q_id stringlengths 6 6 | title stringlengths 4 294 | selftext stringlengths 0 2.48k | category stringclasses 1
value | subreddit stringclasses 1
value | answers dict | title_urls listlengths 1 1 | selftext_urls listlengths 1 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
9523vi | How does a cell phone with no signal search for a cellular tower? Does it sweep across all cellular frequencies? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3pehem"
],
"text": [
"When a cell phone doesn't have service, yes, it looks for a tower on all of the permissible frequencies for contacting the towers. Any tower it finds, it checks to see if the tower will accept the phone -- that is, if it will agree to send and receive traffic. There may... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
954dxf | When someone goes missing, why can't the authorities use cellular data to determine who was around the victim at the time of the crime? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3pymvv",
"e3pweq1",
"e3pwhel"
],
"text": [
"For the same reason they can't just start searching random people's homes to find them: individuals have rights and there are checks and balances in place to prevent the police from violating those. If the police wants to check cellphone da... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
955hlp | Why is streaming a movie/show for no profit okay but downloading a movie/show isn't? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3q572c",
"e3q5sci"
],
"text": [
"It's not, necessarily. If the streamer does not have permission, it's still piracy. The question is not stream versus download; it's whether or not the copyright holder has given permission.",
"It's patently illegal, but in a civil sense, not a crimin... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
957hax | How does closed caption works? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3qm0gw"
],
"text": [
"A person listens to the soundtrack and types in what they're saying. Or it comes from the show's scriptwriter, which is why it's sometimes different than what's actually said."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
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95bhy5 | How are bubbly chocolate bars (such as Wispa or Aero) made? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3rdxvw"
],
"text": [
"The molten chocolate is foamed up with the introduction of air, and is then formed into moulds in a reduced air pressure environment, so the internal bubbles maintain their structure as the thing cools. Then there's a final layer of normal chocolate coated over the top.... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
95byym | How does my computer know when a program is unresponsive? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3ri92n",
"e3rj4nh",
"e3rwig7",
"e3s0dlx"
],
"text": [
"Those programs have a GUI. When you do something with the mouse or keyboard, the operating system figures out which program is responsible for handling the input and puts so-called \"input events\" into a list for the program... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
95ccz5 | when a person dies, how is their Wikipedia page updated to past tense in a very short time ? | Is there some script / bot / button that does this automatically? or is each sentence edited to past tense manually? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3rkbqf",
"e3rs36j"
],
"text": [
"Anyone can edit a wikipedia page. There are plenty of people who want to be the first to make an edit when an important event, such as a person's death happens. In other words, there are people just waiting for something like that to happen so they can ma... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
95e1p3 | Why do some posts say that it has one comment, but when you view the comments section there are no comments? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3rylet"
],
"text": [
"Ghosts of Reddit. Aka shadowbanned accounts. It's a ban typically used on spammers. They can still comment/submit normally and such, but to the rest of Reddit they are invisible, and their votes don't count."
],
"score": [
11
],
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95gdzt | What is a video game "engine," (e.g. unreal engine) and what differentiates one from another? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3si8si",
"e3sjaor"
],
"text": [
"A video game engine is the code that defines the rules that all the objects in a video game follow; in some cases, they are very very generalized in the sorts of rules that they have and define sort of meta-rules that a game developer can then use to make... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
95hfrs | What is the difference between SSDs and regular hard drives and what makes SSDs better? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3sqoi5",
"e3sqjkv",
"e3sr766"
],
"text": [
"Hard disk drives have a little silver magnetic disk inside them that can be written to or read from with an electromagnet. This is the same principle behind floppy drives but much more accurate, resulting in higher data densities, or more s... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
95hk6f | Why do printers use cyan instead of blue? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3srlaf",
"e3srvu8",
"e3svxgj",
"e3suu9z",
"e3tikuu",
"e3tbai8",
"e3u0dgv"
],
"text": [
"The primary colors of light are red, green, and blue. Pigments though absorb light and reflect portions of the spectrum so their primary colors are cyan, magenta, and yellow. Print... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
95l344 | How can your eyes focus on the information on "smart glasses" that is so close to your eyes? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3tn1tg"
