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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
9gke83 | How does the internet work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"People with computers pay to be connected to the Internet. It's like TV, where you pay a company and they offer you different shows you can watch. The only difference is that the Internet is two-way. You not only get to watch things other people send, but you get to sen... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9gm0mk | How does the Emergency Alert System work? What exactly happens when an emergency alert is sent out? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e65702j"
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"text": [
"* a US government agency (FEMA, National Weather Service, the president) decides to issue an alert * message is encoded into a special digital format called a SAME * the SAME is broadcast over designated frequencies to a handful of radio stations designated as primary r... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9gmo3d | If condoms are still only 98% effective even when used perfectly, what is the “ineffective” 2% caused by? | None of the previous posts that I’ve found answer this exact question, and I’m not finding any good explanations on google. I’m not referring to the condom breaking because that would be an obvious failure. I’m asking if there are ways for sperm to get through even when used perfectly. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e65a4nc",
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"text": [
"A lot of this has to do with the way birth control uses percentages. It's not really 2%. The way you'd read it is for every 100 couples having sex over the course of a whole year, 2 of them using just this one particular form of birth contr... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9gmuc7 | why did going outside with a Game Boy (not backlit) make it easier to see the screen, but going outside with a phone make it harder? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Gameboy and calculator screens reflect light, just like how every other normal object works. Thus, just like any object, the more light... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9gn42d | how do those copper joint sleeves work? Do they do anything that neoprene can't? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e65budh"
],
"text": [
"There is no compelling scientific evidence that 'copper infused fabric' does anything particularly special. This includes claims of promoting healing, reducing pain, or minimizing illness."
],
"score": [
10
],
"text_urls": [
[]
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} | [
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9go12l | How do sites know when you're using an ad block extension? | How do sites know that you're using an ad-blocker, and could they use the same process to show you an ad in a similar way to how ask you to shut the ad-block off in the pop-up? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e65jmbl",
"e65jmi8"
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"text": [
"They typically do it by using an algorithm that baits the adblocker into blocking a honeypot and checking if the honeypot is still there. When the webpage loads, it loads a script that is blocked by the adblocker, then another script is loaded to check if... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9gotcq | How is an AC motor reversed? | I know that DC motors can be easily reversed by reversing the two terminals. However since AC is alternating, it doesn't have a polarity and therefore reversing the terminals will not make it rotate in reverse. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e65qtxk",
"e663yyn",
"e65tend"
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"text": [
"If it is a three phase motor then you can change any two phases around (generally L2 and L3) to reverse the direction of the motor.",
"The question you should really be asking yourself is \"if DC has a constant polarity, how does it eve... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9goudu | How does a computer restart automatically, just because I clicked "restart" versus "shutdown"? | Essentially, the computer is shutting down. How, then, does the computer restart, without someone pushing the power button? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e65qpr3"
],
"text": [
"Best way to explain it is, the power button doesn't turn things on, it sends a message to turn things on. When a computer shuts down and knows to restart, that message is already there, without the power button being involved."
],
"score": [
5
],
"text_urls"... | [
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9gp9nt | Why is there no clean high quality footage of everyday life (like people walking through cities) in the 60s, 70s, or 80s when they already had film cameras back then with higher resolution than todays HD and even 4k cameras | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e65u1rz",
"e65ukhj",
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"e65ul55",
"e65tukn"
],
"text": [
"There is high quality footage; the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, for instance, has a nice archive of that kind of thing. Those portable reel film recorders, on the other hand, and the sony handicams that f... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9gsd48 | Why is a 4-digit code sufficient for banking purposes but not for most online accounts? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e66iond",
"e66ixcv",
"e66kfep",
"e66yvup"
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"text": [
"Direct answer, they are not. Banks use 4-digit codes because it’s user friendly and was/is standard for legacy systems. However it doesn’t mean they are as unsafe as a 4-digit “password” on a website. That’s because for banki... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9gti9a | Transistors, what they do, how they work, how they're used. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e66povz",
"e677dn4"
],
"text": [
"Think of them as a valve. You have a flow through them, which you can turn on or off with another, much smaller flow. Now, how can we do so much with this: Well, there are two cases: analog and digital. **Analog:** You don't have to open or close the valv... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9gv1br | How do suppressors actually work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e66z1fz",
"e66z31q",
"e66z7ba"
],
"text": [
"The bang of a gun going off is created by hot gases rapidly expanding at the end of the barrel, creating soundwaves in the air. You could imagine the inside of a suppressor like a \"maze\", in which the gases expand much slower, therefore n... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9h2baj | Why are the segments of a primary telescope mirror hexagonal in shape? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e68nmo8"
],
"text": [
"Only 3 regular polygons can be used to tile a surface... Squares, triangles and hexagons. Hexagons probably are just the easiest to manage in terms an manufacturing and fragility."
