q_id stringlengths 6 6 | title stringlengths 4 294 | selftext stringlengths 0 2.48k | category stringclasses 1
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gj5wuy | how Unreal Engine 5 on PS5 can diplay "100s of billions of tris" while my $8,000 PC for 3D animation struggles with these numbers? | I understand draw distance and memory allocation and how these objects aren't rendered when not on camera, but I just don't understand how this technological leap has been made possible on a console when I can't imagine having a scene like this in any of my 3D software. Just curious if anyone has better insight to how ... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqipobo"
],
"text": [
"We don't have the full technical details yet, so here's some speculation based on what was demoed and what they've said publicly: * Dynamic scaling of asset polygon resolution. It sounds as though that while the actual asset may have enormous amount of polygons, the eng... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gj69wd | Why are video games developed and rendered in triangles and polygons? | Seeing all the new developments in Unreal Engine and the new generation of consoles I’d like to get a basic understanding of what the heck they’re talking about! | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqisaug",
"fqisw9q"
],
"text": [
"The game needs a system to describe objects. Say you want to describe a cube, how would you do it? You could say it's a cube with sides a certain length and a center at a given location. But then you need to describe a pyramid. You have to come up with a ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gjah5u | How did we build the first ever precise measuring tool? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqjo56d",
"fqjo3hy",
"fqjocl0"
],
"text": [
"Ancient Chinese had rope with knots at fixed distances. Greeks used their palms. Measuring is actually pretty old but the first ever instrument is unknown",
"What do you mean precise measuring tool? We are constantly building more and m... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gjd4lg | How does the NSA make any sense of the huge amounts of data in collects? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqk8sby",
"fqk8wna",
"fqkeek1",
"fql9ftq"
],
"text": [
"You're probably thinking of some agent huddled over a computer with the shades drawn, thumbing through individual files one by one. Noooope! With that amount of data the only way to go is to use automated tools to get what th... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gje123 | - Why does slowing down/speeding up a video make the voices go deep/high? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqkeqh8"
],
"text": [
"Sound waves move horizontally, so when you speed it up it smushes the sound waves together making them have a higher pitch, and when you slow it down it stretches the sounds waves out making them have a lower pitch."
],
"score": [
4
],
"text_urls": [
[]
... | [
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gjeudd | What is Cloud Computing? | When YouTube videos or websites try to explain cloud computing, they just say what server computing is and then say cloud computing ISN'T that. Like I get what a server is- I can picture it- , but you say cloud computing I just can't comprehend. Appreciate any help. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqkmfqo",
"fqkrncy"
],
"text": [
"ELI5: the cloud doesn't exist, it's just someone else's computer. To expand on that topic, cloud computing really is just using someone else's computer somewhere else. For example, say you're doing a large 3D animation and you want it to be done quickly, ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gjgl5r | What is the difference in upload speed and download speed for my wifi? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqkur9k"
],
"text": [
"In the simplest terms, upload speed is how much data per second you can send over the internet, and download speed is how much data you can receive. Good speeds are relative to what you’re use is"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
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} | [
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gjl71q | How does the Color Filter camera in the Photochrom mode on a Oneplus 8pro can see through some plastic/ceramic objects and reveals their internal circuitry? (with examples) | [Example #1]( URL_0 ) [Example #2]( URL_1 ) [Example #3]( URL_2 ) [Example #4]( URL_3 ) & #x200B; This is the most amazing hidden application on any smart phone in the market and I am sure even Oneplus did not expect it to work this way. Can anyone explain to me how this work? & #x200B; Thanks! | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqlip9p"
],
"text": [
"The OnePlus 8 has an additional camera sensor that is in black and white, but it is also sensitive to infrared, this sensor assists in low light photography. There was a post on r/blackmagicfuckery that showed a OnePlus 8 seeing through an Apple TV. The Apple TV has pla... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gjlvxl | Unreal Engine 5 looks amazing but it does not look exactly like real life or that it was shot with a camera in real life. What are we missing and why is that not possible yet? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqloba9"
],
"text": [
"In short - computation power. When movies and shows render really high quality graphics it takes ages to render a single frame. Video game engines need to be real time for gameplay which is typically around 60 frames every second. There are more complications for life l... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gjm0kg | What is a video game engine? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqlne4i"
],
"text": [
"When you develop a game there is a lot of stuff you need to program, and a lot of that stuff is needed for pretty much any game you might make. For example you need code that draws models, plays sounds, takes controller input, plays animations, simulates physics, online... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gjoksu | Whats the difference between a wifi router, a router and a modem? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqm3si5"
],
"text": [
"A router is a device that lets you connect several devices in a local network. A wireless router is the same thing, except that the devices connect to it worelessly (although it usually contains a couple of ethernet ports). A modem is what connects you to the internet. ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gjpsa7 | Why is a games source code being leaked a bad thing? Doesn't all that code exist in the games files? | I do know that that code obviously then inst available, since that's why the recent leaks are significant...but why is it significant? Obviously cheaters will use that to more easily make hacks, but why is that code not part of the game? How does that code not exist in the game files? Is it hidden in some way or is som... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqmax0k",
"fqmc4d0",
"fqodg42",
"fqmcami"
],
"text": [
"Because the executable files that you have are in machine code, and is unreadable by humans. Even if you converted it back to human-readable code (with a decompiler), there are probably thousands of variables which are comple... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gjq1qx | www is no longer required before a website name. Why? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqmctao",
"fqmd1jb",
"fqmd50g"
],
"text": [
"It never was, it's just a convention. Each subdomain can go to a different IP address, so for instance back when FTP was still commonly used you could have URL_1 and URL_0 being handled by different machines.",
"It never was required. I... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gjqrpk | how can LED screens be organic/OLED? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqmh81q"
],
"text": [
"The chemicals used are organic chemicals (as in organic chemistry vs inorganic chemistry class). It's not organic as in the \"organic vegetable\" use of the word."
