Make Tech Easier https://maketecheasier.com/ Uncomplicating the complicated, making life easier Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:36:22 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://maketecheasier.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cropped-site-icon-32x32.png Make Tech Easier https://maketecheasier.com/ 32 32 Russia still custom-builds the Soyuz return seats for ISS crew members using plaster casts taken weeks before launch, because astronauts grow as much as five centimetres taller during a long-duration stay and a seat moulded to their Earth-shaped spine would no longer fit the body that comes home https://maketecheasier.com/mte-russia-still-custom-builds-the-soyuz-return-seats-for-iss-crew-members-using-plaster-casts-taken-weeks-before-launch-because-astronauts-grow-as-much-as-five-centimetres-taller-during-a-long-durat/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-russia-still-custom-builds-the-soyuz-return-seats-for-iss-crew-members-using-plaster-casts-taken-weeks-before-launch-because-astronauts-grow-as-much-as-five-centimetres-taller-during-a-long-durat/#respond Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:36:22 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861346 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-russia-still-custom-builds-the-soyuz-return-seats-for-iss-crew-members-using-plaster-casts-taken-weeks-before-launch-because-astronauts-grow-as-much-as-five-centimetres-taller-during-a-long-durat/feed/ 0 Mycorrhizal fungi colonised plant roots roughly 450 million years ago and biologists now suspect plants could never have moved out of the oceans onto bare rock without them, meaning every forest on Earth — including the redwoods, the Amazon, and the boreal belt — is still running on a partnership older than trees themselves https://maketecheasier.com/mte-mycorrhizal-fungi-colonised-plant-roots-roughly-450-million-years-ago-and-biolog/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-mycorrhizal-fungi-colonised-plant-roots-roughly-450-million-years-ago-and-biolog/#respond Thu, 11 Jun 2026 12:19:13 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861336 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-mycorrhizal-fungi-colonised-plant-roots-roughly-450-million-years-ago-and-biolog/feed/ 0 The “CrackBerry” nickname stuck for a reason — and the variable-reward psychology that hooked early-2000s executives on their BlackBerrys is the exact same machinery now running every push notification on every smartphone in your pocket https://maketecheasier.com/mte-the-crackberry-nickname-stuck-for-a-reason-and-the-variable-reward-psychology-that-hooked-early-2000s-executives-on-their-blackberrys-is-the-exact-same-machinery-now-running-every-pu/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-the-crackberry-nickname-stuck-for-a-reason-and-the-variable-reward-psychology-that-hooked-early-2000s-executives-on-their-blackberrys-is-the-exact-same-machinery-now-running-every-pu/#respond Thu, 11 Jun 2026 05:41:13 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861332 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-the-crackberry-nickname-stuck-for-a-reason-and-the-variable-reward-psychology-that-hooked-early-2000s-executives-on-their-blackberrys-is-the-exact-same-machinery-now-running-every-pu/feed/ 0 Suzanne Simard sealed paper birch and Douglas fir seedlings inside plastic bags, fed them carbon-14 and carbon-13 dioxide, and nine days later found carbon had crossed between species through fungal threads in the British Columbia soil beneath her boots https://maketecheasier.com/mte-suzanne-simard-sealed-paper-birch-and-douglas-fir-seedlings-inside-plastic-bags-fed-them-carbon-14-and-carbon-13-dioxide-and-nine-days-later-found-carbon-had-crossed-between-species-through-fung/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-suzanne-simard-sealed-paper-birch-and-douglas-fir-seedlings-inside-plastic-bags-fed-them-carbon-14-and-carbon-13-dioxide-and-nine-days-later-found-carbon-had-crossed-between-species-through-fung/#respond