q_id stringlengths 6 6 | title stringlengths 4 294 | selftext stringlengths 0 2.48k | category stringclasses 1
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9qnrk2 | Why isn't there an ad blocker which still generates revenue for websites? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The entire reason that ad blockers work is because ads are generally stored on *other servers* because advertisers **don't trust websites not to cheat**. Without a t... | [
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9qnu4s | How does real time traffic monitoring in google maps work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Your phone constantly sends it's location data to Google. They pin point it on the map and gauge traffic congestion on his far you have moved since last upload. Type 'Google location history' into the internet and sign in to see a scary map... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9qnvkt | What's the difference between a wireless access point, a Wi-Fi extender and a bridge? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"A wireless access point is the initial generation point of a wireless network, this can either be from a wifi enabled modem, or a wifi router. & #x200B; A wifi extender is a relay, that sends the data back to the access point, but often has a different ssid. Whereas a M... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
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9qonmn | How are songs burned to a CD? | I don’t understand how by dragging a file of a song onto the CD from a computer makes it possible to listen to it. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Moving the file to the CD tell your computer that you want the file \"burned\" on to the disk. The process of burning is actually done by a laser. The laser writes the data to a thin metallic film inside the middle of the cd. If you flip a cd over and loo... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9qpluz | Why are some batteries rechargeable and some not and if we can make batteries that can be recharged wouldn’t it be better to allow all these batteries to have this function? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"e8as0vc"
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"text": [
"It all depends on the chemical reaction that's used to generate the electricity. Rechargeable batteries sometimes deliver less power than the regular counterparts; the chemical reaction has to be reversible, so it's sometimes a \"weaker\" reaction than non-rechargeable ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9qqblk | what's the difference between internet and www? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"The internet is how computers across the world communicate. E-mail, file transfers and the world wide web are part of the internet. The World Wide Web (www) refers to webpages, what you see on your browser. But that's just a very large part... | [
"url"
] | [
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9qqniw | How does a DNS server works? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"An often-used analogy to explain the Domain Name System is that it serves as the phone book for the Internet by translating human-friendly computer hostnames into IP addresses. For example, the domain name URL_0 translates to the addresses 93.184.216.34 (IPv4) and 2606:... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9qr2pg | Why aren't ads embedded in the site so ad blocker can't block it? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"If ads were hosted by the site, then the advertisers would have to trust the web site to be honest in how many and how often the ads were displayed or clicked. The advertisers would also not be able to collect information about each visitor like they do n... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9qw1tc | Why is the binary system used in computers & How data is converted into signals? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"You are asking two seemingly related questions but they are different. Starting with the question the question about why binary is used. Binary is used because there are only two options for the storage of data as bits. They are either on or off. When a b... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9qyp4b | How do various ad blockers detect what an ad is and what's not? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Adblockers work off compiled blacklists of websites/ad providers and scan webpages for webpage elements that connect to them, if it sees it, it blocks the content from being loaded and/or shown.",
"Most ad blockers look at the source of the content. A... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9qyz17 | how exactly does battery "give power" to a smartphone or laptop? What magic does electricity do to a battery? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"A battery sort of burns some substance, very slowly, in a way that makes the energy come out in electricity, instead of heat. The basic idea is that you make the chemical reactions happen in two steps, one of which happens at one side, and ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9qz3t6 | How does a suppressor work on a gun? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"[Here's a video]( URL_0 ) of a transparent plastic suppressor in slow motion, so you can see the action (... | [
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] | [
"url"
] | |
9qzikr | sometimes i find "4k" version of a movie that has smaller size than a 1080p version movie. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8cwc74"
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"text": [
"What you are seeing is compression. Compression is basically using math to figure out what parts of an image can be thrown away and calculated again later, instead of sending every pixel. There are many different kinds of compression, some are lossless, meaning the full... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9r0y15 | How come some pictures from the 1920/30s have what looks like higher resolution than pictures from the 1950/60s? | ELI5: How come some pictures from the 1920/30s have what looks like higher resolution than pictures from the 1950/60s? I've seen pictures from all of the decades and it just confuses me why there would be a better picture quality 40 years prior to the low res photo. I know there's obvious explanations like the people i... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8d89u6",
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"e8dbjkn",
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],
"text": [
"The Kodak Instamatic. Released in 1963, the Kodak Instamatic was a series of cheap, easy to use cameras. They generally had a fixed focus, minimal controls for aperture and shutter speed, and used very small negatives that we... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9r1cbu | How can vinyl store the different range of sounds in music within itself? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"e8dacxd"
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"text": [