],
"score": [
7
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gjt7ys | Bellsouth/atlantic turned into AT & T & Verizon? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqmyanu"
],
"text": [
"In 1984, ~~the Supreme Court ruled that the AT & T Corporation was a monopoly~~ the US District Court for the District of Columbia presided over an antitrust settlement between AT & T and the Dept of Justice that confirmed the AT & T Corporation was a monopoly and force... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gjtphw | How can a printer print a document so fast without the page looking messy? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqn0xu3"
],
"text": [
"The ink is designed to absorb into the paper quickly. Also it does help quite a lot that the head does not physically touch the paper, it just comes very very very close to it."
],
"score": [
8
],
"text_urls": [
[]
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} | [
"url"
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"url"
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gjuwbq | How would any government agency even obtain a user's "browser search history" | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqn7mh0"
],
"text": [
"They don’t get browser history, they get browsing history - they contact your ISP and get their transmission logs."
],
"score": [
4
],
"text_urls": [
[]
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} | [
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gjvdk9 | Why is Bluetooth audio so unpredictable? Some times you can listen to music from seemingly impossible distances, when other times just moving your hand near your device causes an interuption. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqncr61"
],
"text": [
"That's just how digital transmission works. Data is sent with some amount of error correction, which allows for let's say 5% of data loss. Right until 5% the quality is going to be perfect. The moment that is exceeded, error correction fails and you have a gap in your a... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gjx76a | how laser eye surgery fixes astigmatisms and how it works so fast | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqnqfbn"
],
"text": [
"As I understand it, astigmatism is due to a malformation of the cornea. The laser goes in, and removes some of the tissue in order to reshape the eye essentially. Thus due to no longer having a wonky shaped eyeball, vision improves."
],
"score": [
7
],
"text... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gjxpn7 | With Youtube servers down at the moment. What does getting them back 'up' really entail. Is it a large team working on bugs? Or just one or two head technicians with one issue that they need to resolve? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqnqgpq",
"fqnq4ht"
],
"text": [
"Usually, the main issue when something is down is not fixing the issue, it's figuring out what the issue exactly is. Deploying the fix is usually something that takes a few minutes, but figuring out what the fix is can take hours. Usually, software develo... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gjzun0 | How were credit checks run in the days before internet/computers? | Nowadays it’s pretty simple for a car dealership to run a credit check or to apply for a credit card, but how was this done and where was this info stored in the pre-information age? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqo3jfo",
"fqobci1"
],
"text": [
"They called a phone number and told them your info and they got credit info back. Before that it was a mail based process. Before that it was all based on whether the local bank would lend to you. Because they knew you and knew your income.",
"Before ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gk1ivn | why were playstation 1 CD's black and playstation 2 CD's blue, instead of looking like regular CD's? How did that work with manufacturing and reading the disc, and why were they designed like that? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqozhut"
],
"text": [
"It was purely cosmetic, to look distinctive. The dyes were chosen to not interfere with the lasers used to read the discs."
