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88i9sf
How does a wax cylinder phonograph produce sound?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwksdpk" ], "text": [ "It super cool. What's neat is that it works the same way a vinyl record does (and to some degree the way older CDs used to). But it's more impressive because it's bigger and more obvious how crazy it is that these work at all. When a wax cylinder phonograph is recorded,...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
88k1e9
How are Chinese fonts made, other than by going through and making a new version of tens of thousands of individual characters?
edit: I should have said that I know Chinese and how characters are structured with radicals, like how 言 radical will be in many characters. But it's not usually the same size, sometimes narrower, fatter, taller, or shorter, so I don't know how it could be coded to be kept regular in all the different characters it app...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwl56wj", "dwl7dph" ], "text": [ "Basically by making a few thousand individual characters. There are some shortcuts however. Asian characters are put together out of radicals, about 200 different characters that can be used to create the regular characters. So you can reuse a lot of work...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
88k8zu
Why is the rate that technology improves rising.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwl6q8r", "dwl6r1u", "dwlvzes" ], "text": [ "Because once the knowledge is acquired to create new technologies, those technologies can be used for more in-depth research and thus speeding up the researching process.", "Better technology allows more people to be supported without d...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
88kelf
Why are phone batteries fine for years but portable battery packs can deform or 'bulge' within months?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwla62l", "dwl7zcy" ], "text": [ "This is a sign that you have a dangerously defective battery. You are just buying defective battery packs.", "Can you provide an example of where a portable battery pack has deformed “within months”? There’s many kinds of portable battery packs, and i...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
88ki5m
What is GPG Encryption and how does it work?
I tried using it once but got lost in the multiple directions given considering I'm not a super computer 'geek' (no offense intentions). I have something coming up where I will need to learn this and what it's about and how to encrypt a message or letter.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwlbi8w" ], "text": [ "The Gnu Privacy Guard (GPG) is a an _implementation_ of PGP, (initially) a method for encrypting emails. Searching for PGP might yield more information. PGP is built around public key (assymetric) cryptography, which essentially means that everyone using it has a key pa...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
88l3o5
why does live tv look “cleaner” / different than a pre-recorded show?
Hard to explain, but you can tell when a show is live, so was curious as to why/how this is.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwlfeoc" ], "text": [ "People have become accustomed to how certain shows \"look\". Live TV has a certain \"look\" to it, 3-camera sitcoms have a certain look, soap operas have a certain look, movies have a [certain look]( URL_0 ). The audience expects a show to look a certain way... so the p...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
88l6mu
Why every social media is moving away from chronological order for its feeds?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwlx11n", "dwle3ed", "dwlha6j", "dwlzbnb", "dwlspru", "dwm4eu5", "dwlfzsl", "dwlz86y", "dwlkyez", "dwlgxqu", "dwm1o98", "dwleo0f", "dwm3zcz", "dwm0kcc", "dwlyxah", "dwm76yi", "dwly4sn" ], "text": [ "If your feed is in chronologic...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
88mkvo
How does Google "know" how busy a place is?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwlp20m", "dwltk56" ], "text": [ "everybody using an android phone with their location on in one area sends data to google. Google uses this to populate areas. It also uses the same way to tell us where traffic is etc", "If you have a Google account goto: * URL_0 * Top left click on t...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
88ne0y
How can Google Maps get a 3D model of an entire city?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwlw1t2" ], "text": [ "They don't use satellites for that. In fact, most of what you think of as \"satellite maps\" aren't taken from satellites at all, because the resolution (for non-military satellites, at least) is way too low. Instead, images are taken from airplanes. For large cities, t...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
88ovre
How does mineral oil not destroy the pc parts?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwm7px1" ], "text": [ "Mineral oil is non-conductive, so there is no damage to the components. Water, on the other hand, is conducive, so it would totally wreck the system by creating shorts everywhere." ], "score": [ 13 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
88pg3p
How does social media figure out how to advertise something for me even if it’s something I’ve never looked up before?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwmbbla", "dwmbexl" ], "text": [ "There's much speculation that these companies are listening to your conversations but no hard evidence yet that I am aware of. The glasses store could be explained by you going there and your wife's phones location tracking not being disabled, then market...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
88r62s
If there is lead in solder are solder joints dangerous to touch?
In instances like computer parts how dangerous is touching a solder joint?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwmmcns", "dwmmfw3", "dwmmkbt" ], "text": [ "No, it is not toxic to touch solid lead. Lead poisoning results from **ingestion**, **inhalation** or **dermal contact** (e.g. if you were working with organic lead compounds that were easily absorbed through the skin).", "**TL;DR**: *N...
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[ "url" ]
88rd2a
Why do mobile companies insist on fully charging the phone on first use?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwmpoah", "dwmppru", "dwmpp3l" ], "text": [ "There’s no easy way to measure the charge level of a lithium ion battery, especially at higher charge levels. Battery controllers won’t pick up self discharge that happens over time so charging the device that’s been sitting for a while to ...
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[ "url" ]
88rlta
Why do echo feedback loops increase in pitch and turn into one horrible screeching sound?
