q_id stringlengths 6 6 | title stringlengths 4 294 | selftext stringlengths 0 2.48k | category stringclasses 1
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b16tic | How do companies (such as 1Password) verify a password is correct without storing it anywhere? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Based off of its description, 1Password DOES store your passwords. It most likely encrypts them, and doesn't store them in the clear. But it does store them.",
"The idea of password storage relies on using an irreversible function that ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b17jpz | Pi has just been calculated to over 31 trillion digits (smashing the old record) and it took 111 days. Why was that the stopping point? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eijudmh"
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"text": [
"All those computers cost money. AWS sells time on those computers. When paying customers want to use them, the pi folks have to wait. They wanted to announce before March 124 (pi day) and that's how far they got."
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3
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b17ywa | What is the difference between Object-Oriented Programming and Functional Programming? | Freshman in Computer Science here. This a concept that for one reason or another I can’t seem to wrap my head around | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eijxgch"
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"text": [
"Object-Oriented Programming is something of a buzzword that has a variety of definitions. At the most fundamental, it's about bundling data and algorithms together so they're isolated from the rest of the program. Functional programming is the counterpart to imperative ... | [
"url"
] | [
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b19ffx | How does WiFi or cellular data work? Are audio / video / text transmitted differently? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"eik9oxk"
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"text": [
"In modern world all data is transmitted as binary string of 1s and 0s. How you interpret it makes all the difference. Audio , video and text in digital networks are transmitted similarly as 1s and 0s . In very simple terms: there are a lot of established international s... | [
"url"
] | [
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] | |
b1bdky | Why do fitness trackers and smart watches need the green lights/lasers to operate, and why are they always green? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eikniwj"
],
"text": [
"They seem to be using a technology called Photoplethysmography (PPG) where green (and sometimes infrared) light is flashed onto the skin and sensors measure the return amount. & #x200B; Blood is red (duh) and it absorbs green light. During a heartbeat, there is more blo... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b1copp | How do planes know when there's an air turbulence in front to turn on the seatbelt signs? | When there's a turbulence coming, the lights always go on a few seconds in advance. Can the pilot see the turbulence coming or is there a radar or something like that? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"eikrmkk",
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"text": [
"There are multiple ways that pilots can know turbulence is coming. Some kinds of turbulence can be seen on the radar on the plane. Sometimes pilots can see conditions that are likely to cause turbulence (like layers in the clouds). Addition... | [
"url"
] | [
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b1e7o0 | How does night vision cameras work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eikzjeo",
"eikzl4b"
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"text": [
"When it's dark there is not enough photons to trigger the sensors in our eyes. But there are still enough to trigger the sensors in an CCD camera. The processor inside the CCD camera increases the level of the received data so that there is a higher perce... | [
"url"
] | [
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b1eejg | Why can't we freely zoom-in in videos/gifs while we can in still-photos? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eil5vmy"
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"text": [
"You can...? I don’t recall the last time I used a desktop media player that didn’t support this and mobile players are starting to (iOS does out of the box)."
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b1gkfd | Why do mobile apps get updates so frequently? | Some of the apps literally have updates in 2-3 days. What is it that they are adding to the app so frequently? Is it not possible to have delayed updates that are larger in size? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"eillf8u"
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"text": [
"A few reasons. 1) It's very easy to update an app, even for small changes. A day's work could solve a lot of problems, and just a few button clicks sends it out to everyone 2) Apps potentially have much smaller dev teams than a lot of other software. This cuts down on t... | [
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] | [
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] |
b1h81u | Why are 4k TVs with a ton of features cheaper per-inch than a computer monitor of equivalent specs? | Why do computer monitors cost so much when a 50inch 4k tv with HDR can cost as little as 600EUR these days? The same argument can be made for smartphone screens, AMOLED screens of 4k resolution with perfect blacks, smaller, pricier to manufacture, attached to a fully functional pocket computer, cost less than a larger ... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"eillmec"
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"text": [
"There are some specs that aren’t mentioned in tvs. One important spec is latency. I would venture to say that a tv will be much slower on the order of 15- or more milliseconds. A good gaming monitor has 1 millisecond response time."
],
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4
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"text_... | [
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b1j0u7 | How does programming a video game work? Can the devs test it at any given moment? | I understand that there are software like Unity that helps out, but what about older games like Super Mario? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eim0062"
],
"text": [
"Generally, a program must be \"compiled\" to run. Compiling the the process of taking human-readable programming and turning it into computer-readable machine code. When programming, the programmer will do a bunch of changes, compile the program, and test the compiled v... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
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b1l8cs | If computers run on code, then how did the original computers know how to process code? How was the first computer programmed? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eimi0ir"
],
"text": [
"There is something called \"machine code\", which is the code actually executed by processors. The processors are physically built to understand such code, they \"know\" how to execute it because of the way their transistors are connected."
