Split (1)

train · 14k rows

q_id stringlengths 6 6	title stringlengths 4 294	selftext stringlengths 0 2.48k	category stringclasses 1 value	subreddit stringclasses 1 value	answers dict	title_urls listlengths 1 1	selftext_urls listlengths 1 1
flvqdi	How is erasing coded?	Moving something to the trash bin in the real world makes sense. You put a banana peel in a compost bucket, it breaks down, and it’s constituent parts are recycled into new parts of soil. I can gather that if there’s a limited amount of data on a computer, moving something to the trash bin is sort of like the recycling...	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl0touy" ], "text": [ "> Where do the letters and pixels “go” Nowhere, at first. Deleting a file just marks that file’s area of memory as free space. If new data needs to be stored, the OS can now overwrite the deleted file’s memory with the new data. Until the space is overwritten though, th...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
flwa96	Why can't you see pixels on a phone screen as easily as you can on a monitor?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl0ulqv", "fl0uuz1" ], "text": [ "Say you have a phone that is 1080p and a monitor that is also 1080p. You have the same number of pixels, but they are closer together on the smaller screen of the phone.", "The size of the display and the resolution. A phone screen is typically 1080p ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
flzwob	Why do downloads slow down as they near completion?	I've always wondered why this happens. You're downloading a game at 25mb/s up to 98%, then the next 2% drops down to 5mb/s. Does anyone know why this happens?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl1jbq6", "fl1oie9" ], "text": [ "Modern programs like Steam etc. download files in chunks from multiple servers to fully utilize your connection's available bandwidth. However, not all chunks might be available right away or certain servers might be overloaded for certain chunks. These c...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fm5ljm	- how come older consoles (NES era) were better at games than PCs at the time?	PC’s today are at the forefront of gaming and are usually seen as superior to consoles. However, this wasn’t always the case. In the NES era there were PC ports of popular games such as Mario, Mega Man etc. But these ports were inferior to the console release in every way. Is this because the ports were poorly made or ...	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl2eoq5", "fl2gz9f", "fl2k89t", "fl2eljg", "fl2frsp", "fl2vd9w" ], "text": [ "At the time, PCs were largely for business use. They usually didn’t have a lot of graphical power or good sound cards. Consoles were made specifically to run games, so they focused on those.", ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fm69ce	When you put two phones or radios next to each other and start a call between then they make a loud ringing sound why is that		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl2i2jz" ], "text": [ "It is a feedback loop. Basically, there is some noise, be it interference, someone's voice, footsteps, etc. This is broadcast from the speaker of one device at a slightly amplified level. The other device recurved it, then plays it back again at a more amplified level. ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fm9hyz	How are Edm songs made? Specifically how do they generate these sounds in the song?	Electronic songs and electronic instrumental, what's the source of the sound?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl31fjo", "fl33btz" ], "text": [ "Producers use digital audio workstations (DAWs) that can emulate the sounds of various instruments -- or just put out \"artificial\" sounds as specified. By adding various effects to the sound -- distortion, reverb, etc. -- they can produce some of the mo...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fme40m	How do electronics know what battery percentage they have?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl3yv9q", "fl3tknj", "fl3pssm", "fl3u0el" ], "text": [ "In short there are two ways, sometimes combined. 1) Measure the battery voltage and compare this against a graph that you obtained through calibration. This will tell you at what voltage, what the battery SOC (State-of-Charge...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fmjmmv	When you reset the wi-fi router, why does it take so long to turn on? What happens during that time?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl4z875", "fl4m4av", "fl4n352", "fl549he", "fl533ez", "fl5szqk", "fl74x5q", "fl51h03", "fl6k5y6" ], "text": [ "Your router has several hardware components. * Integrated switch (physical network connections) * Wireless RF circuitry for sending and receiving data...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fmktz4	what is psychological horror?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl50kj3", "fl4ru78", "fl53ek6" ], "text": [ "If horror primarily deals with threats to the body (being murdered, tortured, disfigured, etc.), psychological horror deals with threats to the mind (hallucinating, going insane, being possessed or controlled, etc.) There's obviously plenty...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fmo80g	Why are xrays printed on a clear piece of plastic and held up to a light box, instead of just black ink on white paper?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl56b8n", "fl5c6py", "fl59unw", "fl58obu" ], "text": [ "They aren't \"printed\" they are a photographic exposure with the \"film\" reacting to the X-rays to produce a negative as happened with cameras before digital cameras existed.", "Good responses here. Part of it is that a...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fmpa0k	what is that weird sound you hear when you leave a cell phone by speakers?	title	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl5c322" ], "text": [ "Audio cables, especially unbalanced and/or poorly shielded cables are essentially antennae, and while their primary duty is to carry small AC currents from your sound system to the amplifier, they can just as easily pick up signals out of the air, just like a radio ante...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fmvzp9	How can I delete an app from my phone and then not have enough space to download it again?	I've seen memes about this so I know this doesn't only happen to me. There have been times when I got warnings about not having enough space, so I deleted some apps from my phone. When the warning didn't go away, I tried installing them again and it said I didn't have enough space! Where did all the memory go?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl6cbbv" ], "text": [ "On Android, when you delete an app, it often leaves behind data that the operating system is unaware of, so it never gets deleted. The main data files for that app are deleted, but the leftovers will just sit there forever. You can manually search for and delete that le...