],
"score": [
7
],
"text_urls": [
[]
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} | [
"url"
] | [
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9h2lgf | What is the internal clock in gameboy advance games such as Pokèmon Emerald, and why did it cause so many problems when it eventually "went dry"? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e68oz0x",
"e68p22w"
],
"text": [
"The night and day cycles were controlled by a small secondary battery in the cartridge and when it died the game no longer did night/day cycle. so berry harvesting and evolving espeon and umbreon couldn’t happen.",
"The internal clock is exactly that:... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9h3yfz | Why do touchscreens stop working under excessive heat? | If I leave my phone under direct sunlight in a warm climate, the touchscreen will need to cool down before working. I thought touchscreens work using capacitative electro conduction, not heat sensors. So why would it not work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6avx8w"
],
"text": [
"It's not that the touchscreens themselves stop working, but that the underlying phone CPU is slowing down due to thermal throttling. u/HatesAprilFools is right in that at least when we're cold they don't work so well [Here.]( URL_0 ) u/UltraPwnie, your phone doesn't use... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9h57ik | How are physical data lines for the internet run all over the world, like overseas, etc. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6969a8"
],
"text": [
"It's almost all optical fibers. People dig trenches and bury the fiber. Then when they get to the coast, they use special ships to plant fiber cables on the bottom of the ocean. They avoid the deepest bits, but there is thousands of miles of undersea optical cables. [Th... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9h7bjy | What is ARP Cache Poisoning? | Very basic knowledge of computers, networks and associated jargon, so very small words are appreciated. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e69p7e5"
],
"text": [
"Every network device has a MAC address, it's just a number, and every network card is built with it's own unique number. When you connect to a network (like your home Network), your computer asks for an IP (an address on the internet). Unlike a MAC, IPs are made in such... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9h7da1 | How do ads know where I am? | (Insert place name here) man stuns doctors with this trick! | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e69nsoe"
],
"text": [
"When you accept cookies you actually accept the site to let ot know your location (markes by an IP or some sort of Country-related link)"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9h8usx | It’s just as difficult to connect to a new Bluetooth device today as it was 10 years ago. Why has this technology seemingly not advanced over the years despite its use increasing dramatically? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6apb8d",
"e6a3t0l"
],
"text": [
"Bluetooth spec is crazy complex. The first version with all the profiles was 1500 pages. Plus it was written by phone companies who did not understand TCP networking but instead knew a lot about serial connections. So one of the base protocols is a full s... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9h9dpc | Why hasn't the voice quality of phone calls improved? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"e6a815n",
"e6ag2tg",
"e6a6cho",
"e6a7p78",
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],
"text": [
"It's a legacy thing. IIRC, Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) have 3 KHertz of bandwidth allocated. That's because back in the day, Bell Labs determined that was enough to provide ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9h9ekw | Why do you sometimes have to bend audio jacks to get them to work correctly? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6a6p3i"
],
"text": [
"Probably the wire inside the jack is broken. When you bend the jack you join the both sides of the wire and reconect it again . It will work until the wire get too far away or too broken to get reconected by bending again."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
... | [
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] | [
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9h9prn | How a website blocks me via cookies and is there a work around? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6a84gi",
"e6a87jp",
"e6ad0yu"
],
"text": [
"How is the website blocking you? Can you delete the cookies for that website?",
"Usually if you're blocked it's by your IP address and not cookies. Unless it's a pay wall site, in which case you can pay for a subscription or use private... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9haehz | What is ray tracing and how is it different from rasterization? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6aknrz"
],
"text": [
"Imagine that rasterization is like the pixels in a digital photo image. Ray tracing has more in common with how a photographer or cinematographer light a scene before taking an image than it does how you take the picture. It doesn't matter whether it's a digital camera,... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9hb479 | How do Hard-disc Drives (HDD) store data i.e. images compared to solid-state hard-drives (SSD)? | Looking for a layman's explanation please? My lecturer banged on about how HDD's 'read/write head aligns magnetisable domains in one direction for 1's and other for 0's' which literally makes no sense to my computer naive self. I do remember my dad recommending me to get a SSD instead because they're faster and slimmer... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6al5mo",
"e6ajzf3"
],
"text": [
"Hard disks are magnetic. Compare to an audio cassette tape, where the magnetic tape just scrolls by the recording head, and the head magnetizes its 1's and 0's on the tape as it scrolls by, like this --- - ---- - ---- -- ---. Then you have VHS video tape,... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9hb87e | Why do graphics drivers push out updates so frequently? I don't *notice* anything different after an update, so what's happening under the hood? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6amflf",
"e6ama41",
"e6au3n9",
"e6apytf"
],
"text": [
