The inventor of the USB originally designed it to be plugged in either way up. One of the most frustrating things to do with technology has got to be the fact that, try as hard as you will; whenever you go to plug a USB in, it’s the wrong way up. The original design would have been much better but ended up being canned as it would have cost twice the price to make it flippable. The inventor of the USB has since agreed that they made the mistake of not going ahead with the original idea.
100 Mind-Blowing Been Facts
Stan Lee created the character for Iron Man as a challenge. Stan Lee had been playing around with the idea of a businessman superhero for a while and finally bit the bullet in 1963 when he came up with the concept for Iron Man. Marvel’s readers at the time were very much against war, so he thought it would be a unique challenge to create a character who fans would originally hate but come to love – and it worked!
A wall of trees is being planted across Africa to help prevent desertification. The Great Green Wall of the Sahara and the Sahel is Africa’s leading attempt to help mitigate the effects of desertification. The initiative also aims to transform the lives of millions of people living along the edge of the Sahara Desert. Unsurprisingly, planting trees at the edge of a desert is difficult. Despite having planted more than 5.5 billion seedlings in Ethiopia alone, only four per cent of the project had been completed by the end of 2020.
Kim Il Sung loved Hennessy cognac so much he bought more than $800,000 of it per year! The vast majority of people in North Korea live rather impoverished lives, and this has been the case under multiple generations of the ruling dynasties now. High-ranking officials and North Korea’s leaders live very different lives, spoiling themselves lavishly and allowing themselves access to otherwise forbidden imported goods. For example, Kim Il Sung was so crazy about Hennessy that he was the cognac company’s number-one customer for a few years in the 1990s.
Panama hats aren’t originally from Panama but from Ecuador! These timelessly stylish hats have been known to the Western world since at least the 1800s and have been seen atop the heads of many famous people ranging from President Theodore Roosevelt to Brad Pitt. They’re made from a type of palm called the Toquilla palm, a native Ecuadorian plant that is painstakingly woven together into the iconic shape. Artisans were struggling to sell the hats in Ecuador, so they exported them to Panama – where they ironically gained their name instead of from the country of origin!
About 95% of the ocean has not been explored.
Experiments in universities have been carried out to figure out how many licks it takes to get to the centre of a Tootsie Pop, both with the machine and human lickers (because this is important scientific knowledge!). The results ranged from 252 to 411.
The dog ate John Steinbeck’s homework—literally. The author’s pup chewed up an early version of Of Mice and Men. “I was pretty mad, but the poor fellow may have been acting critically,” he wrote.
Peugeot has been making cars for more than one century. (126 years old).
The original name of Microsoft Windows was “Interface Manager”. In 1981, Microsoft began the development of a program called “Interface Manager”. Most people won’t recognise that name because Interface Manager became Windows in 1983. Microsoft released Windows 1.0 in 1985, and it’s now the most common operating system in the world. It’s hard to believe the OS would be successful with its original name. Interface Manager perfectly describes what Windows would become. In the marketing department, making that name sound interesting or useful would have been impossible. Everyone recognises Windows, and millions of computers run on Windows 10 today. Interface Manager should be considered a work-in-progress name and something best left in the past.
What Was The First Ever.COM Domain? Symbolics Inc. registered the first .COM domain on March 15, 1985. For obvious reasons, the company chose to register Symbolics.com on the World Wide Web. Nordu.net was technically the first domain name ever but didn’t go through the registration process. Less than 15,000 domains had been registered to the web in 1992. In 2010, more than 200 million domains were registered to .COM alone. Dozens of other domain names exist, and millions of websites are registered with each one. No domain name is going to come close to dethroning .COM anytime soon, if ever. Regardless, Symbolics.com will hold its place in history.
