q_id stringlengths 6 6 | title stringlengths 4 294 | selftext stringlengths 0 2.48k | category stringclasses 1
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dbtrd5 | How do Qi chargers actually work? (The ones that you just sit your phone on top of) | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"When electricity flows through a coiled wire, it creates a magnetic field. Similarly, when a magnetic field passes through a coil of wire, it creates electricity. As you may have already guessed, a Qi charger has a coil of wire inside that it passes electricity through.... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dbtrtu | how does the ice machine in the fridge make ice? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f23xyes"
],
"text": [
"A water supply line fills an internal ice mold and when the water has frozen into cubes a mechanism flips out the cubes into the ice bin. If there's an in-door ice dispenser, there is a flapper in the bottom of the bin and an auger to pull ice forward toward the opening... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dbv5hd | What is it about the numerical font used at the bottom of checks that makes it easier for computers to read? Why was that chosen as the standard? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Even though as /u/joestone points out, these characters are printed with magnetic ink, the font is still important, because whether they're scanned magnetically or optically, the shape of the digits is still what counts. Consider a reader t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dbwwg3 | What are floating numbers and why are they stored seperatly from integers in computers? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"f24ifbt",
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"text": [
"* Computers have a fixed amount of memory. * That means we have to decide how much memory we need to set aside to represent numbers. * Let's say we choose 5 digits. That means we can represent numbers from 0 up to 99999. * What about negative numbers? If ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dbzd8z | Why do dead cell phone batteries need to charge for a while before booting but dead laptops can boot immediately upon plug-in? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f258xmj"
],
"text": [
"Ok geez people. Stop guessing if you don't actually know. The real reason is that they are programmed to not turn back on until the voltage of the battery has recovered a bit to make for a more consistent user experience. The chips inside a cell phone operate at 3.3V, 2... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dc0jva | How exactly do magnetic waves become encoded/decoded (ie. on tapes) | I'm fascinated by this article URL_0 Disney used magnetic tape to play commands for animatronics while rocket scientists used magnetic tape to guide nuclear missiles. All the explanations have said that a tape head is able to "read" these magnetic waves on plastic tape but do not go into the actual science/physics of i... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"f25c04c",
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"text": [
"If you take an unmagnetized screwdriver, and put it in a strong magnetic field, it becomes a magnetized screwdriver. The magnetic tapes are similar, they stay magnetized after they're exposed to a strong magnetic field, You write on such a tape by running... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
dc30e9 | How do logic gates calculate their output? | Do transistors calculate the output? If so, wouldn't transistors be the most fundamental logic of computers? Thanks. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Yes, transistors are the building blocks of logic gates, which are the building blocks of computers. But they don't real... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
dc4tds | How does a Dry Cleaner work? Beginning to end? | I don't know why I have never questioned this before. What actually happens inside a dry clean store? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f25z7qj"
],
"text": [
"Drycleaning machines use a product called Perc (sort of like a gasoline solvent) to clean clothes. The machines are a washer/dryer combo so it’s a sealed unit. The solvent keeps clothes from shrinking and getting crazy creased up. Then its the usual pressing machines - ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
dc90cv | Networking. What is the difference between layer 1,2,3 switching? | I slightly understand what they do but only by definition. I cannot picture in my head what they are actually doing. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f26nhh1",
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"f27m62w"
],
"text": [
"These three layers aren’t inherent to switching. They map to the OSI (open systems interconnection) model The layers are *abstraction layers* and just like the best burrito at Taco Bell, there are seven. Arguably the most important thing to... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
dcc2fh | Why do digital cameras and lenses range in price from under $100 to tens of thousands, and at what price point are there diminished returns (for the average person's eye)? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f276vpq"
],
"text": [
"* Build quality * Image sensors and processing capabilities (you need processing power to encode video, for example) which can affect video recording capabilities, image resolution and quality, color calibration features, etc * Lenses. A $100 camera is going to have a f... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dcdqrn | How does color on a computer screen work? I always thought that color was a way that light reflects on different materials/objects. How does this work on a TV/computer screen? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f27kzfv",
"f27igcj"
],
"text": [
"color is determined by the light that enters your eyes. Since most objects don't glow (at least in the visible spectrum) and are mostly opaque, that light is typically reflected from another source. But sometimes the light is filtered through an object (a... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dcey6p | How does fast charge actually work? Why was this never introduced before? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f27qn1e",
"f27ze1f"
],
"text": [
"standard chargers works at 5V and up to 2A for most phones. fast charge uses 9V and up to 2A for most phones. the amount of \"power\" transferred is the V \\* A. So by using a higher voltage, it charges faster. this requires a more complex circuit, so it'... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dchbex | In old cartoons why were the animated pieces of each scene a different colour than the static pieces of the scene? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f286bkt",