"About 95% of the time, they are fixing bugs that they didn't find before because their testing is generally inadequate. The key thing they are striving for is getting a product to market as quickly as possible, and quality is... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9hcgzb | what's the difference between an OLED screen and just a regular LED or LCD? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6av5ef",
"e6b9o5h"
],
"text": [
"Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: What's an OLED display and how is it different than a regular LED one? ]( URL_6 ) ^(_22 comments_) 1. [ELI5: Difference between LED, AMOLED, LCD, and Retina Display? ]( URL_1 ) ^(_ > 10... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9hcitw | How can the FBI seize a website? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6avspd"
],
"text": [
"The website is stored on a server which is physically located somewhere. If it's located in the United States then the FBI can get a warrant to take possession of it (or at least the section of it that the website is on) to shut the service down. If it's located in anot... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9hd6vf | What causes computer storage to become 'corrupted (ie: external harddrives, flashdrives, etc), and need to be reformatted (erasing all that is on the drive) in order to be used? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6b154q"
],
"text": [
"Files can be corrupted for a lot of reasons. It typically happens when a file is left in a weird state where the system doesn't know how to read it anymore. A program might have broken or been interrupted partway through writing to the filesystem, a file could be damage... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9he6bn | How do hackers "inject" code into a webpage, like in the Newegg checkout process? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6b7dwa",
"e6c0p3n"
],
"text": [
"There are two main types of code injection vulnerabilities for websites: SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS). SQL is the language used to retrieve information from the database. In general queries are formatted like this: > SELECT [attributes] FR... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9he98j | Wireless earphones disconnect when there is lightning | I was outside the gym waiting for my Uber when it was raining heavily and my earphones disconnects for a split second when there is lightning. What causes the disconnect? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6bmqt3"
],
"text": [
"Lightning is a high-voltage electrical discharge, and your wireless earphones are basically miniaturized radio receivers; the lighting is far more powerful than the radio transmitter in your device, so the electromagnetic interference the lightning causes briefly overwh... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9herua | What in the world is RAID in Linux disk partitioning? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6b9e1r"
],
"text": [
"Redundant Array of Individual Drives Basically the same data is stored on 2 or more (redundant) drives, in case one fails the system keeps running, and you replace the failed drive"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9hgga7 | Before a computer has code and input, how does somebody create the program to write the source code? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6bohqe",
"e6boo9v",
"e6bowqn"
],
"text": [
"Today, you just use another computer for it. Like, you use your laptop to program an arduino, which is a tiny computer. The first computers had fixed programming and were programmed by physically changing the internal wiring. We're talking ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9hh6cx | How can smart electricity meters send the readings to the energy supplier without any SIM card or Wi-Fi access? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6bujy6",
"e6bugdn"
],
"text": [
"There are many options, but you also need to consider that there are \"wires\" from the meter to the energy supplier. Not everything needs to use the phone network.",
"In the UK smart meters have a multi network, e-sim which when the unit is being ins... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9hh6uc | How does my freezer know when to dump ice? | I always hear it drop ice, and refill with water. How does it not dump water into my ice box? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6bv7vs"
],
"text": [
"A tiny thermostat that touches the ice. Water fills in the cube tray and when the thermostat reads well below freezing it signals the motor to cycle and dump the ice."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
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"url"
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9hhzwi | When you turn the volume all the way down on an electrical device, does it still make the sound? | For example, if you turn the volume down on your cell phone, does the device still make that sound but with no volume, or does it know not to even bother wasting resources thinking about it. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6c3aj0",
"e6c32ea"
],
"text": [
"On an oldschool electric device - like a walkman tape player - the sound is still produced, but the signal gets killed before it makes it to the headphone jack. For things with an operating system and software, like a phone, it depends on what you mean by... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9hjfnh | Why do pens behave this way when running out of ink? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6cfcdt"
],
"text": [
"The ball in the ball-point pen needs to roll to transfer the ink inside the pen to \"paint\" the outside surface. However, that ball can get jammed sometimes, possibly due to small particles flaking off the paper or solids/bubbles in the ink. In addition, when a pen run... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9hm5px | How does a thumbprint sensor on a mobile device work, and why does it have to be recalibrated every once in a while? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6d2es3"
],
"text": [
"Most fingerprint scanner are made of capacitive touch sensors, just like the ones on most touch screens. The simple explanation is that it's a bunch of capacitors, which are devices that can store small amounts of electrical charge. The capacitors are tiny, smaller than... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9hmlpt | the difference between .com and .net, and why there are so many more .com websites than .net | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6d5ws7",
"e6d64bc",
"e6d6va2"
],
"text": [
