Make Tech Easier https://maketecheasier.com/homepage/ Uncomplicating the complicated, making life easier Wed, 12 Aug 2026 12:26:02 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.6 https://maketecheasier.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cropped-site-icon-32x32.png Make Tech Easier https://maketecheasier.com/homepage/ 32 32 The rarest form of mental strength in adult life isn’t discipline or resilience, it’s the capacity to sit inside an unresolved feeling for an hour without needing to name it, fix it, or explain it to anyone https://maketecheasier.com/mte-p-the-rarest-form-of-mental-strength-in-adult-life-isnt-discipline-or-resilience-its-the-capacity-to-sit-inside-an-unresolved-feeling-for-an-hour-without-needing-to-name-it-fix-it-or-explain-it-to/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-p-the-rarest-form-of-mental-strength-in-adult-life-isnt-discipline-or-resilience-its-the-capacity-to-sit-inside-an-unresolved-feeling-for-an-hour-without-needing-to-name-it-fix-it-or-explain-it-to/#respond Wed, 12 Aug 2026 12:25:02 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861770 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-p-the-rarest-form-of-mental-strength-in-adult-life-isnt-discipline-or-resilience-its-the-capacity-to-sit-inside-an-unresolved-feeling-for-an-hour-without-needing-to-name-it-fix-it-or-explain-it-to/feed/ 0 The ‘root’ of the internet is 13 named server clusters — labelled A through M — that between them answer roughly 1.6 million DNS queries every second, and one of them, K-root, is run by a Dutch non-profit from more than 140 sites that all share a single IP address https://maketecheasier.com/mte-the-root-of-the-internet-is-13-named-server-clusters-labelled-a-through-m-that-between-them-answer-roughly-1-6-million-dns-queries-every-second-and-one-of-them-k-root-is/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-the-root-of-the-internet-is-13-named-server-clusters-labelled-a-through-m-that-between-them-answer-roughly-1-6-million-dns-queries-every-second-and-one-of-them-k-root-is/#respond Wed, 12 Aug 2026 10:38:24 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861767 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-the-root-of-the-internet-is-13-named-server-clusters-labelled-a-through-m-that-between-them-answer-roughly-1-6-million-dns-queries-every-second-and-one-of-them-k-root-is/feed/ 0 How did a Sunday driving ban imposed by Dutch prime minister Joop den Uyl during the 1973 oil shock quietly turn empty motorways into the seed of 35,000 kilometres of cycle path? https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-did-a-sunday-driving-ban-imposed-by-dutch-prime-minister-joop-den-uyl-during-the-1973-oil-shock-quietly-turn-empty-motorways-into-the-seed-of-35-000-kilometres-of-cycle-path/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-did-a-sunday-driving-ban-imposed-by-dutch-prime-minister-joop-den-uyl-during-the-1973-oil-shock-quietly-turn-empty-motorways-into-the-seed-of-35-000-kilometres-of-cycle-path/#respond Wed, 12 Aug 2026 07:07:15 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861761 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-did-a-sunday-driving-ban-imposed-by-dutch-prime-minister-joop-den-uyl-during-the-1973-oil-shock-quietly-turn-empty-motorways-into-the-seed-of-35-000-kilometres-of-cycle-path/feed/ 0 Deleting a file removes only the signpost pointing to it — the bytes themselves sit on the disk for weeks or months, which is why forensic tools can still rebuild holiday photos from a drive you thought you wiped https://maketecheasier.com/mte-deleting-a-file-removes-only-the-signpost-pointing-to-it-the-bytes-themselves-sit-on-the-disk-for-weeks-or-months-which-is-why-forensic-tools-can-still-rebuild-holiday-photos-from-a-drive-you-thou/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-deleting-a-file-removes-only-the-signpost-pointing-to-it-the-bytes-themselves-sit-on-the-disk-for-weeks-or-months-which-is-why-forensic-tools-can-still-rebuild-holiday-photos-from-a-drive-you-thou/#respond Tue, 11 Aug 2026 06:14:46 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861747 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-deleting-a-file-removes-only-the-signpost-pointing-to-it-the-bytes-themselves-sit-on-the-disk-for-weeks-or-months-which-is-why-forensic-tools-can-still-rebuild-holiday-photos-from-a-drive-you-thou/feed/ 0 When YouTube launched in April 2005, its first video was a 19-second clip of co-founder Jawed Karim standing in front of elephants at San Diego Zoo — the site was originally built as a dating service, and the elephant clip was uploaded because no one had sent in a profile