I hope this hasn’t been asked before and apologise if it has, but as a gamer I’ve always wondered why repeated echo loops slowly increase in pitch and turn into an awful high pitched sound. To give an example, if two people phoned each other on speaker in the same room, the voices/sounds would echo through each other a...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwmra9r", "dwmwjqy" ], "text": [ "Feedback is when a system captures its output as input, amplifies it, and outputs it again. Most microphones that are designed to capture the human voice tend to favor higher frequencies, also higher frequency sounds tend to be reproduced better in comput...
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88rsl4
Why do OLED phone displays get damaged by green lasers?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwmszfx", "dwmyaen" ], "text": [ "Come back with that one more time now?", "Could you please give an example or context to this? After speaking with my mind, I was still confused about the nature of this question, so I asked my old friend Google who seems to only know of a few instanc...
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88s8dm
The Soviet DUGA system
What is it? Can it be used again even though it's abandoned now?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwmzpzn" ], "text": [ "Hello, Chernobyl-visitor here. From what was explained to us on the Chernobyl Tour, DUGA radars send signals bouncing through a specific layer of Earth’s atmosphere (Ionosphere) which are received by a similar DUGA device on the other end. For the Chernobyl one, I belie...
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88to5v
What's the difference between a "Game Designer" and a "Game Programmer"
I know there is a lot of people who aspire to make video games (myself included), however I did look up jobs and two popped out to me. Senior Game Designer and Senior Game Programmer, I was always under the impression that the person who did the coding also decided mechanics. I would assume that Game Developer is for t...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwn5vsu", "dwn8g1y" ], "text": [ "A designer decides on game mechanics, creates levels, balances gameplay related values and many other things depending on the type of game. A programmer is the one that actually makes the game *do* that stuff, or at least creates the tools and systems tha...
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88v2em
How is the NSA able to "hack" into someone's phone or computer device at any given time, but a hacker cannot? Does the NSA have special tools, or do companies allow them to get into peoples devices?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwnfj87", "dwnhd0k" ], "text": [ "> Does the NSA have special tools, or do companies allow them to get into peoples devices? It's a combination of both. The NSA develops its own tools and does intense research into applications to find their weak spots and take advantage of them. They als...
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88v55a
How does the computer start to run the operating system in Von Neumann's architecture?
In Von Neumann's architecture memory space is divided between instructions and data, between programs and who will run those programs. I understand that it takes a start to run the initial algorithm. How does it work? How does the computer start to run the operating system? Please consider Von Neumann's architecture to...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwnj202", "dwnoecj", "dwnlmu7" ], "text": [ "You press the power switch. The crystal oscillator starts and when it is stable the program counter starts iterating from location 0. The CPU loads and executes the instruction there. The rest is history.", "* The CPU gets powered on. *...
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[ "url" ]
88ve3y
How exactly do athsma inhalers work?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwniwx5", "dwnlq7i", "dwnlgv2", "dwnm8mj", "dwniyl3", "dwnmgb3", "dwnmriv", "dwnwhtr" ], "text": [ "During an asthma crisis, the airways in the lungs get tighter and almost closes completely, therefore air cannot pass and the person cannot breathe. Asthma inhalers ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
88y0ci
Why cables - like laptop charging cable and phone usb cables- stop working without any obvious damage ?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwo0l5f" ], "text": [ "The wire inside the cable might break over time, that's why sometimes your headphones work in only certain positions, and then stop working altogether. It might also be that the electronics inside the adapter got messed up due to prolonged use, since using it makes it h...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
88y0w1
Why does a video stop and show the buffering icon when the grey bar which runs ahead of the main progress bar in them is still much ahead?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwo1rmv" ], "text": [ "This depends a lot on what player you're using, but could be because the player is supposed to have a certain amount of data buffered (say, 5 - 10 seconds or so) and has dropped below that threshold. Or there could have been an error in the data received, so the player ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
88ypyd
What’s the difference between firmware and software
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwo4hjm", "dwo4iye" ], "text": [ "Firmware is a set of programs and routines that are built into the device running them. They are typically essential for the basic operation of the device and are not usually accessible by the user. Software is a program that the device runs such as an ap...
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88z9eg
Why is 16:9 the standard ratio for visual media?
Why was 16:9 chosen as the standard ratio for media, television, computer monitors, phones etc?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwo8w85", "dwobbdo", "dwojq4s" ], "text": [ "Well, initially, TV's and monitors had 4:3, because it was slightly easier to make a square cathode ray tube. But cinema had 16:9 or even wider, and when computer screens and TV's went to high-definition HD resolution, they wanted to mimic ...
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88zkot
When it comes to computer parts, how does cpu/ram/ssd have "speed"?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwoah76" ], "text": [ "Speed comes down to things; how quickly the data can be read or written, and how quickly an instruction can me executed. RAM, ROM, SSD and hard drives all play on getting at sata while the cpu plays on speed of execution. Before you upgrade for speed you need to identif...