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fmwvsq	Why do storage and memory follow a pattern of 2 (i.e. 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, and so on)?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl6gf6b", "fl6s8so", "fl6h0hg" ], "text": [ "If you have one wire you can address two memory cells number 0 (power off) and number 1 (power on). With two wires you can address 4 memory cells. With four wires you can do 16. If you want 17 memory cells you need to have everywhere 5 wire...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fmycw8	What's the difference between OLED, AMOLED and Super AMOLED displays?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl6n4qc", "fl7cqz5", "fl8k2k9" ], "text": [ "Short answer: It's complicated. OLED is display technology that involves the use of pixels made of organic material. AMOLED display technology combines the properties of OLED technology with a pixel-modulating matrix and thin-film transisto...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fmzyo5	How do the graphics card, RAM, and processor all work together to determine performance of a PC?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl6w1tg", "fl6y4ak" ], "text": [ "CPU is its ability to do math. Everything a computer does is dictated by math, so this makes things faster. However you can't get faster than almost instant (dictated by speed of electrons wizzing around inside) so if the CPU is able to go at that speed, ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fn2mqu	How do HD photos and videos seem to look better than our own naked eyes?	HD photos and videos seem to look better than the pictures formed by our own eyes. How is it so? I didn't know which flair would fit so I chose biology.	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl77m17", "fl7g57p" ], "text": [ "The eye is really good at some things but not so good at others. Meanwhile, cameras can be good at what ours eyes are bad at, and that’s what really stands out. For instance, really high dynamic range. Seeing pitch black right next to bright white. In our...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fn3o18	Why do archaeologists use "noninvasive imaging" technology to look around pre-Columbian temples rather than just walking in and having a look?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl7d6bq", "fl8jsks" ], "text": [ "You can tarnish some of the things in the temples by opening it. The reason these things still exist is because they were protected from the environment for so long, so if you open it up you risk causing everything to break down", "Non-invasive imagin...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fn6lgb	How do spammers profit from spamming with bots,like chat invites?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl7u8p5", "fl7u2kz" ], "text": [ "If there is some underlying scam (e.g. Nigerian princes promising fortunes), probability suggests someone, somewhere will bite. Since the cost of mass-messaging is very low, it's not hard to imagine that if, say, one email/chat link out of a million r...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fn9ei0	how do digital devices (like phones, computers) keep time? I get clockwork but even my fairy lights have a timer on - how?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl8aaf3", "fl8c4ab" ], "text": [ "Clock chips are cheap and the feature might increase fairy-light sales.", "The simple way to have an accurate close in an electrical unit is with a crystal oscillator. It is a physical crystal that is shaped so it vibrates at a specific frequency just...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fn9ybx	Video Games Objects & Backgrounds	ELI5: In video games -my most specific case being a racing game, is the Racecar an object in motion meaning is it moving through a large environment (map) or is the Racecar stationary and the map moves around it?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl8dq17", "fl8e4vu" ], "text": [ "Either is possible, but it's usually the car moving. The map-movement variant is more common in 2D", "Usually the race car is an object moving through the environment. There are all kinds of reasons why, but to put it simply, it’s just less work for t...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fndlw7	How computers work using only 1s and 0s?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl911li", "fl9357n", "fl908sg", "fl93i9i" ], "text": [ "First of all, think of computers as having the purpose of displaying the correct image on screen, printing your document correctly, responding to keyboard and mouse presses correctly, and, in general, controlling other device...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fnhvqt	How do ventilators help people breathe and are they complicated to manufacture?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fl9m0dl" ], "text": [ "They work by forcing air in and out of the lungs. Ventilation can be made using a machine or manually using a bag-valve-mask (BVM) device. The main idea is to keep a good flow of air in and out and to ensure that a sufficient amount of the lungs is actually in use to al...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fnrx0e	If RF radiation is really safe why people that operate big antennas tell otherwise?	Over the years I met several big antenna operators (mostly TV broadcast repeaters and mobile networks combined) that told me how they don't like to be near them longer than necessary due to enormous power, frequent headaches, dizziness and possibly carcinogenic properties. Now, what I read on reputable sources, RF as n...	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flb59j5", "flb6t0s", "flbagjv" ], "text": [ "Big antennas can be dangerous in some parts of the spectrum because they operate at insanely high power levels. High energy RF/microwave transmitters can cause heating and induce voltages in metallic objects. They're also just generally dan...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fnst8p	If both people are on speakerphone during a video/phone call, how does the technology prevent each person from hearing their own voice being broadcasted from the other person's device?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flbeb6m" ], "text": [ "it's called echo cancellation and one such method is to employ cross-correlation filtering. This is where you take two (or more) streams of audio and apply a correlation filter (basically seeing where they match) and subtracting out what is filtered (e.g. subtract out...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fnznkp	How do hospitals store patient data?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flcfyaz" ], "text": [ "Any major server system that requires storage will use dedicated data storage devices. The data storage system will almost certainly have built in duplication, backup and data integrity checking systems typically across multiple devices to provide redundancy against har...