Computers and the Internet

Computers

• 3D printers: We all know how to copy a flat (2D) document, but how can you make a copy of a 3D object?
• Augmented reality: How can you superimpose maps, facts, or other background data onto the world you see in front of you?
• Barcode scanners: How do those zebra-stripes on packages encode useful information?
• Beginner's guide to computing: Need a step-by-step guide to using a computer or the Internet for a friend (or maybe an elderly relative) who's just starting out online?
• Cloud computing: Is it better to have your own computer system or to access shared computing power and applications over the Net?
• Cloudfront hotlinks, blocking: How can you stop people stealing your CDN bandwidth?
• Computer-aided design (CAD): What's the advantage of designing products on-screen instead of on paper?
• Computer graphics: A simple guide to art, design, and architecture on your screen.
• Computers (buyer's guide): What to look for before you buy a PC; how to buy safely from an auction site.
• Computers (history): Why did it take so long to invent the computer?
• Computers (introduction): Input, output, storage, and processing are the essence of every computer system.
• Computer mice: How does the handy desktop pointer actually work?
• Computer models: How can we forecast the climate in 2050 or figure out how many people could die in a disease epidemic?
• Computer networks: Many computers make light work if you link them together in a network.
• Encryption: How can we use math to secure computers and online information?
• Fingerprint scanners: How can a machine recognize you purely from your fingertips?
• Hard drives: Did you know that a hard drive uses magnetism to store your data on a glass plate?
• Inkjet printers: How an inkjet makes perfect printouts with hot guns that fire ink.
• Integrated circuits: How do you pack millions of tiny electronic components onto tiny silicon chips?
• Keyboards: What's inside your computer keyboard? How does it register keypresses?
• Laptop repairs: How to do some basic repairs yourself—and save money!
• Laser printers: How lasers, static electricity, and powdered ink make the best printouts.
• Linux: An alternative to Microsoft Windows written by thousands of programmer geeks!
• Memory: The basic idea of storing information in your computer.
• Neural networks: How the brain's design has inspired better computers.
• OCR: Can a computer really recognize your handwriting? What if you write badly?
• Quantum computing: Will future computers work faster using atomic processors?
• RSS: A simple way to let people know about updates to your website.
• Scanners: How to move information from paper into your PC.
• Security tokens: Is there a more secure way of securing computers and online information?
• Spam: How can you reduce the nuisance of spam email?
• Speech synthesis: Can a computer really talk to you?
• Supercomputers: What kind of computer can forecast the weather or model super-complex science problems?
• Touchscreens: How does a glass or plastic computer screen respond to your touch?
• USB: How does USB make it easy to connect things like keyboards and mice to computers?
• Voice recognition software: How can you communicate with your computer by voice alone?
• Virtual reality: How can we mimic the real world inside a computer system? Can we make the world better this way?
• Webcams: What's inside a webcam? Can you use a digital camera instead of a plug-in webcam?

Internet and World Wide Web

• BitTorrent: Is there a more efficient way of downloading the same file to many users?
• Broadband Internet: How does broadband work and why is it faster than dial-up?
• BPL (Broadband over power lines): How to get broadband through your household electricity connection.
• E-commerce: How to buy and sell things online.
• Internet: The world's most important communications network.
• Internet and brain: Is the Internet turning into a giant global brain?
• IPTV (Internet Protocol Television): Will we soon be watching television over the Internet?
• Mobile broadband: How to get broadband Internet on the go through your cellphone network.
• Modems: Devices that let digital computers communicate over the old analog phone network.
• Streaming media: How can you watch a video through a slow Internet connection?
• VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol): How can you make telephone calls over the Internet? How does Skype work?
• Web hosting (buyer's guide): What to look out for in shared and managed hosting.
• Website speed optimization: What's the best way to make a website go faster?
• Website testing with PHP: How to compare the effectiveness of two different versions of a web page.
• Wireless Internet: Ever more people are going online using cellphones and other wireless devices.
• World Wide Web (WWW): What is the Web? What's the difference between a website and a domain? How do you set up a site of your own?