Wed, 10 Jun 2026 15:35:30 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861328 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-suzanne-simard-sealed-paper-birch-and-douglas-fir-seedlings-inside-plastic-bags-fed-them-carbon-14-and-carbon-13-dioxide-and-nine-days-later-found-carbon-had-crossed-between-species-through-fung/feed/ 0 A species of jellyfish called Turritopsis dohrnii can revert its adult cells back to a juvenile polyp stage when injured or starving, effectively restarting its life cycle, and biologists have so far failed to identify any natural limit to how many times it can do this. https://maketecheasier.com/j-a-species-of-jellyfish-called-turritopsis-dohrnii-can-revert-its-adult-cells-back-to-a-juvenile-polyp-stage-when-injured-or-starving-effectively-restarting-its-life-cycle-and-biologists-have-so-far/ https://maketecheasier.com/j-a-species-of-jellyfish-called-turritopsis-dohrnii-can-revert-its-adult-cells-back-to-a-juvenile-polyp-stage-when-injured-or-starving-effectively-restarting-its-life-cycle-and-biologists-have-so-far/#respond Wed, 10 Jun 2026 08:31:06 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861303 https://maketecheasier.com/j-a-species-of-jellyfish-called-turritopsis-dohrnii-can-revert-its-adult-cells-back-to-a-juvenile-polyp-stage-when-injured-or-starving-effectively-restarting-its-life-cycle-and-biologists-have-so-far/feed/ 0 Octopuses possess roughly 500 million neurons distributed across their body, with two-thirds located in their arms rather than their central brain, meaning each arm can taste, problem-solve, and react to stimuli independently of whatever the octopus is otherwise paying attention to. https://maketecheasier.com/j-octopuses-possess-roughly-500-million-neurons-distributed-across-their-body-with-two-thirds-located-in-their-arms-rather-than-their-central-brain-meaning-each-arm-can-taste-problem-solve-and-react-t/ https://maketecheasier.com/j-octopuses-possess-roughly-500-million-neurons-distributed-across-their-body-with-two-thirds-located-in-their-arms-rather-than-their-central-brain-meaning-each-arm-can-taste-problem-solve-and-react-t/#respond Wed, 10 Jun 2026 08:01:53 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861311 https://maketecheasier.com/j-octopuses-possess-roughly-500-million-neurons-distributed-across-their-body-with-two-thirds-located-in-their-arms-rather-than-their-central-brain-meaning-each-arm-can-taste-problem-solve-and-react-t/feed/ 0 The Roman aqueduct at Segovia, built around the first century AD without mortar, still carried water into the 1970s, its 167 granite arches held together by nothing but the precise weight distribution of stones cut to fit each other within fractions of a millimeter. https://maketecheasier.com/j-the-roman-aqueduct-at-segovia-built-around-the-first-century-ad-without-mortar-still-carried-water-into-the-1970s-its-167-granite-arches-held-together-by-nothing-but-the-precise-weight-distribution/ https://maketecheasier.com/j-the-roman-aqueduct-at-segovia-built-around-the-first-century-ad-without-mortar-still-carried-water-into-the-1970s-its-167-granite-arches-held-together-by-nothing-but-the-precise-weight-distribution/#respond Wed, 10 Jun 2026 06:47:33 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861307 https://maketecheasier.com/j-the-roman-aqueduct-at-segovia-built-around-the-first-century-ad-without-mortar-still-carried-water-into-the-1970s-its-167-granite-arches-held-together-by-nothing-but-the-precise-weight-distribution/feed/ 0 In 1843, Ada Lovelace described a brass-and-punched-card engine that could act on symbols as well as numbers, even composing music if harmony could be reduced to rules, inside seven translator’s notes three times longer than the paper itself https://maketecheasier.com/mte-in-1843-ada-lovelace-described-a-brass-and-punched-card-engine-that-could-act-on-symbols-as-well-as-numbers-even-composing-music-if-harmony-could-be-reduced-to-rules-inside-seven-translator/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-in-1843-ada-lovelace-described-a-brass-and-punched-card-engine-that-could-act-on-symbols-as-well-as-numbers-even-composing-music-if-harmony-could-be-reduced-to-rules-inside-seven-translator/#respond