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fo264p	how was the footage of the first moon landing (Armstrong emerging from the capsule) captured? Was the camera attached to another module or did he place the camera down first, go back into the capsule then come back out again making it, technically, the 2nd moonwalk?!		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flcqlvm", "flcwbub" ], "text": [ "The lunar lander had a module in which they could store equipment for easy access from the surface, which had a camera facing the ladder installed in it. [This is how it looked]( URL_1 ). Edit: [Better image from the wiki page]( URL_0 )", "When he exi...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fo4hr4	Why is audio quality always bad when you call someone, but over Skype or Discord it can sound really good, even if they are calling with their phone?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fld1gmw", "fld3g7e" ], "text": [ "I am not sure about this, but i reckon it is because Skype/Discord uses your WiFi or ethernet which has more bandwidth.", "Imagine people spoke in light instead of sound. And imagine that human \"voices\" did not come in every visible color but only i...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fo78qv	How come my budget LG TV with weak CPU can run huge 4k HDR video files?	I don’t get it. My TV has very weak CPU, even the user interface navigation is slow. However it runs 40GB+ Blu-ray rips from HDD with no problems. But when I play the same file on my PC connected to the same TV, it takes like half of my GPU (GTX 1650s) processing power, which is insane.	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fldle3r", "fldi36y" ], "text": [ "It's the difference between a processor and a decoder. Your TV has a pretty easy job. The video signal being fed to it is encoded using what's called a codec. The TV's only job is to run that encoded signal through a decoding process, then send the deco...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fo7wha	How do military planes and drones (made to target ground units, houses, and so on) see through things like clouds and heavy rain?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fldlzuq", "flds5ri" ], "text": [ "The best answer is that they don't \"see\" through clouds and rain. If the targeting system is purely visual (it rarely, if ever, is purely visual, but say it was) they couldn't target anything they couldn't see. In reality, they use combinations of targe...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fodnsy	How is the audio quality of a phone measured?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flekotc", "flepwvm" ], "text": [ "They can measure how it responds to different frequencies, you make it produce a specific pitch and measure with an instrument how loud each frequent comes through, usually you want every frequency to be as close in volume to the others as possible", ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fogbbr	Why don’t modern electric vehicles use transmissions?	I understand that modern electric motors have such a wide powerband that they don’t need transmissions, but why didn’t they go with the option of building smaller/less powerful motors and pairing them with transmissions? Is it just more cost effective to have bigger motors/batteries than to build a smaller motor and tr...	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flf0kll", "flf0lz7", "flf2708" ], "text": [ "If you can remove points of failure,reduce maintenance of the vehicle, then that’s what you do. Why build in more points of failure into an inferior design? No reason to stick to it just because it’s familiar.", "Any part you add to the...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
foioxy	What is bandwidth and how do you get more of it?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flfe7ca" ], "text": [ "Think of a hose. Bandwidth is the size the the internet hose. Bigger hose allows more internet to flow. Bandwidth is limited artificially by providers, and physically by things like the actual limitations of how much data a cable can transfer. Normally it would be a swi...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fooatt	How-come graphics in video games aren’t as good as most cgi in movies?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flg7ifh" ], "text": [ "Graphics in videogames have to be rendered in real time, 30-60 frames every second, on a single computer. Movie CGI can be rendered with thousands of computers over a very long time. Each computer can spend days rendering a single frame." ], "score": [ 33 ], ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
foshz4	When agreeing to cookies on a website, what exactly am I agreeing to?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flhqy0y", "flgy35c", "flh91tm", "flgxe7x", "flhifiz", "flh5q8c", "flin877", "flhm1od", "fli85er", "flhoqwc", "flifajj", "flhxj36", "flk3l4d", "flh9yl9" ], "text": [ "Its like getting your hand stamped when going to a fun park with food. You ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fossrl	How does Morse code work		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flgy9k0", "flh038m", "flh7r5j" ], "text": [ "With silences. A silence the duration of three dots separates between letters, while a silence with the duration of 7 dots separates between words.", "Morse code comes from a time when we couldn't transmit voice or video over wired and ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fot8aj	What is a checksum and how does it work?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flhih9o" ], "text": [ "You can try checksums yourself with a credit card number: URL_0 Double every other number starting with the 2nd then add all of the resulting digits (so 12 would be 1+2). The result will be a multiple of 10. Always. If you miss or swap a digit, the checksum is off (not ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fotql0	Why do numbers on phones start on the top left, when almost everything else starts on the bottom left?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flhcbij" ], "text": [ "Numberphile did a [video]( URL_0 ) on this very question a while back. The short answer is that when phone companies were moving from rotary to push button phones, they came up with a bunch of different possible layouts, the calculator layout included, and asked people ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fowy37	What is end to end encryption and why is the government trying to ban it?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flhoko6", "flhr77a", "flho83d" ], "text": [ "you and your friend have a safe with a lock and only you and him know the code. You put a message in that safe and mail the safe to your friend. That message is protected and cannot be seen by anyone handling the safe except your friend whe...