Everyday Tech
How does GPS work, why does restarting fix so many problems, does charging your phone overnight ruin the battery? The technology we use every day, explained without jargon.
- Everyday Tech
How Does GPS Work? Satellites, Atomic Clocks and a Little Help From Einstein
A GPS receiver doesn't send anything to space: it times signals from several satellites, turns those times into distances and finds where they meet. Atomic clocks and a relativity correction keep the math honest.
November 4, 2026 - Everyday Tech
How Do QR Codes Work, and Who Invented Them? (It Started in a Car Parts Company)
A QR code stores information in a grid of light and dark squares, uses three corner markers so it can be read from any angle and survives damage thanks to error correction. It was born in 1994 at a Japanese auto parts maker.
November 4, 2026 - Everyday Tech
Is It Bad to Charge Your Phone Overnight? What Really Wears Out the Battery
Phones stop drawing current once the battery is full, so a night on the charger doesn't overcharge it. Wear comes mostly from heat and long hours at full charge, and lithium-ion batteries have no memory effect.
November 4, 2026 - Everyday Tech
Why Does My Microwave Interfere With Wi-Fi? They Share the Same Radio Band
Microwave ovens run near 2.45 GHz, inside the same band used by 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi. The small amount of energy that escapes the door, allowed under safety rules, is enough to flood nearby channels with noise.
November 4, 2026 - Everyday Tech
Why Do You Have to Use Airplane Mode on a Plane? What the Rules Say
Airplane mode switches off a phone's radio transmitters to avoid interference with aircraft systems and with cell towers on the ground. The rules have relaxed, and each airline now decides what to allow.
November 4, 2026 - Everyday Tech
How Do Touchscreens Work? (And Why Your Winter Gloves Don't)
Phone touchscreens are capacitive: a transparent grid of electrodes senses the tiny electrical change a fingertip causes. Here is how that differs from resistive screens, why gloves fail and how multi-touch works.
November 4, 2026 - Everyday Tech
Why Does Restarting Fix So Many Computer and Phone Problems?
Restarting wipes a device's working memory and brings the system back to a state where everything worked. Here is which glitches vanish, why they build up over time and when a reboot will not help.
November 4, 2026 - Everyday Tech
What Is 5G and How Is It Different From 4G?
5G is the fifth generation of mobile networks, defined by the ITU as IMT-2020. Here is what changes in speed, latency and frequencies compared with 4G, and what the WHO says about health.
November 4, 2026
