q_id stringlengths 6 6 | title stringlengths 4 294 | selftext stringlengths 0 2.48k | category stringclasses 1
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6mojge | how does Alt+f4 work when closing down a program and is it any different from closing it from the task manager? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Alt+f4 is the same as clicking the little x button at the corner of the window. What it does is send a message to the program saying \"please close\". Depending on the program's code, it can comply and shut down, it can show a message box to the user aski... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6moqxh | Why hard disks become slower with time? | I have some HDs that were in notebooks and desktops, that the read/write speeds are < 3MB/s while access time seems to be around normal values (can't remember the actual values). SMART values are normal according to some softwares, so I don't know what happens. At the same time I have a 1.5TB drive that reads/writes at... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk360od"
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"text": [
"There are a couple reasons. Hard Disc drives have a plate in them. They start in the center and write till they get filled on the outside. When you put information on the drive, it records where it put the data on the innermost layer and then has to move to the outer mo... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6mp5bw | Why are virus/spam websites not more powerful? | I code off and on and I've always wondered why spam websites that include a pop-up "virus" require you to click on said pop-up box before they can actually inject something into your computer. Could they not just call a virus on page load instead of actually needing a click from the user? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk39be7"
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"text": [
"It is a lot safer and easier to trick a dumb user into clicking something than it is to run an exploit. The exploit might tip off the antivirus, crash the machine or otherwise alert the user to the presence of the virus. A fully patched and updated machine will also be ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6mpbbt | How do drones steady themselves? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk3amwt"
],
"text": [
"Quad copters need gyroscopes to fly. If the gyroscope detects that the quad copter is starting to lean in one direction the electronics will speed up that propeller and decrease the speed of the opposite propeller so the quad copter stops its movement."
],
"score": ... | [
"url"
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6mprmw | theres a youtube error where you get a wall of random letters and they say show it to the monkeys, how does this work? | if you need an example, URL_0 | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dk3eaf0"
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"text": [
"It's an encrypted error message. The server had a problem and spat out a detailed log of everything it thinks might be relevant, but they don't want to show all those details to the general public. It's possible in theory someone could use that information to figure out... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
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6mq6vm | Why can't you use laptop parts for a PC? | I know you can use some parts like RAM but what about the CPU and other junk. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dk3hqe5",
"dk3hoas",
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"text": [
"Everything in a laptop is shrunk down to reduce size, weight & heat. Laptop CPUs are generally soldered on rather than socketed. GPUs are either integrated into the CPU or soldered onto the board as well. Laptop motherboards are generally a... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6mqetx | What's the resolution on a human eyeball? At what point will this HD/Ultra 4k race surpass what our eyes can notice as an improvement? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dk3luas",
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"text": [
"1 arc minute 20/20 vision is having an angular resolution of 1 arc minute(1/60th of a degree), but this is only true for your central vision, it falls off rapidly the further out you go We've pretty much hit the point where r... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6mqhey | Why do we have both AM and FM radio frequencies? What are the differences between them? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dk3kcny"
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"text": [
"AM is an older technology. It's like shining a light across a field and to communicate you make it brighter and dimmer. The problem is, fog or dust or a dog in front of the light could change the brightness, making it appear like a \"valid\" signal but also making it wr... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
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6mrdb0 | how casinos can have people smoking inside and not have smoke detectors go off | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dk3rwx1"
],
"text": [
"Smoke detectors are only one type of fire detection device and there are different types with different sensitivities. Some measure the actual amount of smoke particles via ionization and some measure the clarity of a photoelectric beam. Some do both. Rate of rise senso... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6mrwfl | How are airlines so good at scheduling flights that almost every single one is fully booked? | I've been on 46 commercial aircraft over the past 4 years, and only one of them was not at least 97% full. What type of things do airline companies use to determine when to schedule flights that will get the most bookings? Note: I'm not asking why an airline would want to do that or how overbooking works (like other th... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk3xaru",
"dk4014b"
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"text": [
"There are two main ways: First, they have a lot of data from being in business for many years. They can look at how many people flew from New York to Houston on every flight they've flown between those two cities for the last 10 years and see if there are... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6mslkn | Why do commercial planes fly on same altitudes running into possibility to hit each other and needing flight controllers? | Why don't they utilize many different hights? Same with paths - can't they go farther to the left or right on the way back? EDIT: Thanks everyone for your answers. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk40kfz",
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"text": [
"They do indeed use different altitudes and paths, so any collision in mid-route is already unlikely. But there are thousands of aircraft in the air at the same time. And the most crowded areas are near airports, where all airplanes *must* converge on a si... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6mudna | So a CPU is just a bunch of switches, either being "on" = 1, or "off" = 0. But "who" or what decides when a switch should be "0" or "1", in order to make a useful computation? | The more switches (or rather transistors) a CPU has, the faster it will be. The clock speed (i.e. 3 GHz) determines how many times per second all those transistors will make a computation. But what system controls all those billions of switches each cycle, so that the CPU outputs the right string of 1s and 0s which res... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"I'll try to give an eli5 but keep in mind it's an highly abstracted answer which grows in complexity step by step. To answer your question you need to... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6mugvf | How did the cameras that were used during the moon landing work? How were they able to broadcast relatively clear picture and sound from space, using 1960s technology? | I ask this because there is a group of people who think the moon landing *itself* is real but the tv broadcast was staged. I personally don't believe that the broadcast was fake, but the question piqued my curiosity and I would like to know how it worked. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Basically, the important thing in space communications is not the size or power of the transmitter, but the sensitivity of the receiver. Once you have... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6mvnik | why do some sites need both an address and a ZIP | For example, AT & T and battle for the net need both my address and my ZIP, can't the ZIP be taken from the address? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk4o4et"
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"text": [
"It can...if you entered your address correctly. Both pieces can be used to match each other for verification. You can't verify the address if it's not perfectly entered. And typoing on a zip code is just as common."