"f2878hp"
],
"text": [
"That usually means that the background and other \"static\" images are painted and the actual characters and anything that moves is drawn. They did it to save time instead of drawing out the entire scene over and over.",
"The background ‘cels’ were no... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dcloc1 | How come headphones get a loud high pitch sound whenever they get close to something such as a metal detector? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f28zlxs"
],
"text": [
"Speakers, of which headphones are just tiny ones, are simply a wire surrounded by a magnet. Put electrical pulses through the wire, and connect the end of the wire/magnet thing to a surface that can vibrate, and you have a speaker. Anything that can mess with a magnet o... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dcm31o | What are cookies from websites? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f292g1q",
"f29ec28"
],
"text": [
"A cookie is just a bit of data that the website stores on your computer to look at next time you come back. A common and very useful application of cookies is storing what account you logged into so that you'll be signed right back in when you reopen the ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dcnygo | why isn’t it feasible to use wind or solar power (clean power) to run desalination plants to solve water crisis? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f29hdxd",
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],
"text": [
"Perth Australia does it with wind power. [Cockburn Sound]( URL_0 )",
"Basically money. Desalination requires a lot of equipment and energy to run on a large scale, and solar panels/ wind farms (if the latter is even practical in the are... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dco438 | How does Google's "Use overtime" feature work? | Whenever we search for a word on Google, we get this graph showing the usage of that word over time periods from the 1800s. How does it work? Where do they get that information from? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f29kpk0"
],
"text": [
"Google has an index of most of the public internet, and millions of scanned books/documents (google books, google scholar, project Gutenberg, URL_0 , ...). This means that they can simply ‘count’ the use of words over time by going through their index."
],
"score": ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
dcqkam | What is Big Data and Data Analytics? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2a46k8"
],
"text": [
"Big Data is having a large volume of data (like say the data of all Facebook users) that covers multiple aspects/categories (such as browsing habits, likes/dislikes, ads watched, ads skipped, location data, work history, time the app/site is used, post history, etc.) A ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dcrsit | How do remote control things work? How can I press the up lever on a controller and make an RC car move across the room? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2ak1rp"
],
"text": [
"Pressing the lever on a remote control device, activates a mechanical switch that powers part of a circuit inside the controller. That circuit then powers a wireless transmitter to broadcast a wireless signal (like a radio) which the antenna on the car picks up. And muc... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dcs3le | Why does Braille use raised bumps instead of raised letters? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2ama22",
"f2amezm"
],
"text": [
"Letters and numbers share shapes that are easily mistaken for one another ( 6 G , W VV , O D , etc.). Braille has been set up in a way that minimizes risk of mismatched characters.",
"The pattern isn't that clear to read from a letter and different fo... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dcs71f | Why mining for Helium-3 is that unprofitable | Is it due to lack of research on application or just overall cost of mining and transportation overcoming it's value? & #x200B; upd: Talking about lunar surface supposingly containing huge amount of helium-3 | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2apbg8",
"f2azfji",
"f2b112i",
"f2aqvyt",
"f2b3utg"
],
"text": [
"Well, it costs a lot to mine on the moon. Meanwhile, nobody really wants helium-3 for anything. Like, some He-3 is useful, but we can already breed it in reactors and we definitely don't need that much.",
"... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
dcskqd | How "hackable" are public transportation cards? | I was on my daily transportation route and started thinking about this and since I've never seen anything about it, I figured the chances would be slim. The machines where you buy tickets/rides need to interact with the cards chips somehow to "transfer" whatever you purchase to the card so my question is, how hard woul... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"f2athjy",
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"f2atrhc",
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"text": [
"Assuming that the cards use some form of encryption (which they probably do) it would be somewhat tough, depending on the security of the machines themselves. The way these cards usually work is they send an id... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
dctj31 | how does a computer program arrange transistors to run a program? In other words, if transistors are so small, how can a computer ever know how to create the circuit required to run a program? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2b3py7",
"f2b3xkt",
"f2bkokh"
],
"text": [
"A computer does not \"arrange transistors\". They aren't moved around to form circuits to run programs, they already are in the required configuration within the CPU. The CPU is manufactured that way with everything already in place as need... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dcy6dk | How does holding the power button on a computer force it to shut down? | My laptop froze and wouldn't even go into sleep mode. How does holding the power button longer make it completely stop? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2crmvd",
"f2crd36"
],
"text": [
"There is a dedicated chip for power management in the computer. A single press just send a signal to the operating system so it can initiate a shutdown. It start to shut down and when it has done what it need to do it signal the power chip back and tell i... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
