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7p2hbd | Why do old light gun video game accessories (like the NES Zapper) not work on modern TVs? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"CRTs would turn off the pixels and then light them up again each frame, lighting them up one by one in sequence. By timing when the light gun \"sees\" the pixel light up, it can deduce where the gun was pointing. Plasma/LCD/LED screens are permanently on,... | [
"url"
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"url"
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7p650d | Why do most cameras have a lower limit for ISO that is ISO100? | I know some cameras have limits that are lower like ISO50, but why is there a lower limit to ISO in the first place, as it's just an amplification of the electric signal coming from the sensor? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The signal coming off the sensor has a certain noise figure. The ISO setting adjusts how much this signal is amplified before being digitised but there's a limit in the range of this amplification. If you allowed, a minimum setting of say, ISO50 instead of ISO100, that ... | [
"url"
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7p77hv | When coming to a stop in a vehicle while listening to FM radio, why is it that if the reception isn’t clear, pulling forward about a foot fixes it? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dsf0m7v"
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"text": [
"FM radio suffers from *multipath interference* in which the signal bounces off of buildings and other objects, reflecting back and interfering with itself. These spots of interference can be quite localized, so a small motion can move you in and out of them."
],
"sc... | [
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7p839x | how bionic limbs work? How is their body able to tell the limb to move? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Yo ho ho! Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: How do mind-controlled prosthetics actually work? And how do they \"feel\" when worn? ]( URL_0 ) ^(_8 comments_) 1. [ELI5: How are prosthetic hands controlled? ]( URL_3 ) ^(_1... | [
"url"
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7p8yz8 | What is the difference between 3GB on a hardrive and 3GB on a Graphicscard? | And why is there a huge price difference? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Graphics cards store data in ultra-high-speed silicon memory chips. Those are costly. Hard drives store data in very-low-speed magnetic recording media, which is read and written by moving devices with electric... | [
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] | [
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7pa65r | Why is there no longer a satellite delay on television interviews? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dsfnp4n"
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"text": [
"Fiber optics have permitted these to be conducted via terrestrial lines instead of by satellite."
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7paim6 | How come every time you save an image the quality becomes worse and worse. Would this still happen if you screenshot it? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dsfqo0h",
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"text": [
"Often when you save an image (either saving it or screenshotting it) it gets stored as a compressed image file. Compression reduces the file size by averaging pixels or simply by skipping over unimportant pixels. Depending on the compression format, a lot... | [
"url"
] | [
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7pcqqw | How do recycling plants split paper from plastic? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Mill manager for a recycling company checking in. Their are several ways. A lot of companies do it with physical labor. Most of the time it a negative sort which means you pull everything you don’t want in the final product. You place 10-15 people on a conveyor belt sys... | [
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7ph68t | how do waterproof phones or phone cases stay waterproof but have clear speakers? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dsh9k6p"
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"text": [
"Speakers don't let air pass through them rather they function by moving air by \"vibrating.\" So they can easily be waterproof by not allowing water to get past the cone."
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7pjvsj | Why does the Arctic not exist on Google Earth? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"The problem with the Arctic ocean is that there are no permanent ice-sheets. The Arctic ocean is partially covered in sea-ice but whilst ice can survive for multiple years, the ice itself isn't permanent and the appearance changes substanti... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
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7pkq6q | How does my TV 'translate' the signal it receives into images and sounds? | Thanks for all the responses everyone! Looks like I have a lot of reading to do and videos to watch! | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Back in the old days, CRT TVs would sweep an electron beam across the screen, line by line,, with the amplitude of the video signal tra... | [
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7pmwy5 | How do DVDs work? How does a plastic disk with a reflective side hold data that can be observed at a later date? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dsigbvh"
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"text": [
"It works very similar to an old record, actually. But, instead of bumps and a needle, it uses a reflector and a laser. The reflective part isn't completely solid though , but rather contains TRILLIONS of little divots that don't reflect the laser back. Thus, while spinn... | [
"url"
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7pnmnu | How do PDFs get so much data into a such a small file? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Unlike a picture which has to store color information about every single pixel, a PDF document is a container holding only the instructions needed to recreate all the parts of the newspaper. How does this work? Say you want to draw a simple line across a ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7pnx7n | Big O notation (Computer Science) | What is it and just give me whatever information you can around it please. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dsimj9f"
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"text": [
"When we're talking about algorithms (recipes for solving problems), we care about how fast an algorithm is. Specifically, what we often care about is how fast an algorithm can be given a big set of inputs. If you need to sort five children in order of age, the algorithm... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
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7pocqt | If you duplicate the pixels, can you achieve the same quality at a higher resolution as the original? | If not, why? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Depends on the interpolation you use, and what you define as \"quality\". If you use the most naive interpolation, which is basically what you describe as \"duplicating the pixels\" (which is also called Nearest Neighbor interpolation), and you define \"q... | [
"url"
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"url"
