Technology

Remarkable facts about computers, engineering, inventions, and human innovation.

Who was the First Person to Float Freely in Space? October 30, 2021
How Much Did It Cost to Build the International Space Station? October 16, 2021
Are Frequent Mandatory Password Changes Necessary? October 1, 2021
How Much Did Criminals Pay for an Old Nokia Phone Model? September 30, 2021
What is an Atomic Clock? September 27, 2021
How Did They Keep Crying Babies Quiet in the Olden Times? September 27, 2021
What is the Fastest Aircraft? September 11, 2021
Did Cyprus Have the Chance to Host the First Particle Accelerator in the Middle East? September 10, 2021
Who Invented the World Wide Web? September 6, 2021
Is Los Angeles a Smart City? August 20, 2021
Why Was Elizabeth Holmes Accused of Wire Fraud? August 3, 2021
In 1949, Gallup polled Americans on what scientific advances they thought would happen by the year 1999. 88% believed cancer would be cured, and 63% believed planes would be nuclear powered. Only 15% thought a man would walk on the moon. April 19, 2021
In 1969, at the height of the Cold War, the Apollo 11 crew carried commemorative medals to the moon to honor two Soviet cosmonauts who died as part of the USSR's human spaceflight program April 13, 2021
Ordinary cheap computer hard drives do not work reliably above 10,000ft in altitude, because they require a cushion of dense air for the magnetic head to float on. Without that air density, the head will scratch the disk. People who live above 10,000ft must buy special hard drives. March 28, 2021
A US law firm set up honeypots on torrent-sharing site The Pirate Bay and then sued people who downloaded their torrents. The matter reached the FBI and the pirate site accepted to collaborate with the feds resulting in the crooked lawyers getting jail time. March 13, 2021
The common method for a spacecraft to shift between two orbits is called a Hohmann Transfer, and that the guy who calculated it (in 1925) was inspired by a science fiction book written in 1897, which gave a generally correct explanation of the concept of orbit trajectory January 31, 2021
After landing on the moon during Apollo 11, Buzz Aldrin accidentally damaged the circuit breaker that would arm the ascent engine that would get them off the moon. The astronauts activated the engine by triggering the circuit with a felt-tipped pen. January 25, 2021
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has disdain for money and large wealth accumulation. In 2017 he said he didn't want to be near money, because it could corrupt your values. When Apple went public, Wozniak offered $10 million of his stock to early Apple employees, something Jobs refused to do. January 21, 2021
If funding remained at 1969 Apollo mission levels, NASA planned to develop such elements as a lunar orbit station in 1978, a lunar surface base in 1980, and a manned mission to Mars in 1981 or 1983 December 17, 2020
Steve Jobs personally killed the calculator app on iPad because it wasn't aesthetic. To this day, the iPad still does not have a native calculator app. October 14, 2020