"...Created the World’s First Writing System" that we know of. They used burned clay, which lasts forever. I am sure there have been writing systems before, they just rotted away.
VW decided to decentralize development, especially software. This is true for the Chinese market, which is very important to VW. Germans like knobs, Chinese like playfull interfaces with gadgets.
Google Drive. It doesn't fullfill the "local" criteria, but it works for us (small engineering firm). We synchronize our local file server with GD nighly and use it only for searching. Google is just good when it comes to search.
I lately had an idea: Why did the industrial revolution start in the UK? Coal mining was probably a factor. But why in the UK? Coal deposits are abundant in other places as well. But the UK has cold, rainy winters. Coal is good for heating, not only for industrial purposes, like smelting metal. Trees have mostly been cut down by that time. I think they used them for ship building. So if you have the coal mining already there, the other steps are more likely to happen.