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7poviv | why sometimes projects encourage you to check several checksums instead of just one? | Hey, so question is, most opensource projects publish several checksums for their archives (md5, sha256, sha1). Sometimes they encourage their uses to check all of those instead of just checking one. Why? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"It is possible, through some very meticulous manipulation, to create something that looks extremely similar to the original product, but has something malicious injected, and some extra stuff just to make the MD5 value match. In theory, you can also do the same for a SH... | [
"url"
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7ppeb0 | What makes different cords/blocks charge the same phone better or worse? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"For outlet adapters, some adapters are designed to provide a larger current, but this typically increases cost/size. A few standards like USB Power Delivery and Qualcomm QuickCharge, increase the voltage with a compatible device, allowing more power (= cu... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7ppt8o | Why are cartridge based video game systems inferior to disk based ones? Also, why did cartridge based system not have load times? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"They are larger and hold less data. They are also significantly more expensive to produce. They don't have load times because there's no moving parts. It's solid state memory. No laser needing to read a disk.",
"cartridge... | [
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7pq8nz | What are these new-age solid-state batteries? How are they different from conventional batteries? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"They're batteries that use solid electrodes or electrolytes instead of liquid. They have potentially higher energy density, and are safer since they're not flammable. They also have longer lifespans and don't produce as much heat. I think the problem at the moment is th... | [
"url"
] | [
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7pshrm | How can we use emergency calling on our phone to call 911 even when we don’t have a wireless connection or data? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dsjonyb"
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"text": [
"You might not have service through your own provider, but the FCC makes it a legal requirement for all providers to handle all 911 calls. That means if have ATT and are outside ATT's range, but you're in range of a Verizon tower, then your call will get connected. Appar... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7putbw | How do the internet clocks that our computers sync to stay so accurate? | Since a majority of the computers in the world are syncing their clocks to the internet through services like URL_1 , URL_0 , etc. how do those services maintain the time so accurately when clocks around my house lose minutes over time? Is it possible that the "internet time" could be wrong? Same thing goes for phone s... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Really really good clocks. UTC is the common standard for civil time, and is in turn based off International Atomic Time (TIA), with the difference being that UTC adds in leap seconds when needed (basically UTC is exactly 37 seconds behind ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7pv7db | Why is it, when travelling at high speeds, that I lose mobile phone reception | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dska9f5"
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"text": [
"The phone network is made up of \"cells\" (hence the name cellphone), one signal tower represents one cell, when you move between cells one tower needs to hand your phone off to the next one, this takes a few seconds to happen. If you move too fast the towers can't swit... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
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7pvkun | Why do mobile phones lose reception when going up/down an elevator? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dskcgo0"
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"text": [
"Well, your phone \"has reception\" when it can receive electromagnetic waves carrying the signal. The more energy these waves have when your phone receives them, the more reception it shows it has. These waves can pass through some materials without losing much energy; ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7pvzmu | What does iOS do differently to Android for iPhones to only need 1-2 GB of RAM? | Edit: Should have specified; *only need 1-2 GB* compared to flagship Android models, which usually have around 6 GB. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Eyy I actually know the answer to this one (game & app devel... | [
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7pyy5t | How is it that the tiny cameras in our phones can match the resolution of larger dedicated camera | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"On paper it might match, but if you have ever compared the two the difference is quite noticeable. The sensor in a camera is very small compared to say a 35mm full frame format dslr. Therefore you can logically deduce that the resolution capturing of the light levels an... | [
"url"
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7pz1qi | Why password managers are considered safe? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Password reuse is a huge security issue. If it is compromised in 1 place, it is compromised everywhere. Without a password manager, many people resort to using the same password everywhere. If you have malware on your system, it is easier to compromise yo... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7pzevl | How does a treadmill calculate burned calories? | On average, how does a treadmill at the gym calculate the amount of calories you've burned? Does it just guess based on your time and distance ran? Or does it actually take into account your weight? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Depends on the treadmill. It could take into account your weight. If it's asking for your age, gender, height, and weight when you start a routine - absolutely. And if not, it could just make assumptions and give a rough estimate. That's all any calorie c... | [
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7pzfmb | How do those anti-theft sensors at entry/exit doors at stores work? | I once went to the grocery store and did self checkout and I had multiples of canned olives and an employee came and said that I only had to scan one and then put in how many I have on the touchscreen. I said “wouldn’t not scanning them all trigger the sensor when I leave the store?” And they said “that’s not how it wo... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"The \"bagging area\" in a self-checkout machine is actually a scale. The approximate weight of an item is programmed into the machine. When you scan something, it \"expects\" that you will then put an item of that weight onto the scale and the total weight it is measuri... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7q0u8d | why do unused batteries slowly die out over time without being consumed? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dslid9e"
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"text": [
"batteries make electricity by a chemical reaction between two reagents in a closed container. over time those reagents and the container degrade and are not longer able to make the reaction happen."