How much digital data has been created so far in the world? In 2018, the Global Datasphere amounted to 33 Zettabytes of data. Nearly 60% of that data was stored on traditional hard drives. IDC predicts the Datasphere will explode to 175 Zettabytes by 2025. Cloud storage continues to lead growth in data storage solutions as time goes on. By 2025, nearly 50% of the world’s data may exist in the cloud. China should soon become the country with the most cumulative data. Growth in the country is expected to outpace the rest of the world by 30%. As time goes on, cumulative data storage should continue to explode in growth around the world.
Record Number of Websites Currently in Operation. Statistics continue to be gathered by resources like Statista.com who have been monitoring the phenomenon of new websites since 1991 when Yahoo led the way for the establishment of Google, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. According to historians, the first website, launched on August 6, 1991, didn’t dominate the Internet for long. There were 3,000 websites operated by businesses and individuals by 1994, reflecting extraordinary growth by any measure. The fact that there are now 1.88 billion websites in existence says plenty about how crowded cyberspace is becoming.
Facebook: It’s Become a Leading Factor in Divorce. Facebook has been the subject of myriad research studies, but few are as intriguing as one published in the Journal of Cyberpsychology, Behaviour and Social Networking that investigated relationship break-up rates. Findings, that “more frequent social media use and monitoring of one’s partner could lead to misunderstandings and feelings of jealousy,” in addition emotional and physical cheating can be traced to Facebook interactions. Additionally, another study undertaken by British attorneys using evidence culled from Facebook for divorce proceedings, concluded that Facebook can hurt people in committed relationships and even offer tips on how to avoid splitting up.
Credit card chips have been around for a LONG time. To many, credit card chips are a relatively new fad. However, chip technology has been around since 1986! It was first used in France, followed shortly after by Germany.
Alexa is always listening to your conversations. This probably isn’t new to you. Siri has been doing it forever. Alexa stores your dialogue history in its cloud to help improve your Alexa experience. But you can review and delete these recordings, either in bulk or individually.
Digital music sales surpassed physical sales in 2014. Since MP3 players arrived, digital music sales have been slowly rising. Once Spotify came out in 2008, it seemed the age of physical music was over. In 2014, download sales and subscriptions made $6.85 billion, while physical sales were just barely under it at $6.82 billion.
In 2016, a student left a pineapple in an art museum in Scotland. Two days later, it had been placed in a glass case as part of an exhibition.
The office of Treasurer of the United States has been held by women since 1949.
Tickling has been divided into two types. Knismesis refers to “light feather-like” tickling, and gargalesis refers to “harder laughter-inducing” tickling.
Since 2014 the Welsh government has donated a fruit tree to families in Uganda for every child born or adopted in Wales. In 2008 the “Plant!” scheme was announced, which would celebrate the birth or adoption of a child in Wales by planting a tree. Creating new woodlands for future generations, was already a magnificent scheme, but it became even better with the changes in April 2014. In Uganda, fruit trees are planted because they can provide vital fruit and timber in a region which has been decimated by deforestation.
Illegal drunkenness. Since 1872 it’s been illegal to be drunk in a pub.
World’s first skyscraper. The story of skyscrapers often begins in New York and Chicago from around 1884 with increasingly tall buildings. However, what is technically the world’s first skyscraper was built in Shropshire in 1796–7. Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings may not look like a skyscraper, but its Main Mill was the first building in the world to have an iron frame supporting the weight of the structure, the formula for every skyscraper ever built so that it has been dubbed the ‘Grandparent of Skyscrapers’.
Prediction of death. Mark Twain kind of predicted his death. In 1909, he said: ‘I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don’t go out with Halley’s Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt, “Now there are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together”.’ He died of a heart attack on 21 April 1910 – one day after the comet had come again and appeared at its brightest. Halley’s comet only passes by Earth approximately every 76 years and has been the subject of a string of predictions since 1705.
Take your time. Homosexuality has been legal in Italy since 1870, England in 1967, Scotland in 1980, Northern Ireland in 1982, the Isle of Man in 1992 and Tasmania in 1997. It has now been legal in 14 US states since 2003.
Rare pilots. There have been more astronauts than pilots who have flown the Concorde, which is now out of service.