],
"score": [
5
],
... | [
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b1le73 | How does the 4k recording on an S5 differ from the 4k recording on the S10 if it's the same resolution? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eimk2jg"
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"text": [
"The video sensor picks up less noise on the S10, the preprocessor does a better job of interpolating the signal, and the compression preserves the data that better represents what was originally seen. Think of the video like a glass of water. Both videos hold 4K (or 4oz... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b1lfuj | How does Dolby Surround and Pro Logic work if it's just stereo audio? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eimihqo"
],
"text": [
"Prologic works by flipping the phase on the audio meant for the rear channel. The decoder works like this: * any audio this is present on both the left and right channel and is in phase, is routed to the center speaker. * any audio that is present on both the left and r... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b1moka | What's the difference in frigates, cruiser, corvette, Battleships, destroyers, and dreadnoughts? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eimsin0"
],
"text": [
"A battleship is a large, heavily armored warship with big guns. A dreadnought is just a name for a type of battleship that was popular from 1906 until the interwar years based off the British battleship HMS Dreadnought. Battleships have been obsolete since the end of WW... | [
"url"
] | [
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] | |
b1o40b | Why is it so difficult to program reflections in games? | I often see alot of discussion revolving around that subject and never quite see any reflections in games. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ein2726",
"einak2j"
],
"text": [
"There is so much to take into account because light bounces off of everything which is fine if the scene is static. Once you start moving around, you have to calculate every reflection, color changes, refraction, shadows, etc every single frame for every ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b1ogjr | Why do relatively popular free movie sites not get shut down sooner by authorities? | I'm all for it, im just curious how these sites stay up for so long. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ein57on",
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"ein4i1m",
"ein60mi"
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"text": [
"It may be that the computer servers operate in countries where there are no laws against it. I could be mistaken, but online gambling sites are similar in that regard",
"It's a combination of the sites' being hosted in co... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b1oujq | When an accident happens in public and multiple people call the police, how do operators know if a call has already been made about it? | So is there one or multiple operators? Do they just tell each other? Just came to my mind when I passed a car accident. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ein6u3a",
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],
"text": [
"There’s a central computer system that the incidents are logged into. I would expect the location of the incident and the other details would allow the operators to realize things have been reported already.",
"There is a program that every work stati... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b1tc56 | What are the sounds a PC makes when it's launched? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"einy5iy",
"eio0o76",
"einynco"
],
"text": [
"Are you asking about the POST (Power On Self Test) beeps? POST beeps indicate if all the hardware in the PC is healthy enough to run. When a PC is first turned on the boot process checks the CPU, RAM, video card, etc. to make sure they are ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b1vum9 | Why haven't we invented ray guns yet? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eioh236"
],
"text": [
"I mean lasers exist but even if ray guns existed, they likely wouldn’t look like what you see in movies with a visible beam flying through the air"
],
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3
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b1weqk | How accurate are older temperature recordings(i.e. ice cores, older measurements, other temp proxies)? | It's oft cited that worldwide temperatures have been rising but how well can we rely on data collected with less accurate tools or with proxies? PS: I'm not a climate denier just trying to explain to my denier friend and learn a little while Im at it | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eip3i4g"
],
"text": [
"We've had accurate instruments for only a couple of hundred years. But we have estate accounts and diaries going back many hundreds of years. These are not as accurate, but since they overlap the period of modern instruments we can compare the two and have a very good a... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b1xte5 | How were movies and TV shows edited and then copied for mass production before computers were capable of doing this for us? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eiovzrl",
"eiow4uk"
],
"text": [
"Movies used to be a long line of images, like photo negatives but on a much longer roll and comprising 24 or 26 frames per second. The movie was edited by physically cutting the roll after a frame and taping a new section of film (a new angle or scene) af... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b1y1oc | How does recycling work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eiow8z9"
],
"text": [
"Paper recycling starts with washing the paper in order to remove the ink. The paper is then dissolved in water in order to create “slurry”. To this slurry different compounds can be added, depending on the type of paper you want to make. Then slurry is spread out thinly... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b1yt3i | When taking a picture of a monitor or TV screen with a camera phone why does the screen seem to have moving waves and lines even after the picture is taken while zooming in and out? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eip2og3",
"eip2w8w"
],
"text": [
"It's called a moire pattern. It's the issue you have when you are looking at something laid out on a grid through a different grid. You end up with a really noticeable pattern of interference that changes as you move the grids relative to each other. & #x... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b21oo6 | Difference in generations of i7 processors | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eipnxkk"
],
"text": [
