The making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function.
-2
votes
0answers
109 views
Are mobile phones made to degrade after two years?
Is it true that mobile phones, specifically smart phones, are manufactured to break or degrade within two years? Generally, two years is the length of the contract that an individual signs with a ...
11
votes
1answer
240 views
Do removable faceplates on car stereos deter theft?
Everyone has probably seen a car stereo head unit with a removable face plate; the idea being you can take the faceplate with you to deter theft. The claim is specifically made in this product ...
-4
votes
0answers
92 views
Could a person become physically transgender through artifical means? [closed]
This question may appear as and pershaps is completely illogical, but it's asked out of pure curiousity. [Becuase out of paranoia I suspect it could have happened with me].
Let's say there's a girl ...
15
votes
1answer
520 views
Are low-spec computer parts just faulty high-spec computer parts?
Someone was telling me that lower-price or lower-spec computer parts such as graphics cards and central processing units are actually just higher-spec, higher-price units that have manufacturing ...
0
votes
1answer
399 views
If the universe is just a Matrix-like simulation, how could we ever know? [closed]
If the universe is just a Matrix-like simulation, how could we ever know?
This is a sample from reading I have done.
All we have to do to identify what these constraints would be is to build our ...
26
votes
3answers
2k views
Will entering the ATM's PIN in reverse notify the police?
I received a rather intriguing email. It says that if I am at an ATM and I'm in the process of getting robbed, I just enter my PIN in reverse order e.g. 4321 instead of 1234. The ATM will still give ...
8
votes
2answers
551 views
Is the Lindy effect well supported by evidence?
The Lindy effect is the observation that, contrary to the pattern with perishable things like people, the longevity so far is a good predictor of the future longevity. In other words, technologies ...
0
votes
0answers
87 views
Aviation safety concerns [closed]
Recently I have completed a 9-hour flight by Boeing-747. It managed to get into a storm with a strong turbulence. While inside the plane I was very much afraid of the possibility of the plane ...
6
votes
0answers
173 views
Did clergymen contribute more to science than scientists in the 19th century?
Taleb provides yet more fodder for skeptical enquiry. In the middle of Chapter 16 of Antifragile ("A lesson in disorder") where he is arguing that science isn't the source of practical applications of ...
5
votes
0answers
153 views
Are women more likely to be speakers at tech conferences than men?
In PUT A SOCK IN IT, YOU DICKLESS WONDERS, Milo Yiannopoulos claims that women in the tech industry are more likely to be speakers or panellists than men are, because there aren't many women in the ...
7
votes
1answer
19k views
Did Canadian company HyperStealth invent an invisibility cloak?
This seemingly legitimate camouflage design company says it invented an invisibility cloak called Quantum Stealth that works by bending light "without cameras, batteries, lights or mirrors."
...
7
votes
1answer
876 views
Is the Comic Sans font easier to read for dyslexics?
After getting into an argument with a friend about the use/existence of the Comic Sans font, he said that it is one of the few typefaces that virtually eliminates confusion among dyslexics.
It ...
2
votes
1answer
178 views
Has Verizon filed a patent for a device to watch you while you watch TV?
According to Slate Magazine:
Verizon Files Patent for Creepy Device To Watch You While You Watch TV
[...]
The company has filed a patent, published last week, for a system designed to be ...
14
votes
0answers
260 views
Has copyright piracy halved in New Zealand since their “three strikes” rule?
According to the BBC article US piracy crackdown delayed until 2013, dated November 29, 2012:
New Zealand claims that piracy has halved since it introduced a "three strikes" rule.
After a little ...
3
votes
0answers
193 views
is Coltan the main cause of conflict in Congo since 1997?
This PDF (i saw a translated version) has been brought to my attention.
it claims that Coltan is the main cause of a conflict which has claimed the lives of four million
people since 1997 and as also ...
11
votes
1answer
7k views
Does a cell phone emit 1000 times more radiation when its battery is low?
Found this gem on G+:
The rest seems all extremely circumstantial except the very last item. The 'radiation' they're talking about, I'm assuming, is electromagnetic radiation - which would be ...
