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gxxbgu
How does restricting password length or repeating characters make a password more secure? If it doesn't, why do some companies enforce it?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ft67jj4", "ft67u1r", "ft7t4kq", "ft685vo", "ft67kdc" ], "text": [ "Minimum length makes minimum complexity more likely. Maximum length is harder to justify nowadays. Passwords are cracked by brute force, using most likely sequences first to spend less time and then going to le...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
gxy8b4
Can the goverment block Internet to this level, that nobody could get over it, or its imposibble?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ft6lcrp", "ft6ipdr" ], "text": [ "Sure. Many countries have internet/communication infrastructure that is completely controlled by the government, so disabling it is fairly simple. Some people may still be able to get wireless or cellular access from neighboring countries, but the majorit...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
gxyby3
How my phone battery goes from 0-50 in 30min but 50-100 in 1 hour?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ft6kd89" ], "text": [ "fastcharge technology. It will let higher current into the battery at the begining so you can use your phone faster, but because this can be damaging to the battery(higher current will heat up the battery) it slows down in the charging once it reaches 50%." ], "scor...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
gxzsc0
How all professional music sounds the same quality?
If I record myself singing it'll sound like shit, even if I have a relatively good microphone. I know the pros sound good because they have sound isolated rooms and good quality mics, but listen to any song on the radio and the voices all sound like they're using the exact same mic in the exact same studio. How do they...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ft75qyc" ], "text": [ "Don’t forget, there’s a ton of in-studio processing that goes on when all the different song elements are being mixed together. Vocals will typically undergo processes like ‘compression’ and ‘multi-tracking’ along with various FX like ‘delay’ and ‘reverb’ - just to name...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
gy2wgw
Why does old file formats were so prone to getting corrupted (3gp, mpeg, wmv) seemingly out of nowhere but new file formats are more reliable?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ft82xpe", "ft8wqr5" ], "text": [ "The formats you are talking about are specific for the delivery of streams and have the design which does do allow recovery of corruption of the stream and resuming the decoding of the stream midway: The format has header frames with signatures which allo...
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[ "url" ]
gy3og6
How did the atomic bomb Fat Man work?
I am on google yet still don’t get it. Edit: Thankyou all for the responses
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ft8cfyp" ], "text": [ "All radioactive materials emit some kind of particle as they decay. Some materials (which may or may not be radioactive) can absorb those particles and become unstable (or more unstable) and decay, which will emit some kind of particle. In the case of plutonium, it will...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
gy6b6h
How do spam text messages get my phone number if I haven't signed up for anything or given it out?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ft8oz7z", "ft8u1ju", "ft8p5xe" ], "text": [ "Entities that send spam texts have to have bought your information from someone. Very many companies, like Facebook, magazines, grocery stores, online retail, etc., unless very explicitly stated otherwise, are selling your information. All ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
gy6vlm
How did people cut their toenails before clippers/scissors were invented?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ft8swdy", "ft8x6xg" ], "text": [ "You can use a small sharp blade like a paring knife. They even had curved blades that were only about 1” long for this exact purpose.", "You just need an edge and a bit of practice. I'll often \"cut\" mine by using my fingernail then polish them up wi...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
gyb2ed
Why can't desktop monitor settings like brightness and contrast be controlled via desktop software?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ft9fcqi" ], "text": [ "I don't think an intrinsic technical limitation exists, I use software (OnScreen Control) to control brightness, contrast and others things. Maybe the implementation in all the monitors is not worth-it?" ], "score": [ 4 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
gyb9sv
what is the purpose for having designated left and right earphone?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ft9g5it", "ft9p2d0", "ft9gi26" ], "text": [ "Some songs/shows have referenced sound, for example the characters moves from left to right, the sound \"follows\" him.", "For left and right sound? You can have directional sound. The audio jacks are designed that, if either the port o...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
gyi6k1
how does analog audio work? (Like vinyl records)
So this might be a dumb question but I've never understood how etching a Grove into some plastic can lead to the same sound as a human singing with backing instrumental? It just never made any sense to me
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftanfjq" ], "text": [ "Sound is simply variations in sound pressure. Take a sheet of paper, and mount it in a frame, so that it's held securely. If you blow on it, it's going to flex away from the air. Now attach a needle to that and make it make a groove in something, which will follow those...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
gyiyae
What happens to your data when SSD's cells wear out after being written many times ?
Does your Windows / favorite video game just get corrupted all of a sudden ?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftar0zu" ], "text": [ "Not unless the SSD controller screws up big time. SSDs keep track of how many times they write to which block. The manufacturer decides how many time a block is supposed to be written to before it's considered degraded. When a block reaches its maximum number of writes,...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
gyjh65
How is ultrasound used to view an unborn baby?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftb1s00", "ftauob5" ], "text": [ "Using sound waves is like bouncing a rubber ball against the pavement or against the grass. The rubber ball will bounce differently depending on what it bounces off.", "Ultrasound is a sound wave with a very high frequency that humans cannot hear. The...
