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jdyvw0
Why is a Ethernet cable connection more stable than WiFi?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9b5u5p", "g9b6483" ], "text": [ "Imagine filing a bucket with a hose and the other with the rain wich one will fill faster?", "Less interference - the signal that your WiFi uses must (by law) be within a specific frequency range, in order not to interfere with things like public radi...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jdzgvk
How exactly does “lossless” audio work (and why is it important)?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9b9ovd", "g9b9t4x" ], "text": [ "\"Lossless\" and \"lossy\" refers to compression, the method in which large files are made small enough to be reasonable to store and transport. Lossless compression schemes will always restore the file to what it originally was. It will never \"lose\" an...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
je0dp6
How do the machines at the exit of a store detect an un-purchased product?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9bdrvl", "g9be8kw" ], "text": [ "It varies by stores, but most of them make use of a disposable tag and have readers by the doors. At time of purchase, said tags are removed, or encoded to no longer trigger the readers by the door. Check this: [ URL_0 ]( URL_0 )", "EAS stands for ele...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
je0t4i
Why does depth matter in regards to water resistance on cell phones? The new iPhone is rated for up to 6 meters for 30 minutes. Why is 6 meters ok when anything deeper isn’t? Does pressure matter that close to the surface?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9bh96r", "g9bh4jx", "g9bkaro", "g9bhfop", "g9bhtq9" ], "text": [ "You answered your question already: pressure. Small slits and sealings fail at certain pressure. Pressure increases rapidly under water. Starting from the surface, pressure increases by 1 atm (100 kPa) every 10...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
je1jq0
Why is Apple using ARM at all?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9blvk6" ], "text": [ "> Cant apple just make their own architecture in-house and skip over the middleman (ARM)? Sure, they just need to hire a couple thousand experienced chip designers, spend $10B, and wait a few years ARM has already done most of the legwork with designing good enough CPU ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
je4i2d
is wireless signal targeted to a device or is the signal sent in every direction?
If my phone is playing music but I'm hearing it on a bluetooth device, the information of the music is being sent on every direction? Isn't that a huge waste of energy?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9c7b7y", "g9c77pv", "g9c7i3q" ], "text": [ "It's being sent in every direction. Some newer wireless standards can aim the signal to a certain degree at least. It's not really the power consumption that's the problem with this but cross-talk from all sorts of other wireless devices.",...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
je7086
How do fighter jets detect that they've been locked as a target of a missile?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9dgltq", "g9cotba", "g9cny90", "g9cofko", "g9dp6ok", "g9crbbs", "g9coicu", "g9dghrw", "g9d45x2", "g9dbj1m", "g9e0g8p", "g9dcfqy", "g9ehzwd", "g9djjc1", "g9coenm", "g9e0xlw", "g9ea8yh" ], "text": [ "Ooh! Finally! A question I'm 1...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jebdih
what is the point of fan ovens being able to turn the fan on by itself
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9dezw1", "g9de2co" ], "text": [ "It will change your life.. you ready???? You put frozen food on a tray with the door ajar a little and it will defrost in about 1/3 of the time it would just left on the work top", "I've never heard of a fan-only mode on an oven. o.O Is this a manufac...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jedja8
What is that hot air balloon eye test for?
Just had my eyes tested and wondered what the machine where you have to look at the hot air balloon is for.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9dr4wa" ], "text": [ "It's called an autorefractor and it determines the starting point for your prescription which is then narrowed down using the \"One? Or Two?\" device." ], "score": [ 13 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jefm1l
Why can’t cold fusion work?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9e79w6", "g9e39s2" ], "text": [ "For fusion to take place, a large amount of energy is required to overcome the electrostatic force. Also known as the Coulomb force, this is the force that repels protons in the nucleus from other positively charged particles, like other protons. When two...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jefx7o
How do Sensors work?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9e3zj2", "g9edha3" ], "text": [ "It's most likely an infrared sensor. Your hands are 98 degrees, the room is 72 degrees. The sensor senses the heat coming off of your skin.", "They're almost always infrared. Using night vision goggles you can see the pulses of light. They then have a...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jehb5i
is there any difference between having two ram sticks of 4 gb each and one ram stick of 8 gb?
and if there is, what is that difference? what should i get?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9eczkx" ], "text": [ "Theoretically, yes. Practically, most likely not. If you install two sticks of matching RAM and your motherboard supports \"dual channel\" mode, then you could see a theoretical boost in RAM utilization because both channels can be run at maximum capacity over an equiva...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jeig4o
before advanced timekeeping technologies, how did we first figure out exactly how long a year was?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9ejvi2", "g9ek4wn" ], "text": [ "In early spring, note the position along the horizon at which the Sun rises (and/or sets). For added precision, set up a couple of large stones to mark the alignment. Keep an accurate tally of days as that sunrise position moves north and south and north ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jeisnm
What is the difference between RAM and ROM?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9elpuj", "g9emvxp" ], "text": [ "RAM is your computer's \"working memory\" - it's like a huge notepad where the computer can jot down anything it needs to remember as it works. The amount matters, and so does the speed - ideally you'll have a big notebook *and* you'll be able to write in...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jels3p
Why has solar power become so much cheaper?