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890fdf
if only a small amount of nukes can render Earth in serious danger, how can countries continuously test them?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwommlh", "dwohn2o", "dwojlu3", "dwohelg", "dwohuyq", "dwoj3zp", "dwox2h7" ], "text": [ "> Wouldn’t countries testing nuclear weapons already have hit one of these numbers, and why haven’t we seen those projected issues? The evolution of nuclear testing is pretty inter...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
890o0z
How do range finders work?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwp0ldq" ], "text": [ "Old school rangefinders in cameras and for military artillery worked by having two viewfinders. A combination of mirrors, including half-silvered mirrors, would project them onto a single viewfinder screen, but the user would start out by seeing a double image. By adjus...
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[ "url" ]
89528n
What are cookies and why do websites ask me about them?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwp0j30" ], "text": [ "At its most basic, a cookie is a small text file stored on your computer, which is associated with a specific website and can be read by that website. When they were first introduced, they were designed as a way to \"save state\": for example, if a website allowed you t...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
895uol
How is it that humans can see a new object once and then be able to identify it in images with extreme precision, but the best computer vision algorithms need thousands upon thousands of examples to be able to pick specific objects out of images?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwp70jb", "dwplzpk", "dwp8uxw", "dwp8984", "dwpbvya", "dwpgwca", "dwpcdqh", "dwpt7m9", "dwpu7iq", "dwpa0la" ], "text": [ "If you ignore the metaphysical (spirit, soul, etc.) and assume that the brain is a biological machine, then there are basically two arg...
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[ "url" ]
8981oc
When there's a cut or a break in a power line or cable, how do technicians find out where it happened without visually inspecting every mile?
[Related search here.]( URL_0 ) Say an underground cable carrying service over a long distance gets chewed through by a burrowing critter. Everyone will know, based on the interruption of service, that something's been cut. And based on who loses service, they'll be able to deduce approximately where along the line the...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwpi137", "dwpwcnc", "dwpk86d", "dwq89jp" ], "text": [ "For undersea cables (both electrical and optical fiber) they can send a signal and measure the time it takes to reflect back. That will tell them where the defect is.", "I have been working with power cables, mainly fixin...
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[ "url" ]
89cfen
How does whatsapp gains money if it is totally free?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwq2jfy", "dwq1tj9", "dwq20xx" ], "text": [ "Welcome to the tech era. If you're not paying to use the product, ***you*** are the product.", "Sells your data to ad companies. This is more relevant since Facebook purchased it and you need to opt out of Facebook reading your messages...
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[ "url" ]
89fvp5
How is machine learning different from a statistical model?
From what I understand you can take a set of data and either feed it to a computer via machine learning, or generate a statistical model (linear regression, etc) from it. How is ML different from traditional statistical models? Is ML always superior?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwr0ur6" ], "text": [ "Machine learning is a way to build a statistical model. It is all well and good to say \"let's use a statistical model!\", but you still have to decide which one to use and how to implement it. Is your data distribution linear? Geometric? Logarithmic? Sinusoidal? You ha...
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89kvnn
why do gamers use headsets?
Is that the main audio source? Dont they use speakers to hear the game sound? Im not a hardcore gamer and when i play i use the speakers for sound so i never understood the use of headsets in youtube twitch and e sports. Edit: thank you for your answers i didnt know.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwrn6jj", "dwrn9r9", "dwrn7sr", "dwrnhqh" ], "text": [ "So you can have voice and game audio at the same time. Also headsets can have 7.1 setups that actually help in games by allowing for truly accurate locational sounds.", "They use headsets because in some games it gives pl...
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89n6j1
What are the advantages/disadvantages to a V6 engine vs. an In-line 6?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dws5guj" ], "text": [ "Straight 6 advantages are simplicity and ease of manufacture so cost less. They are, contrary to what one of the other comments said, actually better balanced than V6. In a V6 to get it precisely balanced you have to add specially placed weights or have balance shafts. ...
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89p10w
Playing online worldwide
ELI5: Why can i play a online game of Mario Kart with people from all around the world with no lag, but selecting a different server when playing Rocket League makes the game unplayable due to the high ping?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwt1hh0", "dwsfqx2" ], "text": [ "There is lag, but the game uses a mix of prediction methods, slow acceleration values, and smooth updates to hide it! Nintendo's studios have very good netcode compared to many others.", "The game usually connects to the nearest server which sends gam...
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89qlh8
How does the FBI find anonymous users on 4Chan?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwsrjsn", "dwsrp8w", "dwsypji" ], "text": [ "An anonymous user simply means they don’t login. There is no anonymity on the Internet, everything leaves a trail. Now some people will chime in that you can obfuscate that trail but that’s outside the scope of the question. A user creates ...
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89qnp3
Cell phone tower radiation. Is it dangerous to live near a cell tower?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwsrvvt", "dwsw46u", "dwssyqr", "dwsvcj5", "dwt3faw" ], "text": [ "Cell phone towers emit non-ionizing radiation. This type of radiation is also emitted by televisions, cell phones, microwaves, fish, your mother, and dirt. If one receives a significant enough dosage, the healt...
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89suhc
What is the difference between an Ethernet and a serial connection?
