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Inventions & everyday things

Ordinary things with unlikely beginnings, from the sticky note to bubble wrap.

0:51 the last payphone The last payphone in New York City 0:49 the tape Inside the last video rental store on Earth 0:50 the letter Where do letters with no address go? 0:51 the first web page The first website ever made is still online 1:04 the ulekan The volcanic stone behind every great sambal 0:58 the bulb The light bulb that has been on since 1901 1:00 the sticky note How a failed glue became the Post-it Note 0:58 the spring How a falling ship spring became the Slinky 0:58 the flip-flop The flip-flop that went home with the wrong person 1:09 the bajaj The orange bajaj: Jakarta's noisiest icon says goodbye 0:52 the button Does the elevator 'close door' button actually work? 1:10 the emoji The original heart emoji: 144 pixels from Japan, 1999 1:00 the bubble wrap Bubble wrap was invented as wallpaper 1:04 the snooze button Why is the snooze button 9 minutes? The 1956 gear story 1:06 the box The steel box that changed the world: the first container ship (1956) 1:06 the flyer From 12 seconds at Kitty Hawk to Mars: the Wright Flyer's journey 1:03 the burr How a burr stuck to a dog became Velcro 1:06 the duct tape How duct tape helped bring Apollo 13 home 0:59 the sock Where do lost socks actually go? 1:00 the cube The Rubik's Cube took its own inventor a month to solve 1:01 the black box Why a plane's 'black box' is actually orange 1:02 the candy bar How a melted chocolate bar led to the microwave oven 1:01 the floppy disk The floppy disk: why the 'save' icon is a thing most kids have never seen 1:00 the modem The dial-up modem: why the internet used to scream 0:58 the pet Tamagotchi: the digital pet that got banned from schools 0:56 the pencil The pencil: no lead inside, a very long line, and a lot of mistakes 0:59 the word Why we say 'hello' on the phone (and not 'ahoy')