Technology
Exploring "Why" questions about Technology
491 articles
why haven’t consoles offered the option for multi-monitor gaming? Hardware limitations?
Less hardware limitations, more interest limitations. Like any device, consoles are going to be developed to meet the needs / wishes of most of the target market. And most of the people playing consol
Why can phones pick up a human voice easily but they can’t pick up sound from computer speakers unless it’s really loud?
Telephones have omnidirectional condenser mics. They pick up sounds that are very close because of a compressor/gate built in. There is a null point toward the back of the mic-coil and that's why thin
why are computer viruses being created and spread? Do they have a function other than wrecking computer software?
Several reasons: Wrecking software just for the sake of it would be one. Also, give me money and I'll restore your software back. Gaining control of computer resources to make them work for your own
Why is 15.6″ such a common screen size for laptops?
Well I think if 13.3" or 14" was the industry standard you'd be asking the same thing, no? Perhaps a great deal it all boils down to standards within an industry dominated by consumer needs and pricep
Why can you download entire YouTube videos by copying/paste the URL into a website but not do the same with Netflix?
Netflix has protections in place to prevent this, since its content is 100% copyrighted. YouTube, on the other hand, is not always such sensitive material and therefore doesn't have as much security a
Why are computers so inaccurate at estimating download/installation times?
Because internet download and upload speeds are constantly fluctuating due to different loads on the network, so there's no way to know for sure how long a download will take. If these speeds were con
Why does your phone (or any flat rectangular object, like a credit card) flip on both its x and y axis, when you flip it from just the bottom?
It's called The intermediate axis theorem. Rotating your phone with its axis perpendicular to its face takes the most energy to spin it, because the corners are far from the axis of rotation. Rotating
why couldn’t the next Presidential candidate just promise to abolish some of the far reaching NSA programs?
They could. The thing is, campaign promises are unenforceable. Obama promised to end the Afghanistan war, close Gitmo, protect whistleblowers and have a transparent administration.
Why do we have to pay for internet? And why is there a limit?
You're not paying for "the internet". You're paying for a company to *connect* you to the internet. They build the infrastructure, they run a lot of very high-end, very specialised equipment, and they
Why isn’t Edward Snowden protected under the Whistleblower Protection Programs?
* First, the government says, he did not expose the kinds of actions covered by whistle-blower protections — illegal conduct, fraud, waste or abuse. * Other officials have argued that the programs rev