a Bar in Italy
Arduino, the open-source board behind a generation of IoT projects, is named after a pub in Ivrea, Italy — and the story explains a lot about how good hardware gets built.
Read →Bluetooth is named after a Viking king — and the story is a lesson in interoperability
Bluetooth was named in 1997 after Harald Bluetooth Gormsson, the king who united Scandinavia. The metaphor explains why the protocol still matters for IoT.
Read →The first webcam watched a coffee pot — and it's still the blueprint for camera IoT
Cambridge's 1991 Trojan Room coffee pot cam answered one question in 128 pixels. That discipline is exactly how to scope an ESP32-CAM project today.
Read →Why your ESP32 keeps randomly resetting (and how to fix it)
Random ESP32 reboots are almost always power, not code. Here are the fixes that solve most of them — decoupling, bulk capacitance, and where to take 3V3 from.
Read →Three IoT origin stories — and what they still teach about building connected devices
A Coke machine on ARPANET, a phrase coined to sell RFID, and a protocol built for oil pipelines. Three origin stories with lessons for every IoT project.
Read →Getting your first PCB to power on: a pre-order checklist
The checklist we run before ordering any first-revision board — decoupling, power protection, boot pins, test points — so it powers up first try instead of becoming a paperweight.
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