".com and .net are two of the original endings for Domains along with .org and .gov and .edu and .mil. In the beginning those endings all had their own specific purpose and some retain those even today. \".gov\" is limited to US government i... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9hn0j8 | Why can cars get towed so easily? Don't parking brakes and steering wheel locks stop that kind of thing? | I always see video of cars just getting towed away, but doesn't that cause some sort of damage to the car? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6d8bx9",
"e6dcy7y",
"e6d8j8d"
],
"text": [
"For the last half, there’s ways around things like that. Did a tow-away of an abandoned car.. front wheel drive but parking brake was on and didn’t have the keys. So I got into the car using my regular lockout tools, alarm went off but simp... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9ho0y0 | Why is it that modern body armor, like the kind used by the military and police, is very rarely of high enough strength to stop rounds from rifle caliber weapons? Especially in a military context, aren't rifle caliber weapons exceedingly common? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6dcfsh",
"e6dc8r8",
"e6ddtbc"
],
"text": [
"When I was deployed we had armor with plates. They were rated to stop a round from an AK-47. But like with many things. The more times it gets hit the more it loses its structural integrity. Think of a brick wall and a sledgehammer. Sure, t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9hpm0b | How does the anti-shoplifting system in a supermarket work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6dn6df"
],
"text": [
"It’s these stuck on thing that have a slight magnetic field to them the get activated when you walk through the thing that beep."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9hqo9o | Differences between HTTP, HTTPS and HTTP2 | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6drqxj",
"e6eejr0"
],
"text": [
"HTTP: Me: Hey google, are you there? Google: Yup. Me: What is “up dog”? Google: Nothing much. Me: Hey google, are you still there? Google: Yup. Me: What is “...”? Google: ... Me: Hey google, are you still there? Google: yup. Me: ... Google: ... ... HTTP2:... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9hsotg | Public Key Cryptography | So I was looking in r/personalfinance where it was posted that it is free to freeze your credit now. Someone made a comment that you wouldn't have to freeze your credit if you could verify your identity using Public Key Cryptography rather than just presenting simple identification numbers like SSN and facts about your... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6e8e06"
],
"text": [
"The analogy is to imagine a special lock with 2 keys. Either key can lock the lock, but if you lock it with Key A, you need to use Key B to unlock it, and vice versa. You keep Key A to yourself, and give Key B to everyone you know. They all have their own locks like thi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9hsu0y | Why do computer speakers emit staticky, Geiger counter-like sounds when you place a cell phone near them that's transmitting or receiving data? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6e8w5n"
],
"text": [
"phones use waves that are in the electromagnetic spectrum, your speakers use electromagnets to operate and produce sound. so when your phone transmits it interrupts the electromagnets in your speakers and activates them, making the sound you hear. your speakers think th... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9htyd6 | How is electricity turned into a mechanical action? | I don't quite understand how, or at what point, that electricity makes something move in a motor. For example, making a robot's arm move up and down, how does electricity force a piece of metal to perform that action and put in force against gravity? If someone could explain this, it would be greatly appreciated! :) | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6eh9ek"
],
"text": [
"Electrical current induces a magnetic field. If a ferrous metal is in that field a force will be exerted on it. I.e. place a ferrous core in a coil of current carrying wire and the core will experience the force and thus move the \"robots arm\""
],
"score": [
4
... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9hu59l | Why do electric cars (except Tesla) have such a strange design compared with gasoline driven cars? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6ejr7u",
"e6eobvu"
],
"text": [
"Part of it is practical, part of it is aesthetic. Electric cars don't require an engine bay like internal combustion cars do, so you don't need much front on them. Thus they can be designed prioritize other things like passenger space, weight, or aerodyna... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9husep | How does encryption work and what makes it safe? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6eoaup"
],
"text": [
"Encryption is about taking data, scrambling it up so no one else can read it, then unscrambling it at the other end For symmetric encryption we both have the same key. If your data is this [big Rubiks cube in a solved form]( URL_0 ) then the encryption key would be the ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9hvzg9 | How do movies make such realistic-looking fictional characters? | I'm talking about the likes of [Thanos]( URL_0 ) from Infinity War; these characters look so incredibly detailed and their movements and voicing so natural, that it's almost hard to imagine how they were made. Are they simply modelled in extremely detailed 3D? Are they computer-edited scenes of real people in heavy mak... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6exv4p",
"e6ez9yn"
],
"text": [
"Videogames have the disadvantage of needing to be rendered in real-time. When you push a button you expect a response immediately, not *after* the hardware has made a ton of passes on lighting and shadows and all that. With a movie, time is on their side ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9i1e8q | How do long exposure cameras work? More specifically, how do they layer the important parts of many images to make something look amazing? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6g4ngt"
],
"text": [
"Long exposure is a technique for photography in dark places. The shutter remains open for longer, allowing the camera to pick up on more light waves from smaller light sources. I am less sure of how this has changed with digital photography, but with traditional, it giv... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9i3q34 | Lag between two TVs in the same room on the same channel. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6gml5a"