dcymot | With the new phones and induction charging my battery level is rarely if ever below 80%, does this affect battery longevity overall? What is the best way to maximise long term battery longevity? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2cxfhn",
"f2e2bn6"
],
"text": [
"The battery level rarely going below 80% is actually good for battery longevity, as batteries no longer have a “memory”. However, new studies are finding that induction charging does shorten battery life. The electricity has to overcome an air gap, which ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dd0bpf | How SSDs work? Why are they faster? | Edit: thanks a lot people! I did some research on the internet about SSDs and flash memories, but I didn't get them. Thanks for explaining, now I get it :) | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2de2t7",
"f2de63p",
"f2de25w",
"f2ddw3w"
],
"text": [
"SSDs have a billion tiny little charge-storing transistors in them. Each of these can be on or off, and thereby store a binary bit. To write them you simply add or remove charge, and to read them you power the transistor and ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
dd0xtj | How are old movies released in 4k/UHD? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2di2lq"
],
"text": [
"Many movies can be re-released using the original film, which I much higher quality than the releases from 1993"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
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} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
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dd2o02 | why does hitting the remote control when it doesn't work suddenly make it work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2dufoi"
],
"text": [
"A lot of times the remote doesn't work because a speck of dirt, dust, or corrosion gets between the battery and the connector, robbing the remote of power. Hitting the remote, or popping open the battery compartment and spinning the batteries within the compartment, oft... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dd3ij9 | How do colorblindness glasses work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2e0t7k"
],
"text": [
"Colourblindness happens when a colour rod in the eye doesn't work or the message from the rod to the brain doesn't work. You have three rods (yellow blue red) and each activate at different levels when light passes them. This is what creates imagery in our minds. All co... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dd4g1j | How does a speaker know what sound to produce from a series of 1 and 0s? | I understand that there is magnet and it vibrates to the current. But how does it actually convert? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2e33h6",
"f2e31lq",
"f2egpd3"
],
"text": [
"Great question! They don't. Speakers are analog devices, meaning we cannot supply them with the digital 1 or 0. What we use is a Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) to change our Computer's digital signal into an analogue signal that can be p... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
dd7gzr | Why is it so easy to get the type of results I expected from a Google search for say, restaurants - but so difficult to get concisely relevant results from a search for doctors? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2ejj21"
],
"text": [
"1. Restaurants are (mostly) uniquely named and have distinct locations. Doctors do not have unique names, so can be hard to search for like any other non-famous person on the internet. 2. Restaurants use search engine optimization (SEO) and often submit themselves manua... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dd8amz | - why the number key pad on a keyboard or calculator is laid differently than on a phone. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2ep0lh"
],
"text": [
"They were essentially derived independently. Modern computers are essentially extensions of preexisting more \"manual\" computing devices, such as adding machines, which had established keypads with 1-2-3 on the bottom. Lower numbers are more frequent than larger number... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dd8eqf | What can someone do if they have your IP address? Can they see all your internet activity and places you've posted? Can they identify who you are? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2ep0pw",
"f2ep59y"
],
"text": [
"If they *only* had your actual IP address, they could DDOS you and potentially locate you within a rough geographic area. But that's about it. If they had your IP but also purchased or collected date from cookies and such, they could learn a lot more.",
... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ddcwph | How does a company just “shut off the internet” within its borders? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"f2fp97q",
"f2g3khf",
"f2ftizt",
"f2g3fnw",
"f2gk2fe",
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"text": [
"A country you mean? Into and out of every country there are surprisingly only a few high bandwidth fiber optic cables. These are used for everything: phone, cell/wireless, internet data you name ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ddhhol | How did humans deal with cavities before dental care became more mainstream? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2hhzxb",
"f2hjwq1"
],
"text": [
"The only option was to pull out the offending tooth. And with little in the way of painkiller. However, it's worth noting that tooth decay was less common prior to the Early Modern Period (before the 16th century) because there was less refined sugar in t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ddmzq4 | Why do different image compression / viewing formats exist and why can't we have a standard format ? are there significant advantages/ specific use cases to some over others ? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2k6wwo",
"f2k5lf0",
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],
"text": [
"[Relevant xkcd]( URL_0 ) Today there are effectively three standards - JPEG, PNG and SVG, and each has its purpose. JPEG uses a lossy compression, meaning that some details of the original image are lost. It is mainly useful for naturally c... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ddni0p | How do pc gamers have an unfair advantage over console players when playing the same game using a mouse and keyboard over a controller ? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2kcs9a",
"f2khxy2",
"f2kd0c2",
"f2kehkv",
"f2kmb11"
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"text": [
