As of May 31, 2023, we have updated our Code of Conduct.

Questions tagged [computers]

A computer is a programmable machine designed to automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
18 votes
2 answers
4k views

Did an AI-enabled drone attack the human operator in a simulation environment?

According to this news article on the Royal Aeronautical Society website: ...an AI-enabled drone tasked with a SEAD mission to identify and destroy SAM sites, with the final go/no go given by the ...
Jayson Virissimo's user avatar
16 votes
0 answers
562 views

Are scammers using AI voice cloning to fake kidnappings?

There have been numerous news reports of scammers using AI voice cloning to trick people into thinking that their kid has been kidnapped: NY Post An Arizona mom claims that scammers used AI to clone ...
joshuahhh's user avatar
  • 261
15 votes
0 answers
626 views

Were nuclear sub engineers told that when alarms go off they should grab a bar, until they have examined their instrument panel?

The book Debugging: The 9 Indispensable Rules for Finding Even the Most Elusive Software and Hardware Problems by David J. Agans, which was first published in 2002, contains the following claim: On ...
Ryan1729's user avatar
  • 413
7 votes
0 answers
679 views

Does Windows 7 have lower latencies than Windows 10 in gaming workflows? [closed]

I saw a claim that Windows 7 is superior to Windows 10 for gaming: There’s a lot of reasons win7 is utilized. Especially in strictly competitive games that support it, (CSGO, Valorant, Fortnite), a ...
niemiro's user avatar
  • 187
-1 votes
1 answer
1k views

Do some captchas record your mouse movements?

I have heard (I can't remember where I heard this unfortunately) that some types of captchas don't verify that the user is human by having them click on the correct images but rather examine the users ...
Mathew's user avatar
  • 109
11 votes
0 answers
396 views

Has there never been a virus infection in Chromebook history?

Diamond product expert (maximum level expert for Chromebooks) Jim Dantin stated in a community post that (quoting user) Chromebooks can be infected by viruses. (response) It's never happened to a ...
Topcode's user avatar
  • 226
20 votes
0 answers
829 views

Did Burmese typewriters contain an upside-down character, which subsequently became proper typewriter style?

I was reading about the Internet Archive's work to archive the materials of a famous New York City typewriter family: http://blog.archive.org/2020/08/26/an-archive-of-a-different-type/ I was ...
pkamb's user avatar
  • 389
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

Does looking at screens damage your brain?

I found several articles that warn of the dangers of too much computer time, especially for children. Oxford Learning, Jun 2010: Too much computer time can be bad for your brain However, a recent ...
JamesM's user avatar
  • 147
23 votes
1 answer
860 views

Did Intel have low chip yields due to a clerk hand-checking blank wafers?

In this blog post Bob Cringley recounts the following story (abriged for brevity here): There was a time in the early 1980s when Intel suffered terrible quality problems. [..] The problem was caused ...
Paul Johnson's user avatar
  • 15.8k
7 votes
1 answer
601 views

Were flight reservations centrally managed on wall boards in huge halls in the pre-computer era?

For the first fifty years of scheudled air travel, agents' bookings were done over the telephone. At first, charts recording space on particular flights were sheets of paper. Eventually, for large ...
user41782's user avatar
  • 435
4 votes
0 answers
559 views

Do long sessions of computer use damage the user's skin?

I believe that regularly spending long periods of time facing computers monitors while using them significantly damages the skin. The Daily Mail reported in 2018: According to [Rebecca Mason, skin ...
user7393973's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
607 views

Are Teslas with autopilot system safer than vehicles without it?

An AP article describes some recent crashes that may have been linked to the Tesla autopilot system. The article states that there have been three fatal crashes since 2016 potentially linked to the ...
dsollen's user avatar
  • 10.1k
1 vote
0 answers
145 views

Are there 200 billion lines of COBOL in production in 2019? [duplicate]

Cited in this article from ZDNet, According to a COBOL consulting company, which goes by the delightful name, COBOL Cowboys, 200 billion lines of COBOL code are still in use today and that 90% of ...
Evan Carroll's user avatar
  • 28.3k
7 votes
0 answers
261 views

Did the "Windows Web Browser Choice Screen" enforced by the EU make a difference?

In response to a EU anti-trust ruling, European Android users will soon be presented with a browser choice screen. Those of us who are old enough will remember that the same thing happened on Windows ...
Heinzi's user avatar
  • 991
96 votes
3 answers
25k views

Was credit for the black hole image misattributed?

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) was used to create an image of Messier 87*, a supermassive black hole in the Messier 87 galaxy. This result has been heavily reported in the media leading up to its ...
SSimon's user avatar
  • 1,716
2 votes
0 answers
277 views

Had ENIAC run more calculations than all mankind had done (up to 1955)? [closed]

According to this comment on Quantum Computing StackExchange, For a decade, until a 1955 lightning strike, ENIAC may have run more calculations than all mankind had done up to that point I search ...
Kepotx's user avatar
  • 151
4 votes
2 answers
1k views

Was there a ML-backed algorithm that learnt to delete list instead of sorting it

Here's a quote from an article which was discussed pretty heavily a while ago: Well, it’s not unsorted: For example, there was an algorithm that was supposed to sort a list of numbers. Instead, ...
shabunc's user avatar
  • 169
14 votes
1 answer
2k views

Have ATMs across the US "spat out money" in the second half of January 2018?