],
"text": [
"It totally depends on what is feeding the TV and what settings the TV has. Modern TVs have lots of extra processing that can enhance the viewing experience, but that processing takes time. That's not a problem since everything is delayed the same amount (audio and video... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9i4494 | How did computers store dates that led to the Y2K problem | The usual explanation I've heard is that they only stored 2 digits to save space and this would lead to problems, but if you had stored them as characters that would be 1 byte per character and if you stored year as a single byte you'd have 256 years to worry about rollover. Did they try to pack both digits into 1 byte... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6goj9e"
],
"text": [
"The issue was a bit higher level than data types and storage and had to do with interpretation of date values. The whole \"2 digit years save space\" thing wasn't really that much of a thing. Most dates were stored in an epoch format - an integer representing the number... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9i48uw | Why did soldiers in the 18th century stand infront of each other, taking turns shooting at each other? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6gpcse",
"e6gp649"
],
"text": [
"Black powder muskets. The average infantry musket of the 18th century had a maximum effective range against a man-sized target of 50-75 yards. Maybe 125 yards against a large group of men. A very well trained soldier, in perfect conditions, could fire 3 s... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9i5bqz | How does Captcha protect against bots? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6gypl6"
],
"text": [
"Recognizing patterns and shapes is an evolutionary trait that is strongly ingrained in human beings. It's one of the biggest reasons that we were able to become the dominate species on the planet. It's how we learned the seasons, and gained the ability to plan for an ag... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9i5o5z | Why does touching the arc of my "plasma" lighter to a piece of metal turn off my computer monitors? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6h29c5",
"e6h3nqr"
],
"text": [
"EMP means \"electromagnetic pulse\". It is important to understand a phenomenon called \"induction\" in order to understand what an EMP does (and also it is important to understand most anything about electric devices in the modern world). When electricit... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9i5oto | How does the stealth technology work on stealth aircraft? How ‘invisible’ are these aircraft to sensors? Some examples being the B-2 Spirit, and F-117 Nighthawk. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6h2d80",
"e6h2hl9",
"e6h7yca",
"e6h7k0v"
],
"text": [
"The stealth technology at present has two components. There is a coating of radar absorbing material (RAM) that prevents bounce back. This is the primary protection for the B2. There is also radar redirection by using finely ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9id3cz | Why does windows instantly verify a correct password on startup but take a few moments when my attempt was incorrect. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6ir4tg",
"e6iqh3t",
"e6j5oxi"
],
"text": [
"To stop brute force cracking attempts. It doesn't inconvenience you to pause a moment, but totally invalidates tool-based attacks.",
"You let correct logins in because nobody wants to wait. You add a delay to incorrect ones so that peop... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9idc64 | How did people sync their clocks / know what time it was (say, 1875) when things like catching a train required you to know the exact time? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6iw641",
"e6iuxjg",
"e6isi86",
"e6ixubg",
"e6j1440"
],
"text": [
"People would just plan to arrive early enough at the train station, synchronize with the grand central clock, then run some errands, patronize the numerous cafés, bars and restaurants on the other side of the s... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9ii4vu | What is registered RAM and what is the difference to ECC RAM and regular desktop RAM | Are there any advantages I can have (if used in a regular gaming rig/office pc) or is it just any other ram but with a special treat? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6jt5vn",
"e6jtemd"
],
"text": [
"ECC RAM has Error Correcting Codes that it transmits along with the data. This let's it fix minor data corruption and spot major data corruption. This is useful for a mission critical system that will be running for months or years with no opportunity to ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9ii6re | How can a speaker replicate such a wide variety of musical instruments and vocal sounds? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6jsj19",
"e6jt1fp",
"e6juedr"
],
"text": [
"They essentially perform the opposite function of our eardrums. Sound waves in the air cause our eardrums to vibrate, and that vibration is sensed and interpreted as sound by our brain. Speakers are the opposite: an electrical signal causes... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9ijm5b | What is happening when my phone displays that it has full 4G signal, but it clearly doesn't because it can't load anything? | Problem with the phone? Problem with the network? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6kivzn",
"e6k3ac3",
"e6k3moy"
],
"text": [
"So how can you have 4G? Because your phone sends a message to the tower and says, \"Hey, I can talk in 4G, can you?\" And the tower goes ,\"Yes.\" Then the cellphone times how long that response took to come and measures how strong that sig... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9ijqr6 | Why is it common for video game controllers to use abxy buttons instead of abcd or 1234? What's the origin of abxy? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6k45mo",
"e6k8vnl"
],
"text": [
"\"For the origins of the ABXY button scheme we must look back to the very beginning of additional buttons. When the Famicom (known as the Nintendo Entertainment System outside Japan) launched, it featured two primary buttons. While other companies labelle... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9ijxxb | Some batteries can't be recharged while others can | Just bought some alkaline batteries and saw a label stating "Not rechargeable", but in my head I am thinking the battery has a charge already. Why shouldn't I recharge the battery? Surely a battery that comes in a fully charge state can be recharged? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6k6fxg",
