RSS Parrot

Erno Rubik built his first cube in 1974 as a 30 year old lecturer in Budapest, scrambled it and needed a month to restore it. In 2010 researchers proved any of its 43 quintillion states can be solved in 20 moves or fewer.

https://maketecheasier.com/rubiks-cube-1974-gods-number-20/

Published: October 23, 2026 22:39

Ernő Rubik built his first cube in 1974 and, ETH Zurich reports, took a month to restore it. In July 2010 researchers proved any state needs at most 20 moves.

Gideon Sundback patented the hookless fastener with interlocking teeth in 1917, and the word zipper was not coined until 1923, when B.F. Goodrich used it as the name of a rubber boot rather than for the fastener on it.

https://maketecheasier.com/zipper-sundback-1917-goodrich-1923/

Published: October 23, 2026 20:46

Gideon Sundback won US patent 1,219,881 on 20 March 1917 for his Hookless Number 2 fastener, but the word zipper came in 1923 from a B.F. Goodrich boot.

Dr John O’Sullivan and four colleagues in CSIRO’s Radiophysics Division used Fast Fourier transforms from radio astronomy to stop indoor signals echoing off walls, and the wireless LAN patent they filed earned about A$430 million.

https://maketecheasier.com/csiro-wireless-lan-patent/

Published: October 23, 2026 18:53

CSIRO researchers used Fast Fourier transforms to beat indoor radio echo. Licensing the WLAN technology they patented in 1996 has brought CSIRO around A$430m.

Switch 2 owners get a free Monster Hunter Wilds Prologue Demo from 19 October, and the save data carries into the full game on 4 December 2026.

https://maketecheasier.com/monster-hunter-wilds-prologue-demo-switch-2/

Published: October 23, 2026 17:00

Monster Hunter Wilds Prologue Demo hit Switch 2 on 19 October, 20 October in Europe, with local multiplayer only, and saves carry to the 4 December full game.

Crawler-Transporter 2 weighs about 6.6 million pounds, roughly 1,000 pickup trucks, and the machine NASA built in 1965 to carry the Saturn V is expected to move the Artemis III SLS stack to Launch Pad 39B for a tanking test in the coming months.

https://maketecheasier.com/crawler-transporter-2-artemis-iii/

Published: October 23, 2026 15:06

NASA's crawler-transporters weigh about 6.6 million pounds, and NASA said on 13 October 2026 the Artemis III SLS will roll to Pad 39B for a tanking test.

Apple posted the iOS 27.2 release candidate, build 24B115, on 19 October 2026 alongside iPadOS, macOS and watchOS RCs, with no public release date announced.

https://maketecheasier.com/ios-27-2-release-candidate-build-24b115/

Published: October 23, 2026 13:13

Apple posted the iOS 27.2 release candidate, build 24B115, on 19 October 2026 with iPadOS, macOS and watchOS RCs, and has set no public release date.

A 20 MW offshore wind turbine with its hub 174 metres above the water, the height of a 58-storey building, is now feeding China’s grid more than 30 km off Fujian, its 300-metre rotor sweeping an area CTG compares to 10 soccer fields.

https://maketecheasier.com/ctg-20-mw-offshore-wind-turbine/

Published: October 23, 2026 11:20

CTG's 20 MW offshore turbine, with a 174 metre hub and 300 metre rotor, began feeding China's grid off Fujian, per a Xinhua report dated 6 February 2026.

ENIAC ran 18,000 vacuum tubes at Penn in 1946, more than 20 times the number in every system aboard a wartime B-29 bomber, and J. Presper Eckert kept them alive by running each tube at one-quarter power.

https://maketecheasier.com/eniac-18000-vacuum-tubes/

Published: October 23, 2026 09:27

ENIAC, announced on 14 February 1946, used 18,000 vacuum tubes and J. Presper Eckert ran them at one-quarter power to keep them working.

A 376-foot concrete cooling tower at a West Virginia coal plant no longer meets its design loads after 55 years, so regulators just approved a $191 million replacement for a plant due to retire in 2040, when the new tower will be 12 years old

https://maketecheasier.com/a-376-foot-concrete-cooling-tower-at-a-west-virginia-coal-plant-no-longer-meets-its-design-loads-after-55-years-so-regulators-just-approved-a-191-million-replacement-for-a-plant-due-to-retire-in-204/

Published: October 23, 2026 04:18

Along the Ohio River south of Moundsville, West Virginia, two enormous concrete cooling towers rise over the Mitchell coal plant. Each is about 376 feet tall and 288 feet across at the base, with the classic hourglass shape most people associate with power…