],
"score": [
5
],
"text_urls": [
[]
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} | [
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gk4hp7 | how does SpaceX get money? Who pays SpaceX to fly things off the earth? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqoyu57",
"fqp4wd7"
],
"text": [
"Quite a few. You can look at the [list]( URL_0 ), but the short is: * SpaceX themselves for testing * SpaceX for Starlink * NASA, for space missions (including supplying the ISS) * Telecommunications companies * Other aerospace companies * The US military... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gk5356 | Why can't programs run .zip files although they take just a few seconds to extract? | Title, really. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqp0eso",
"fqp1irj",
"fqp2nod",
"fqp4wgf"
],
"text": [
"I think if you wanted you could programm them to be able to. However that would mean that your programm would have to extract the whole zip-file each time it needs one of the contents. Thats a lot of computational power and t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gk6vqj | What does RAM do In a pc and how much is needed for high-end gaming? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqphvcz",
"fqpc0rl"
],
"text": [
"Think of your hard drive as a series of bookshelves. You can't read a book on the shelf. Instead you take it to a reading table (RAM) and lay it open to read it. The more RAM you have the bigger the table and the more books you can have open at once. If t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gk7znw | Why does turning something off and on fix problems? | I know it works most of the time with my pc and my smartphone, but yesterday at the dentist a drill didn't work correctly, so they turned the entire chair and all the appliances connected to it off and on and the drill was working again. Why does this fix so many problems when nothing is changed in the hardware itself? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqpfsop",
"fqpobe9"
],
"text": [
"it resets the software. pc,phone and even the chair at the dentist all have some form of software on them. If it is a problem with the software a reboot resets it and hopefully it starts to work as expected again.",
"* Turning a device off and then ba... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gk8rmc | Why are FM stations odd decimals and AM stations whole, even numbers? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqpl9ek",
"fqpvq4f",
"fqpvup0",
"fqpt3bx"
],
"text": [
"The FM radio band is 88.0 MHz through 108.0 MHz. FM radio stations are 200 kHz wide (0.1 MHz on each side), this is the bandwidth that carries the signal(and associated sidelobes) If you were to put an FM radio station at 100... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gka3pl | How do they make the sun or fire or other effects look very bright on TVs and monitors? | Mostly during videogames as compared to TVs or movies | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqpt5pm",
"fqq8x1b"
],
"text": [
"One thing they will often do is darken the surroundings when a bright light source comes into view, creating greater contrast. The same effect also happens in many real cameras which can auto adjust exposure based on the light level.",
"In real life w... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gkaguy | With cosmic ray soft errors occurring quite often, how comes my non-ECC RAM/SSD doesn't lead to blue screens at all? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqpvkz9",
"fqpvsnb"
],
"text": [
"Statistics are your friend here. In 1996 IBM estimated 1 soft error per month per 256 MB of RAM. If you've got 8 GB of RAM that means you should expect a single soft error per 22.5 hours of run time. Most of your RAM isn't doing anything important most of... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gkc5u0 | How Hardware and Software communicates? | I still wonder how people manage to create a machine that visualize a graphic to a screen then commands it with a button. I still wonder how "programming" works through metal/gold/copper I'm still amaze that people made these stuff | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqq8p9x",
"fqq7fyo"
],
"text": [
"The software is a bunch of electrical charges arranged inside of the hardware. It's not necessarily \"communicating\" to the hardware as much as it's what's going on inside of the hardware at a given moment. If you want to get a grasp of what's happening,... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gkgm28 | How is it possible that Next Gen Graphics Engines can render billions of triangles, dynamic lighting, DOF etc at 60fps+ but making a single frame with similar settings in a 3D rendering program would take minute to hours to render? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqqyqym"
],
"text": [
"Basically graphics engines take lots of shortcuts. When you're looking at a rough surface, is it really rough? Or is it just a texture of something rough. Far away objects are reduced in complexity, which you don't notice (because it's far away), but it's there. A prope... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gkjmgz | What’s the difference between regular/studio recordings of songs and Mono versions? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqrh19x"
],
"text": [
"Mono is the same sound coming through both sides, both earphones, studio is recorded stereo with different sides having different sound potentially. Queen likes having different sounds coming through different ears (“little high, little low” from bohemian rhapsody) and ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gkkpv4 | Why 5G towers and remotely read electricity meters and the EMF they emit are NOT dangerous. | I don't believe they are, but I'm after a convincing argument to use with those who do, that isn't condescending and they might consider. I work for a power company and get a lot people complaining that they don't want one of those remotely-read (via cell network) electricity meters so close to their kids' bedroom beca... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqs6mht",
"fqrxijx",
"fqrogh4",
"fqrz80s",
"fqsxgpp"
],
"text": [
"There's two types of electromagnetic radiation (EMF): Ionizing and non-ionizing. Ionizing waves have high energy and a short wavelength. Since their wavelength is so short, they can interact with matter on the ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gkljl1 | How do you get stereo sound out of a vinyl record? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqrso0r"
],
"text": [
"Picture each 'groove' in the vinyl record as a valley. The etching on each side of the groove differs. The right side of this \"valley\" is responsible for R-input, the left-side of the 'valley' is responsible for the L-input."
