Tedium
Why the Plastic Packaging You Hate So Much Is Still Here
Why plastic blister packs and clamshell packs, despite the near-universal frustration they create among consumers, have become a truism of consumer goods.
FTP Is Almost 50 Years Old—and It’s Ready to Retire
The beating heart of the early internet may have been FTP, or file transfer protocol. But after 50 years of mainstream use, its demise may be imminent.
That Time $50 Used Apple Laptops Caused a Stampede
Why did thousands of people trample one another in an attempt to buy a $50 iBook in 2005? In many ways, it’s a story about a lack of tech access that’s still being told.
How a Minor Calculation Error Cost Intel Half a Billion Dollars
How one of the most famous computer bugs of all time, the Intel Pentium floating-point division glitch, blew out of proportion into a PR crisis.
Why the World May Never Truly Be Rid of Dongles
Pondering the many ways that dongles have taken over our lives, for better and for worse. One port ruling them all is a lot harder than it looks.
How Link-Begging Became the Most Annoying Search Engine Tactic
Businesses want to show up on the front page of a specific search term, and they’re willing to annoy you to get a backlink from you. Please never do this.
The History of TV Color Bars, One of the First Electronic Graphics Ever Made
You might not realize it, but every part of a color-bar layout, the most common television test pattern out there, has a specific purpose. Here’s how it came to be.
Smart Devices Will Eventually Die, and the Internet Is to Blame
We may have made a horrible mistake by unnecessarily making our consumer electronics devices smart—and removing generations of future use in the process.
Netflix’s First Hit Show Was Bill Clinton’s Impeachment Testimony
The reason we might all be using Netflix today could have a lot to do with a marketing stunt involving the grand jury testimony that got Bill Clinton impeached.
Why Are Résumés Still a Thing?
The résumé, a document that largely gained prominence in the past half-century, was once a key part of getting a job. Soon, it might just disappear entirely.
How Caller ID Predicted Our Current Privacy and Robocall Nightmare
Over the past 35 years, our views on privacy and Caller ID technology have totally flipped. The concern used to be about the caller. Now, it’s the recipient.
The Internet’s First Hit File Format Wasn’t the MP3. It Was MIDI
How the professional-minded MIDI format, for an incredibly short but memorable period of time, became the primary way music was shared on the internet.