https://maketecheasier.com/mte-when-youtube-launched-in-april-2005-its-first-video-was-a-19-second-clip-of-co-founder-jawed-karim-standing-in-front-of-elephants-at-san-diego-zoo-the-site-was-originally-built-as-a-dating-service/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-when-youtube-launched-in-april-2005-its-first-video-was-a-19-second-clip-of-co-founder-jawed-karim-standing-in-front-of-elephants-at-san-diego-zoo-the-site-was-originally-built-as-a-dating-service/#respond Tue, 11 Aug 2026 05:43:47 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861744 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-when-youtube-launched-in-april-2005-its-first-video-was-a-19-second-clip-of-co-founder-jawed-karim-standing-in-front-of-elephants-at-san-diego-zoo-the-site-was-originally-built-as-a-dating-service/feed/ 0 The JPEG format was finalised in 1992 by a committee that met for six years to agree on how much visual information a human eye would tolerate losing — the answer, roughly 90 per cent, is why every photo on the web looks the way it does https://maketecheasier.com/mte-the-jpeg-format-was-finalised-in-1992-by-a-committee-that-met-for-six-years-to-agree-on-how-much-visual-information-a-human-eye-would-tolerate-losing-the-answer-roughly-90-per-cent-is-why-every-ph/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-the-jpeg-format-was-finalised-in-1992-by-a-committee-that-met-for-six-years-to-agree-on-how-much-visual-information-a-human-eye-would-tolerate-losing-the-answer-roughly-90-per-cent-is-why-every-ph/#respond Tue, 11 Aug 2026 05:09:49 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861741 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-the-jpeg-format-was-finalised-in-1992-by-a-committee-that-met-for-six-years-to-agree-on-how-much-visual-information-a-human-eye-would-tolerate-losing-the-answer-roughly-90-per-cent-is-why-every-ph/feed/ 0 How did a publicly humiliated Japanese electronics firm turn a failed CD partnership with Nintendo into a console that outsold every rival of the 1990s? https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-did-a-publicly-humiliated-japanese-electronics-firm-turn-a-failed-cd-partnership-with-nintendo-into-a-console-that-outsold-every-rival-of-the-1990s/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-did-a-publicly-humiliated-japanese-electronics-firm-turn-a-failed-cd-partnership-with-nintendo-into-a-console-that-outsold-every-rival-of-the-1990s/#respond Mon, 10 Aug 2026 08:29:04 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861735 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-did-a-publicly-humiliated-japanese-electronics-firm-turn-a-failed-cd-partnership-with-nintendo-into-a-console-that-outsold-every-rival-of-the-1990s/feed/ 0 How does a fibre-optic cable no thicker than a garden hose carry roughly 99 per cent of intercontinental internet traffic across 13,000 kilometres of ocean floor? https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-does-a-fibre-optic-cable-no-thicker-than-a-garden-hose-carry-roughly-99-per-cent-of-intercontinental-internet-traffic-across-13-000-kilometres-of-ocean-floor/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-does-a-fibre-optic-cable-no-thicker-than-a-garden-hose-carry-roughly-99-per-cent-of-intercontinental-internet-traffic-across-13-000-kilometres-of-ocean-floor/#respond Sun, 09 Aug 2026 07:04:09 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861729 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-does-a-fibre-optic-cable-no-thicker-than-a-garden-hose-carry-roughly-99-per-cent-of-intercontinental-internet-traffic-across-13-000-kilometres-of-ocean-floor/feed/ 0 Wi-Fi can slow to a crawl in a crowded café even when the fibre connection is fast, because 2.4 GHz offers only three non-overlapping 20 MHz channels in most places, forcing nearby devices on the same channel to compete for airtime and leaving the webpage waiting behind the spinner https://maketecheasier.com/mte-wi-fi-can-slow-to-a-crawl-in-a-crowded-cafe-even-when-the-fibre-connection-is-fast-because-2-4-ghz-offers-only-three-non-overlapping-20-mhz-channels-in-most-places-forcing-nearby-devices-on-the/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-wi-fi-can-slow-to-a-crawl-in-a-crowded-cafe-even-when-the-fibre-connection-is-fast-because-2-4-ghz-offers-only-three-non-overlapping-20-mhz-channels-in-most-places-forcing-nearby-devices-on-the/#respond Fri, 07 Aug 2026 07:53:20 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861723 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-wi-fi-can-slow-to-a-crawl-in-a-crowded-cafe-even-when-the-fibre-connection-is-fast-because-2-4-ghz-offers-only-three-non-overlapping-20-mhz-channels-in-most-places-forcing-nearby-devices-on-the/feed/ 0 How did a Cornell graduate student’s 99-line bootstrap program in November 1988 infect roughly 6,000 machines — about 10 per cent of the early internet — and force universities to invent the first computer emergency response