],
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7
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7q0x2w | How do so many mobile games rip-offs of games like Candy Crush, Clash of Clans, Slot machines, (ect.) make money and get players in such an over-saturated market? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dslj2uo"
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"text": [
"because even 0.01% of an oversaturated mobile app market of 50billion is still a butt load of money. and that's incentive enough for a company to try to get a slice of the pie."
],
"score": [
5
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7q18b3 | Is a Solid State Drive (SSD) basically a Hard Drive made out of RAM? | And the one I got says it's "V-NAND" (Vertical NAND). I understand what a NAND gate is, so how does that translate to "V-NAND"? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dslm7yz",
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"text": [
"SSD's are made out of Flash memory, which is a form of RAM that is non-volative (e.g. it doesn't lose data when power is removed). It's the same type of memory in a USB stick. Flash memory can be made from both NAND & NOR gates, with different performance... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
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7q544m | How are those glass decorational items made? The ones that are just a solid glass blocl, but with some kind of 3-D image inside of it? | They kind of look like they're hollowed out but show no signs of being seamed together. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dsmesev",
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"text": [
"Lasers! You take a few lasers pointed in from different angles and have them cross at a single point. Individually they don't have enough power to damage the material but they do when you cross multiple beams",
"They're called [sub-surface laser engra... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
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7q9s23 | how can they continue to discover more chambers in the pyramids year after year | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dsnip5k",
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"text": [
"Several reasons: * Better technology. Many chambers were detected by sonar or radar. They would send a signal through the stones and listen for irregular echoes. Today's sonar and radar imaging techniques are better than they... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7qflvx | () How can a lens have a focal point of infinity? | You often hear of photographers and videographers setting their cameras focal point to infinity. How does this work? Won't the lens still focus at a specific distance no matter how far away it is | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"When you're looking at infinity, light waves are basically parallel. When you're looking far enough, it's little different from infinity."
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7qiwmm | how does fast charge/ quick charge work ? | i wonder what those special dedicated charger do , do they have something special inside phone as well which make them accept more power , or just its just capabilities of charger ... and how can phone recongnize if the charger connected is say from same company , eg can huawei phones use fast charger from phones with ... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dsphvik"
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"text": [
"USB has a standardized voltage, quick charge at it's simplest is just using USB power delivery outside of the standard (more voltage). To not damage anything, the charger and your phone communicate to determine if they are quick charge compatible with each other, if not... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7qj73x | What is the purpose of having many cryptocurrencies? Who benefits and why? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dspjp81",
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"text": [
"Mostly the vast majority of coins right now are gaining value on hype, marketing, and illusions of lambos. They will fall away and dissolve. We call them shitcoins. However there are many coins attacking real problems. IOTA is bridging the eventual future... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7qjrng | How does non-scratch glass work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Alot of your non scratch glass undergoes a special treatment in which smaller sodium ions are replaced by bigger potassium ions. This an ion exchange reaction at very high temperatures. When you think of a lattice, the positive ions (cation... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
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7ql29n | Why is cold air better for an internal combustion engine? | Just wondering why a cold air intake increases performance on a car engine. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Cold air is more dense, meaning you’ll get more air. So, a cold air intake increases performance by giving a lot more air to the system.",
"A colder air/fuel mixture will also be more knock resistant, which means that a m... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
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7qmpbh | How do deep learning engines/algorithms work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dsqodoq"
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"text": [
"Basically you provide a way to tell the deep learning network, if it's doing a good or bad job. For instance you hand label lots og images and see if the network gives the same label. Then when the network does a bad job, you can calculate how the parameters in the netw... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7qn9bs | Why is it better for Lithium-ion batteries to be charged after a partial discharge and not a full discharge, unlike the Nickel-based batteries? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dsqfj03",
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"text": [
"It's essentially just due to different chemistries and material interactions. Lithium-based batteries generally suffer damage from deep discharge, so it's not recommended to let them get to low. Nickel-based batteries are kind of the opposite, such that d... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7qni8s | how are the cvv code and expiration date of the credit card enough security measures in eshopping? Why don’t we have to insert the pin and the stuff that is written on the card suffices? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dsqhl8e"
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"text": [