Every Starship upper stage SpaceX has ever flown has finished in the ocean, and the company now plans to fly the next one back to the Texas tower it launched from and catch it with mechanical arms, then fly the same ship again

https://maketecheasier.com/every-starship-upper-stage-spacex-has-ever-flown-has-finished-in-the-ocean-and-the-company-now-plans-to-fly-the-next-one-back-to-the-texas-tower-it-launched-from-and-catch-it-with-mechanical-arms-th/

Published: October 23, 2026 04:14

Every Starship upper stage that SpaceX has ever launched has ended its flight the same way: in the sea. Some splashed down gently in the Indian Ocean after successful test flights. Others broke apart along the way and rained debris into the water. SpaceX…

Alexey Pajitnov built Tetris in June 1984 on an Electronika 60 at the Moscow Academy of Sciences, a machine with no graphics, so he drew the seven falling pieces out of letters on a text display.

https://maketecheasier.com/tetris-electronika-60-text-display/

Published: October 23, 2026 01:10

Alexey Pajitnov wrote Tetris in June 1984 on an Electronika 60 with a text-only monitor, so he drew its seven pieces from letters, he told The Guardian in 2014.

Scott Fahlman proposed :-) as a joke marker on a Carnegie Mellon bulletin board on 19 September 1982, and his post was lost for years until Jeff Baird pulled it off an October 1982 backup tape on 10 September 2002

https://maketecheasier.com/scott-fahlman-first-smiley-1982/

Published: October 22, 2026 17:00

Scott Fahlman's 19 September 1982 post proposing :-) was lost until Jeff Baird recovered it from an October 1982 backup tape on 10 September 2002.

Swiss engineer George de Mestral came home from a hunting trip in 1941 with burdock burrs stuck to his trousers and his dog’s fur, put them under a microscope, saw tiny hooks, and had Velcro patented by 1954.

https://maketecheasier.com/velcro-burdock-burrs-de-mestral-patent/

Published: October 22, 2026 15:06

Swiss engineer George de Mestral put burdock burrs under a microscope in 1941, and the Swiss patent on his hook and loop fastener was granted in 1954.

The patent for the modern stud and tube LEGO brick was filed at 1:58 pm on 28 January 1958 in Copenhagen. LEGO says bricks made 60 years apart still clip together, and six 2×4 bricks combine in more than 915 million ways.

https://maketecheasier.com/lego-brick-patent-1958-copenhagen/

Published: October 22, 2026 13:13

LEGO filed the patent for the stud and tube brick at 1:58 pm on 28 January 1958, five days after Godtfred Kirk Christiansen sketched the tube on paper.

OPPO launched the Find X10 Pro Max in Mallorca on 21 October 2026 with 200MP on all three rear cameras, a setup it calls an industry first.

https://maketecheasier.com/oppo-find-x10-pro-max-triple-200mp/

Published: October 22, 2026 11:20

OPPO launched the Find X10 Pro Max in Mallorca on 21 October 2026 with 200MP on all three rear cameras, which it calls an industry first. No prices given.

A physicist gave 176 consoles from the Air Force’s PS3 supercomputer a second life inside a refrigerated shipping container

https://maketecheasier.com/air-force-ps3-supercomputer-consoles-refrigerated-shipping-container/

Published: October 22, 2026 10:12

After the Air Force retired its PlayStation 3 supercomputer, black hole physicist Gaurav Khanna housed 176 of its consoles in a refrigerated shipping container at UMass Dartmouth and put them to work on gravitational-wave simulations.

Standing on Sixth Avenue in New York on 3 April 1973, Motorola’s Martin Cooper made the first public handheld cell phone call on a DynaTAC prototype, and he dialled his rival Dr Joel S. Engel at AT&T.

https://maketecheasier.com/motorola-dynatac-first-handheld-call/

Published: October 22, 2026 09:27

On 3 April 1973 Martin Cooper called Joel Engel at AT&T from a Motorola DynaTAC prototype on Sixth Avenue in New York, a move in a fight for spectrum.

Google Play Store version 53.7 replaces the percent progress on app downloads with an estimated time remaining or the download size still to go, on phones.

https://maketecheasier.com/google-play-download-time-remaining/

Published: October 22, 2026 07:33

Google's System Release Notes entry for Play Store v53.7, dated 19 October 2026, lists time or size remaining in place of percent progress on phones.