"> I can understand it with single tones and such, but in music there is often many different instruments on top of each other playing simultaneously. It is only one complex wave. Consider sound in air, it is a pressure wave right? And can air be different pressures at t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9r4nbu | What prevents flat wires from getting tangled compared to round wires? | And why aren't more flat wires produced then? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Wire will curl in the path of least resistance and so flat wire will naturally try to turn in on itself in the direction of one of the flat sides where as round wire can twist and curl easily in any direction it needs to and this can end in a tangled mess quite effectiv... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9r6y2s | Why do eyes sometimes look red in video recordings, especially those at night | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"e8ep6ik"
],
"text": [
"So, background information: the pupil of the human eye dilates in low light, and contracts in bright light. In low-light situations, the pupil is dilated. Also in low-light situations, a camera will typically have its flash activated. Compact cameras have their flash si... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9r8gvv | Why is it that when putting somebody on speaker phone when calling them, the microphone doesn't pick up their voice - resulting in them hearing themselves talk? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"There's a circuit or software in speakerphones that does *echo cancellation*. The details get a bit complicated because it has to handle things like different-sized rooms and distortion, but basically the idea ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9r8jye | How does Google know which image to output only with words? | I believe that you cannot tag an image, so how does typing "red car" leads to google showing you an actual picture of a red car for instance? I mean how does it know a picture and keywords in the search bar are the same thing? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Quite some misinformation here. Contrary to your statement, you can actually tag images. Simply naming the picture \"red-car-bmw.png\" instead of \"IMG-4568743.png\" is already something Google will pick up. Besides that a lot of other Search Engine Optim... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9r8q3a | what is the design process of building an application? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Ex-developer and now IT project manager here. It depends on the size and complexity of the application. For little wee ones like an Excel macro that processes a sheet or a data-cleansing routine, you usually have an idea in m... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9r9rh6 | differences between using a loopback connector and my loopback address | My networking professor was showing us an ethernet loopback plug and didn't do a great job explaining the difference between using the connector for troubleshooting your NIC and pinging your loopback address. He mentioned something about pinging your loopback address still goes to the switch and the routing table is wh... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"e8f7ott"
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"text": [
"As far as I know and have been taught the use of the loopback address does not require any sort of external connectivity. The looping back happens in the computer itself and should work even with no cable plugged in. pinging 127.x.y.z never leaves your own computer. It ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9rb0al | How does 3D printing work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"It's not too dissimilar from a very precise hot glue gun that can squirt a tiny amount of liquid in a precise location. Following software to match a design.",
"imagine squeezing a tube of toothpaste to draw a shape on the table. the toothpaste become... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9rckfx | How was the first computer program programmed? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"It all depends on what you call \"a computer\". In 1804 there was a [\"computer controlled loom\"]( URL_0 ) for making complex patterns in the fabric. The program was a long series of cards with holes drilled in them. It was mechanical. If ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9rdi3b | How does a railgun work and why are there no flames while the projectile is in the air and then lots of flames and sparks on impact? | See this gif here: [ URL_0 ]( URL_0 ) Edit: fixed bad characters before the link | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"There's a decent amount of misinformation in this thread, so I'll try to correct that as simply as possible. Railguns generally don't w... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9rf11m | Ethernet cables and what they do. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"e8gdm1m"
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"text": [
"Ethernet is the most common _wired_ networking technology. When you want to connect one or more computers together as part of a network, you need a *router*. A router does just what it sounds like -- it _routes_ traffic around a network or between networks (like, say, y... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9rfdgu | Why do phones slow down when its cold? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"e8gkzo9"
],
"text": [
"Because phone batteries rely on electrochemical reactions where chemical energy is converted to electrical energy. Temperature is essentially a measure of the average kinetic energy in a system so a decrease in temperature means a decrease in how fast the particles move... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9rj5yj | Why modern animated cartoons don't look as good as Tom and Jerry that was made in 1940? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Cartooning is very labor intensive work. These days it varies a little but when you film with a camera, y... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9rkgfe | 32 bit windows vs 64 bit windows. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8hk5gv"
],
"text": [
"Computer memory has addresses, similar to street addresses. Imagine a street where you could only have a 1-digit house number, like \"3 Imaginery Street\". You can only fit 9 houses on this street -- house numbers 1-9. But if the house numbers were two digits, like \"35... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9rkx6w | What makes cassette tapes degrade in quality? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"e8hn6hl",
"e8i2vl6"
],
"text": [
"Cassette tapes are long plastic ribbons coated with magnetic material that has been charged just right with your recordings. A few things combine to degrade these over time. To keep the long ribbons from tangling, they're spun into spools (thus the casset... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9rly91 | Why do spears for fishing typically have 3 prongs? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8hukev"
],
"text": [
"Such as a trident? Typically because fish are lateral and linear. Three points broadly struck prevent the fish from gaining enough momentum to wiggle free. 1 or 2, and a fish coukd still.throw its weight back and forth. 3 stabilizes the fish, preventing this."