"The whole premise of credit card operation is that you give the merchant all of the information they need to tell the credit card company to give them some money (which the credit card company later makes you pay). Any merchant--not just online--could keep a copy of tha... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7qo7sj | how do people put oxygen in a oxygen tank? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dsqmg91"
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"text": [
"> how do people put oxygen in a oxygen tank? The first step is to isolate the oxygen. In an industrial scale this is usually done by compressing air, allowing it to cool, then letting it expand in order to cool even more. Different gasses precipitate out at different te... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7qovsz | Why can't a barcode/qr code store an executable virus? | Barcodes and qr codes are capable of storing a good amount of information, so why can't they store a virus? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Barcodes, whether one or two dimensional, are rarely used for more than a few hundred bytes. It would be difficult to place malicious code in such a space, and that code would have to exploit a w... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
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7qpt6n | What does 'tension' in High Tension and Low Tension cables mean? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dsrflba"
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"text": [
"Have you ever seen those videos where they create a tree pattern in a slab of wood using electricity? That's what high voltage wants to do to everything it touches, so if you are going to insulate a cable for, say, underground transmission you have to use an appropriate... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7qx4sc | - What happens when I'm redirected to a site that says my computer is infected? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dssjtqw",
"dssko5b"
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"text": [
"If the *site* says your computer is infected, it's a lie. They are trying to sell you a service for money. If your antivirus program says the site is infected, it's likely true, and it just protected you, and you should avoid going to that site.",
"it... | [
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] | [
"url"
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7qxcrt | Why do LED lights look jittery or like they're strobing when you look at them quickly? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"They look like they are strobing because (for most of them) ... | [
"url"
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7qzcrv | How do voice actors match their voices perfectly to the mouths of the characters in animation movies? Do animators animate the mouth movements after the voice actors finish recording their parts? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dst1whk"
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"text": [
"For western animation, audio tends to be recorded first, for anime, the audio is usually recorded after the animation is complete due to differing production schedules. Note that this is no more than a rule of thumb, it does not apply to any and all cases. Akira is a no... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7qzsy0 | Why are PC hardware prices rising so fast? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dst5adf"
],
"text": [
"If you look around /r/buildapc, you'll be able to keep up on some of this stuff. Nothing really exciting is going on with *most* PC hardware but two major things stand out: First off, the *absolutely fucking insanity* in the cryptocurency (Bitcoin, etc) has created a lo... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7r0p36 | How do they manage to carry out cards payments on airplanes? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dstaksm"
],
"text": [
"I assume you mean credit card transactions such as purchasing alcohol on airplanes? Most planes today have wi-fi and internet connectivity, even if it is not available to the passengers. The portable credit card terminal can communicate with the payment processor over t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7r1o0i | How do server farms work? | How do all of these computers communicate with each other and organize everything? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dsthzsr",
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],
"text": [
"Usually there is one or more boss computers who hand off tasks to the worker computers. Sometimes there is a big boss computer handing off types of jobs to little boss computers who then decide which worker computer will do each job.",
"a server farm ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7r7ptj | zipped files | Occasionally when I download content online, some files require me to use winrar to unzip them. What exactly are zipped files and how does unzipping them work? Also whats the purpose behind zipping files? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dsuuxcn",
"dsuv164"
],
"text": [
"Zipping files makes them smaller without losing information- how exactly it does this, and so what needs to be done to get the original file back, depends on the algorithm used, but the basic principles are consistent. When a file is zipped, what happens ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7r7w4p | Why do lines appear in the picture when you photograph a computer screen? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dsux0vc",
"dsuwxp6"
],
"text": [
"[Relevent XKCD.]( URL_0 ) Your computer's made of a bunch of little squares that all work together to show you a single image, called pixels. These pixels are arranged in a grid of rows and columns to display images on our screens. Now, your phone or came... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7r87bn | What is an RSS Feed? | What is an RSS Feed? I always heard about it but never bothered to look it up. I just want a simple explaination of what it is and what its used for | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dsuyj23"
],
"text": [
"A good example might be a news website. The user subscribes to the websites RSS feed using RSS reader software, then whenever the news website publishes a story, it is sent directly to the user without them needing to check the website. If you've ever subscribed to a po... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7r9hcp | What is ILS in terms of flying? I've heard numerous pilots use the term. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dsv5z59"
],
"text": [
"Instrument Landing System (ILS) is defined as a precision runway approach aid based on two radio beams which together provide pilots with both vertical and horizontal guidance during an approach to land."