],
"score": [
6
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... | [
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6mycul | How are emails able to be used as evidence in court? Can't someone easily edit them before entering them as evidence? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk5as9x"
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"text": [
"Is there a revealed hash I don't know about to maintain integrity?"
],
"score": [
4
],
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6mz5kb | difference between seeing/viewing and downloading images | What is the difference to my phone between loading an image so i can see it and downloading an image so i can see it? Besides the fact I have one forever | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk5hmwt",
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"text": [
"> Besides the fact I have one forever That's it. The viewed image is technically stored temporarily on your phone. While the downloaded one is saved in your storage.",
"Your browser pretty much downloads it to its own \"folder\" if you will and shows ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6mz614 | How do programmers incentivize self-teaching software? | [Inspiration for this post]( URL_0 ) is this video about Google's DeepMind teaching itself to walk through sensors and "being incentivized to go from point A to point B" which sparked the question, how? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk5m9py"
],
"text": [
"Incentivized doesn't really mean anything super-special here. So they've got a neural network that tries things at more or less random. If it works, it keeps the change. But depending on what you're trying to get it learn, it rarely has a simple \"Well that worked' test... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6mzoj5 | Why hasn't 720/1080p become Standard Definition, and 4k become High Definition? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk5lw2z",
"dk5lyv0"
],
"text": [
"HD is actually defined as the 720/1080. That's what HD means. It means that resolution. SD means stuff below that, usually 480. 4K means 3840x2160 resolution. Those are just the names for the formats. They don't have a deeper meaning.",
"Terms can't c... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6mzz78 | Why software developers use error codes and not just say exactly what is wrong? | Was playing Watch_Dogs 2 and was unable to connect to the servers. Instead of just saying "No internet connection" It says a bunch of gibberish. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dk5oeu0",
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"dk60zoj",
"dk5zcxs",
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"text": [
"Error codes report on the specific fault or symptom, not \"what is wrong\". An error code that translates to \"Couldn't connect to server\" for example, means that *... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6n1fdq | is it possible to make it so an ISP can't throttle your network speeds? If so, how? Just preparing for the apocalypse... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk5xs8t",
"dk5y4gk",
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"text": [
"Yes and no. If you're using end-to-end encryption, they can't tell what you're communicating, but they might just throttle you just because they can't tell. With end to **end** encryption, they can also tell where your endpoint is. Accessin... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6n4h5f | Why does it take a computer a bit of time to shut down? What else does it have to do before it cuts power? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk6nv72"
],
"text": [
"First the operating system sends signals to all the running programs telling them to close. This gives them time to gracefully close. That means saving data, closing file handles and cleaning up. The operating system waits for the programs to close. After a short while ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6n5s9e | How do electronic key cards for hotels and college dormitories work? How do the card readers know to reject cards not associated with a room or building? | Edit for clarification: I'm referring to the "tap" or insert cards that do not require you to also input a code. Thanks for reading! | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk6zpig"
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"text": [
"Because they're programmed to. If the door code is 12345, then a card coded 24555 isn't going to open the door."
],
"score": [
4
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6n64wz | [Technology] Does being in wifi versus using data affect battery drainage? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk731wi"
],
"text": [
"Wifi uses less battery. It has to do with signal strength. When using cellular data, your phone has to transmit a higher strength signal because the cell towers tend to be much farther away. Assuming the wifi is nearby, the signal is going to be much stronger, and take ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6n8ezt | Why is a photocopying machine so huge compared to a normal colour printer? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dk7hw5f",
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"text": [
"There are very small photocopiers too. On the large ones, most of the extra size is for complex paper handling: several large supplies of different sizes of paper; a collator that can make 10-20 ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6n8yo2 | If programming is mainly a bunch of math and numbers then how is a video game created? | I have learned some programming in the past but I cannot figure out how you build a game from it. You need some graphics and sounds for it too (which are tasks for graphics designers and sound engineers) , but I don't know how do you integrate that in your programming (math/ numbers) and in the final product, the game ... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk7mwgj",
"dk7v6y4"
],
"text": [
"So programming isn't really \"a bunch of math and numbers\". A better way to describe it is \"a bunch of instructions and decisions\". Math and numbers are used, but programming at it's core is telling the computer to do certain things, and making decisio... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6naq9h | Will placing the Internet under Title II allow it to be censored like radio or will it allow the internet to continue to stay open and free? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk81dyl"