I want to know what the main differences are between an Ethernet and a serial connection in regards to flow computers. I'm a woman working in oil and gas, and learning SCADA. Being that it's a male-dominated field, and that I'm new in this position, I feel that I need to educate myself in my own time, to keep up with e...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwtl40w" ], "text": [ "Computer engineer here, Ethernet is a family of related networking technologies defined by the IEEE as a group of standard known as IEEE 802.3 You may recall that IEEE also defines a set of wireless (WiFi) technologies as IEEE 802.11 Ethernet is primarily concerned with...
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89swrf
What's the diference between a car alternator, and a car generator?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwtidyv" ], "text": [ "Older cars used generators. They developed DC to charge the battery direct. Unfortunately they were very inefficient at idle speeds. An alternator generates AC, then has a rectifier in it to convert to DC, these work more effectively at idle speeds, hence the now common...
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89t3to
What is front and backend development?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwtb4ee", "dwtcza4" ], "text": [ "Frontend is the code that gets delivered to the client to be executed on their device. Backend is the code that runs on a private machine. Typically the frontend will be the view logic and the backend will be buisness logic and databases.", "Frontend ...
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89tkj6
Why are smartphone batteries advertised by how much current they use and not voltage or power?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwteyhu", "dwtexpj", "dwtffrf" ], "text": [ "Batteries are advertised not with current, which would be mA, but net charge, mAh. Basically current is a unit of rate of change of charge with time, specifically coulombs per second. Think of velocity, which is meters per second or miles p...
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[ "url" ]
89tr9o
Why do street lights work during a powercut?
I live in a close, every single light in every house went out but the street lights are working, why?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwth3hs" ], "text": [ "Not sure where you’re from, OP, but in the UK there are usually 3 cables going down the street. These are called phases. Houses are usually connected to one of these, larger buildings are connected to all 3. When a power cut happens on one phase/cable, you should see 1/...
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89tz7j
how data or electric signals travel through the wires in an Ethernet cable?
I want to understand how each twisted pair work with each other? Like does a signal going to solid blue means '1' and the blue/white means '0'? Thanks in advance.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwtqdpb" ], "text": [ "Computer engineer here, Ethernet is supported over several mediums. The following is relevant to 10BASE-TX, 100BASE-T, 1000BASE-TX, and 10GBASE-T also known as Ethernet over Twisted Pair. This is not applicable to Ethernet over Coaxial cable or Ethernet over fibre optic...
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[ "url" ]
89uh1s
Why does a laptop/PC need a fan but a tablet does not?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwtlk6c", "dwtlme6", "dwtn4ea" ], "text": [ "Tablets have smaller and more efficient processors, so they don't need as much cooling. The heat sinks are also designed differently. Many will integrate the case into the cooling system. The heat sinks in your computer are designed to work...
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[ "url" ]
89vfaf
How do Bluetooth earbuds produce sound without being connected to a phone?
I know it’s Bluetooth but where is the DAC and AMP at?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwtuy3k" ], "text": [ "They're in it! I know it's insane to think that they made a microprocessor and amplifier THAT TINY but they did. Your bluetooth headphones, on their own, are capable of taking a digital audio source, turning it into an analog signal and amplifying it for the speaker. An...
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[ "url" ]
89yw80
Why do google captchas make you click street signs?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwuhz8w", "dwun9d3", "dwui1tm", "dwume8t", "dwur402", "dwumqmc", "dwurju6", "dwurycn", "dwuoslz", "dwup0pf", "dwuqc98", "dwuu9ni", "dwutedu" ], "text": [ "They're used to train their image recognition software so that they can read street signs ...
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[ "url" ]
89zkps
Why do all of my electronics have an FCC interference statement?
You can find the following statement on nearly all electronics. Why does the FCC require this? This device complies with part 15 of the FCC rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, includin...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwumxye", "dwumuyx" ], "text": [ "It proves that the device has passed a certain set of tests, designed to ensure it will not affect nearby devices. All electronic devices emit radiation to some degree, and its important when designing them to ensure the radiation isn't going to affect th...
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[ "url" ]
8a43ua
Why does skipping five seconds of a video often take longer due to buffering than just sitting through the five seconds?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwvtmtz" ], "text": [ "The way online video is compressed, you're receiving data that represents incremental updates from the last frame. If you start playing the video at the beginning, it all works as intended. However, if you start playing in the middle, you need to process incremental upd...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
8a69pk
Why Netflix and Amazon aren't buying the rights to stream sports
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dww7l7t" ], "text": [ "Amazon is buying sports rights. Actually last NFL season, the package they bought for Thursday night football was bought at a hilariously bad rate of at least 2x-3x the next bidder. That’s horrifyingly bad. They got had. Netflix has explicitly said they are not going to...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
8a6nz1
Anti-aliasing, what it does and how it works
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwwb8gs", "dwwek95", "dwwkraq", "dwwh2pe" ], "text": [ "It makes ugly stair-step like lines on the screen appear smooth by adding low contrast pixels where the stair-stepping is most obvious. Reference: [Close up]( URL_1 ) [Result]( URL_0 )", "Take a piece of graph paper. Plac...