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gyk5vk
in computers, what do “wired memory”, “compressed memory” and “Swap” mean? Why is it bad that a computer is using a lot of Swap?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftaxijc" ], "text": [ "> ELI5: in computers, what do “wired memory” That's an OSX specific term for memory which can't be swapped out. So pretty much memory that's taken no matter what, for various technical reasons. > “compressed memory” It's kind of an intermediate kind of swap. Rather than...
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gymuwn
Why are car alarms programmed to go off for so long?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftbcd5f" ], "text": [ "Since the car is mobile it is useful to have a loud, prolonged alarm. The volume is meant to annoy thieves and alert nearby do-gooders. The duration is meant sustain these forces. Alarms in this sense are 'overt' security features. Whereas, a lot of commercial security ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
gyr96y
how does petrol engines differ from diesel engine?if so then what type of engine is used in rockets?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftc3q6k", "ftc49yh" ], "text": [ "In a gasoline engine, fuel and air are mixed and injected into the cylinder. The piston compresses them. Then a spark plug creates a spark which ignites the mixture. In a Diesel engine, air is injected without fuel. The air is compressed to a point where ...
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[ "url" ]
gyxlc6
Why are the letters on the keyboard not arranged in alphabetical order?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftcz2wc", "ftcyqpv", "ftczd2c" ], "text": [ "They were designed when typewriters were commonly in use. The keys were arranged in a way that made the typewriters get jammed less often (this was a pretty big problem). Modern keyboards just continued using the same format because typists...
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[ "url" ]
gyz8wz
Why does staring at a tv screen in the dark cause eye strain, but a cinema screen is fine ?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftdg7x2", "ftdzysa" ], "text": [ "Any eye strain you're feeling is due to the distance the screen is from your eyes. Your eyes are most relaxed when looking at something far away, like the theater screen. When looking at something closer, like a computer monitor or your home tv screen, yo...
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[ "url" ]
gz390v
What is CMOS technology and how does it work?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftdyt1o" ], "text": [ "CMOS is more of a layout than a technology, we use it to make low power logic gates In something like an inverter you just need to flip the signal so if a 1 goes in a 0 comes out and vice versa. You can do this really simply with a transistor and a resistor but whenever...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
gz6zni
How come my Nintendo Switch charger charges my phone 10x faster than the actual USB-C charger that came with my phone
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftemou7" ], "text": [ "Check the output on the block part of your chargers. You should be able to see this info in the small print usually around the prongs. You'll see something like 1-2 Amps (or equivalent milliamps). More amps = faster charge rate. Older cell charges have around 1A output ...
[ "url" ]
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gz7ilv
how does my phone screen stay on to tell me to charge my phone if my battery is dead?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ften2qp", "ftenfob" ], "text": [ "When your battery is dead it's not really dead, your phone shuts off before that happens because it causes problems", "Tech these days has a reserve bit of power to make sure no program errors can occur from a forced unsafe shutdown. And auto shut dow...
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gze4r3
How games with random structures can generate the same complex world twice using the same seed.
I just don't get how a game like Minecraft can generate the exact same enormous world if you use the same seed, that can be a really small text
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftfqnn1", "ftfygz8", "ftfuwb5", "ftfuevk", "ftftvg0" ], "text": [ "The random number generator uses the seed to generate other random numbers using some steps For a particular method of generating random numbers if the seed is same, then the exact same set of numbers are gener...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
gzjyz4
Photorealism vs VR?
Why is it not possible to simply use photos in digital media? Why can't you just copy pixels from a photo or 3d photo onto a digital avatar and animate them so they look like a real person? What is the technical difference or limitation preventing that? If you can edit or fake a photo in photoshop why can't the same th...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftgmj2d", "ftgo1sa" ], "text": [ "First off, if we talk about 3d animations, in a lot of cases we have lighting going on, that implies to set up a virtual light source and most of the surfaces to have a coeficient of reflections, than there is the depth, a image is only a texture, while a...
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gzmshy
Processors and the significant of different architectures
How is and i7 different from an ARM processor and how do apple processors differ (A12, A13 etc). I read in an article that they can be taylored for different uses and I'd like to learn what exactly it is about them that makes them better for one purpose or another
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fth1t24", "fth4btk", "fthfnz3" ], "text": [ "The biggest difference between x86-64 CPUs (Basically every desktop CPU for 20+ years) and ARM-based CPU's is the instruction set. The instruction set is essentially the list of individual commands that the CPU can do (operations like ADD $...
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gzxjze
Why do gaming computers download and install updates incredibly quick while consoles mostly take hours ?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftiv857" ], "text": [ "It all depends on where you're getting the update from. All console traffic goes thru their respective service, so its limits by their speed. Pcs are getting their downloads straight from the servers with nothing in between." ], "score": [ 5 ], "text_urls": ...
[ "url" ]
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gzyk79
If multiple people are using 4G, are they in a LAN with a satellite as the host?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftj0shk" ], "text": [ "No. The \"L\" of LAN means \"local\" and a satellite in space isn't geographically local to you. Also, cell networks use cell towers, not satellites." ], "score": [ 3 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
gzz2sy
How there are multiple internet providers that all use the same cable in an apartment, but some providers can offer higher speeds than others even if it is the same cable.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftj8c69" ], "text": [ "There's one company that put the cables in the apartment and owns the cables. But the cables go to a data centre nearby, and the cable company has some routers there which split out the individual connections again, and everything after that belongs to your internet pro...
