q_id stringlengths 6 6 | title stringlengths 4 294 | selftext stringlengths 0 2.48k | category stringclasses 1
value | subreddit stringclasses 1
value | answers dict | title_urls listlengths 1 1 | selftext_urls listlengths 1 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
he4vzm | How are movies filmed in busy cities like New York City and San Francisco? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvp3h9y",
"fvp7cjw"
],
"text": [
"About 10 years ago I saw them filming Transformers in Chicago. Pretty much they shut down the street and all the cars and things that you see in the movie were brought in. It was pretty cool.",
"the producer contacts the city and secures a filming per... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
he730o | Why does a laptop gets slower | I used to play a wonderful 5 vs 5 team fight in dota 2 when i bought this laptop, but now, 5 months later, the image gets slower during team fight, Can someone explain me why does this happen? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvpjbqq",
"fvpi0le",
"fvpoki7",
"fvprpsc"
],
"text": [
"A common problem with most people who are not, IT saavy, is they install anything and everything, that looks interesting. The general rule of thumb here is, (without getting too technical), the more shit you install, the slow... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
he8vhx | Why does the device itself need to have a restart after downloading an update for a program? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvpwhhq"
],
"text": [
"When a restart is needed, it's usually because one or more of the files that downloaded were already being used and can't be updated while it's loaded in memory. ELI5... You need new tires for your car, you have to stop the car to put new ones on, you can't upgrade them... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
he9cpm | Why erasers work well with normal pencils but not so much with colored pencils? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvpw5u8",
"fvpvso0"
],
"text": [
"“Normal” pencils tend to have a nib made of graphite, which actually kind of peels in layers. When you write something in graphite, you’re depositing a superficial “layer” of graphite on the paper. The eraser just rubs off the top layer of the graphite. M... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
heb9mr | what is a driver for example a compiler driver | what is a driver? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvq96if"
],
"text": [
"It's a layer between HW and SW. Hardware is controlled by writing ones and zeros into its registers at different addresses. For eaxample you want your printer to do some task, like go to standby mode so you write 10101111000011010 into address 0x5f4c (I made these numbe... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hebe3q | why do moving parts in video games are usually a different color than still objects ? (e.g. a drawer that is supposed to be opened is a lighter color than the other ones) | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvq8be2",
"fvq73zt"
],
"text": [
"Depends on a few factors. In modern games, this is often a design choice to make something catch your eye. In the older (DOS-era) games this was often a by-product of still backgrounds versus movable sprites or objects, where it simply was really hard to ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hecy77 | what the hell is "Randonauting" and how does it actually work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvqj4di"
],
"text": [
"Randonauting is telling your phone, \"I don't want to go any further than\" and you tell it a distance. Then your phone tells you a random place within that distance from where you are, and you go to that place and see what is there. [ URL_1 .]( URL_0 .)"
],
"score"... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hedo9a | How do video game companies improve their graphics? What makes game engines better than others? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvqlose"
],
"text": [
"Graphics are a complex combination of resolution, lighting, artstyle, shadows etc. To create an object in a game you have a texture which basically is the \"skin\" of the object. This texture is basically a painting which can look like 3D even though it is 2D. This can ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hedrqo | how do particle accelerators work? | I vaguely get that they use magnetic fields to zoom particles along like rail guns use magnetic fields to zoom bullets along. But what I don’t understand is how magnets can move particles that aren’t magnetic. And how do you aim two microscopically small particles that are zooming near light speed at each other? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvqkkzm",
"fvsl33b"
],
"text": [
"You are right: they use magnets. And you are also right that they cannot move particles with no charge. Electrons and protons have negative and positive charges, respectively, so they can be zoomed along, but neutrons, no charge, no move. If you want to s... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
heegaj | Why are sites 'down' during maintenance? What prevents changes to be made while users are on the site? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvqq4ax",
"fvr559p",
"fvqogc1"
],
"text": [
"By putting the site into a maintenance downtime, you prevent any weird scenarios where users are trying to use the site and possibly create corrupt data because they fill out a form on the old version of the site, but it gets submitted to t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hefil5 | phones that take sd cards, why is there a limit on how big a card they can take, why cant it be the biggest available | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvqwhm2"
],
"text": [
"Because there are different standards of information for encoding on larger SD cards. This is because larger SD cards required entirely new technologies in order to be able to create. This means that larger SD cards effectively write and speak in a different language, s... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hegloj | What is permaculture, and why is it more sustainable than traditional agriculture? | I would like to know more about permaculture and how it works. If someone could explain, that would be great! I saw a visual about it on Instagram and now I’m curious. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvr68fg",
