Technology
Discover facts about technology. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Technology
The button that let you shake someone's screen
If someone was ignoring your message, you didn't have to wait patiently. You could hit a button that literally violently shook their open window and played an…
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Bumble requires women to message first to avoid creeps
A dating app cleverly disguised as an empowerment tool, which fundamentally exists because men on the internet have zero restraint. By shifting the initial…
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The eagle cry in Assassin's Creed isn't an eagle
The majestic shriek you hear whenever leaping from a gothic cathedral into a suspiciously soft pile of hay is a complete biological lie. Real eagles sound…
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The actor who mastered Kratos's grunt
Playing a hyper-masculine Spartan deity adjusting to fatherhood requires a very specific emotional range. The lead voice actor spent an absurd amount of time…
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Yahoo Messenger's wild west chatrooms
Before heavily moderated forums and strict community guidelines, you could drop into an unmonitored text room filled entirely with strangers, bots, and…
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Why Internet Explorer 6 haunted web designers
It is the zombie browser that simply refused to stay dead. Because countless corporate systems were rigidly built around its quirky flaws, designers spent…
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Horizon’s robot animals learned from nature documentaries
Bringing massive mechanical beasts to life requires a surprisingly organic touch. The animation team for the post-apocalyptic Horizon franchise spent hundreds…
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Fark taught the internet to mock the news
Decades before modern sites relied on user-generated snark to survive, this pioneer allowed people to submit bizarre news links paired with aggressively witty…
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Millions use Bing to search for Google
Despite desperately trying to give away reward points just to get people to use it, this default search engine serves one primary purpose. Millions of new…
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Rotten Tomatoes began with Jackie Chan
The site that now dictates whether blockbuster films live or die started as a highly specific fan project. The founder simply wanted a centralized place to…
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When Flash took browser games with it
When the clunky, beloved animation software finally reached its highly anticipated end of life, it took an entire era of internet culture with it. Countless…
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Daikatana’s infamous ad threatened players
In an attempt to seem edgy, an infamous print ad boldly declared that the lead designer was going to make you his personal plaything. The game then launched…
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The button that sent you anywhere on the internet
Before algorithms aggressively curated our realities, there was a beautiful button that simply threw you onto a completely random, mostly interesting web…
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How Napster changed music before the lawsuits
It taught a generation of teenagers exactly how to dismantle the entire music industry from their bedrooms. By letting users swap digital tracks directly, it…
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Your video-game battlefield may come from a military manual
Creating an engaging digital warzone requires an obsessive attention to sightlines. Level designers frequently study actual military urban pacification…
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OnlyFans was originally meant for chefs and artists
The founders envisioned a wholesome subscription platform where creators could share cooking tutorials and painting techniques. Instead, humanity did what…
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Why Google Reader's shutdown still haunts the internet
It was the perfect tool for quietly curating and reading articles from your favorite blogs in one clean feed. When executives abruptly pulled the plug because…
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The free 3D software that rivals expensive suites
While major 3D animation suites demand thousands of dollars for a license, this open-source miracle just gives it all away. Supported entirely by donations…
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The Windows XP wallpaper is a real place
That impossibly perfect green hill is not a digital painting generated by a graphics team. Known as 'Bliss', it is an untouched photo of a real landscape in…
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Why airport walkways can pull you off balance
This design flaw ensures that if you absentmindedly hold onto the rubber rail without moving your feet, your arm will slowly be pulled forward until you…
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Adults raced to get banned from Club Penguin
Getting suspended from a wholesome children's game became an extreme competitive sport for bored adults. Players would speedrun creating an account and…
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How Need for Speed shaped a generation's music
Long before streaming services curated your musical tastes, illegal street racing software did the heavy lifting. The soundtracks for the underground racing…
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Duolingo's owl won't let you forget your lesson
Language learning transformed into a hostage negotiation. If you forget your daily Spanish lesson, a bright green cartoon bird will flood your screen with…
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Neopets was once run by Scientologists
Your childhood virtual pet simulator had a bizarre corporate history. For a strange period, the site was run by individuals deeply entrenched in the…
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