],
"s... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9rnxbx | why do physical disc console games still have to install, often over a period of hours before eventually updating and then being playable? | I've just purchased RDR2 and it's take about 2 hours to install and has since been updating for the last 15. The game has arrived on 2 discs. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8ib6co"
],
"text": [
"Blu-Ray drives in current gen consoles don't have the bandwidth to keep up with the data demands of the game itself. So there's no way to run the game directly off the disc. (obviously this depends on the game itself, but it applies to most AAA high-profile releases at ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9ro9hz | What is the difference between Dolby Digital and Dolby Atmos? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8iflfj"
],
"text": [
"Dolby Digital (DD) has multiple sound channels digitally encoding into the audio stream. Basic DD is 5.1, which **must** be left, right, center, left-surround, right-surround, and subwoofer. DD EX adds a 6th channel in the center back. All of these channels are supposed... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9rph1e | in an age of digital downloads why is pre-ordering more popular than ever? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8io4j9"
],
"text": [
"Pre-orders typically offer some sort of bonus. Might be extra content, might be some collectible items, so on. There is also a nice satisfying feeling of having a tangible, physical copy. Add on top of that, some people might not want to wait for 60GB of crap to downloa... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9rpqpi | Why does making chips require clean facility? | Here in the picture you can see this person is dressed up to avoid bringing dust or other foreign materials into the facility? not sure URL_0 Edit: and by chips I don't just mean CPU.. but also memory devices.. or wafers?! | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8ippxo",
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],
"text": [
"The components of a microchip are unbelievably tiny. So small that even a single speck of dust could disrupt the manufacturing process and lead to many thousands of dollars worth of lost time and materials.",
"Basically, the conductive paths in a chip... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9rqrgz | How did people discover all these patterns in Conway's Game of Life? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8j9mud"
],
"text": [
"The walkers are generated pretty frequently from random starts on Game of Life. So I’d imagine whoever came up with walker generators just reverse engineered it carefully by knowing the simple rules of the 2D cellular automata."
],
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"text_urls... | [
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9rru6x | Why is the video quality of sending a video through text on androids so terrible compared to iPhone? | Android has not even tried to improve this for years, what is the actual reasoning behind such a huge difference? Sometimes pictures are bad too, and you can't text nearly as much data over an android phone, is it all related? Have s9+ and sending videos is not one iota better visually than when I had my s6 edge | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"iPhones cheat. They don’t actually send the texts and pictures through the cell lines, they do it through the wifi or 3g/4g/LTE. Now two Android phones can’t send data to each other via the internet cause they only have each other’s cell phone numbers, so you gotta use ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9rt9o0 | How did GTA V run on the Xbox 360 with 512 MB of RAM while the PC version requires at least 4 GB? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"e8jjajb",
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"e8jn0t8",
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"text": [
"Because GTA on the PC uses higher resolution textures, has a farther draw distances, has crisper shadow and blur effects and supports 4k display settings.",
"The primary reason is a gaming console is a fixed system, and a... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9rtcnr | How do water pipe systems work in tall buildings? How does it ‘push up’ the water to higher storeys? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8jistv"
],
"text": [
"Really tall buildings need their own water systems, with pumps and multiple reservoirs to provide adequate water pressure at the top without bursting pipes at the bottom. This is a whole field of engineering on its own, requiring lots of careful design."