"Cpuboss and cpu.uderbenchmark are great tools for this. Just google 4790k vs 8700k, for example, and those 2 sites will usually be the top results. You can do it with graphics cards, too. As for your question, your CPU is a quad core with hyper threading (so an octa thr... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b23e7v | How does the wifi bridge work on my phone? | The Android system wifi bridge how does it actually work? & #x200B; I am currently sitting in my hotel lobby. I can access hotel wifi on my phone but my laptop is being annoying and refuses to log onto the splash page to click okay. Story of my life. & #x200B; I turn on Android Wifi Bridge. Everything is good right now... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eipyomu"
],
"text": [
"Hey that’s a neat feature! I’m not intimately familiar with the specifics of your phone, but I do have a fair knowledge of networks. What’s most likely going on is exactly the same process that 4G hotspot uses, but only involving wifi. Basically the laptop is connected ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b23wva | How would a hacker know whether my password only has lowercase letters, or also uppercase letters, numbers and symbols? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eiq1x1a"
],
"text": [
"The reason why they demand that you include upper case, lower and symbols is that if you were to only use lowercase letters, the password would be easy to guess. Most people will use a simple word as their password, if left to their own choice, and with modern systems y... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b24du4 | how do WhatsApp keep being online? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eiq3x80",
"eiq4a7s",
"eiq40sk"
],
"text": [
"One of the most important rules to realise on the internet: if it's free they're (probably) selling your Data",
"Facebook owns Whatsapp and uses some of WhatsApp’s data. If you talk to someone on WhatsApp, they are suggested as a Friend... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b2505l | How does the ISS never run out of fresh air to breathe ? | Since space has no air in it how can astronauts breathe fresh air inside the ISS? Edit: Thanks anonymous redditor for the gold! | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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],
"text": [
"**\\[EDIT2\\] This got a little more complicated the more I did research. So for a 5 year old:** The space station doesn't run out of air because NASA... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b256vs | What makes the iPhone more secure than other phones and how do people still hack it? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eiqb0ec"
],
"text": [
"Some if the security features like hard drive encryption are enabled by default on a current model iPhone. Most of the same features are available for an Android, but are not the default. Sometimes you need to use a different app altogether in order to get the best secu... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b27k4v | Why do electronics usually require 2 batteries instead of just one bigger battery? ie: 2 AAA instead of 1 AA. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eiqs5c8",
"eiqsgdt",
"eiqsv3q"
],
"text": [
"It's to do with the voltages at play. The common battery sizes -- AAA, AA, C, and D -- are all 1.5V. If you connect two batteries in series, you increase the voltage. So, 2 AAA batteries have a total voltage of 3V, compared to a single AA b... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b29l8t | Why does it seem like only a few mobile games appear in almost all mobile game ads ? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eir90ah"
],
"text": [
"There's actually several factors: 1 Remarketing, 2 Look-alike targeting, 3 Profile targeting 1. In remarketing if you ever demonstrate a whisper of interest in a product they will seize upon that and bend the powers of targeted advertising towards prolonged exposure. Th... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b2ao8w | why is there a lower limit to brightness on your smart phone. Why can’t they make it so that you can keep on turning it down till your phone turns completely dark ? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eirk7og",
"eirfdgw",
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"text": [
"Designer: Hey! Let's make it so the user can turn the brightness all the way down! Boss: Great idea. Are you volunteering to go sit your ass down in that chair, put on the headset, and spend the next 5 years fi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b2bggp | how is it possible to contact emergency services when there is no connection to a mobile network? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eirl0fi"
],
"text": [
"There's no signal on your carrier's network, but there may be a signal on another compatible tower operated by a different carrier. By federal law, cell networks must connect an emergency call from any phone capable of speaking to that tower, regardless if that phone ha... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b2ci5v | Why does old electronics make crackling noices when they get turned off? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eiruoqs"
],
"text": [
"Because when the device is on it creates heat and it expands and when you turn it off it starts to contracts. Just like the ticking when you turn your car off from driving"
],
"score": [
4
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b2cpl9 | When the FBI seizes a domain and a website why do they put an image saying the site has been seized instead of just deleting it completely? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eirutcj",
"eirxvmz"
],
"text": [
"To let people know what they are doing and to put a deterrence in the mind of people who might be using some sites for illegal activities, since the FBI might be tracking their activities.",
"There’s a potential for more data to be captured from those... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b2d1du | Why arent robots smart enough to check the “i am not a robot checkbox”? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"eirwp7c",
"eis5zbu",
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"eirxihi",
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"text": [
"It's not just the act of clicking the box that is observed, but the **how** the box is clicked. In other words, a few other factors like the movement of the mouse up to that point are checked to determine if an... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b2e36d | How to make a bot that responds to specific comments? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eis5w7a"
],
"text": [
"Do you have any programming experience at all? The fact that I’m not seeing you mention it means you must be asking for an entire tutorial on learning a scripting language and then making the bot, right?"