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[ "url" ]
h02tam
How come changing the pitch of a voice makes someone anonymous
Can't someone just download the audio and make the pitch normal and find out what the actual voice sounds like.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftjt2cp", "ftk1rvs", "ftjskjo" ], "text": [ "I attempted this with a voice clip that I once had. The restored audio is surprisingly pretty close. But you tell me & #x200B; Original: [ URL_2 ]( URL_2 ) & #x200B; Pitched Down [ URL_1 ]( URL_1 ) & #x200B; Attempted Restore [ URL_0 ]( URL...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
h04vuq
How do pulse Oximeters work?
I always thought actual blood would have to be tested to find out oxygen levels. How does a pulse oximeter find blood oxygen % without accessing the blood?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftk5ouq" ], "text": [ "Most of them use red/infrared light. When haemoglobin in the blood absorbs oxygen, the molecule’s physical property changes and it absorbs different wavelengths of light at different amounts than before. The standard wavelengths tested are 660nm and 940nm. There is a si...
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h0acj2
how do we transmit internet using light?
same question kinda applies to electricity as well. I don't really understand how computers can transform light particles into information, and vice versa. And why optic cables are faster than copper cables? isn't internet just a certain size of data you have to transmit, wouldn't the speed be the same for both cables?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftky511", "ftkyb9m", "ftkybkm", "ftkziaj" ], "text": [ "Computers speak in binary. Zero or one. The way to look at it in relation to light is, on or off. That's all it takes, either there's light/electrical signal or not. Also, there's resistance in electrical cables, some metals ...
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[ "url" ]
h0ax7y
Why are movies shot in 24 fps rather than 30?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftl1joe", "ftlkege" ], "text": [ "Back in the day, the film was an actual significant cost. They wanted to keep the amount of film use to a minimum. 24 FPS is the lowest you can go before you start to see single images instead of rolling frames.", "So your eye naturally adds motion bl...
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h0c6t1
Can you please explain to me the business model of 'Brave' browser?
It seems to me it uses 'Basic attention token' for users to opt in to receive advertisement. Does that mean one can earn money simply by watching ads in Brave?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftl8ktw" ], "text": [ "Brave blocks ads, and then lets you opt in to getting THEIR ads. They give you a token currency for viewing ads, and the keep the income from the actual ads that are generated. They then give the user the option to forward their token-currency to websites that sign up t...
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h0e1d7
Why is it that windows in most video games are opaque and not transparent?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftlij65", "ftln8ku" ], "text": [ "It’s an easy way to reduce processing overhead by not having to render the scenery and process lighting/effects through the windows. Also, depending on the game, it gives some blind spots for the developers to hide enemies, etc.", "I do 3D design and ...
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[ "url" ]
h0ifwj
How can battle royale games put 100 people in a game at once with minimal delay, but fighting games struggle to connect 2 people together without lag?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftmag0l", "fto3ekl" ], "text": [ "Fighting games have you connect directly to eachother, one person with their normal connectivity is then hosting both players. That’s where “host advantage” comes from, supposedly being the host gives you a smoother connection than someone piggybacking on...
[ "url" ]
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h0iv5j
Why does a gaming console (or other computer system for the matter) have to restart to apply an update?
When I update my PS4 it always requires a restart to apply the new software. Why is that? It seems odd that power must be turned off and then on for the system to do certain things that it seems like it should be able to do when it is running? What is this process? Edit: Thanks for the responses, makes sense.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftmbnqs", "ftmbkf0", "ftmbtgv" ], "text": [ "Essentially, you can’t change software while you’re using it, so it prepares everything it can and then turns off, stopping the software being used, and the final changes can be made. It can then restart using the new software.", "There...
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h0kczt
How do the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park still look SO good after 27 years?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftmkjxy", "ftmkwyh", "ftmmtwz", "ftmv6ou", "ftmxpu6", "ftmww0t", "ftmpncn" ], "text": [ "A lot of it is animatronics, and otherwise it’s a matter of knowing what the capabilities were, and designing shots that played to that.", "A lot of real effect like animatroni...
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[ "url" ]
h0nm58
Why can computers play multiple audio sources at once while phones (usually) have to turn one source off to play another?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftn4tg6", "ftn5nwg" ], "text": [ "In a word, software. Computers will let you do this natively whereas Android and iOS don't (usually.) However there are apps for both that will let you play multiple files at the same time. To show that the phone can definitely play multiple files togethe...
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h0snaj
Why do GPUs require frequent driver updates whereas CPUs do not?
It seems like every time a AAA comes out Nvidia and AMD always have driver updates for their GPUs and without those updates the game usually doesn't play as well. Why is this needed for GPUs but not CPUs?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fto091f", "ftone18", "fto5zjl" ], "text": [ "CPUs have very standard instruction sets. All AMD and Intel CPUs pretty much use the same instruction sets, though sometimes there is a little bit of differences, but not many. So games can just compile themselves and they'll easily run on ...
