Some products feel like they’ve been around forever, but they’re actually fairly recent inventions.
Sliced bread, a kitchen staple, has been around for fewer than 100 years.
It’s tough to imagine life without the MacBook and iPhone, but they’ve only been around 20 years.
It seems like there was never a time that we lived without Diet Coke, Post-It notes, or camera phones.
However, some items that seem as old as time were created relatively recently.
Sliced bread, for example, was put on the market for the first time in 1928, after a Missouri-based jeweler, Otto Rohwedder, invented the bread slicer.
More than a third of the US population, 155 million people, were iPhone users in 2024, and Apple has a particularly strong hold on Gen Z: Research released by Piper Sandler in October found 87% of teenagers surveyed said they had an iPhone. However, the product was brought on the market just 18 years ago.
Take a look at all the products that haven’t been around for as long as you might think.
A pantry staple today, sliced bread was first sold in 1928.
There are too many sliced-bread options to count.
David Ryder/Getty Images
The first loaf of automatically sliced bread was produced by Otto Rohwedder in Chillicothe, Missouri, in July 1928, according to History.com. Rohwedder was a jeweler, and faced criticism by bakers for his idea; they thought that sliced bread would go stale too quickly.
Cans with pull-tab tops became popular after being patented by Ermal Fraze in 1977.
Cans with pull tops.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
The pull-tab top on cans became standard after removable tops were deemed a health hazard — they could be accidentally swallowed or cut people’s feet on beaches, Slate reported.
Fraze patented his idea in 1977 but had designed the mechanism about a decade earlier.
Post-it Notes were introduced around the world in 1980.
Post-It notes on a wall.
Tim Heitman/ISI Photos/Getty Images
Arthur Fry was a new product development researcher at 3M when he learned of the adhesive microspheres that his colleague Spencer Silver had developed, according to the National Inventors Hall of Fame, of which Fry is a member.
He then coated the adhesive to paper and the Post-it Note was created.
Sriracha hot sauce is also a relatively new product. It was first put on the market in 1980.
sriracha
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
Huy Fong Foods founder David Tran created Sriracha in 1980.
Sriracha is the second-most-popular hot sauce in the United States, according to 2024 data from Instacart. It’s behind only Frank’s RedHot.
Battery-operated car keys have been around since the 1980s. Before, each car door had to be locked and unlocked with a traditional key.
Battery-operated car key.
Goran13/Getty Images
Car and Driver reported that one of the earliest iterations of a remote-entry locking system could be found in the 1983 AMC-Renault Alliance. Then, in 1987, Cadillac released the Allante car key, and by the early 1990s, the device was more widespread.
Though inline skates have been around since the 19th century, rollerblades were first sold by their teenage inventor, Scott Olson, in 1981.
People wearing rollerblades.
Shutterstock
Olson was 19, living in Waconia, Minnesota, and dreamed of joining the NHL when he saw a pair of inline skates in a sports catalog and thought they’d help him train. Even though they were not a popular item at the time, he knew immediately they had potential — they just needed some updates to appeal to a broader audience.
He told Marketplace in 2014 that he didn’t invent the concept, only the product. “The inline skate started back before roller skates were even invented, back in the early 1800s,” Olson said.
The Coca-Cola company was founded in 1892, but Diet Coke wasn’t for sale until 1982.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
Diet Coke was unveiled on July 8, 1982, and introduced in the United States on August 9, according to the company. It quickly overtook sales from the brand’s previous diet cola, Tab.
Built-in GPS for cars was first unveiled in 1990 by Mazda in Japan, but it took a decade before it was widely available in American cars.
Gps in a car.
Shutterstock
Though there were earlier models of map guidance tools introduced as early as 1930, the Mazda 1990 model was the first that had a true GPS built in to a commercially available car. It took another 10 years after its release to become available in the United States, Popular Mechanics reported. The US military had to allow for its commercial usage, since they had launched the GPS satellites.
Though many households have them now, Sony PlayStations have only been around since 1994.
A Sony PlayStation.
Shutterstock
PlayStations revolutionized gaming, with graphics that were far more advanced than anything else on the market at the time.
Starbucks’ famous Frappuccinos have only been available since 1995.
Shutterstock
Dina Campion, a Starbucks employee, helped launch the Frappuccino.
“It was the summer of 1993, and Los Angeles is very hot in the summer,” she said, according to Starbucks’ website. “We noticed there were some smaller coffee shops that did some sort of blended coffee beverage. A couple of store managers and I felt there was a huge opportunity for Starbucks.”
Frappuccinos were rolled out nationally in 1995, and vanilla bean and strawberry creme flavors were introduced in 2002.
It has certainly paid off for the chain. In 2023, Starbucks said 75% of its drink sales the previous quarter were for cold drinks. Even over the winter — between January and March 2024 — cold drinks accounted for 63% of drink sales, Starbucks reported in April 2024.