Wed, 10 Jun 2026 06:43:50 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861297 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-in-1843-ada-lovelace-described-a-brass-and-punched-card-engine-that-could-act-on-symbols-as-well-as-numbers-even-composing-music-if-harmony-could-be-reduced-to-rules-inside-seven-translator/feed/ 0 ARPANET sent its first message on 29 October 1969 from a lab at UCLA to a machine at Stanford, and the message was supposed to read ‘LOGIN’ — but the system crashed after the L and the O, meaning the first word ever transmitted over the network that became the internet was, by accident, ‘LO’. https://maketecheasier.com/mte-x-arpanet-sent-its-first-message-on-29-october-1969-from-a-lab-at-ucla-to-a-machin/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-x-arpanet-sent-its-first-message-on-29-october-1969-from-a-lab-at-ucla-to-a-machin/#respond Tue, 09 Jun 2026 11:36:54 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861248 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-x-arpanet-sent-its-first-message-on-29-october-1969-from-a-lab-at-ucla-to-a-machin/feed/ 0 In 1995, Microsoft shipped a cartoon-house interface called Bob, led by Melinda French, who married Bill Gates while it was in development — it demanded twice the memory of a typical home PC, sold roughly 30,000 copies, and was dead within a year, leaving behind the font Comic Sans and the animated assistant that became Clippy. https://maketecheasier.com/mte-microsoft-bob-s-1995-launch-event-in-new-york-featured-bill-gates-demonstrating/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-microsoft-bob-s-1995-launch-event-in-new-york-featured-bill-gates-demonstrating/#respond Tue, 09 Jun 2026 09:06:38 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861246 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-microsoft-bob-s-1995-launch-event-in-new-york-featured-bill-gates-demonstrating/feed/ 0 The Greenland shark grows about one centimetre a year, does not reach sexual maturity until around age 150, and a specimen carbon-dated by Danish researchers in 2016 was estimated to be at least 272 years old, meaning it was already swimming the North Atlantic when Mozart was composing symphonies. https://maketecheasier.com/mte-x-the-greenland-shark-grows-about-one-centimetre-a-year-does-not-reach-sexual-matu/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-x-the-greenland-shark-grows-about-one-centimetre-a-year-does-not-reach-sexual-matu/#respond Tue, 09 Jun 2026 07:33:23 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861244 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-x-the-greenland-shark-grows-about-one-centimetre-a-year-does-not-reach-sexual-matu/feed/ 0 French scientist Michel Siffre spent two months alone in a cave with no clock, no calendar, and no sunlight — and when his team finally told him the experiment was over, he thought he still had nearly a month left underground https://maketecheasier.com/french-scientist-michel-siffre-spent-two-months-alone-in-a-cave-with-no-clock-no-calendar-and-no-sunlight-and-when-his-team-finally-told-him-the-experiment-was-over-he-thought-he-still-ha/ https://maketecheasier.com/french-scientist-michel-siffre-spent-two-months-alone-in-a-cave-with-no-clock-no-calendar-and-no-sunlight-and-when-his-team-finally-told-him-the-experiment-was-over-he-thought-he-still-ha/#respond Tue, 09 Jun 2026 07:27:51 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861288 https://maketecheasier.com/french-scientist-michel-siffre-spent-two-months-alone-in-a-cave-with-no-clock-no-calendar-and-no-sunlight-and-when-his-team-finally-told-him-the-experiment-was-over-he-thought-he-still-ha/feed/ 0 When Apple shipped iOS 12 in June 2018, a small feature called Screen Time slipped onto every iPhone with a counter nobody had quite prepared for — a tally of pickups — and within a day Tim Cook was telling CNN the number of times he picked