],
"score": [
3
],
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b2efkk | How does a microphone work | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eis7xfj"
],
"text": [
"The sound pressure from your speech (or whatever it is you're recording) causes a little magnet called a voice coil to move in and out within another piece of wire. A moving magnetic field generates an electric current that exactly corresponds to the magnetic field, and... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b2en5b | Batteries. What's the difference between volts and amps? How does a charger know when a battery is fully charged? | As a specific example, I have a drone that takes 3.7v and 500mAh, but I can use 3.7v and 750mAh batteries for it (from another drone) and it works just fine. Does it fly longer. Another example is that my daughter has one of those electric cars with a 6v 5amp battery in it. I replaced it with a 12v 5amp battery and it ... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eisd4vk",
"eis94ig",
"eisb736"
],
"text": [
"There are three different, but related quantities you’re asking about when it comes to batteries; - How ‘strong’ is your battery? Measured in Volts - How ‘fast’ can your battery go? Measured in Amps (or milliamps for smaller batteries) - Ho... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b2g6uh | Why when you take a picture of a screen does the camera puck up lines on the screen that you cant see? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eisgfvs"
],
"text": [
"Computer displays don't display the entire image constantly. They display alternating lines of pixels at a pace of the refresh rate of the monitor (for instance a 60 Hz monitor switches between the even lines and odd lines 60 times per second). Since a picture taken wit... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b2imoz | How does wireless connections actually work? I mean, how is the data transferred without physical connection? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eistjdu"
],
"text": [
"With radio waves, which are basically an invisible form of light. Instead of the electrical signals (current) traveling through a wire, they go into an antenna, where the current is sloshing back and forth. Electrons moving back and forth like that creates waves in the ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b2kfu8 | How do they take super old movies/footage and remaster it to 1080p HD or even 4K UHD? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eit6lm0"
],
"text": [
"A lot of movies were shot on film which have much higher resolution then a standard definition TV. It is only recently that movies are being shot on digital camera. So when you visited the movie theater in the 70s you were watching something at about the same quality as... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b2ltnf | How does a digital scale operate? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eitgji0"
],
"text": [
"There's a tiny accordion of metal foil encased in a nonconductive flexible backing. An electric current is run through the metal foil, and the resistance is measured. As the accordion is pushed together by the weight on the scale, the resistance changes according to a k... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b2lzdl | what caused the iconic old dial up internet tone from the 90s? did someone design that sound digitally or is that some sort of analog tone generated from hardware? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eithb39",
"eithf80"
],
"text": [
"If you've ever gotten a call from a fax machine, it'll sound familiar. That's the actual audio being send through the phone lines, being used to encode the data that on each end, gets turned back into a digital signal.",
"dial up uses sound to transfe... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b2mo7u | How doesn't my cars remote work on other cars? Like how isn't there another car with the same frequency if its even based on that? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eitmbtv"
],
"text": [
"they use the same frequency sure. but there are unique identifiers in the transmitter and receiver. only if the transmitter sends the correct code the receiver is expecting does it unlock. for cheap systems, these are hardcoded so anyone that knows the correct code can ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
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b2u5dr | How can a software be open source and secure from hacking at the same time? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Here's my code #1, I checked it with a few of my mates, and we don't think there's any vulnerabilities. You'll just have to trust us, because I don't want you seeing the code. & #x200B; Here's my... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b2yjff | Why do small screens have a better resolution than bigger screens? | Such as my laptop, with a 15 inch screen, which is 1080p, but my phone, with a very tiny screen relative to my laptop is 1440p? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eivtfsw",
"eivssuu"
],
"text": [
"You're looking at just 1 phone, and just 1 laptop screen. Look at ALL screens, and you will see you can get just about any screen resolution in any size you want. We now have tv's that are 8k, which is 4320p, and you can get them in 72\" at any place that... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b2yt8d | How is it possible for 2 devices to communicate without wires?! Bluetooth, WiFi, telephone...?! | It’s so mind boggling that somehow, even without wires connecting me from me to you, we can communicate. How does something transfer from one entity to another?? When I was a kid, with a wired phone, I always thought that the ways phones worked was that my audio traveled super fast through the wires outside my house to... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eivv3fy",
"eivv8nw"
],
"text": [
"Both devices have an antenna that resonates. The transmitting device sends the signal by encoding it in subtle changes to the vibration of the antenna, and the receiving device picks it up by listening on the same frequency. & #x200B; It is worth noting t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b34y91 | Why are we improving hardware instead of optimizing code? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eix68wl"
],
"text": [
"This is a systemic problem in the industry... To paraphrase XKCD \"I don't know how to tell you this, but everyone in IT is secretly terrible at what we do.\" There's only a handful of companies making hardware, but everyone and their dog are writing code. Improving har... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b38xgb | How exactly does heat make batteries discharge faster? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eixyio1"
],
"text": [
"Batteries generate electricity via chemical reactions. Chemical reactions rely on molecules that would like to interact bumping into each other. For some reactions they have to bump into each other with enough energy to overcome their natural stability enough to cause t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b3ae64 | How does the crease-free setting of a dryer work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eiy5d9w"
],
"text": [
"All the most common \"crease-free\" setting does is keep the temperature up in the dryer and spins the drum back and forth once a minute or so - in order to stop the clothes from settling in one spot and forming creases. It just buys you some extra time between when the... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b3as0t | If we can see cells with a microscope, why can’t we just keep adding lenses/magnification to see atoms fairly clearly (with electrons etc.)? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eiy769o",
"eiym1g5",
"eiyivev",
"eiyll8h",
"eiy8l2p",
"eiykcoy",
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],
"text": [