],
"text": [
"Previous answers are missing something crucial: **a system of lenses** is used to refocus the light rays from the screen so that they appear to come from much further away. The same system is used for \"red dot sights\" on guns, heads-up displays in cars and airplanes, ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
95nijw | It once took me 6 hours to create a single 3D screw. How do video game designers create thousands of intricate worlds, objects, and animations so quickly? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3tzot4",
"e3tztrf",
"e3u11iz",
"e3tzxkn",
"e3u36tf",
"e3u4a9l",
"e3u4qy6"
],
"text": [
"They work in teams, not alone, and they have lots of practice behind them. Your screw may have take 6 hours, and is no small feat, but if you're making tons and tons of these sorts... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
95os40 | why phones (and othet stuff) havr an expandable memory *up to" a certain amount. | I see it all the time, a dash cam that can accept an SD card up to 32GB or a a new phone that can go up to 2 terabytes. Why can't I use the full 2 terabyte card on said dashcam? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3ua53s",
"e3u9yt4"
],
"text": [
"SD cards may look the same, but actually use different \"languages\" to enable higher speeds and larger capacities. The dashcam is compatible with SDHC cards (SD high capacity) which go up to 32GB. Larger cards are SDXC (SD eXtended capacity) which again,... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
95pf6p | The difference between analog and digital recordings | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3ufxfl",
"e3ufy2a"
],
"text": [
"Sound is a wave. Analog recorders use a machine that vibrates along with this sound wave, and the resulting mechanical vibration is sthen written over realtime to some sort of recording media. Digital recording uses math to represent the sound wave, with ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
95pjkl | How do cameras focus? How do they know what they're pointing at is in focus? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3uhvrg"
],
"text": [
"It depends on the camera, but there are two main methods. Cheap or small cameras, like your cell phone use the contrast. Basically they take a picture (from the preview), and pick a strip of pixels. Then they subtract each pixel in the strip from it's neighbor to get th... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
95qvdt | How do police recover deleted data from phones and laptops? | Just asking for a friend... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3ur48l",
"e3ur8uy"
],
"text": [
"Bytes on disk aren't erased, just marked free for allocation. It can also be possible to retrieve overwrited data. This is why sanitizing disk usually apply seven pass with 0-1 and random",
"Same way IT dudes do. When a hard drive deletes a file, all ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
95spgt | How do those chords on roads that I assume take data on traffic work? | How does this data get collected and what’s the data used for? How come there are sometimes two? EDIT: cord/tubes not chords. (I’m a musician, whoops). | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3vdeb1",
"e3valyt",
"e3vkimq",
"e3vad4p",
"e3vecp1",
"e3vkypy",
"e3vlx1q",
"e3vbyho",
"e3vvkel"
],
"text": [
"I set these down myself for my city! They are hollow tubes that allow air to be pushed down to a box at the end of the tube when cars drive over them!... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
95svvo | Why "size" and "size on disk" is different? | While looking at a size of folder on my PC, I see it very often. Is it because of some overhead used by my SSD that takes more size than the files does themselves? Thanks everyone. Got my answer! | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3vcbjj",
"e3va7gf",
"e3vdr9u",
"e3v94xb",
"e3v804w"
],
"text": [
"Your teacher tells you to write a four-page essay. So you write three full pages plus two sentences on the last page. Your essay is four pages long! Well it's not really four pages, it's closer to three pages, ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
95x7k1 | Why are US voting machines is so vulnerable? | I read an article that voting systems for up to 39 states were infiltrated by hackers. Why are these pivotal systems so vulnerable? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3w34ub",
"e3w5hto",
"e3w2y4u",
"e3w88op"
],
"text": [
"Electronic voting is the equivalent of walking into a voting booth and finding a guy there, and having to tell him your vote. He promises to keep it secret, and promises to count your vote with all the others, and promises to... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
95yq8e | How are music videos with multiple settings put together to make all the singing sync up together, or are they lip synced? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3wf6zs",
"e3whcgh"
],
"text": [
"They record the song first and when they're filming the video they play the song in the background so the artists can lipsync over it, they'll do this various different times in different scenes and cut them all together for the final edit",
"Also som... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
960kcq | How do chip makers like Intel or Amd make processors that are significantly more powerful than its predecessor year after year? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3wu22i"
],
"text": [
"While they have increased the raw speed, these days mostly they make the chips *bigger* so they can do more things at the same time. For example, while one part of the processor adds two numbers, another part is concurrently reading in the next numbers."
