Portal:Technology/DYK

Full DYK list

• ... that the QWERTY keyboard was designed to slow down your typing speed?
• ... that the Water integrator was a Soviet-made computer which used water to run analog calculations?
• ... that X-Y Position Indicator for Display Systems was the name of the first mouse?
• ... that millions of people once used dial-up?
• ... that Google's first tweet was in binary?
• ... that the first handheld mobile phone was a Motorola?
• ... that Apple originally designed an apple shaped flip phone?
• ... that Nokia used to sell toilet paper?
• ... that the first alarm clock could only go off at 4am?
• ... that Monty Python was responsible for naming junk e-mail Spam?
• ... that in 2006 someone tried to sell New Zealand on eBay?
• ... that over 6,000 new computer viruses are released every month?
• ... that you spend too much time on your smartphone?
• ... that WhatsApp is spyware?
• ... that most of the internet is made up of AIs talking to each other?
• ... that the first computer mouse was made of wood and invented in 1964 by Douglas Engelbart?
• ... that the Apollo 11 moon landing computer had less processing power than a modern calculator?
• ... that email existed before the World Wide Web—it was first used in the 1970s?
• ... that the first 1GB hard drive, released in 1980, weighed over 500 pounds and cost $40,000?
• ... that "Bluetooth" is named after a Viking king, Harald Bluetooth, who united Denmark and Norway—just like the tech unites devices?
• ... that CAPTCHA stands for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart"?
• ... that Google was originally called "Backrub"?
• ... that Wi-Fi doesn't stand for anything—it's just a made-up marketing name?
• ... that early mobile phones could actually interfere with CRT TVs, causing screen distortions when ringing?
• ... that in 1994, a hacker known as "Da Shadow" hijacked NASA's public website and posted a recipe for chili?
• ... that the first webcam was created to monitor a coffee pot at the University of Cambridge?
• ... that Unix time will "break" in the year 2038 due to a 32-bit overflow problem, similar to Y2K?
• ... that floppy disks are still used today—in some airline and military systems—for critical legacy operations?
• ... that the Nintendo Game Boy survived a Gulf War bombing and still works (it's on display in a Nintendo store)?
• ... that Steve Wozniak was expelled from the University of Colorado Boulder for hacking the school's computer system to prank dorm mates?
• ... that there's a secret "monkey island" mode hidden in some versions of Windows 3.1 as an Easter egg?
• ... that early laser printers used a modified Xerox photocopier mechanism—and they were huge?
• ... that the first digital camera, invented by Kodak in 1975, took 23 seconds to capture a black-and-white image?
• ... that Apple's first logo featured Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree?
• ... that the first email ever sent was by Ray Tomlinson to himself in 1971—and he doesn't remember what it said?
• ... that the original iPod's Easter egg let you play a secret version of Breakout, co-created by Steve Wozniak?
• ... that in 1956, 5MB of storage weighed over a ton and had to be delivered by truck?
• ... that the "@" symbol was chosen for email because it wasn't commonly used in names, making it a perfect separator?
• ... that Amazon originally only sold books and operated out of Jeff Bezos' garage?
• ... that Bill Gates' house was designed using Mac computers?
• ... that the first domain name ever registered was Symbolics.com in 1985?
• ... that YouTube started out as a dating site before pivoting to video sharing?
• ... that NASA still occasionally buys spare parts from eBay to maintain systems running on old hardware?
• ... that "robot" comes from the Czech word "robota," which means "forced labor"?
• ... that a programmer once caught a bug by literally finding a moth stuck in a relay of an early computer?
• ... that Microsoft Excel has had flight simulators and even Doom hidden in it as Easter eggs?
• ... that the Game Boy camera once held a world record as the world's smallest digital camera?
• ... that most of these facts were generated by AI, thereby hypocritically undermining the message of the portal intro?