"We can only see things by bouncing light off them and then into our eyes. Lenses help us focus light so we can see small... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b3dhrm | How do electric cars work so it supplies enough energy to the car? | To my knowledge normal gas cars have to make continuous explosions (via the otto cycle) to make energy to make a car run, while electric cars dont (or so I'm assuming) so I'm wonder how much power does an electric car need to make it function? Also gas cars have a battery, so why cant that thing be used to power a whol... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eiyrcsx",
"eiyryjx"
],
"text": [
"Electric cars use an electric motor (or multiple motors in most cases) The electric motor is powered via electricity by energizing elector magnets that basically push and pull causing the motor to turn. Attach a wheel, and you've got something to strap in... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b3dpuq | Programming Concurrency | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eiyu5kt",
"eiz81ga"
],
"text": [
"Computer processing is like cooking. In the past, computers operated like household kitchens with a single cook. It was straightforward to list out all the tasks needed for that person to make food: prepare ingredients, cook them, plate them, and wash dis... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b3g9tz | How do stealth fighters like the F-22 or F-35 work? | How does the stealth technology in these aircraft work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eizdhiu",
"eizdw8j"
],
"text": [
"Radar works by sending a radio wave out. The radio wave hits the surface of an object and is reflected back at the radar station. It measures the time it takes for the radio wave it sent to get back and that tell you how far away and in what direction an ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b3ijog | If governments improve cybersecurity, are they really just learning more ways to access private data? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eizuhkw"
],
"text": [
"Yes, but the alternative is probably worse. See the government doesn't give a shit about you on an individual basis. What kind of porn you wack it too, your personal information, even your political affiliations, most governments couldn't care less so long as you aren't... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b3lh5g | Why do almost all FM radio frequencies have an odd decimal value? For example: 100.3, 91.5, 101.1 | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej0gi0o",
"ej0hkd2",
"ej0jtwc",
"ej0tnl8",
"ej0jfth",
"ej0vi7j",
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"ej124y3",
"ej0pw6r",
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"ej1salr",
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"ej0zr1n",
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"ej1l9yk",
"ej16pg4"
],
"text": [
"So the stations don’t interfere with each oth... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b3m9re | How does cable work? I know streaming shows and movies downloads bytes but does cable use bytes? Are cable recorded shows just files to be played back? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej0p6zk"
],
"text": [
"In the old days, cable contained analog signals. There are still some of those systems around. Cable now sends digital packets to the box. The box is simply a decoder. The digital packets contain bytes of digital information. Yes, the recorded shows are simply files. Th... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b3nfxe | How do computers accurately keep time? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej0t3wk",
"ej0twj1",
"ej0t5i2"
],
"text": [
"They have a tiny quartz crystal in them that vibrates at a constant speed (thousands of times per second). The computer counts the number of vibrations and knows a second has gone by after it reaches a certain number in its count. TL;dr pie... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b3nypp | How TLC ssd handle byte, kB etc with 3 bit cells? | As far as I know TLC can store 3 bits of data in cell. But you can't find X, where 2\^x is dividable by 3. So pretty much by changing value of one byte, you need to rewrite part of other byte, right? But to do this it must read the other byte. Or is it operating in some kind of strange chunks like 3\*x bytes to read/wr... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej0yfxp"
],
"text": [
"SSDs work in large blocks, like 16 & #8239;kiB which is 131 & #8239;072 bits. You can't change an individual bit or byte without rewriting the whole block. Dividing the above number of bits by 3 (rounding up) gives 43 & #8239;691 cells required to store a 16 & #8239;kiB... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b3petl | How come some images can take like 10 seconds to load but videos load fine? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej16ga4",
"ej15zwf"
],
"text": [
"The video website was ready but the image one wasn't. Whenever your phone/computer does anything to do with the Internet it's ultimately connecting to a machine at the other end that's not much more powerful. Sites like Youtube have thousands of machines ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b3pscp | What are the main technologic advancements that make it possible to store so much more data in increasingly smaller circuits? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej18dwj",
"ej18k5j"
],
"text": [
"Our ability to make tiny transistors which is largely driven by the machines that build them. I wouldn't say there is on specific thing that allows it, chip companies put a lot of effort into developing the machines that make the chips, and it's many adva... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b3q8m5 | Why does stropping a blade with leather make it sharper? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej19zjq",
"ej19pv2",
"ej1b5vt"
],
"text": [
"Basically, when you use a blade, the edge gets tiny imperfections which bring the edge out of alignment. Stropping realigns the edge of the blade without removing any material like a stone would. [This]( URL_0 ) website is great for visuali... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b3qxbd | What makes dollar store headphones sound so cheap and muffled? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej1gofa",
"ej1ghn7",
"ej20uor"
],
"text": [
"Low quality components. Speakers work by having a small magnet attached to a membrane. When electricity is pushed through the wires to a coil around the magnet, the magnet pulls back on the membrane. When the current cuts off the magnet is ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b3sleb | How did graphic designers enlarge images before computers? | I am wanting to no how did graphic designers enlarge a logo or sign they had designed before computers? were there special machines that could reproduce a design larger and what was it that did it? Thanks & #x200B; & #x200B; | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej1vi2q",
"ej1wkp8",
"ej2nin8",
"ej2r7xm"
],
"text": [
"Grid enlargement, where boxes are drawn on a picture and the stuff in the boxes is drawn on bigger boxes so they match. Projector enlargement, where a really bright light shines through the picture onto a big space and a spec... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b3sn0d | why do 220v circuits not need a neutral? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej1trjd",
"ej21q4o"
],
"text": [
"Circuits need a return path. In a normal circuit one uses a hot leg that swings to the max positive and negative voltage and a neutral that is nominally at 0 volts. This is partly because it means you only have 1 leg that has potentially dangerous voltage... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b3t76h | Why do many modern cars have a headlight that turns off when the turn signal on that side is activated? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej1xlxk"
],
"text": [
"Having a light on next to the turn signal makes it harder to see the blinking. This could contribute to an accident by hiding the signal."
