Late 1960s - Early 1970s: Third Generation Computers One of the most important advances in the development of computer hardware in the late 1960s and early 1970s was the invention of the integrated circuit, a solid-state device containing hundreds of transistors, diodes, and resistors on a tiny silicon chip. It made possible the production of large-scale computers (mainframes) of higher operating speeds, capacity, and reliability at significantly lower costs. Another type of computer developed at the time was the minicomputer. It profited from the progresses in microelectronics and was considerably smaller than the standard mainframe, but, for instance, powerful enough to control the instruments of an entire scientific laboratory. Furthermore operating systems, that allowed machines to run many different programs at once with a central program that monitored and coordinated the computer's memory, attained widespread use.

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Amazon.com Amazon.com is an online shop that serves approx. 17 mn customers in 150 countries. Starting out as a bookshop, Amazon today offers a wide range of other products as well. Among privacy campaigners, the company's name has become almost synonymous with aggressive online direct marketing practices as well as user profiling and tracking. Amazon and has been involved in privacy disputes at numerous occasions. http://www.amazon.com/ http://www.computeruser.com/newstoday/00/01/0...

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