[ "url" ]
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h0yj6k
Why is the colour standard in RGB if the three primary colours are RYB?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftow0g5" ], "text": [ "It's not RYB, but CMY (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow). The difference is important. RGB is an additive model: You add colors, and all colors at once add up to white. CMY is a subtractive model: You absorb colors, and absorbing all colors gives you black. That's because unlike a...
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h0ylo4
How did people start measuring distance at sea where it's water all around?
Today I know we have the technology to position anything accurately within a few feet. But how would sailors in old times measure distance and have maps of the sea? Why is there a nautical mile and different from the land mile?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftovv2i", "ftozmwn", "ftpp53l", "ftowp48", "ftqhih5", "ftq1xl9", "ftpx864", "ftrgiev", "ftqg8ft", "ftqipvb" ], "text": [ "This was a massive problem for ancient mariners - with no landmarks you were totally lost the moment you lost sight of shore. Eventuall...
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h16gi8
Why is it that when electronic devices malfunction, turning them off then on works so frequently?
E.g computers, Wi-Fi routers, tvs, consoles. All these items malfunction every once in while and all I do is turn them off then on again to get them working again. Why?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftq9emn", "ftqb6sx", "ftqeu9r", "ftqk346", "ftqayrb", "ftqup2p", "ftqo8hs", "ftrb96d" ], "text": [ "Most electronics work via a chip that has memory of what it is supposed to do. Like a set of instructions. Sometimes it gets overwhelmed and loses its place. When yo...
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[ "url" ]
h16xhd
How does facial identification work on I phones? I shaved my head and started to wear glasses..
And the facial ID still works. How does it still know it’s me?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftqdgmo" ], "text": [ "Many recognition systems use reference points on your face and measure the distance between them. Tip of your nose, corners of your eyes, tops of your ears etc. If the structural dimensions of your face match up, you're in! Glasses and hair don't have an effect, cosmeti...
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[ "url" ]
h16znu
How is the height of very high mountains measured accurately?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftqd055" ], "text": [ "Today they just go up there with a GPS receiver or scan the earth with a satellite based radar. Prior to those technologies you could triangulate the height. Create a triangle using the peak of the mountain as one point, and two fixed and known points on the ground as t...
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[ "url" ]
h778aw
What makes a jet engine different from a propeller or rocket engine?
I have a vague idea that air compression involved but I don't know how this fits together in the grand scheme of things.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftqperq", "ftqoqq3", "ftqpc85" ], "text": [ "A jet engine works by sucking in air through a series of fans, compressing it, mixing it with fuel, and igniting it. The hot exhaust gases then exit out the rear of the engine, passing through more fans (the turbine) that in turn drives the...
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[ "url" ]
h7aand
If I leave a charger plugged into the wall but not on a phone or laptop, etc, does it take up/waste energy?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftrblh3", "ftr9615", "ftr7ku6" ], "text": [ "Yes, chargers use induction via a transformers to turn AC power to DC power. This is done using a winding of wire that wirelessly transfers power to a second winding across an air gap without a physical circuit connecting them. In an ideal ...
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[ "url" ]
h7bnev
How does your phone know you’ve rotated the screen?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftrg4ku" ], "text": [ "It's because of the accelerometer. Here's a link to how they work: [ URL_1 .]( URL_0 .)" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text_urls": [ [ "https://www.livescience.com/40102-accelerometers.html#:~:text=Smartphones%20and%20other%20mobile%20technology,and%20other%...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
h7by24
- how does the rearview mirror work when tipping it down so you don't get blinded by the car behind you?
Was thinking about it on my ride home tonight while being blinded by a truck. Thanks!
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftrgwz6" ], "text": [ "By tilting the mirror you are getting the reflected image off the surface of the glass rather than the silver mirror lining. The glass surface isn’t quite as reflective so you get a diminished intensity of the image." ], "score": [ 11 ], "text_urls": [ [...
[ "url" ]
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h7cguc
How does the scientists or archeologists determine how old things are? Like when they discover something they’ll say it’s 500 y/o or 3000 y/o or older?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftrkztj" ], "text": [ "Can be done by analyzing certain elements in rocks or organic material. Radioactive elements will decay (lose particles or energy) at a rate that is specific to that element. Scientists refer to this as a half life, meaning how long it will take for half of the material...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
h7dth7
Why you don't get zapped when touching both terminals of a 12v car battery
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ftrsz9r", "ftrtidn" ], "text": [ "It’ll definitely zap a wrench; it’s probably the resistance of your skin. I bet if you lick both fingers and touch it it’d zap the shit out of you. I am not suggesting that you _try_ this, but dry skin is higher resistance than wet skin, for example.", ...
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[ "url" ]
h7evtk
Why are the fuel sensors in cars not affected by the jostling around while driving? Wouldn't going up an incline or over bumpy areas make the sensor read the level wrong as the fuel shifts from side to side?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fukks58", "fukjy57", "fukklsx", "fukppqg" ], "text": [ "Today, the gauge is computer controlled and takes a rolling average of the fuel level. Even back when I started driving in the 90s, fuel level would fluctuate wildly depending on incline. Many cars have baffles in the tank wh...
