Computers and the Internet
Computers
- 3D printers: We all know how to copy a flat (2D) document, but how can you make a copy of a 3D object?
- Artificial intelligence: Will computers ever be smart enough to realize how stupid they can be?
- Augmented reality: How can you superimpose maps, facts, or other background data onto the world you see in front of you?
- Barcode scanners: How do those zebra-stripes on packages encode useful information?
- Cloud computing: Is it better to have your own computer system or to access shared computing power and applications over the Net?
- Computer graphics: A simple guide to art, design, and architecture on your screen.
- Computers (buyer's guide): What to look for before you buy a PC; how to buy safely from an auction site.
- Computers (history): Why did it take so long to invent the computer?
- Computers (introduction): Input, output, storage, and processing are the essence of every computer system.
- Computer mice: How does the handy desktop pointer actually work?
- Computer networks: Many computers make light work if you link them together in a network.
- Encryption: How can we use math to secure computers and online information?
- Fingerprint scanners: How can a machine recognize you purely from your fingertips?
- Hard drives: Did you know that a hard drive uses magnetism to store your data on a glass plate?
- Inkjet printers: How an inkjet makes perfect printouts with hot guns that fire ink.
- Integrated circuits: How do you pack millions of tiny electronic components onto tiny silicon chips?
- Keyboards: What's inside your computer keyboard? How does it register keypresses?
- Laptop repairs: How to do some basic repairs yourself—and save money!
- Laser printers: How lasers, static electricity, and powdered ink make the best printouts.
- Linux: An alternative to Microsoft Windows written by thousands of programmer geeks!
- Memory: The basic idea of storing information in your computer.
- Neural networks: How the brain's design has inspired better computers.
- OCR: Can a computer really recognize your handwriting? What if you write badly?
- Quantum computing: Will future computers work faster using atomic processors?
- Security tokens: Is there a more secure way of securing computers and online information?
- Software: How do you make a computer do something totally different?
- Speech synthesis: Can a computer really talk to you?
- Supercomputers: What kind of computer can forecast the weather or model super-complex science problems?
- Touchscreens: How does a glass or plastic computer screen respond to your touch?
- Voice recognition software: How can you communicate with your computer by voice alone?
- Virtual reality: How can we mimic the real world inside a computer system? Can we make the world better this way?
- Webcams: What's inside a webcam? Can you use a digital camera instead of a plug-in webcam?
Internet and World Wide Web
- BitTorrent: Is there a more efficient way of downloading the same file to many users?
- Broadband and mobile broadband Internet: How does broadband work and why is it faster than dial-up?
- BPL (Broadband over power lines): How to get broadband through your household electricity connection.
- E-commerce: How to buy and sell things online.
- Internet: The world's most important communications network.
- Internet and brain: Is the Internet turning into a giant global brain?
- IPTV (Internet Protocol Television): Will we soon be watching television over the Internet?
- Modems: Devices that let digital computers communicate over the old analog phone network.
- Streaming media: How can you watch a video through a slow Internet connection?
- VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol): How can you make telephone calls over the Internet? How does Skype work?
- Website speed optimization: What's the best way to make a website go faster?
- Website testing with PHP: How to compare the effectiveness of two different versions of a web page.
- Wireless Internet: Ever more people are going online using cellphones and other wireless devices.
- World Wide Web (WWW): What is the Web? What's the difference between a website and a domain? How do you set up a site of your own?