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[ "url" ]
8a7z72
Open Banking
While updating my apps on my phone today I noticed my mobile banking app had this in their update notes: "This update is preparing our app for Open Banking, which gives you the choice and freedom to securely share your account data with registered third-party providers. If you don't want to use Open Banking, there is n...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwwjy8l" ], "text": [ "Open banking is the concept that your banking information such as balances and spending habits is not just the banks data, but is also yours, so you should get to use it how you see fit. So with open banking you can share your data and access to 3rd parties. Who in turn...
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[ "url" ]
8a94ab
how a helicopter tilts forward/backwards
So when a helicopter wants to gain speed, it tilts forward to angle the rotors and achieve forward momentum. But how does it tilt? When it rotates it can adjust the speed of the tail rotor.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwwrmm0", "dwwrvoh", "dwwrrgu" ], "text": [ "Visualize a helicopter with two rotor blades, just to make it easier. And let's just ignore the tail rotor and the engine for now. Focusing only on the rotor and how it controls the movement of the helicopter, there are two controls the pil...
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[ "url" ]
8a9zn2
Why does the light on chargers remain lit for a couple seconds after it has been unplugged?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwwykxr" ], "text": [ "Capacitors. The charger contains capacitors, which you can think of as being a bit like batteries (they're different in important ways, but the point is they store electrical energy). It uses them for things like smoothing over any irregularities in the mains power supp...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
8abl0b
How was super bouncing in Halo 2 possible?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwxbwto" ], "text": [ "It is a software defect, caused by their imperfect attempt to take old software and teach it new tricks without rewriting it. URL_0" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text_urls": [ [ "https://www.giantbomb.com/super-bouncing/3015-401/" ] ] }
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
8acq3x
how does tap work with credit cards
Like I just tap my credit card on the machine and it works but how, like there’s no computer in it I honestly don’t understand how the machine gets the information
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwxlaqz", "dwxlwuu" ], "text": [ "There is a little RFID chip in the card. When you tap it on the scanner, the scanner sends a signal that the antenna in the card picks up and uses to temporarily power the chip. The chip then broadcasts the card number, which the scanner receives.", "...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
8aeot7
What makes a password stronger than another?
How is a password that has uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters more secure if every character is always a possibility?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwy2a96", "dwy4906", "dwy2iml", "dwygoof" ], "text": [ "Because some types of attacks will do what's called a 'dictionary attack' and try dictionary words and thing based on them (apple, Apple, APPLE, etc). If you have to brute force a password (meaning try every possible combinat...
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[ "url" ]
8afrs4
How the government can/does seize a website?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwyd3gl", "dwybx0m" ], "text": [ "The way website names work is basically a phone book. When you type in \" URL_0 \", your computer goes to a Domain Name Server and asks it for the website's IP address (the equivalent of a phone number). Your computer then calls up that IP address, where ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
8agcp9
What exactly is turbo lag?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwygl0c", "dwygfwu", "dwyg9kd", "dwyi3w7" ], "text": [ "It’s easiest if you think about a turbo in two halves: the turbine side and the impeller side. A turbo works by forcing the exhaust coming out of the engine to spin a turbine that sits after the exhaust manifold which is conn...
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8agjwv
Solar panel losing its efficiency
I read that solar panels loses efficiency eventually. But I can not wrap my head on why it does, considering that there is no moving parts.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwyo05h", "dwyjjyt" ], "text": [ "Hey, Ph.D here working on light induced degradation (LID) in solar cells. Essentially, you need to think of the efficiency of a solar cell as its ability to generate but also collect electrons as useful energy. Now in the body of the solar cell, which we ...
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8ahsx7
Is there any consequences to have both 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz running at the same time?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwypqo3" ], "text": [ "No your modem will allocate bandwidth as it is needed, same as if it had one band. 5ghz means capable devices can have a better connection. Do it." ], "score": [ 3 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
8aiqak
Why did it take so long for console games to run on 60fps while pc has this option for decades?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwyxfl6", "dwyxw0o", "dwyzfdw" ], "text": [ "PC performance is limited by your budget. You could go build an insane $10000 rig right now to run games at 4k, 120fps if you wanted to. Consoles need to be cost effective, and historically their hardware is already somewhat middling and ou...
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8aj82v
How do digital compasses work? (e.g. smartphone apps)
I assume there's no physical magnetic compass in them with how obsessed manufacturers are with reducing size. And GPS accuracy is within meters at best. So how do they sense which direction the device is facing?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwz14j3", "dwz14wq" ], "text": [ "smartphones have a small magnetometer built in, which can measure the Earth’s magnetic field. This information is combined with an accelerator that acquires information regarding the phone’s position in space. It is able to pinpoint the phone’s position f...
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8alsjt
is watching a video game being played on youtube Graphically the same as playing it on your computer? Is there a graphics difference?