],
"score":... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
96139b | Why do file transfer rates fluctuate when transferring data from a USB storage device? | I get why downloads over the internet fluctuate due to the nature of internet connections, but why does a file transfer from a flash memory USB drive to a flash memory solid state drive fluctuate from second to second? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3xfio9",
"e3wy9eb"
],
"text": [
"# Simple Explanation Imagine you have two libraries with containing a different set of books and layout. In our analogy a book will be a file, and different books will have different number of pages which is the file size. If you want to copy a set of boo... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
96190k | What is Overclocking and how/why is it used? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3wzlh3",
"e3wzp4w",
"e3x4cty"
],
"text": [
"Running PC hardware at higher speed than it was rated for. Used to get more performance out of your hardware and also just for epeen/bragging rights. It's possible because you can't make exact copies of hardware and so sometimes they will b... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9643vy | Why is SSH more secure for accessing network devices than Telnet if you can set password authentication on both? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3xmzgc",
"e3xnyme"
],
"text": [
"In SSH the network traffic is encrypted, so other users/devices between you and the server can't see what you're sending & receiving. In telnet all the traffic is sent in clear text, so any man in the middle can see and change what is being exchanged.",
... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
966vi2 | How do procedurally generated video games work? How are players not constantly stuck in a situation where they can no longer progress due to the level generation? | Are procedurally generated levels given guidelines they must abide by? Ex. No platforms over this height, no jump distance further than x, etc. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3y5b0y",
"e3y7ier",
"e3y5n6n"
],
"text": [
"> Are procedurally generated levels given guidelines they must abide by yes. that's why it's called \"procedurally\" and not \"randomly\". the game has to follow a procedure that makes sure the result is a playable map. a simple example wou... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
967271 | What is an API? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3y6u9s"
],
"text": [
"Think of it like a wall plug. For each country, the wall plugs in that country have a pre-defined shape and will give a pre-defined electrical current. That means the manufacturers can create devices that will work with those wall plugs without having the specific plug ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
968a62 | how do emergency vehicles turn traffic lights red so they can get through? | I work outside by a hospital and a few times a day I see ambulances and firetrucks go through the intersection by my work and they always turn all the traffic lights to red so they can get through faster. How do they do that? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3yh6e6",
"e3ykenp",
"e3yuyh5",
"e3ygiqy"
],
"text": [
"It’s called an OptiCon. Fire, ems and police use them, but not every emergency vehicle has them. The vehicle has to have a special light in its lightbar in order to activate the mechanism over the light to change it for their... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
969xty | How exactly did humans across different cultures figure out the recipe for making bread? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3yuojh",
"e3z1eg3"
],
"text": [
"It's a fairly easy accidental discovery. If you leave flour in a bowl and it gets wet, and you ignore it for a week, it turns into bread dough. (You don't even need to add yeast; with enough time yeast from the air or from the original grain surface will ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
96clqp | How come in remote regions my phone will say I have good service (2-3 bars of LTE) but nothing will load? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3ziyf6"
],
"text": [
"Because it's actually saying that you have 3 bars of phone call reception, which is a different type of signal than internet data. The tiny trickle of data you have is of type LTE. So it says what type of data signal you have, right next to the phone call signal strengt... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
96dqkj | What is multiplexing? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3zvpha"
],
"text": [
"> What is multiplexing? Multiplexing is the concept of taking multiple connections and combining them into one connection. There are many types, such as TDM (Time-Division Multiplexing), WDM (Wavelength-Division Multiplexing), etc. There is also \"Inverse Multiplexing\"... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
96faq4 | How can you tell where a cyber attack is coming from? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e402er3"
],
"text": [
"A data package always has a recipient and an origin. The package contains information about who it's for, and where it's from. A sender address and a recipient address. And, since you know the address of the sender, it's kind of a good hint, don't you agree? Unfortunate... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
96ihc8 | What causes CGI to look so markedly artificial? | I watched Black Panther and The Greatest Showman recently. The rhinos and elephants in each movie were shown only briefly, but they drew my eyes every time to their ridiculously unlifelike movements and textures. It’s 2018--In anime, movies, and TV, what is stoppling us from getting this perfect? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e40oedn",
"e40oeap",
"e40oj8k",
"e40oks5"
],
"text": [
"Its mostly survivorship bias. You dont notice all the awesome super lifelike cgi, so you are left with just the stuff that doesn't look perfect. As for why every bit of CGI doesnt look perfect mainly comes down to CGI being s... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
96la63 | why some websites still check your date of birth when all you have to do to get past it is click a year to make yourself over 18? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e41b81r",
"e41a2z5",
"e41cfww"
],
"text": [
"It allows them to legally claim that they took efforts to prevent a minor from obtaining the material, or to at least war them which is a major protection from lawsuit.",
"It is just a token gesture so they can't be criticized by soccer... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
96my35 | How do stealth planes work and why can't radars detect them? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e41ojpr",