],
"score": [
5
],
"text_urls": [
[]
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} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7r9vh7 | How do swipe card and their readers work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dsvcd3u"
],
"text": [
"There is a strip of magnetic tape on the back of the card. There is a magnetically sensitive reader head in the swipe machine. As you slide the card through the machine the tape on the card creates a tiny electrical signal due to the interaction of the magnetized tape a... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7rax52 | Why are trains operated by humans, when we have driverless cars, which seems like much more diverse and complicated tech. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dsvhrsg",
"dsvhjuu"
],
"text": [
"there are plenty of driverless trains. IIRC, german and french subways are driverless. the problem isn't the technology. it's the budgets of the metro gov and politics of the train driver unions. technology costs money and reduces government jobs. that's ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7rdssy | Why Do Old CRT TVs Make A High Pitched Hissing Noise? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dsw53lr"
],
"text": [
"The noise was usually attributed to the fly back transformer that was used to generate high voltages for the crt tube. Transformers generate an alternating magnetic flux that would separate the laminations in to core and cause them to vibrate with the alternating curren... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7rdupb | if you can't film CRT TVs properly because the screen refresh rate is out of synch with the camera's shutter speed, how to filmmakers create shots with CRT TVs playing normally? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dsw66gz",
"dsw8kb6"
],
"text": [
"> if you can't film CRT TVs properly because the screen refresh rate is out of synch with the camera's shutter speed, how to filmmakers create shots with CRT TVs playing normally? There are two good ways: You could synchronize the shutter speed with the r... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7rduum | How does Nintendo's labo work? | I just don't get it? Is it just cardboard and you have to pretend that your doing something or is there more too it? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"dsw5hn6",
"dswoff2",
"dswadbg",
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"dsw5ijs",
"dswlf4c",
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"dswzw6u",
"dswyymn",
"dsx0c7c",
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],
"text": [
"In conjunction with the software, the IR sensors in the right joy con allows pieces of reflective plastic inside the car... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7re0ox | How does the electric company measure how much electricity you are using during different times of the day. (peak vs non peak hours) If they only read it once a month. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dsw860n"
],
"text": [
"If they're billing you for power you're using at different times of day then they are either reading it multiple times per day or they have a smart meter that is storing the data and being read out once a month Old power meters were dumb, they were just a dial that spun... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7rfyig | Can every single thing a computer does be broken down into binary code? | When I say every single thing, I am talking about what's displayed on the monitor. Obviously the electronic signals arent in binary. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dswn53l",
"dswnf4z",
"dswng33"
],
"text": [
"...the signals going to the monitor are in binary. Once inside the monitor, the signals get reinterpreted by the controller ciruits, in binary and determine the brightness of each color pixel, whose data is in binary. The pixels themselves ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7rgqci | Why do your earbuds emit a high pitched noise whenever you walk past the detectors at a library? | I was listening to music walking out of a library. Pretty much every library had those detectors near the exit to make sure nobody is leaving without an unchecked book. As I was walking past them I noticed that as I got closer to the detectors, a high pitched sound in my earbuds kept getting louder. As I walked past, i... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dswu4yv"
],
"text": [
"Because the detectors transmit a signal that interferes with the amplifier in your audio player. Those detectors work in a couple of ways - One is where the signal they transmit is picked up by a coil in the book, which is connected to a small chip that transmits it's n... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7rjj1b | What is community Wi-Fi and how does it work? | I've heard Cuba is doing something like an underground internet thing, and someone else mentioned it briefly on another subreddit. How does something like this work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dsxeluv"
],
"text": [
"The internet is basically connected computers. People can build their own internet by connecting their computers. There was a really good talk at 34c3 in germany in december 2017 explaining the internet in cuba and it's massive scale. If you are interested, [here]( URL_... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7rk5lq | How do cables like HDMI and USB keep increasing data throughput regularly while keeping similar connectors? | HDMI 1.0 had a throughput of 4.9Gbps, and the current 2.1 has a throughput of 48Gbps. How do they keep massively increasing throughput in a cable that's so similar? What's actually changing? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dsxhvng",
"dsxmvzz",
"dsye9g9",
"dsxidce"
],
"text": [
"The cables just carries patterns of electricity. The more important part is the stuff on the end that interprets the patterns. Newer standards can read shorter, more compressed signals. Think of it like writing on a piece of ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7rplek | How will the many tiny amounts of cryptocurrencies left in users wallets after transactions affect the respective currencies over time? | I'm guessing there are thousands/millions of other tiny amounts of BTC/ETH etc left in user's wallets that are simply too low in value to recover. Over time will this further reduce the amount of each crypto currency? Has this been factored into the cryptocurrency technology or are we generally still in uncharted terri... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dsyqw13",
"dsypbyj"
],
"text": [
