The headline above says “the world of computers,” but in truth the world of computers is OUR world. It’s the world we all live in. You’re reading this on a computer right now, after all. And don’t get smart with us – your smart phone or tablet is a computer, too!
Like anything else, computers have a rich history that sometimes has some unusual quirks and interesting stories. This includes fascinating people, unusual practices, and much more.
With that in mind, we’re going to present for you some of the most impressive computer facts we could muster up. Enjoy.
- Alan Turing is considered the father of computer science. He helped break German ciphers during World War II, pioneered artificial intelligence and more. However, his life was a tragic one. Persecuted for homosexuality, he was forced to undergo chemical treatment and eventually committed suicide as a result.
- Banks have some devious ways of getting your money. One of them is a program that ensures withdrawals from your account do not happen in chronological order. Instead, they happen from largest to smallest, that way your account drains faster and there is a better likelihood of overdrafts – and as a result, overdraft fees!
- The 305 RAMAC was the world’s first “supercomputer” with a hard disk drive. Created in 1956 by IBM, the hard drive held just 5MB of data and yet weighed over a ton. Imagine having that in your house! You’d never get a Brick NJ computer repair service to visit if that was the case!
- Computers get more and more powerful every day, but they still can’t compare to the human brain. In order to match up with your grey matter, a computer would have to be able to do 38 thousand trillion calculations per second – wow! – and would need over 3,500 TB of memory. Good job, brain!
- Upwards of 95 percent of all mail in the US is sorted by computers. However, clerks are still needed to sort mail with messy addresses and writing, and boy do they have a big job. They must process upwards of 1,000 letters per hour. No wonder 20 percent of them quit within five weeks! Better to go into computer repair in Brick NJ instead.
- The very first completely computer-generated scene in movie history came, appropriately enough, in a Star Trek movie. Specifically, it was the scene in The Wrath of Khan that demonstrated the use of the Genesis device. The studio that created the scene? It would eventually turn into Pixar.
- Computer software knows people better than you do. The folks at MIT created software that can distinguish between a smile of happiness and a smile of frustration. Your significant other wishes you could do that!
- You know what a CATCHPA is. It’s those annoying series of random letters and numbers you have to enter in order to use certain websites. But did you know what it stands for? “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.”
Can you think of any interesting computer facts we missed? We’re sure there are a lot of them. Ask your Brick NJ computer repair serviceman about some good computer trivia, then send them to us!