"It's substantially easier to input precise movements with a mouse than with an analogue stick. So much so that PC games usually will not have aim assist enabled by default if it's even available in the game. If... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ddoy9v | growing up I was taught to never bring a magnet near a TV/Computer screen. Now we have phone cases and accessories that are magnetic. How is the phone not damaged by this? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2l32zo",
"f2l3vr9",
"f2lfpnr"
],
"text": [
"In CRT TVs electrons are fired through the TV, hitting magnets, and then giving you your display. A strong enough magnet can actually warp the polarity of some of the internal magnets, messing up that part of the screen. Nowadays, we don't ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ddrjme | on game controllers, why is it called *analog* stick but *digital* pad (d-pad)? Aren't all inputs digital? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2m5iqb",
"f2mi98k"
],
"text": [
"It is digital because the inputs are discrete. You can do UP or LEFT or RIGHT or DOWN. Nothing in between. The stick is analog because you have a continuous range of motion (even if it is broken down into discrete elements on the electronic and programmin... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ddrq3n | Why do LCD displays cause headaches and eye strain, while OLED displays do not/take way longer? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2mdp5w",
"f2mk5tx"
],
"text": [
"The LCD display has a backlight, and a filter which changes to colour the pixels a certain way, whereas an OLED has pixels that generate their own light. Lets say you're looking at reddit in Dark mode. On an LCD, the backlight is still having to push ligh... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dduy3d | Why do some VHS tapes have fucked up bottoms like this? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2nlits",
"f2nnagb",
"f2opulb"
],
"text": [
"One thing that can cause this is the playback head being out of alignment. You can try adjusting tracking.",
"Every frame of a video is recorded as a diagonal line over the width of the tape, be it VHS or Betamax. This diagonal angle ma... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ddv5o7 | How did it come to be that gold and silver are considered valuable and even have been used as currency while so many other metals never did? Couldn’t it have been nickel and aluminum instead? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2npjkh",
"f2nsbat",
"f2ohmmz",
"f2o1ho9",
"f2npgy4",
"f2nq48w"
],
"text": [
"In ancient times, gold and silver could be found in almost pure veins. You dug it out, you had lumps of gold or silver you could work. Aluminum requires smelting 4 kilos of bauxite ore to obtain ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ddxkh8 | What are neural networks and how do they work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2oo651",
"f2p9umq"
],
"text": [
"First; computers simulate them. They are not (yet) a physical thing, but merely a type of program that computers can run. Now: Neural networks are arrangements of nodes which are connected. Each node takes one or more inputs and gives one or more outputs.... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ddz92f | How are computer languages created? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2pgem9",
"f2pljsh"
],
"text": [
"You don't create a programming language. You create a compiler. By defining how your compiler reads in text files and converts them to an application, you indirectly define the syntax needed in those text files needed to accomplish certain tasks. That syn... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
de0veb | Why is 2.4Ghz Wifi NOT hard-limited to channels 1, 6 and 11? Wifi interference from overlapping adjacent channels is worse than same channel interference. Channels 1, 6, and 11 are the only ones that don't overlap with each other. Shouldn't all modems be only allowed to use 1, 6 or 11? | Edit: Wireless Access Points, not Modems I read some time ago that overlapping interference is a lot worse so all modems should use either 1, 6, or 11. But I see a lot of modems in my neighbourhood using all the channels from 1-11, causing an overlapping nightmare. Why do modem manufacturers allow overlapping to happen... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
de28fg | how do speakers work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2qjr91"
],
"text": [
"Sound is about pressure waves in air. Anything that pushes air around creates waves. The speaker has a light weight cone attached to a kind of electric motor that moves the cone back and forth. That cone moves the air about, which creates pressure waves in the air - whi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
de3vq4 | Since ethernet is so fast and has so much range, why isn't it used everywhere ? | Edit : For wired connections such as videos, or anything that needs a high bandwidth | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2ren8w",
"f2rfbr1",
"f2rf5t7"
],
"text": [
"Ethernet has pretty good bandwidth and pretty good speed which is fine for networking but not helpful for many other tasks. Cat6 cable supports 10 Gigabit Ethernet over a distance of 100 meters which seems pretty good until you start compar... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
de8244 | Why/how do things still use electricity when they are turned off but plugged in (or just plugged in like a charger not connected to anything)? Where does the electricity go? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2u1j0s",
"f2t3bbf"
],
"text": [
"Engineer here. The short answer is, the electricity turns to heat. Put your hand on a wall wart and it will feel warm. That's where the standby power is going. Now, the reason something like a phone charger still consumes electricity even if it's not char... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
de9nvl | how does my laptop find so many more WiFi networks than my phone? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2tmli0",
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"text": [
"Your laptop most likely has a better WiFi card and antenna. It's probably more sensitive and can detect weaker WiFi signals. That's all.",
"Laptop wifi antennas usually go around the screen bezel and that way it might have better reception, compared t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
deakq5 | How did people before modern surgery fix broken bones? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"f2ty3wp",
"f2tynoy",
"f2u2zjt",
"f2ud5iz",
"f2ukpbk",
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"text": [
"Splints are a pretty basic technology that has been around a long time. More complex breaks would have just left you crippled",
