1979

• Portable language translators are introduced.   Personal headset audio debuts.
• The Institute of High Fidelity merges into the Electronic Industries Association.
• The first proprietary online service launches.

1978

• Laserdisc players are marketed.
• The Winter Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is held in Las Vegas for the first time.
• NAVSTAR, first satellite Global Positioning System (GPS), becomes operable.

1977

• The VHS VCR is introduced.
• Apple Computer Inc. introduces the first personal computer.
• Home color TV video cameras are sold.
• The first interactive TV system, QUBE, debuts.
• The first videocassette rental store opens.

1976

• The first microprocessor videogames is marketed.
• The inkjet printer is developed.

1975

• The first Betamax VCR is introduced.
• The first developmental digital camera is created by a Kodak team led by Steve Sasson.
• The first personal computer, the Altair 8800, debuts.
• CB radio becomes a major consumer product.
• The laser printer is introduced.
• The first liquid crystal displays (LCD) are sold.
• The Atari "Pong" home video game is introduced.

1974

• The United Nations establishes the international fax standard, Group 1.  

1973  

• The first Winter Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is held in Chicago.
• Giant-screen projection color TVs are marketed.
• Motorola demonstrates the first cell phone prototype.

1972

• The first home videogames, designed to play through TV receivers, are marketed.
• Sony introduces U-Matic VCR, the forerunner of Beta.
• Hamilton Pulsar introduces the first LED watch.

1971

• Electronic tuning is incorporated into U.S. TVs.
• The consumer electronics calculator is introduced.
• The first dot matrix printers are introduced.
• A patent is issued for the first practical LCD technology.
• AT&T proposes the cellular phone system.

1970

• Intel Corp. introduces the computer memory chip.
• The computer floppy disk is developed.

• The first successful digital optical recording, precursor to CD and DVD, is made by James T. Russell of the Battelle Institute.