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[ "url" ]
h7fgpv
What exactly makes smartphones screen responsive to touches, swipes, etc?
What's that ingredient that helps interface are fingers so that the smartphone screen recognises the input?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fukorm0", "fukxhr6", "fukrfou" ], "text": [ "There are multiple types, but for a common type the simple answer is that your skin conducts a bit of electricity and closes a circuit hidden in the screen. Based on which circuits turn on, it knows where your finger is.", "Every electr...
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[ "url" ]
h7iv22
Why is there a loading screen after dying in a video game?
So I've notices that in most games, when I die, there is a loading screen before I get back to the game. Even if I respawn very close to the place I died. So why it the loading screen always necessary in this situation as opposed to just moving around?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ful5qd7", "ful6b20" ], "text": [ "The game assets have to get reloaded into the system memory. Playing a level is just an experience for you. But the level is a construct that has rules based in math. It doesn't know what you experience, just records where you save and reloads a level a n...
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[ "url" ]
h7jwsz
Why is Adobe Flash so insecure?
It seems like every other day there is an update for Adobe Flash and it’s security related. Why is this?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fulc0jt", "fum9q9x", "fulom3c", "fulga7q", "fulm55m", "fulo2fx", "fulyhfe", "fulmei5", "funhf68", "fum08r7", "fumh86k", "fuly36q" ], "text": [ "The \"idea\" of Adobe Flash was to give websites access to functionality that previously only installed p...
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h7jxg5
Why is it that windows sometimes slows down when handling specific files?
Every now and then I come across a file that just slows my system to a crawl. Something as simple as dragging it from downloads to desktop or even right-clicking it makes it sit there and think for a while before anything happens This isn't even nessesarily large files. It can be small files, too. Usually .exe's, but n...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuldg20", "fulcu85" ], "text": [ "Sometimes the information about each file (meta data) is stored on several different parts of your storage device. For HDDs, it can be slow to move the magnetic head to read all of this data.", "A file might be exclusively locked by some process, so W...
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h7kn2y
How is a Mirror made?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fulfvtf", "fulg1lk" ], "text": [ "Ever played Minecraft? Im joking Mirrors are made by depositing a very thin and smooth layer of silver on a piece of glass. This layer prevents the light from passing by and reflection takes place and we are able to see ourselves in the mirror.", "I'm...
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h7p3dv
Why do some electronic devices stay on after being unplugged?
Obvioulsy not talking about electronics with batteries, but things like power supplies, battery chargers, and routers sometimes have lights that stay lit for a few seconds after being unplugged.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fumaok7" ], "text": [ "Capacitors are kind of like a small bucket of water with a big hole on the bottom while batteries are a little like bigger buckets with a hole on the bottom that's only open when needed. So when you unplug your device, there is still water in the bucket but it leaks out...
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h7p6dh
How do game developers keep up with graphics while developing?
If a game takes 6 or so years of development, when the game finishes up developing wouldn’t the technology be so outdated that the game looks old when it’s released? How do developers keep the game looking up to date while developing?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fumckfj" ], "text": [ "What you're saying happens all the time. The most infamous example is Duke Nukem Forever, which was announced in 1997 and came out in 2011, and went through multiple game engines and iterations. But most games take less than 6 years to develop. You can also try to \"fut...
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h7pjtc
Why does the Snapchat camera look different than the normal camera?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fumf5le" ], "text": [ "It’s active capturing video, at a high frame rate. It doesn’t know at any second when you are going to press the button and want a still of that exact moment, and won’t have time to charge of the camera cell OR if you are going to press and hold and immediately want to ...
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h7swzu
Why we don't have mobile video-calls without an internet connection?
If we have the technology to voice-calls years before wireless internet exists, why we don't have video calls without any internet connection too?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fun02go" ], "text": [ "Voice is quite easy to transmit in analog form over wire, as it's simply vibrations that are turned into electrical signal by a microphone at the beginning end, then amplified to produce sound at the receiving end. This is all analog communications, and is not difficult...
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h7t2lp
Electron microscopes give more detail than conventional light microscopes because of electrons’ smaller size/shorter wavelength. Would that same principle hold for smaller particles? How close are we to quark (or whatever) microscopy?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fun18dn" ], "text": [ "quarks can't be isolated. so to my knowledge we probably wont be able to use them for microscopes. neutrinos would be the only step we could take from where we are. but since neutrinos dont really interact with matter they're kinda hard to use (and create/control) while...
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h7u4d5
what exactly is an open directory, is using them legal, and how does it work?
This concept is totaly new to me and I don't really understand this at all, how come so much that is supposed to be private is public, and is there a possibility that any files or other things belonging to me are public like this without me knowing? And how come this is something there is very little information about ...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "funn76f" ], "text": [ "Well, it really depends what you mean by an \"open directory\". What are you referring to? Can you give some context?" ], "score": [ 5 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }
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h7uoi1
Why is Wifi worse in bathrooms?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "funbo1x" ], "text": [ "The biggest factor would just be that there are more walls between you and the wifi router. Wifi doesn't go through walls well, like all high frequency electromagnetic radiation. 5ghz wifi is even worse. Adding another to a marginal signal can make it too low. Add that ...
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h7xruw
What’s the difference between film and digital?
