Surprising facts about tech, gadgets and the wonderful World Wide Web
We've put together some interesting facts about tech, gadgets and the history of the web for you to enjoy (image credit: Avantgarde Concept/Unsplash)
The computer seen here was used by Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee as the world's first web server and the machine that coded the first ever web browser. (image credit: Wikipedia)
A "jiffy" is the length of one cycle of the computer's system clock (roughly 10 milliseconds). Which is where the origin of the phrase comes from. (image credit: Andrey Grushnikov/Pexels)
The first spam email was sent in 1978. Since then a heck of a lot of spam has been sent. In fact, 47.3 percent of e-mail traffic in September 2020 was spam. (image credit: Pixabay)
When staring at a computer screen you blink just seven times per minute instead of the usual 20 blinks per minute when doing other things. (image credit: Avantgarde Concept/Unsplash)
Bill Hewlett and David Packard decided the name of HP with a coin toss. It could just have easily been Packard-Hewlett. (image credit: HP)
Did you know the term "robot" comes from a Czech word, robota, meaning "forced labour"? If the robots ever find out that might be the start of the uprising. (image credit: Sharp)
51 per cent of all internet traffic is thought to be made up of bots and hackers, rather than real people surfing for new shoes or the latest tech news. (image credit: Unsplash)
Some people are scared of tech. Technophobia is a real problem. Nomophobia is the opposite - the fear of being without your mobile phone. (image credit: Unsplash/Aarón Blanco Tejedor)
Did you know that Google once used a supercomputer to work out that a Rubik's Cube can be solved in 20 turns with the right moves. (image credit: Pexels/JTMultimidia)
In 1969 Astronauts were forced to sign envelopes as an alternative to life insurance in case they should die. So their families could sell them for income. (image credit: NASA)
This photo shows the first broadcast of a television picture, complete with a ventriloquist's dummy. The transmission was a breakthrough in 1925. (image credit: Wikipedia)
Gaming giant Nintendo originally started out life as a playing card company. How things have changed! (image credit: Nintendo/Wikipedia)
This massive thing is IBM's first supercomputer seen being loaded onto a plane. Technology has come a long way and shrunk a lot over the years. (image credit: IBM)
According to researchers, the average person spends a total of 10 years of their life watching TV. (image credit: Pexels/rawpixel)
This is the first photo ever posted on the World Wide Web, with the secretaries and partners of the CERN scientists seen as part of all-girl comedy band. (image credit: CERN)
1984's advert for the Apple Macintosh was directed by film legend Ridley Scott and said to be the "greatest TV commercials of all time".  (image credit: Apple)
This is an image of Pluto captured by the New Horizons spacecraft as it flew by in 2015. Taken at a range of 22,025 miles, it shows the "true colours" of Pluto. (image credit: NASA)
Did you know there's a subreddit that's run by bots? r/SubredditSimulator is managed by bots who are mimicking posts created by real users. Very odd. (image credit: Con Karampelas/Unsplash)
Did you know it took 38 years for radio to reach an audience of 50 million? Television, by comparison, took just 13 years. (image credit: Pocket-lint)
You're familiar with the web browser Firefox. But did you know the browser's logo isn't a fox at all? It's a Red Panda. (image credit: Mozilla Corporation)
Nokia might be most well known for selling phones but it actually started out as a pulp mill and later sold toilet paper too. (image credit: A life without animals is not worth living from Pixabay)
In some places drones are used as an alternative to fireworks displays. This display included a flying QR code! (image credit: ChaseDragonfury)
YouTube was originally designed as a dating site with the hope that people would "Tune in" and "Hook up". Users weren't as keen. (image credit: Adam Fejes from Pexels)