In a response to the DDoS attacks on several Dutch banks and other institutions, "cybersecurity specialist" Rian van Rijbroek claimed on 29 January 2018 on the Dutch news programme Nieuwsuur ...
SQB's user avatar
  • 3,339
10 votes
1 answer
2k views

Was this Harry-Potter themed text written solely by a computer program?

A YouTube video caught my eye with the title, "A Robot Wrote A Chapter To A Harry Potter Book, And It's Absolutely Insane." The video claims that a software algorithm created by Botnik Studios was ...
DLosc's user avatar
  • 403
2 votes
0 answers
344 views

Is Computer Science the fastest growing science field in the history of mankind? [closed]

Background Wikipedia lists several scientific disciplines on its science article. To name a few, they are: Logic, Maths, Statistics, Molecular, Atomic, Plasma, Quantum Physics, Astrophysics, ...
Gaurang Tandon's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
125 views

Is humidity more relevant than high operating temperatures in hard drive reliability?

According to Environmental Conditions and Disk Reliability in Free-cooled Datacenters: Based on our experience and observations, we conclude that high relative humidity degrades reliability ...
Anyname Donotcare's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
272 views

Is looking at a computer screen all that bad for you? [closed]

As you've all heard around on the internet looking at a screen is bad and awful for you, however, is there any proof that screens and only screens are the cause of these health issues? This article ...
Crafter0800's user avatar
47 votes
3 answers
17k views

Do four random common words make a stronger password than passwords like "Tr0ub4dor&3"?

In xkcd comic #936, Randall Munroe claims that passwords like "Tr0ub4dor&3" (uncommon base word, caps, common letter substitutions with a number and punctuation suffix) has ~28 bits of entropy, ...
user avatar
22 votes
1 answer
867 views

Can reading fine print cause damage to eyes?

I have my computer font set quite small so that I can see more on one screen at a time, but a collegue recently warned me that I would cause damage to my eyes later in life. Is there any scientific ...
Jamie Twells's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
1k views

Does Windows 10 defragmentation damage your SSD?

I was having a conversation with one of my colleagues about installing Windows 10 on his machine, then he suddenly dropped a bomb that installing Windows 10 would reduce the life of his SSD since ...
Arghya Saha's user avatar
10 votes
0 answers
621 views

Do people not understand why Google's AlphaGo made a particular move? [closed]

I was reading a UK Government paper on AI and technology and found this section to be slightly unbelievable. when Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo played Lee Sedol in March 2016 (see paragraph 3), the ...
Luke's user avatar
  • 209
25 votes
1 answer
1k views

Did a TV news show cause lots of Amazon's Alexa devices to try to order doll houses?

With reference to this Stack Exchange Internet of Things question and this news article, which is only one of many: Is there evidence that when a news anchor uttered the words "Alexa, buy me a ...
Mawg says reinstate Monica's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
297 views

Is light text on dark background less harmful to the eyes than dark text on light background [closed]

Most programmers (at least most of my undergraduate classmates) use light text on dark background (LTDB) and so do I, instead of dark text on light background (DTLB). And as we know, traditional ...
Violapterin's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
377 views

Is Linux less prone to getting infected by viruses than Windows? [closed]

Many sources (1, 2, 3) state that Linux operating systems have generally a smaller chance of getting infected/compromised by malware or spyware, and have some reasoning behind their claim. On the ...
user36263's user avatar
  • 151
8 votes
1 answer
12k views

Can the "Xtra-PC" USB device make your old computer faster?

The Xtra-PC web-site describes a cheap USB device that can speed up old PCs: Make everything fast again with Xtra-PC: browsing the Internet, writing emails, watching videos, playing games, and more! ...
user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
734 views

Does Windows 7 make up almost 50% of the desktop operating system market share?

NetworkMarketShare claims that, as of July 2016 (after the free upgrade cutoff), Windows 7 still beat Windows 10 in terms of market share by over 20%. Is this analysis that the Windows 7, which is at ...
Anoplexian's user avatar
11 votes
0 answers
333 views

Is Edge (significantly) better than Chrome for laptop battery life?

Microsoft recently released the results of a benchmark of four different browsers with respect to battery life. Chrome comes out the worst, then Firefox, then Opera and then Edge, by quite a margin. ...
Peter's user avatar
  • 241
-4 votes
1 answer
2k views

Is this measurement of data to grains of rice accurate? [closed]

This image purports that you can measure data in grains of rice - one byte being one grain of rice and one gigabyte then being three container lorries. Byte of data : one grain of rice Kilobyte ...
dwjohnston's user avatar
  • 3,003
131 votes
2 answers
17k views

Do consumer computers include components that can connect to the internet when the computer is apparently turned off?