up his own phone was simply too many https://maketecheasier.com/mte-when-apple-shipped-ios-12-in-june-2018-a-small-feature-called-screen-time-slipped-onto-every-iphone-with-a-counter-nobody-had-quite-prepared-for-a-tally-of-pickups-and-within/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-when-apple-shipped-ios-12-in-june-2018-a-small-feature-called-screen-time-slipped-onto-every-iphone-with-a-counter-nobody-had-quite-prepared-for-a-tally-of-pickups-and-within/#respond Tue, 09 Jun 2026 06:20:47 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861242 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-when-apple-shipped-ios-12-in-june-2018-a-small-feature-called-screen-time-slipped-onto-every-iphone-with-a-counter-nobody-had-quite-prepared-for-a-tally-of-pickups-and-within/feed/ 0 When NASA lost contact with the IMAGE satellite in 2005, an amateur radio operator in Canada named Scott Tilley picked up its signal in January 2018 while hunting for a classified spy satellite, and the spacecraft turned out to be still spinning, still powered, and still trying to phone home after 13 years of silence. https://maketecheasier.com/mte-x-when-nasa-lost-contact-with-the-image-satellite-in-2005-an-amateur-radio-operator-in-canada-named-scott-tilley-picked-up-its-signal-in-january-2018-while-hunting-for-a-classified-spy-satellite/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-x-when-nasa-lost-contact-with-the-image-satellite-in-2005-an-amateur-radio-operator-in-canada-named-scott-tilley-picked-up-its-signal-in-january-2018-while-hunting-for-a-classified-spy-satellite/#respond Tue, 09 Jun 2026 05:57:10 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861206 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-x-when-nasa-lost-contact-with-the-image-satellite-in-2005-an-amateur-radio-operator-in-canada-named-scott-tilley-picked-up-its-signal-in-january-2018-while-hunting-for-a-classified-spy-satellite/feed/ 0 The original iPhone Steve Jobs unveiled in January 2007 could not record video, could not copy and paste text, could not run a single third-party app, and could only reach the internet over 2G — and Jobs spent ninety minutes on stage at Macworld arguing, one missing feature at a time, that every absence was actually a design decision. https://maketecheasier.com/mte-the-original-iphone-steve-jobs-unveiled-in-january-2007-could-not-record-video-c/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-the-original-iphone-steve-jobs-unveiled-in-january-2007-could-not-record-video-c/#respond Tue, 09 Jun 2026 05:08:12 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861204 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-the-original-iphone-steve-jobs-unveiled-in-january-2007-could-not-record-video-c/feed/ 0 In 1965, Joe Sutter’s Boeing team began shaping the 747 around a future they thought would belong to supersonic jets, lifting the cockpit onto a hump so the nose could open for cargo once the giant subsonic passenger plane had outlived its brief moment https://maketecheasier.com/mte-in-1965-joe-sutters-boeing-team-began-shaping-the-747-around-a-future-they-thought-would-belong-to-supersonic-jets-lifting-the-cockpit-onto-a-hump-so-the-nose-could-open-for-cargo-once/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-in-1965-joe-sutters-boeing-team-began-shaping-the-747-around-a-future-they-thought-would-belong-to-supersonic-jets-lifting-the-cockpit-onto-a-hump-so-the-nose-could-open-for-cargo-once/#respond Mon, 08 Jun 2026 13:43:38 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861169 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-in-1965-joe-sutters-boeing-team-began-shaping-the-747-around-a-future-they-thought-would-belong-to-supersonic-jets-lifting-the-cockpit-onto-a-hump-so-the-nose-could-open-for-cargo-once/feed/ 0 Apple’s original 1984 Macintosh keyboard had no arrow keys, no function keys, and no numeric pad because Steve Jobs wanted users to reach for the mouse first. Then Apple quietly sold the missing keys as an