World News for Students of English

29-12-2022 15:00

Development of video calling started in the late 19^th century; however, the technology became available to the public in the 1930s.

These early demonstrations were installed in post offices and they were shown at various world expositions. Attempts to use normal telephony networks to transmit video failed mostly due to poor picture quality and the lack of video compression techniques.

The 1955 invention of Television-Phone was hailed ’the telephone of tomorrow’ when it was unveiled by San Diego’s Kay Lab. The device gave a 25-centimeter view of the person who somebody was calling, and it lasted until one of the persons hang up. Very expensive systems continued to evolve throughout the 1980s and 1990s; however, only in the late 20^th century with high-speed Internet broadband, video calling became a practical technology for regular use.

Video calling has become an important part of life since, especially for people working from home during 2020 and 2021, and there have been many mishaps and funny moments, too, while using the technology.

Difficult words: compression (the reduction in volume or picture quality so something can be sent faster), broadband (a technique that allows a large number of messages to be communicated at the same time), mishap (an unlucky incident).

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