],
"score":... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
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9rtpst | ; why do new console games today need to 'install' what seems like the entire game onto the hard drive but still require the disk?... Disc? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8jkw5l"
],
"text": [
"It really is just copy protection. The entire game is installed to the hard disk. You can start playing the game before it's fully installed in some cases, but it will install the rest in the background. The disc is really just needed to prove you have a legitimate lice... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9ru5gv | how do electron guns in tvs work? | Won't it just become a lightining gun? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8jouti"
],
"text": [
"In older cathode ray tube (CRT) screens there is an electron gun and a phosphor screen inside a vacuum tube. The simplest electron gun is the hot cathode type, which is essentially a filament (usually tungsten) that current is passed through (like a light bulb). When th... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9rul4y | How does touchscreen technology work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8jumv2",
"e8k224p"
],
"text": [
"The majority of touch screens are compromised of a number of layers. One of those layers is a capacitive layer that's basically a grid of wires that aren't touching. When you touch the screen you close the citcuit between the wires in the grid and the dev... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9rw88r | Why is it that restarting my computer speeds it up again, but shutting it down and turning it on doesn't speed it up at all? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8k5l43"
],
"text": [
"I’ll have to look it up exactly when I get home, but in windows 10, by default, something named ‘fast boot’ or something like that is enabled, which does exactly what you said - more of a deep hibernate than a full power off. You can (and probably should) disable it in ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9rxjv6 | Why do phone batteries die so quickly after a long time of usage compared to when you first buy the phone? | I assume this occurs to all batteries but what exactly happens that doesn't keeps batteries from lasting all day like they do when you first buy them? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8khqcm",
"e8ks0d2"
],
"text": [
"A battery produces electricity through a chemical reaction. A rechargeable one uses a reaction that can be reversed by applying electricity as well. But some of the atoms undergo different reactions and from compounds and structures that cannot be reverse... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9rywnd | How does a neural network work and how can you tell it it's purpose? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8kq5mw",
"e8kpvy1"
],
"text": [
"A neural network, like all machine learning algorithms, approximates an optimization by modifying a function based on the results of many inputs. The easiest example is a linear regression (you can do this on a basic graphic calculator). Let's say I have ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9ryzoh | How do lasers work, especially the ones that can cut metal? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8kq9yn",
"e8kr4vo"
],
"text": [
"The laser source dumps energy into a cavity oscillator. That oscillator produces light that's all the same frequency and aligned in a coherent beam. By putting lots of energy into a very narrow beam, you can make the small spot where the beam hits a piece... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9rz276 | Why isn't it simple to make voting machines secure with good, function UI? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8kqzx6"
],
"text": [
"It could be done, at some cost. Alas, voting machines are bought by government agencies that are usually required to buy from the lowest bidder. Since these agencies are not staffed by people who can assess security, the most competitive company will spend $0 on securit... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9s1sbs | How do stealth planes & drones actually work ? | So I was watching this little gem of a talk [ URL_0 ]( URL_0 ) .And suddenly got me thinking about stealth drones(from minute 21).I know there are some tricks in building them so they don't get detected by all the technologies.But how is that done, what material do they use? And are stealth drones just unmanned stealth... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8le3rm"
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"text": [
"Stealth aircraft use two main techniques for avoiding radar detection: Using radar-absorbing materials and having certain angles of outer surfaces to reflect radar waves away from the receiver. Radar works by sending out an electromagnetic signal out into the air. Those... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9s31si | How do cinema projectors have such high quality compared to personal home projectors? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"e8lzq4r",
"e8m61xy",
"e8lne6m",
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"text": [
"They got a light source (think: a bulb) that is consuming so much energy it's crazy compared to the tiny box you got in your own living room. And bulbs always create excess heat that needs to be ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9s354i | Why do battery testers have such a wide range for 'Replace'? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8lqkvt",
"e8lnqn5"
],
"text": [
"It's not a capacity meter like your phone etc has. It's a voltage meter. When the voltage of a 1.5V cell gets down to about 1.2V it's pretty much exhausted and the increased internal resistance means it can't supply much current.",
"As the battery wea... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9s3gll | What is special about this video camera that can record 10 trillion frames per second, enough to see light traveling? Why don’t all video cameras record infinite frames per second? | The videos I’m seeing on Reddit are amazing. We’ve never seen light moving before. But why? What is holding us back from, say, 10 quadrillion frames per second? Edit: [Link]( URL_0 ) | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8lqmpb",
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],
"text": [
"It is incredibly hard to make equipment sensitive enough to register so small amounts of light without being disturbed by other sources of noise. To be able to register many frames/second you first need a sensor that is fast enough to regis... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9s48le | How does turning the volume up and down on a radio/music player work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"e8lz3l5",
"e8lyf7l",
"e8lztra",
"e8m01sj"
],
"text": [
"In the old days, there were vacuum tube amps, also known as “valves.” At its simplest, an electrical valve has three wires, think of them as electricity in, electricity out, and the valve. If the valve wire has no power comin... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9s4f7a | how does a wifi signal travel and why does it get weaker as more people are using it? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8lykmh",
"e8lz5kc"
],
"text": [
"1. A wifi signal is just a radio wave - a form of electromagnetic radiation. There's a TON of different technologies involved that essentially allow for data transfer, error correction, etc etc etc which is well outside the scope of an ELI5. 2. The signal... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9s7fbj | Where do permanently deleted computer files go? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"e8mnwyg",
"e8moesg"
],
"text": [
"Nowhere, they are just unindexed. The path to them is erased, and the space they were occupying is freed to be written over",
"URL_0 Hello, Vsauce here (not really just quoting) How does a computer forget? Moving a file to the trash is just the beginn... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9s8i93 | Why do only fingers work on touchscreens? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8mx9gn"
],
"text": [
"The screens are capacitive, so it can detect a voltage change where you touch. Other things like our fingers should also work. Like a sausage."