"For uncomplicated fractures, you don't need surgery even today... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dedju4 | "Stealth" Drones. How can a drone be "stealthy" if it must be constantly transmitting data in order to be remotely operated? Isn't radio silence a requirement for stealth in the modern battlefield? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2uifzl",
"f2uzaek",
"f2uih12",
"f2v1f92",
"f2uhts0"
],
"text": [
"Radio transmission can be directional. If you put a directional antenna on a drone and direct it to a satellite it would be close to impossible to detect it from below the drone. You might have a chance from a ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dedx54 | How do Wikipedia pages get written? | Wikipedia is notorious for having unreliable information. But it seems like most of the info is verifiable, and very little is marked in red. Pages are also usually decently written and almost always offer quick and effective summaries on a huge array of topics. Does Wikipedia employ fact-checkers and editors? What is ... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2ul7ms",
"f2uzxs6"
],
"text": [
"They're written by anyone that wants to write them. There is no approval stamp by an single editor person. Approvals are done by page admins that are volunteers, not wiki staff. Anyone can be a volunteer admin on any topic.",
"The unreliability of Wik... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
def0wx | How can servers let multiple gamers play together in real time? | Gamers can be across the globe yet if you have good enough internet connection you can play with them, see what each other see and do inside the game real-time without delays. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2us9pi",
"f2walso"
],
"text": [
"There's a lot of very low level detail, but it basically comes down to sharing the workload between the servers and the player's local.machine (the \"client\") and having each connection to the server processed independently of the others so they don't ge... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
defjoj | For actual photography, what class of camera's, if any, have smart phones made unnecessary to own ? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2uupms"
],
"text": [
"I would say the most obsolete ones are the [point and shoot]( URL_0 ) segment. They are still better than a phone in some respects -- they have better controls, taking a photo when starting from a powered off camera is hopefully faster, and they have a much higher zoom ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
degmkw | how does a file get corrupted? What is it that happens? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2uzogt"
],
"text": [
"Let's take this analogy: you're making a puzzle. You got the box to show you the image you have to make. You're puzzling and puzzling, everything is going fine. Halfway through someone kicks your puzzle and some of the pieces (this could be any error happening with your... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
deim70 | Why do empty radio frequency make that sound instead of just being completely silent? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2vhg3g",
"f2vema8"
],
"text": [
"The universe is very noisy. The sun, every star, all the combined muck our electric and electronics produce, and even the remaining radio echoes from the big bang, make every part of the radio spectrum be full of noise. When you have a channel broadcastin... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dej6ei | What is Kubernetes, containers, & microservices and how do they all work together? | I’m going into tech sales and looking to understand these terms so I can explain it to my clients. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2vlpdn"
],
"text": [
"A container is a self contained application, typically. It can be run on any platform that can run the container service (usually talking Docker here). Useful for distributing and managing applications that would otherwise have complex dependencies. Kubernetes is softwa... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
dekzpu | Why are phone calls such bad quality when something like a radio presenters voice is so clear? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2wbp6k",
"f2z90vk",
"f2wuaki"
],
"text": [
"Available audio bandwidth. A plain telephone circuit is optimized for audio from 30hz to 3000Hz, which is where the majority of audio in the human voice is but not all of it. To add on, most telephone calls these days are digitized and comp... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dem8g7 | What is 'Ray-Tracing' and why can only special RTX Graphics Cards render it? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2wnirs"
],
"text": [
"Ray tracing is an expensive computer calculation where essentially every pixel you see on the screen is illuminated by tracing rays of light from it back to every light source in the scene. This means bouncing it off shiny/chrome/mirror surfaces, refracting through diff... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
demeky | How do screens smoothly scale resolutions that aren't multiples of each other? E.g. playing 1080p or 720p video on a 900p screen, or reducing my phone's resolution from 1440p to 1080p? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2wpajj",
"f2wpoor",
"f2wpqmn"
],
"text": [
"There are complex algorithms that will combine pixels with their neighbors in certain ways. If you have a higher resolution screen being scaled down such that a pixel should be 70% one color and 30% a different color, the calculation would ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
demnxg | What is the use of recaptcha, why would a robot create a Nintendo account, even if it did why are we stopping it? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2wsa07",
"f2wslid"
],
"text": [
"Denial of service attacks on their servers are bad. Spam bots are bad. Have you ever been on a forum where bots got in and made users to spam horrible things or advertising messages. That’s why.",
"Primary reason: bots. Wether data gathering bots or a... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
deomn7 | How did we discover bread? Like it seems to be a rather complex mechanism to make bread was this a gradual thing? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2xi04m",
"f2xg9lj"
],
"text": [
"Well, we know that people living in the northern part of what is now Jordan were making bread as much as 14,000 years ago, but so far we have no idea who was the first person to make bread, or how they figured it out. And breadmaking could have started mu... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
depity | when you can buy a 1080p camcorder for a few pounds, why does so much CCTV and shoplifter footage released by the police look so bad? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2xqtgj"