A 1,680-ton boring machine that arrived from Germany in about 100 pieces has started chewing into the Palisades cliffs in North Bergen, New Jersey, digging the first train tunnel toward the Hudson in nearly 120 years at about 30 feet a day

https://maketecheasier.com/a-1680-ton-boring-machine-that-arrived-from-germany-in-about-100-pieces-has-started-chewing-into-the-palisades-cliffs-in-north-bergen-new-jersey-digging-the-first-train-tunnel-toward-the-hudson-in/

Published: October 22, 2026 03:39

At the base of the Palisades in North Bergen, New Jersey, there’s a wall of hard, dark volcanic rock. For millions of years it has stood between the New Jersey Meadowlands and the Hudson River. This fall, a machine longer than a football field started…

The world’s first traffic light stood 6 metres tall outside the Houses of Parliament from 9 December 1868, and after a gas leak exploded and seriously injured the constable working it, London had no traffic lights again until 1926.

https://maketecheasier.com/first-traffic-light-westminster-1868/

Published: October 21, 2026 18:53

The world's first traffic light went up outside Parliament on 9 December 1868, stood six metres tall and was removed within a month after a gas explosion.

Valve opens Steam Next Fest on 19 October at 10:00 PDT, a week of free demos and developer livestreams that closes 26 October at the same hour.

https://maketecheasier.com/steam-next-fest-october-2026-dates/

Published: October 21, 2026 17:00

Steam Next Fest closes on 26 October at 10:00 PDT, 17:00 UTC, and Valve's Steamworks pages explain how demos are ordered and what happens to them afterwards.

David Bradley wrote Ctrl+Alt+Del into the 1981 IBM PC as a soft reboot for developers, and at the machine’s twentieth anniversary in 2001 he said of Bill Gates, “I may have invented it, but I think Bill made it famous”

https://maketecheasier.com/david-bradley-ctrl-alt-del-ibm-pc/

Published: October 21, 2026 13:13

IBM engineer David Bradley wrote Ctrl+Alt+Del in 1981 for programmers, then told a 2001 anniversary panel that Bill Gates made the key combination famous.

WhatsApp will only support iPhones on iOS 15.5 and newer from 30 November 2026, and it warns affected users inside the app before support ends

https://maketecheasier.com/whatsapp-iphone-ios-15-5-minimum-november-2026/

Published: October 21, 2026 11:20

WhatsApp will drop iPhones running iOS 15.1 to 15.4 on 30 November 2026, and says it warns affected users inside the app before support ends.

Turn on Theft Detection Lock under Settings > Google > All services > Theft protection and your Android locks itself when a thief runs off with it

https://maketecheasier.com/android-theft-detection-lock-setup/

Published: October 21, 2026 09:27

Theft Detection Lock, under Settings > Google > All services > Theft protection, uses sensors, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to lock a stolen Android phone's screen.

Otto Rohwedder’s bread slicer cut its first commercial loaf at the Chillicothe Baking Company in Missouri on 7 July 1928, and the machine that made Kleen Maid Sliced Bread fell apart after about six months of heavy use.

https://maketecheasier.com/chillicothe-1928-first-sliced-bread-machine/

Published: October 21, 2026 07:33

Otto Rohwedder's first bread slicer cut its first loaf in Chillicothe, Missouri on 7 July 1928. It fell apart after about six months, the Smithsonian says.

A 100,000-ton aircraft carrier running four years behind schedule caught its first F-35C on a wire off Virginia on the Navy’s birthday, the jet Congress ordered it fitted for in the first place, while a second F-35C flew the test with inert bombs mounted under its wings

https://maketecheasier.com/a-100000-ton-aircraft-carrier-running-four-years-behind-schedule-caught-its-first-f-35c-on-a-wire-off-virginia-on-the-navys-birthday-the-jet-congress-ordered-it-fitted-for-in-the-first-plac/

Published: October 21, 2026 04:21

On October 13, the US Navy’s 251st birthday, a stealth fighter came in low over the Atlantic, dropped its tailhook and slammed onto the deck of the future USS John F. Kennedy. A cable caught the hook and dragged the jet to a stop in a couple of seconds. It…

Cambridge researchers built a camera system to check their coffee in 1991 — two years later, it became the world’s first webcam

https://maketecheasier.com/cambridge-trojan-room-coffee-pot-first-webcam/

Published: October 21, 2026 04:16

A camera on a retort stand, a frame grabber and a small grayscale picture: the original desktop picture updated three times a minute. How a Cambridge coffee pot became the first webcam.

Arduino raises the VENTUNO Q from its $299 introductory price to $399 on 19 October, blaming a sharp rise in memory module costs.

https://maketecheasier.com/arduino-ventuno-q-price-rise-399/

Published: October 20, 2026 19:50

Arduino raised the VENTUNO Q to $399 on 19 October, up from $299, citing rising costs of memory modules and other components. Existing pre-orders keep $299.

