
Today, it's hard to think of computers as more than a collection of advanced microchips and the like — processors, RAM, flash storage and graphics cards, for example. Like a river, the flow of technology that has led us to the modern computing architecture we use today came from some several often overlooked sources — the proverbial "stones that divert the river."
These are the heroes of our technological past, with a few predictions sprinkled in there for good measure. Click on the gallery below to get this journey started. PHOTOS