],
"score": [
7
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b3vw5y | How do barcode scanners display the correct barcode number even when the barcode is upside down? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej2j5mk",
"ej2rohq"
],
"text": [
"The first block of lines and the last block of lines are a set symbol and aren't the same so it's easy to tell if it's reading left to right or right to left.",
"The barcode is split down the middle, and each half uses a different encoding for the dig... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b3xzzh | How does streaming music work? Where does the music come from? How are you able to scroll through a song that a while ago you didn't have in your phone | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej308g7"
],
"text": [
"Music is actually fairly \"small\" in size in the big scheme of things and for how fast most broadband connections are (including mobile connections) its a really easy thing to work with. Generally, the music would be downloaded and cached on your local device within se... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b3yc8q | How is the internet stored? Are there people who have like a million hard drives to store all of the internet so it can be accessed wirelessly? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej30gj6",
"ej30vvl",
"ej32a5f"
],
"text": [
"\"The internet\" isn't all in once place. Each site is stored by different entities, often in many different places. So there are millions of hard drives but they are also in millions of places. Also the \"so it can be accessed wirelessly\"... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b40s1n | How do electronics with battery indicators "know" how much battery they have left? | My phone has a battery icon that shows a visual representation and a percentage of battery remaining. How does it tell how full the battery is? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej3k53j",
"ej3irfy",
"ej3xlls",
"ej3kcux",
"ej44h3a"
],
"text": [
"Batteries voltage changes slightly as they discharge. A simple way is just to measure this voltage (like a battery tester). Smarter batteries, like laptop batteries, have micro-controllers built into them that ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b417bw | Is today's Qi charging the same wireless power technology that Nikola Tesla was ostracized for working on? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej3n1dr",
"ej3n8ad"
],
"text": [
"Basically, but it's also the same wireless power technology that's inside every AC power adapter and electrical transformer in the world. You've got two electromagnetic coils, and alternating current in one induces a voltage in the other: the only differe... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b45ld1 | How is data sent to one cell phone, not all cell phones connected to the same tower | When I receive a text message / data request, how does the cell tower send it directly to my phone! Does the tower just broadcast the message over its range with a specific ID tag (and other devices read but ignore the message)? My interest in this stems from privacy concerns, would it be possible for a user to see the... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej4b4q0",
"ej4c1oi",
"ej4i3il"
],
"text": [
"> Does the tower just broadcast the message over its range with a specific ID tag Basically, yes, that's exactly what they do, that tag id is your SIM card ID > My interest in this stems from privacy concerns, would it be possible for a use... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b492v7 | How do CPUs decode and run instructions ? Do they have a dedicated circuit for each instruction / opcode of their set ? | It’s unclear to me how the instruction contained in the ram is actually « parsed » and executed in the circuits | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej5ap02",
"ej55g7g"
],
"text": [
"First, an explanation of what the instructions actually are: Every component in a CPU is connected to a bus, which is a collection of wires that let the components communicate. That bus can have control bits, address bits, and data bits. A control bit tel... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b4agjq | What exactly happens when a country decides to block a website, f.ex. LiveLeak in Australia right now? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej5dmjm"
],
"text": [
"The government tells the companies that distribute high-tier Internet data \"block LiveLeak\". Those companies change their routing tables, to make that site inaccessible. Of course, there are VPNs and TOR to technically solve the problem, so sane governments don't do t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b4cbg8 | What exactly is this copyright law right from the EU against which people and organizations are demonstrating? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej5tg77"
],
"text": [
"I'll put it in simple terms as it's not a subject I'm exactly an expert on. Others will doubtless explain it better afterwards. Essentially the new law proposes to improve copyright of materials online, with a view to protecting authors' rights to materials they produce... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b4e2to | How does Cloudflare work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej6nav2"
],
"text": [
"Cloudflare is a content distribution network (a CDN). Cloudflare works by having many copies of the website spread all over the world and giving people the IP address for the server closest to them when they visit a web site. That is the ELI5 version. Below I try to kee... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b4en6m | What is the goal of all the "sexy girl" fake profiles? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej68hdv",
"ej6ad1y",
"ej6fygq",
"ej6mfja",
"ej6nff3",
"ej6npdc",
"ej6n2wz",
"ej68kk8",
"ej6rsbw",
"ej6sw9t",
"ej6n1ma",
"ej6nlr7",
"ej6p0q9",
"ej6n2zd",
"ej6p1in"
],
"text": [
"The link is most likely to a service you need to pay for tha... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b4f3wn | How come patented things say "patent pending" on them? | At this point, it seems like the patent is no longer pending, but in use. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej6bh1h"
],
"text": [
"That means they have applied for a patent, but it hasn't been granted yet, so they don't have a patent number to list."
