Technology
Discover facts about technology. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Technology
A data lake is a swamp of raw files
Unlike the pristine organization of a warehouse, a data lake is where institutions violently dump millions of unprocessed files without a second thought. It…
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Why some styluses don't need batteries
Digital artists refuse to charge their pens. Instead, drawing tablets emit a weak electromagnetic field that actually powers the tiny circuitry inside the…
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Beryllium windows allow x-rays to escape tubes
Trapping intense radiation is easy, but letting it out safely requires one of the most toxic metals on earth. X-ray machines generate beams that would…
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Redundancy means buying duplicate hardware just in case
Because absolutely everything eventually breaks, enterprise infrastructure relies on blatant duplication. Redundancy involves running two identical power…
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Your inkjet printer boils ink into tiny droplets
Your unreliable home printer is actually executing thousands of microscopic explosions per second. To get ink onto the page, thermal inkjet heads rapidly heat…
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Why pencil graphite is mixed with clay
Writing with pure graphite is a miserable experience because it turns to useless dust under the slightest pressure. To make the humble pencil functional,…
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Bungee cords stop mouse cables from snagging on desks
Wired accessories are vastly superior for latency, but the cord always drags on the edge of the table. A mouse bungee is a spring-loaded desk anchor that…
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Pendulum clocks lose time when moved toward the equator
Because the Earth bulges outward at its middle, gravity is ever so slightly weaker near the equator. A precisely calibrated antique clock transported from…
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Thermocouples measure extreme heat by detecting voltage
When things get so hot that traditional glass thermometers melt, you just use two dissimilar metals welded together. Thanks to the Seebeck effect, when you…
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Auto-brightness forces the light sensor to work constantly
Letting your device adjust its own backlight means constantly torturing a tiny sensor. To smoothly adapt to your surroundings, the ambient light sensor…
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YAML specifically states it is never a markup language
Programmers love a good recursive acronym almost as much as they love overcomplicating text. The popular formatting structure officially stands for 'YAML…
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Single-page web apps load all their content upfront
Modern websites try to feel like native apps by forcing you to download the entire application logic on the first click. You get to stare at a loading spinner…
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Elon Musk joined Tesla after it was founded
The mythology of the brilliant, rogue founder takes a hit when court documents get involved. Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning actually founded Tesla Motors…
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Touchscreens rely on the electrical capacitance of skin
Your expensive screen relies entirely on the fact that human beings are essentially giant bags of salty, conductive water. Capacitive touch displays do not…
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Electron microscopes shoot beams through a harsh vacuum
Because pesky atmospheric air molecules would constantly crash into the high-speed electron barrage, the entire sample chamber must be sucked completely dry…
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Why Stack Overflow questions get closed so often
The internet's primary coding resource functions primarily by intimidating junior developers. If you ask a question, there is a massive chance it will be…
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North Korea's operating system tracks every file
A state-sponsored operating system that trusts absolutely nobody. It secretly places custom watermarks on every single document or audio file touched by the…
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A programming language written like a power ballad
Created solely so coders can genuinely put 'Rockstar developer' on their resumes without lying. The syntax reads exactly like a terribly edgy 1980s power…
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What gives bumper cars their unmistakable smell
To keep those chaotic electric carts moving without frying everyone inside, ride operators sprinkle conductive graphite powder on the steel floor plates. That…
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The first arcade game was tested in a student lounge
Instead of a neon-lit amusement center, the birth of arcade gaming took place in a drab university common room. In 1971, the creators of 'Computer Space'…
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Ironing boards use a ratcheting slot to lock their legs
The wobbly table you use to flatten shirts holds its ground through sheer tension. Squeezing the handle pulls a metal rod out of a toothed track beneath the…
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Why untouched software stops working
Code does not physically rust, but engineers openly suffer from 'Software Rot'. As operating systems update, external libraries change, and compilers evolve,…
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The Raspberry Pi is a tiny full-fledged computer
Despite sounding like a bakery item, it is an incredibly capable machine. It packs a processor, memory, and output ports onto a single, tiny green board.…
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The original iPod hid a playable game
Apple used to actually let their developers have a tiny bit of undocumented fun before the modern corporate lockdown era. If you navigated to the 'About'…
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