Like even if I am watching a 1080p HD gameplay walkthrough video on youtube , am I looking at the exact same graphics I would be if directly playing it on my computer (from the exe file). Are the subtle differences my eye can detect but not consciously? If so, please do go into detail.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwzmk0o", "dwzmbam", "dwzmsfl", "dwzrqjs" ], "text": [ "YouTube is going to be using some form of lossy video compression to greatly reduce the amount of data being sent to you. In addition, if you are viewing at a lower resolution or color depth, there is going to be some kind of...
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[ "url" ]
8amp6r
Why do so many password requirements specifically forbid spaces?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dwzvvzt", "dwzwtp1", "dwzym5w", "dwzvedp" ], "text": [ "Because they have always had that requirement. Many years ago, passwords were stored as plain text in a database, or sometimes in a text file. When the computer read the password back from storage to compare it against the on...
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8andne
What was so revolutionary about James Cameron's Avatar?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx00bff", "dx00dlo", "dx00uq5", "dx01gbu" ], "text": [ "It was one of the first movies made with the facial mocap technologies and updated mocap suits. It allowed for far better and more realistic CGI movements and faces. To many it was also one of the few 3D movies with good 3D e...
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8angrj
Up until about ten years ago, people in photos taken with flash almost always came out with red eyes, but now you never see people with red eyes in pictures - what happened?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx01org", "dx01p41" ], "text": [ "Two things really happened. First, the way flashes happen is engineered to give the eyes time to close the pupils, reducing the reflection. This is both the color and quality of the light, and the flickering that occur before the photo is taken. Second, t...
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8aory4
why ARM processors are less energy consuming than x86 and why it is not easy to make x86 less consuming?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx0ckdz" ], "text": [ "A lot of the techniques that make x86 processors as fast as they are come with a severe power cost. The architecture has 30+ years of backwards compatibility and quirky behavior to maintain. ARM is a relatively simple architecture and was made with energy efficiency in ...
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[ "url" ]
8aoutq
these 2 questions. How does/did dial up internet work? Why and how did making a phone call affect the internet connection?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx0cnsw", "dx0ck5t", "dx0crmr", "dx0csmx" ], "text": [ "It was literally like making a phone call. One computer to another. The sender would convert 1’s and 0’s into ‘analogue noise’ as if talking and the computer at the other end would covert them back into 1’s and 0’s again. You...
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8aowos
How does a country/company decide the perfect location for a space launch?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx0d94q" ], "text": [ "First, whether it is by a private company (SpaceX) or a government agency (NASA), they need to find sites like the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. They are \"allowed\" to launch rockets there by contract. Second, it's a space launch. That means you're sending stuff int...
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8ap4bo
how does the bios know if theres an os in a drive ?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx0eg2r", "dx0hkar", "dx0nn9i" ], "text": [ "It knows to look at the [boot sector]( URL_0 ) at the start of the drive to find the code that starts loading the OS. If there's nothing in the boot sector, it assumes there's no OS on the drive. If you have a boot sector but no OS, the BIO...
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8at78n
Why does rendering take so long?
Edit: I mean image synthesis, or computer graphics, for example turning a 3D model into a realistic animation.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx1m2h2", "dx1lowl" ], "text": [ "The mathematical equations that describe the way light bounces through raindrops and off of oddly-shaped objects, the way smoke disperses in the air, the way the wind blows through blades of grass and so on are all incredibly complex. The more precisely y...
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[ "url" ]
8atd7f
How do radios "listen" to a specific frequency?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx1ex3x" ], "text": [ "The simplest radios simply used a resonating circuit. Like a tuning fork that only vibrates at a certain frequency, these circuits could be excited by a radio signal at their resonant frequency. These are called \"crystal\" radios. Usually these had a separate circuit f...
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8ax7n1
How does software companies keep their software code secure when there are dozens/hundreds/thousands of people working on it?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx29xjo", "dx2a4uh", "dx29bl8", "dx2d3xu", "dx2dwwg", "dx2cjl4", "dx2krq1", "dx2mkq8", "dx2liwz", "dx2io23", "dx2gugc" ], "text": [ "When you say \"secure\" do you mean safe from internal tampering? like someone adding a back-door without people knowing...
[ "url" ]
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8axlab
Instead of battery technology, why do Smartphone companies only upgrade cameras, processors, memory, etc yearly?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx2b45j", "dx2bjoz", "dx2b18m" ], "text": [ "I will start by saying I am not a scientist or battery specialist. Just a techy and rc enthusiast. Most phones do receive an upgraded battery along with other components. however the components require more power and therefore battery life ...
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8azcgh
What is the purpose of a ReLU in convolutional neural networks? What does it do?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx2ri09" ], "text": [ "A neuron in a neural network has an 'activation function' which converts the sum of its inputs into an output. ReLU stands for Rectified Linear Unit. If the input is positive then it will simply output the input. If the input is negative then it will output 0. ReLU is p...
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8azdi9
Why does it seem to me that razors purposed for females are way duller than those for men?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx2p80v" ], "text": [ "URL_0 According to this article, the shave angle is different between male and female marketed razors, so maybe that has an influence on it (They said the metallurgy should be the same)." ], "score": [ 4 ], "text_urls": [ [ "https://www.rd.com/heal...