],
"text": [
"You generally are only storing about two hours of footage on that 1080p camcorder. The file sizes are pretty huge. A CCTV system needs to be storing days worth of footage, often from multiple cameras. Most stores aren't willing to spend thousands upon thousands on high ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
deps6l | why were we all asked to turn off our electronic devices before landing ‘due to poor visibility’ on my flight today? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2xu5m8",
"f2xvhxg"
],
"text": [
"The electronics interfere with radar and telecommunication, and if there's clouds and lack of visibility through the windows then they have to rely on radar and other stuff",
"The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) does not actually prohibit the us... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
derdmp | What's the difference between a Greenscreen and a Bluescreen | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2ydmsz"
],
"text": [
"The colour, that's literally it. A green screen and blue screen are used for the same purpose, to give programs like after effects a colour to focus on to remove from the images. It all depends on what the scenario is. If you are filming on a set that requires blue ligh... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dermxi | How well does the camouflage militaries use actually work? And if it works well, why? | I don't know, maybe it's cause I'm an ignorant idiot, but the camouflage doesn't look very camouflaged to me. Especially in places like the middle east where they keep going off to. So like explain? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2ygwe2",
"f2ygx2r"
],
"text": [
"Camo is not intended to make the wearer disappear. That is more the function of ghillie suits and similar apparel. Camo tends to make the wearer harder to spot. In a situation where two people are trying to kill each other with guns, delaying your opponen... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
detxh7 | How does my phone figure out how much to delay video so it matches my Bluetooth headphone delay? | When I use my Bluetooth headphones to watch videos on my phone, the phone usually delays the video enough to synchronize it with the delayed sound on my headphones. How does it figure out how much to delay it? (I have other, secondary, questions too: how close does the timing have to be so I don't notice a mismatch? An... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2z1c0d"
],
"text": [
"I know that other streaming protocols have round trip time synchronization built into them which might be what your headset is doing. Basically your phone sends a packet of audio to your headset and then the headset sends back an acknowledgement of receiving it and play... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
deumkj | When you’re browsing the Internet on mobile some links will open a new tab when you click on them, but then if you swipe or press the back button to go back a page it will take you back to the original tab and delete the new one; how do some websites do this? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2z601t"
],
"text": [
"Because that tab literally didn't have anything in its history, since it is newly created, so going back means removing the tab and returning to the previously opened one. Websites do nothing to contribute to that behavior, it is the browser who does that. What the webs... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
deux2r | Why do downloads take so much time? | Why do downloads take longer than like 2 seconds? Couldn't it all just get sucked up like a caprisun? What is the reason for the device to slow the intake of data? Like I'm downloading a game on my PS4 and it's going to take 5 hours, why is that? Thanks in advance! | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2z6jz6"
],
"text": [
"Because internet bandwidth works like water pipes, the flowing water is the data. The size of the pipes represent your internet speed and the pressure of the water flow represent how fast the download server is hosting your download. The files come in specific sizes and... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
dezyuj | Why do some recycling points not allow soft plastics like bags and cling-film? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f2zxu0j",
"f2zz6bh"
],
"text": [
"Recycling plants use systems of conveyors and sorters to move and sort stuff into appropriate categories for later processing. Things like cling film and bags can gum up the works. A lot of recycling places can easily recycle that stuff but it needs to be... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
df59e7 | Why is off-brand toner not good for a laser printer? | I have cleaned several different laser printers and experienced first-hand the yucked-up drums caused by generic branded toner cartridge. Pop in proper genuine toner afterward, and print problems are gone. I was always frustrated with printer companies when I would ask for help, being told, "we can't help you unless yo... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f317nzw"
],
"text": [
"Why? Because genuine toner and ink have a quality control and standards that are set by the printer manufacturer. Off brands may be as good and cause absolutely no problems, but they may also be made up of nothing but tar and lost dreams of a Scotsman named Dave, and ca... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
df5faw | Why are drones and jet packs just happening now? | Particularly drones: Why are they just starting to happen now? The concept is simple... they're easy to make... the parts aren't really hard to find/make. Why did it take this long for them to become common/popular? Seems like they could've easily been made many years ago but they weren't. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f30zufn",
"f3135ze",
"f311nxn",
"f310dmo"
],
"text": [
"There haven't been any particular breakthroughs in the technology except that batteries keep getting a little bit smaller and a little bit more energy dense and little more cheap to produce, year after year after year, and we... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
dfbk1k | Why do smartphones take so long to boot up after they “die”? | Other household electronics power up as soon as they are plugged into an outlet (Pc/laptop, gaming console, camera, microwave etc...) | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f3249zf"
],
"text": [
"Unlike those devices, a smartphone has to load an extensive operating system consisting of perhaps 50 different programs all of which need to be running before it can be used."