],
"score": [
4
],
"text_urls"... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
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gkoft9 | Why can phone cameras not take good photos of the moon? They always seem to make it 10x smaller than you can see with the naked eye. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqsgj5e",
"fqsbnck",
"fqsc7mh",
"fqtnupm",
"fqsv0xa",
"fqtq3gl",
"fqtbgot"
],
"text": [
"The human eye is close to a 35mm lens or focal length. The standard phone is 12-15mm until zoomed in. Some light reading on [focal length ]( URL_0 )",
"The naked eye is very po... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gkpidg | Why do phone calls always sound bad regardless of how good your microphone quality is? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqslcsk",
"fqsl779"
],
"text": [
"A lot of it has to do with Quality of Service (QoS) characteristics based on the traffic profile you're exhibiting. In earlier generations, e.g. GSM (2G), the networks exclusively used really low sample rates to encode audio data. The result, humans can s... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gkpoew | How could people create detailed maps of continets hundred of years ago without being able to fly? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqskg1e",
"fqswpf2",
"fqt00fq",
"fqsjlwo"
],
"text": [
"They determined their position based on their speed, direction and at night with the stars. Hell of a job, but they got a lot of it done pretty well.",
"Set a datum - this is your 0,0,0 point. Then move to a point within ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gkrn0f | Why do TVs not equalise sound? | Whenever I have the volume set to a certain point, the ad break seems to be so loud. Why cant TVs just use an equaliser system? Or even simpler, base the volume on decibels, so if the volume is set at 16 dB, all sounds coming from the TV should stay at 16 dB. That would be better than setting only how loud the sound is... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqsvact",
"fqsvv16"
],
"text": [
"It is done on purpose by the broadcasters. When an ad comes on most people go do something such as grab a drink. They boost the volume in hope you can still hear it in the other room.",
"You mean a compressor/limiter or an autogain and not a equalizer... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gkt931 | With the invention of guns, why did armor get so much more lightweight | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqt49yj",
"fqta79n"
],
"text": [
"You can't effectively encase a person in bulletproof armor. If you do that, the person becomes pretty immobile since the armor would be so heavy and bulky. (Imagine a bomb disposal suit) Instead you protect the most important bits (heart and head), and le... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gkupku | Why are computer CPUs the size they are? Wouldn't making them bigger give way to more processing power without needing better technology? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqtlg8x",
"fqtj6ae",
"fquvsl9",
"fqtcfra",
"fqtuc96",
"fqutn9t",
"fqtcjtc",
"fqud3fe",
"fqucgge",
"fquc3tm",
"fqun57m",
"fqvmh2o",
"fquqp5n"
],
"text": [
"Although electricity moves *very* fast (almost the speed of light) it still has to travel,... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gkwj47 | How do cassette tapes work? The tape looks blank so how does the cassette player read the tape? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqttb6k"
],
"text": [
"Hi :-) > blank While you can buy something like the \"3M Magnetic Tape Viewer\" (A disc you can place on tape to show the weak magnetic fields), you can easily try this at home: - Take an old/expired card with a magnet strip (e.g. gift-card). - Use some iron powder (Nai... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gkx163 | How are Integrated Circuit Chips programmable? | How are some integrated chips programmable? I understand that most IC chips are not, they are designed to do one function, and they will do that particular function when integrated within a larger system. However, some other IC chips are programmable. For example, a software programmer can write a completely new progra... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqtty8o"
],
"text": [
"I think what you're talking about is FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays). Back in the old days you had PLA (Programmable Logc Array Logic), the chips had loads of logic gates on them like AND, OR, NAND, NOR etc. These are the logic devices that make up a computer as ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gkxuzn | Why does taking a photo of a screen cause lines to appear? Why do these lines change as I zoom in on the picture? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqtyn1e"
],
"text": [
"They're called Moiré patterns URL_0 It's caued by the interferance pattern between the pixel grid in your camera's sensor, the pixel grid on the screen your photographing and the pixel grid on your phone's screen (which is why they change when you zoom) If you take a pi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gkznqu | How is electricity/energy from things like solar panels or generators stored? If the answer is batteries, how do batteries work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqua53i"
],
"text": [
"The answer *is* batteries for small applications, like a solar-powered radio or your car with an alternator. Not the case for large-scale like nationwide electric grids, the batteries become too big and too expensive too quickly. For this there are alternatives like usi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gl031d | what is the difference between a laser and a regular flashlight? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqubbhl",
"fquc621"
],
"text": [
"A laser is monochromatic, basically a single wavelength of light. It is also typically *coherent*, meaning it stays in lockstep with itself, and does not tend to diverge, or spread out over fairly long distances. So the energy doesn't spread out, and the ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gl1kem | Why do most games only use a single core when multi core processors have been standard for more than a decade now? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqumt4t",
"fqum4kp",
"fqukwpj",
"fqv3hn0",
"fquss1j"
],
"text": [
"Most newer games are multithreaded. That being said, I can say from personal experience from programming multithreaded applications that the level of complexity from single threaded to multithreaded is exponent... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gl79p3 | How do spacecraft navigate through and avoid collision with the asteroids in the asteroid belt? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqvoes2",
"fqvpc4t"
],
"text": [
"Asteroid belts aren't like they're depicted in movies. At least ours isn't. The average gap between asteroids in our belt is 600,000 miles, so it wouldn't be hard to slip between them",
"The asteroid belt is not very densely populated, it’s more a gra... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gl81mg | How do they make a Blu-ray or 4K version of a movie that was filmed before those technologies existed? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqvunub",
"fqvtgeo"
],
"text": [
"The 35mm film was the standard way to recode mainstream moves from the 1910s until you start to use digital cameras. Digital cameras start to be used in mainstream moves around the year 2000. Digital becomes dominant in the mid 2010s when you 4K cameras. ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
glbz33 | how can a mobile phone transmit high data rates from a tiny omni directional antenna with low power and no line of sight over many kilometers? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqwi19y"
],
"text": [
"Your phone cheats - it only has to send to the nearest cell tower where wires then continue the signal over to the tower where the info needs to be delivered. The signal clarity is from the brilliance of digital communications. The most common form is phase modulation. ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
glf3ax | Why do wires get tangled up in so weird,crazy ways around everything? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqwz2fj",
"fqwy80d"
],
"text": [
"It has to do with the length of the cord and the ‘agitation rate. I remember a year or two ago reading about actual research done by Apple in how their earbuds get so tangled. I believe a wire only needs to cross over 2-3 times over another part of the co... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
glic8d | Why have we not fully explored the Pyramids of Giza? And how have so much of them remained untouched/unexplored throughout history? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqxjp9w"
],
"text": [
"People *have* been inside, but only into relatively accessible chambers. The pyramids are protected by Egyptian law, and it is nearly impossible to receive a permit to do anything that may alter them, like dismantling them or drilling holes to see what's on the other si... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gllr5u | difference between making a 2D and 3D game | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqy92kg"
],
"text": [
"3D is more difficult, by a huge margin. The why is pretty boring: it's basically because the math is much more complicated when working in 3D (2D allow a bunch of simplifications that you can not do in 3D) One example of something that is simple in 2D but a nightmare in... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
glmh08 | What is the filtration system for tap water like and should I trust it as drinking water? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqyf0lz"
],
"text": [
"The good people of Flint, MI would say no. I have one of those on-the-faucet filters and it works great. Makes the water taste better, too. They're pretty cheap and the replacement filters aren't expensive."