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fozt23	How does my watch use a flashing green light to measure my heart rate?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fli6wmq" ], "text": [ "According to Apple, the Watch uses a technology called photoplethysmography, or PPG, to measure heart rate. It’s essentially testing how much red or green light it can see when looking at the skin on your wrist. Blood is red because it reflects red light and absorbs gre...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fp0qn1	Why do countries have diffrent types of plugs?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flicha2", "flidkd8" ], "text": [ "In our global age, we forget that 120 years ago people didn't fly around the world. People didn't fly or even travel very much at all. Each country did its own thing, and when electricity came along, each country said \"we need a standard plug for everyth...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fpai52	how and where do companies like Google store this insane amount of data?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fljsbv3" ], "text": [ "Datacentres with vast arrays of computers filled up with high-end hard drives. Google got tired of using off the shelf computers so they designed their own server computers tailored exactly to what they need. URL_0" ], "score": [ 13 ], "text_urls": [ [ ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fpd2vl	Why does Skype never close?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flk7t0m" ], "text": [ "Skype allows you to accept incoming phone calls and in order to do so must be running on your computer. Having the program running is like having a smart phone turned on. Your smart phone works similarly but doesn't use a separate program so it isn't as obvious. If it b...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fpdqot	How a Website detects specific devices accessing it?	Hi, The question says it all. For example, I can’t do specific things if I use more than 5 accounts of AliExpress on a single device. Now my question is How AliExpress detects the exact devices. The restrictions always applied no matter if I use browser or the app.	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flkgybs" ], "text": [ "When your browser contacts a web site asking for a web page, it sends a header with more than just the request. The header is full of information like \"this is browser X, version Y\" and \"I'm on a machine running Windows version Z\" and \"I understand the following pr...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fpfypi	How do laser thermometers work?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flkqzbf", "flkp0o5" ], "text": [ "the laser doesn't do anything. it's just a visual aiming device. the measurement is done by an infrared sensor. warm/hot things give off infrared radiation, which the sensor detects. more infrared = hotter object", "They have a narrow beam infrared te...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fphm48	How does a busted hard drive that won’t boot anymore get its data recovered when you take it to the magic computer repair shop?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flkyqww", "flkyy4l", "fll537g", "flkzu4q" ], "text": [ "There are some tricks to it. If you only lost your MBR, the drive can be dropped into another machine and the data recovered. If the drive is truly dead, as in it does not spin, it can be sent into a shop that will remove the...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fpifrd	The technology/algorithms behind aim-botting in an FPS.	So I get that someone can cause their character to aim at another character but the question is more along the lines of how it works? Is it an X,Y axis on the user’s screen and the aim bot detects the enemy on that plain and just moves the user’s cursor to that X,Y coordinate? Or is it more along the lines of detecting...	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fll8e90" ], "text": [ "It's more manipulation of a game engine than math. Each entity has an id, aimbots simply track the id and location and calculates where to put the sight based off how the engine handles physics. This is why each aimbot is programmed per game. call of duty for example is...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fpj9st	How are animated movies made? Like they can’t handdraw every single frame, right? How does that work?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fll8jaj", "fll8nvb", "fll9n8y", "fllabl1" ], "text": [ "They used to draw everything. Now they use computers and software and facial feature recognitions and all that good stuff. Look into it, you might find a new interest.", "Yes, hand drawn cartoons are fully hand drawn. The...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fpjim9	how different fields of vision work and night vision.	I don’t understand How other ranges of colours work? Like night vision, IR, and etc... someone please explain.	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fllbojf" ], "text": [ "light is a huge spectrum of electro magnetic radiation; from X rays to radio waves it's all the same kind. a small part of that spectrum is visible light going from red to violet. beyond that, it's the same thing but a different color, one which we can't see. we can sti...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fppxsf	how do lava lamps work?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flmd0fy", "flmgerm" ], "text": [ "Wax is heated up from a light bulb. As it heats it floats to the top of the lamp, where it starts to cool off. Once it’s cool it sinks back down and the cycle continues.", "The \"lava\" is wax with density similar to water but more sensitive to heat c...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fpw4xj	How does the GPU work?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flnbg59" ], "text": [ "\"GPU\" is a bit of an abused term. When people talk about GPUs they typically mean the entire daughter board you slide into a [say] PCIe slot. These boards are effectively their own entire computer with their own power management, memory, memory control and processors....	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fpweht	How do copper wires and fiber optics (light) transmit data?	Hi, I am currently studying computer networks and I have been reading about how data is transmitted via copper wires and fiber optics. I understand the very basics of computers, data, logic gates and binary code. However, currently I am struggling to wrap my head around how data can be transmitted by copper/light? It j...	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flnb915", "flnaqli", "flo0qtb" ], "text": [ "Consider that you and a friend are on two hills far enough that your voices cannot carry but within sight of each other. You both have flashlights and know morse code. So by flashing the lights at each other you can send messages (ie data)....	