Clyde Dawson picked a pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit for the first UPC barcode scan in 1974 because nobody was sure a barcode could be printed on something that small, and Sharon Buchanan scanned it at a Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio.

https://maketecheasier.com/first-upc-barcode-scan-juicy-fruit-1974/

Published: October 20, 2026 14:09

Dawson later explained he chose Juicy Fruit gum for the first UPC scan in Troy, Ohio, on 26 June 1974 as nobody was sure a bar code could fit so small a pack.

WhatsApp can hide your IP address in calls through Settings, Privacy, Advanced, Protect IP address in calls, at some cost to call quality.

https://maketecheasier.com/whatsapp-protect-ip-address-in-calls/

Published: October 20, 2026 11:20

WhatsApp says Protect IP address in calls relays your calls through its servers so your IP address is not revealed to the person called, and quality may drop.

Apple’s first foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo, starts at $1,999 with a 7.58-inch inner display and is available from 23 October.

https://maketecheasier.com/iphone-duo-foldable-price-release-date/

Published: October 20, 2026 08:30

Apple's foldable iPhone Duo costs $1,999 to $3,199 by storage, has a 7.58-inch inner screen measured as a rectangle, and reaches stores on 23 October.

NASA’s Kepler telescope lost two of the four wheels it used to aim at stars — engineers gave it a second mission by balancing the spacecraft against the pressure of sunlight

https://maketecheasier.com/kepler-k2-reaction-wheels-sunlight-pressure/

Published: October 20, 2026 02:54

When Kepler lost a second reaction wheel, engineers balanced it against sunlight and turned it into K2. Here's how the trick worked, what it cost, and the software that made its shaky data usable.

A 990-foot ocean liner that still holds the transatlantic speed record from her maiden voyage in 1952 will be sunk in the Gulf off Destin, Florida, in the second week of November, after 29 years tied to a pier in Philadelphia, to become the world’s largest artificial reef

https://maketecheasier.com/a-990-foot-ocean-liner-that-still-holds-the-transatlantic-speed-record-from-her-maiden-voyage-in-1952-will-be-sunk-in-the-gulf-off-destin-florida-in-the-second-week-of-november-after-29-years-tied/

Published: October 20, 2026 01:42

For nearly three decades, drivers heading to the big-box stores in South Philadelphia passed a ghost. Tied up at Pier 82 on the Delaware River was a huge, rust-streaked ship with two red, white and blue funnels, longer than the Titanic and taller than most…

A 228-year-old wooden warship still in active Navy commission sailed out of Boston this summer for America’s 250th birthday, and she is regularly turned around in the harbor, because a ship that sits facing the same way at her pier weathers unevenly on one side

https://maketecheasier.com/a-228-year-old-wooden-warship-still-in-active-navy-commission-sailed-out-of-boston-this-summer-for-americas-250th-birthday-and-she-is-regularly-turned-around-in-the-harbor-because-a-ship-th/

Published: October 20, 2026 01:13

On the morning of July 4, 2026, a three-masted wooden frigate eased away from her pier at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston. Her crew wore uniforms modeled on those of the War of 1812. Tugboats stood by, crowds lined the Harborwalk, and off Castle Island…

In 2010, the US Air Force stacked more than 1,700 PlayStation 3 consoles on wire shelves and wired them into the Pentagon’s most powerful interactive supercomputer

https://maketecheasier.com/us-air-force-condor-playstation-3-supercomputer/

Published: October 19, 2026 22:39

The Air Force's Condor cluster wired more than 1,700 PS3s to Intel servers and Nvidia GPUs. Here's why the consoles made sense, what connecting them involved, and where the bargain had limits.

Amazon’s new Alexa Tablets drop Fire OS for Android with full Google Play Store access, starting at $229.99 for the Alexa Tablet 8.

https://maketecheasier.com/amazon-alexa-tablets-android-google-play/

Published: October 19, 2026 19:50

Amazon's Android-based Alexa Tablets ship in five European countries from 19 October, with full Google Play access and US prices from $229.99 for the Alexa Tablet 8.

Anbernic’s RG DDS is a dual-screen clamshell handheld modelled on the Nintendo 3DS, with pre-orders at $284.99 and shipping gradually from 10 December 2026.

https://maketecheasier.com/anbernic-rg-dds-3ds-style-handheld-pre-orders/

Published: October 19, 2026 17:00

Anbernic's dual-screen RG DDS clamshell is on pre-order from $284.99, runs Android 16 on a Snapdragon G2 Gen 2 and ships gradually from 10 December 2026.