],
"score": [
9
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
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9s8lq3 | Why does the "turn it off and on" solution generally work in so many instances? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8mz4mk",
"e8mybmi"
],
"text": [
"We’ve landed people on the moon but still haven’t figured out how to make a router that just works....",
"IT Support here. On a desktop computer many issues can be caused by a failed service or program library file and it's just easier to \"reset\" al... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9s8pln | Why is shutting off my computer by holding down the power button bad for it? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"e8n0fym",
"e8mzbi7",
"e8mz7b9"
],
"text": [
"Actual ELI5: Because the programs are busy doing things, and if you click shut down they get a chance to finish what they are doing. If you hold the power button down they get cut off in the middle, which can mess things up if they are doin... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9s9t0m | Graphics Cards | I was thinking about how this chip about 6 inches long and an inch thick can process an entire digital world at 100+ frames per second, and it is just mind boggling, I don't understand how it does it. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8n9rvn"
],
"text": [
"That's the whole card. The chip itself is much smaller than that, probably an inch square at most! But to do this, pretty much it needs to be highly-specialized for just this task. Have you ever heard the term \"jack of all trades, master of none?\" That's what your reg... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9s9zeg | How does Google's 'image search' work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8ngsc5",
"e8ncbf1"
],
"text": [
"For a long time it was simply looking for the search terms in text, as normal, and then just pulling out the images that appeared on those pages. Basically pictures of apples, say, are likely to appear on pages about apples. (Side note: this is why those ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9saau3 | Why do the official movies look different from the videos/movies we make from our personal devices? | Whenever we watch a movie at cinemas or on our home screens, we can easily distinguish whether it is a professional video or a personal video. How it's done? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8nd1ur"
],
"text": [
"There’s a lot that goes into it. The composition of the image, frame rate it’s shot at, color grading, etc. However one of the biggest giveaways is lighting. Lighting is incredibly critical in how your image looks. There are some really cool videos out there that talk a... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9sc94v | Why are the clocks on appliances always wrong? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8nnn83"
],
"text": [
"Because you set it wrong? I don't understand the question. In fact as out appliances get smarter this is less likely to be true."
],
"score": [
5
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
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9scje0 | How to power supply splitters actually work? | So just say for example you had a 9v DC power supply, it would deliver those 9v to a device you had connected to it. How does a cable that allows you to split off into multiple outputs supply power to multiple devices if it's just from originally one 9v plug? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8nq38u",
"e8nq9zb"
],
"text": [
"It creates a 9 volt potential difference at the output, any number of multiple devices can use that. However if the total current that would be drawn is greater than the supply can provide, the output voltage will drop until the current matches what can b... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9sd346 | With everything we have learned about technology and aerodynamics, why has the land speed record been untouched for 21 years? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"There is no economic incentive. You can't sell an overengineered car that works best at three times the speed limit. It would just be a science project for fun and giggles. You'd n... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9sde3t | Why do 720p videos look worse on 720p monitors than 1080p videos? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8nxbhg"
],
"text": [
"Even if you have a 720p video file, there still is compression taking away some video quality. 1080p, you're simply starting with a larger file and more data to create a more accurate final image."