In 2021, an employee told Business Insider that Starbucks was becoming a “frappuccino factory.”
Though it’s now become a household staple, Febreze was first introduced in 1996.
Febreze.
Shutterstock
Febreze was invented by Procter & Gamble. The Washington Post reported Febreze and other similar sprays have ingredients called cyclodextrins that can actually trap odor molecules.
McDonald’s only introduced the McFlurry in 1997, two years after it was invented by a franchisee.
McFlurry.
Shutterstock
The McFlurry was invented by a Canadian franchisee, Ron McLellan, at his McDonald’s in Bathurst, New Brunswick.
“I never expected that my creation would circle the globe with countries mixing together their own unique flavours,” McLellan told CTV News in 2015.
You might see them in almost every house now, but plasma flat-screen TVs were first sold by Panasonic in the 1990s.
A Panasonic TV.
Shutterstock
Flat-screen TV technology was pioneered by two University of Illinois professors, Donald Bitzer and Gene Slottow, and a graduate student, Robert Willson, according to the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
However, their model was not suitable for commercial use, and it wasn’t until the 1990s that Panasonic engineer, Larry Weber, invented the modern flat screen we see in homes today.
Though they may seem like old technology now, DVDs were created in Japan in 1996 and first sold in the United States in 1997.
Brian Senic/Shutterstock
In 1997, Warner announced its first 30 DVD titles, which included “Blade Runner,” “Casablanca,” and “Twister,” Variety reported.
Sierra Mist was launched by Pepsi in 1999.
Sierra Mist.
Shutterstock
Sierra Mist was rebranded to Mist TWST in 2015, when a Pepsi spokesperson told AdAge, “We are working to highlight the lemon-lime credentials of the product.”
In 2023, it was replaced with a new lemon-lime soda, Starry.
The Universal Serial Bus (USB), also known as a flash drive, was first sold by IBM in 2000.
Shutterstock
The first IBM USB was called the DiskOnKey, and held just 8 megabytes. However, within 10 years, the drive’s storage capacity increased to 256 gigabytes.
Popular with both kids and adults, Razor scooters went on the market in 2000.
A boy riding a razor scooter.
Lewis Geyer/Digital First Media/Boulder Daily Camera/Getty Images
Razor scooters were invented by Wim Ouboter, a banker and amateur craftsman living in Zurich, Switzerland. He spoke to CityLabs in 2018 about how he came up with the idea.
“The problem is, if you’re a big guy and you’re riding such a small scooter, people will look at you weird. So you have to make it collapsible in order to bring it into a bar afterwards,” he said.
The Toyota Prius, the first mass-produced hybrid car, was released internationally in 2000.
Toyota
The car was first introduced in Japan in 1997. Today, Toyota is up to its fifth generation Prius.
Though you may see them in many public bathrooms today, Xlerator hand dryers have only been around since 2002.
Xlerator dryer.
Shutterstock
Excel Dryer released the Xlerator in 2002, and they were marketed as being able to dry hands in about 10 to 15 seconds, much faster than other dryers at the time, which took about a minute.
The first camera phone was released in 2000.
An early camera phone.
Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP via Getty Images
Samsung’s phone with a built-in camera, the SCH-V200, was released in South Korea in June 2000. Its camera was capable of taking 20 photos, but had to be hooked up to a computer for users to access them, per Digital Trends.
McGriddles are another relatively recent item on the McDonald’s menu. They became available in 2003.
Andrew LaSane/Business Insider
The McMuffin was introduced in 1972 and was McDonald’s only breakfast sandwich until the McGriddle was released.
Android phones were only introduced in 2003.
Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
In 2022, the number of iPhone users in the US overtook Android users for the first time. Globally, however, the Android operating system is far more popular, according to StatCounter data.
Take 5 candy bars were first introduced by Hershey in 2004. Their popularity helped boost the company’s profits 8% that year.
Take 5 Hershey
In 2019, Hershey announced Reese’s was taking over the Take 5 bar, and it became the Reese’s Take 5 bar. The company revealed that Reese’s peanut butter had been an ingredient in the Take 5 bar since its 2004 launch.
Though energy drinks are ubiquitous today, the popular 5-hour Energy only went on the market in 2004.
5 hour energy.
Shutterstock
The drink, created by American businessman Manoj Bhargava, made $1 billion in retail sales in its first eight years, Forbes reported.
Taco Bell’s CrunchWrap Supreme is also relatively new. It was introduced in 2005.
CrunchWrap Supreme.
Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images for Taco Bell
After its launch in 2005, the CrunchWrap Supreme became Taco Bell’s most successful product introduction. It was added to their permanent menu in 2006.
Stride was marketed as “The Ridiculously Long Lasting Gum.”
It’s hard to believe the gum hasn’t been available in the US for more than five years, when it was discontinued by its parent company, Mondelēz International. It is still available in Asia and Australia.