],
"score": [
4
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glnr4z | How did early sailors like [Vasco da Gama] know were they were when sailing? | **In Detail please** Also mentioning the tools, instruments and the process they used will be helpful, Thanks! | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqypa8t",
"fqyulws"
],
"text": [
"The sun during the day, the stars at night and pointing confidently in a direction when it was cloudy.",
"The tool = sextant The process = sail south to the correct latitude and then west until you reach land The 2D process, called the longitude probl... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
glo5aj | When we mute our phones, do the apps actually stop sending the data to generate sound at the speakers? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqyuzfk",
"fqz3ufx",
"fqyujgl",
"fqzf0of",
"fqza3un"
],
"text": [
"Since Android has system-level volume control, changing volume in Android seamlessly changes the volume so other apps don't have to worry about it. So if you mute using the Android UI, the apps are still runnin... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gloivt | Can someone explain the latency we experience with bluetooth headphones although radio waves travel faster than electrons/electricity? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqytajp"
],
"text": [
"Simply put, bluetooth is a short range, low power, wireless network. Each device in the network contains a small, cheap processor that handles the conversion to and from digital wireless to analog audio. This conversion, because of relatively low-end processors, adds ro... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
glqkuw | How do some websites trap you in an endless cycle of reloading the page when you try to escape with the back button? | This is so frustrating! Thanks!! | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqz6sy8",
"fqz878m"
],
"text": [
"The previous page was an automatic redirect. Each time you go back to that page it tries to redirect you. Click the back button twice quickly to get past the redirect page :)",
"You land on page A. Page A has code that says: \"Immediately go to Page B... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gls2hk | What exactly is a transistor, and how do they work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fqzfr0s"
],
"text": [
"A transistor is an electronic gate(most of the time, a few other fields like microfluidics also uses them). The most basic version has 2 inputs and 1 output. 1 input will control wether things can travel through (gate) and the other input (the source) could be thought o... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
glwyzz | How do C-RAM systems work? (Counter rocket, artillery, and mortar) | Title | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr0b3l1"
],
"text": [
"Think of the C-RAM system as a really big gun that can shoot a lot of big bullets at an extremely high rate of fire. Now, attach a computer, a radar, and an infrared camera to the big gun and point it towards an area where you're expecting indirect fire munitions to be ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
glz20o | how can blockchain prevent election rigging while making sure only eligible people get to cast their ballot? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr0ui28",
"fr12596"
],
"text": [
"Blockchain is, when you get to the bottom of it, just a read-only memory. It allows you to write something that everyone can read but no one can edit later. I'm sure that can play a part within some greater election-improving system. But if someone simply... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gm07ek | How does microphone feedback work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr0qfaj"
],
"text": [
"A bit of sound enters the mic, plays out the speaker which is then picked up by the mic. Oh course the speaker will play that again like an echo almost but feedback does this thousands of times a second-playing the sound and picking back up, repeat. I cannot explain for... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gm0r60 | Why is red light used for night vision? Why not yellow or other colours of light? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr0tqaz"
],
"text": [
"Red light is used to help prevent loss of night vision because there are less red receptors in the human eye. Only the red receptors lose their sensitivity, leaving the green and blue receptors unaffected and retaining their dark sensitivity. However, it has since been ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gm0zvz | Is it possible to track a mobile phone location just from a phone call, without GPS? | If yes how? If no, why not? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr0v19z"
],
"text": [
"If you're the police and want to know the location of a mobile phone, you can just call the network operator. They know which of their towers had the strongest signal and therefore probably was closest to the phone. That gives you at least a rough location. I've heard t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gm26sa | Why aren't objects bent in videos where the frequency of said objects is the same as the camera shutter speed? | The title won't make sense if I don't explain as I barely understand the basics. I have recently learned about the rolling shutter effect from this video: URL_1 I have seen several posts here on reddit illustrating what happens when the camera shutter is the same as for example the blades of a helicopter. I get that th... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr12ddd"