... and how much cheaper can it get?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9f0sqo" ], "text": [ "The more industry, research and logistics are devoted to a product, the cheaper it becomes. Since material-, labor- and shipping costs depend on the former factors and margins depend on competition there aren't really any realistic minimum price points to be guessed her...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jen3ge
How does the science of solar (photovoltaic) panels actually work?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9f6onw" ], "text": [ "The real science is based on quantum physics which can be hard to explain. But the simple explanation is that photovoltaic cells consists of two different crystal structures bonded together. One side have impurities that cause it to have too many electrons then it shoul...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jeo6ub
What would happen to the Voyagers once they are out of fuel to operate in interstellar space?
In a year or so, there won’t be enough fuel left to keep the heaters working, and everything of value will shut down in both the Voyagers. What will then happen? Will the communication transmission break?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9fc6pv", "g9fx1dk", "g9i3nn4" ], "text": [ "Yes. No energy, no transmission. They will freeze and drift through space forever (or until they randomly hit some other object)", "Fun fact- the voyagers are so far away from us it takes nearly a full day for the signals to reach us at...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jephvd
Why CGI in early 2000 movies looks more realistic than movies today?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9fjg2m", "g9fke64" ], "text": [ "In 1998 CGI was EXPENSIVE. So it was used sparingly and combined with traditional SFX to make things work. As CGI got cheaper movies could use more of it for less money. Now some fast and dirty CGI is actually the cheapest option for most sfx scenes. So w...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jerag4
What's the point of signing something (like signing an iPhone with your finger) if it looks nothing like your actual signature?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9fu47x", "g9fzl7h" ], "text": [ "The law lags behind technology. It's easier for tech companies to come up with a tech solution to the problem than it is for the law makers to create a new law.", "These days, signatures aren't really used to verify your identity in most cases. They'r...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jest69
How does Audio in Old Video Games sound "Pixelated"?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9g3e1q", "g9g35qk", "g9islye" ], "text": [ "There’s usually a single chip and it’s designed to take in electrical current and output literally mathematic noise. Most chips have “voices” or the number of notes that can be played at once. On the C64 I believe it had 3 and each one was ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jexkcf
How can a camera lens tell what is close up and what is far away when it refocuses?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9gz0te" ], "text": [ "The lens does not do that it is the camera. The focus is changed by moving elements in the lens but it is the camera body that controls the motion. It is multiple ways it can be done. The simples to explain is contrast-detection. It works like if you focus it manually m...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jexx1u
How does the internet work?
Whenever I’ve asked this to someone they just give me some nonchalant sentence that goes like “it’s a bunch of servers connected to each other”. I’m 30 and still don’t understand how the internet works exactly.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9gzmod", "g9hrcm3", "g9gzqx9", "g9iqg8y" ], "text": [ "if you think of it this way. the internet is like people relaying messages to each other. the computers (or people) want to talk to each other. but they have no direct way of talking to each other. what they do instead is go ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jey77e
With the massive increase in bandwidth and network speeds, why do web browsers and other internet apps continue to use caching?
I just went through the apps on my phone and cleared the cache on my Chrome and Reddit apps. The cache was quite large on both, and it made me wonder why these types applications even use caching anymore. Plus if I ever go back to a page, generally I want the most up to data and wouldn't even want the cached version.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9h1l6z", "g9h4me9" ], "text": [ "Because network speeds aren't *that* good. For the most part, caching has very few drawbacks. Most web/app content doesn't change very frequently (if at all), and it will always be faster to recall a cached local copy than request a new one from a server....
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jeygfd
What are all the different types of noises that an MRI makes when you’re getting a scan? And why is it different noises every few minutes?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9hrvt1", "g9hikg9", "g9hqmz6", "g9hq5tz" ], "text": [ "An MRI machine collects data by delivering electromagnetic energy into the body to ‘flip’ the spins of nuclei in the body. When the nuclei flip back, they emit electromagnetic signals of the same frequency that are then detec...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jeyohy
Why is 8d music called that?
I like 8d music but I’ve always wondered why it’s called that
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9h4agz" ], "text": [ "It's 8 directions, not 8 dimensions. It's because the source can move forward, backwards, left and right, up and down and around you" ], "score": [ 5 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jezbha
What would happen if I charge my phone with a charger that produces higher watts
e.g. my iPhone 11 charger is 18w but I use my MacBook Pro to charge is (which is 61w)
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9h9loj" ], "text": [ "Nothing. The actual charging circuitry is inside the phone, and the phone will only draw as much current from the charger as it needs, In fact phone chargers shouldn't even be called chargers. They're just power supplies." ], "score": [ 6 ], "text_urls": [ ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jf0j0c
How is a wi-fi enabled device able to tell the signals from one specific wireless router from the (potentially) hundreds of other wireless routers in range?
