Tedium
What Makes a GPU a GPU, and When Did We Start Calling it That?
Turns out that’s a more complicated question than it sounds.
Why Channel 37 Doesn’t Exist (And What It Has to Do With Aliens)
Since the advent of analog TVs, channel 37 has always been static. Here's why.
The Made-Up Language That Accidentally Became Real: The Story of Klingon
The Klingon language remains relevant to today’s culture and continues to evolve in surprising ways. (Finally, you must be thinking, some Star Trek content.)
Why Remote Access Software Is Almost Too Useful
The evolution of remote desktop access, and why it’s a bad idea for water supplies to be managed through remote desktop access without decent security measures.
Why the Battery Power Meter Was Way More Controversial Than it Looks
The most quietly innovative thing that emerged from the latter half of the 90s was the on-battery power meter—produced by both Duracell and Energizer. It was the subject of a complex patent battle.
How Sony Forged, Then Squandered, Its Relationship With Linux Users
How Sony screwed up 15 years of goodwill with developers and open-source users by removing Linux support from its console—support hacked back in anyway.
The Famous Router Hackers Actually Loved
How Linksys’ most famous router, the WRT54G, tripped into legendary status because of an undocumented feature that slipped through during a merger.
What Is 'Error-Correcting Memory' and Why Does the Creator of Linux Think You Need It?
Why error-correcting memory, long an obscure computing concept, suddenly has major relevance outside of the server room. At least according to Linus Torvalds.
Whatever Happened to AltaVista, Our First Good Search Engine
Why you can’t find the groundbreaking search engine AltaVista on the web anymore. Friends don’t let friends visit Digital.com without knowing the truth.
This Computer Mouse Combined With a Telephone Once Made Sense. Kind Of.
When technology concepts awkwardly merge together, or why someone thought it might be a good idea to combine a mouse and a telephone.
That Time John McAfee Developed One of the First Social Networks
The controversial jailed antivirus software mogul John McAfee followed up his virus-fighting work with one of the first social networks, a competitor to AOL Instant Messenger. Really.
It’s Time for the Eternal September to End
For decades, technical users looking down on the less knowledgeable have set the stage for a lot of bad online discourse. As bad discourse has permeated every part of online life, can those same users break the chain?