"This is a problem, because each wallet with funds in (even 1 satoshi or similar minimum multiple) has to be indexed. In general, this index has to be held in RAM on every computer running the cryptocurrency software. For bitcoin, this is a big problem, as... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7rs9cx | How does sandboxing (computer security) work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dsz6kmu",
"dszabxt"
],
"text": [
"Say you are hosting a fancy dinner party in your back yard and your sister brought one of your nephews along. This young child needs to do something to be entertained but you really don't want them bothering your other guests. So what you do is give them ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7rtcnh | How does Netflix take up so little mobile data compared to other streamers? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dszey0c",
"dszeyvj"
],
"text": [
"Some phone plans let you stream Netflix for free. I have mobile and can watch Netflix constantly and it not effect my data usage",
"Really good compression, though i think you overestimate the data consumption of youtube and underestimate how much dat... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7rtipy | How were cartoons in the early 2000's animated? | For example, when the characters are talking, only their mouth may move; however, how did the animators do this without redrawing everything in the frame? Did they have something like photoshop where they could change small details while leaving the background the same? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dszgdwy",
"dszjiwo",
"dsztpgo"
],
"text": [
"I think a layer of clear plastic over a background. They'd just draw the mouth each frame on that later and have the background.",
"In traditional animation, be it from 1995 or 1935, multiple layers of clear plastic film are stacked on ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7rui24 | Numbers Stations | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dszoadt",
"dszoeul"
],
"text": [
"> Numbers Stations Numbers stations are radio stations which will frequently read out a series of numbers in sequence, often by a robotic voice and at varying times. The purpose of these stations is uncertain but generally considered to be a method of com... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7rvk5d | How do internet searches work with non-Roman characters? | For example, a Google search for "Koda Kumi" will produce different results than the same name in kanji as "倖田 來未". How does a search engine interpret these characters and find relevant results? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dszxfsd"
],
"text": [
"> How does a search engine interpret these characters and find relevant results? A search engine doesn't care what the string of characters are that it is matching. It could be matching real words or nonsense strings, and as long as it recognizes the kanji as characters... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7rxvov | What causes CRT TV's to blop away when turned off? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt0fdpw",
"dt0ordh"
],
"text": [
"I assume you mean how the edges appear to kind of come slamming down into the middle. Its probably due to the fact that there are two capacitors that are in control of the horizontal and vertical synchronization of the electron beam. As the capacitors are... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7rxx1x | Why is it still a challenge for some countries to build ICBMs while US/USSR could already do it in the 50's? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt0hvxx",
"dt0u3ww",
"dt0f5a5",
"dt0f8zl",
"dt0facp"
],
"text": [
"ICBM technology requires an extremely advanced research and development basis in aerospace engineering and rocket science. Which in turn requires strong institutions specializing in physics and mathematical res... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7s0vl5 | how did ancient cultures create statues of solid gold? Is it shaped or or made from a mold? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt17qoa"
],
"text": [
"Due to the rarity and cost of gold, it wasn't common for solid gold items to be made, except for small jewelry type items. And of course, if such things were created, they were subject to the theft and re-melting over the ages. The melting point of gold is close to that... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7s5yl3 | How does compression clothing work and why doesnt it cut off blood circulation, especially on pieces like socks? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt2k68t"
],
"text": [
"I wear compression clothing for health reasons every day and I can answer with certainty. There are two types of compression clothing: one is for athletic performance and the other is for medical necessity. There are distinct differences between the two. Athletic compre... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7s6slx | What happens to electronic hardware when stressed constantly over a relatively long time | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt2f6tp"
],
"text": [
"Silicon components develop a variety of defects when under use. ELI5 Explanation: Much like a river picks up sand and deposits it somewhere else, current moving through silicon tends to pick up material and deposit it elsewhere, this eventually causes the circuit to mal... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7s8d0e | Why do musketeers have swords instead of muskets? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt2qzx0",
"dt2qrsu"
],
"text": [
"Musketeer literally means \"person armed with musket.\" And in a big-time, army-on-army battle, they'd be the ones firing muskets into the other guys. And they'd have a sword as a backup in case they ran out of ammo or had a malfunction... or the other gu... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7scfaq | How did they edit people out of really old photos like Stalin did? | [Example I was referencing] ( URL_0 ) | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt3v2s3",
"dt3zn48"
],
"text": [
"URL_0 The top comment explains it really well: > In the old school Stalin era you are asking about, a typical method was to take the original negative and then print the photograph in large format. Then, an artist could use a scalpel to carefully cut out ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7scz10 | how do pagers work? | I was born in 1997 right when pagers were dying out and cell phones became accessible to everyone. I can remember things like VHS and walkmans but not pagers. I understand that it’s a means of one way communication, but I fail to see how it’s not texting? Are there preset messages or are they customizable? How exactly ... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt3t7pv",
"dt3urs1"
],
"text": [