Also, how is it able to simply do a scan and see all the wi-fi networks in range? Wouldn't all those separate wireless signals travelling through the air at the same time interfere with each other to some degree?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9hks9y" ], "text": [ "Wifi breaks the frequency in channels similar to TV. Your computer or phone will surf through the channels and listen for a bit to see what is on the channel. Each access point or router will broadcast a unique ID number and also a name set by the user. This scan will m...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jf2jlh
Why cant we rename folders when a file inside is opened/in use?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9ht4to" ], "text": [ "Because whatever program has the file open is accessing the file by its \"path\", which is the entire sequence of folders and sub-folders and sub-sub-folders starting at the root of the hard drive. If you renamed one of the folders along that path, the program would no ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jf3bgz
how the heck do waveforms (like sine, saw, or square waves) work?
EDIT: Explanation I mean how do they make the sound that they do, why do they sound the way that that do?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9hzayp" ], "text": [ "This video is a bit above eli5 level, but it's a very good introduction to how a particular shape of waveform can contain many different frequency components. URL_0" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text_urls": [ [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spUNpyF58BY&a...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jf468e
How can a car battery die from a light being left on overnight, then a quick jumper cable charge has it good as new for months+?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9i308v", "g9i2w3a", "g9i3711" ], "text": [ "Whenever your engine's running, your alternator should be working, and one of its jobs is to recharge your battery. So whenever you go for a decently-long drive, your battery charge should increase. If everything's working well you'll get t...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jf47q2
Why does iPhone (and I presume Androids as well) display cellular connection in the status bar as "3G" or "5G", but "LTE" instead of "4G"?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9ie9y7", "g9i3k93" ], "text": [ "I seem to recall AT & T lieing and advertising as the first to 4G, which was actually 3G with extended backhaul (HSPA+). 4G LTE was advertised to differentiate from the \"fake\" 4G advertised by AT & T.", "\"LTE\" was originally used because early net...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jf4rsh
How do wireless chargers work? Like honestly how do they charge phones and whatnot
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9i8te1" ], "text": [ "iductivity. when current goes through a circle, it creates magnetic field. when magnetic field changes, it makes current in metal circles. so, you have a pad with a circle, through wich current goes & changes regularly. it changes the magnetic field, which affects curre...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jf67sn
Why Would YouTube Enforce COPPA Regulations?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9ifng1" ], "text": [ "COPPA is a law in the US, YouTube is a US-based company. To remain a legal business, they are required to comply with COPPA. Their other option is to move their entire business outside the US, but that could cause other complications of ISPs potentially blocking access ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jf6lee
Why does stuff videoed from far away look like its going in slow motion until it gets close?
Ive noticed this a couple times, the most notable and recent of which being this clip from r/videos URL_0
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9iiw7x" ], "text": [ "Part of it is we track motion in general by how fast it travels across our eyes. And stuff farther away has to move a longer distance to cover the same angle as something a foot away. Another part is that there's no real evolutionary reason to treat fast moving objects ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jf7hja
How does youtube know I have watched enough of a video to justify paying a creator?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9imv3f" ], "text": [ "around 30 seconds. But this progress bar isn't for the creator it's for you the viewer to more easily see if you've seen the whole thing and isn't connected to if they get paid or not" ], "score": [ 9 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jf7ka6
Why is Africa frequently shown as smaller than its actua size on maps? (Or I guess why are maps in general not proportionate??)
I've seen a (non) literal billion maps with different depictions of how large Africa is. I gather that it is actually far larger than the United States, but it doesn't usually seem to be depicted that way. This seriously confuses me. ISS flyovers give a good idea of the difference. Why are so many maps disproportionate...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9imuvx", "g9in5zs", "g9inw9q" ], "text": [ "There’s no clean way to convert from a sphere to a flat drawing. Different maps use different methods of conversion, but each method tends to distort certain continents by making them look bigger or smaller. You can read about the Mercator ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jfao71
How do those “power saver” boxes work, if it all, to reduce household appliance electricity usage?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9j2r9g", "g9j33q5" ], "text": [ "As far I am aware they don't. They shift power between real and inductive/capacitive, but unless you have a contract that reflects those (big power consumers like factories so) it won't change your bill at all. So it's basically a scam, because a multimet...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jfc4p6
Why bother with the URL_0 ? Is there another option?
While we no longer need to write out the " URL_0 " in order to get to our website of choice, indeed most of us just search google for it now, I'm wondering what the purpose of this ever was. Why did this need to be spelled out? What was the original purpose of it? Perhaps a pre-web-browser thing? DO we still need this ...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9jchpp", "g9jbbot", "g9jded8", "g9kgbfl", "g9jauaa", "g9jb97c" ], "text": [ "When all of this was developed, there was no telling how these interconnected sets of computers would be used by the public at large. So things were designed with lots of flexibility and openness...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jfesle
How can radios tune in to multiple frequencies if their antennas are a fixed length?