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fpy5qt	How can Ambulance transmit warnings through motorists' radios?	The ambulance drivers can transmit messages into the nearby cars to alert any drivers not already aware of the oncoming vehicle. Adding this transmitter feature is part of Dubai Ambulance’s Give Way Give Hope campaign, which aims to reduce the number of delays caused by drivers blocking emergency vehicles. How does t...	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flnl4tq" ], "text": [ "> hacking radio waves? Somebody needs to watch less Hollywood hacking. Radio waves are not computers. It's like calling some guy running high beams behind you at night \"hacking your eyes\". The ambulance just has an ordinary radio transmitter. I don't know if it just b...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fpzsl8	Why is there a waitlist on a digital library?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flntyyq", "flntzlk", "flnx922", "flnuguk", "flopln9" ], "text": [ "I would assume it works like regular software and the library is only licensed to have so many digital copies of books in use at one time", "Libraries have to pay for digital books, same as physical ones. T...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fq16ob	Why do video games 'bug out' and develop problems.	I know very little about game design and development but am interested to know how bugs appear in games, I can understand in the early stages of a game being developed problems arising and fixes needing to be made, but why in established games do problems appear such as lobby issues, crashes, etc.	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flo259p" ], "text": [ "Code is weird and complicated and it can be really difficult to be sure that it's going to do what it's intended to in every scenario, especially with all of the possible things that you can do in a lot of games. Some bugs won't have been discovered by the playtesters a...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fq5dkk	How will ending encryption effect my life?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flotd6v", "flopapm", "flp0gn7", "flp0pxs" ], "text": [ "You will have no privacy online. All of your private messages, either from your computer, your phone, or anything connected to the internet, will be recorded and available to be read by anybody who wants them badly enough. En...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fq5jqz	How can people take old videos and upscale them to 4k?	The video that made me ask this is this one [ URL_0 ]( URL_0 ) A-ha: Take on me in 4k. How is this possible when 4k didn't exist when the video was made?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flopklt" ], "text": [ "That video was recorded in 1985 on film from my understanding. Film itself has a resolution way beyond 4K depending on the grain size. As long as the film is preserved, it can be re-scanned using a higher resolution scanner. We will probably get an 8K cut in a few years...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fq7rkh	Sony just said they’re slowing their download speeds to preserve internet capacity for everyone. Is the internet a finite resource? Why can’t everyone just use the internet at once?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flp1jlv", "flp1fa7", "flp2zl4", "flp24og", "flp1s2p" ], "text": [ "As far as I understand it.. think of the internet as a pipeline whenever you want to load a webpage or download a file you are basically requesting water to be sent to your tap the water being the information o...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fqamvq	How large is the internet?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flphp9t" ], "text": [ "There's no single answer, and there's no real way to know: we can only estimate Why is there no single answer? - Duplicate data: lots of images are duplicated, Netflix stores all their movies on different servers around the world to deliver them faster, people have copi...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fqfdny	How do nature docs get such spectacular footage and audio?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flq5tak" ], "text": [ "For the footage, time a lot of time. They have multiple crews going out to catch the footage they need and they spend a lot of time sometimes a year or more scouting and staking out locations and animals to get those 2 minutes of footage. As for the sound they have good...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fqlf8j	What is the difference between "Size" and "Size on disk?"		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flqvmxx", "flqznf9" ], "text": [ "In a really simplified sense: think of a storage device as a book: storage is divided logically into discrete \"pages\". Each page can only be assigned to a single file, so if that file doesn't occupy the entire page, the rest can't be used by anything el...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fqmyfg	how do mouse without the red light/ball work?	I recently bought a new wireless mouse. So far, all the mice I've ever seen had either a red light at the bottom (IR im guessing) and I suppose that's how it works. Or, even older, the little ball mice used to have. But this new one does not have either of them. It does have a similar hole like those with the red light...	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flr2xa6" ], "text": [ "Well, the \"red light\" on an optical mouse is really just that - a red light emitted by an LED. The mouse you have now is actually projecting infrared light, which is why you can't see it, because humans can't naturally perceive light in the infrared part of the spectr...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fqwop1	Why do wifi routers have multiple antennas?	I know that wifi routers are essentially weak microwaves but wouldn't multiple antennas cause interference or so?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flsp3jv" ], "text": [ "Since WiFi has to operate in complicated environments, and the chances of signals reflecting off of surfaces before reaching a device is high, There's a real probability that for example, some of the signal could take a more direct route, some could take a less direct r...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fr1gti	How does answering a recaptcha prove that you’re not a robot?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fltbpbs" ], "text": [ "The advantage of bots is that they work directly on the level of the computer, so they don't have to do slow, inefficient things like physically moving a mouse, identifying what the screen shows and where they need to click, aim the mouse it, etc, they can just say \"pu...