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8b05gz
How does a microphone work?. How does it take sound and move to another device or what ever.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx2vffa" ], "text": [ "A microphone works by allowing sound waves to move a flexible membrane. The motion of the membrane is detected, usually magnetically, and turned into an electrical signal. The signal can be run through an amplifier into a speaker, or digitized and turned into anything."...
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8b0x24
What is so special about petroleum oils that we can't just simply use most other kinds of oil (vegetable, animal) as a fuel substitute?
I am assuming similar viscosity and consistency and whatever because obviously you can't run a combustion engine on a solid block of fat.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx32ay6", "dx3e5vr" ], "text": [ "Petroleum oils are hydrocarbon chains, links of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms hooked to them. Vegetable oils have links of carbon atoms with some hydrogen atoms, but also some oxygen-hydrogen units attached to them. You can absolutely use these as a fu...
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8b1v1n
If the "M" stands for "model", how is the M4 more advanced than the M16?
For clarification, Irish here, not American. I do know a little bit about guns, but not all *that* much. We do have private gun ownership here, but nothing military grade. It's just something I've wondered about because I've seen it in movies and games.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx3a4qa", "dx3a51j", "dx3a25u" ], "text": [ "The american military nomenclature system is screwy, and requires some contextual knowledge. The main point of distinction is that the M-16 is a \"rifle\" while the M-4 is a \"carbine\". Rifles, Carbines, Handguns, machine-guns, grenade lau...
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8b6g90
- How does wireless phone charging work? Where does the electricity go through?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx4b5te", "dx4b75p" ], "text": [ "Wireless chargers or induction chargers work by using an electromagnetic field, a magnet, to transfer current into the device. The charging station generates a magnetic field wich is used by the device to charge the battery. Thus there is no \"shock\".", ...
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8b8qwq
How are songs from concerts recorded, considering the sheer amount of background noise from the crowd?
Take for example this video: URL_0 (AC/DC concerts are a riot!). How is the audio so clear considering the sheer number of people in the background?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx4s5vf", "dx4vy45" ], "text": [ "The audio is recorded straight from the source. So the mic's, guitars etc all go straight to the sound board and are recorded from there.", "The microphones are much much much closer to the sources on stage than they are to the crowd. Also most stage ...
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8b8xxs
The devices government and public officials wear at conferences with multiple languages.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx4tq41" ], "text": [ "It is basically a radio that connects to a translator who is translating what is said into a language they speak." ], "score": [ 8 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }
[ "url" ]
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8bb3h1
What's the difference between FDMA and TDMA?
I'm having a hard time grasping the major differences and uses between the two. When and why would one be more practical than the other? What applications is each one most useful for? FDMA - Frequency Division Multiple Access TDMA - Time Division Multiple Access
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx5f0d5" ], "text": [ "FDMA: send signals on different radio channels TDMA: share a channel by taking turns Both are very handy." ], "score": [ 3 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }
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8bbjrl
Why does older music often play at a lower volume?
Back when I used CDs, I noticed I often needed to turn the volume up to hear older CDs at the same level as recent CDs. The same seems to be true for streaming. I may have to turn up a track from the '80s, but current tracks always sound loud as hell.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx5fc6q", "dx5eslw" ], "text": [ "TL;DR because music company executives are dicks who care more about scrounging money than sound reproduction. Early CDs and mixing engineers were propely doing their job in order to maintain the maximum amount of dynamic range (the difference between the...
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8beryt
Why doesn’t stereo volume stop at a point before distortion occurs in stock speakers? Conversely, why don’t stock speakers hold up to the capability of their stereo counterparts?
I was fudging with my stereo today and increased the volume from 66.6% (30/45) to 80% (40/45) and the music started to distort. Now, 30/45 is already overkill in my car, but theoretically, shouldn’t you be able to turn the volume to 100% without any negative effects? These speakers were designed for this stereo by defa...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx66j20" ], "text": [ "Manufacturers often make more variety of speaker than head unit, so low quality speakers are often paired with more powerful head units. They want to keep the overall system inexpensive, but they're not able to get a cheaper head unit." ], "score": [ 5 ], "t...
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8bfn7u
over what time span is facial recognition software accurate - and does it allow for changes as a result, for example, from piercings?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx6fly6" ], "text": [ "The way that many facial recognition algorithms work, is that they take many different pictures of your face (as many as possible), from different angles, and preferably with slight changes like different haircuts. All of those images are then combined into an [eigenfac...
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8bg5fw
Why is the reversible, and compact design of USB-C only made recently? Why couldn't they have used this design decades ago when they were designing USB-A?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx6l0qs", "dx6qai9", "dx6mk0j", "dx6hetr", "dx6rs29", "dx6ppwc", "dx6vmq2", "dx6uokm", "dx6o5l1", "dx6mfiq", "dx6oyl0", "dx6q2h3", "dx6ra26", "dx6m5sa", "dx6rlbz", "dx70a7l", "dx6tmu1", "dx6q1hd", "dx6uzgj", "dx6xz5i", "d...
