In 1995, Microsoft shipped a cartoon-house interface called Bob, led by Melinda French, who married Bill Gates while it was in development — it demanded twice the memory of a typical home PC, sold roughly 30,000 copies, and was dead within a year, leaving behind the font Comic Sans and the animated assistant that became Clippy.
In 1995, Microsoft shipped a cartoon-house interface called Bob, led by Melinda French, who married Bill Gates while it was in development — it demanded twice the memory of a typical home PC, sold roughly 30,000 copies, and was dead within a year,…
The Hollywood sign originally read HOLLYWOODLAND when it was built in 1923 as a real estate advertisement for a housing development, and it was only meant to stand for 18 months, but nobody ever got around to taking it down and the city eventually adopted it as a landmark
The Hollywood sign originally read HOLLYWOODLAND when it was built in 1923 as a real estate advertisement for a housing development, and it was only meant to stand for 18 months, but nobody ever got around to taking it down and the city eventually…
Apple’s original 1984 Macintosh keyboard had no arrow keys, no function keys, and no numeric pad because Steve Jobs wanted users to reach for the mouse first. Then Apple quietly sold the missing keys as an accessory.
Apple’s original 1984 Macintosh keyboard had no arrow keys, no function keys, and no numeric pad because Steve Jobs wanted users to reach for the mouse first. Then Apple quietly sold the missing keys as an accessory. The initial Macintosh fulcra-board…
Russia still custom-builds the Soyuz return seats for ISS crew members using plaster casts taken weeks before launch, because astronauts grow as much as five centimetres taller during a long-duration stay and a seat moulded to their Earth-shaped spine would no longer fit the body that comes home
Russia still custom-builds the Soyuz return seats for ISS crew members using plaster casts taken weeks before launch, because astronauts grow as much as five centimetres taller during a long-duration stay and a seat moulded to their Earth-shaped spine…
Toy Story 2 was nearly erased from existence when someone at Pixar accidentally ran a delete command on the film’s master files, wiping out roughly 90 percent of the project — and the only reason the production survived was that Galyn Susman, a technical director on maternity leave, had a working copy on a computer at her house.
Toy Story 2 was nearly erased from existence when someone at Pixar accidentally ran a delete command on the film’s master files, wiping out roughly 90 percent of the project — and the only reason the production survived was that Galyn Susman, a technical…
Almost all of the world’s internet traffic does not travel by satellite but through fibre-optic cables lying on the ocean floor, a hidden web of wires crossing the deepest parts of the sea to connect the continents.
Almost all of the world’s internet traffic does not travel by satellite but through fibre-optic cables lying on the ocean floor, a hidden web of wires crossing the deepest parts of the sea to connect the continents. The excellent mass of documents…
The Greenland shark grows about one centimetre a year, does not reach sexual maturity until around age 150, and a specimen carbon-dated by Danish researchers in 2016 was estimated to be at least 272 years old, meaning it was already swimming the North Atlantic when Mozart was composing symphonies.
The Greenland shark grows about one centimetre a year, does not reach sexual maturity until around age 150, and a specimen carbon-dated by Danish researchers in 2016 was estimated to be at least 272 years old, meaning it was already swimming the North…
A species of jellyfish called Turritopsis dohrnii can revert its adult cells back to a juvenile polyp stage when injured or starving, effectively restarting its life cycle, and biologists have so far failed to identify any natural limit to how many times it can do this.
A species of jellyfish called Turritopsis dohrnii can revert its adult cells back to a juvenile polyp stage when injured or starving, effectively restarting its life cycle, and biologists have so far failed to identify any natural limit to how many times…
In 1997, a team of engineers hid an entire flight simulator inside the code of Microsoft Excel as an unlisted “Easter egg” — and to this day, it remains one of the most sophisticated pieces of hidden software ever secretly shipped to millions of corporate computers
In 1997, a team of engineers hid an entire flight simulator inside the code of Microsoft Excel as an unlisted “Easter egg” — and to this day, it remains one of the most sophisticated pieces of hidden software ever secretly shipped to millions…
When Doug Wheelock came home after 163 days in space, he said he had craved the aroma of leaves, grass, flowers, and trees, the rush of Earthiness that reaches astronauts only when the hatch opens back onto the living planet
When Doug Wheelock came home after 163 days in space, he said he had craved the aroma of leaves, grass, flowers, and trees, the rush of Earthiness that reaches astronauts only when the hatch opens back onto the living planet When Doug Wheelock came…