If antennas should be exactly half the size of the wavelength of the signal, how can radios tune in to a wide range of frequencies? Also, can you change the range of a radio receiver by just replacing the antenna or is there more to it than that?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9jwmrk", "g9ku0by" ], "text": [ "The tuning isn't done with the antenna, it's done by adjusting the resonant frequency of a little circuit inside the radio. That circuit has a high \"Q\", meaning it's really good at amplifying signals that are right at the current tuned frequency, and re...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jfgvqy
How did Roman technology get lost and how did it stay lost for so long?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9k57rx", "g9kf60k", "g9kxgb0", "g9k53qv" ], "text": [ "It’s a bit of a false history that Roman technology was collectively lost for centuries. Facing internal divisions and external pressure, the Roman Empire split in half in the 4th century and the western half collapsed soon a...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jfh6wj
what is the difference between firmware and software
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9k6f6b", "g9k9p2f", "g9kcqsb" ], "text": [ "Firmware is actually a very specialized piece of software. Often small and not changed very often, and died to a specific piece of hardware that allows it to run properly.", "It kind of helps to include hardware in there too, since \"fi...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jfmb88
If cell phones are essentially just radios, why can't anyone just build a receiver to listen to calls?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9l4ddt", "g9l4v5j", "g9ldbqh" ], "text": [ "While cell phones certainly are not \"essentially just radios\" (you might be thinking of walkie-talkies) and - depending on the transmission standard - there will be quite a lot of authentication going on for transmitted signals, siphoning...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jfowe9
How come my MacBook Pro 16" has internal SSD speeds of 2800 MB/s Read/Write while my external Samsung T5 SSD only goes up to about 500 MB/s?
How come the difference is so huge? And are there any faster alternatives?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9lk619" ], "text": [ "The t5 uses a SATA (3) SSD internally, which sets a cap at the transfer speed between the ssd and the chip between your computer and the ssd at a maximum of 600 megabytes per second (minus protocol overhead, etc)." ], "score": [ 4 ], "text_urls": [ [] ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jftroq
Is "planned obsolescence" a real thing with our devices?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9mf057", "g9mpsj4", "g9mdlgx", "g9n1hgm", "g9mh87b", "g9myoao", "g9nhtrf", "g9n3t9m", "g9mege2" ], "text": [ "Sorta. Rechargeable batteries do go bad. They do not last forever, and if phone manufacturers put customers first, batteries would be replaceable. BUT...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jfuoj7
Why was no one preparing for Y2K until the years right before it?
Basically the title. Why were so many computer programs designed to roll back to 1900 and why did the programmers writing programs not do anything about something they knew was going to happen?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9mj1we" ], "text": [ "By the late 1990s most program written were already Y2K compliant, outside of minor bugs like leap year handling problems. The problem was with older systems that were written in the 60s and 70s. Of course programmers were aware of the problem, but companies needed to a...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jfvhz2
Why are .mp4 videos automatically streamable once uploaded to the cloud while other videos such as .flv need to be encoded first?
I was working on an assignment last night for my cloud computing course. The assignment was to stream a .flv video on different cloud services. After some research, turns out I have to encode them first. This what sparked up the question.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9mrzqg", "g9mpepr" ], "text": [ "Video files are actually multiple parts. There's the \"container\" and then inside that are tracks for video and audio... and sometimes subtitles and other things. The container has information that explains how the video and audio tracks are formatted, a...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jg1lre
How is electricity used to create freezing cold temperatures (Ex. Freezer/Air Conditioner)
It makes sense how electricity can lead to hot temperatures, but how does it convert to cold temperatures?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9nlj7b" ], "text": [ "Air conditioners take advantage of the ideal gas law - when you compress a gas it gets hotter, and when you expand a gas it gets colder. Your AC takes a specialized coolant gas outside and compresses it until it’s very hot. Then it allows this hot gas to cool off outsid...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jgc5th
What is UFS (Universal Flash Storage) and how can it be a standard and also a card?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9pqk74" ], "text": [ "It's a lot like microSD flash cards. The UFS is a standard for the mechanicals (size, shape, contact placement, etc.) and the electrical interface, including how the memory behaves. It's not really \"a\" card; it's the way you describe *any* card that meets the standard...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jgh4o6
How Are Hertz And FPS different
So the new consoles are coming out and I wanted to know if I needed a 120 Hertz monitor to play with 120 fps or if my 30 Hertz tv will suffice.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9qetzb", "g9qelas" ], "text": [ "If your computer generates frames faster than the screen can display them, you can get a phenomenon called 'screen tearing'. That doesn't hurt anything. It just means your screen draws the top half of frame 5078, then the computer generates frame 5079 and...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jgiy5t
What is source code and how do they compile into apps?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9qnopd" ], "text": [ "From my understanding, a compiler takes a source code, code the creator(s) writes, and translates into assembly language, a language in which a computer system can understand and execute." ], "score": [ 5 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jglhnt
Why isn't electric motorcycles that big of a thing?
I've read somewhere that the only significant difference between conventional motorcycles and electric ones are that one uses gas and the other uses batteries. What are the drawbacks as to why people don't entertain the idea of electric motorcycles much? I think it's got something to do with the mileage and business bu...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9r00x2", "g9r015r", "g9r1rr4", "g9qzs6h", "g9s7vv2" ], "text": [ "The biggest problem is with mileage. Electric cars have *massive* batteries in order to have reasonable mileage. A motorcycle, even with the much lighter body, would only have a range of about 50 miles at best ...
