Some Weird Facts About The Technology We Know And Use Today

---

---

Over the years, technology has advanced beyond some of our wildest imaginations. Some facts about technology and its advancement might leave you bedazzled into thinking that it is all a hoax.

But then, the anecdotes and facts about some tech-based innovations are as true as day. I’d be sharing some of the weird but seemingly true facts about technology.

1.) Font - You can save ink by changing font type

As strange or as silly as it might sound, changing your font to a light stroke font can help save your printer ink.

Reason is that fonts are created for various purposes such as, to represent language insignia, convey symbols or decoration, etc.

Hence, some fonts which a thick or deep consume more ink than those that are light. ^{Ref1, Ref2}

---

2.) QWERTY keyboards were meant to slow people down

Two theories relating to the origin of QWERTY keyboards exist and seem funny.

But when you consider manual typewriters in the time past, then it does seem a little plausible. But what exactly is the typewriter theory? Well, manual typists used to experience the problem of keys jamming due to fast typing. The QWERTY keypad places similar alphabets far from one another, which slowed typists down. ^{Ref1, Ref2}

The second theory relates to Telegraph operators who prefer the QWERTY keypad; as it is easier to decipher Morse code using them.

Eventually, the idea stuck around and is still here with us.

---

3.) Money – Over 90 percent of the world’s currency is digital

With so much bank reserves and bank vaults, you’d think that much of the world’s currency was physically store in massively secured vaults all over the world.

But you’d be wrong if you actually held on to that thought; as only about 8 percent of global currency is physical. The remaining 92 percent are virtual transactions which happen on a daily basis. Economists seem to agree with the figures as well; because banks store funds electronically to and large transactions are done electronically globally, debit/credit transactions, wire transfers and e-commerce all function electronically. ^{Ref1, Ref2}

---

4.) Units of storage – 5MB of data weighted one ton in 1956

IBM launched the first computer that used what was then a hard drive in 1956, called RAMAC (Random Access Method of Accounting & Control).

It was a breakthrough, at the time, when it came to mass storage of data, because it meant that the dependence on magnetic tapes and punch cards which sequentially stored data was to be replaced by the randomly accessible drives. The device was weighed over 1000kg and was leased at $3,200 dollars per month back then. ^{Ref1, Ref2}

---

5.) Computer – In 1936, Russia built a computer that ran on water

Computers in the past weren’t as gorgeous and sexy as the ones we have today. Tools like levers, gears and pivots were part of computers in the past, and such computers required power sources to stay useful.

Mother Russia’s Vladimir Lukyanov used water to invent a computer in 1936 that was capable of solving partial differential equations. The spectacle of a device showed a system having complex interconnected tubes filled with water, and by adjusting plugs and taps of the system, the flow of the water changed and this represented a change in variables. The end result of the whole ‘water’ calculation was attained by measuring the water level in some tubes. The device is now found in the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow, Russia. ^{Ref1, Ref2}

---

---

Illustrative Images: Pixabay

---

Reference:

• www.npr.org
• tonerconnect.net
• www.smithsonianmag.com
• www.huffingtonpost.com
• money.howstuffworks.com
• www.worldfinance.com
• www.snopes.com
• thenextweb.com
• gizmodo.com
• www.digitaljournal.com

---

---

Thank you for your time and for reading my post.

If you found this post interesting, then kindly UPVOTE, RESTEEM and FOLLOW @rickie, for more quality posts.

---

---

You Can Check Out My Other Posts Below:

• Biggest Discoveries of 2017 That Gives Hope For The Future
• Atom Photo Caught By Ordinary Camera Wins A Science Photo Contest
• Scientists have established the link between Alcohol, Brain Activity and Aggression
• The World’s Largest Virtual Power Plants – Australia, Tesla and Elon Musk
• Ice-Surface Mechanism and Technique in Winter Games
• A future without traffic delays is now possible with Drone Taxis

---

---

---

@rickie