],
"text": [
"Private telephone conversations are covered under Title II, and there's no censorship of telephone calls. In practice, censoring the Internet isn't directly possible. You can make a separate net, not the Internet, which you censor. China, for example, does this. There i... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6nbe59 | Why did so many cavalries use curved swords (sabers, scimitars, etc)? What advantage do they give? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dk87x0v",
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"text": [
"A generic straight sword is good at both stabbing and slashing, can be used two handed for extra power, and can be used against opponents on either side of you. On a horse, you are basically just... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6nf8i2 | How can a video filmed 50 years ago, not in HD, then be rereleased in HD? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk9765s",
"dk96of7"
],
"text": [
"35mm film actually have much high resolution than digital HD. Typical HD is 1920x1080 which is 2,073,600 pixels or about 2 megapixels. 4K UHD is 3840x2160 which is 8,294,400 pixels or about 8 megapixels. 35mm film has about 20 megapixel resolution. If the... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6nff2j | What are AVX (Advanced Vector Extensions) for? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk91hcb"
],
"text": [
"For speeding up calculations. Vector Extensions are special CPU instructions which can operate on a larger number of bits than the CPU typically does. Alternatively they can be used to do multiple operations at the same time if the values are a smaller number of bits. F... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6nftrw | how come portable hard drives haven't advanced beyond 1 Tb/ 2Tb size these last 5 years | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk944jv",
"dk961tm",
"dk9jriv"
],
"text": [
"Have you even looked for one? I bought a 4Tb hdd for about £90 nearly a year ago URL_1 I'm sure you can even get 8tb if you want to splash out. URL_0",
"There was a big increase in capacity some years ago with perpendicular recording: U... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6ng0un | Why do we have to limit clock speed on processors? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk96ape",
"dk95w4d",
"dk97zzs"
],
"text": [
"One problem is that circuits are really analog, even if we can normally treat them as digital. If you take something like an AND gate, we can normally just assume that its output will be on when both inputs are on, and off otherwise. But wh... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6ngtjv | Why do automatic toilets and urinals flush while I'm still very clearly using them? | Like, stop rushing me, man. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk9bvy8",
"dk9hrie",
"dk9bxpb"
],
"text": [
"Tear off some toilet paper and drape it over the sensor. If you know you're gonna drop a deuce, get some wet paper towel first and use that to drape over the sensor. I've been doing this for years adverting the awkward mist-splash.",
"T... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6nh3ot | What is the difference between having stream saver on and off for AT & T? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk9fd7t"
],
"text": [
"It limits the quality of video streaming while simultaneously limiting the use of data. Basically you could watch 1 hour of HD video on your phone for about a gb, or you could watch that same hour of video at a lower quality for half a gig or less. Basically boils down ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6nhsqe | How did people come up with names for all the HTML colour codes? | Such as “Lightsalmon” (#FA07A), “Lemonchiffon” (#FFFACD), “Papayawhip” (#FEFD5) or “Goldenrod” (#DAA520) etc.? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk9kvmy",
"dk9jzco"
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"text": [
"[This article at ArsTechnica]( URL_0 ) says that the early \"colorful\" names were taken from the Sinclair Paints catalogue.",
"Wikipedia lists some history at their articles for [web colors]( URL_1 ) and [X11 colors]( URL_0 ). Most of the web colors ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6nidv3 | What's the difference between a radio transmitter antenna and a radio receiver antenna? | are they both solenoids or metal sticks? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dk9ompo"
],
"text": [
"There is none. \"It is a fundamental property of antennas that the electrical characteristics of an antenna, such as gain, radiation pattern, impedance, bandwidth, resonant frequency and polarization, are the same whether the antenna is transmitting or receiving.\" So, ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6nndlo | How do cellular providers give consistent bandwidth to multiple users at one time while my wireless router gets slowed down with multiple users? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkarf90",
"dkasenn"
],
"text": [
"Your router has a set amount of bandwidth that it is getting from your internet provider, and a set amount of bandwidth the users on your end of the router can have in total. Imagine you're distributing water. The pipe coming into your house is coming in ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6nozyu | Why can't you rename a Windows file with some characters like :, etc.. ? | :, maybe can be used but i am not now on my PC to check what characters can't be used so sorry if I am wrong but that was just like an example, I think you get what I want to say. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkb4t1a",
"dkb4plz"
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"text": [
"Certain characters are reserved because they have other meanings. The colon (:) means the name preceding it is a device, such as a drive (C:) or a port (COM1:). Others are wildcards, like asterisk (*) or query (?). Plus (+) is used to concatenate files to... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6np4s8 | How do foaming soap dispensers work and how do they change liquid soap to foam? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkb4mgh"
],
"text": [
"They have little grids on them that they force soap through that 'aerates' the soap by allowing air into the grid. You can get the same thing on a sink faucet that makes the water bubbley as it comes out."
