Tag Archives: computers

FACT: email makes many stops along its journey

By Ryan | Published: December 8, 2009

What happens when you send an email message? Where does it go, and how does it get to the intended recipient? All this and more coming up next on “Learn Something New Every Day!” [cue theme song] Email, originally called electronic mail, is a way to send messages between computing machines. It actually started long [...]

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FACT: the word ‘robot’ was created for a stage play

By Ryan | Published: September 14, 2009

It was 1920 when Czech playwright Karel Čapek published his “Rossum’s Universal Robots”. It was the first time the word robot ever appeared. Originally, he was going to use the term labori but wasn’t fond of the name and consulted with his brother who suggested roboti. That word wasn’t just manufactured, though. In Slavic languages, [...]

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FACT: The first ever computer virus infected Apple, and left poetry

By Ryan | Published: July 19, 2009

The first ever computer virus, created in 1982 and called “Elk Cloner” was written by a 15 year old in Pennsylvania. Rich Skrenta was a high school student who enjoyed loading secret programs onto any floppy disk he could find, but soon he figured out a smarter way to spread his digital pranks. He infected [...]

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