[ "url" ]
[ "url" ]
jgminz
Why when you use a phone camera to take a picture of a computer screen, does the picture turn out slightly distorted with weird lines in it?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9rb3qn" ], "text": [ "It's called a moire pattern. The computer screen is a grid of pixels, and the camera is another grid of light sensors. Those weird lines come up when you put two grids on top of each other, and they don't line up quite that well. You can see the same effect when you put...
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jgof6m
What causes the distortion in this photo to change so drastically when zooming in and out. Also why does this happen when taking a photo of a display?
URL_0
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9rlalu" ], "text": [ "Ah, No Man’s Sky - my favorite space billionaire simulator. Your display is an array of tiny rectangular diodes that emit light. Your camera is an array of tiny rectangular sensors that detect light. Your phone screen that you’re zooming in and out on is - you guessed i...
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jgog0n
Why is the International Space Station approaching its expiration date?
I have heard there are plans of letting the ISS crash down and burn up into the atmosphere. Why can't they just do maintenance and keep it running? It sounds incredibly wasteful to me to let those years of hard work just wither away.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9rhrlu", "g9rhw7v", "g9rirku", "g9rvew2", "g9rth8a" ], "text": [ "There are plans, but it's certainly not set in stone yet. > Why can't they just do maintenance and keep it running? At some point operational costs exceeds it's value. Think of it like keeping a used car runnin...
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jgqc1y
Why does only charging a lithium battery to 75 percent help prevent premature aging of the battery? Can’t they just make an app or program that makes it look like 75 is max capacity to prevent the battery from dying faster?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9rwzoc", "g9rtows" ], "text": [ "All modern battery designs for electric cars and phones and such already do this. When it says \"100 percent\" it doesn't mean \"literally the maximum possible -- no more electrons, now fuck off.\" It means \"This battery is fully charged to what we think...
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jgqfgt
WiFi: difference between 2.4 ghz and 5ghz
Which is better? Which should I use and why? Thank you!!!
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9rtxo5", "g9sicvi", "g9rtu3s", "g9rttkt" ], "text": [ "2.4g can reach a farther distance, but at lower upload/download speeds. 5g can reach shorter distances at higher speeds. I’d say if you’re streaming, working or gaming, stay close to your router on your 5g connection, or just...
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jgux20
Why are recycling places such sticklers about items being washed out?
If a bottle or can has a label glued to it or paint on it, how is that so different from a bit of food?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9slo4g", "g9stp8z" ], "text": [ "Rats and other vermin are hard to deal with. Dump a bunch of oily, dirty old food tins and soda bottles with sugary residue into a big pile, you're getting mice, rats, and vermin of all sorts. They'll travel with the cans and bottles down the sorting line...
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jh05ji
Why do recordings get a higher pitch if you speed them up, and is there a way to make a recording actually just sped up without increasing the pitch?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9u0ibh" ], "text": [ "Pitch is caused by the frequency (oscillations per second) of the sound waves, where a higher frequency = higher pitch. Playing something at higher speed means the recorded waves are oscillating faster. Computers can correct for this, but record players can't." ], "...
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jh43lj
What actually happens when a file is being compressed?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9v5erb", "g9v6ag4", "g9v5ai1" ], "text": [ "The program doing the compression tries to find patterns in the file and records the pattern rather than the information in the pattern. The most common illustration people use is pictures: say you have a picture of flowers: there's a whole...
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jh4ir7
How are the CPU and GPU different? Why can't a CPU do the work of the GPU or vice versa?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9vb06z", "g9ve0i2" ], "text": [ "The ELI5 answer is that it is like the difference between a dump truck and a school bus. Both carry stuff and you could fill a dump truck full of school kids and put gravel in a school bus, but they aren't really designed to do that. A GPU is designed to ...
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jh4x7y
What is the difference between DDR and GDDR
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9vh9xr" ], "text": [ "DDR memory uses a 64 bit wide bus and gddr uses 256 bit and 512 bit bus ddr had lower latency and lower bandwidth, and gddr has higher latency and higher bandwidth so ddr was made for complex tasks that would be one after the other and gddr was made for less complex tas...
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jh7cd5
Why do some technical problems simply disappear as soon as you switch a device off and on again?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9w93w3" ], "text": [ "That typically resets things, and the error that causes the problem in the first place can be erased that way." ], "score": [ 3 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }
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jh9ndm
why are decibels expressed as negative numbers when using a stereo system?
Pretty much the title.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9wzphq", "g9x1s0l" ], "text": [ "They don't have to be. The decibel scale is totally arbitrary. 0 dB is just a reference value, and less than zero just means whatever you're measuring is weaker than the reference value. Similarly, more than zero means stronger than the reference value. I...
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jhbcjc
why do camera's make noise when they take a picture? Do they need to?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9x9a59" ], "text": [ "Old-school film cameras had a mechanical shutter that had to move, which created the \"click\" or \"snap\" that we've come to associate with taking a picture. Digital cameras absolutely do not need to make any noise at all, but there are two reasons they do so: 1. We ex...