],
"score": [
11
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6nq6da | How negatives of images seem to have so little of color variation, but the normal versions of images can have plenty | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkbw5gn"
],
"text": [
"If you consider real analogue negatives, you need to look at them at just the right light conditions to get good contrast levels, just like the image produced by them will get low contrast if you either over- or under-expose when making the positive photo. Also, our eye... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6nqzzc | How do other people slow down my connection speed? | I live in a very rural area (an hour away from city) so my internet is really slow. I know when other people in the area are not online (like when they are at work or outside) the internet is much faster, reaching 3-4 Mb/s. But when everyone comes online it runs at a snails pace, dipping down to 500 or even 50 Kb/s. Wh... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkbkyvt",
"dkbknt2"
],
"text": [
"Imagine a water pipe. If you're the only person using it you get full pressure. The more connections to that pipe the weaker the pressure.",
"The local service connection's bandwidth is being used up, when you have access to it at low use times you ge... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6nrrpd | Is it easier to make a movie with a cgi "invisible" monster, or a visible practical effects monster? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkc38zq"
],
"text": [
"Low-budget CGI will likely result in a worse film than low-budget practical FX. Both can work, but practical FX can be bodged up more easily by a bunch of amateurs and (this is the clincher) if you can do stuff in-camera on-set the actors can see & react to it better (m... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6ns0p8 | How does Instant Messaging differ from e-mail? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkbu2i3",
"dkbt0sl"
],
"text": [
"E-mail works in a similar way to the post office. You write a message and hit send, it gets passed off and the address read to see where it goes. It gets sent to that location where the address gets read and sorted into the correct mail box. Multiple clie... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6ns4h6 | teaching/learning robots | How much groundwork programming does it take to let a robot know that "stand up" shouldn't look like a topsy-turvy turtle? Is it like: these are the rules, now bring it to a usable order? How does the robot know what makes an order usable? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkbz025"
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"text": [
"imagine you have some inputs (sensors, energy), some internal nodes (stuff that can be connected together), some outputs (motors) and a simple test to \"score\" the result, f.e. how close you are to the desired result. now a computer connects everything randomly, and us... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6ntn59 | How does streaming work that allows millions of discrete viewers to stream a popular show? | For instance, when Game of Thrones season 7 premier debuted on HBO GO/Now, how do the servers handle the flux of viewers? Do the servers need to supply a copy of the file to each viewer? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkc59fq"
],
"text": [
"It is possible to stream to multiple devices via [IP multicast]( URL_1 ) - the network then copies at each step. However, due to compatibility, billing and security reasons, IP multicast is not available on the general Internet. Another alternative is using a peer-to-pe... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6nwefw | Why is running a game (or anything) in Windowed mode more stressful on a computer than running it in Fullscreen? | I've noticed this myself when playing GTA, I was running the game at half the framerate while running it in windowed (borderless) than when I switched over to fullscreen. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkcs1oh",
"dkd5fay",
"dkd0q1y"
],
"text": [
"When you are windowed, Windows not only has to draw your game screen, but all of the other things running in windows too. Plus, it has to convert the resolution you have chosen to something smaller. When you run in fullscreen mode, All of t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6nwimm | How do the detectors at Walmart or other stores work? | My coworker and I were having a discussion about working at Walmart and dealing with the self checkout machines. We came to a point where we wondered, "If you didn't scan all your items and tried to go through the detectors, how would they know to go off?" Is it an infrared thing? How could it be possible? Edit: By "de... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
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],
"text": [
"The detectors don't detect everything, they just detect security devices inside certain products. You'd need a magnet to remove them. If you're in the self checkout, the red light will turn on, and an employee will come remove the security ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6nwum8 | How do "framerates" make a difference in videos? | I saw [this post]( URL_0 ) ("Framerate synced with wings") I don't know anything about photography or science so this might be a stupid queston, but what does "syncing framerates" mean and how does it make that bird look like it's not flapping its wings? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkcv3q0",
"dkcu9cb"
],
"text": [
"simplifying u/Ging1721 's answer, Got a slow blinking light? even a car's indicator will do now start it and blink your eyes in such a way that when you open them it seems like the light isn't actually blinking but is constantly on This is exactly what ha... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6nxy5w | why did America fail to become the number one producer of solar panels? Wouldn't the government do whatever it takes to gain huge viable markets like this? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkd3jzb",
"dkd3sit"
],
"text": [
"Because America depends on oil for more than just energy and fuel. Brobdingnagian amounts of money and power are involved with US oil companies, stocks, and even the economy itself in many other ways. Solar means a huge loss for the oil industry (\"Big Oi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6ny3u5 | What is the practical difference between png and jpg/jpeg files? | They both store images, but how exactly are they different? It is just a collection of colors and pixels in an order. Is the only difference how the bytes are arranged? If not, what are those differences and how do they affect the common user? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkd5zbb",
"dkd5fyw",
"dkd5hwh"
],
"text": [
"There are two significant differences between PNG and JPG for the common user: compression, and transparency. PNG uses a lossless compression algorithm, meaning that no data in the original image is lost or discarded. BMP is another lossles... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6o3ji5 | How did game developers for old games like Super Mario put graphics, music, logic, etc using just tens of kilobytes? | A simple image nowadays can be a few megabytes. Oh and how did they use the few kilobytes of RAM they had so efficiently? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkeezbi",
"dkecilm",
"dkedxv8",
"dkeyv0q",
"dkemg8d",
"dkeo16c",
"dkelgrm",
"dkew3v4"
],
"text": [
"First on the issue of image sizes: Less pixels means less data right from the start. Say you've got a 256×240 image. Compare to how many pixels you'll have on a 1920... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6o3nh5 | How does AI ever lose at chess? | If a human chess player looks x amount of moves in advance to pick their next move, a computer, not bound by memory constraints, could play every combination of every piece on the board; eliminate all games that end in a loss, select only from winning endings and make a move based on that. Then repeat process after eve... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkebysb",