"fvr4sjm",
"fvsqt2c",
"fvs4kuj"
],
"text": [
"Modern Agriculture is taking large steps to help revive the soil, but overall, permaculture is usually done in very small cases, and is too expensive and needs too much care to be used in large scale agriculture. There is a b... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hek4f1 | Why was art from the Middle Ages so different? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvrpx5k"
],
"text": [
"So as the Roman Empire fell, and most places were conquered or left in chaos, a lot of the artistic developments of Greece and Rome faded away. 1 point perspective, 3 point perspective, and so on would be lost for a long time. But not only that, at the time most couldn'... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
heln1w | How does data transmission from something like the ISS work? Those are massive distances and i guess a whole lot of data. Are there some special protocols are massive antennas? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvrzo10",
"fvs0beg"
],
"text": [
"The ISS is **much closer** to your house than the DirecTV satellite that sends your TV programs. Not at all a massive distance, it's 400km (about 240 miles) above the surface of the Earth. There are some nice antennas and a network of ground stations, but... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hely6y | How do multiplayer games sync player actions with each other? | I know some of it has to do with the server side of things but at some point you have to lend some things on the client side, correct? I'm curious on what typical multiplayer games do server-side and client-side and make sure that everybody sees (mostly) the same thing while accounting for lag and all that. Not necessa... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvs40o3"
],
"text": [
"Dedicated server: The basic run down is that your client shares information with the central server who then distributes the information to everyone else's clients (and gives you their data). Since all of this exchange is handled by the server, your client (and device) ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hemp0t | If aliens were trying to communicate with us would we even notice? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvs6bg8"
],
"text": [
"We don’t really know. They could communicate to us through things that we understand like radio and light, or they might not and use things that we haven’t even discovered yet. It all depends on how advanced the aliens are"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hentgc | 4K 60 fps games are so smooth , but we don’t see things like that when we look around in real life. How can something artificial look smoother than it’d be in real life? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvsdoqg",
"fvsea7i",
"fvsez9k"
],
"text": [
"Reality is much, much more complicated. It would be super smooth, if everything were smooth and uniformly lit. But, almost everything in reality has 3D texture, and there is this super bright unshielded nuclear reactor in the sky every day ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hepbhh | What exactly is "hacking"? How do people even learn the basics or get into it in the first place? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvsounw"
],
"text": [
"First you need to understand how everything works. Networking, computers in general. You need to be good in some programming languages. There are many ways to do it. 1. The easiest one is you using a keylogger which is a program that \"listens\" to your keypresses. Then... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
heu3yv | How is mail sorted? | So I had a thought when I mailed something the other day - how does mail get sorted? It’s honestly amazing that mail travels as fast as it does once I thought about it. But that starts with your local post office sorting it - so obviously it’s not done by hand, but how does a machine read people’s crappy handwriting? O... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvtmseo",
"fvufdsq"
],
"text": [
"If we are talking about the USPS then here’s how I understand it. A computer sorts almost all of the mail. It takes a picture of each letter and uses handwriting recognition software to compare what it thinks the address is to a list of known addresses. I... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
heuiy7 | How do music leaks happen? Who is holding the music before the release and how does it get out? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvtmizq"
],
"text": [
"Publishers send out several waves of advance copies of the songs on new albums before the album comes out. The first wave goes to people in the industry. As songs are completed they get sent to a bunch of other artists and producers who are making the same kind of music... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
heuu64 | If apps don’t read my password, how do they decipher if it’s a strong or weak password? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvtoice"
],
"text": [
"During password creation, apps accept the plain text password and evaluate it for complexity. If it is not complex enough or does not meet other defined requirements such as minimum length, the app notifies the user. Checks like this usually happen before form submissio... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hf24ej | Why do condenser microphones need an external power supply? is there a way for them to work without power supplies? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvuthlm"
],
"text": [
"Batteries. The power required to operate a condenser circuit is 50 times more than the sort of mic your computer might be able to power. Since applying condenser voltages to such a low-power mic would fry them, you computer designer's not going to want do that."