4
votes
1answer
482 views
Did children in Ethiopia hack Android in five months?
I have recently read an article that claims that children that never seen a book and didn't know how to speak English learned how to use an Android phone and hacked it.
Is this true? The article ...
7
votes
1answer
763 views
Are Apple products sold at a premium price?
I have often heard people talk about to an Apple tax in reference to Apple products (especially their Mac products). This is one of many references to Apple having overly high prices compared with ...
0
votes
0answers
59 views
Is there any devices or software to prevent Sleepwalking (Somnambulism)? [closed]
I have problem with sleep walking.I am 23 year old.I heard about that some software or devices can track the sleep cycles.Is there any devices or software to prevent from sleep walking?
8
votes
2answers
2k views
Does never charging a laptop battery to more than 80% capacity increase its lifespan?
In relation to Does recharging a battery when it is only half-way dead decrease its life span? I read an article about Maximizing the lifespan of a laptop battery where Samsung puts it:
Most ...
4
votes
0answers
139 views
Could a solar flare cause economic collapse? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Will the Sun's magnetic activity disrupt electronics on Earth?
It seems that solar flares are one of the few things that have any factual weight among the possible ...
8
votes
0answers
412 views
Is there credible evidence that a child using an iPad will have their eyesight affected?
I have been told by several people that allowing my young children (aged 2 and 5 at the time of writing) to use an iPad, or similar device, would affect their eyesight. I have found the following ...
10
votes
2answers
501 views
Can Software Help You Sleep?
I've come across software that claims to improve one's sleep and to help falling asleep in the first place, by listening to an audio track with spoken words, music, and ambient sounds. Here's one ...
28
votes
3answers
5k views
Do 3 billion devices run Java?
I was installing Java today and this was shown in the installation. Is there anything that supports this claim?
1
vote
2answers
2k views
Did ancient Indians invent guns, lasers, radars and nuclear weapons?
I found this site which claimed that Ancient India was an extremely advanced civilization whose technology equaled & in some cases even surpassed current technology. None of the claims have ...
1
vote
0answers
230 views
To what degree is applied quantum mechanics used in the design and fabrication of semiconductor chips? [closed]
I was having a debate with my friend the other day (I'm the computer guy, he's a virologist), and he's insisting that quantum mechanics isn't one of the most complete and accurate scientific theories ...
-2
votes
1answer
346 views
26 thousand users of Facebook list their location as Greenland
Recently, according to this map 25 680 users of Facebook list their location as Greenland. 26 000 is about half of the number of inhabitants of Greenland. If these data are reliable it says that there ...
10
votes
2answers
472 views
Does progress in algorithms beat progress in hardware?
A 2010 report to the U.S. President and Congress about past and future advances in information technology notes that:
While improvements in hardware accounted for an approximate 1,000 fold
...
5
votes
1answer
430 views
Is global warming irreversible?
I have heard countless times the perils of global warming and how we should all do our fair share to save the Earth for future generations.
Here is but one example from an NPR article: "Global ...
14
votes
0answers
495 views
Were metered taxis busy roaming Imperial Rome?
While in Rome, I heard a claim that Ancient Romans had invented the taxi meter.
"Ancient" here means the common usage of "a long time ago" instead of a specific historical period such as the Early ...
3
votes
0answers
506 views
Are wall-mounted urinals more sanitary than floor mounted units?
Men's urinals can either be mounted on a wall, or can extend all the way to the floor.
According to this page, floor mounted urinals are less desirable because:
Floor Mount
These units ...
3
votes
0answers
917 views
Are flat cables tangle-free?
Well, probably everybody knows and hates this. Detangling the headset cable when putting it out of your pocket.
This headset product claims to prevent the cable from tangling up by the "flat cable ...
-3
votes
3answers
690 views
Are pet RFID chips (eg: “HomeAgain”) capable of fulfilling Revelations 13:16-17?
Regardless of the veracity of the Christian bible in general, could the technology behind the microchips (RFID tags) implanted into pets--used to re-unite lost pets with their owners--be used to track ...
11
votes
2answers
2k views
Does defragging shorten the life of a computer hard-drive?
