Technology
Discover facts about technology. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Technology
Mydoom made infected computers recruit the next victims
The 2004 worm searched infected machines for email addresses and mailed copies of itself onward. One variant also launched a denial-of-service attack against…
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A tiny website can still be useful to an attacker
Automated scans can look for vulnerable software without caring whether a site has a large audience. A compromised server can host malicious content or supply…
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Why high-refresh screens make scrolling smoother
A 60 Hz screen refreshes 60 times a second; 120 or 180 Hz screens show frames more often, so motion and scrolling look smoother. That can make dragging…
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Bill Gates helped write a game about dodging a donkey
DONKEY.BAS put a car on a simple road and made the player avoid a donkey by changing lanes. Gates and Neil Konzen wrote it for the early IBM PC era. Before…
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The original IBM PC had less memory than a photo
The 1981 base model had just 16 kilobytes of RAM; a single low-resolution JPEG meme could take three to four times that much.
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Your surge protector may stop protecting you
Surge protectors use metal oxide varistors to absorb electrical spikes, but each surge permanently wears them down. Once those components fail, the device may…
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Why the spacebar has no label
Since the days of mechanical typewriters, manufacturers have treated the spacebar's function as obvious enough that it needs no label.
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A GTA Online player helped fix its loading bottleneck
Programmer t0st investigated the PC version's slow startup and found inefficient processing of game data. His test fix cut loading time by around 70% on his…
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Thousands of new malware variants appear every month
Malicious actors release new variants to steal data or lock victims’ files behind ransomware demands.
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Why sunlight can destroy a blank CD
Writable CDs store music in a sensitive chemical dye. Sunlight can bleach that dye, wiping out the tracks you recorded.
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Sump pumps rely on a simple floating ball to detect floods
As water rises, a hollow float climbs a rod and trips an electrical switch, turning on the pump to send water outside.
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Why programmers use names like Foo and Bar
Programmers use “Foo” and “Bar” as generic placeholder names for data or examples. They have no special meaning, so beginners don’t need to treat them as…
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What a hand-crank radio is really doing
Turning the crank drives a small generator that produces electricity for the radio.
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FLAC keeps every detail while shrinking audio files
FLAC finds mathematical patterns in audio data and compresses them without discarding information, so playback reproduces the original recording exactly.
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A scramjet needs another engine to get it going
A scramjet uses the vehicle's enormous forward speed to compress incoming air instead of a rotating compressor. The air remains supersonic as fuel burns…
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Wikipedia relies on bots to keep it clean
Automated bots handle millions of edits, reverting vandalism, fixing broken links, and correcting spelling.
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Steve Jobs didn't write Apple's code
Steve Wozniak built the Apple I and II; Jobs focused on packaging and selling them, drawing on his strengths in design and consumer psychology.
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LCD refresh rates caused heavy ghosting
Early LCDs changed slowly between voltage states, so moving objects left blurry trails on screen.
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ZIP files carry their inventor's initials
The “PK” at the start of a ZIP file’s signature honors Phil Katz, who developed the format.
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Supertall towers turn elevator travel into a transfer
Long lift cables add substantial weight, while sending every elevator from the ground to every floor would consume too much space. Zoned systems and sky…
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Why some rocket engines have no bell-shaped nozzle
Unlike bell nozzles optimized for one atmospheric pressure, an aerospike uses the surrounding air as a virtual outer wall, helping it work efficiently across…
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The easiest way to crack encryption is threatening the keyholder
Even strong encryption can be bypassed if someone physically threatens the person holding the key. That sidesteps the algorithm entirely.
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Inclined elevators travel diagonally up steep hillsides
The cabin stays level as it follows a diagonal track up the hillside, offering a way up where a road or staircase may not fit.
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Curved screens try to keep edges at equal focal distances
An inward curve brings the screen’s edges closer to the same viewing distance as its center and wraps the image around your peripheral vision.
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