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fr42in	why do screens often have odd pixel amounts like 1080 or 1440? Why not even number like 1000 or 1400?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fltoqfx", "fltq39y", "fltyv8g", "flu5l9w", "flu3k6t", "flu7yqa" ], "text": [ "> There are historical reasons: > Back in the day, analogue television had limited bandwidth. They used that bandwidth as well as they could and came up with a standard to transmit luminace and c...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fr45gv	What makes the touchscreens of smartphones feel different from the touchscreens of Nintendo DS's/3DS's and older mobile devices ?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fltmvd3" ], "text": [ "Your phone uses a capacitive touch screen which uses the capacitive properties of your finger to detect where you are interacting with the screen. Resistive touch screens have a flexible surface that when flexed allows two conductive surfaces to interact Resistive scree...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fr95q0	. How can forensics identify whether a file has been copied?	Also does this mean that when you copy and paste something, the copy is never identical? Can they identify how many times something has been copied from the original file? Thanks!	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flvnrqn" ], "text": [ "Oh, i work in security and have done forensic imaging of computers before, so i get to chime in with coming from the field! so, when you do things on your computer, they are logged. So for instance, when you plug in a USB drive theres a log entry for a new device being ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
frdiua	How do CPUs have such a high wattage and such a low voltage?	Most CPUs run at less than 2 volts, yet they pull more than 100 watts. Surely they don't have 50amps running through the tiny traces?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flv62yg", "flv63oi", "flv621l", "flv6sj0" ], "text": [ "yes, they do. They run at such a high speed that the transistors are always switching, and therefore they're pretty much always in their linear region and burning power. They tend to have upwards of 8 seperate power phases fo...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
frdopz	Why do podcasters and broadcasters wear headphones while talking/broadcasting?	So I think I get the broadcast part: you have to communicate with other team members, staff, TV channel etc while broadcasting and commentating a basketball match. But what about a podcast episode? Take Joe Rogan's podcast for instance: every time when he uploads a new episode you can see he and his guests + Jamie wear...	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flv7dp9", "flvbwj8", "flvhcoy" ], "text": [ "To block out ambient noise, and so you can hear if you're talking loudly/close enough into your mic.", "Prevent feedback. If you have music or others sounds going on during the broadcast, you can't have those sounds piped through speake...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
frgqfr	Why to light bulbs burn out after a few months but computer/tv screens last for many years?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flw2wjg", "flvoqlu" ], "text": [ "Light bulbs don't burn out in a few months, at least not anymore. Old-style incandescent bulb that heated a filament to yellow hot burned out, but modern LED bulbs use the same technology as computer screens and can last just as long. Also, when a LED ele...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
frh41d	How are IP addresses identifiable by location?	How is it that services are able to know the exact real-world location of a public IP address? Is there some prefix or suffix that gets linked to that location, ISP, or organization? Do these services just perform a WHOIS lookup?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flvrnpv", "flw7btc" ], "text": [ "Blocks of IP addresses are assigned to organizations on request by a handful of non-profit organizations responsible for maintaining the IP space. These are the Regional Internet Registries. In North America this organization is ARIN, in Europe its RIPE, ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
frjk7a	How do computers read code?	I was just wondering how computers read code. Wouldn’t you need to program the computer to read code? How does it work?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flw708u", "flw7d6z" ], "text": [ "It depends on the language of the program. A computer is a machine techically able execute one specific language only, called for this reason its machine language. The machine language is made of very simple instructions, such as summimg two numbers t...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
frk2fl	why devices don't accept fingerprints after restarting or updating	if I restart my phone it says "pin is required for restart" and on my computer says "use password for fingerprint". why is it any different for when I'm normally logging in?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flw8i82", "flwedsn", "flw8be1", "flx1wue" ], "text": [ "It is for your protection. You can be (legally/forcibly) compelled to give your fingerprint. You cannot (in most states) be compelled to give a piece of information held only in your head. If you want to protect your privacy,...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
frn0mj	Why are mobile games companies seemingly immune to copyright and plagiarism laws ?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flwqhi7", "flwn8ht", "flwza8u", "flwq12o", "flwxsps", "flwz6nb", "flwzm4y" ], "text": [ "Some of it is the Hydra effect too: they're being shat out faster than they can be taken down..", "I believe a lot of them have origins in China where they don’t seem to care a...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
frqxis	how does a computer know how long a second is?	How does a computer know exactly how long a second is? Does it know it as a rhythm? Does it know it by a certain number of computer thingys to equal one second (like unit conversion)?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flx5wra", "flx654r", "flxai7x", "flx60sd", "flxacmt" ], "text": [ "There is a clock on the motherboard driven by a quartz crystal that vibrates at a fixed frequency. That is connected to a counter chip that simply tots up the number of pulses from the crystal and sends out a p...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
frtl94	Why does erasing an entire hard drive take less time than deleting some individual files?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flxku7s", "flyf8un", "flxrqnb", "flxlg3q" ], "text": [ "* Hard drives keep list of all the files and where on the drive they are located. * When a new file needs to be written, the hard drive controller checks the list to find a free spot. * When you \"delete\" a file, you are jus...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