There has been a question about whether it improves your computer's performance - my question is based on the precept that magnetic audio and video tapes, for example, quickly show damage if data is ...
39
votes
3answers
4k views
What is the failure rate of Solid-State Drives (SSD)?
One of our favourite StackExchange Overlords, Jeff Atwood, wrote a Coding Horror blog article in May 2011, decrying the unreliability of SSD drives.
Solid state hard drives fail. A lot. And not ...
5
votes
0answers
153 views
Do electronic bug repellers work? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Ultrasound pest control devices
Do electric insect repellers example work?
For context, I live in a rented house that has several of these installed. My personal ...
10
votes
1answer
907 views
Does Apple do no market research?
I have just been at a company conference and several fans of Steve Jobs quoted more than once how we should innovate like Apple because they "don't do market research" so we don't need to do market ...
21
votes
2answers
665 views
Do patents boost innovation?
In a recent judgement Europe's highest court ruled that Stem Cells derived from human embryos cannot be patented (see BBC story here). This provoked many scientists to argue that both research and the ...
1
vote
0answers
356 views
Can blocking the aperture of a mobile phone speaker cause damage?
A friend was sitting near another's ringing mobile phone, stoically ignoring the noise. When I advised him to cover the dynamic with a finger, he replied that it may break it.
Is it really so? I ...
10
votes
1answer
463 views
How much are United Airlines reducing their carbon emissions by giving pilots iPads?
Source article Here: Article
Briefly: United Airlines are giving their 11,000 pilots iPads in an effort to increase efficiency, etc. They're making manuals and other documents electronic.
As a ...
14
votes
1answer
804 views
Are Hummers more environmentally friendly than Prius?
I've heard this rumor a few times (example). The argument is that it takes energy to make the car, and when you take into account how long each car will last on the road, driving Prius's over a large ...
16
votes
1answer
2k views
Can a computer be hacked to use a connected speaker as a microphone?
I read a book in which someone hacked into a computer and used the speakers (not a microphone) to listen to what was happening in the room. Is this even remotely possible without gaining physical ...
5
votes
1answer
342 views
Is the North Korean nuclear program in part funded by gold farming?
A recent article in the New York Times (limited paywall) claims that the North Korean nuclear program is funded in part by gold farming in South Korean Massive Multiplayer Online Games.
According to ...
3
votes
1answer
456 views
Does unplugging your stereo while playing can damage it? [closed]
When you unplug your stereo from the source while playing music, it usually makes a scratchy sound.
I haven't seen any stereo broken from an unplug.
I did it a couple of times on my stereo and it ...
1
vote
1answer
477 views
Are MAVs (micro air vehicles) a legitimate future possibility?
Someone recently sent me THIS video about "micro air vehicles" (MAVs), essentially bug and bird look-alikes that are really airborne spy drone vehicles for military surveillance. It's just a concept ...
38
votes
1answer
2k views
Did COBOL have 250 billion lines of code and 1 million programmers, as late as 2009?
In 2009 COBOL turned 50 years old. It got some publicity with claims, which I find rather hard to believe:
"Cobol hits 50 and keeps counting" article in the Guardian.
According to David ...
18
votes
1answer
2k views
Does recharging a battery when it is only half-way dead decrease its life span?
One thing many manufactures of laptops and cellphones recommend is that you wait until the battery is completely dead before you recharge it or else it will slowly loose its maximum capacity or have a ...
18
votes
1answer
370 views
Does the production of a home PV solar panel provide a net benefit to the environment?
Considering everything that goes into producing a single PV solar panel; from obtaining the necessary materials, transportation etc. is there a net benefit to the environment over the lifetime of the ...
12
votes
1answer
629 views
Is the pornography industry important in the adoption of new technology or media?
I constantly see people and articles referencing how porn drove the adoption of the Internet, VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, Mobile, insert your technology of choice, etc.
Now I'm not discounting he popularity ...
27
votes
1answer
2k views
Can devices detect your sleep cycle and wake you in a more refreshed state?
There are a number of products on the market that claim to be "better alarm clocks" that allows you to feel more refreshed when you wake - even if you sleep a few minutes or tens of minutes less.
...