Hitler’s half-nephew’s service in the US Navy. The son of Adolf Hitler’s half-brother, Alois, William Patrick Hitler was born in England in 1911 but moved to Germany in the 1930s. He was something of a problem for the German Führer, and in July 1939 he published an article in Look magazine titled ‘Why I hate my uncle. . .’ He moved to America in 1939. It has been reported that in 1944 he appealed directly to President Roosevelt to join the fight against his uncle and the FBI deemed it sincere. Though he never saw combat, Hitler served until 1947. He changed his name to William Stuart-Houston and died in 1987.
We can thank Albert Einstein for a lot of our current understanding of the physics of time. Rather than viewing time as a set order, he proved that it’s relative. For example, according to Einstein’s theory of special relativity, there’s an inverse relationship between your speed and the speed of time. The faster you move, the slower time moves. This is why someone blasting through space will age slower than the people still hanging out on Earth: Astronaut Scott Kelly was born several minutes after his twin brother, Mark, but after Scott spent 340 days living on the International Space Station, he returned to Earth around an extra 5 milliseconds younger than his “big” brother. Had Scott been travelling at a speed close to the speed of light, that age difference would have become much more pronounced.
Daylight saving time ended on a national level after the war, but individual states and municipalities kept it going until World War II. At the end of World War I, the entire nation went on what was effectively a year-round daylight saving time. After World War II, the entire nation was again picking and choosing daylight saving time. It’s been reported that in Iowa, back in 1964, there were 23 different combinations of dates that communities turned on and off daylight saving time. In 1966, the government officially mandated a standardised daylight saving time for the entire United States, though individual states could opt out. Until 2007, daylight saving time ended in October. It’s been reported that the candy industry lobbied to wait until after Halloween to change the clocks back an hour.
People have been tracking time for thousands of years. In 2013, archaeologists found what’s thought to be the world’s oldest lunar calendar while excavating a field in Scotland. The calendar, which is made of a series of 12 pits that mimic the moon’s phases, dates back to around 8000 BCE.
No Antivirus is 100% Safe for All Kinds of Malware. Regardless of their high efficiency, no antivirus has been able to detect and battle all forms of malware.
43% of IT Experts Say They Have Been Attacked Using Social Engineering Methods in 2022. Social engineering has been one of the chief methods of cyber-exploitation in the past years.
Cybercrime has Increased by 600% Since Covid-19. According to a Cybersecurity Ventures report, there has been a staggering 600% increase in cyberattacks since the commencement of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some possible reasons include the rise in remote working, the rise in malware, and the rise in online activity.
There are 20,323,379 lines of code in the Linux kernel as of 2018. That might sound like a lot but it’s the smallest the kernel has been for some time! Even so, despite the recent reductions, the huge line count means Linux remains the single largest open-source project on the planet.
The International Space Station has been running Linux since 2013.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer once called Linux cancer. In 2016, Microsoft created its own Linux distribution and has been showing appreciation for Linux as a platform since then.
80% to 90% of all special effects seen in Hollywood movies post-2002 have been created with the help of Linux. Linux was used for Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Harry Potter, and many other big franchises.
The White House has been using Linux since 2001.
The Dutch police’s Internet Research and Investigation Network has been using Linux since as early as 2003.
The Bank of Brazil has been using Linux since 2002, making it one of the first national banks to adopt the operating system.
Intel and Red Hat have been the biggest contributors to the Linux project for many years now.
Linux has been ported to more platforms than any other operating system.
The Rivalry Between Microsoft and Linux: Microsoft waged war against Linux in the early 2000s seeking to stop its spread and usage. It incurred a staggering $421 million in the process. Nowadays, the two operating systems are no longer locked in battle, and in fact, there’s been more collaboration between the two in recent years.