"dkebq4p",
"dkehni9",
"dkeh6wd"
],
"text": [
"> a computer, not bound by memory constraints, could play every combination of every piece on the board This, right here, is the flaw in your assumption. The computer is absolutely memory limited, the human actually has an ad... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6o43xm | How can large amounts of information be compressed into a short sequence? | For example, some roguelike games with randomly generated runs give you a short "seed" that lets you recreate the exact same run later. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkeg2fv"
],
"text": [
"Computers can't really calculate random numbers, they can calculate pseudo-random numbers ([more information in past ELI5 threads]( URL_0 ). Most pseudo-random number generators start with a \"seed\" and will *always* come up with the same sequence of \"random\" numbers... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6o4hj6 | What is memory leak and what does it affect when it comes to pc games? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkeivcw",
"dkek9bh",
"dkem92l"
],
"text": [
"To perform tasks computer programs must allocate certain amounts of memory to them. An application is usually composed of many different smaller programming sequences and those programs each will allocate a certain amount of memory to them,... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6o6qfn | Why do popular games of today (mostly kids games I thinking of) seem to be less story-based as they were in the late 90s/early 2000s and more arcade-style as they were in the 80s? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkf2rnd",
"dkf1ng0"
],
"text": [
"Are you talking about mobile games? If so a large part of the reason is because of how developers are trying to make money. Old arcade games were designed to eat quarters so they wanted to encourage you to spend bits of money as you played the game. 90s/2... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6o6r29 | How does NVIDIA manages to bring driver updates to such a large and old lineup of GPUs ? | 1. New drivers for GTX 4xx lineup is still supported until today. 2. Every year has at least 10 different GPUs, desktop and laptop. 3. Not to mention with different operating systems either. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkf5dmq"
],
"text": [
"It's their core business to do this. If they would only support the latest video cards the customers would get very upset and all move to other brands. Also, the nvidia cards all have a fairly similar architecture. Making a change to the new 10xx series or to the older ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6o846j | How does the machine measure oxygenation through the skin of your finger? | I was at the doctors with my kid and the nurse put a clip over his finger wich was hooked to a monitor. How can it measure pulse and oxygenation? PS: I am a first time poster and english is not my native tongue. Be gentle:) | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkfaadv",
"dkfpa7g",
"dkfmf15",
"dkffrff",
"dkfgbha"
],
"text": [
"The process is called \"Pulse oximetry\". To simplify the way it works, the device which is placed somewhere on the body where the skin is thin, in your case the finger, and it emits specific light wave lengths... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6o8eck | Why do some online merchants need your card type (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) when entering info and others do not? | When buying things online I've noticed that some online merchants require more information when paying with a credit card than others do. Why are some merchants able to figure out card type and others aren't? A related question is why (in the United States, at least) do some gas stations require a zip code when using a... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkfcga6",
"dkfnikp",
"dkfcwha"
],
"text": [
"Because some are more sophisticated than others. The first digit tells you the \"team\" of the card: 3=AMEX, 4=VISA, 5=Mastercard. If your lazy programmers don't code this up, the user has to enter it. Gas stations are a great place to chec... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6o8p1z | Why is there such a difference in USB cables when technically it's all supposed to be "universal" anyway? | For instance, if I get a cheap USB charger/cable from china it may make my phone go trippy whereas a proper one won't. Also, there seems to be brand specific USB cables too that certain devices "work best" with. Why come? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkfeyda",
"dkfu63a",
"dkg0t09"
],
"text": [
"The brand specificity is a myth spread in order to make sure the user is using a proper cable - the original cable is guaranteed to be good quality while any other cable isn't. There are multiple reasons to why a bad quality (\"Chinese\") c... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6o999n | What is LPCM on my stereo receiver? | I moved into a new place, and my audio is suddenly delayed and when I looked into it, I noticed LPCM on my receiver screen that wasn't there before. I don't know what that is, and I tried googling it, but it went right over my head. Could this be my problem? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkfjnzs"
],
"text": [
"Linearized pulse code modulation. It's an alternative coding to DTS or Dolby surround sound. You probably need to cycle through settings to get to whatever input code you normally use. DTS or Dolby are way more common."
],
"score": [
6
],
"text_urls": [
... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6oahcu | Why isn't HTML considered programming? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkfuhgd",
"dkfv4l9",
"dkfubid"
],
"text": [
"Because HTML doesn't do the things that that programming languages do. It can't make decisions and it can't loop. You can't give it a list of numbers and have it sort them or find the average, something all programming languages can do. HTM... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6obmuh | When filling out an address form online, why do websites ask for City and State, before Zip Code, when the Zip Code could be used to autofill the other information? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkg42vo",
"dkg4ev4",
"dkg5zr6"
],
"text": [
"1. Design decision, people are more used to address being address/street, city, state, zip to the point that it's an automatic reflex to enter things that way 2. It's extra work to maintain a database of zip codes and cities or tie into an ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6ocuq8 | What is 5G and what would it mean if a cable company was investing in it? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkgfiyy"
],
"text": [
"5G is a blanket term for what is being dubbed the next generation of wireless uses, to include things like faster mobile data, internet of things, and plenty of other uses that we haven't yet nailed down. IF you ask a dozen people, in the industry what 5G will do, you'l... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6ode2m | How do IT departments handle frequent cyber attacks? | Context: the director of my organization's IT department mentioned in a presentation that we encounter hundreds of cyber attacks every week (this organization is well-known globally). How is it possible that we are attacked so frequently and how do the IT folks handle it? I know nothing about CS. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkgk8ag"
],
"text": [