],
... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hf5red | Backfeeding | Currently the guy who installs all the internet stuff is here at my house. He just told me that if I wanted to I could “backfeed and get connection in all the rooms.” I have no idea what he’s talking about and he keeps calling me young lady so I feel weird and I’m too afraid to ask. I tried to google it but understood ... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvvi15s"
],
"text": [
"\"Backfeeding\" is basically a reversal of the normal flow of electricity or another signal through a system. For an analogy imagine you have a plumbing system where water comes in from the mains and is distributed through various pipes to faucets and spigots for use. \... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hf6e1m | How come in some photos of the sun/moon they look enormous, when in most photos they show up as tiny dots in the sky? | It seems like it's usually in professional photos that they look huge - sometimes bigger than they look to the human eye. Is this photo editing, or the type of camera, or what? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvvwtpg",
"fvvrwpu"
],
"text": [
"Please don't bother about the answers with Photoshop and horizon effect. Enormous moon and normal sized trees is down to a trickery of lens on telephoto lens. I quote from stackexchange: \"Those are done using the compression of a telephoto lens. Longer l... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hf7br8 | Is dehumidifier condensate safe for drinking? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvvqwl3",
"fvvrcyy"
],
"text": [
"It’s technically distilled water, which is safe to drink in reasonable amounts. In large quantities it can cause some issues since it’s extremely low in minerals and will start drawing them from your body. It’s not necessarily clean though, depending on h... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hf9stk | Why/how do computer screens in movies not have the weird rainbow effect on them (the moire effect)? | I already know why that happens when you record something on your phone- camera sensors aligning and misaligning with pixels. But how do they get rid of that effect in movies/tv shows? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvw8h8k",
"fvwayhb",
"fvwdpaa"
],
"text": [
"I may be way off base, but I believe in tv/movies, images on computer screens are typically digitally inserted and not actually recorded.",
"In addition to the other answers, the moire effect is reduced to unnoticeable levels if the scr... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hffmit | How were programming languages invented? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvxc0os",
"fvxezug",
"fvxfxw6",
"fvxdu0a"
],
"text": [
"They were painstakingly written in binary code first, to write assembly language. Assembly is human-readable code that gives the computer instructions in binary. Once assembly was written, it was used to begin writing more co... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hfgnc8 | How does the cremation process actually work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvxh5ce",
"fvyin6a"
],
"text": [
"Basically a body is put in a cheap easily burned container, a cardboard or thin wood casket, it's then burned at an extremely high temperatures in a gas furnace, called a 'retort' until all moisture has been removed, all tissues have been reduced to just ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hfiwve | Why does the Spotify radio algorithm always suggest horrible songs for my playlist, even when there are great, well-themed songs out there I haven’t heard of? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvxshx5"
],
"text": [
"Your friend and you make different \"thumbs up/thumbs down\" choices when presented with songs. Spotify uses these choices to offer you new songs, based in part on what others who have made similar choices have found favorable. So if you say UP to Song A and DOWN to Son... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hfruf9 | Why is adobe flash player ending? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvzeild"
],
"text": [
"Flash, from the get-go, has been riddled with security holes and flaws, and is generally resource-hungry and unwieldy. Ultimately it makes more sense to build some of the more useful features that Flash brought to the web in the late 90s and early 2000s into the native ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hfseik | why aren't all cables and connectors "radial" like RCA or headphone jacks? | USB-C was created, and one of its main attractions is being reversible, as in having two ways to being plugged in. However, why didn't USB make a standard that's circular, as to allow "360°" of ways to plug it in, similar to headphone jacks or some laptop chargers? Same things for other connectors: HDMI, mains plugs, e... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvzjvj6",
"fvzm0qb"
],
"text": [
"Most radial connectors (RCA, coax, BNC, SMA) can only carry 1 signal channel at a time. The headphone connector can carry 3 but at the cost of a longer plug. The USB-C connector carries 12 separate channels copied on top and bottom for a total of 24 conne... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hftpha | How does a major breakthrough in science happen? Is it because noone has thought of it that way? Are there major breakthroughs in the future of medicine and technology because noone thought of it that way? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fvzte8t"
],
"text": [
"Not necessarily. In some cases, like Einstein's relativity, it could very well be what you said, no one had thought of something that way before. In other cases, it may be that the theory had always predicted something but the breakthrough is finally finding evidence th... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hfuqz7 | Why do digital movies not have chapters to skip to like a DVD would've had? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw001l8",
"fvzy8b6"
],
"text": [
"Because they remember where you were when you stopped watching - DVDs didnt do that back in the day.",
"They sort of do, on services like Netflix where you can skip intro, or skip preview. Honestly though I think the reason digital movies don't have t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hfwjoa | why did people have to stay still for so long to get pictures taken and what happened if they moved? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw0a7j5"
],
"text": [
"Old film emulsions (the part that records the image) were not very sensitive to light, so the shutter had to stay open for very long to get enough light to form an image (otherwise it would be way too dark). So people had to stand still for longer. If they moved, it wou... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hg0ulj | How come opening and closing credits on some older movies seem to shake slightly? | Recently watched The Highlander and Tango & Cash on different streaming services, and noticed the credits move very noticeably. Is it something to do with the transfer from film to digital, or the size of the screen, or...? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw13uq2"
],
"text": [
"It is because of the old technique of attaching credits to physical film. See, credits aren't actually a filmed thing. They are created on film by hand, which even with the most precise measuring tools were never perfectly aligned with the next frame of the film. This l... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hg5bip | How does LTE work and what makes it faster than my WiFi? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw1wofh"
],
"text": [
"Its not faster then wifi. Then again... Wifi and LTE are different terms, they are labels. Wifi is wireless fidelity, the name used for the IEEE protocol 802.11 aka Wireless ethernet. Theres 802.11 Rev A, B, G, N, AC and AX. most of them operating at 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz.. T... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hg7yk0 | How do "long exposure" pictures work? | I've recently seen a lot of these and they seem so cool. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw29e5g",
"fw29sfu",
"fw29wbd",
"fw2fvj9",
"fw2y03i",
"fw2v4sp"
],
"text": [
"A camera-- to simplify-- takes in light to create an image (much like our eyes). A long exposure just keeps that eye (the shutter) open longer, so that more light gets processed into the final pi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hg8cf8 | Why are some games' default resolution 1280 by 720? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw2bv11",
"fw2fwne",
"fw2daqp"
],
"text": [
"That is one of the most common ratios you see among TVs and monitors being produced nowadays,and it is a high enough number of pixels to produce a pretty good-looking picture even if stretched out on a very big television.",
"It's possi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hg9ua9 | Why are keyboards aranged the way they are? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw2l9l6"
],
"text": [
"It stems from typewriters. Placing the most used keys as far away as possible from each other allowed for more time between keystrokes, so the mechanism is less likely to jam."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hga2tm | what are IP and IP addresses and how does the tor browser helps to hide it? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw2n2vc",
"fw33mix",
"fw2zsdl"
],
"text": [
"Think of it as almost a mailing address: if you know the IP of a computer (DNS exists to help here for most internet traffic), you can send a message to that computer. TOR sends all traffic through at least three \"middlemen\" nodes between... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hgawac | Why do phones not pick up their own noise when on speakerphone? | This isn't an issue any more. But I remember old cell phones from when I was younger, the microphones would pick up noise from it's own speaker and make the call echo. What mechanism is in place that prevents this nowadays? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw2szhk"
],
"text": [
"Long story short the phone knows what is coming out of the phone and ignores it when recording sound Basically it still does pick it up on the microphone but the phone knows that it is an echo so it cuts it out of the playback."