"e41of24"
],
"text": [
"Radar works by shooting out invisible light waves in all directions. That light gets reflected back to the antenna which can detect it and based on any frequency/amplitude changes and signal lost it can determine the size of an object and its distance awa... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
96n2c8 | Why is airplane mode necessary on airplanes? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e41q3ba"
],
"text": [
"Airplanes have lots of radios in the cockpit. They use them both to communicate, and to navigate (guide the plane through the sky, and down to the ground at the airport). When another radio on board (such as a cell phone) transmits at full strength, it can interfere wit... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
96n2qp | Why do so many game devs tie physics and other calculations to frame rate? | So many games ported to PC have horrendous support for higher refresh rates, which I know is because the developers have tied certain things like physics calculations to the frame rate. Is this done for a good reason today, or is this a relic of the bronze age of gaming that should and will get better? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e41tbg4",
"e41tfmw",
"e41tk5c",
"e41tl19"
],
"text": [
"Because it's easier. There are two other options: 1) make physics and logic still tied to the actual framerate but scale it by the time between each frame 2) run physics seperately at a fixed rate and interpolate data when yo... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
96oexj | Why do videos when loading (like on putlocker or gomovies) stop loading at certain points, as in stop at a point and require me to pause and unpause and wait? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e41z33y"
],
"text": [
"Video is compressed with what is called interframe compression, so a frame isn’t an actual image, but a set of instructions to build the new frame form the previous, however some frames need to be a full image, so in a big scene change it might take longer to load the f... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
96p3cj | What are cookies on websites? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4247k8",
"e424u8y",
"e425dph"
],
"text": [
"A cookie is just a bit of data that the website stores on your computer so it can access it again later. Let's say I've made a simple web page that asks for your name, then says \"Hello, [name].\" That's pretty easy to do, but it will have ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
96r4c7 | Why do US households have washing machine and dryer as two different appliances instead of a single appliance ? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e42lbbs",
"e42kuek"
],
"text": [
"A combined unit isn’t as efficient as 2 individual ones. You can fit more in a washing load than a drying load, so you either need to do more, smaller loads, or take some clothes out before the drying cycle starts. Also, you can only do one load at a time... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
96r5zw | What are "car guys" talking about with all the numbers? | I saw a guy today driving a '73 Nova SS. I said, "nice car." He went on to say something like, "yeah, it's got a 350 over 20. I took out the 4 speed to an overdrive, and went to a 3.5. I changed the exhaust from a 2 and a quarter to 3 inch, now it rips." I was like, "and it's red!" | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e42kvf2",
"e42l8is"
],
"text": [
"So it's a 350 cu in motor, bored .020 over to increase it's displacement. He switched from a 4 speed auto to something I've never heard of on that context before. And he increased the size of his exhaust pipes to 3in in diameter.",
"So, in this case, ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
96ublu | How did black boxes for descrambling cable channels in the 90s work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e43cam9"
],
"text": [
"Back then the way scrambling worked was they just didn't send the sync pulse (the mark for the start of the frame). The cable box then had a circuit that when authorized made a sync pulse and inserted it back in. The descramblers were boxes that just added in sync pulse... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
96vbui | We get the internet from ISPs(Internet Service Providers). But how do they get it? (Or how does it work)? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e44bkg0",
"e43hz62",
"e43i8no",
"e44ebyz"
],
"text": [
"The phrase \"get internet from\" doesn't really make sense. Internet isn't a thing. I can't give you a barrel of internet, the same way I could give you a battery charged with energy. When you hear \"internet\", you should th... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
96wi09 | Why does Apple and Android have a issue with co-compatibility of sending videos across platforms? It reduces to like 240p. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e43qetu"
],
"text": [
"It doesn't. The method you're using to send the video is causing degradation, whatever that may be. I have no issues viewing 1080p video on my android uploaded to YouTube on a mac or iOS device. If you are sending the video file via a text message (MMS) the phone will u... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
96wi8j | Why do electrics showers always have bad thermostats? | I've lived in 3 different houses and used around 5 or 6 different electric showers and every single one has had an unresponsive thermostat. For example this morning I jumped in the shower before work. Yesterday I showered and it was the perfect temperature on setting 5. This morning I jumped in with the setting on 5 an... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e43vi3x"
],
"text": [
"Electric showers don't have thermostats. Temperature rise depends on the selected heater power and the flow rate. Flow rate is set by the flow restrictor valve, which is the main control. Outlet temperature depends on inlet temperature and temperature rise."
],
"sco... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
970hnt | Inmarsat’s role in Malaysia Airlines flight 370 | After the plane was lost from radar contact, how did inmarsat function to make “handshakes” hourly with the plane? what exactly is a “handshake”? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e44tlkx"
],
"text": [
"Oh, one I can finally help with! So Inmarsat is a satellite company. Their satellites provide a ton of communication and data collection for all types of agencies/companies, but in this case Inmarsat was communicating with the aircraft. Basically this just means the sat... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
971jvu | How much detail can a satellite see? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e44s99u"
],
"text": [