],
"score": [
8
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
dfcl86 | Why do spam ads bother allowing you to close them? | No matter how annoying, they always have an "X" to allow you to close them. Since they are spamming anyway, why not go all the way and not allow you to close them at all? Is there some kind of law they are following? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f32cy28",
"f32dpwe",
"f32bvag",
"f32h9f9"
],
"text": [
"By giving you an X to find they ensure that you engage with them on some level, hopefully ramming some aspect of their content into your consciousness. Another issue is that by giving you a method of avoiding them they hopefu... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
dfcm98 | What is kernel memory protection? | I installed Linux on an old machine, and the system displays this message during boot: > Your architecture does not support kernel memory protection What is kernel memory protection? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f32ax71"
],
"text": [
"When an application runs on your computer the OS gives it a block of memory to use for doing whatever the app does. When you try and access outside that boundary the OS should catch it but many times bugs in code are found where memory can be access \"illegally.\" It's ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
dfdft7 | What is the point of the iPhone’s AirDrop feature? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f32frdx"
],
"text": [
"It basically is an alternative or a simpler way to share files via Bluetooth. It doesn't require any connections other than the one to the other phone, and works between any iDevice that supports it, such as iPods and Macs."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dfggux | how come iPhones dark mode is easier on the eyes? | To me, the brighter the phone the better? Or am I squinting and not realizing it? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f32tlz2"
],
"text": [
"For people with “normal” vision, dark vs bright just a matter of taste as far as we know. Some people with some forms of severe astigmatism find that the light text + dark background can be aggravating for their symptoms, so they’d probably choose light mode instead. Th... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
dfi97e | What are OEM products? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f337uzb"
],
"text": [
"OEM - original equipment manufacturer. So OEM ARE authentic products. I think what you meant are \"after market\". Aftermarket products/parts are ones that are either made under license by the OEM ($$ in exchange for original engineering drawings, specs etc.) or are rev... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dfkna7 | How did a block of TV sets in the 80s pieced together form only one moving image? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f33rleq"
],
"text": [
"Using a splitter. The incoming signal would be fed to a box that would handle how to divide the signal then give each tv it's portion of the whole image. The splitters were bulky from what I remember and caused a slight lag."
],
"score": [
28
],
"text_urls":... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dfmq7e | Why are tiff files so large? | I have a Panasonic G85 that produces 18MP raw files. But if I edit in PS, even without adding layers, the resultant tiff files are around 150MP. Where is all this extra data coming from? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f34hj0o"
],
"text": [
"> 18MP > 150MP I'm guessing that the first is actually meant to read MP, while the second should probably read \"MB\"? Because \"MP\" means \"MegaPixel\" (million pixels), while \"MB\" means \"Mega Bytes\" (million/ 2^(20) bytes). So let's take a look at how much that a... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
dfq9q1 | How can an online mobile application still be accessible offline? (IE. Youtube App can still play some videos even if you are offline) | I heard spotify has this as well | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f354s86"
],
"text": [
"You have to indicate what items you plan to access, and it downloads them while you are still online, then saves them in your device's internal storage for later playing."
],
"score": [
5
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
dfrm8j | Why are space missions to moons of distant planets planned as flybys and not with rovers that could land on the surface of the moon and conduct better experiments ? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f35i42j",
"f35mj4p",
"f35er2a",
"f35e8wg",
"f35he2i",
"f35zj09",
"f35wa3d",
"f35svod",
"f35ynz0",
"f3645pi",
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"f35y6tn",
"f361i91",
"f36vloe",
"f35kf0j",
"f3619ve",
"f38w10z"
],
"text": [
"A flyby only requires accelera... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dfrrki | Why can't we just copy and paste a code for a videogame from a certain platform to another platform instead of rewriting it? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f35flnz",
"f35fgqt",
"f35man9",
"f35ovnh"
],
"text": [
"Code languages are an abstraction, a way to tell another program called a compiler what order to put the 1s and 0s in when actually writing and executing the code. Different hardware has different compilers which handle thing... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dftd63 | Why do some old wires (e.g. headphones, charging cables) work when put in some positions but not others? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f35pi1p",
"f35s5ad"
],
"text": [
"Every cable you have is actually numerous small metal wires bundled together. The issue you've described is called a short in a cable, which means some or all of these wires have broken, so the connection is broken when they aren't correctly positioned.",... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dftpf2 | Why does a core only have two threads in a processor? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f35s640"
],
"text": [
"It doesn’t. At any given time in a modern OS there are hundreds to thousands of threads running on just a few cores. The difference is whether the nuance of threading is handled at the software or hardware level. Running multiple threads on the same core in hardware is ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dfugjq | How do those sunglasses that let people with monochromatic or colorless vision see colors? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f35vewv"
],
"text": [
"Some persons colour vision problem is that the colours that the different types of light-sensing cone cells detect overlap too much. For these people, glasses that absorb much of the overlapping colours can allow the two different types of cone cells detect different am... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dfum7l | How is it that two different images, but same resolution, can have different storage size? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f35w0sc",
"f35w0hx"
],
"text": [