],
"score": [
97
],
"text_url... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hgcuko | How do the software and hardware interact with each other? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw38adb"
],
"text": [
"So, you have microcontrollers, which are essentially low-cost, low-power versions of the CPU inside your computer. These microcontrollers have registers that are can store small amounts of information. When you write code, the instructions essentially get distilled down... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hgf114 | If led light bulbs are so efficient, why do they need fairly large heat-sinks? I thought the advantage of LED's was heat isn't a major byproduct. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw3ko9j",
"fw3kv1c"
],
"text": [
"It isn't, compared to incandescent bulbs. 95% of an incandescent bulb's energy consumption goes towards producing excess heat and IR light, and only 5% goes to making visible light, whereas with LEDs about 3x as much of the energy consumption is converted... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hgg8xl | How did Greeks measure time | I was just watching a video, currently over on /r/videos with Carl Sagan explaining how the Greeks knew the earth was not flat, over two thousand years ago. The explanation being that two posts at different locations had different shadows when observed “at the same instant.” That phrase had me curious. I’ll assume the ... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw3x1cz",
"fw3rfy2",
"fw3rtur"
],
"text": [
"As I recall, it was two scientists of the day agreeing on measuring the shadow at their respective places when the sun was highest on a specified day. Easy enough to find out as it would be the time of day that the shadow was shortest. The ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hgi0s8 | How does an Ip address work and how accurate is it? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw43685"
],
"text": [
"An IP address is a unique identifier for every machine using the internet. Known as your “internet protocol address,” this identifier is written as a string of numbers separated by periods - google ^ Not sure what you mean by accurate, if you're speaking geographically ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hgkrb5 | With the science we have today, if someone set themselves to building a T-800 Terminator like in James Cameron's 1984 movie, would it be realistically feasible? If not, what scientific knowledge/techniques are we still missing? | Primary components are: a.) Mechanical, battery-powered, bullet-proof metal skeleton substantially stronger than a human being. b.) Cloned human tissue capable of self-sustaining with a non-organic energy source. c.) Artificial intelligence able to interact with the real world. Seems to me we are reasonably close to al... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw4l2x1",
"fw4ler7"
],
"text": [
"Protecting the power supply is the biggest issue The amount of batteries required to power a frame capable of the tasks would be excessive. That's why the Boston dynamics bots have their backpack looking compartments. Robots like Atlas already exist, but ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hgq7bt | DrDisrespect banned from Twitch | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw5gq1y"
],
"text": [
"It is still unfolding so not that much has come out yet. Dr Disrespect was fairly abruptly permanently banned from twitch as well as losing his verified status on discord. This has let to wild speculation ranging from sexual assault/harassment, tax evasion, racism, brea... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hgt743 | How does YouTube know to stop playing videos when your phone is locked? Why is this not a feature we can just turn off? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw63ueu",
"fw5wtwg",
"fw6dded",
"fw6cmx8",
"fw609jg",
"fw5x0fu"
],
"text": [
"It's an artificial restriction. There's no reason it has to happen, except to sell you the ability to stop it. Use the NewPipe app instead, and you suddenly won't have this problem.",
"The Yo... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hgtvsk | why do games take so long to load in files that have already been loaded in | Like, in a parkour style game like mirror's edge for example, if you fall down, you have to restart, which takes super long. But if you were already standing on the roof that you respawn on and everything was loaded in around you, why does it still take so long? I know I might have described my question badly but I did... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw60cvy",
"fw6ahan"
],
"text": [
"Usually due to lazy programming, games will often just dump the contents of the level and start loading it over again from scratch. This is easier and faster than writing the logic to clear out the pieces of the level that are unnecessary while retaining ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hgty33 | How do cds work? I know that they have all the tiny grooves but how do those get turned into information such as music or video games? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw624su"
],
"text": [
"Music, images, text, videos, code; we've figured out how to encode all of these types of media as long strings of binary digits. Text is an easy one to think of, we say that the letter A is encoded as the binary number 65, B as the binary number 66, and so on. Images ar... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hguc4m | How is a video converted from 30fps to 60fps even though the camera was only capable of filming 30fps? Saw a remastered video of the lunar rover and was curious. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw63r6f"
],
"text": [
"They use computer algorithms that take two neighboring frames and try to draw an approximation of an in-between frame. [The result is not always super pretty, especially on animations and quick snappy movements]( URL_0 ), often causing deformation and wobbling in the in... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hguwp3 | How do websites generate so much revenue from ads when most of us hardly click them. Wouldn't that be a loss to the the original company investing in ads when most of them are left unclicked? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw671ud"
],
"text": [
"So there are generally 2 types of advertisements on the internet. Pay-per-click (PPC), and Pay-per-impression (PPM), and they work on two different theories. PPC ads are just that. You might see that ad on a website, but the website owner doesn't make any money until so... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hgv3gq | Why do most TV remotes require 2 batteries to work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw68cdt",
"fw68yx4"
],
"text": [