],
"score": [
11
],
"text_urls": [
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]
} | [
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9sexyy | Why do some speakers have an very broad frequency response? | Some loudspeakers have a response of 25 to like 25.000 or higher. But why, as humans are not able to hear anything above 20.000. Especially considering the older you get the lower this maximum frequency becomes. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8obrpi",
"e8o8drq"
],
"text": [
"Sound engineer here. Frequency response reaching beneath our hearing range might be beneficial mainly because of two reasons 1. Frequency response isn’t a stiff limitation. E.g. 25 - 25000 Hz means the speaker is capable of reproducing the sound in that r... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9sf3sn | How can a battery know when it is being changed or discharged? And how can it be charged AND discharged at the same time? Ej.: Mobile phone. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8ofrei"
],
"text": [
"When you plug in the charger, the phone battery isn't being charged and discharged at the same time. The phone is running off the charger and the battery is getting charged The charger provides 5 volts, the battery is at 3.7 volts, and the circuitry in the phone runs at... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9sfjyv | How do/did mood rings work? | I always wondered this since I was a kid. Do they actually work? Does it like read your heart beat or something? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8ocquw",
"e8ocoqr"
],
"text": [
"short answer- they don't Longer answer- they are filled with a liquid crystal that changes colors based on temperature. As your body heats/cools, that temperature change also heats/cools the metal of the ring, which heats/cools the liquid crystals inside ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9sg769 | Why did it take so long to start making cars that turned off their lights when the car turned off? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8oiaze"
],
"text": [
"Without the electronics being computer-controlled it becomes difficult to essentially turn off the light with a timer that starts when the car is turned off. It'd be easy to just turn the lights off automatically when the car is off but there's cases where you might wan... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9shncw | Why do 2 sticks of ram need to be the same when being used in twin ports? Why wouldnt two different sticks work the same? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8oty5x"
],
"text": [
"They *may* work but dissimilar sticks will be limited in performance to the slower of the two. By having the same kind in paired ports you can avoid losing some of the potential performance. It is best practice to put in the same kind of memory so the timing and speed a... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9sjm20 | How do coax cables work? | How can do much information be transferred on a cable that only has two signal wires? literally hundreds of channels over one cable. I tried doing some quick research on it, but I couldn’t really find anything? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8pajre",
"e8pakyy"
],
"text": [
"The same way that a single speaker on a stereo can play for you the output of a whole orchestra of instruments, plus voices / chorus. Waves [add up]( URL_0 ) to each other. For coax cable, the inner wire is shielded by the outer mesh (sometimes double-shi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9sjnfn | 3D Printers | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8pdj1f",
"e8pkt93",
"e8pcebb",
"e8paord"
],
"text": [
"Imagine a hot glue gun being used to build an object, let’s say an igloo. You initially take the hot glue and make an starting layer (a circle), then let it cool, and make the next layer of glue (a circle over that circle) an... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9sjy5v | When it's worth for telecom to invest in FTTH or FTTB? | In what areas? What's the difference between the two? I heard FTTB is cheaper. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8pn50e"
],
"text": [
"FTTH is Fiber to the Home, and FTTB is Fiber to the Building. Generally speaking, FTTH is going to go to single-family homes while FTTB will deliver service to a shared building. While there are a lot of variables to take into account, Fiber to the Building is basically... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9sm8kb | how do TV and radio stations get viewer counts | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8psnzw",
"e8pt1yw",
"e8psll3"
],
"text": [
"Using statistics. A representative sample of a country's population either get asked to keep a record of what they watch or listen to or have devices in their TVs or radios that do this. This information is gathered and the figures are scal... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9sm8yl | How does a cut-off system determine the duration it layed turned off? | Let's say you shutdown your pc at 12 o'clock. It has no LAN connection etc. You unplug it completely, wait an hour, set it back up, boot it and voila 13 o'clock. & #x200B; How does this work? Everytime I unplug my alarm or remove the batteries from my calculator it just resets the time. Is there some hidden, analog clo... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8psn9a",
"e8pskcd"
],
"text": [
"Yeah. There is indeed a chip in the computer that is constantly powered from a battery, that keeps track of time. I'm sure you know that most advanced calculators got a memory-preserving battery, so that it won't forget everything immediately if the syste... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9sohjg | Why can't we rebuild machines from the space race? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8q89a6",
"e8qts5n",
"e8q7mja"
],
"text": [
"With enough money you could. Some of the original parts and materials would be quite difficult to source though, they were often custom made and the equipment used to fabricate them is long gone. Many of the components are obsolete, unsafe,... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9sohtg | How do some companies have authority to sell and manage internet domains when the internet isn't owned by anyone? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8q7bek",
"e8q8fb3",
"e8q7mgj"
],
"text": [