],
"text": [
"The rolling shutter effect is only visible in certain conditions. Some more expensive cameras have a global shutter option instead of a rolling shutter. And whith a global shutter you do not get the rolling shutter effect. Another way to get rid of the rolling shutter e... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gmb7rm | how transistors become a microprocessor? | So I was wondering how multiple transistors coordinate to become a microprocessor. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr2wc7j",
"fr2pt8c"
],
"text": [
"First thing you need is a clock. Something which goes from 1 to 0 and back again repeatedly. This is provided by an external oscillator. Now you have to keep track of this time in order to know when to do things. To count the time you arrange the transist... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gmdews | How do bar codes work? | The entire system is complete wizardry to me. The laser itself is witchcraft but the most amazing part is the database. I could imagine that stores somehow associate a code with a product when they add it to their inventory system but what prevents two manufacturers from using the same bar codes on different products. ... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr2yzvv",
"fr36bqi",
"fr2yjs8"
],
"text": [
"When a manufacturer produces a product it has to pay for each of those number codes that are attached to the bar code scanned at checkout. Yes each product has a unique barcode for itself. From type and size (think different size boxes of t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gmgeqf | Why can't we charge phones faster? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr3hqaj"
],
"text": [
"Think of a battery energy supply as a straw in a glass. smaller straws deliver power slower, but then imagine your glass has to be refilled with the same staw being used as the power supply. & #x200B; Phones are smaller batteries that don't have a lot of power output, a... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gmgk8r | Why is anticheat so hard to implement in games | Aimbot for example. It seems to me that all that would be needed is a counter for accuracy to tag someone for aimbot usage yet most AAA games are still plagued with cheaters. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr3ik83",
"fr3j8cw"
],
"text": [
"It's a constant game of cat and mouse. A simple counter works perfectly until somebody figures out it kicks in once you've hit X straight headshots and programs their bot to only hit X-1.",
"No matter how clever you think you are as a developer, the h... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gmhe0y | Why was it that, back in the early days of the WWW, some browsers would load a low-res image which would then become sharper, while others loaded the image bit-by-bit, top to bottom? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr3sirg",
"fr3o8l6"
],
"text": [
"This is not depending on the browser, but the image. If it is stored as “progressive JPEG”, a lower resolution version can be shown first because the first bytes of the file contain a rough version which then gets more detailed when more data is available... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gmoaez | How your antivirus knows what to look out for. | I've always been curious as to how fast the people that work for antivirus software companies need to work in order to keep their customers safe. How do they identify threats and patch their software to achieve a safe experience for their customers | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr4qiz3",
"fr4qv52"
],
"text": [
"- they look for known malware. they have these databases of what they have found out there and tell their software to check for those. that's why your antivirus should always be up to date and also constantly needs to download updates. - to create those d... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gmoduz | How were stars on the far side of the sun discovered? | As the earth is in orbit the sun's light with drown out the light of stars in that direction from the earth, so would there be different stars in the night sky depending on what time of year it is? I'm not astronomically with it and can't seem to wrap my head around the idea since the north star is known for being at t... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr4pyw5",
"fr4qb7g",
"fr4q1wl"
],
"text": [
"Stars don't move much, so you just wait a few months when the earth is on the other side of the sun.",
"We orbit around the sun, so whatever stars are on the opposite side of the sun to us now will be on the same side of the sun to us i... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gmtous | What are the light circles that appear when taking a picture of the sun? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr5nnq8"
],
"text": [
"Lens flares. The camera has multiple lenses. Even the cleanest lens will only let through 98% of the light and it won't do it perfectly. Some of the light is absorbed, some is reflected. The sun is bright [citation needed] so the reflections are bright too."