],
"score": [
13
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b4g76p | How the hell do ac motors work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej6iil3"
],
"text": [
"You basically have a rotating magnetic field. Your AC voltage runs through a ring made of electromagnets called a stator. The stator magnets fire in pairs almost instantly. Inside the stator, which looks like a copper donut, is where you'll have your axle (spinning part... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b4ifdo | Why do "simple" online games like Hearthstone have such a big delay? | If complex online games like World of Warcraft can be played in Real time despite the supposedly huge amount of information that has to be communicated between the clients, I'm wondering why games like Hearthstone have any noticeable delay at all. I would imagine that the only information that needs to be transmitted i... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej71avh",
"ej6u40c"
],
"text": [
"TCP is to make sure all packages of data arrive to destination. UDP just sends them fast not caring if they arrive or not. I suppose HS uses TCP to be sure that no action any player does is lost. And wow needs to go fast to maintain the \"real time\" illu... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b4nbmd | How can a computer restart itself? | I am assuming a restart is the same as a shutdown and boot up. If that’s the case, how can a computer go from completely off, to turning itself back on without additional user input? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej7u68p"
],
"text": [
"When you shut the computer down, the operating system is shut down and the motherboard turns off afterwards. When you select restart, it shuts down the operating system but the motherboard stays on and boots the operating system again."
],
"score": [
12
],
"... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b4plls | Why are eyeballs and teeth rendered separately from the rest of the head in a video game. | As can be seen in the picture below and in many other video games, why are the eyeballs and teeth rendered separately from the rest of the head? Ive always wondered why. Picture for context: URL_0 | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej8j44i",
"ej8dgy8",
"ej8e6ln"
],
"text": [
"***TL;DR:*** *Skin stretches. Teeth don't. Eyeballs rotate. All are different actions that are a lot easier to work with if you keep them as separate pieces of an animated human character.* \\--- Let's time travel a bit to answer your quest... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b4ufld | How do nuclear missile submarines receive orders from the president to launch a nuke while underwater? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej9aqxv",
"ej9jjge"
],
"text": [
"When deep, an ELF signal can be used to tell them to come up for further info. Extremely Low Frequency signals are very constrained, so it would take a long time to send/receive a more detailed message. But once they come up to a shallower depth, they can... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b4vrd4 | How are pictures of planets so focused and not blurred, when they move at a speed of several km/s? | How do telescopes a) keep celestial bodies in the frame, b) focused and c) not blurred, when said bodies move at really high speeds (googled Pluto: ca 5km/s)? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej9ek22",
"ej9eyhu",
"ej9i9t3",
"ej9jrag",
"ej9idyg",
"ej9lr0j",
"ej9elrk",
"ej9levk",
"ej9lbp6",
"eja5pxp"
],
"text": [
"They're very far away. It's like looking at a distant mountain, or any object on the horizon, when you're in a car. It's far enough tha... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b4vrt6 | What’s the physical difference between a low end budget speaker and a high end pro one? | More specifically I’m wondering about the speaker cone itself. Is it anything to do with speaker cone materials, shape, design, testing, etc, or is the biggest difference found in the drivers? (I realise brand and to a lesser extent quality of electronics makes a difference to price.) Bonus question: is it possible to ... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej9jecl",
"eja1k3i",
"ej9lc01",
"ej9inrj"
],
"text": [
"First, high-end and professional speakers are not the same. What you hear during concert will never work well at home. Second, speakers and speaker cones are very important, but it's just part of what makes a high-quality spe... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b4w2b7 | How does P2P encryption work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej9jups",
"ej9lm07",
"ej9l8qw",
"ej9rwv4"
],
"text": [
"Whenever you send a message, the message is locked (encrypted) using a key . The key is unique in the sense that you and only the intended recipient has the key to that lock. Thus, only the recipient can unlock (decrypt) the ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b4y4ib | how do doctors know if babies need spectacles? And if they can assess babies without them reading letters/numbers why can’t they assess others that way? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej9ws84"
],
"text": [
"The lens work the same way in both direction. So you you look into the eye and the retina is not sharp the image the eye see it not sharp. It is quite normal today that the first thing you do when you check you eye is to look into a machine where if you just focus on th... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b4ym3b | How do movies get “frozen/still” shots of an action scene with everyone perfectly still, but the camera panels around the room? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ej9zikp",
"ej9zusq",
"eja0lvv"
],
"text": [