"So, every device that accesses the internet, be it a server, a computer, a cellphone, etc, has a numerical address. If you knew the numerical address of a website, you could reach that website through the numerical address. The trouble is t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9sqal9 | Why is it usually recommended that brand new phones be used until the battery is low before fully charging it? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8qousv"
],
"text": [
"In the past, old-school rechargeable batteries had a limited number of “charge cycles”. If you charged up your battery, by any amount, it would start to degrade and it’s total capacity would drop. Modern batteries still have charge cycles, but the number of cycles they ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9suemw | What makes older games (specifically games like Fallout: New Vegas) so incompatible with current operating systems like Windows 10? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8rjcyz",
"e8rnr4n"
],
"text": [
"Libraries, Registry Keys and Screen Resolution would be the main offenders, also, OS changes a lot from a version to another, it's more noticiable if you are more of and advanced user (support engineer, computer programmer and stuff like this). System and... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9sxdmm | When planes crash, how do most black boxes survive? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"e8ske2o",
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],
... | [
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] | [
"url"
] | |
9sxyr5 | Aggregation or Composition | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8s87z6"
],
"text": [
"All the text books will tell you exactly the same as /u/brazzy42 - composition means the child objects can't exist by themselves, aggregation means they *can* exist by themselves. But there is an important piece of the puzzle that's missing: **the choice depends, partly... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9sy5b4 | When a website loads incorrectly what are the common reasons? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8s8iie",
"e8s8ji8"
],
"text": [
"Information from a website is downloaded and requests for data when and where is uploaded. There is always some loss in information back and forth, but most the times it isn’t noticeable. If when talking to what ever server is hosting the web page the con... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9syna0 | What are some of the basic things an audiophile should know? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8sg8zg"
],
"text": [
"Learn the difference between open and closed headphones. Honestly that’s one of the only real specs that will truly affect your listening experience. If you’re going for speakers, then pay attention to your room dimensions and how you place your speakers. Most audiophil... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9szc6f | Why does hold music always have terrible quality when you can hear the person at the other end of the phone perfectly fine? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8shq86",
"e8shtlq",
"e8shyuo"
],
"text": [
"Phone systems are optimised for voice communication and clip frequencies that are higher or lower than usually occur in the human voice. Music often has harmonic frequencies that get lost. Add to this that hold music is often over-compresse... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9t52y8 | Why were bits the powers of 2 and not something like 10? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"... | [
"url"
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"url"
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9t7lth | How are Open World Games like Red Dead Redemption 2 made in such detail? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"e8ub6x8",
"e8u79fb",
"e8ufqzd",
"e8uemlz",
"e8v1tyb"
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"text": [
"\"Is every square foot of the open world actually created by a programmer\" - not a programmer. For any large game, the asset creation is a major task, and people working on that tend to greatly outnumber the p... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9t7vvr | What kind of data is stored in a black box of a plane? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8u8m2v"
],
"text": [
"There are two flight recorders. The cockpit voice recorder is recording any sound from the microphones in the cockpit so you can hear exactly what the pilots are saying and hearing. Then there is the flight data recorder that records data from the airplanes systems such... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9t90su | How does a computer know what to do with code? Is there a code underneath the code to decipher it? And if so, how does the computer know what to do with THAT? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8ufw3h",
"e8ugm9k",
"e8uibkr"
],
"text": [
"There is layer underneath another layer underneath another. This goes on until you reach different types of electronic chips or \"logic gates\" which either output electricity or not depending on the different combination of inputs given. T... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9ta3ob | Why do 4k videos look cleaner on a 1080p panel than 1080p videos? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8uok3z",
"e8ut5z6",
"e8uum6j"
],
"text": [
"Yes they actually do look better for several reasons: They are less compressed and have more bitrate And when displayed on a lower resolution screen it averages out the pixels to only one, so it makes the image look higher resolution becaus... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9tanv4 | How does a computer know when one command ends? | From my understanding computers run on binary, which is just 1s and 0s. How does a computer know when one string of binary ends and the next one begins? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8usida"
],
"text": [
"A computer works in groups of bits (modern ones use 64, Older ones 32 every earlier ones 16, 8 or 4) Example: let’s say we have 4 bit instructions and 1000 is the code for “add the next two values together and put them in register number at the third position” The compu... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9tay5p | Overwatch x Living Tombstone questions | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8uumqk"
],
"text": [
"During matches you can change characters to counter (or deal with being countered by) characters on the other team. Like with TF2, if you've ever played that."
