The HEX Code Is Identical. So Why Does the Color Look Different on Two Screens?
The same HEX color can look noticeably different on two screens. Here is what sRGB, display profiles, calibration and your surroundings have to do with it.
Curious things, explained.
The stories, science, and small details behind the things we use every day.
Technology
11 articles
How Do Shopping Cart Wheels Know When You've Left the Parking Lot?
Some shopping carts can suddenly lock at the edge of a parking lot. The wheel usually is not using GPS. It is detecting an invisible boundary built into the property.
How Does a Gas Pump Know When Your Tank Is Full?
A gas pump does not communicate with your car or measure the tank directly. A tiny hole near the nozzle tip, a pressure difference and a mechanical valve make the familiar click happen automatically.
Why Aren't Keyboard Letters in Alphabetical Order?
Computer keyboards still use QWERTY instead of ABC order. The layout grew out of early typewriters, but the familiar story that it was designed simply to slow typists down is incomplete.
Why Can a File Named .jpg Actually Be a PNG?
Changing photo.png to photo.jpg changes the filename, not the image inside. Here is how computers identify a file's real format and why mismatched files sometimes fail to upload.
Why Does the Number 4 Look Different on a Calculator?
The 4 on a calculator can look very different from the one you write by hand. The reason comes from the seven straight segments used to build digital numbers.
Why Do Websites Still Make You Add a Capital Letter, Number and Symbol?
Many websites still require uppercase letters, numbers and symbols in passwords even though modern security guidance has moved away from rigid complexity rules. Here is why.
How Much Water Does AI Really Use?
How much water does AI use? See how much water one AI prompt can use, where it goes, how AI affects the environment, and what can reduce its footprint.
Why Two JSON Files Can Mean the Same Thing but Have Different Hashes
Why can equivalent JSON produce different SHA-256 hashes? See how whitespace, key order, line endings, serialization, and JSON canonicalization change the bytes being hashed.
Why Does One Character Change SHA-256 Completely?
Change one character and a SHA-256 hash can look completely unrelated. Here is what happens inside the algorithm, from bytes and message blocks to 64 rounds of mathematical mixing.
Why Do We Compress Images? The Story of Making Pictures Smaller
Why do images need compression? Learn how lossless and lossy compression reduce file size, how JPEG and PNG work, and why WebP and AVIF followed.