"Almost any publically accessible IP address is constantly bombarded by various attacks and scans. At home your router most likely protects you from a direct assault on your home computers by forbidding direct connections unless you've explicitly set up your router to al... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6of2cy | My computer just told me that it was unable to perform a simple task. I tried the same thing again immediately after and it worked. This seems to happen regularly with computers. How can this happen? | Im pretty sure this happens with a lot of devices like games consoles and smartphone. 1 second it cant do something and then it can do it straight after. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkgvhne"
],
"text": [
"This question is far too vague to be able to answer with any accuracy or certainty. But in a very general sense, it is exactly what it sounds like. Sometimes the computer may be in the middle of something that was using a particular resource or it was unable to process ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6oggeu | What prevents a television show that no longer airs to sell its rights to Netflix or some other streaming service? | I was just thinking about shows I watched as a kid. Clone High, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Undergrads, etc. and was wondering what the incentive was to not have them highly accessible. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkh4qnl",
"dkh5duv",
"dkh54q9",
"dkhbbxm"
],
"text": [
"It may be stuck in licensing purgatory, or someone else still owns the exclusive rights. In some cases it's no longer really clear exactly who owns what percentage of the content. TV shows use licensed music, have multiple ac... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6ohhk5 | Games (espacially back in the day) try to use as minimal space as possible for their games, so why are unused graphics etc. still in many gamefiles. | It kind of seems paradoxical. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkhctz3",
"dkhp60l"
],
"text": [
"you never know what removing something can do. say they removed unused graphics from sonic 1 for a stage they didn't intend on using anymore. for all they know, removing that code could cause a huge glitch or crash elsewhere and it would be even more of a... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6ohzew | How come the file size of my camera's photo are always different even though the same amount of pixels are being recorded? | When I take lots of photos with the same picture size (8megapixels for example) some photos are 6MB file size and others are 2MB. I know that the pictures are different, but in every pixel the information is recorded the same way, and I get very different file sizes. Why does that happen, if the amount of pixels being ... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkhh0fa",
"dkhk0mj"
],
"text": [
"not an expert but this is what i would think. your camera captures and stores images using file compression. it is not storing raw data straight from the image sensor. if there are many pixels that contain similar data (same color/exposure/etc), the group... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6okg8m | Why do doctors' offices often use those weird scales where you slide those two metal brackets over numbers until the tip balances? Are they more precise than the digital scale I bought off Amazon for $20? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dki3zir",
"dki52sd",
"dki27e3",
"dki8yqr",
"dki1cwo",
"dki6q9n",
"dkidfqj",
"dki20cw",
"dkj0o36",
"dki9ymj",
"dki7vnf"
],
"text": [
"Mostly cost honestly, commercial electronic scales are expensive. [A quick google puts them at $375]( URL_1 ) where the ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6oliit | Why do some headphones have a frequency response of 40KHz even though human hearing range is only 20KHz at best? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkianmz",
"dkipngh"
],
"text": [
"I can only think of two reasons; 1. A bunch of 'headroom' above and below what we can hear means no compression is needed. 2. I suspect its simply a marketing ploy.",
"Like someone else said: it's hard to make a small speaker have that tight of a roll... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6olnoi | How can cable TV service work well nearly 100% of the time while internet service from the same provider can be so wildly inconsistent? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkic2ud",
"dkibljy",
"dkica55"
],
"text": [
"TL;DR: The machines that handle internet traffic are more complicated than the ones that handle cable. Internet traffic accesses more locations and sends information in two directions. Cable is handled by centralized locations and only send... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6op0u2 | If satellite phones provide near universal coverage and have been around for such a long time, why didn't they become the norm? | It worked for pagers, right? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkj0v1p",
"dkj3hum",
"dkj46zl",
"dkj0jlj",
"dkj40nf"
],
"text": [
"There are multiple reasons but one of the biggest is the cost to make and receive calls. From Wikipedia: > > > The cost of making voice calls from a satellite phone varies from around $0.15 to $2 per minute, wh... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6opkz8 | How do passwords in older video games work? | I'm talking about the passwords used to pick up where you left off in games, before saving was widely used. How did a password "save" all progress, including in some cases stats, game elapsed time, etc? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkj5t95",
"dkj5xzw",
"dkj8s53"
],
"text": [
"Everything in a game is pieces of code, and a password simply ties a bunch of those pieces together to recreate a certain set of circumstances and accomplishments, whether it's “JUSTIN BAILEY” in *Metroid* or opening Dr. Wily's castle in a ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6opocc | How do new crypto-currencies keep popping up? Can anyone create a new currency if they have people willing to invest in it? | I just don't understand how these new currencies keep popping up and what gives them value. I suppose with our current system(U.S.), the only reason it works is because people believe the dollar holds value, but you can no longer trade it in for gold for example. I assume the same true for these crypto-currencies, but ... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkj8a5y",
"dkj7bgy"
],
"text": [
"> I suppose with our current system(U.S.), the only reason it works is because people believe the dollar holds value That's pretty much how all value works. Also known as the Tinkerbell Effect: something being true if many people believe it's true. > but ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6opqs2 | What tech has allowed devices to be able to run for higher amounts of time on batteries or even allow devices which would have required AC power on batteries? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkj7mdz"
],
"text": [
"A combination of better batteries and electronics which use less power. LCD uses less power than plasma. A 1.2v CPU uses less power than a 5v one. Doing more with less power and better batteries equals long life."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6oshg7 | Why does food reheated on a gas stove taste different from food reheated with a microwave? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkjusb6"
],
"text": [
"This gets asked a lot in a lot of different ways. Basically it's the same reason any food tastes different when cooked in a microwave vs being cooked over actual heat. Microwaves don't heat food, they heat water (mostly) and that water heats the food. As it vaporizes, i... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6otoai | Why does the teletext/videotext in television looks that old and hasn't been updated (at least the appearance) since ages? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkk4qqd"
],
"text": [
"The system has not been updated because it's being replaced by the Web. In fact many companies are retiring their use of it completely."