frtvqk	How do search engines find their URLs?	The internet is huge and not in one place, so how do we know they searched everywhere?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flxnj4o", "flxnqbg" ], "text": [ "Search engines \"crawl\" the internet to search for content that will satisfy the user's search. Website devs need to optimize their website so they can be indexed (or \"crawled\") and they also includes optimizing the URL so it can be crawled. Optimizing...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
frudfd	Why does IPv6 Adoption correspond to the day of the week?	I'm learning about Cybersecurity and my course referenced IPv6 adoption for 3 years ago. I found the current rate from [Google is on avg 30%]( URL_0 ). However if you look at the graph it's a noticeable pattern that corresponds to the week. Sunday is almost always the highest IPv6 traffic with Monday often being the lo...	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flxtnjc", "flxu1k8" ], "text": [ "IT administrators do most system maintenance, configuration changes, and updates during the time when the network is least being utilized and thus causes the least amount of network disruption. This is generally late Saturday night or the wee hours of Sun...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fs3egb	Why do the files on a smartphone not become corrupt when it runs out of battery power, but it would happen to a games console?	What is it that is different?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flz7bsf", "flz9tb2", "flzjddn" ], "text": [ "Smartphones rarely ever shut down. Also, when your phone gets down to 0% battery, it's not actually at 0%, it can be anywhere from between 5% and 20% actual charge. This is because the battery needs to have a little bit of power to continue...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fs3po8	Why is a greenscreen green?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flz9k22" ], "text": [ "Cameras have red, green and blue sensors and you get the sharpest image out from a color that just stimulates one color. You could use any color to do what has the general name chroma keying but red, green or blue has the best result Human skin color contains a lot of r...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fs66j4	How does wearable tech like Fit Bits and Apple Watches track our sleep cycles to show different stages of sleep throughout the night?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "flzoete", "flzry6b" ], "text": [ "They don't track your sleep, they just say they do, but they don't actually do it in a legit manner. Thats the real deal. Tracking sleep is actually a really complicated process requiring some complex specialized equipment and conditions. These devices ju...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fs97uu	Why can games render high-quality graphics in real time, while rendering the equivalent in softwares takes minutes?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fm055gf" ], "text": [ "Game engines cheat. - They use low(er) quality assets (textures, models, animations etc). A character model in a video game will not be as complex as the model in an animated film or whatever. The movie character will have better hair, much more complex skin features,...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fs9nlt	The sudden popularity of Zoom. How is it better than Hangouts, GoToMeeting or the other 100 already existing applications?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fm0bdq5", "fm0a7fg", "fm0a2fr" ], "text": [ "I haven't read the terms of agreement properly, but apparently Zoom is a bit notorious for not being privacy friendly.", "I guess because you can have 12 (or 16) camera feeds on the same screen? Skype won't show more than 4.", "Bett...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fsd5wu	How does an SD card become write protected when you slide the little switch down on the side?	How does moving the little switch on the side of an SD card write protect it when accessing it from a computer?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fm0t978" ], "text": [ "This was also done with floppy disks, music cassettes and VHS cassettes, and they made it work the same way on SD cards as they did on those older media: depending on the position of the switch, it either trips or doesn't trip a little microswitch inside the card reader...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fsfkcn	What is the difference between a search engine and a web browser? Please provide an example of both		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fm12se3" ], "text": [ "This is the equivalent of asking \"What's the difference between a Mazda Miata and a can of tuna?\" A search engine (Bing, Google, Yahoo) is a service that collates and indexes millions of web pages and the links between them, so that when you enter a search term, it ca...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fsfncn	How do live traffic maps work, and how was this technology developed?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fm13i70" ], "text": [ "Pretty much anybody who is using google maps has agreed to share their location data with google. So they are able to see where you are, how fast you are moving, and how many others are near you. They use this to give you alerts to slowdowns, accidents, and other obstac...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fslpiq	What causes that buzz sound when a mic is close to it's speaker?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fm243lk" ], "text": [ "The sound coming out of the speakers is fed back into the microphone, then out of the speakers again and so on." ], "score": [ 4 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fsm6yw	From Telephone Wires to Cell Phone Signals	ELI5: this might belong somewhere more like r/nostupidquestions, but how do landline phone signals get converted into wireless signals (in other words, how do landlines call cell phones)? Is that just another thing that cell towers do; like, do they just have landlines running into them and they convert the signals to ...	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fm2a3s7" ], "text": [ "Voice calls from a landline seem analogue and old, but behind the scenes they're all digital now. In the phone company's Central Office their hardware is converting your call into something compatible with, say, an office desk phone that uses a LAN port for its connecti...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fso3df	Why is out cheaper in nearly all cases to buy a new printer than to buy a refill ink cartridge?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fm2i5zk", "fm2k9re", "fm2mxuy" ], "text": [ "Just look at some documentaries or search on google and you’ll find the truth about why these inkt cartridges are so expensive. Its basically how companies make money. Its a total scam.", "HP got in trouble at one point because their pr...