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jhbjwm
How does navigation in cars gets updated without Wi-Fi?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9xak74" ], "text": [ "Some of them require manual updates via disc or USB drive. Others are able to update over satellite...though not the ones it uses for GPS but rather satellites for other services such as satellite radio (this is how some cars get live traffic updates on their built-in G...
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jhc45a
What is HDR and how much of a difference does it makes with SDR on smartphones or TVs for that matter?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9xe0an" ], "text": [ "HDR is basically a video and image format change that adds a lot of colors, its supposed to give a more vibrant and real-life like colors in an image or video. Many people regard the addition of HDR into video as much more impactful than the eventual transition to 4K, w...
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jhdfgj
What exactly is 'Youtube-dl' , why was it taken down by RIAA and what does the DMCA takedown of youtube-dl affect?
I saw this on trending, I read [THIS]( URL_0 ) post but I am still a bit confused even after reading some of the comments. What exactly is YouTube-dl and why did it get taken down? What exactly does the takedown affect? And how?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9xnn66" ], "text": [ "Youtube-DL is a little program that downloads videos and/or audio from basically anywhere that hosts them. This means you could go on YouTube and download videos with it. This is a form of digital piracy and technically also falls under hacking; you're using a website i...
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jhdg9f
how compasses work
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9xmvru", "g9xnevx", "g9xn47i" ], "text": [ "The needle in a compass is just a magnet shaped like an arrow. One side points north because the earth itself has a huge magnetic field and Northern pole of the magnetic field attracts that side of the needle.", "The flow of liquid meta...
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jhf3bq
How are sports game statistics kept track and displayed in real time?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9xxzc3" ], "text": [ "they're done manually. for each and every game. there's a person that is tracking what player does what in the game. how many steals, rebounds, 2-pters, 3-pters, free throws, fouls, etc. and all of that is put in a database and displayed in a nice format in monitors to ...
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jhg300
how speed radar guns work
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9y6xjk", "g9y51i9" ], "text": [ "Have you ever listened as a train goes by with it's horn blaring? Have you noticed how the pitch changes? This is called the doppler effect. It is caused by the frequency changing due to the speed of the object relative to the wave. If it's approaching, i...
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jhgdov
How did they record the sound from films onto film before digital techniques and how did they then get the sound back off the film?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9y7gyk" ], "text": [ "Was recorded seperate. You know that clacker that you see in a behind the scene shot? It's got black and white lines on it an some writing. Scene number, take etc. Put right infront of the camera before the director yells action. The crack sound it makes is synchronized...
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jhm8ti
What’s inspect element and what does it do/ do you do with it?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "g9zy3sx", "ga0pjhk", "g9zzp47", "ga0ayaf" ], "text": [ "Inspect element is like x-ray for websites. It’s a tool we use to understand how a website works. Because we can see pretty much everything, we can find bugs quicker or we can even use it to make temporary changes to preview ...
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jhmenu
why movies look good at 24 FPS, but games don't
When a decently fast-paced, action-packed game can't consistently be rendered at 60 FPS, gamers usually consider that sub-optimal. When it regularly dips below 40 FPS, it actually becomes unenjoyable. Even a low-movement, cinematic simulation game has to hit at the very least 30 FPS. Some gamers even find 60 FPS stutte...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga01c9w", "ga00n4o" ], "text": [ "1. Movies are passive. They don't respond to your input. 2. The movie frame rate is consistent. Every frame is 42ms long. Where a game might average 24fps, but the frame time might jump from 20ms to 100ms depending on what is displayed. 3. True motion blu...
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jhownz
How complicated is the DMCA?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga0r35s" ], "text": [ "It's not really 'complicated' so much as it is way too overbearing and powerful. It's a law from like 1996 so it never really anticipated things like Youtube and streaming. With technology as it is now, you've got so much user generated content, and you've also got syst...
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jhpy02
Whats this "Earn It" bill Im hearing of recently? What do I need to worry about as it seems like people are going crazy over it?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga13s5m", "ga150iq", "ga170q0" ], "text": [ "The EARN IT bill is an effort to mandate backdoor keys to all encryptions in the commercial sector. Encryption is a means of encoding data so only people with the right code or “key” can read it. It is vital for banking, commerce, and priva...
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jht6he
What are databases and how do they work?
I tried reading about it but everything just got more complicated when I stumbled upon the words "hierarchical" and "SQL and NoSQL"...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga1zfw2", "ga287dl", "ga2aqik", "ga29rdy", "ga2afua", "ga2exhp", "ga20p10", "ga21jwz" ], "text": [ "a database is a system for cataloguing and storing information. Note that this includes several things: * The hardware necessary to store the data * The rules by whi...
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jhykw0
How does a iterative model work in system development life cycles.