"The Matrix (1999) pioneered this filming technique. They used a line of cameras arranged in a circle around the action scene. At the \"freeze\" moment, all the cameras capture an image at once. When you play each of the camera images in the... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b4zd6d | How can a computer program written to play chess defeat world champion? Is it only because it is fast and can compute all possible moves? If yes, can a human defeat it, given infinite time? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eja49m4",
"eja7a3e"
],
"text": [
"Computer programs can be written to learn from experience just like humans can. And they can play many, many more games very quickly. Just like humans get better with experience, so can the program.",
"A chess computer can't calculate all possible mov... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b50rrh | Why didn't firearms people other than snipers and machinegunners just paint dots on glass sights? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ejae4u7"
],
"text": [
"A reflex sight isn't just a dot on glass, a dot on the glass doesn't show you where the bullet will go unless you're looking at it dead on A reflex sight uses creative lenses and mirrors to make the dot appear \"at infinity\" so it is always straight down the barrel fro... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b53vp5 | How heart rate sensor in smartphones detect user's heart beat through index finger? | I downloaded a fitness app last night and found a feature where users can measure heart beat by putting index finger on phone lense. How does it work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ejb2dl8"
],
"text": [
"Pretty sure they’re optical sensors that use a bright light to illuminate your veins and then take a sort of “picture” of how rapidly the veins are shrinking and expanding."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b55iob | why is the sound on cell phone conversations still so bad in 2019 when compared to a hard line ? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ejbfs8j"
],
"text": [
"There are better quality options available, however, it requires that every piece of equipment along the way support the higher quality protocol. That is to say, your phone has to support it, your carrier has to support it, the other guy's carrier has to support it, and... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b55ize | how does the autofucos function work on modern cameras? | Basically what it says above. How do cameras or I guess more specifically the computers in a camera or smartphone know when the image is in focus? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ejbdh40"
],
"text": [
"If you calculate the contrast it the color difference between pixels next to each other, it is highest when you are in focus. If you are out of focus it is blurred and each pixel is a lot closer to the neighbor in color. & #x200B; There are other way that it can be done... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b55ri0 | how come when I’m on a call and it’s connected to a speaker, the other person can’t hear themselves despite their voice being the loudest thing in the room | Bonus question: why does this only happen with certain speakers and on others the other person hears an echo | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ejbhxo5"
],
"text": [
"Telephone devices use \"echo cancellation\" techniques to prevent people hearing themselves like this. It's hard to do well, especially in environments where the hardware is moving about. Devices listen for echoes of their outgoing signal to work out their delay and vol... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b57h98 | What’s inside CPUs? | I understand that there are silicon, micro/nano chips, resistors and transistors, but what is it that make all the ACC, ALU and CU etc work? And how they they translated to machine code to make a whole system work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ejboor1"
],
"text": [
"> but what is it that make all the ACC, ALU and CU etc work? The aforementioned transistors, resistors, etc. Binary operations are performed simply by flipping switches, and the logic comes in with how those switches are arranged. > And how they they translated to machi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
b57p3e | Why can my phone easily catch WiFi and mobile data, but can't catch any radio frequencies without headphones plugged in? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ejbqa5f"
],
"text": [
"It has to do with the length of the antenna: The lower the frequency of the signal, the longer your antenna needs to be in order to properly pick up the signal. It still works with a shorter antenna, but the signal strength will drop of quite a bit. So an antenna that i... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b5aol6 | Ad blockers are common for Computer applications, (Adblock+) Why is it uncommon to find working ad lockers for mobile phones? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ejc52s7",
"ejc9hpf"
],
"text": [
"firefox on android supports plugins just like its desktop counterpart such as ublock origin. google chrome on android on the other hand does not have the same extension system as the desktop version",
"Mobile apps and operating systems in general are ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
b5cso0 | How does one-way encryption for passwords work? How is it possible to convert text into a hash, but not be able to reverse engineer a hash back into text? | Trying to understand SHA-256 | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ejcnfkz",
"ejcnf7j"
],
"text": [
"The easiest way is to think of a non-secure hash algorithm. Take the letters, represented as 8-bit ASCII numbers, and add them up. Save the last 3 digits of the sum as the hash. In ASCII A=65, B=66, ... . If your password is ABCDEF, that gives a hash of 4... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
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