I have seen many claims that devices such as laptop computers contain components that can "connect to the internet" even when the main device is powered off. The implication is that such devices could ...
Caesar's user avatar
  • 1,687
14 votes
1 answer
2k views

Did Babbage write programs for the Analytical Engine prior to Lovelace?

Charles Babbage was the inventor of Analytical Engine and Difference Engine. Ada Lovelace was a mathematician and computer programmer. The Guardian says : Often described as the world's first ...
Prem's user avatar
  • 301
15 votes
1 answer
1k views

Is Canadian PM Trudeau's explanation about quantum computing accurate?

In a recent press conference Justin Trudeau answered a journalist who asked him (initially jokingly) to explain quantum computers. He obliged with a <1 minute explanation which seems to receive ...
user69715's user avatar
  • 2,499
16 votes
1 answer
4k views

Did a computer server get accidentally walled in?

I'm in IT and I've repeatedly heard stories of a server that was left stuck in a space that had a wall built in front of it, and was only discovered years later when the wall was torn down. This 2001 ...
Citizen's user avatar
  • 264
4 votes
2 answers
365 views

Was a new deep learning toolkit released once every 22 days in 2015?

Guest Post (Part II): Deep Reinforcement Learning with Neon says: The deep learning ecosystem has evolved a lot since then. Supposedly a new deep learning toolkit was released once every 22 days in ...
Franck Dernoncourt's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
2k views

Does Ubuntu have 40 million users?

Ubuntu.com claims that there are 40 million Ubuntu users: Ubuntu now has over 40 million desktop users and counting. 40 million seems quite low, so I'm wondering how accurate this number is.
Tim's user avatar
  • 3,856
3 votes
0 answers
349 views

Does deepnet have only 7100 onion sites? [closed]

I have read this article on forbes claiming that deepnet has only 7100 onion sites and took only 3 hours to scan completely. Which to me sounds like total nonsense since if average .onion address is ...
Matas Vaitkevicius's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
497 views

Can you use a computer's CPU's electrical noise to extract an encryption key?

This 2015 Wired article claims it is possible to use a remote device to determine a key used during decryption by sampling the radio emissions from the processor at 100kHz They also claim that by: ...
Akash's user avatar
  • 199
2 votes
0 answers
301 views

Can Magic Leap deliver its claims about their future augmented reality product?

Magic Leap has been very outward with their public face regarding their upcoming augmented reality product. They've been promising a great deal, and the media has hyped up their image as a result, ...
TND's user avatar
  • 129
20 votes
2 answers
4k views

Are these suppliers providing Macbook Pros for only US$230?

After requesting some quotes on computers in China-based global trade site Ali Baba, a friend of mine was bombarded with offers via email. You can see an example in the image bellow. The prices are ...
Tulains Córdova's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
212 views

CPH4 is exist or not [duplicate]

what if our brain really works at more than 50%.In Lucy movie they were telling about the drug name CPH4 or they tell that it will produce at the time of pregnancy when women is at 5 or 6 months.Is ...
Suraj Verma's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
128 views

Do 15-25% of all computer users worldwide (both vocational and recreational) have some computer-related injury (CRI)?

This news article from the The Economic Times claims that: 15-25% of all computer users worldwide (both vocational and recreational) are estimated to have computer-related injuries (CRI). The ...
Franck Dernoncourt's user avatar
8 votes
0 answers
301 views

Did Russian hackers obtain billions of passwords?

Many news outlets seem to be reporting this story (NY Times article) about Russian hackers allegedly acquiring billions of usernames and passwords. A Russian crime ring has amassed the largest known ...
Stephan B's user avatar
  • 180
2 votes
2 answers
2k views

Can emails in draft box avoid detection?

At around the 28 mins and 13 secs of Season 3, Episode 9, of the TV series Strike Back, Major Oliver Sinclair (portrayed by Rhashan Stone) claims the following, the truth of which I'd like to know. ...
user avatar
18 votes
1 answer
2k views

Is Google Chrome killing my laptop battery?

I was reading an article on Forbes that says Google Chrome might be draining my laptop's battery because it brings the system into a mode that uses a tick rate of 1ms instead of 16ms, and is using up ...
corsiKa's user avatar
  • 371
7 votes
1 answer
5k views

Does using a matched pair of memory sticks provide any benefit?

Apple recommends installing pairs of memory sticks with matched sizes to allow for dual-channel memory interface. However, some people believe that it's also important not only to match the sizes of ...
user avatar
26 votes
3 answers
5k views

Is using "sleep mode" wasteful and harmful to a computer?

I have my home computer set to go into "sleep mode" when idle for a short time, and I assumed that by doing so I was saving lots of energy and that it was good for the computer by shutting down ...
Johnny's user avatar
  • 2,929