I always see people talking about how film is superior to digital, and that directors like Tarantino are very opinionated about how much better film is than digital, so I have three questions. What’s the difference between the two, both in terms of how you record with them, and how it looks? Why is digital more widely ...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuo200a", "funtsb1" ], "text": [ "Film is light sensitive chemical coated on plastic material. You expose it to light and the chemical reacts and then you use another chemical to set it and turn it into a permanent picture. The finness of the picture is dependent on eveness spread of that...
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h7yabl
Why do companies partner with their competitors?
Apple would be the best example of them contracting Samsung for display parts. Why can’t Apple supply their own or go with a non competitor?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "funx1zs", "fuo296o" ], "text": [ "Imagine you run a donut shop. You make great donuts and everyone knows it. But you know what goes great with donuts? Coffee. Now, you could spend a lot of time learning the coffee trade, sourcing beans, buying all the equipment, roasting them exactly righ...
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h7yl4d
Why do new generation consoles require large downloads before use?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuo0h6n" ], "text": [ "Game consoles have operating systems, just like computers. As time progresses, the operating system is upgraded and changed. In order to reduce incompatibility issues, crashes, and to ensure parity between yourself and other players, the system requires you to update th...
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h80b7z
colorising old photos
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuodpvt", "fuoe93v", "fuoi9zt", "fuoef8h" ], "text": [ "Having made a career off Photoshop, Photography, Film and Post Production since 1995, i'm going to go with \"yes\"", "All of the above.. no seriously, when it comes to colorization there is usually very faded traces of co...
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h8261c
How can MicroSD cards have different amounts of storage while being the same size?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuojod4", "fuojjte" ], "text": [ "What you see is just a plastic casing. The microchips themselves are concealed inside. There's a controller chip which your computer or camera can talk to. Then there are memory chips which actually store the data. If you want to increase the capacity of ...
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h82aj8
Why are soundcards still being made and sold as a separate PC component? Do soundcards still provide better audio quality than the built-in audio chips on motherboards?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuojufj", "fuokigc" ], "text": [ "They can, yes. Not all D/A converters are created equal, and a quality one (assuming the add on board features a quality one) can make a difference. A motherboard is trying to pack many different things into one price point. A sound card focuses on sound ...
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h84fdu
why MRI machines make so much noise.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuottvp", "fuou8wa" ], "text": [ "It's a giant magnet. The magnetic fields produced by the imaging process cause the material to move which moves the air which we hear as noise. Same basic mechanism the makes electrical transformers \"hum\"", "MRI stands for magnetic resonance imaging...
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h898m9
What is GPT3, the language model recently released by OpenAI?
[ URL_0 ]( URL_0 ) I know this makes NLP stronger, but what is it and why is it a big deal?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fupixzh" ], "text": [ "The basics of creating a language model are to take as much written text as you can and feed it through a training model. This model then produces a statistical map of the probability of the likely hood of one word following another, e.g., the phrases the dog is brown a...
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h8bbo0
Why are most youtube links like URL_1 id > instead of URL_0 id >
Whenever I see a youtube video shared, its almost always, [ URL_3 ]( URL_0 ) , instead of [ URL_1 ](https:// URL_1 ) Is there any particular reason for that?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuq108n", "fupxqiz" ], "text": [ "[Have a look at this.]( URL_0 ) > **But why did Google Create URL_1 ?** > > In 2009, Google registered URL_1 as a way of shortening the YouTube URLs. At that time the micro-blogging websites (especially Twitter) were becoming popular. These websites allow...
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h8cwtm
How do SSDs actually wear out / break down on a physical level?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuq65d0" ], "text": [ "Flash cells in SSDs use floating gate transistors. Normal transistors have a gate over a thin insulator over the channel, loading charge onto the gate let's current flow through the channel Floating gate transistors have that normal gate over an insulator over a \"float...
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h8dvrl
What is an image file? How is, for example a png, different when compared to a txt file?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuqbw3o" ], "text": [ "An image is a grid of pixels, each with a specific color, usually given as three numeric values for red, green and blue. The most basic image file format is called a bitmap, or bmp for short, which simply stores these values consecutively. The file has a short header wh...
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h8e93b
Why do some YouTube videos minimize into a small window when you leave the app on mobile while others just stop?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuqhzfl" ], "text": [ "I guess you are using an Android device? Some videos are classified as music and their owners don't want YouTube to become a free music player for their content. Because that way you don't watch ads." ], "score": [ 3 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }
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h8fpgn
Why does resetting my router sometimes fix my internet?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuql83a" ], "text": [ "when you reset your router, it loads the last functioning settings and then creates a new connection to your service provider and your PC/laptop/phone/whatever also creates a new connection to your router. so if (over time) any issues arise in either of those 3 aspects,...
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h8fubm
What is x86-64 and other than the design freedom, what is the advantage of Apple switching to ARM processors?
I have a decent understanding of computers, Ive built many custom PC’s, coded arduinos, but I don’t know much about these processors and the technical things behind them.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuqnwh5" ], "text": [ "ARM processors use a reduced instruction set— basically, they speak a “simpler” language than x86. Besides making it simpler and more efficient to actually send commands to the processor, they can skip physical parts and processing steps that would be needed to interpre...