"Each garden variety AA(A) zinc-carbon battery outputs 1.5V on a good day, and more like 1.2V later in life. This is a kind of shitty situation, because the transistors inside most cheap modern microcontrollers work best on 3.3V and [complain if you don't ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hh05ua | Why is the data TikTok collects an issue for its users? | How is this different from other companies and why should I care? I get the whole “privacy” issue but then again, why should I care about privacy? What are the implications of this data being used against my best interests? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw78d9d",
"fw7arss",
"fw734v4"
],
"text": [
"Hypothetical situation. You have the app. You're recording that you hate China. This data is sent to China. They have your face, location, phone info, contacts, and every background image of your house. You decide to one day go to China. Th... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hh3fwq | How do companies, like mobile phone companies, make sure every mac address is unique? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw7oylm"
],
"text": [
"Blocks of MAC addresses are assigned to the companies that make the modems and ethernet controllers, you can even [look up who has what blocks assigned to them]( URL_0 ). Each block gives 16.7 million unique addresses and its up to the manufacturer to ensure they are gi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hh3or8 | So how do multiple monitors work on the same computer? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw7pq63",
"fw7r1g6"
],
"text": [
"Ok... first off, the computer acts/thinks it’s one screen... even though it’s physically 2 or more screens it acts like it’s one and that’s why you can move your mouse continuously across all screens. In the settings of your computer/laptop you can even t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hh5n15 | How does a computer/game console/electronic device (not with internet or radio access) STILL know the exact date and time after being out of charge/turned off for an extensive amount of time? Eg years and years | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw81ky9",
"fw81l3a",
"fw85k3y",
"fw881t9"
],
"text": [
"They have a tiny battery inside, and that battery just runs an internal clock, so it uses almost no energy at all, and can last for years, because modern clocks are really energy efficient.",
"Lots of electrical devices, ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hh6kjz | How do computer processors work? Is there a limit to how fast they (or other computer parts) can get? If there is a limit, what are the possibilities for moving past this boundary? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw88po6"
],
"text": [
"Processors work by sending an electrical current through a series of logic gates. The major limit here is heat. The faster the clock cycles the hotter it gets. You can make the transistors smaller to a certain limit before you start getting quantum effects, this is to r... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hh7yuv | How do the coffee machines heat water so fast? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw8hc5i",
"fw8kyan"
],
"text": [
"Very similar to a stove. They have an element that heats up using electricity and that heats the water. There isn't a ton of water being heated, just a coffee pot (or less) full.",
"Its actually not trying to heat all the water you've put in the reser... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hh8jo2 | Why can my computer copy a 500 MB file easily, but struggles to copy 5 MB of text in a word processor? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw8lriq",
"fw8vi98",
"fw8t3sq",
"fw8vmxa"
],
"text": [
"When you copy a file it doesn't need to put the entire file in memory, and simply needs to copy the exact bits. When you copy in word, it needs to put all the text in memory and then format the text so it can be displayed to ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hhc12o | Why are earphone leads divided, with one being longer than the other? | Is there some advantage to it? Ive genuinely never thought about it. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw95jyy"
],
"text": [
"The ones that have one longer lead are designed to go around the back of your neck so when not in your ears they will stay around your neck. Some folks also prefer having the cord off to one side rather than straight down the middle like traditional equal length earphon... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hhcnj5 | . What is the function of the characteristic sound of a 56k modem dialing? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw99bxa"
],
"text": [
"The modems at each end are talking to each other to negotiate a speed. I used to be able to tell the speed by the sound before it fully connected. Once it negotiated, the sound was disabled but I believe, other wise, it may continue. You could also put an AT string in t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hheav0 | How does a digital camera "know" what to focus on? | I tried to find similar answers but none that hit the nail on the head as to how the camera "knows" what to focus on. What I mean by this is how does my camera know to focus on a specific person or thing, when there are countless other things it could focus on. Say, a picture of a person with a stop sign behind and som... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fw9je1s"
],
"text": [
"There are two methods for cameras with autofocus... Focusing on the object in the center or at a preset focus area. This is determined by the photographer and/or camera. The newer method uses machine learning for subject detection and selection. What is the photographer... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hhjg6e | How can video game developers go into a specific player’s game, while that person is playing the game, and alter objects or the game itself? Example of what I mean in the desc. | The developers of Cluster Truck went into this specific player’s game on livestream and began messing with his game, typing text on screen and changing the colors/speeds of all the trucks. [example]( URL_0 ) | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwak88w"
],
"text": [
"As it says in the description of the video “Some people seem confused as to how the developers could've modified the game in the way they did, so I'll try to give a run down of how it worked. Clustertruck has Twitch integration, which is why that bar appears at the top ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hhnyn3 | How an interrupted song on FM radio picks up where it left off. | I was listening to the radio in my 2019 Tacoma when my dad called. We talked for 16 minutes. When the call ended, the song that had been playing before he called continued like nothing happened. I looked up the length of the song. It's only 4 minutes long. This has happened more than once. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwb72y7"
