5 weird but true facts about technology

Email existed before the world wide web:

You probably don't even think before composing a one-line email message and sending it. But it wasn't always so easy. There's an interesting clip on YouTube: "How to send an Email – Database – 1984". This was from a tech TV show called Database and the presenters demonstrated what it took to actually send an email back in those days.

You had to use a computer and a rotary telephone to connect to a service called Micronet. This was pre-WWW, so there were no URLs, just numbered webpages. For emails, the webpage number was 7776.

QWERTY was designed to slow you down :

Here are actually two theories to this. The first one starts to make sense when you look at manual typewriters. If someone typed too fast, the keys would jam. QWERTY placed common alphabets at a distance from each other and slowed typists down.

Another theory is that telegraph operators designed the QWERTY layout because it was easier (and faster) to decipher Morse code.

Either way, there was no reason to keep using the layout, but it stuck and there was resistance to change. You can actually change your keyboard layout to the faster Dvorak layout in the language settings (or just buy a new Dvorak keyboard).

Fact About Firefox Browser :

 A red panda is native to the Himalayas and southwestern China. Translated, the English word for red panda is "Firefox," which is where the browser gets its name.

First VCR Size:

Created in 1956, the first ever VCR was the size of a piano.

In 1956, 5 megabytes (5MB) of data weighed a ton

It was 1956 when IBM launched RAMAC, the first computer with something like a hard drive that we use today.

By hard drive, we mean something that used magnetic disks - a moving head was used to access and write that data. At the time, it was considered a massive leap in massstorage technology because it signified a shift: from punch cards and magnetic tape (which stored data sequentially) to randomly accessible hard drives.

https://www.kiwibox.com/Emma_Jane/blog/

RAMAC itself stood for Random Access Method of Accounting & Control. The whole cabinet weighed over 1000kg and the 5MP data was spread over 50 huge aluminium disks, coated with magnetic iron oxide. The disks rotated at a speed of 1200rpm and the machines were leased for $3,200 per month back in the day.