Communications
- Analog versus digital technology: What are the differences between analog and digital? Which is better?
- Antennas and transmitters: How do we send and receive radio waves from one place to another?
- Bluetooth: A simple way to connect wirelessly to nearby electronic equipment.
- Digital cameras: How a digital camera represents photographs in numeric form.
- Digital cameras (buyer's guide): What to look for in a new camera. What accessories will you need?
- Film cameras and photography: Old-style photography uses light-sensitive film to capture images of the world.
- Cellphones (Mobile phones): How mobile telephones use radio waves to field calls.
- Data-matrix codes: Two-dimensional barcodes that store much more information.
- Directional loudspeakers: Loudspeakers that focus sound on a very specific area.
- DIY advertising: Do you really need an ad agency—or can you sell things by yourself?
- Electronic ink: Why is the display of an electronic book easier to read than a computer screen?
- Fax machines: How to send pictures down an old-style phone line.
- Fiber optics: How light can zoom down glass and plastic cables, taking computer data with it.
- Flares: Guns that send warning signals high into the air.
- Fountain pens: Why pens need to fill up with air to make ink flow onto the page.
- Internet: The world's most important communications network.
- Headphones: Loudspeakers that clamp onto your ears. We take them apart and look inside!
- Headphones (buyer's guide): How to choose from the many different types available.
- Headphones (repairing): Earbuds break easily. Here's how to fix them yourself!
- Hearing aids: How a tiny microphone and loudspeaker can make life better for people with hearing impairments.
- Lenticular printing: How can you make a book cover change its appearance as you tilt it from side to side?
- Loudspeakers: How to turn electricity and magnetism into Bob Dylan or Beethoven!
- LP record players: Before we had iPods and CD players, music came on thin plastic circles.
- Microphones: The opposite of loudspeakers, they turn sound into electrical signals.
- Pagers: Radio waves can be used to catch your attention if you're carrying a pager.
- Photocopiers: How a bright light and static electricity can make a copy of a printed page.
- Printing: Classic printing technology explained, from ancient times to modern.
- Radar: Using radio waves to locate hidden objects.
- Radio: Electromagnetic waves travelling at the speed of light can carry information through the air.
- RFID tags: They're in your library books, on things you buy in shops, and maybe even in your pet!
- Satellites: Buzzing over our heads, they take photos, help us forecast the weather, and relay phone calls.
- Telephones: Old-style phones use microphones, loudspeakers, and wire connections stretched between them.
- Telephones for the hearing impaired: Even people with hearing impairments can enjoy the convenience of telephone technology.
- Typewriters: Imagine writing your blog with gears, levers, and springs—that's how a typewriter puts your words on the page!
- Ultrasound: Using sound waves to see inside objects, from airplane engines to expectant mothers!
- Walkie-talkies: Short-wave radio is still a favorite way for police and the military to keep in touch.