team? https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-did-a-cornell-graduate-students-99-line-bootstrap-program-in-november-1988-infect-roughly-6000-machines-about-10-per-cent-of-the-early-internet-and-force-universities/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-did-a-cornell-graduate-students-99-line-bootstrap-program-in-november-1988-infect-roughly-6000-machines-about-10-per-cent-of-the-early-internet-and-force-universities/#respond Thu, 06 Aug 2026 07:39:56 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861718 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-did-a-cornell-graduate-students-99-line-bootstrap-program-in-november-1988-infect-roughly-6000-machines-about-10-per-cent-of-the-early-internet-and-force-universities/feed/ 0 When you tap Send on an end-to-end encrypted message, the server passes along a scrambled blob it cannot read — but the timestamps, your contact list and who you spoke to when are still visible to the company running the app https://maketecheasier.com/mte-when-you-tap-send-on-an-end-to-end-encrypted-message-the-server-passes-along-a-scrambled-blob-it-cannot-read-but-the-timestamps-your-contact-list-and-who-you-spoke-to-when-are-still-visible-to-the/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-when-you-tap-send-on-an-end-to-end-encrypted-message-the-server-passes-along-a-scrambled-blob-it-cannot-read-but-the-timestamps-your-contact-list-and-who-you-spoke-to-when-are-still-visible-to-the/#respond Wed, 05 Aug 2026 10:13:37 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861709 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-when-you-tap-send-on-an-end-to-end-encrypted-message-the-server-passes-along-a-scrambled-blob-it-cannot-read-but-the-timestamps-your-contact-list-and-who-you-spoke-to-when-are-still-visible-to-the/feed/ 0 How did a stray calico cat, handed a stationmaster’s cap at the unstaffed end of a dying Japanese branch line, lift its ridership by 17 per cent and generate an estimated 1.1 billion yen for the local economy? https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-did-a-stray-calico-cat-handed-a-stationmasters-cap-at-the-unstaffed-end-of-a-dying-japanese-branch-line-lift-its-ridership-by-17-per-cent-and-generate-an-estimated-1-1-billion-yen-for-th/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-did-a-stray-calico-cat-handed-a-stationmasters-cap-at-the-unstaffed-end-of-a-dying-japanese-branch-line-lift-its-ridership-by-17-per-cent-and-generate-an-estimated-1-1-billion-yen-for-th/#respond Wed, 05 Aug 2026 08:13:24 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861703 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-did-a-stray-calico-cat-handed-a-stationmasters-cap-at-the-unstaffed-end-of-a-dying-japanese-branch-line-lift-its-ridership-by-17-per-cent-and-generate-an-estimated-1-1-billion-yen-for-th/feed/ 0 When you type bbc.com, the invisible DNS lookup that may end in a nearby cache or climb from one of 13 named root-server authorities through .com to the site’s authoritative server, all before the browser has an IP address and can begin opening the page https://maketecheasier.com/mte-when-you-type-bbc-com-the-invisible-dns-lookup-that-may-end-in-a-nearby-cache-or-climb-from-one-of-13-named-root-server-authorities-through-com-to-the-sites-authoritative-server-all-before-th/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-when-you-type-bbc-com-the-invisible-dns-lookup-that-may-end-in-a-nearby-cache-or-climb-from-one-of-13-named-root-server-authorities-through-com-to-the-sites-authoritative-server-all-before-th/#respond Tue, 04 Aug 2026 12:12:06 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861693 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-when-you-type-bbc-com-the-invisible-dns-lookup-that-may-end-in-a-nearby-cache-or-climb-from-one-of-13-named-root-server-authorities-through-com-to-the-sites-authoritative-server-all-before-th/feed/ 0 How did one incorrect command input during a routine debugging task in February 2017 knock a large slice of the internet offline for about four hours? https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-did-one-incorrect-command-input-during-a-routine-debugging-task-in-february-2017-knock-a-large-slice-of-the-internet-offline-for-about-four-hours/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-did-one-incorrect-command-input-during-a-routine-debugging-task-in-february-2017-knock-a-large-slice-of-the-internet-offline-for-about-four-hours/#respond Tue, 04 Aug 2026 07:57:18 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861683 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-did-one-incorrect-command-input-during-a-routine-debugging-task-in-february-2017-knock-a-large-slice-of-the-internet-offline-for-about-four-hours/feed/ 0 How did one music video expose YouTube’s 32-bit ceiling at 2,147,483,647 views in late 2014 without actually breaking the