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h8gz9g
What is it about the way sails were designed that allowed it to move people across the world, despite wind being a seemingly random and unreliable force?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuqskl5", "fuqszvj", "fuqt89v" ], "text": [ "The force of wind on a sail applies a force through the body of a ship to a keel on the water. Angling the keel allows you to direct your motion with respect to the water. Basically you can go any way except directly into the wind (that req...
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h8j4am
Why does does unresponsive software sometimes start working normally the second after I try to close it?
It’s not loading, I try to close it, it loads normally, then it accepts the close. Why?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fur6c6r", "fur6f0f", "fus33vc", "fus2iw3", "fus4r21" ], "text": [ "That depends on why it's being unresponsive. Usually, it's unresponsive because some process is blocked or waiting on a resource that it can't access. When you click the close button, or when you force it to cl...
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h8n6ym
Why didn't IPv6 replace IPv4 yet ? What's the hold back?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "furtkea", "furwwix", "furuyc3", "furydn1", "fus821q", "fuschyj", "fus2jjk", "fus8gvb", "fusad22" ], "text": [ "One of the biggest issues has been the cost and time of replacing/upgrading customer premise equipment. Older cable modems and DSL modems didn't have ...
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h8ouf4
In what context is code written by hand, on paper, ever useful ? Can computers even execute that sort of code ?
Take for example the picture of Margaret Hamilton standing next to a tower of books, the code she and her team wrote that took the first men to the moon. How was that pile of code executed on the computers of the Apollo spacecraft ?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fus2oja", "fut61ba" ], "text": [ "These are just printouts of the code. [Here's an image gallery]( URL_0 ) showing what they look like (see the last two photos). You can even find the actual code [here]( URL_1 ). The printouts are useful for stuff like archiving and debugging purposes (it...
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h8pj2a
How do the electronics behind automatic answering machines with menus work when you input numbers on your phone to get to the right person?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fus6057" ], "text": [ "Every phone uses the [Touch-Tone]( URL_0 ) standard. When you press a number, your phone makes a specific sound (a combination of two tones, actually - you can see the list [here]( URL_0 #Keypad)). The automatic software simply analyzes the tone so it knows what number ...
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h8sd2j
How does a phone reboot work? How does it know to turn itself back on after it turns off?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuvdkqb", "fusk9xo" ], "text": [ "* Computers work by feeding commands into a processor. * When you run an app on your phone, the phone loads the list of commands that make up the app into memory, and then starts feeding them, in order, to the processor. * When you boot up your phone, it ...
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h8t04b
How do headphones generate a feeling of "in front" and "behind" despite having only 2 outputs?
I recently listened to an 8D audio and I wondered how it's possible, that we hear wether it's in front or behind us. Like by having two speakers right and left.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fusneae", "fuvcrb0" ], "text": [ "I think what it boils down to: The shape of your ears will add a distinct \"sound\" depending on where a tone is coming from. Some frequencies will be dampened and some will be louder when the sound is coming from a specific direction. One way to record s...
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h8wjhj
How do they measure the area of a land (e.g., city or country) which has a very irregular shape with houndres of edges?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fut82e6" ], "text": [ "Historically they used to estimate and didn’t measure exactly, for example a large bit of land may have an uneven edge but if you can draw a line so roughly the land you exclude is equal to the area included with no land then this is a good estimate. Nowadays, satellite...
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h8wthk
If a toothpaste says it will whiten your teeth one shade in two weeks, does that mean it really takes two weeks, or could you brush your teeth 28 times and it'll whiten them?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "futcc2s", "futa3ji", "futc0x2", "futcw44", "futc6xb" ], "text": [ "Over the counter whitening toothpastes use an abrasive agent to make your teeth look whiter. This works by removing a small layer of stained enamel from your teeth, exposing fresh unstained enamel. The idea is ...
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h8y4pq
How come a 4 minute .mp4 taken from my phone is the same size as a 2 hour movie?
I am an avid torrenter and most of the movies on my PC are about 2 GB. I just took a 4 minute video on my Pixel 4 and was astonished to see that it's also 2GB! What kind of compression magic goes on that I'm able to get a 1080i movie with the *same file type* to take up 3% as a phone video? It's not like my phone video...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "futlgzq" ], "text": [ "Good video compression takes time... Each frame is compares to the next one and the previous one, a lot of optimizations are done, and the filesize is small. With a mobile phone, you have to do all that in realtime, and don't even have the next frame to compare the curr...
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h8zn2b
If i send a text message to someone connected to the same Wi-Fi network as me will the text message leave the network?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "futqx0b" ], "text": [ "It won't just go through your wifi. If it's an SMS then it doesn't use wifi at all, it uses your cellular connection. If it's an app such as Whatsapp, the message goes through the app's servers first." ], "score": [ 3 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }
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h91qjy
Servers
What is a server? What role does it play in hosting a website? Where are they based - is it physical or virtual?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuu6cjy" ], "text": [ "Server is, in short, a program that can listen to network traffic and send apropriate content to the user that requested it. In case of a website, it will serve website's content - webpage itself, its graphics, data, etc, that your browser will then use to render the we...