In the past 5 years, there have been over 2.2 million complaints about Internet crime to the FBI (FBI IC3): According to the Internet Crime Complaints Centre – or IC3, the number of complaints issued to the centre has increased significantly in the last five years. Around 2.2 million complaints were recorded in 2020. The FBI notes this is a significant increase since the beginning of 2016. What’s more, the cost of cyber-attacks is higher too. In 2016, complaints of hacking and cybercrime accounted for around $1.5 billion in losses. In 2020, the complaints accounted for around $4.2 billion.
Remote working may be causing increased hacking issues (IBM): According to IBM and the Ponemon Institute, there’s been a 10% increase in the average total cost of data breaches between 2020 and 2021. Remote working and digital transformation caused by the pandemic of 2020 increased the average cost of a data breach by around $1.07 million. During the pandemic, IBM notes customer PII was the most common type of record lost, included in around 44% of breaches, and each record was worth around $180.
Condoleezza Rice: Condoleezza Rice, a former Secretary of State, has been associated with the NSA through her work in national security and intelligence.
A handful of world-renowned scientists were born in England: Another intriguing fact about England is that it’s been the birthplace of several iconic scientists! Sir Isaac Newton, a household name, was born in Lincolnshire in 1643 and went on to write the laws of motion, gravity and the theory of colour. More recently, Stephen Hawking was born in 1942 in Cambridgeshire. The professor is best known for his theory of exploding black holes which has revolutionised the field of astronomy. These English scientists’ findings are still very relevant for science to this day, with their works being used frequently in education and the industry.
There is an annual cheese rolling competition: The unusual sport of cheese rolling was guaranteed to make this list of facts about England. A unique event, the annual cheese rolling takes place on Cooper’s Hill in Gloucester and has been done since 1826. The event involves a 9-lb, round Double Gloucester cheese rolled down a hill, with competitors chasing after it to the bottom. The first person to reach the finish line wins the cheese. Contestants are often locals from the area, however, the event attractions competitors from all over the world. If you’re up for a challenge, why not sign up for the race? Please keep in mind that due to the fast pace of the race, the event can be quite dangerous.
The two most common baby names are Olivia and Oliver: According to the Office for National Statistics, the top baby names across England and Wales in 2020 were Oliver and Olivia. Oliver has held the top position for over eight years, whilst Olivia has been at the top for five years in a row. Regionally, babies named Oliver were mostly concentrated in the North East of England and Herefordshire, whilst babies named Olivia were mostly born in the North East, especially in Craven, and along the South Coast of England.
London has the world’s longest-running show: At St. Martins Theatre in the West End in London, the world’s longest-running show is being played. Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap has been running since 1952, which means that the show has been running for more than 70 years now. The show started as a radio play, called Three Blind Mice, and follows the story of seven strangers snowed in at a home in the countryside.
Import of haggis to the US has been banned since the 70s: Scottish haggis is a sheep’s stomach filled with the sheep’s liver, heart and lungs, as well as oatmeal, suet, stock, onions and various spices. This dish has been forbidden in the United States of America since 1971. The reason for this is that the U.S. Department of Agriculture believes that lungs should not be saved for use as human food. The lungs of a sheep can contain bacteria, so the ban is in place with food safety in mind.
Since 1642, when Charles I stormed out of the House of Commons, an event which eventually led to the Civil War, no reigning Monarch had been allowed to enter the House of Commons till now.
On some selected British food products you will see a royal stamp and it means that the product has been bought by the Royal Family for at least five years.
The official state animal of California is a grizzly bear but there have been no grizzly bears in California since 1922.
The US flag has been revised 27 times.
Tiny Tribute: Two mice fighting over a slice of cheese is London’s smallest statue. The tale behind this small artwork is rather heartbreaking. During the construction, two of the monument’s constructors fought over a sandwich that was later discovered to have been consumed by a mouse.
Royal Stamp: Food products with the royal stamp have been purchased by the royal family for at least five years, indicating high quality.
Banging Bangers: The term “bangers and mash” originated during World War I, when sausages that had been soaked in water due to a lack of food would explode (“bang”) when they were cooked.