],
"text": [
"It looks like it’s a feature in some Toyotas where it’ll cache 20 minutes of radio. Seems like a pretty neat feature. URL_0"
],
"score": [
10
],
"text_urls": [
[
"http://toyota.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8004/~/how-do-i-use-the-cache-radi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hhpbbj | What is a transparent proxy? | Is it good enough to make IP invisible? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwbfvs4"
],
"text": [
"All a transparent proxy is, is one you don't need to manually configure your browser to use. Generally speaking something inline with your internet path will transparently intercept your traffic and proceed to proxy it. This could be your router, firewall, maybe even yo... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hhwg3k | Why is network bandwidth measured in kilo/mega/gigaBITS rather than kilo/mega/gigaBYTES? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwcn9lf",
"fwcqi7z"
],
"text": [
"Historically, it's because network communication works in bits, not bytes. Bytes are used for storage and memory, not transmission. By now it's simply because using bits instead of bytes sound more impressive (200Mbps sounds more than 25MBps).",
"At t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hhxs4i | How do earphones create sound waves that are longer than the size of earphones themselves? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwcz1yz",
"fwdknjk"
],
"text": [
"Sound waves are created from something vibrating and then the waves move out away from that object vibrating. Think of like a water wave. You put a toe in the water and ripples travel out from that point. The wavelength (the length of the wave) is determi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hhxysh | What incentivise groups to crack games and distribute them? Is there any monetary benefit for them? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwcvwul",
"fwcvxev"
],
"text": [
"The technical challenge and the recognition. To a cracker, a copy-protected game is a riddle, a puzzle box, crafted by the best puzzle-makers the game industry can afford. There's a rush and a lot of prestige in being the first to solve this puzzle.",
... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hhy3ek | Why does windows takes way longer to detect that you entered a wrong password while logging into your user? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwdrj7n",
"fwd0h8t",
"fwcvzxh",
"fwd4ucr",
"fwdqfch",
"fwev6qa",
"fwdllqe",
"fwd084d",
"fwd9cl0",
"fwegpcb"
],
"text": [
"Top voted answer ~~is~~ was wrong I'm afraid. It's a nice theory that it takes time to verify the password with an online server, but: ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hhyk0s | why is it so hard for a PC to emulate a console like a PS4 or xb1 , even if though it has more CPU processing and GPU processing? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwcz9mr",
"fwcyl6h",
"fwcz49d",
"fwd014n",
"fwd12bj"
],
"text": [
"Your computer can only count with Apples and the Xbox counts with lemons. The game code has the Xbox performing millions of calculations each second. When you want to run an Xbox game on a PC, the emulator pret... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hhzu2p | How can a huge game like Skyrim fit on a CD and be played on a console, while only a few episodes of a TV show can fit on a DVD? | I know that there are two different machines used to read the disks, but does that make a difference in how much a single disk can hold? Is the difference in the way the disks are read or the type of data they hold? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwd62l0",
"fwdjjc3",
"fwdgq4p",
"fwd673y"
],
"text": [
"Video games use text based code which is relatively small that references 3D models, textures, music and sounds that can be repeated thousands of times in the span of a game but only exist in one instance on the disc. A DVD u... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hi8j4k | Why does it take so long for Bluetooth devices to recognize each other during setup? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwet8ag",
"fwen72d",
"fweqxom"
],
"text": [
"Bluetooth operates in the unlicensed 2.4Ghz spectrum. Each bluetooth pairing has it's own encryption setup During setup, the bluetooth host has to go through the entire spectrum and find out what is a usable bluetooth signal, and not someon... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hiaqpu | How do fitness tracking devices/smart watches analyze your sleep? | I recently got myself a smart watch and it has this feature that analyzes my sleep. Now I'm really curious on how it works. How can this thing that just kind of loosely sits on my wrist detect if i'm sleeping and why does it only need a sensor on the top side of the wrist? Afaik the top of the wrist isn't one of the us... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwf8fr2"
],
"text": [
"Mainly by movement, in combination with heart rate, and sometimes apps on your phone that may pick up sound of snoring or slow breathing. Even if you've been still for a time (say, sitting reading a book, watching TV, lying in bed thinking) you *still* move somewhat (es... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hibspg | how the gaming console fan(s) collect dust while their are spinning rapidly all the time? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwf7nw1"
],
"text": [
"well static electricity what causes shocks when we touch someone or a door handle is present when two rough objects touch and it increases potency the faster the friction is. well the fans spins at high speeds the air friction and friction at contacts generate a electri... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hic4fe | Social media profiles are used to send targeted ads. What else can be done to us users with this data and how dangerous can it get? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwfcjqc",
"fwfi0xk"
],
"text": [
"Look up China's new system of rating people if you want to see the dangers. It's a real dystopian nightmare. If you say stuff that's critical of the state on social media, you lose points and that loses you privileges. For pictures you post on social medi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
higqyp | How is wood made into long & wide planks? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwg2wym"
],
"text": [
"Like plywood? Made by shaving a trunk in a continuous spiral then steaming it, flattening it out and gluing layers to desired thickness. If not plywood, you pretty much need a tree as big as you want the wood long/wide."