"About the best commercial imagery, DigitalGlobe's WorldView-3 and -4 sats have a resolution of 0.31m under ideal conditions. So each pixel represents about 31cm. So you can identify a car, but probably not the model. Generally you can tell there's a person in the image,... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9738pw | How can smart devices generate an accurate battery percentage? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e455fhw"
],
"text": [
"As the amount of power in a battery goes down, so does the voltage. The phone uses the voltage to calculate how much power is left. Then it turns that into a percentage"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
974bu7 | I read that some sub marines are powered by nuclear power such as Uranium for years before having to be changed. Why cant our normal everyday electric also come from Uranium? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e45etgq",
"e45fij4",
"e45efi1",
"e45gbp1"
],
"text": [
"It can and it does. Nuclear submarines, nuclear aircraft carriers, and nuclear power plants all generate electricity in the same way Some countries generate a significant amount of their power from nuclear energy. France gene... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
977mu6 | How do videogame companies copy-protect their games (physical discs)? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e46223k"
],
"text": [
"Mostly by doing things that are easy to detect, but hard to reproduce. For instance, one technique is placing artificial defects on the disk, and checking if they're there. Many duplication programs, when encountering a defect, won't create an identical defect in the co... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9782gd | Why is Windows hated? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e465ndm",
"e464xwj",
"e464xx7"
],
"text": [
"Its problem is popularity. If you have computer, it most likely has windows. Thus, if you have encountered problem it was with windows. Another are third party hardware vendors. Windows was very easy to destabilize by faulty driver or with ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
979rus | What are the actual physical changes that happen inside a computer while it's running? | Specifically curious about what it means to write something to memory: What happens inside a computer when I save a text file, or a Jpeg, or save a game, or anything else that changes the state of the computer from what it was before, to something else, and how it continues to exist after the computer is turned off. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e46jgnr",
"e46jr11",
"e46k0ma",
"e46k3pi"
],
"text": [
"Permanent storage in computers generally is done by one of two technologies. For magnetic hard drives, there's a spinning plate covered with magnetic material and a mechanism that allows to detect and change the \"direction\"... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
97d8pd | How do 3d holographic projectors work and what exactly are the holograms projected onto since there is no screen? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e47cpme",
"e47o4uf"
],
"text": [
"Most *don’t*, or at least not the way you are thinking. By far the vast majority of 3D “holograms” you see out there are actually projected onto a transparent screen in such a way that it just looks like there is actually a 3D thing behind the (see throug... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
97dw1y | What causes loading bars to get stuck or slow way down near completion? Is it that developers put the hardest things to load at the end of the progress so impatient users stick around? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e47h34k",
"e47sh72",
"e483h4e"
],
"text": [
"Usually it's system things (like cache/index regeneration) that just takes a system dependent amount of time. There really isn't a way to estimate the progress. For example if you install a font, you might update the font cache so other app... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
97focy | Why can the task manager close tabs while simply pressing close program cant even though they should do the same thing | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e47v6dd",
"e47wbgh",
"e47uwb8"
],
"text": [
"They are not the same thing. There are a number of ways to close a program. It can get a bit complicated, but what you are looking at is mostly the difference between politely asking a program to finish its current work clean up its desk an... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
97hkce | How do they remaster old tv shows in HD? | Surely if something was filmed originally in standard definition, and was never re-filmed, they wouldn’t be able to enhance the quality, right? All they have is lower quality footage with less pixels, how can that be converted into HD? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4879l7",
"e48gd7w",
"e4877mw",
"e48gp9u",
"e48o1xm"
],
"text": [
"Old analog stuff was filmed on film. Film is just photographs and doesn't store data in 'pixels' but on the color change of microscopic crystals so it's storing a ton more data than even the highest resolution ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
97ia4b | What is file compression and how does it work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e48d4br",
"e48cvdt",
"e48ekj5",
"e48eyop",
"e48fhwj",
"e48jc83",
"e48cv3k",
"e48eamx",
"e48iv4k",
"e48fa9x",
"e48kcmr"
],
"text": [
"Every computer file is made up of just 1s and 0s ... It's binary. Binary has some really long strings, if you broke even... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
97itfp | Why do older vehicles have a blue stripe across the top of the front windshield, but newer vehicles don't? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e48he66",
"e48kx6z",
"e48peut",
"e49opw7",
"e48q0ev"
],
"text": [
"I work with windshields daily, to repair them. It's a coating against sunrays and heat. Modern cars have this coating integrated into the wind shield giving the entire glass a slight greenish or purple tint. It... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
97izk4 | why consoles still struggle to get 60 FPS | It's 2018 and you can play 4k on the console, yet you still can't get 60 FPS 1080p. What is that sacred piece of technology that PC gamers have and console players don't? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e48n898",
"e48jcoz",
"e48idw0",
"e49by21",
"e48tlut"
],
"text": [
"> What is that sacred piece of technology that PC gamers have and console players don't? Expensive hardware. Consoles are kind of like the games they play. Games have a price tag of $60 (I know it's not really ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