National Twist: Although roast beef and Yorkshire beef are popular foods in the United Kingdom, chicken tikka has been declared as the country’s national dish. Chicken tikka is an Indian dish.
The Longest-Running Show in the World Is in London: The longest-running performance in the world is being performed at St. Martins Theatre in London’s West End. Considering that Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap debuted in 1952, the show has been airing for over 70 years to this day. The plot of the show, which began as a radio play named Three Blind Mice, centres on seven strangers who become stuck at a rural house due to snowfall.
Money dates way back: Money has been a part of human history for at least 5,000 years. Before then, a system of bartering was likely used. The world’s oldest coin dates back to 600 BCE in China, which then moved to paper money around 700 CE. But for parts of Europe, it took until the 16th Century to switch from metal coins to paper money.
The Euro is the second most important currency in the world: The US Dollar is the world’s favourite currency for borrowing, lending and central bank reserves. The Euro is the second. Since the Euro was introduced in 1999, living standards and employment have increased. Euro economies have also been protected from exchange rate volatility. Today, the Euro is shared by over 340 million Europeans.
The US “$” sign has long been in use to represent foreign currency before the issue of the first US dollar in 1875. Not only that, but the “$” symbol never has, nor does it now, appear on any US currency.
The Bank of England has been issuing banknotes since 1694, the pound (£) symbol originates from the Latin word ‘libra’, and the Royal Mint, responsible for producing all the country’s coins, was established over 1,100 years ago.
All dollar bills feature former presidents, except for the most popular, the $100. Benjamin Franklin has never been President of America.
In the Bahamas, since 2001, a denomination of 1/2 dollar has been in circulation. The banknote is very popular among numismatists.
GPT-3 has been fine-tuned for a variety of language tasks, such as translation, summarisation, and question-answering. Even service desk software can leverage AI capabilities to process requests and enhance the quality of responses.
ChatGPT has been integrated into a variety of platforms and applications, including websites, messageing apps, virtual assistants, and other AI applications.
GPT-3 has been praised for its ability to understand the context and produce relevant responses.
GPT-3 has also been criticized for its lack of common sense knowledge and susceptibility to producing biased or misleading responses.
Despite ChatGPT improvements on this topic, OpenAI admits the chatbot still generates biased or inaccurate responses, particularly when the model has not been fine-tuned on specific domains or tasks. Identifying ChatGPT written content remains a challenge, with statistics showing that a significant percentage of readers cannot differentiate between content generated by ChatGPT and that written by a human.
AI Adoption Is Helping Companies Maximize Profits: Paris-based French multinational food corporation, Danone S.A., is implementing Artificial Intelligence to predict and plan the demand for its packaged food products. Forbes reports that by adopting AI, Danone has been able to reduce its forecast errors by 20 per cent and product obsolescence by 30 per cent.
China has been the largest market for industrial robots since 2013, with 140,492 units installed in 2019. Although the sector was slowed down by the pandemic, it was estimated that China has already recovered from its “industrial slump.”
Facebook’s AI team has been hard at work developing AI that can understand the content of videos and put it to use. Though what this means remains somewhat vague, an innocent part of it would be automated video captions, for instance.
‘The “Big Tech” companies, namely Amazon, Google, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft obtained 13 AI startups in 2020. This is because, in recent years, AI startups have been considered a “prime acquisition target” in the sector.
AI systems are now capable of composing audio, text, and pictures. This has been applied to significantly improve the detection of individual persons with facial and voice recognition.
Though there has been research to develop AI that could detect depression from someone’s voice, it’s still not very accurate and tends to misdiagnose ethnicities that weren’t the majority in the group used for the ML development phase.
The ability to nap in your car while on your commute to work is much closer than you think. Elon Musk announced that Tesla will offer self-driving cars in less than a year – May of 2023. As this announcement has been made before without any actual launch, take it with a grain of salt.
AI has been around for decades. While AI is often thought of as a new technology, the concept has been around since the 1950s. Early AI systems were used to perform tasks such as playing chess and solving mathematical problems.