"They're more like a walkie-talkie than a cellphone. They receive on a radio frequency, sent by a base station (or multiple overlapping areas served by multiple stations) Often you send a message with a telephone, which goes to the base station, that then ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7se8a5 | Are internet backbone providers allowed to prioritize the traffic and interconnections of different ISPs the way ISPs are planning to do the same with content providers? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt45l4o"
],
"text": [
"Yes. In fact, this was also allowed under the 2015 net neutrality rules; thise rules only regulated Internet service provided to individuals, small businesses, schools, libraries, etc. The ISP-to-ISP market is much more competitive, so the FCC hasn’t ever felt like it h... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7sfpw6 | How do emergency responders get access to gated communities & other restricted areas. | Do they have a list of all the codes or a master unlock of sorts? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt4uirt",
"dt4cvzi"
],
"text": [
"One of the most common ways is the use of a Knox Box. It's a small metal lock box. The first responder has a key to the box, and the keys to the building are inside. Google Knox Box, and you'll see what they look like, and you'll start seeing them everywh... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7sgyz7 | How can 100 million people browse porn videos at the same time but I'm still in queue to start up Overwatch | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt4ntvy",
"dt4sqfg",
"dt4n3e7",
"dt52im0",
"dt4z0eo",
"dt4mz1q",
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"dt4yvol",
"dt51ip7"
],
"text": [
"because when you watch porn. it's a 1:1 connection between you and the porn server. when you queue to play overwatch, they need to find 9 other people... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7sk9lx | Why aren’t more major electronics companies making video game consoles? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt5egyu",
"dt5ert6",
"dt5f17q",
"dt5kckf"
],
"text": [
"The cost is way too high for the profits available. You have to invest huge sums in games and then make profit from selling hardware at very low margins. It's more a question of why anybody is still making consoles.",
"Th... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7skvl6 | How did interface(Sites, UI) designs get switched from non-flat to flat designs that we see in modern interfaces? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt5kff4"
],
"text": [
"I'm gonna assume you're asking \"why did we go from one art style to another\" So, computer graphics started very simple, because the computers didn't have enough memory to do much better. If you look at Windows 3.11 everything is just boxes, then when you get into Wind... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7sla6b | How are people creating their own internet? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt5mq8i"
],
"text": [
"Take two computers, run a cable between them. Now the two computers can talk to each other. Poof, you have a network. You can stick a switch in the middle and connect more than two computers even. Just give each computer a unique name (or number, let's do numbers becaus... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7smasq | When viewing a lengthy video on YouTube, how does YouTube know where to place the ads? | I was listening to a full album on YouTube and ads were always placed in between songs, not during the songs themselves. How does YouTube know and determine advert placement? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt5u5zj"
],
"text": [
"If you are talkign about the banner ads which appear over your video then the position of those is set by Youtube and you cannot change them. What you can do though is set ad breaks in your video where your footage will stop and an ad will appear. Its very much like TV ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7sn27n | Why were straws invented? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt5xsz7",
"dt5y5zh"
],
"text": [
"From what I'm aware of, straws were invented in order to avoid the residue at the bottom. They were first invented to drink beer (by the Sumerians I believe) - and used so that the consumer would not end up drinking the byproducts as well (which would acc... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7so70b | If my YouTube video has already buffered, why does it have to re-buffer if I click back in time? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt673tk",
"dt679ap"
],
"text": [
"A segment of video is stored in memory. Usually only the segment you're currently watching is stored. Anything past in the time line is unloaded again to free up memory for loading up the upcoming parts of the video. If you jump ahead or back, you're requ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7sp9e0 | what is thread-concurrency? | I'm experiencing a lot of hardware errors while mining and have read that it might be due to the thread-concurrency, but I struggle with understanding exactly what thread-concurrency is. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt6hadt"
],
"text": [
"Thread concurrency is when multiple threads are running at the same time. Idk if the same principles apply for software and hardware, but at least in software, concurrency introduces problems that normally wouldn't exist. Let's take the example of ATMs that digitally re... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7sqsfw | How do surgeons prevent major blood loss during coronary artery bypasses? | If at some point during surgery a hole is made in the aorta so you can bypass a clogged heart artery, how do you prevent blood from spewing like a fountain out of the aorta? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt6t6d9",
"dt6ugpo"
],
"text": [
"It is clamped. The heart is then stopped with a potassium solution (many potassium solutions such as KCl can cause cardiac arrest, which is used in lethal injections!). The sewing of another vessel is performed, then the heart is eventually started once a... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7srkcl | How does an authenticator app work? | With the release of 2FA today, this is on everyone's minds. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt6yowg"
],
"text": [
"> How does an authenticator app work? The idea behind an authentication app is to have an algorithm with two inputs: A static secret key and a publicly known, changing input. The output of this algorithm does not reveal what the secret key is from its output. Both the s... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7sssjr | If we can colour calibrate our computer monitors. What is the point of paying more for the colours being "accurate" | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt78u16"
],
"text": [
"Not all monitors can be calibrated to within a reasonable degree of accuracy, especially if they're cheap monitors."
