Steven Sasson, an engineer at Kodak, invented the first self-contained digital camera. The device was about the size of a toaster and weighed 8 pounds. It captured black-and-white images using a new sensor called a Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) and recorded the data onto a cassette tape. It took 23 seconds to record a single 0.01-megapixel photo. When Sasson demonstrated it, Kodak executives were unimpressed, fearing it would threaten their lucrative film business. This proved to be a historic mistake. Digital photography eventually made film obsolete, allowing for the instant viewing and sharing of images. The technology is now found in every smartphone, fundamentally changing how humans document their lives and how news is captured and disseminated globally.