],
"score": [
4
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6ov4bb | What does clearing cache and cookies do? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkkfber"
],
"text": [
"Cookies are little files stored by websites. They contain information that the site has to temporarily leave in your computer, like the fact that you are logged in or that you have closed the cookie prompt or your personal preferences sometimes, if you are not logged in... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6ova1e | How does internet speed works? Why is so different between companies, locations(different countries as well) and time? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkkj58u"
],
"text": [
"I'm European so I don't know the US situation, btw: There are basically 2 types of internet connection, with copper or optic fiber cables Copper cables are old and can't carry more than 20mbps, and nobody can get more than 15-16 because copper is pretty sensitive to ele... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6ovmce | Where is the live sporting event footage stored after they are aired? Do networks have all the footage, even the angles that weren't shown in a huge archive somewhere? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkkpn0m"
],
"text": [
"Depends on the networks. Sort answer is, yes. Some of it might be discarded later, but that is a matter of decision for the network or for the league. Basically, for all the footage the network didn't air, is it worth it for them to save it somewhere, or is it not worth... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6ovurw | If i own a device like android phone, why is it so hard to get full privileges? | If i own it, i should have full access to its functions and not just part of them. Why would manufacturers not make it easier for advanced users to take control? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkkq3zl",
"dkklel4"
],
"text": [
"i assume you are asking about root access, well most phones have a 1 year warranty period so during that period even though you paid for and own the device you are the secondary user and the manufacturer is the primary . now if you are an amateur who does... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6oxi0x | How were the transatlantic network cables put in place? | Were they just dropped in the water with heavy weights? How could one be sure that they ended up in the "correct" position? How deep are they usually? If a cable breaks, how to you repair/replace it? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkkydz4",
"dkkzafa"
],
"text": [
"With a really big cable laying ship. There's no need for weighing them down. The cables are quite heavy by themselves. If a cable breaks a specialty cable laying an maintenance ship goes out, finds the break, brings up the cable, and repairs it or splices... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6oxm89 | Why do windows updates take so long? | How can windows updates take so extremely long to install? Even accounting for time to restart services and making backups and what-not, it just doesn't make sense to me that updating the machine takes longer than installing it from scratch. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkl2fqm"
],
"text": [
"Pretty sure it's to do with everything surrounding installing it. Installing a video game is easy because you are really just moving data around to certain locations and storing it. But if you are updating the system itself, sometimes parts that you need to install the ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6oz1cq | Why do colors look different through our phone's camera compared to our eyes? | But higher quality cameras look more like what we see in our eyes? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkll01a",
"dkmf8cz"
],
"text": [
"You've essentially explained it for yourself. The higher the resolution of the camera, the more 'lifelike' (or what we perceive as such) the photo looks as our eyes are very sensitive and can pick up on details a regular smart phone camera simply could no... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6p0hv8 | How did AMD which is a much smaller company than Intel manage to produce a competitive Ryzen CPU? | I am curious to find out how did AMD manage to pull a rabbit out of a hat and get such a competitive well priced CPU like Ryzen. It is great from a consumer perspective but I want to find out if Intel just got lazy and were caught with their pants down or if they simply are holding back on releasing a new CPU architect... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dklo4i8",
"dklnvl0"
],
"text": [
"The thing is that in IT you need good engnieers. If we go back to the K6-3 and K7 generation, Intel had its P3 Coppermines and wanted to develop a new CPU which was geared more towards higher Mhz figures then efficiency, And at the same time they aquired ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6p0isn | Why do we forget about all the surroundings when watching a screen? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dklnt37"
],
"text": [
"The surroundings are usually dark when watching a movie or similar, which limits what you can see. There's also usually not much happening in the background for you to focus on, especially compared to what you are watching/playing."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6p0rqg | There's a finite amount of pictures a camera can take? | I might be really off here, but I'll say it anyway. Let's take a 12MP Reflex Camera for example. It has 12 megapixels, a 12 megapixel image is 4000 pixels wide and 3000 pixels tall, which gives us around 12 million pixels. Each pixel can (on average, considering it's an 8-bit pixel) assume 16,777,216 different colors. ... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dklpe7b",
"dklpcmo",
"dklpfzq"
],
"text": [
"You've done your math incorrectly. The actual number of possible pictures is not found by multiplying but by taking the exponent (multiplying c by itself p times), written c^p. That would be 16,777,216^12,000,000 , a staggeringly large numb... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6p1svs | Why is video game optimisation when porting from PC to Console or vice versa so hard to do? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkly0az",
"dklxg0u",
"dklz547",
"dklxis5"
],
"text": [
"When you develop a game for a console, you naturally have the assumption that everybody is going to be using identical hardware. If you're a developer who knows how to utilize this hardware in certain parts of your game you c... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6p3ahg | Why do DVD menus loop so poorly? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkmexll"
],
"text": [
"In the DVD menus the DVD players have to move back to the starting point to re-read the video, and so there is a gap where it is moving the disk. sorry about my last comment i didn't quite understand what you were asking."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6p60or | What makes power flicker instead of going off all together? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dknammn"
],
"text": [
