Explainers

Why You Should Care About Air Pressure in Weather Apps

Weather apps provide tons of information, but you might only check the temperature and precipitation. Other metrics can give you a better idea of how the weather will actually feel. Barometric pressure—or “air pressure”—i…

Joe Fedewa May 7th

Is It Bad to Leave a Phone Plugged in All the Time?

People have a lot of questions about batteries. Is it bad to charge your phone overnight? What happens if you keep your phone charging after 100%? Those are valid concerns, but what if you keep your iPhone or Android phone ch…

Joe Fedewa May 4th

Tired of Sleeping With Your Smart Phone? You Need This

If your habit of charging your phone on your nightstand to keep it nearby “just in case” leads to some not-so-great bedtime and wake-up routines centered around your smartphone, there’s a simple solution to your problem….

Jason Fitzpatrick Apr 21st

Is Wireless Charging Bad for Your Battery?

Wireless charging is really convenient, but is it bad for your phone’s battery to charge it wirelessly? Here’s why people worry about it and whether or not their worries are justified.

Jason Fitzpatrick Apr 17th

Why Your Phone Charging Cable Needs a USB Condom

We promise you even though the title of this article sounds like an April Fool’s Day post, we’re completely serious. It’s a wild world out there, and your charging cable needs a condom.

Jason Fitzpatrick Apr 14th

How Long Do CDs and DVDs Last?

Do you have a CD or DVD collection holding precious data or your impressive music and movie collection? The lifespan of CDs and DVDs can vary depending on a number of factors, but we’ll explain what you need to know….

Sydney Butler Apr 14th

Where Do Weather Apps Get Their Info From?

There are many different weather apps and services, but how different is each app’s data? Where do they get their information from? It turns out, many of them might have the same source for your specific location, but how the…

Corbin Davenport Mar 25th

Why Do Some Modern Computers Still Have Serial Ports?

While the parallel port is now safely buried in the grave of obsolescence, it may seem odd that the humble, slow serial port is still around. But as it turns out, bit-by-bit, this humble communications port has become essenti…

Sydney Butler Mar 10th

Why Does a Formatted Drive Have Less Space Than Advertised?

A gallon of milk is a gallon of milk, but a terabyte of hard drive space may not be what it says on the box! The difference between advertised and reported drive capacities is easy to explain.

Sydney Butler Mar 8th

What Does a Factory Reset Do?

“Factory Reset”—also sometimes called a “hard reset”—is a term thrown around a lot in the tech world. It’s often recommended to factory reset a device to fix nagging issues—and it usually solves the problem. Why is that…

Joe Fedewa Feb 26th

Blue Light Is Not as Bad as You Think

You’ve probably heard about the dangers of blue light from digital displays. Apparently, it’s damaging our eyes and disrupting our sleep cycles. Here’s the good news—blue light is not that big of a deal. Allow me to explain…

Joe Fedewa Feb 19th

What Happened to Phones With Built-in Projectors?

Despite the trend towards larger phone screens, they’re still quite small in absolute terms. So why not stuff a projector into your phone and take a big screen everywhere? That’s exactly what happened in 2009, but the idea ne…

Sydney Butler Feb 18th

Are Yahoo, Hotmail, and Gmail Email Addresses Unprofessional?

When crafting a resume or building a personal website, you may wonder if your Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, or Gmail address doesn’t look professional enough. Depending on who you are and what you’re doing, it may in fact be time for …

Sandy Writtenhouse Feb 16th

What Are Sodium-Ion Batteries, and Could They Replace Lithium?

Batteries are becoming crucial to everyday life, and whoever comes up with a better battery has the world on a platter. Sodium-ion batteries are a top contender to the crown held by lithium-ion batteries, but what exactly mak…

Sydney Butler Feb 11th

It’s Time to Stop Using Desktop Icons

Modern computers carry a lot of baggage from the past, and desktop icons are perhaps one of the most unsightly remnants of the earliest days of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs). If you’re still living with them, it’s time to …

Sydney Butler Feb 3rd

What to Do If Your Computer Catches Fire (And Why It Happens)

No one starts their day expecting to see literal flames from their computer, but it happens more often than you think! If you never want a PC fire, or want to know what to do if it happens, take notes….

Sydney Butler Feb 1st

Your Devices Are Becoming “Carbon Aware,” But What Does That Mean?

While the electricity your devices run on from the wall outlet all seems the same, the juice can be squeezed from sources with very different carbon footprints. Carbon-aware gadgets have measures put in place to take this inf…

Sydney Butler Jan 31st

Why Do Phone Batteries Still Only Last a Day?

Smartphones have been in our lives for nearly two decades, and we’ve seen huge improvements in that time. However, one thing has mostly remained the same—charging your phone every day. Why hasn’t battery life gotten better …

Joe Fedewa Jan 26th

Will 5G Make Me Use More Cellular Data?

5G is the latest and (supposedly) greatest wireless standard. With speeds that can sometimes rival home internet, you may be wondering if using 5G means you’ll burn through even more data. But is that actually true? Let’s fin…

Joe Fedewa Jan 20th

How Do “Self-Charging” Remotes Work?

What if you had a TV remote that you never needed to charge or replace the batteries? That may sound like a futuristic dream, but it’s actually been a reality for a little while already. The technology is pretty cool….

Joe Fedewa Jan 18th

What Is “Abandonware” and Is it Legal?

There are lots of “wares” when it comes to software: freeware, shareware, donationware, and more! You may have come across “abandonware” that just needs a simple click to download, but what does it mean for software to be aba…

Sydney Butler Jan 15th

Do LED Bulbs Burn Out?

It might seem like a question with an obvious answer, but LED bulbs don’t burn out the same way traditional incandescent bulbs do. Here’s what happens instead.

Jason Fitzpatrick Jan 8th

Why You Should Use Time Blocking to Manage Your Tasks

Do you ever feel overwhelmed with what’s on your daily task list? Maybe the problem isn’t the number of tasks you have, but how you manage them. If you’re looking for a new time management technique, try time blocking….

Sandy Writtenhouse Jan 4th

Is It Bad to Sleep Next to Your Phone?

Many people use their phone until the moment of falling asleep, then it’s literally in bed with them—or charging nearby—all night. Using your phone before bed is already not great, but is the close proximity bad too?…

Joe Fedewa Dec 30th, 2022

Here’s What the First US “Right to Repair” Law Actually Does

The right to repair your own devices has been a growing issue around the world, as some companies make self-repair increasingly more difficult. The US state of New York just passed the first modern Right to Repair law, but wh…

Corbin Davenport Dec 29th, 2022

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