],
"score": [
15
],
"text_urls": [
... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hik4lv | Why are some microscopic images in colour while others appear in a sort of greyscale? | Is it purely a matter of differences in technology or is there a reason for this? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwgkzvp"
],
"text": [
"Images taken from light microscopes have color at lower magnifications. At higher magnifications, a thinner specimen is required in order to make out the necessary level of detail. Because the specimen is so thin, it can't filter light very much, so it doesn't display m... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
himjwe | How do doctors/surgeons fix bullet wounds when these hit organs? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwh3wjw"
],
"text": [
"It really depends on the organ that is hit, and the degree that it is damaged. With the liver, the main problem is bleeding. Controlling that can be with pressure and agents that promote clotting, suturing (actually not an easy thing to do with the liver), or sometimes ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hinh0h | How do braces work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwha88z",
"fwh2v5y",
"fwh2zpi"
],
"text": [
"Say you want all your first graders in a line facing the same direction to take a picture but they’re all jagged and crooked. To correct this, you strap on a backpack to each kid and feed a metal stiff cable through them to eventually mold ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hioa3k | How do we ensure that so many phone numbers across so many carriers across so many regions each remain unique? | And have there ever been instances of duplicate numbers? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwh7m5v",
"fwh94mg"
],
"text": [
"No, duplicate numbers are not allowed. Each dialing area (what you probably call \"country code\", like +44, in an international phone number) has an organization responsible for coordinating the relationship between numbers and carriers. In the NANP (+1)... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hiohzw | In a recording studio, why use studio quality headphones, when most people won't be using those to listen | Studio quality headphones give accurate representation of sound, but most people listening to the music won't be listening with that high quality, so they'll miss a lot, or it might sound quite different for them. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwhc3ef",
"fwhgq27",
"fwh938x",
"fwhao9e",
"fwh9f1y"
],
"text": [
"Because you want the source recording to sound as good as possible. Many people use quality speakers or headphones. Any recording is only as good as the weakest component in the chain, so you start high and the... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hiqttn | Why is formatting my drive so much quicker comparing to regular delete files? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwho91n"
],
"text": [
"A \"quick format\" just wipes out and recreates the file allocation table. That's just a list of files and where they are on the disk. Quick format - Tossing your whole filing cabinet into the incinerator and buying a new one. Deleting all the files individually - Takin... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hivu7i | Why is it that when you turn a device off by disconnecting it from the power point instead of pressing the off button it gets damaged? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwijfep",
"fwirkyk"
],
"text": [
"Digital devices unexpectedly powered off may have been in the middle of writing some data to the disk. When the machine starts up again and attempts to read that (potentially very important) data it may find a garbled mess and be unable to function in som... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hj2zv6 | Before atomic time, how did watchmakers know how long to make a second last for? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwjwol0"
],
"text": [
"They basically knew that day to day sun is up at approximately same time (or stars appear on horizon at same time too every nighta). So for a classic 12 hour clock, they'd take a 12-to-1 gear to get to get hours, 60-to-1 gear to get minutes, and 60-to-1 gear for seconds... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hj3mrj | what happens when we delete a file, like where does it go or what happens to it ? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwjz7c8",
"fwjyk4t"
],
"text": [
"Usually if you just delete a file conventionally you just say to OS that that space is free to rewrite/use in the future. File can be recovered until it is overwritten by a new data. There are more secure ways to delete a file - just overwriting it with r... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hj74ov | Why can't windows uninstall more than one application at a time? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwkhc3f"
],
"text": [
"Windows absolutely can, but the software is told not to. This is so two unrelated programs don’t mess with each other’s settings or try to modify the same files at the same time. Since you can’t control every other companies in the worlds software, it’s easier to just t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hjclaq | - How does a bug happen in programming and how do people debug it? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwldp41",
"fwldifj",
"fwldjd1",
"fwldo1r",
"fwmgiqd"
],
"text": [
"Somewhere in the programming there is a mistake - it could be something like a simple line of code saying that 1+1= 3, that would make every answer that uses that little bit of code would be wrong. Did you know... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hjfdfg | Why YouTube has stopped considering 720p as HD quality? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwluccp"
],
"text": [
"It doesn't matter. YouTube probably just assumed given that many customers' displays can natively support resolution above that, and that most content uploaders are uploading at least 1080p these days, that the \"HD\" designation over 720p makes no sense."