],
"sco... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gmx7t9 | Why are games on PC’s able to change settings to best suit the machine, but those same changes aren’t available to console players who could also benefit from them? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr69coy",
"fr69hpz",
"fr6j3x9"
],
"text": [
"Because PC's represent a huge range of possible combinations of hardware that the game has to adapt to, but every X-Box in the world has the same hardware.",
"Because theres a LARGE variance in PC specs. Someones college laptop is going... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gmzry7 | Why, in classic style Disney movies, can you see which part of the shot is going to move or fall away? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr6ru8v",
"fr6pnfo"
],
"text": [
"This happens whenever the moving things and the background are drawn/painted in different mediums. In older cartoons, the backgrounds were usually paintings, but the things that moved were black-and-white ink drawings on clear celluloid, with the colours ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gn03de | How much more powerful are movie industry standard computers used for CGI, than a $3000 home gaming PC? Is there a limit to how much processing they can do? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr6ruta",
"fr6vt7t"
],
"text": [
"In most cases, a *render farm* will be dozens to hundreds of nodes. It's hard to pin down what \"gaming-level\" means exactly, but each node's performance is certainly a lot closer to the PC under your desk than a massive supercomputer. It's more efficien... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gn44kn | What is the Y2K bug and how would it have led to computer havoc? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr7h0cn",
"fr7lttx"
],
"text": [
"[You’re looking for Wikipedia mate. ]( URL_0 ) Basically, in the 1970s computers were originally so dumb they decided to save space by only using 2 digits for the year. All the computer people knew this would need to be fixed before 2000 but that was deca... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gn4765 | How does Apple Face ID work in the dark? | Basically how does the camera recognize my face when there’s almost no light, or is there? (Dim screen light maybe?) | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr7guit",
"fr7mg29"
],
"text": [
"It uses infrared which can’t be seen by our eyes. It’s the same thing that night vision goggles use.",
"It shines infrared light onto your face that the camera picks up. If you had another camera and pointed it at your face while using face ID, you'd ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gn4m6g | How does my computer know how long a second is? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr7js1x",
"fr7kg98"
],
"text": [
"Computers have a tiny little oscillator in them. This oscillator vibrates at a set frequency - a certain number of vibrations per second. This is controlled by the shape and material of the oscillator - since it is always quartz the shape is really all th... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gn57eq | VPNs. Are they for people to do illegal stuff on? How do they work? Why would I want one or not? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr7pnkb",
"fr7q68b",
"fr7ty6a",
"fr7pdhs"
],
"text": [
"A VPN can be used to form a private tunnel trough the internet for protecting the data you need to transfer. Imagine you are making a video game and your team is spread around the world in different countries. Your team membe... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gn664v | - how do supermarket anti-theft scanners work? | How do the scanners at the exits for supermarkets and stores tell if an item hasn’t been paid for? Is it something to do with the barcodes on the item or something? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr7zolz"
],
"text": [
"It's mostly security theater. The anti-theft scanners react to specific security tags that are not found on most items. They aren't looking for barcodes or anything like that. If an item has some form of security tag attached that wasn't removed by the cashier or deacti... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gn7h93 | how does Bluetooth and internet wireless routers transfer data "over the air"? | I have heard that is something to do with waves but it always goes over my head how they manage to transfer data over it and how fast it happens. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr82cfv",
"fr84xe2"
],
"text": [
"The means of transportations are electromagnetic waves, produced by photons. They are the same as light, and light as you may know moves in waves, just like waves in the sea. There is also the concept of \"wavelength\", which basically means how long the ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gn9509 | How does a thermal camera work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr898vl"
],
"text": [
"You know how hot things can glow red and very hot things might even glow white hot. The same effect works with colder things as well. But instead of glowing in red they glow in infrared. A thermal camera is a camera which does not capture the regular red, green and blue... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gn9yrr | How do servers find our computers to communicate over the internet? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr8d6qr",
"fr8d8vj"
],
"text": [
"Your computer is the one that finds the server by looking it up via the phonebook (DNS registry). You computer also sends its own address with the message so the server can reply.",
"Largely the servers don't find you. You find the servers and they re... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gnae6i | how an MRI machine works? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr8n2gs"
],
"text": [
"Your body is full of water, which contains a particular element: hydrogen. The funny thing about this element is that it spins round at a particular speed, and this speed increases when the magnetic field it's placed in increases in strength. So when you put a glass of ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gne24a | What was the reason for the rotary dial on vintage phones? | This might be a silly question, but is there a technological or mechanical limitation that prevented them from having buttons for numbers? Is it an example of [skeuomorphism]( URL_0 ), was it actually easier for people a hundred years ago to use than a number pad, or did buttons just not occur to anyone? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr93kfh",
"fr9r55f",
"fr93b0n",
"fr945di"
],
"text": [
"The way that rotary phones worked is that you'd pull the wheel to the desired digit and then release. There was a spring in the wheel that would cause it to release at a specific speed. While it was releasing, it opened and c... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gng4xp | What is Ray tracing? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr9h3e9"
],
"text": [
"Literally. Tracing rays of light. Pick a light source and then fire \"rays\" out of it and light up the environment like that, while also programming surfaces to reflect said rays in a realistic way. Thus getting incredibly realistic looking surfaces and \"god rays\" et... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gnhvv2 | - in light of all our advances in wireless technology, why are printers still such a pain point in operating with devices? | I know that things are much better than they used to be, but given the seamless integration we have across so many other devices these days, both hardware and software — I feel as though the amount of average technical issues we face with printers to this day is much higher than it should be. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fr9sxxp",
"fraxm5v",
