Technology
Exploring "Why" questions about Technology
491 articles
Why Netflix would have to secure the rights to a certain song on a show they’ve begun streaming, when they’re already paying for the show itself.
You're trying to apply common sense to music licensing. Yes, they got the clearance for the music to be on broadcast TV. Yes, they got the clearance for it to be on the DVDs.
Why can we build 1TB SSD’s but not 1TB of RAM and cut out the storage?
We can make a terabyte of RAM but it would be really expensive and couldn't store data when the computer was off. Also we really don't need the incredibly fast access for the vast majority of that dat
Why aren’t torrenting or pirating sites taken down for illegal downloads?
They are. The Pirate Bay bounces from country to country every time it gets shut down, until it finds a home in a country that doesn't care.
Why do digital personal assistants commonly have female voices?
I've always thought because women are seen as calmer, less violent and more compassionate - it's like hearing the voice of your mother. This means that you're less likely to punch your old, malfunctio
Why do tech/software companies stay in the US when they are demanded to include backdoors by the US government? Can’t tech companies just develop and release their products overseas, out of reach o…
The short answer is that it's not just the US government pushing to include "backdoors." Tech companies could move to a country without these laws, but places like the US could restrict or prohibit th
Why can I remember the conventions of a new programming language or the methods of a new library with ease but spend hours memorizing facts in biology class to no avail?
As a fellow student learning programming with ease and dying in biology, I feel your pain. I can't possibly explain for you without speculating, but for me it's because of the style. Biology is a very
Why do companies provide open source software? What is the benefit of providing free software when you could be making money?
Open Source Software (OSS) is known for providing security advantages, because many more developers are working on and looking at the code at the same time, versus a proprietary software where the sou
Why do we have different battery sizes if they all do the same thing in the same way?
To clarify, batteries have a fuel inside them that they convert to electricity (not by burning like gasoline, but through a chemical reaction). A battery that is flat is one that has run out of fuel.
Why reddit has so many 503 (busy server) errors so often?
There are times when we're coming online in droves...6,292 are on (ELI5) now. For me, that says time to go...somebody else needs a turn. I'm not sure of peak use times, but it's Saturday morning here
Why do shroom clouds form after a nuke hits the ground?
It happens with any large enough explosion, not necessarily nuclear. The explosion pushes a lot of air out of the way, leaving a large, low-pressure zone filled with smoke. As air rushes back in from