"e6k6hrf"
],
"text": [
"Rechargeable batteries use a reversible chemical reaction to generate electricity, and are designed to be able to be recharged. Alkaline batteries (and other non-rechargeable types) use a chemical reactions that aren't meant to be reversible, and often ha... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9iknpt | How are ICBMs intercepted? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6kccr3",
"e6kg28n"
],
"text": [
"Generally, they're not. There are anti-ICBM technologies but generally speaking they are not super reliable, especially when you consider the potential damage a single nuclear-tipped missile could cause. There's a few different methods. Generally speaking... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9induu | What do computer scientists research in academia, as opposed to industry? | So I was just wondering this today after listening to a seminar from of my CS professor's about his AI research. The talk was fascinating and intelligent, but it also seemed like something that could easily be developed by a tech company for profit. Most professors of any type have a Ph.D. and they typically have teach... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6kz1yi",
"e6la99z"
],
"text": [
"Most university researchers have research budgets because they wrote a research grant proposal to study something. They have papers to publish, and their research gives them things to write about, and their students topics to study. Most corporate researc... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9iq8vp | Why isn't anything being done about the massive amount of spam calls in America? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6ll5sp",
"e6ll74x"
],
"text": [
"If caller ID is broken like jt is, it's not readily possible to associate a person behind an arbitrary phone number. Without substantial changes to the old telephone system, preventing spam calls becomes impossible.",
"Everyone makes money, so the onl... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9iq8yv | Why is it so hard for machine translation to get English- > Russian right? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6lmect",
"e6llbqf"
],
"text": [
"Syntax varies from language to language , so it can be difficult for the AI to decipher what it is you're trying to say. For example: *\"My name is John\"*, in Irish is *\"John is ainm dom\"*, which literally translates to, *\"John is the name upon me\"*.... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9ithht | Not so long ago, everything chargeable needed an adapter; but these days almost everything is chargeable via USB. Why? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6mdbis",
"e6mdfjm",
"e6m85s6"
],
"text": [
"One contributing factor was that the European Union legislated that all phones must be chargeable via interchangeable USB plugs. When a lot of electronic gadgets were *forced* to have USB chargers, others followed because it was convenient ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9iugli | how does mobile app traffic appear to admins on a monitored network compared to regular browser traffic? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6mg7p3",
"e6moaae"
],
"text": [
"They're likely tracking via IP address and/or domain. Most mobile apps just make API calls over HTTP, so it looks just like web traffic. You're better off using data rather than Wi-fi.",
"Mobile traffic looks just like desktop traffic for a specific a... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9ivhcr | How a DNS Sinkhole works? | I'm doing a project on the wannacry ransomware and have stumbled upon the question: How was it stopped? & #x200B; So I researched that, but it mentioned a DNS Sinkhole, and no matter how much I read about it I can't seem to find out what it means. Please explain to me how they work and how it stopped the ransomware! | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6msabc"
],
"text": [
"When you ask to connect to “ URL_0 ” you have to ask a DNS server “what’s the IP address of URL_0 ?” A normal DNS says “ URL_3 is at 151.101.1.140” and your computer connects to 151.101.1.140. A DNS sinkhole says “ URL_0 is at 0.0.0.0” or some other nonexistent address,... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9iybvs | Why are videos often 29.97fps or 59.94fps instead of just 24/60? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6ncvby",
"e6ncq41"
],
"text": [
"Because NTSC was just a bit off in every regard Black and white TV consistent of just a brightness channel and ran at 30 frames per second. Color TV had to add a color channel on top of the existing brightness information, due to frequency dividers at the... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9iywvj | What is a generator in electricity? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6nh7xg",
"e6nobvc"
],
"text": [
"It's like an *electron pump* that pushes electrons away from one end and toward the other end. This creates a *voltage* (electric pressure) which is then used to power the flow of electricity through wires and other things.",
"I majored in physics and... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9j31ey | Why does the longevity of a cell phone battery decrease over time? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6o8wcp",
"e6oc95c",
"e6ohplg"
],
"text": [
"Well you know what happens when you use a pencil right? Eventually you have to resharpen (charge) it. What happens when you do this? The pencil gets shorter. ie. its lifespan shortens. Why? You're using all the lead up slowly (electrolytes ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9j71fm | How do phone trees know what number I pressed? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6p5syc"
],
"text": [
"Each number has a tone (touch chord) assigned to it. The \"phone tree\" can tell the difference in the tone and route your call accordingly. With a little practice you can play Mary Had A Little Lamb pretty easily. Here's a link to the exact tones each number makes: & #... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9j7qhn | How do random number generators work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6pbscn",
"e6qckv3"
],
"text": [