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8bk0m9
Why do different cables cause phones to be charged drasticaly faster or slower, even when they're plugged into the same socket?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx7ba9k" ], "text": [ "Further to add to other post, the amperes (amps) tell you how many electrons in coulomb packets are being drawn per given time period. The socket is like a water tower. You can have different sized funnels or piping/tubes connected to your output. The size of the tower ...
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8bkde8
How is it that my phone can record in HEVC (h.265) in real-time but my desktop takes hours to convert videos to HEVC?
Is there some qualitative difference between videos exported on my desktop vs those recorded by my phone? Is this because of some kind of hardware acceleration? iPhone 7 vs i5-7300HQ, if it matters.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx7iclx" ], "text": [ "Your phone has a specialized processor just for encoding video. While this is possible on the computer, it requires a combination of hardware and software that you may not have, so most programs just default to using your normal CPU which is slower." ], "score": [ ...
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8blk8b
Friction stir welding
So anyways i seen a gif about friction stir welding and the comments weren't clear about what was happening. Alot of answers like MAGNETS! and MAGIC! And.. That doesn't do it for me.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx7y12y" ], "text": [ "There are no magnets involved. A special tool with 2 main components, a pin that inserts into the material and a shoulder that rides on top of the material, is in a spindle. This spindle rotates the tool at an appropriate speed and applies sufficient force down onto the...
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8blrjo
Why does "game mode" on TV and monitors look worse and other settings?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx7rc21", "dx7q91b", "dx7vt6k", "dx7zc6z", "dx7vkk1" ], "text": [ "Processing video to make it look better takes time. This increases the delay between when the signal comes into the TV and when it gets displayed. If you're watching a TV station or a movie, all the TV needs to...
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[ "url" ]
8bnaxk
How does light transfer data in optical fibers?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx851hd" ], "text": [ "When data is transmitted over a wire, the wire is turned on and off very quickly. Thousands of times per second, it checks if the wire is currently on. If the signal is off, that is interpreted as a 0. If it's on, that's a 1. Light travels through fiber optic cables. It...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
8bo843
Why some websites don't work without www.?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx8clp7" ], "text": [ "www. Is just a sub domain to your main domain. So while Google has URL_0 , they can also have www. URL_0 , maps. URL_0 or anything. URL_0 . The problem is in the earlier days, people would stick www in front of their domain to represent their public World Wide Web prese...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
8bogsm
Why does a fiber optic internet connection require its own power supply?
My new fiber optic needs to be plugged into the wall, as well as a modem. Just wondering if this is inherent to fiber optics in some way, or just the box the internet company uses.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx8dpmq" ], "text": [ "The modem needs power to convert the fiber carrier signal. Just like the old modems of the past. There is no power in the fiber signal just light" ], "score": [ 12 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
8bp68i
Why do different countries have different electricity plugs? Why not have a universal one like a USB?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx8ifot", "dx8iudr" ], "text": [ "Not all countries use the same voltage. Different shaped outlets can prevent you from frying whatever you’re plugging in", "Because when the electrical socket standards were adapted, international travel was a lot less common than it is now, and carry...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
8brwnu
If you grew crops inside with lights on 24/7 could they grow much faster than outside?
Put another way, is the crop growth rate limited by the number of hours of sunlight? Or are there other limiting factors that make that a moot point? I've been having this notion recently that you could totally automate farming certain crops by doing it in a large building. You could have each individual crop in its ow...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx94io1", "dx94jin" ], "text": [ "lots of marijuana growers already take advantage of this, keeping their plants in a grow cycle until theyre ready to flip the switch into a flowering stage. they use different variations of light to simulate a summer growing season, later changing the lig...
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[ "url" ]
8bs61q
How did early civilians get to work and wake up on time for work in times where time wasn’t kept by most individuals?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx96gdi" ], "text": [ "Most jobs didn't really care about time - you got up when the sun came up and went to bed when the sun went down. There wasn't much of a concept of \"meet me at 11:30\" or \"be at work by 9\" back then - people worked when they worked. There was a brief period when cloc...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
8bsiy6
what happens when a PC bluescreens
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx99ipm", "dx9grlk" ], "text": [ "A piece of important software or hardware failed in a way that the operating system couldn't compensate for and continue normal operations, so to protect the integrity of the data as much as it can, it fails into a state that gives an error message, captu...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
8bssz7
How can two items with the same name be in the Recycle Bin at the same time?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx9byoo" ], "text": [ "The recycling bin isn't a regular folder. It also contains a reference to the original location (because you can restore it) and presumably uses a unique identifier other than the filename, so you can even have two items from the same location with the same name in the ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
8bsyfg
Is Fourier Transform used in wifi (wireless transmission) in any ways?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "dx9evzv" ], "text": [ "The CSIRO fast [Fourier transformation]( URL_0 ) processor was developed for radioastronomy but proved to be the key to making fast Wi-Fi possible." ], "score": [ 4 ], "text_urls": [ [ "https://imgur.com/fKzfVjk" ] ] }
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]