counter? https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-did-one-music-video-expose-youtubes-32-bit-ceiling-at-2147483647-views-in-late-2014-without-actually-breaking-the-counter/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-did-one-music-video-expose-youtubes-32-bit-ceiling-at-2147483647-views-in-late-2014-without-actually-breaking-the-counter/#respond Mon, 03 Aug 2026 09:31:52 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861673 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-did-one-music-video-expose-youtubes-32-bit-ceiling-at-2147483647-views-in-late-2014-without-actually-breaking-the-counter/feed/ 0 Bluetooth was named after a 10th-century Viking king who united Denmark and Norway — the logo is his initials in Nordic runes, and Ericsson’s engineers picked it in 1997 as a placeholder that stuck https://maketecheasier.com/mte-j-bluetooth-was-named-after-a-10th-century-viking-king-who-united-denmark-and-norway-the-logo-is-his-initials-in-nordic-runes-and-ericssons-engineers-picked-it-in-1997-as-a-placeholder-that-stuck/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-j-bluetooth-was-named-after-a-10th-century-viking-king-who-united-denmark-and-norway-the-logo-is-his-initials-in-nordic-runes-and-ericssons-engineers-picked-it-in-1997-as-a-placeholder-that-stuck/#respond Mon, 03 Aug 2026 08:15:27 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861666 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-j-bluetooth-was-named-after-a-10th-century-viking-king-who-united-denmark-and-norway-the-logo-is-his-initials-in-nordic-runes-and-ericssons-engineers-picked-it-in-1997-as-a-placeholder-that-stuck/feed/ 0 When you type an address into a browser, your computer asks a DNS resolver for the site’s numeric address, and the answer usually comes straight from that resolver’s cache — the 13 root server clusters at the top of the naming system get consulted only when the cache runs dry https://maketecheasier.com/mte-when-you-type-an-address-into-a-browser-your-computer-first-asks-a-dns-resolver-for-the-sites-numeric-address-and-the-answer-usually-comes-from-a-cache-built-by-13-root-server-clusters-that-anchor/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-when-you-type-an-address-into-a-browser-your-computer-first-asks-a-dns-resolver-for-the-sites-numeric-address-and-the-answer-usually-comes-from-a-cache-built-by-13-root-server-clusters-that-anchor/#respond Fri, 31 Jul 2026 10:50:09 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861664 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-when-you-type-an-address-into-a-browser-your-computer-first-asks-a-dns-resolver-for-the-sites-numeric-address-and-the-answer-usually-comes-from-a-cache-built-by-13-root-server-clusters-that-anchor/feed/ 0 How did a guidance computer with 4 kilobytes of memory, less than a modern greeting card chip, land Apollo 11 on the Moon in July 1969? https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-did-a-guidance-computer-with-4-kilobytes-of-memory-less-than-a-modern-greeting-card-chip-land-apollo-11-on-the-moon-in-july-1969/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-did-a-guidance-computer-with-4-kilobytes-of-memory-less-than-a-modern-greeting-card-chip-land-apollo-11-on-the-moon-in-july-1969/#respond Fri, 31 Jul 2026 08:09:04 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861662 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-q-how-did-a-guidance-computer-with-4-kilobytes-of-memory-less-than-a-modern-greeting-card-chip-land-apollo-11-on-the-moon-in-july-1969/feed/ 0 Fast charging isn’t killing your battery — heat is, and your phone throttles the charger the moment it climbs past 35°C https://maketecheasier.com/mte-j-fast-charging-isnt-killing-your-battery-heat-is-and-your-phone-throttles-the-charger-the-moment-it-climbs-past-35-c/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-j-fast-charging-isnt-killing-your-battery-heat-is-and-your-phone-throttles-the-charger-the-moment-it-climbs-past-35-c/#respond Thu, 30 Jul 2026 13:14:51 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861648 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-j-fast-charging-isnt-killing-your-battery-heat-is-and-your-phone-throttles-the-charger-the-moment-it-climbs-past-35-c/feed/ 0 Deleting a file usually doesn’t erase it: Windows marks the space as free, HDD data can linger, and SSDs may clear it with TRIM https://maketecheasier.com/mte-j-deleting-a-file-usually-doesnt-erase-it-windows-marks-the-space-as-free-hdd-data-can-linger-and-ssds-may-clear-it-with-trim/ https://maketecheasier.com/mte-j-deleting-a-file-usually-doesnt-erase-it-windows-marks-the-space-as-free-hdd-data-can-linger-and-ssds-may-clear-it-with-trim/#respond Thu, 30 Jul 2026 08:58:45 +0000 https://maketecheasier.com/?p=861646 https://maketecheasier.com/mte-j-deleting-a-file-usually-doesnt-erase-it-windows-marks-the-space-as-free-hdd-data-can-linger-and-ssds-may-clear-it-with-trim/feed/ 0