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fspkug	How do artists "scan" their drawings so they look completely flawless digitally?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fm2s9do", "fm2wlyi" ], "text": [ "Yes. Most of them have specialized scanners that allow them to accurately upload these pieces. Additionally, it helps for digital touch ups which can be a bit more versatile with some programs.", "Scanners bigger than 11\"x17\" are rare and expensive ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fsrxxl	How does a universal remote work?	How do they build one remote that works with lots of electronic devices?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fm34j4y" ], "text": [ "each manufacturer uses their own frequencies for various buttons on the remote. a universal remote is programmable, so you have to program each button. but most smart universal remotes come preprogrammed for various manufacturers." ], "score": [ 3 ], "text_u...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fssqwh	Why is it almost impossible to “decompile” executable (.exe) files to reveal the package contents?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fm3bczs", "fm3q4em", "fm3b4uc" ], "text": [ "Executable files are made of machine code, which is translated (assembled) from a family of programming languages called assembly. It is (usually) possible to reverse the process (disassembling) and get the same assembly code back, because ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fst5ol	In the world of video games, how do "engines" (Unreal, Unity, etc.) actually work?	I have a friend who works in video game design, and I am very into video games myself, but I have 0 idea how the coding of games actually works. I understand that publishers work with studios who use engines, but how do engines themselves actually work? is it through coding language, something more complicated, or some...	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fm3fmyh", "fm3obye", "fm3guf5", "fm3w0s6", "fm4alwp" ], "text": [ "Engines like those typically have the foundation in their code to already do what you need them to do such as terrain formation, models for bodies, water, objects, movement, etc. instead of having to start from...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
ft69zv	How did (or does) "stealing cable" work?	How did (or does) steal cable television work? In old TV series you can sometimes see people climbing and handling in the power pole in front of their house, what exactly are they doing there?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fm582dx" ], "text": [ "Cable television is literally television transmitted through electrical cables, rather than over radio. The cable ran across the city, just like electrical cables and phone cables. When you signed up for cable, a technician would put down a cable from these cables to yo...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
ft9064	When rebooting a PC, how does it know to turn back on again after turning off.		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fm5piw8", "fm5pl5t" ], "text": [ "On a restart one of the last things done is there's an ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) command sent to the BIOS to get the machine on switch off to boot itself back up. It's as simple as that really. The 'on' signal on a modern computer ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
ftbmm2	We’ve teleported particles a few years ago, how does that work?	Just seen this thing by Brian Cox and already a few years ago, we teleported a single particle from one place to the other which gets me very confused Firstly..... how? And secondly, how would the particle of appeared? How did it displace the air particles? If the particle popped into existence in the other location, w...	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fm66gp1", "fm6g6ew" ], "text": [ "I really wish they hadn't used the word \"teleportation.\" It's not teleportation in the sense that you're thinking, it's more akin to instant communication: i.e., transmitting information instantaneously (although it's not really that either, for reaso...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
ftdg4o	What causes bugs/glitches in video games?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fm6kgde", "fm6gbs7" ], "text": [ "Bugs and programming are inseparable. Where you have code, bugs will appear. Whether they stay there, however, is about being careful and responsible. Basically, a bug is usually a typo. Using the wrong name of a variable or function, the wrong symbol, no...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
ftibmu	What causes websites to crash after sudden, consistent high traffic and how are they fixed?	If a website encounters an influx of unexpected traffic for multiple weeks causing it to crash, how do they fix this and how long would it normally take? Also, how could it still not function during lower traffic times?	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fm7aasm", "fm7cslh" ], "text": [ "Websites are hosted by something called a Web server and the people connecting to it are called web clients. Imagine a drive through restaruant, let's call it McRolands, serves people that arrive in cars one by one. Each car places its order (requests a w...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
ftm5qk	How exactly does a computer transcribe interviews - what enables the audio to text conversion?	Title is pretty self explanatory.	Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fm7yuq6", "fm8633y" ], "text": [ "We've gotten very good (through AI learning, and having humans manually translate) at teaching computers what sounds translate to what words. It's gotten good enough that computers can now translate on the fly. Try enabling closed captioning in your next ...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
fto7v1	How can a 15+ year old movie be resold as a 4K title today?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fm81r2j", "fm82if7" ], "text": [ "35mm film stock has a resolution of about 4k (or a little more) so old films can be copied digitally in 4k if a good quality film copy of them still exists.", "It is only recently that 4K digital film technology have been used to make movies. Howe...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]
ftprny	how do video games get created and still have secrets years after their creation?		Technology	explainlikeimfive	{ "a_id": [ "fm8bty6" ], "text": [ "Game files can be hacked but what matters is if is found can be deciphered. At the end of the day, it's all lines of code and if that code isn't clearly labelled or its function isn't easy to understand, then it might be hard to determine what it is. If hackers find a l...	[ "url" ]	[ "url" ]

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