],
"score": [
4
],
"text_urls": [
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} | [
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9td43i | Why do browsers use up so much ram? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8ve47a"
],
"text": [
"They typically cache all / some of the resources used by the site for faster loading / going back. Also, browsers are basically an interpretation programs so they need to go through the website code and process it before showing you the result. This can on occasion take... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9teez0 | How the heck did the Apollo space program successfully land man on the moon and return them safely to earth with the computer systems that they had on-board their spacecraft? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8vnvso",
"e8von6q"
],
"text": [
"In the Apollo program they could do much of their required calculations in advance. The Moon doesn't change direction, it doesn't move under its own power. Because it orbits on a regular path there is no reason the calculations for its position would need... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9tejl3 | Why cant they just pull the metal pin/rod/wire striaght out of the c4 clay in bombs? | Like in movies, they always struggle to desarm the thing. Why can't they just pluck away the clay, or pull the pins out of it? Is it just a movie thing? Also, sorry if I flaired it wrong! | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8vp2oc"
],
"text": [
"Reasonable bomb makers might add a component to sense the removal if the detonator and trigger it; and trigger the backup they molded into the middle of the block of clay. It fact, there is no reason to leave detonators sticking out in a real bomb, that's just a thing t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9tfabv | How does a gyro in a phone work? Is there something spinning inside? And if so, how does it generate data for the software? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8w4y7w",
"e8vy8s5",
"e8vwfc2",
"e8w5d0i"
],
"text": [
"A MEMS gyroscope works similar to a small tuning fork. Tiny masses are vibrated and when the phone is rotated it produces a small Coriolis force which is measured. URL_0",
"URL_0 This video does a wonderful job explaining... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9tfgmj | Why is upload/download speed different? | Isn't it just transfer of data? Why would there even be a difference between uploading/downloading? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8vw5vx"
],
"text": [
"Because more people will download than upload as a general rule, more of the available bandwidth is allocated to downloading. & #x200B; Put simply, if you have 16 lanes of traffic, and most people go from A to B, you might make allocate more lanes to that direction than... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9tfzmq | How did leaders in the past give speeches to 1000's of people without a microphone? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"e8wa4tn",
"e8w72lu",
"e8w1u1l",
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"text": [
"Projection, the ability to sound loud and to make your voice carry long distances. Source: Was a tour guide.",
"They rarely spoke to crowds that large, and when they did speak to crowds that ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9thng2 | What are classes in C++? | I just can’t seem to wrap my head around classes. I thought maybe you guys could explain To clarify my question: What are classes and how are they used in C++? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8wdwcr"
],
"text": [
"Classes are related to object-oriented programming. In particular, a class is essentially a \"blueprint\" for an object, which is a bit of code and data that acts as a small module in your program. By combining and recycling objects that communicate and work with one an... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9tiya3 | What does Valve's Hammer editor's func_detail and visleaves mean and what do they mean for the end-user? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e8wp18v"
],
"text": [
"These are extensively explained on the Valve developer community site and are not important for players at all. What exactly do you want to know besides that?In short, both are used for optimization reasons, to reduce framerate drops and improve performance in the Sourc... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9tjeot | Why do computers get slower over time? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"e8xdr8h",
"e8wzwnl",
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... | [
"url"
] | [
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] | |
9tjrkk | How does Apple ‘optimize’ their computers better then their competitors? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"e8wqgl2",
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],
"text": [
"The fundamental difference is that Apple controls both hardware and software. So much like a game console that performs better than a vanilla PC with the same specifications because their developers can get every last bit of optimization out of the known ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9tl3nn | Why the flash on a camera "blinks" before the picture is taken. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Because you have the flash set to auto.. it needs to send out a initial flash to calculate how much flash it actually needs to send out for the photo to come out correctly exposed. Also.. if you have red eye reduction set it will reduce the size of the pupil to reduce r... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
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