97kafs | How are glitches/exploits/secrets found in video games, surely people don't spend hours and hours trying to find them with only a small chance there's actually something to find? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e48sxll",
"e48su4e",
"e48ubmg"
],
"text": [
"That’s exactly how they are found, that and dumb luck. The larger / more game breaking ones are usually found in the QA process which is literally doing repetitive motions over and over and over. A few test cases might be something simple l... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
97nklg | Why can we use our touch screen smartphones only with our fingers? Why doesn’t it work if we use a pencil for example? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e49jxmr",
"e49k1hs"
],
"text": [
"Modern touch screens are capacitive. They detect \"touch\" when your finger (which is electromagnetically conductive) changes the capacitance of the area near the screen.",
"In order for most modern touch screens to work, the thing that touches them n... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
97nsfh | How can the speed limit be enforced by aircraft? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e49lvrt",
"e49m3we"
],
"text": [
"Yo ho ho! Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5:How are speed limits enforced by aircraft? ]( URL_2 ) ^(_ > 100 comments_) 1. [When the sign says \"Speed limit enforced by aircraft,\" is it really? How? ]( URL_5 ) ^(_._) 1. ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
97pj6k | Machine Learning and storage space | How does machine learning uses storage space? After analyzing terabytes of data, what happens to the old data, does it get purge, does the AI generates its own dataset? How much storage space would machine learning use to learn? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4a0kiz",
"e4a2bzx"
],
"text": [
"Machine Learning is an *algorithm*, like **(X + 3 = Y)** but far, far more complex. Algorithm intelligence doesn't store any data, other than it's own self, which is just that one string, like I showed above. The algorithm doesn't get any longer as it lea... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
97riuo | What exactly is Discord? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4ac8z2"
],
"text": [
"It is a gaming chat application intended to be used simultaneously while pc gaming. It has functions that allow you to voice chat while playing, post pictures, and traditionally text chat. You can host your own channel and people join it knowing that the MonsterHunterWo... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
97sh45 | Why is it so hard to make bionic eye that works? | Do we know how to attach it to someone? Humans have already made bionic arms that can be controlled with one's mind. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4aj7sv",
"e4ak4v9",
"e4as2ub"
],
"text": [
"We don't know how to build a good-quality connection to the optic nerve, which is where the eye connects to the brain.",
"The eye is pretty tricky. It has three main functional parts - the lens, which changes shape for different viewing... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
97sijr | How do services like Google photos and iCloud guarantee your files and pictures won't be lost due to some error? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4ajmzq"
],
"text": [
"They make at least 3 copies of your data, stored on different devices. If one device breaks, they replace it and make a new copy of your data from the surviving copies."
],
"score": [
5
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
97so0y | I understand that WhatsApp messages are encrypted before leaving your phone and decrypted on the recipient's phone with a unique key. But what stops WhatsApp servers from getting these keys and doing the decryption themselves? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4akxtp"
],
"text": [
"Absolutely nothing, in fact they do process your conversations, think of a product that you don’t need right now and type it a few times in WhatsApp chat, you’ll be spammed with ads about that product everywhere in the digital space Privacy doesn’t exist, careful about ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
97ttdz | How is a free mobile app, that has neither in-app purchases nor ads, generating ROI for the company developing it? (e.g. "Zero", a fasting app available in the iTunes store) | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4auaql",
"e4augzq"
],
"text": [
"Data. They are likely gathering personal information on you and your habits, which can be turned around and sold.",
"Two things: \\-Someone could have simply made the app for fun or to share a useful tool, with no goals of profiting in mind \\-Investo... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
97wzfv | What is the difference between string and char, and when to use each? (C and C++) | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4bkjad"
],
"text": [
"char is a single letter, string is an array of chars. That’s basically what it breaks down to. chars can also store small numbers, and while strings hypothetically could store small number arrays there would be better options like just using an array of chars. Also char... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
97yjkj | how does software interface/communicate with hardware? | I do not know if this is too broad of a question, but any explanation would be appreciated. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4bz42o"
],
"text": [
"lots and lots and *lots* of layers of abstraction. At the \"bare metal\" layer, you have electrical circuits that can either produce an \"on\" (1) or \"off\" (0) signal based on what signal it gets in. These are called *logic gates* and if you've played with Minecraft's... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
97z67b | How do those Dyson blade less fans work! | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4c34tx",
"e4c376z"
],
"text": [
"They're not actually bladeless, just the blades are in a different location. They're actually at the bottom, sucking air in.",
"There's an actual rotating fan mechanism hidden in the base. It drives air up a tube, and out the front of the mysterious-l... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
981gu5 | How did people map the world before satelites? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4cic02",
"e4cie3f",
"e4ciagn",
"e4ckfnm"
],
"text": [
"Cartographers, surveyors and mappers. They would sail around and hand draw the landscape. They would traverse the land with a length of chain and measure distances. They also had specialized tools such as a sextant that could... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
981z7w | Why website extension name have different prices | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4cmfah"
],
"text": [