Though Apple is now one of the world’s top laptop retailers, MacBooks were released relatively recently, in 2006.
Hollis Johnson/Business Insider
Though MacBooks are popular, Windows still takes the lion’s share of laptop sales.
Similarly, more than a third of Americans own an iPhone, but the devices have only been around since 2007.
Crystal Cox/Business Insider
There are more than 155 million iPhone users in the United States.
Krave cereal was released in the United States by Kellogg’s just 13 years ago, in 2012.
Rebecca Harrington/Tech Insider
Krave was first released in the United Kingdom in 2010 and came in six different varieties: chocolate hazelnut, milk chocolate, totally chocolatey, chocolate caramel, chocolate, and double chocolate.
Amazon Alexa was first released in 2014, but only for Prime members. It became available for general users in 2015.
AP/Elaine Thompson
Alexa long led the way in voice-assistant technology but has slipped into third place in the US in recent years.
Google Assistant is pacing for 92.4 million users in 2025, followed by Apple’s Siri with 87 million and Amazon’s Alexa with 77.6 million, per 2025 eMarketer data.
The author has some career advice for her younger self.
Courtesy of Rachel Reva
I just turned 40 and started reflecting on my 20-year career journey.
I wish I could tell my younger self not to focus on job titles and to network with intention.
Building a network and maintaining good health are also crucial for achieving success.
I just turned 40 years old, and like many at this milestone, I’ve been reflecting on the lessons I wish I had understood sooner — specifically when it comes to work.
My career has taken me from newsrooms at some of the biggest broadcasters to launching my own business. I’ve achieved great success along the way, but, of course, it came with some challenges.
Starting out in media as a 20-something, I was naive about some aspects of career development. Twenty years later, as I reflect back on the start of my work life, I now wish I could tell my younger self these five simple truths.
1. Focus on the room, not the position
When I was fresh out of university, I thought the job title was everything. My ego wanted a fast climb. But my real education didn’t come from my job title; it came from being in the right rooms.
My early years as a TV news publicist were not flashy. I wasn’t on-air talent, and I wasn’t crafting the headlines. But I was in the room with some of the best journalists and producers in the industry. Just by proximity, I observed excellence.
I learned how producers think, how editors solve problems under pressure, how presenters prepare before interviews, and how to craft stories that mattered to a large audience.
Don’t obsess over the title. Focus on being around people who are excellent at their craft and can challenge you to improve. The room will teach you more than the role.
2. Learn how to market yourself
For years, I believed my work would speak for itself. I worked hard, delivered results, and waited to be recognized. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t work that way. Your visibility matters (sometimes more) than your performance.
The author behind the scenes working at an awards show early in her career.
Courtesy of Rachel Reva
Self-promotion doesn’t mean arrogance; it means self-advocacy. It means ensuring your contributions are known to the right people — inside and outside the organization.
It means speaking up for yourself in meetings, regularly sharing wins without apology, and building a personal brand — even within your company walls.
It also means building a personal brand beyond your CV. Ensure your work is visible, so future opportunities can find you.
3. Build a positive network intentionally
Careers don’t accelerate because of skills alone. They accelerate through people. Every opportunity I’ve had in my career came from a person: someone who referred me, introduced me, or recommended me for a role.
In my 20s, I thought networking was about collecting business cards at events. Now I know it’s about building relationships — genuine, long-term connections with people. The right community opens doors you didn’t even know existed.
Your network is not just about where you want to go; it’s about who you want to become. Surround yourself with people who are building lives and careers you admire.
4. Start a side hustle early
When I finally launched my own business in 2017, I realized that side projects build confidence, networks, and a sense of freedom outside the 9-to-5.
I wish I had started earlier, not only because of the financial benefits but also because of the valuable experience. A side hustle teaches you skills that you may not always acquire at work, such as sales, marketing, and resilience. It also gives you proof that you can create something on your own terms.
I believe that every person should know how to earn money outside their 9-to-5 job. It keeps you edgy and also gives you the freedom to move on and not “stay stuck” in a role that isn’t aligned anymore.
Even if your side hustle never becomes your full-time career, it can give you the courage to make bolder moves in your main job.
5. Take care of your body
At 40, I’m paying what I call the “health tax” — late nights, skipped meals, and endless coffee runs.
In my 20s and 30s, I treated my body like an afterthought. But energy and health are career assets. Without them, success is not sustainable.
No promotion, paycheck, or title is worth burning out your body. I wish I had realized that rest, exercise, and healthy boundaries weren’t luxuries; they were strategic career decisions.
Looking back, moving forward
At 40, I’m not lamenting what I didn’t do. I’m grateful for the lessons I had to learn the hard way because they make me want to share them with the next generation of leaders, creators, and dreamers.
Your career becomes a series of rooms, relationships, and risks. A title on a business card is only temporary. But your expertise, reputation, health, and network will follow you everywhere you go.
