What was the first item to be scanned using a barcode?
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Wrigley's chewing gum
104 public questions with answers, drawn from the well. How many can you answer?
Technology trivia spans the inventions, companies, products, and breakthroughs that changed everyday life. This collection moves from the first item scanned with a barcode and the earliest e-mail to the launch of the Ford Mustang, the rise of America Online, and the arrival of Toyota vehicles in the United States.
Expect a broad mix of computing, automobiles, online services, retail technology, and consumer electronics. You might identify Alibaba founder Jack Ma, name the company behind the Santa Fe SUV, or place Toyota’s first U.S. sales in the correct year. These questions work well for general-knowledge quizzes, classroom activities, family game nights, and pub quizzes where technology overlaps with business and popular culture.
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Wrigley's chewing gum
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1971
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Lee Iacocca
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Steve Case
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Hyundai
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Jack Ma
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Fujitsu
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1958
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Microsoft
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Pontiac GTO
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Triumph
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Microsoft
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Commodore
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Porsche
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Redmond, Washington
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1967
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He Didn't Graduate From College
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Kia Telluride
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The Pulsar
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AuctionWeb
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Ask Jeeves
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Ford F-150
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20 Inch
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Books
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Viper
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Toyota Century Royal
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Bulldog
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Stainless Steel
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Leaf
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I-Pace
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Googler
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Put On The Iron
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James Watt
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Tagged Image File Format
Good Technology trivia questions cover recognizable inventions and the people or companies behind them. Examples include asking what product was first scanned with a barcode, when e-mail began, who founded Alibaba, and which automaker produces the Santa Fe SUV.
Technology trivia can be approachable because many questions involve familiar products, brands, and inventions. It becomes harder when it asks for exact years, original founders, or early milestones, such as the first e-mail or Toyota’s initial sales in the United States.
The first retail product scanned using a UPC barcode was a 10-pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum. The scan took place at a Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio, on June 26, 1974, marking a major step in automated checkout technology.
The first network e-mail is generally credited to Ray Tomlinson, who sent it in 1971 while working on ARPANET. He also helped establish the use of the “@” symbol to separate a user’s name from the destination computer.
Alibaba was founded by Jack Ma, a former English teacher, in 1999 in Hangzhou, China. The company began as an online business-to-business marketplace and grew into a major technology group involved in e-commerce, payments, cloud computing, and logistics.