"Compression. If an image is for instance pure white, you don't need a huge file that goes: pixel 1: white pixel 2: white ... pixel 1000000: white You just write an image that effectively says: pixels 1 to 1000000: white In practice, compression gets a goo... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dfwjg8 | How did people in the middle ages keep their swords from rusting in the rain? Did people just not fight if it was wet out? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f3666gt",
"f36b7gd",
"f36bah8"
],
"text": [
"Simple, regular maintenance, after using the sword they didn't just throw it back in the scabbard and hang on the wall at home until the next time. It would be wiped dry, re-sharpened and oiled before storing it. A sword is not going to fal... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dfyb8j | How are game consoles and other computer devices able to turn themselves off and on again after an update? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f36qkxb",
"f37bugd",
"f36qg7f",
"f378qjp"
],
"text": [
"Well, technically the device is never really powered off. The CPU and the power supply are linked by some input/output lines and so there's some limited control the CPU (via the motherboard) has over the power supply like \"g... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dfzrgb | Why do some devices get permanently bricked? Since no hardware is getting damaged while fiddling with the software, doesn't it stand to reason that it can simply be fixed by reverting back to its original state? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f376x0n"
],
"text": [
"There is a layer between hardware and software called firmware; this has to do with low-level operations that get hard-coded onto a small chipset (previously the BIOS, now there's a new format that I can never remember) that does what's called \"bootstrapping\" (that is... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dg0uq7 | How are screens with higher resolutions able to reduce energy consumption when adjusting to lower pixel counts, when the same amount of diodes are still present? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f3a76hb"
],
"text": [
"The screen itself will most likely keep using the same amount of energy assuming you don't change the brightness or anything, but the computer controlling it will use less energy because it has less processing work to do. Lower resution means fewer pixels, and that mean... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dg2ndv | If you're not supposed to leave the US and just bought a plane ticket out the country, when exactly do the police find out and how fast can they act? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f388hx2"
],
"text": [
"Asking for a friend? Not an expert and here is just a guess. Tickets booking don't ask for passport information right away, hence I believe police won't know. But when you check in, then the data must be tallied against a no-fly list and the person can be denied boardin... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dg3zl4 | Why can the cursor on a PC go off screen to the right and bottom but not to the top or to the left? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f38sa0g",
"f38scsr",
"f38sy6h",
"f3930y6"
],
"text": [
"The point at the end of the cursor is the exact location of the mouse, which means the rest of the cursor icon is not taken into account. So that exact point is at the end of monitor, which appears as if the mouse went off th... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dg5sa5 | Why can gaming PCs run hundreds of FPS (Frames Per Second) but no matter what console you have, you can never get an FPS number as high as that? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f39ftji"
],
"text": [
"Expensive, high performance parts. Think of the cost of a console. It’s around the £300-400 mark, thereabouts. You’re not going to build a gaming PC that can play the latest releases at 144FPS for that price. The same goes for a console. Concessions have to be made to k... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dg7ncq | Why did VHS tapes show a blue screen on the TV when they started up? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f39utbq",
"f39x67r",
"f3a22rt"
],
"text": [
"That was the VCR, not the tape itself. It's the precursor to the HDMI no signal screen. Used to be blue.",
"That's not the tape. That's either the TV or the VCR telling you, \"I don't have anything clear enough to show you right now.\" ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dgb5m4 | Why did old TVs have be set on channel 3 if you wanted to play anything linked to it such as a VCR, DVD player, or game console? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f3ajjfe",
"f3akl7r",
"f3aw1jr",
"f3avf4c"
],
"text": [
"The game consoles had a built in “video modulator” that took the video/audio and basically had a miniature tv station transmitter inside them. TVs at the time usually just had an antenna input, they didn’t have countless vide... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dgdl9t | Why does phone autocorrect sometimes forget simple words? | Example: I was halfway through typing the word “different”, and only got suggestions for “differences”, “differentiations” etc but “different” appeared in quotation marks as though I was inventing it. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f3auw16"
],
"text": [
"ELI5: phones today use a variety of machine learning techniques to try and guess what you're about to type. More often than not, these algorithms sacrifice accuracy for speed since phones have limited power. Fuller explanation: autocorrect has been making progress for a... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
dgeayr | why the new electric Volkswagen car will be able to charge within 15 minutes but phones can still take hours to fully charge | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f3azf4e"
],
"text": [
"Your phone needs to be handheld, portable and small. Your car doesn't. Your car can have active fans cooling, liquid coolant. Your phone can't. Your car charger can have access to a 100kw power supply, your phone is limited to the 1500 watt circuit in your house."
],
... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dgeb7u | iOS WiFi Sharing | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f3b09ar"
],
"text": [
"Your phone knows the wifi key, theirs doesn’t. But you exist as a contact in their phone, so it uses the same technology as airdrop to contact your phone and present the question to you about sharing the pass code."
],
"score": [
5
],
"text_urls": [
[]
... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dgh1lq | Whats a cookie in the web? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f3bfgvy",
"f3bmfx0"
],
"text": [
"When you visit a website, it stores a little data file on your computer. That's the cookie. It might be used to record what you looked for last time, for example, or other info about who you are and what you did, which it can use later on -- even if you g... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
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