"They start off with a seed value. Something like the current system time down to the millisecond is common. Starting with that value, an algorithm does a number of binary operations on it, creating a sequence of 1's and 0's that are then interpreted as a ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9j7vag | How do computers store audio? | I know how photos are stored. Every pixel has 3 values for red, green, and blue (some files have 4 adding transparency) but how does audio storage work? Is there an audio "pixel" that's just one unit of sound that has different values? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6pdh5z",
"e6pieeq"
],
"text": [
"> Is there an audio \"pixel\" that's just one unit of sound that has different values It's called a \"sample\" and it represents the position of a loudspeaker at some point of time. Most audio uses 44,100 or 48,000 samples per second of audio per channel.... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9j8fgt | How do photo restorations work? | I've always wondered how they work. Like how do they even know what it's supposed to look like! | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6piron"
],
"text": [
"Depends on how much the photo/painting is damaged or how much is left, or even of what needs to be done to it. In cases of restoring cracks you’re literally just drawing in the blanks with what you see around it. Kind of like fitting in puzzle pieces. A lot of it is don... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9j9vj9 | How does exactly does a game like Minecraft randomly generate a world without it being utter chaos? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6pz9ni",
"e6q1rmd",
"e6pt9i5",
"e6pthtv"
],
"text": [
"I have made procedural terrain generation as a project so I have some knowledge on this. A lot of the terrain generation is done by what's called noise. When you think noise, you probably would imagine something like this: UR... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9ja80s | How exactly does DRM work in video games? | I've seen a lot of top level explanations for what DRM is for, but not really how it works. Somewhere in between clicking play in steam and the game actually starting there has to be some lock that opens. When I close the game, that lock has to be shut again. What is that lock doing? And why can't I just find the execu... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6px0x4",
"e6pxq35"
],
"text": [
"I'll answer this very vaguely before someone else elaborates. The DRM is built into the exe. You can't just find the exe and start it. Steam DRM is very basic. It is basically just verifying that the exe you have is legit. The exe is \"wrapped/encrypted\"... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9jc8wd | why do some Windows programs ask you to give additional permission to run/install themselves etc.? Couldn't a malicious program just click the Yes confirmation anyway, and if not, why not? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6q8r4v",
"e6q7slo",
"e6qgc2s"
],
"text": [
"The UAC prompt (User Account Control, the window that asks Yes/No if you want to allow a program to elevate it's privileges) runs in the 'secure desktop'. The program which requested the elevated privileges has no way (without already havin... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9jhrch | IP addresses, subnet masks, default gateways | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6rl64b"
],
"text": [
"An IP address is like an address for your house if you weren’t allowed to use words. So if you lived at 3, Pierre street, Paris, France, we might all agree that France has a code 192, Paris has a code 168, Pierre street has a code 0, and your house has a code 3. So I wa... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9jk1hn | How does "barehanding" or "hothanding" work for power lines | I saw a thing about it in TIL, and I don't understand how it works. The explanation they use is that it's the same reason why birds don't get hurt, which I also don't understand. Thanks! [ URL_0 ]( URL_0 ) | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6s4ake",
"e6s4jwn"
],
"text": [
"So hothanding or bare handing works because you haven't completed a circuit. Remember, electricity travels through the path of least resistance which would be the metal cable, not your hand. So since you are neither grounded (touching the ground) or touch... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9jmycc | What does the different sections of the 3.5mm headphone jack do? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6snb4v",
"e6ssfb6"
],
"text": [
"Not in right order but dependent on which headphones Mono head phones will have a left and right path with a ground (2 sections) Stereo has 3 sections left path right path and ground Headsets with mics have 4 sections left path and right path. Microphone ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9jrjc1 | How does Google Maps know to update bus routes? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6tqjrp",
"e6u7vr9",
"e6u91yx"
],
"text": [
"Many transit agencies, before or when they change routes (keep in mind route changes are usually planned months in advance), will publish a GTFS (general transit feed specification) data pack, which Google can quickly import to overlay on t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9js9h4 | How do radios “tune” to a specific frequency? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6tzdr9",
"e6tvlao"
],
"text": [
"Imagine a water gun that shoots water in a straight line on to a wall with a hole in it. The gun cannot be moved at all and always shoots water at the same rate. The wall however, can be moved, and you can bring the hole closer or further away from the wa... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9jskzo | Could display cables (like HDMI) ever be replaced by a wireless alternative? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6txdjw",
"e6tyejo"
],
"text": [
"There actually are some (kinda low quality and fairly expensive) “wireless HDMI” connectors out there already. There are also a few different designs that use Wi-Fi to communicate video/audio (a lot of smart TV’s can actually stream from a windows compute... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9jsla0 | Trans Atlantic calls in the early 1900s | Watching darkest hour. I dont know why I never thought of it before. How did they talk on the phone trans Atlantic back then? I know it was only for the super elite and world leaders. It just seems to me that in those early days it had to be a hardwired grid. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6txlot"
],
"text": [
"The earliest transatlantic cable was completed in 1858. So yes, it was a hardwired connection. But guess what? It still is! The vast majority of communication still occurs over landlines so you calls today go over such cables."