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h93uc1
What is deep learning?
Can someone please answer this. It would be really helpful for me!
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuuxzzy", "fuuodao", "fuv0jsn" ], "text": [ "Neural networks are classified by the number of layers they have. The more layers they have, the more complicated a thing they can do, but they also become harder to train. When the network contains many layers, we begin to call it “deep.” ...
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h96o50
Video game's difficulty upper limit
How do game developers know the upper limit of difficulty for their game? What I means is that how do game developers know not to make the game so difficult that it is impossible for players to defeat the game. How do they test out the difficulty?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuv18xx", "fuv13e6", "fuvkf8s" ], "text": [ "Simple: they beat it themselves. For example. With Castlevania (a game known for being REALLY hard) the person programming a boss had to be able to beat that boss without taking *any* damage. If they couldn't do that reliably then the boss ...
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h97jwu
How video game cutscenes change the look of the character during the cutscene according to characters custom appearance?
For example, in Dark Souls in the cut scenes you will see the character and it will look like your character with the same armor, physique, etc. but I can't understand how they change the character in the cutscene to look like yours. Wouldn't they need to make a cutscene for every possible armor and character combinati...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuv3y6g" ], "text": [ "Those kind of scenes are in-engine/game scenes, as opposed to being pre-rendered. It moves the camera and controls your or other characters to make the scene play out. They have other kinds of tricks and stuff they can use, but that’s the main part. So that allows them ...
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h97syf
Why are brailles dots instead of our letters?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuv77uo", "fuvd4dz" ], "text": [ "Raised letters have actually been used in the past, but they have been clearly superseded by Braille. Braille is much faster to read, mostly thanks to zero ambiguity and unified shape of letters. (Imagine telling apart letters *written in an unknown font*...
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h98tzm
If I enter a password wrong thrice, the system locks me out. How are hackers able to attempt millions of combinations of passwords without the system locking them out?
Edit: Thank you everyone who’s taken out time to explain it to me. I’ve learnt so much. Appreciate it. Yes, I do use ‘thrice’ in my conversation whenever required. I’m glad it amused so many of you.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuveot3", "fuvq92u", "fuvc5d2", "fuvc8ti", "fuw8bvh", "fuvc726", "fuvmau3", "fuvq446", "fuwbccy", "fuvnsvo", "fuveom2", "fuvif15", "fuvkd8x", "fuvzatd", "fuzng87", "fuyzmlz", "fuyea1x" ], "text": [ "* Modern passwords work by a p...
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h9b79j
How does torrents work?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuvpauv" ], "text": [ "basically the bittorrent protocol allows everyone that loads a particular torrent file to discover each other. and once they discovered each other, they can figure out who has what data for the torrent and then they figure out how to send data directly to each other." ...
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h9c2z6
Why do some microphones pick up their own speaker sounds, and others don't in laptops?
After having used multiple laptops and speakers, I was wondering why some microphone do pick up their own speaker sound and other don't
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuvwacw" ], "text": [ "It's usually software trying to filter out the specific sounds it knows are coming from it's own speakers coupled with directional microphones that only pick up sounds from a narrow area. The speakers typically sit outside this area and the computer what knows what soun...
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h9cnvu
How do hackers get your password without you ever giving it away?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuvwmkn", "fuvx0yo" ], "text": [ "If your password was a real word or word combination they could've bruteforced it with a dictionary attack. Or they hacked the server that stores the passwords. But you'd probably know about that big security breach. Or you downloaded a virus that has sim...
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h9dcnx
An article today said using your phone battery below 20% and charging it routinely above 80% reduces battery life...what causes this and is it the same process at both ends of the range?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuw5rbw", "fuw041a" ], "text": [ "Someone has already answered the question, but I’d like to add that most new phones are aware of this and will stop charging at 80%, but show you 100% to represent that this is as fully charged as the phone should be. They will also turn off at 20%, and r...
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h9eeu6
How do activity trackers know when I'm asleep? How they deduce REM sleep, deep sleep etc?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuwat25", "fuwrtqg", "fuwzocs" ], "text": [ "I believe they just measure your heart rate. It goes down significantly when you go to sleep", "Heart rate monitors combined with the accelerometer (sensor that tells if you're moving) then put through an algorithm that includes normal ...
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h9g9kk
Why are apps on phones so much smaller than on PC?
A casual app on phone is between 1 and maybe 30 MB. It's very rare seeing a that small application on computer. Why is there such a big difference?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fuwh6gg", "fuwux05" ], "text": [ "Storage and memory is much more limited on phones compared to a PC. Also the processing power on a phone is much smaller so it takes longer times for them to read information. This means that large files with large amount of data either won't fit on your ...
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h9jvky
How does ram exactly work and what happens if you don't have enough in your computer?
I am building a new conputer and apparently dont have enough ram which causes it to crash sporadically. Curious as to how and why that happens
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "fux1w7o", "fux1wij", "fux1gpd", "fux1dc6" ], "text": [ "RAM is the memory used by programs and the system to do the functions they need to do. Picture it like your dining room table. Now let’s consider best case scenario, you have a huge table (or a bunch of RAM). With your very l...
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