I've watched videos and read explanations on the iterative model and how it's used in system development life cycles (not to be confused with software development life cycles) but I still don't get it and i'm getting desperate; can someone please explain it like i'm 5 years old, because mentally I am. Best source I cou...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga34zlq" ], "text": [ "With a system like Waterfall, you're given a project, figure out the requirements, then you build them in order until the project is complete and shown to the client for approval. With an iterative system, you repeat this process in smaller time increments, building a b...
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ji0itb
Why do so many games start with “Press [Button] to start?”
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga3k8nt", "ga3kc9v", "ga3td65" ], "text": [ "Well to think of it another way, you don't want the game to start suddenly. The push button to start phrase goes back to the days of arcades. In am arcade, if the game started when you added money, then the second player would have to join ...
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ji0oep
When there are multiple light switches controlling one set of lights, how is each switch made to turn lights on from both the up and the down position?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga3n3n8", "ga3nvb7", "ga3pf4l", "ga3p30d" ], "text": [ "A picture says More than 1000 words URL_0 (In dutch as I don’t know the English term, but only the pictures matter).", "Think of a railway line. It's a single line, and then it splits into two parallel lines with a switch...
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ji1up0
Why do PCs run faster with 2 4GB sticks than 1 8GB stick?
Why isn't the computer faster if all the information you need to access is on the same place (in this case, the 1 8GB stick)? I recently saw a post about a guy who had a very slow PC that became 2x more powerful when he changed his 8GB with 2 4GB (don't know if it matters, but the three sticks were ddr4), but it doesn'...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga3t7dl", "ga3tt2v" ], "text": [ "It's like having 2 doors into a room instead of one. You can get twice as much through the door in a period of time", "RAM communicates with the CPU over channels. Each channel is more or less fully saturated with each write or read operation regardle...
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ji1z72
How might one explain the meaning of “DDoS” to a less tech-savvy individual?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga3tnk9", "ga3ucij", "ga3v8d7" ], "text": [ "DDoS is like a Black Friday sale. You just wanted to pop to the shop for some milk but now you can't because thousands of other people are preventing you getting in.", "10,000 people are talking to you at the same time and you have to a...
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ji27rm
Why some games, even with extremely simple graphics are laggy?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga3vcq4" ], "text": [ "Games like Minecraft are graphically undemanding, but tend to have a large number of digital assets (ie textures, colors, templates, \"worlds\", weapons, etc.) and those have to be loaded in as well. I've been in minecraft worlds so dense that it brought my 1080ti to it...
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ji5aip
How does digitalization of money work?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga4l504" ], "text": [ "Don't forget that if you really look at it, cash is also just data - declarations printed on paper - and is also vulnerable to compromises, such as pickpocketing and counterfeiting. The information in a computer is subject to a different set of \"laws of physics\" than ...
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ji8nq5
Did the first people to own a television have nothing to watch? Or did the first broadcasts go out to nobody?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga52d5a", "ga5v5ni", "ga5ehgb", "ga5dxmc", "ga5i55d", "ga5v8lr", "ga5dk5k", "ga60afq", "ga5mfwb", "ga5w4n7", "ga64esk", "ga5utuz", "ga5wx48", "ga5y6pz", "ga6jnz9", "ga5zn5r", "ga62s95", "ga66ngj", "ga5ziyx", "ga5wbam", "g...
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ji8xye
What is a “Raspberry Pie” and what does it do?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga541nz", "ga5429p", "ga5497c" ], "text": [ "A Raspberry Pi is a low cost low function computer. It can be used for a lot of low performance requirement tasks where a full size computer is expensive for overkill.", "A Raspberry Pi is a small, cheap computer that can be used for a ...
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ji9hau
How does a video game developer optimise loading times in a software update?
Recently saw an article explaining that loading times were reduced by 70% in the latest update for the last of us remastered. I was wondering how is this possible without upgrading the hardware used to load the game, and also why it wasnt done earlier by the developers
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga58q7m", "ga5bg0z", "ga58wln" ], "text": [ "Time. I’m not a game dev. But the software projects I’m developing have a very short window to be released in. In defining what will go into the initial release I cut out absolutely everything I could to meet the deadlines management set. I...
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jib70o
what is the point of airplane mode??
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga5fxnc", "ga5g93j", "ga5g0jr" ], "text": [ "When you first land in a new country your phone makes a bunch of handshakes with the local networks. These transmissions are often audible in the pilots headsets and can hinder their communication with the tower/ground. It's just a little b...
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jif5x3
how did the people who invented the clock know what time it was?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga63hqe", "ga61snk", "ga62qxl", "ga61uwa" ], "text": [ "The sun. Originally before railways and stuff time was based on when the sun rose, reached its zenith and set locally. This meant that every town had a slightly different time than the next but since clocks weren't all that a...
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jigcc4
How do ISP's offer faster internet without installing new cables or fiber?