"Because the different TLDs (Top Level Domains) are administered by different organizations. The basic country specific TLDs like .fr or .jp or .de are administered by organizations in those countries often have limits that mean only residents can buy those addresses and... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
982ce7 | How can a phone with no reception still make emergency calls? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4covv0",
"e4cox7r",
"e4cpclc"
],
"text": [
"With absolutely no reception, it can't. With no reception of _your_ provider's network, but with of other networks, obviously it can.",
"It can use other carriers in the area. They have it set up so those always go through. If you have ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
986mcg | How are swords forged? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4do90z",
"e4dohzp"
],
"text": [
"You take a chunk of metal, heat it up, and beat it with a hammer until it's nice and flat. Than you cool it, and sharpen it in a sharpening wheel.",
"Metal is super heated --- > molded into a certain shape --- > super heated again and hammered to crea... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9891yh | Why do you have to eject a usb drive before yanking it out? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4eae3r",
"e4e8isf",
"e4e8jq7"
],
"text": [
"For the same reason you can easily step out of a parked car, but would have a less fun time stepping out of a car going full speed down a highway",
"I may have found yer answer, matey. Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have ex... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
989wp7 | How does CUDA or OpenCL work in GPU based password cracking implementation for cyber forensic applications and what is the difference between them? How is this benchmarked? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4egot0"
],
"text": [
"> How does CUDA or OpenCL work in GPU based password cracking implementation for cyber forensic applications Not all that different than a CPU. A GPU is essentially the same as CPU, just with many thousands of cores (compared to the ~4-8 you might see on a CPU). This me... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
989yev | why and/or how does internet data usage (by my home internet connection for example) cost internet service providers money? | Or is it just something they use to leverage more money out of people? EDIT: To clarify, I totally understand there's a whole lot of costs associated with connectivity and staff and skills and equipment and electricity. But why is data the precious digital commodity that can largely determine the cost of internet and p... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4eez7c",
"e4eh1op"
],
"text": [
"While you might not see it day to day, they have to pay to maintain the infrastructure, lay the cables, produce the hardware, give you an IP address. There are lots of pieces of the package which we don’t have in our homes but is required to get you onlin... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
98e208 | Why do phone touchscreens react to skin and water but not to metal and other conductors? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4fh1d7",
"e4fmpkh",
"e4foy2y",
"e4fb387",
"e4fp44e",
"e4fo4c6",
"e4fyni5",
"e4fsn8a",
"e4fulx2",
"e4folbz",
"e4g8db9",
"e4ftu6y"
],
"text": [
"A touchscreen will work with any conductor, but there needs to be a large enough surface area touching th... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
98glpd | When a song is remastered, what are they actually changing about said song to make it sound better? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4fvhpy",
"e4fvb7n"
],
"text": [
"If the original master tapes were stored properly, then the first big difference is in the fidelity of the release. Modern digital (and even vinyl) mediums have much lower noise, distortion, and better frequency response than old vinyl pressing techniques... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
98gscv | If director’s like Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tatentino insist on using film instead of digital, how are they able to use special effects? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4fwv6m"
],
"text": [
"They just shoot with film and convert it to digital for everything that happens during post production (which includes VFX). Nothing stays on film for the entire production cycle anymore."
],
"score": [
9
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
98humb | How can two ISPs in the same city start with the same prefix? | Why can an IP address from both CenturyLink and Xfinity both start with the same number? (174 in my example). A CenturyLink IP here in Albuquerque can start with ([ URL_1 ]( URL_0 )) and my Xfinity IP also starts with ([ URL_1 ]( URL_0 )). Why is this? I thought they both had to be different considering they're differe... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4g84sy",
"e4g86x0"
],
"text": [
"It's not really correct to think of the 174.x.x.x as a prefix - it just happens to be the first part of the number, but doesn't really mean anything. An IP address is a 32 digit binary number, but for the sake of making it a bit more human friendly we chu... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
98iedm | Sometimes in video games and in video game glitches the characters will all of a sudden fling up into the sky at a thousand miles per hour. If games attempt to stimulate mass and physics, what are they getting so wrong that causes this to happen so regularly in video games? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4g9jij",
"e4g9kf5",
"e4gjsn9"
],
"text": [
"Divide by zero errors or an overflow error or clipping errors. Sometimes what can happen is something will push your character out of bounds and the physics engine try to correct by moving you back in bounds as quickly as possible. But now ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
98if90 | How does humidifier work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4g9mhb"
],
"text": [
"So unlike boiling water where you have to heat the water to make it vaporize, humidifiers work differently. What happens is there is an item inside the humidifier called a wick. The wick is almost like a sponge the just soaks up water. When you turn the humidifier on it... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
98janl | Super Capacitors and other power sources. | I've been trying to find a basic explaination for how these things work, but havent been successful yet. How do they differ from typical capacitors? Where do they make sense to use? Pros and Cons? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4gfvp2"
],
"text": [
"A super capacitor isn't really a power source instead it is a method of storing energy on a temporary basis, a bit like a rechargeable battery."