],
"score... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hjjwy6 | How the data in a computer is processed differently by each component (hard drive, RAM, CPU, graphics card, etc.) | I guess I'm looking for like where the data travels between each component (ie: file is stored on a hard drive, user opens file and it gets moved to RAM, the CPU is running processing it all, etc). What does each component actually do when it's processing the data? I'm especially wondering about what a graphics card do... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwmqj9t"
],
"text": [
"Graphics card processes a lot of easy math problems fast. This is why it can do math for each pixel sixty or more times per second. Cpus are extremely fast calculators and can do hard long problems quickly. When it opens a program, it’s doing tons of math to put the pro... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hjlqsf | . Why can’t robots be programmed to click a box that says “I am not a robot”? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwn1sms",
"fwn4gcl"
],
"text": [
"The button checks the micro movements of your mouse to see if it's predictable like a robot or random like a human. That being said, robots can defeat all types of captchas with reasonable accuracy, but defeating the ones that make you click on images of ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hjoljc | How does YouTube handle different frame rates? Ex US: 30fps or 60fps vs Europe's: 25fps or 50fps? How are they effectively removing judder from a video filmed in PAL and me watching on an NTSC set? Does it scale by Geographic location? So many questions about this. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwo04js",
"fwnsz5l"
],
"text": [
"Youtube doesn't transmit over PAL or NTSC. Those are obsolete cable TV standards. Youtube transmits video over the internet. Every modern computer display can do at least 60FPS regardless of continent.",
"Do the old formats even exist anymore? PAL was... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hjs1jk | Why are there ebooks that are checked out, and therefore unavailable? Since it is online, couldn't the ebook just be copied and pasted so that the people who want to read the book but are unable to because someone else is reading it don't have to wait for them to finish? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwo68dj",
"fwo77p3",
"fwor74s",
"fwog29v",
"fwods0y",
"fworfkg",
"fwpg806",
"fwp0aei"
],
"text": [
"There is an old rule about if you own something you can lend it to someone but it has to stay just that one copy. This doesn't violate any sort of copyright. So in t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hjtox0 | How do phones keep track of time when they are out of battery? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwoetqz",
"fwojrw9"
],
"text": [
"When phones shut off they aren’t actually out of battery, they go to sleep to prevent battery damage so the clock of kept running. If the battery truly dies, then it gets the time from the phone provider when it sets itself so you never really notice it."... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hjtskn | . How does a PDF compressor work? How does it give the same quality, with lower size? | I compressed a PDF file that was around 95 MB, and the online compressor compressed it to only 1.15 MB, but when I viewed the file it still has a great, almost exact same quality. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwogfrn",
"fwolbnk"
],
"text": [
"PDF are technically not \"an image\", but rather text, special text, \"code\". A lot of that can be considered \"clutter\", often left behind for redundancy or for being inefficient. Compressors usually de-clutter the file, then applies actual compression... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hju5pj | Why is that when you photograph a television or phone screen, the picture shows squiggly lines all over the screen? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwok8hz",
"fwohuxu"
],
"text": [
"You might be seeing something called a moire pattern - it's caused by two grids (in this case, the tv pixels and the camera pixels) being slightly different scales.",
"It is more down to the human eye than the camera. Most people cannot really detect ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hjubub | How come, with new technologies, the quality of calls doesn't improve ? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwokug3"
],
"text": [
"Because there is already a widely accepted algorithm implemented, that can't be changed this easily as it possibly isn't compatible to newer systems without extra measures in end-to-end signal processing. In the USA this algorithm is the [µ-law algorithm]( URL_0 ) that ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hjvupa | How is single-stream recycling processed? | I grew up with separating recyclables and putting them in different bins at the recycling center. Now we can put everything into a single bin. How is it separated for processing? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwox37r"
],
"text": [
"Basically it goes to a sorting plant that filters things based on: Magnetism/Eddy current to remove metals. Water and air current to sort heavy plastic and paper products from light ones. Augurs and paddles to sort scraps from full-size items. Plus there are usually one... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
hk42aw | why does a guitar pedal need a battery or an adapter when it's already getting power from an amp? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwqdwlq",
"fwqgz88"
],
"text": [
"Yeah, thats not how that works. An electric guitar doesn't get power from the amp. The electric guitar is generating very very small electrical signals by the strings moving over the magnets of the pickups. These signals go through the cord to the amp whi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
hk50of | How does a camera save what it captures? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"fwquj3k"
],
"text": [
"Depends on the technology in the camera. If its a film camera, the light is focused on a strip of chemicals which are effectively 'burnt' by it and so capture the image. A digital camera focuses that light onto a grid of photosensitive sensors, much like our eyes, and i... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.