"frad095",
"fr9rtub",
"frbj926",
"fra3295"
],
"text": [
"The problem isn't technology, it's standardization. Look through your list of print drivers and there are 1000's. It's hard to make anything work with that large of a group, especially when they ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gnkvvr | On Google you can see the usage of a word over the past century or so. Why do words sometime have a figure stating that a word like "PayPal" is used from 1890-1910? I know that Google looks at archived data. So where is this information coming from? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fraeqku",
"fracf54"
],
"text": [
"One thing I've noticed at the Internet Archive is that you might get hits for, say, the Watergate scandal in the 1920s. When you check the book you find that it's a work from the 1920s that was reprinted in the 1980s with a 1986 introduction that mentions... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gnond8 | What does a remote have to "see" the TV? | Why can't the signal go through a blanket or shirt? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fraylyv",
"frayiyn",
"frayqi2"
],
"text": [
"It's actually the opposite. The TV has to see the remote. That bulb on the front of the remote is a light. It's infrared so your eyes can't see it, but most phone cameras can actually see a little into that spectrum. Look at a remote with y... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gnp45g | - What happens to email after we delete it from our trash folder? Is it gone forever? Can it be retrieved by hackers or law enforcement without our consent? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"frb2lh8",
"frb3c1u"
],
"text": [
"It's been a hot minute, but iirc deleted files have a coded metadata that gives them a hardlink to a storage department. What deleting from the trash folder does is completely remove that hardlink to make it \"invisible\" (without some software). **So, th... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gnpasf | - How does Youtube decide which videos have an ad play before the video? | I have been watching more videos lately and I can’t help but wonder why some videos have an ad prior to the video playing and others (often from the same content creator) don’t. I watch videos via a Roku connected to a TV if that matters. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"frb3bgx"
],
"text": [
"It's partially left up to the creators I believe. Beyond that, they have a software system running that scans through videos looking for things that would mark it to be demonetized, meaning it is content that advertisers probably wouldn't want to be associated with by h... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gntbcx | What is the darkweb, and why can’t you access it from google? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"frbs5cs",
"frc3x9x"
],
"text": [
"The 'darkweb' is just a buzz word. It literally means the park of the internet that isn't indexed by search engines. That's right, Google and whomever doesnt know everything! Back in the day you used to have to know the actual url of the website or you co... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gnusza | - How can we download a game without downloading the source code. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"frbymlx",
"frc00pm"
],
"text": [
"Source code gets transformed (by a compiler) into something the target platform can understand and run. What you’re asking is kind of like asking why can we follow an English translation of a French recipe without having the French recipe (assuming you re... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gnwgjc | Why do ISP’s exist? Why can we just connect to the internet without them? What stops us? What’s limits us? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"frc7e30",
"frc7p6r",
"frc83d6",
"frc8v3x",
"frc9630"
],
"text": [
"How are you gonna connect to the internet? You don't have a wire that goes from your house to reddit's servers which are hosted on Amazon's data centers. That's what the ISP provides. That wire.",
"ISPs *ar... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
gnx9eg | Why Ip address exist on the internet and why we need them? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"frccgb6",
"frcehnc"
],
"text": [
"The IP address is kind of like a phone number: it identifies a single connection, a phone number identifies a phone connection, an IP identifies an internet connection You don’t often see them because you use the URL instead of the ip, that works like a p... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
go4302 | Why do ads load better and faster than the video you’re trying to watch? | When I’m trying to watch a video, an ad will load right away and play flawlessly in the beginning. But when the ad is done, the video sometimes takes awhile to load and play (even if it’s a minute long video like the ad was). I understand some of that may be due to internet issues, but is there something else going on? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"frdlj1b"
],
"text": [
"There are often several copies of the same ad stored in servers all over the place, and only one or two copies of your video. This is because each ad gets viewed by many more people than each video. Since there are more copies of the ad, odds are you'll be closer to one... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
go7cd5 | Why do video games often crash when they have too many things on screen at once? | Frame rate almost always drops but many times the game will crash as well. Why does this occur? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"freel38"
],
"text": [
"Wow first time I’ve been able to answer one of these. You won’t be able to generalize this to every game, but for the most part this causes the program to run out of memory. Every object on the screen needs to be tracked in memory, programs (and computers in general) ha... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
go87rx | - Why, when on a slow connection, does a video often manage to play through once, but have difficulty replaying? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"frebkxj"
],
"text": [
"Depending on the size of the video, your device's memory, and sometimes on the video player and video format, your computer/tablet/phone might not be holding the *entire* video in memory for instant replay. It's often the case, when streaming for example, for the video ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
go8kgc | How do bots work? | Like for example the bots on you tube that either show you some thing in your recommended feed, or to make sure your a human. One, what else can they do like to an extent what is the most a bot can do, and two, if I had my own like if I paid some one and they give me the code for the said bots what could I tell them to... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"frefokw",
"fremb9u"
],
"text": [
"A bot is just another name for a computer program. It takes some form of input and performs some action. Reddit bot programs take reddit posts as input and do behaviors like automoderator for too short an answer and removed the answer and sends you a DM",... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
gobxl5 | What exactly is being done during a routine server maintenance? | And why does this help server stability? (aka: why does Steam basically shut down every tuesday) | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"frf05vx"
],
"text": [
"Essentially, repair work. Like when you take a car in for an oil change & routine maintenance: it can't be used during that time, but taking it \"down\" for the maintenance will help it run longer and better in the long run. Specifics depend on the server structure, the... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
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