WhatsApp shows your profile photo to every user by default, and Settings > Privacy > Profile photo is where you switch it to My contacts, My contacts except…, or Nobody.

https://maketecheasier.com/whatsapp-profile-photo-privacy-settings/

Published: October 19, 2026 14:09

WhatsApp shows your profile photo to every user unless you change it under Settings > Privacy > Profile photo on Android, iPhone or the web.

Sound stickers, a toggle to remove the sticker outline and a two-line compose box are in WhatsApp’s beta code, per an Android Authority teardown.

https://maketecheasier.com/whatsapp-sound-stickers-teardown/

Published: October 19, 2026 11:20

An Android Authority teardown of WhatsApp version 2.26.41.11 found code for stickers with audio, an outline toggle and a two-line compose box, none of them released.

On 3 December 1992 a 22-year-old Sema Group engineer typed “Merry Christmas” on a PC and sent it over Vodafone UK’s network to an Orbitel 901 handset that weighed 2.1kg.

https://maketecheasier.com/first-text-message-merry-christmas-1992/

Published: October 19, 2026 08:30

Neil Papworth typed "Merry Christmas" on a PC in Newbury in 1992, and Vodafone calls it the first text message ever sent.

An 18-year-old in West Cork, Ireland mixed vegetable oil with magnetite powder to make a magnetic liquid that grabs microplastics out of water, and in about 1,000 tests a magnet pulled out roughly 87% of the plastic, winning him Google’s top science fair prize

https://maketecheasier.com/an-18-year-old-in-west-cork-ireland-mixed-vegetable-oil-with-magnetite-powder-to-make-a-magnetic-liquid-that-grabs-microplastics-out-of-water-and-in-about-1000-tests-a-magnet-pulled-out-roughly-87/

Published: October 19, 2026 03:39

Fionn Ferreira grew up on the rugged Atlantic coast of West Cork, in the far southwest of Ireland. Kayaking along the shoreline, he kept noticing plastic washing in from the ocean. Then one day he found a stone on the beach, coated in oil from a recent…

A steam locomotive built in Leeds in 1855 and shipped to India to haul mail trains was still pulling passenger trips out of Delhi more than 150 years later, earning a world record as the oldest steam engine in regular service

https://maketecheasier.com/a-steam-locomotive-built-in-leeds-in-1855-and-shipped-to-india-to-haul-mail-trains-was-still-pulling-passenger-trips-out-of-delhi-more-than-150-years-later-earning-a-world-record-as-the-oldest-steam/

Published: October 19, 2026 03:38

On a winter morning in late 1997, a small group of rail enthusiasts boarded a two-coach train at Delhi Cantonment station. At the front, hissing and dripping, was a locomotive that had been built in England before the American Civil War. It had a tall…

A 2019 claim that Britain could cut 16,433 tonnes of carbon a year if everyone sent one fewer “thank you” email went around the world, but the real saving barely registers, because your laptop, the network and the servers keep running whether you hit send or not

https://maketecheasier.com/a-2019-claim-that-britain-could-cut-16433-tonnes-of-carbon-a-year-if-everyone-sent-one-fewer-thank-you-email-went-around-the-world-but-the-real-saving-barely-registers-because-you/

Published: October 19, 2026 03:34

You get a quick reply to a work email, and before you know it, you’ve typed “Thanks!” and hit send. For a while, that two-second habit was being described as a climate problem. In November 2019, the British energy supplier OVO Energy released research…

Galileo’s main antenna jammed on its way to Jupiter, leaving a small antenna that could manage about 10 bits per second instead of 134,400, so NASA rewrote its software and rebuilt how Earth listened

https://maketecheasier.com/galileo-jammed-antenna-jupiter-data-compression/

Published: October 19, 2026 03:29

When Galileo's main antenna failed to open, NASA had to send a mission's worth of discoveries through an antenna with a tiny fraction of the bandwidth. Here's how compression, coding and bigger ears on Earth made it work.

NVIDIA RTX Spark laptops go on sale from $2,399, pairing a Blackwell RTX GPU and a Grace CPU on one superchip.

https://maketecheasier.com/nvidia-rtx-spark-laptops-on-sale/

Published: October 18, 2026 12:45

NVIDIA's RTX Spark laptops are on sale from six makers, with NVIDIA quoting two starting prices and up to 128GB of unified memory.

How to invite someone without a WhatsApp account to a WhatsApp call by creating a call link in the Calls tab.

https://maketecheasier.com/invite-someone-without-whatsapp-account-call-link/

Published: October 18, 2026 08:30

WhatsApp guest calling lets a host create a call link in the Calls tab so people without an account can join from a computer browser.