],
"score": [
7
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
98jbd5 | Why do some whetstones need water, oil and some work dry? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4gnorq",
"e4glqic"
],
"text": [
"to understand, you need to know how a blade wears down. when a blade cuts into something, the leading edge deforms. this can result in blunting (the metal squashes), chipping (where pieces of the metal break off), or warping (the edge bends) warping is fi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
98jcs8 | Why Did Gran Turismo on PS1 look so good but other games looked terrible retrospectively | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4girg5",
"e4gr5wj"
],
"text": [
"It’s all about time and experience. GT was the third racing game the company developed and care out over 2 years after PS1 was released so they knew how they were able to get more out of the console. You’ll see similar outcomes with franchises when you co... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
98lpe8 | Why do airplanes needs a high and low pressure air system for lift instead of just using an inclined plane? | Airplane wings can generate lift even when they are parallel to the direction of movement due to their high and low pressure sides generating lift. This was pioneered by the Wright Brothers (I believe). If you take any piece of hard material and angle it in wind, it will generate lift, so what was so revolutionary / wh... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4gycfb",
"e4gxo1m",
"e4h0ora",
"e4haded"
],
"text": [
"You've got 4 forces that are in play with an airplane and they come in pairs Drag and Thrust Weight and Lift You can get more lift out of an airplane wing by tilting it upwards but you will also significantly increase the dra... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
98m5ie | Why do leds light up instantly while incandescent bulbs turn on with a fade | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4h1ay1",
"e4h4zng"
],
"text": [
"Incandescent bulbs use Tungsten filament which emits light at high temperature. The electric current heats up the filament and it takes a second for that to happen. Once heated up, it emits light.",
"And why are LEDs instantaneous? Because the current... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
98nmsr | How does a coal burning engine work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4hdu5h",
"e4hd7zt"
],
"text": [
"One I can actually answer! Coal burning engines are better known as steam engines. Most people associate these with steam locomotives but there is a difference. Basically a steam locomotive is a steam engine on wheels. A steam engine works like a giant te... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
98q4n3 | What do the numbers on a photo on your phone mean? Do they serve any function? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4hxydd"
],
"text": [
"I'm not 100% sure what you're referring to, but I think you might mean the filename; typically it takes the current date and time and appends it to a predetermined name, so that every time you save a picture you don't have to type in a file name that the system knows it... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
98rkv7 | Why is the pixel density(pixels per inch) of most smartphones better than laptops? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4i8c2x",
"e4i9sm1"
],
"text": [
"A smaller screen with the same amount of pixels have a higher density. On a phone can you need a higher density just because they are smaller, and a smaller device is usually held closer to the face.",
"Ultimately screens are designed for their intend... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
98ugdk | How did Google know I was playing Civ 5? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4ir4g7",
"e4iumh6"
],
"text": [
"\"Closing\" Chrome doesn't actually end the Chrome process, unless you change a certain checkbox in Chrome settings. Google was able to track you because the Chrome process was still running.",
"If you hadn't fired up Civ 5 saturday morning, would you... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
98wgdo | - no viruses for linux? | Allegedly there are no computer viruses for linux based operating systems / computers. Is that true? Why? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4j7jv5",
"e4j7s9z",
"e4j7tga"
],
"text": [
"Lack of users, plus a well informed user base. If you're a virus maker, which are you going to write viruses for? Windows 10, with over 400 million install, many of them by people who dont really know how to be secure properly, or Linux, wi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
98wv0x | Why can certain videos look higher definition than real life | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4jbkm4",
"e4jb5sb"
],
"text": [
"It's not the fact that the image appears HIGHER RESOLUTION, but that areas in a photo or video are unnaturally well lighted or in focus, for example. Why can they be that way? Because camera lenses and various image processing, postprocessing techniques d... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
98yd83 | Hearing Aids | How do hearing aids improve one’s poor sense of sound? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4jn60f"
],
"text": [
"They are custom programmed to amplify the frequencies of sound (usually high pitch) in which the wearer has lost. If the hearing loss is too profound, bone anchored hearing aids or cochlear implants transmit the auditory vibrations without using the ear drum."
],
"s... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
991jfh | Why can we make 911 calls literally anywhere regardless of service but can't make regular calls? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4k8hkr",
"e4kgvii"
],
"text": [
"The simple answer is that 911 calls are very, very important. So important, in fact, that all the cell providers have agreed with authorities to let any phone through that needs to make an emergency call. No matter if it's their customer or not. Because i... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
993a1a | Have we advanced enough in science to effectively harness the energy from thunderstorms?(if not what is the biggest hurdle) | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e4kjrol",
"e4kjyi9"
],
"text": [
"The biggest hurdle is it simply isn't that practical, but it can be done. Lightning delivers a lot of energy in a short time, which makes it hard to store or route, and they occur in variable locations over variable timescales, which would make it difficu... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
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994qz9 | How do bladeless fans work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Most of them aren't truly bladeless, just they hide the actual fan elements inside and then direct air flow out the top ring, usually pushing along more air with it as it exits.",
"If you’re talking about t... | [
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"url"
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9954a9 | what is ray tracing? | I’ve been seeing this as a big deal on all sorts of GPUs specifically the nvidia 20 series. What is the big deal with this and is it a large advancement or is it mostly for marketing? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Today games produce images through rasterization. The GPU works from the back of the image forward figuring out how each object is lit and which ones are blocked so the camera can't see them then tries to assig... | [
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