Technology
Discover facts about technology. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Technology
Twitter's first bird came from a stock-illustration purchase.
Twitter's first bird came from a stock-illustration purchase. Simon Oxley created the illustration before it became associated with the young service. A…
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Artificial intelligence got its name in a summer-project proposal.
Artificial intelligence got its name in a summer-project proposal. A 1955 proposal by John McCarthy and colleagues called for ten researchers to spend two…
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Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates famously had his sprawling, high-tech sixty-three-million-dollar Washington estate known as Xanadu 2.0 designed and modeled entirely using an Apple Macintosh computer.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates famously had his sprawling, high-tech sixty-three-million-dollar Washington estate known as Xanadu 2.0 designed and modeled…
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The word robot came from a playwright's brother.
The word robot came from a playwright's brother. Karel Čapek needed a name for artificial workers in R.U.R.; his brother Josef suggested a word connected with…
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Google's early storage system wore a Lego enclosure.
Google's early storage system wore a Lego enclosure. Stanford preserves the system built around ten four-gigabyte disk drives, with an enclosure using toy…
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Apple repair technicians in the late 2000s famously refused to service certain Mac computers under warranty if they discovered the internal components were covered in a thick…
Apple repair technicians in the late 2000s famously refused to service certain Mac computers under warranty if they discovered the internal components were…
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Joseph Nicéphore Niépce captured the oldest surviving photographic image in 1826 or 1827, which required placing a camera obscura facing out of his upstairs window and leaving…
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce captured the oldest surviving photographic image in 1826 or 1827, which required placing a camera obscura facing out of his upstairs…
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Neil Papworth, a twenty-two-year-old software programmer, sent the very first Short Message Service text on December 3, 1992, typing the phrase 'Merry Christmas' on a personal…
Neil Papworth, a twenty-two-year-old software programmer, sent the very first Short Message Service text on December 3, 1992, typing the phrase 'Merry…
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Everest got a 3G connection from equipment far below the summit.
Everest got a 3G connection from equipment far below the summit. In 2010, Ncell installed mobile infrastructure in the Everest region, including a…
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A fake video meeting helped thieves steal millions.
A fake video meeting helped thieves steal millions. Hong Kong authorities described a 2024 fraud in which a worker joined a video call with apparent…
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A flashbang attacks several senses at once
The intense flash can leave afterimages while the explosion disrupts hearing and orientation. That combination is intended to overwhelm someone's ability to…
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Air conditioning was invented to keep paper straight
Willis Carrier designed the first modern air-conditioning unit in 1902 to control humidity at a Brooklyn printing plant. Moisture fluctuations were wrinkling…
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Slow cookers trap moisture to cook safely
A slow cooker's low-wattage heating element warms a heavy ceramic crock, while the glass lid traps steam and moisture. That steady heat lets food cook for…
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The missing blue LED unlocked everyday white LED lighting
Red and green LEDs existed long before engineers mastered efficient blue ones. The breakthrough required making gallium nitride work as a reliable…
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An air fryer is a small convection oven with strong airflow
A fan moves hot air around the food, carrying heat to the surface and helping moisture escape. The compact cooking chamber makes that circulation especially…
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Why lava lamps never stop floating and sinking
Because the wax and surrounding liquid have nearly the same density, a small temperature change makes the wax rise or sink. The bulb warms and expands it;…
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A candle wick curls so the flame can trim it
A specially braided wick curls away from the flame's center as it heats, where the tip burns to ash—so modern candles usually trim themselves.
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A rice cooker detects the moment the water stops holding down the heat
While water boils, much of the added energy goes into turning it to steam, keeping the pot near the boiling temperature. Once the free water is absorbed or…
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Gas stovetops waste massive amounts of heat
A gas flame sends much of its heat around the pot instead of into it; roughly 60% can escape into the surrounding air.
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What really happens when you bend a glow stick
Bending snaps a thin glass vial inside, letting hydrogen peroxide mix with the surrounding chemicals and trigger the glow.
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Tear gas is usually a powder, not a gas
Tear gas is usually a solid, such as CS, that becomes airborne as fine particles when released. Those particles irritate the eyes and other mucous membranes…
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The fictional rifle hidden in the name TASER
The name is an acronym for “Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle,” after the adventure series the inventor loved as a child.
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Dog whistles blast terribly high frequencies
A dog whistle can emit a tone above the human hearing range, which tops out at around 20 kilohertz, while remaining audible to dogs.
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The tiny metal trick inside old thermostats
As the room warms, two bonded metals expand at different rates, bending a strip until it hits a switch and turns off the furnace.
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