"A recloser operating on the power line is more than likely the reason. A recloser is there to interrupt the voltage to clear a fault on the line ( 2 phases slapping together in high wind or a tree branch falling onto or brushing the line). The recloser will trip, interr... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6p86mb | How do school TV systems work? | My school has a TV system and plays the announcements on it every morning. The students from the 'TV production' class are the ones who report it and it's live every morning from a camera that they anchor in front of. They'll switch from the two reporters to slides about what they're speaking of to skits they've prepar... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dknb2vl",
"dknf84w"
],
"text": [
"You should for sure take that class. There are basically faders and computers that people operate, as well as audio people and people that push play on recordings. If you're asking this question, you're 100% guaranteed to enjoy this course as much or more... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6p9546 | Considering that we are reaching the limit of how small we can make transistors, are there other ways we can improve CPUs | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkninnh",
"dknlo6l"
],
"text": [
"the ultimate problem we get to is that a transistor is just a switch. which when tested will give a 1 or 0 (in logic terms). at a logical level we can't get any more basic, so the question becomes could we potentially use another device to create more swi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6p9dey | What is the significance of the domain .io and how does it differ from the other domains such as .com and .org? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dknjnyy"
],
"text": [
"it's the TLD (top level domain) of the British Territory in the ***I***ndian ***O***cean. Since those domains are cheap and gained some notoriety with webgames, web-dev demos and utilities ( URL_0 is great!), they're used for novelty stuff a lot. the I/O (input-output) ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6pa1qs | What purpose did modems serve before the internet? | I was born in 2000 so I'm obviously a bit too young to have any firsthand knowledge of pre-internet computing, but I've taken up an interest in certain retro tech channels like The 8-Bit Guy and I see that a lot of older computers have ports to connect modems onto them, even computers from as far back as 1981. I know t... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dknpeuc",
"dknp7ft",
"dknpa4f",
"dkntml7"
],
"text": [
"You could use one modem to call another. Some applications: 1. Logging into large-scale services like CompuServe. These were private services that were similar to the modern Internet, except that the transmission rates were s... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6pabpp | Why are Macs considered superior when it comes to editing for their CPUs when PCs have access to powerful GPUs? | Hi, I've predominantly used a PC for my work, editing video, animating, and drawing, and I'm quite familiar with CUDA hardware acceleration, the kind Nvidia's GPUs use. It's many times faster than just using a CPU, however, whenever I see an editor who uses a Mac talk about specs, they talk about how good the CPU is fo... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dknr9ge",
"dknsksw",
"dknsen4",
"dknsjoi",
"dknuld2",
"dkoi5ex"
],
"text": [
"It's not considered superior, it's just a preference, much like how people have a preference for PS4 or Xbox One. Mac DOES have reeeeaaally good edited programs, to be fair",
"This is largely... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6pao9h | How are Asynchronous Calls Used? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dknyox6"
],
"text": [
"Synchronous call - I'll drop you off at the store and wait her until you come back Asynchronous call - I'll drop you off at the store and periodically check to see if you are done Most calls are synchronous because the caller usually wants something right now and can't ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6pbmkf | How do they shoot anti-gravity scenes for space films? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dko27nx",
"dko28ff",
"dko26zr"
],
"text": [
"Some space movies like \"Gravity\" and \"Apollo 13\" have actually used NASA's \"Vomit Comet\". This is a jet that flies really high up and then dives. This causes everything inside to float around as if there was no gravity (there is gravi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6pbtlb | why do printers use magenta and cyan ink instead of red and blue, which are primary colors? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dko4sn8",
"dkoleaj",
"dkom4z3",
"dko3roq",
"dkouea6"
],
"text": [
"Some other great answers here, but I want to add a couple of things: First of all, the human eye is sensitive to red, green, and blue. That's what makes those colors special. There's nothing magical about those... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
6pefk9 | What stopped the internet during its inception to turn into how cable TV was? | What I mean is if you want TV channels regardless of provider you need to pay per channel or for certain packages. When the Internet came about why didn't the same happen to it? Was it because there weren't major websites/TV companies getting involved with websites? Was there regulation in place? Side question I just t... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkoqent",
"dkoqaco",
"dkoso2d"
],
"text": [
"Firstly it is important to know that originally the internet was created by the US government, called DARPA net as a way for scientists to communicate during the cold war. the biggest strength of DARPA net was that if one node was destroyed... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6pghab | What happens in the background when you click on the 'Safe to remove hardware' button in Windows? | And is it important that one does that before ejecting a drive? I have seen people who just yank their USB drives off their CPU once they're done without 'safely removing it'. And that doesn't seem to harm the drive or the computer. So what does that 'safe to remove button' really do? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkp3216",
"dkp326s",
"dkp33y1"
],
"text": [
"The safe removal function instructs the operating system to wait for all processes accessing a filesystem to finish and then \"dismounts\" the filesystem, preventing further read/write operations. If this step is not taken, there is potenti... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
6phcn5 | How Do Cell Phone Towers Connect to the Network? | Recently went up north and would lose and regain reception as I drove down the highway. I'm assuming this was based on my distance to the nearest tower. This led me to wonder how the towers themselves connect to the phone network. Are they wired in? A lot of these towers looked like they were in pretty remote locations... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dkpbovt"
],
"text": [
"It varies - satellite has too much latency, the actual time delays induced by satellite connections would cause problems with the timing. There are really two options - either a wired connection, or a point-to-point microwave, where the backhaul network is daisy chained... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
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