accessory. https://maketecheasier.com/mte-apples-original-1984-macintosh-keyboard-had-no-arrow-keys-no-function-keys-and-no-numeric-pad-because-steve-jobs-wanted-users-to-reach-for-the-mouse-first-then-apple-quietly-sold-the-m/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-apples-original-1984-macintosh-keyboard-had-no-arrow-keys-no-function-keys-and-no-numeric-pad-because-steve-jobs-wanted-users-to-reach-for-the-mouse-first-then-apple-quietly-sold-the-m/#respond Mon, 08 Jun 2026 13:19:11 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861167 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-apples-original-1984-macintosh-keyboard-had-no-arrow-keys-no-function-keys-and-no-numeric-pad-because-steve-jobs-wanted-users-to-reach-for-the-mouse-first-then-apple-quietly-sold-the-m/feed/ 0 When the SS Great Eastern laid the first working transatlantic telegraph cable in 1866, a message that had taken ten days by steamship suddenly crossed the ocean in minutes, and the financial markets of London and New York were forced, within a single trading week, to invent the modern concept of synchronised global price. https://maketecheasier.com/mte-when-the-ss-great-eastern-laid-the-first-working-transatlantic-telegraph-cable-in-1866-a-message-that-had-taken-ten-days-by-steamship-suddenly-crossed-the-ocean-in-minutes-and-the-financial-ma/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-when-the-ss-great-eastern-laid-the-first-working-transatlantic-telegraph-cable-in-1866-a-message-that-had-taken-ten-days-by-steamship-suddenly-crossed-the-ocean-in-minutes-and-the-financial-ma/#respond Mon, 08 Jun 2026 10:21:49 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861142 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-when-the-ss-great-eastern-laid-the-first-working-transatlantic-telegraph-cable-in-1866-a-message-that-had-taken-ten-days-by-steamship-suddenly-crossed-the-ocean-in-minutes-and-the-financial-ma/feed/ 0 Masahiro Hara and Denso engineers built the QR code in 1994 to help Toyota suppliers scan car parts from any angle, then kept the patent open until phone cameras and a 2020 pandemic turned the factory square into a daily ritual on restaurant tables https://maketecheasier.com/mte-masahiro-hara-and-denso-engineers-built-the-qr-code-in-1994-to-help-toyota-suppliers-scan-car-parts-from-any-angle-then-kept-the-patent-open-until-phone-cameras-and-a-2020-pandemic-turned-the-fac/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-masahiro-hara-and-denso-engineers-built-the-qr-code-in-1994-to-help-toyota-suppliers-scan-car-parts-from-any-angle-then-kept-the-patent-open-until-phone-cameras-and-a-2020-pandemic-turned-the-fac/#respond Mon, 08 Jun 2026 10:00:41 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861161 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-masahiro-hara-and-denso-engineers-built-the-qr-code-in-1994-to-help-toyota-suppliers-scan-car-parts-from-any-angle-then-kept-the-patent-open-until-phone-cameras-and-a-2020-pandemic-turned-the-fac/feed/ 0 In 1965, Mary Allen Wilkes wrote LAP6 for the LINC computer from her parents’ Baltimore home, testing an interactive operating system on a 250-pound machine in the living room and becoming the first known person to use a personal computer at home, twelve years before the Apple II reached buyers https://maketecheasier.com/mte-in-1965-mary-allen-wilkes-wrote-lap6-for-the-linc-computer-from-her-parents-baltimore-home-testing-an-interactive-operating-system-on-a-250-pound-machine-in-the-living-room-and-becoming-the-fi/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-in-1965-mary-allen-wilkes-wrote-lap6-for-the-linc-computer-from-her-parents-baltimore-home-testing-an-interactive-operating-system-on-a-250-pound-machine-in-the-living-room-and-becoming-the-fi/#respond Mon, 08 Jun 2026 09:43:18 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861140 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-in-1965-mary-allen-wilkes-wrote-lap6-for-the-linc-computer-from-her-parents-baltimore-home-testing-an-interactive-operating-system-on-a-250-pound-machine-in-the-living-room-and-becoming-the-fi/feed/ 0