],
"score": [
12
],
"text_urls... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9jsqkw | How does a game know what to load when you select a load to play? | Example: I just started playing the original Borderlands on my computer and noticed I had an old save from years ago, how does it save the entire world I had years ago for me to access at any second? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6u7tx0",
"e6u476f"
],
"text": [
"Your saved game is a file that looks like > Player location - coordinate (1,2,3) > Inventory - Shotgun, 26 shells, and a stick of gum > Enemies - monster126 at coordinate (3,2,1), monster127 at coordinate (2,3,1) and so on and so forth with all the data a... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9jtggd | Why is there an interference with bluetooth headsets whenever shredding documents? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6u6nmi"
],
"text": [
"Put electricity of a certain frequency into metal of a certain shape and you get radio waves, like the radio waves that carry bluetooth. Put electricity of a certain frequency into metal wrapped around a core that can spin, and you get a motor, like the motor in your sh... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9jtolz | What is the difference between C, C#, C-- and C++ other than the fact that they are different languages? | I'm assuming for the most part that C#, C-- and C++ are based on C. But i have no idea how to code so I would like a detailed explanation on the difference between the four. As many people have stated, C-- is a language for compliers. It's a language, but it isn't used as often. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6u88p3",
"e6u7j1z",
"e6u74mc",
"e6u8ou1"
],
"text": [
"Just to point something out here, you're basically asking to boil down 50 years of engineering into one post. I'm not going to talk about C-- because I don't know anything about it, and afaik it's not really used by anyone. S... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9jtv46 | Why do computers have a shutdown process instead of just cutting it's own power? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6u7lel"
],
"text": [
"For the same reason that people generally lie down before going to sleep instead of just falling over: To avoid damage. At any given time, a computer is running a lot of programs in the background, and they need to be safely closed before the computer shuts down. Many o... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9jwyej | How has twitter closing off its API affected third party developers? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6usymi"
],
"text": [
"I have no account or app, and I can no longer see the end linked by news sites. That's huge, as they don't directly post videos or pics on the news sites themselves. That has got to change!"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9jygdc | OLED Displays: Samsung vs Apple | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6v6xv8"
],
"text": [
"Apple can toy with software and graphics a little but in the end they’re the same. Neither display really has any additional capability than the other. Apple also has 3D Touch Samsung doesn’t. But apple buys a Samsung screen and then calls it something retina and that m... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9k3d6w | How do Wire Transfer work? | I understand it's a means of digitally transferring money, but my economics and understanding of banks may be limited. As a wire transfer is digital, what happens to the paper money? Do banks just write IOU's in essence to each other? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6w6w9k"
],
"text": [
"A wire transfer is when a bank transfers money to another bank on behalf of an account holder, for the other bank to then credit one of its account holders. And it is always done exclusively, so a payment is made to the other bank only for the amount in the wire transfe... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9k3i0y | Why does the pitch of voices go up or down when you speed up or slow down a video? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6w5oji"
],
"text": [
"Pitch is based on the frequency of sound waves, or how often those waves hit your ear. When you speed up a video, the waves come faster; likewise, when you slow it down, they come slower. This has the same effect as a higher or lower pitch"
],
"score": [
12
],... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9k3l5f | What makes a CPU well, a CPU? | Basically, what gives CPU their properties? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6w7kq5"
],
"text": [
"A CPU can be considered a \"jack of all trades\" processor. It packs many functions under the hood to be able to do all sorts of things. At one time before graphics cards became pretty much standard for playing PC games, they even did the processing for that. A CPU can ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9k4q7r | How do computers turn a million yes and nos into a basic program? | At it's most basic level, I don't understand how you turn that input into complex programs. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6wexil",
"e6wig2a",
"e6wfezn",
"e6wf0jf",
"e6x56kt"
],
"text": [
"The order of the yes's and no's matters. Let's call yes (1) and no (0). A container that hold a 1 or 0 is a *bit*. Now let's make a rule that 4 bits in a row is a *nibble*. We could choose any number, but 4 is ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9k4vs8 | How are electronics able to tell the exact battery level left in it? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6wf2cx"
],
"text": [
"They're not. They're able to give you a guesstimate by measuring the voltage coming off the battery and interpolating between what the voltage started at and what voltage is required for the device to function. Battery%=100*(Vcurrent-Vmin)/(Vmax-Vmin) or something simil... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9k70qx | Why do American and British (for one) television look so different? | American here...shows look so (for lack of a better term) blurry when I watch something on BBC and other sources from the area. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6wthz1",
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],
"text": [
"It's simply down to different styles of editing and filming. Different cameras and settings affect how crisp the footage is and how much motion blur it has (that can also be done i... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
9k9y00 | why a smartphone camera makes several flashes before taking the actual picture? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6xi99m"
],
"text": [
"Red eye reduction. The first flash causes people's iris to contract, making their pupils smaller so that less red light reflects back out from their retinas. That prevents the ugly red-eye effect in the picture."
],
"score": [
13
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9k9znb | Why do disk based video games need to install to my console’s hard drive? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e6xizwb",
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"text": [
"You already answered your own question, it puts data onto your HDD (or SSD if newer consoles) because it's significantly faster than reading from optical media. That includes resources like textures and audio as well as the executable of the game. You nee... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
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