],
"score": [
6
],
"text_urls": [
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} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7stagj | How Muography works to look inside things (like pyramids) | It seems nuts and I wish I could wrap my head around the concept. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt7bk6b"
],
"text": [
"It functions almost identically to an x-ray In an x-ray you have a source that is blasting x-rays through the item you're interested in and towards a detector which shows you where it did and didn't detect x-rays making it though Muon tomography uses muons instead of x-... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7sti5v | How do radios stay connected to a radio station even though the frequency of the broadcasted wave changes? | For example, let's say I tuned in my radio to 100.0 FM radio station and it plays[ this wave]( URL_0 ). The frequency of the wave being broadcasted changes, so why am I still connected to 100.0 FM radio station? I feel like I am misunderstanding this. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt7cz11"
],
"text": [
"The waveform is superimposed on top of a sine wave at 100 MHz – this is called modulation and the channel frequency is a called a carrier frequency. If you looked at the frequency of the overall signal, you would see a big peak at the carrier frequency (100 MHz in your ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7stplc | If a car can run for years on a car battery by recycling energy through an alternator why can’t we develop an “alternator” for your home to reduce energy consumption? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt7e13g",
"dt7ebap",
"dt7efo5",
"dt7mr58"
],
"text": [
"The alternator in the car does not reduce energy consumption. It consumes energy generated by the engine and transforms it into electrical current. Some of that current is used to recharge the battery, the rest is used for al... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7stze2 | how does Samsung pay work? | How does the technology work? And how is it different from Apple pay, Android pay, and all the rest? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt7j7fa"
],
"text": [
"Samsung Pay works by emulating the magstripe on your registered card, so in essence it tricks the card reader into thinking you swiped an actual card. It's called MST. This allows you to use Samsung Pay in nearly any store, even ones with older card readers (like in sma... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7su189 | Why have Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter during the past year gone from chronological newsfeeds to “customized” newsfeeds? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt7gs9l",
"dt7lxsk",
"dt7jiay",
"dt7gjds",
"dt7mu8z",
"dt7ljoh",
"dt7obff"
],
"text": [
"[Filter bubbles]( URL_0 ), by encouraging you to engage only with content you already engage with regularly, maximize engagement with their services and thus shareholder value and ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7svs8c | What are the reddit bots? How do people go about programming them to do weird, mostly unsuccessful tasks, and why? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt7s3kw"
],
"text": [
"A reddit bot is an automatic computer program that polls reddit for new comments and/or posts and responds accordingly. This is done using [reddit's api]( URL_0 ): just like you can go to URL_1 to get a nice page which shows you the subreddit and the newest posts, the p... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7svxj3 | How do buttons on electronic devices work? | Today I looked at a Playstation Vita handheld console, and I asked myself the question, how do the game respond to the button I press and the joystick (thumbstick) that I use? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt7tbz9"
],
"text": [
"> How do buttons on electronic devices work? A button is simply a switch which defaults to open with something like a spring. Pressing the button completes a circuit and sends a signal to a part of the computer, which in the case of a controller has circuitry inside it ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
7swcm3 | Why can't most household internet speeds be a lot faster? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"dt7wifo"
],
"text": [
"Easy answer the infrastructure isn't there and not very many companies want to pay the money to put it in place."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
7swd4w | With so many different kinds of toothbrush, do they clean your teeth in different ways? | Currently standing in the toothbrush aisle and can’t help but wonder. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"My dentist said they do not differ in anyway, when taking into account normal brushing habit. You can have the fanciest toothbrush with ultrasonic, self-cleaning, polishing, timer, and tooth map abilities, but yet forget to brush regularly. She said save ... | [
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