I have pretty-slow internet at 50Mbps through "ISP A." Fiber is not available in my area even though a friend living one mile away has it. The fastest they can offer me is 75Mbps "ISP B" offers "up to" 1,000Mbps (Gig). Why can't "ISP A" offer that? Are faster internet packages just dependent on the type of router/gatew...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga69qtz", "ga6x6jb", "ga7c6uo", "ga6in46", "ga6znww" ], "text": [ "If they're different ISPs, then they're different physical networks. Typically that might be cable TV vs. telephone line vs. fiber vs. microwave vs. satellite. Those have inherently different speed capabilities...
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jijo7x
Before the PS2 era, why were video games much smaller in total byte size than other mediums such as a DVD movie or an Episode of Seinfeld?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga6vunx", "ga72rzn", "ga6unm1", "ga6uchh", "ga71hd5", "ga7dl1w" ], "text": [ "Size of games is completely based on its visual and audio resources. The code itself takes very little, and there are many games that are very intricate and complex, but they don't rely on graphi...
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jijru4
Why gifs take longer to upload than Videos do even if the video is longer.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga6v3j5" ], "text": [ "Because animated GIFs are a hack that was never intended for what we use for them now If you take a video, even a short one, and turn it into a GIF it will be wayyyy bigger, generally ~10x the size because GIF compression isn't nearly as good as video compression. This ...
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jik4wh
Why do simulations and renders (Blender, etc.) take so much more time and processing power than, say, video games that achieve the same thing much faster while also being more complex?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga6ztfg", "ga6xiog", "ga74m9e", "ga70itm", "ga74nx9", "ga7c3vc", "ga7d4za" ], "text": [ "Video games are trying to render something *good enough* before the next frame is due to be sent out Blender is trying to render something as perfectly as possible *eventually* You...
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jik7db
What causes bugs in code and how are they fixed?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga6z721", "ga7enn1", "ga6ym6z", "ga7k9tr", "ga7fwat" ], "text": [ "Code is like a series of instructions. Computers follow instructions perfectly. If you yourself have ever been given instructions, like in LEGO or IKEA furniture, you'll know that sometimes following instructio...
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jimgrk
How does a camera "see" the real world?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga7f7c7", "ga7imty" ], "text": [ "Using a piece of technology called a CCD. Basically there are photoreceptors that can record light as a series of electrical charges. If you understand how the photoreceptors (we can just call them pixels) consistently record the light as voltages, you ca...
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jinkra
If LEDs are supposed to a decade, why do so many die so quickly?
Context: I moved into my apartment 18 months ago and I've already replaced four of these lights. I thought these bulbs were supposed to last at least 10,000 hours. Guessing at about 4,000 hours of usage, the cost savings is not much better than incandescent.
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga7iyti" ], "text": [ "Governments and consumers were sold a lie. The LED chip itself may last 10,000 -25,000 hours but that spec has nothing to do with the internal switching circuitry that converts AC power to DC power. That’s what usually dies within a year or two. The higher cost of LED u...
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jinkrk
How is Tesla already selling cars with hardware fully capable of self-driving when the technology does not even exist yet?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga7i151", "ga7mkob", "ga7jfrs", "ga7y04t" ], "text": [ "The hardware is pretty simple. Think about it. All you need is the camera and the motors. Many cars already have motorized steering and gas, some even brakes. A human could remote control a car with ease. That brain is really...
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jinyvp
how does your PC distinguish between gaming music and your voice?
My friends and I are playing games online and I have them on discord, on a voice chat. Even if the game we were playing has background music on almost full volume, they still are only able to hear my own voice and basically nothing else from my side?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga7qx2p", "ga7p8zx" ], "text": [ "My understanding is Discord has a built in noise suppression software ([ URL_0 ](https:// URL_0 )) that uses machine learning algorithms to determine what noises to cancel out. To answer \"how\", we would need to get into machine learning and AI. In an at...
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jioxuz
In word processing software, why is the option to create a pdf file always so far removed from the regular 'save' option (e.g. somewhere on the print menu)?
edit: Thanks, everyone - this has all been perfectly insightful
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga7qfq7", "ga7qkjz" ], "text": [ "It has mostly to do with software licensing and ownership. Adobe owned the PDF proprietary format until 2008, when it was released as an open standard. Other companies prefer you use their own proprietary formats so in their own self interest, make it not...
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jip3qc
How do "minerals/solid raw materials" become programmable?
I can't understand how electronics that are programmable are created. I understand how crafting works, but I don't get how we can make those "minerals/solid raw materials" do certain things. Like I get how programming works, but I don't get how we created this technology to allow programming. I would love someone to EL...
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga7sj04" ], "text": [ "We are not programming iron and gold, we are using semiconductors, namely silicon, doped with other elements. Basically, we can take this silicon, and make it only conduct electricity along one path when a voltage is applied to a different part of it. This is called a t...
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jip98r
How is it that, in a videocall (Skype, Zoom etc) my mic only pick up my voice and not the other person voice coming out the speakers?
Technology
explainlikeimfive
{ "a_id": [ "ga7s1gx" ], "text": [ "Your computer can recognize the waveforms it's sending to the speakers, so when the microphone picks up those same waveforms. They get filtered out and aren't sent back to everyone else." ], "score": [ 6 ], "text_urls": [ [] ] }
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