Portal:Technology
The Technology Portal
Technology is the application of conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word technology can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible tools such as utensils or machines, and intangible ones such as software. Technology plays a critical role in science, engineering, and everyday life.
Technological advancements have led to significant changes in society. The earliest known technology is the stone tool, used during prehistoric times, followed by the control of fire, which contributed to the growth of the human brain and the development of language during the Ice Age. The invention of the wheel in the Bronze Age allowed greater travel and the creation of more complex machines. More recent technological inventions, including the printing press, telephone, and the Internet, have lowered barriers to communication and ushered in the knowledge economy. (Full article...)
Recognized articles -
Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.
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State Route 701 (SR 701, OH 701) is a 8.96-mile (14.42 km) east–west state highway in western Ohio, a U.S. state. The state highway's western terminus is at a T-intersection with SR 309 nearly 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of Ada. The eastern terminus of State Route 701 is at U.S. Route 68 (US 68) approximately 3.50 miles (5.63 km) southeast of Dunkirk.
Established in the late 1930s, SR 701 is a two-lane route that serves as an eastward continuation of SR 309, which runs due east out of Lima. SR 701 picks up along the same east–west alignment when SR 309 turns southeasterly in the direction of Kenton. (Full article...) -
Jane Gardner Batten CBE OSC (15 September 1909 – 22 November 1982), commonly known as Jean Batten, was a New Zealand aviator who made several record-breaking flights – including the first solo flight from England to New Zealand in 1936.
Born in Rotorua, Batten went to England to learn to fly. She made two unsuccessful attempts to fly from England to Australia solo before achieving the feat in May 1934, taking just under 15 days to fly the distance in a Gipsy Moth biplane. The flight set the record for a woman's solo flight between the two countries. After a publicity tour around Australia and New Zealand, she flew the Gipsy Moth back to England, setting the solo women's record for the return flight from Australia to England. She also became the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia and back again. In November 1935, she set the absolute record of 61 hours, 15 minutes, for flying from England to Brazil. During this flight, in a Percival Gull Six monoplane, she completed the fastest crossing of the South Atlantic Ocean and was the first woman to make the England–South America flight. The pinnacle of her flying achievements came in October 1936, when she flew her Gull from England to New Zealand, covering the distance in a little over 11 days, an absolute record for 44 years. The following year she made her last major flight, flying from Australia to England to set a new solo record. (Full article...)
BackupHDDVD is a small computer software utility program available in command line and GUI versions which aids in the decryption of commercial HD DVD discs protected by the Advanced Access Content System. It is used to back up discs, often to enable playback on hardware configurations without full support for HDCP. The program's source code was posted online, but no licence information was given.
Written by an anonymous programmer using the handle Muslix64, BackupHDDVD is distributed with none of the cryptographic keys necessary for decryption. Users wanting to use the software to decrypt a protected disc's contents must obtain the appropriate keys separately, a task with which neither the original author nor his or her versions of BackupHDDVD assist. (Full article...)
Written by an anonymous programmer using the handle Muslix64, BackupHDDVD is distributed with none of the cryptographic keys necessary for decryption. Users wanting to use the software to decrypt a protected disc's contents must obtain the appropriate keys separately, a task with which neither the original author nor his or her versions of BackupHDDVD assist. (Full article...)
Pennsylvania Station (often abbreviated to Penn Station) was a historic railroad station in New York City that was built for, named after, and originally occupied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). The station occupied an 8-acre (3.2 ha) plot bounded by Seventh and Eighth Avenues and 31st and 33rd Streets in Midtown Manhattan. As the station shared its name with several stations in other cities, it was sometimes called New York Pennsylvania Station. Originally completed in 1910, the aboveground portions of the building were demolished between 1963 and 1966, and the underground concourses and platforms were heavily renovated to form the current Pennsylvania Station within the same footprint.
Designed by McKim, Mead, and White and completed in 1910, the station enabled direct rail access to New York City from the south for the first time. Its above ground head house and train shed were considered a masterpiece of the Beaux-Arts style and one of the great architectural works of New York City. Underground, the station contained 11 platforms serving 21 tracks, in approximately the same layout as the current Penn Station, which has had various intervening modifications. The original building was one of the first stations to include separate waiting rooms for arriving and departing passengers, and when built, these were among the city's largest public spaces. (Full article...)
Maryland Route 413 (also known as MD 413 or Route 413) is a 14.61-mile (23.51 km) state highway in Somerset County in the U.S. state of Maryland. The route runs from a dead end at Crisfield's city dock, which is located on the Tangier Sound, northeast to U.S. Route 13 (US 13) in Westover. It is the main highway leading into Crisfield, and is known as Crisfield Highway for much of its length. The highway travels through mostly rural areas of farms and woods as well as the communities of Hopewell, Marion Station, and Kingston. It is a two-lane undivided road for most of its length; a portion of the road in Crisfield is a four-lane road that follows a one-way pair. MD 413 is part of two scenic routes: Chesapeake Country Scenic Byway and the Beach to Bay Indian Trail; both are Maryland Scenic Byways.
The Crisfield–Westover Road was one of the original state roads marked for improvement by the Maryland State Roads Commission. The highway was paved in the 1910s and designated MD 413 in 1927. MD 413 was relocated starting in the late 1930s to a new alignment parallel to the Eastern Shore Railroad line that made Crisfield the "Seafood Capital of the World." The relocation began in Crisfield and was completed to Westover in 1950. The old alignment of MD 413 was designated MD 667. The state highway was expanded to a divided highway in the mid-1950s in Crisfield. The railroad track was abandoned in 1976 and later removed, and the right-of-way began conversion into a rail-trail in 2019. (Full article...)
The Crisfield–Westover Road was one of the original state roads marked for improvement by the Maryland State Roads Commission. The highway was paved in the 1910s and designated MD 413 in 1927. MD 413 was relocated starting in the late 1930s to a new alignment parallel to the Eastern Shore Railroad line that made Crisfield the "Seafood Capital of the World." The relocation began in Crisfield and was completed to Westover in 1950. The old alignment of MD 413 was designated MD 667. The state highway was expanded to a divided highway in the mid-1950s in Crisfield. The railroad track was abandoned in 1976 and later removed, and the right-of-way began conversion into a rail-trail in 2019. (Full article...)
Silver Hill station was an MBTA Commuter Rail Fitchburg Line station in Weston, Massachusetts, United States. The station had a small shelter, parking area, and a gravel boarding area; it was not accessible. It was the least-used station in the entire MBTA system in 2018, with an average of just eleven daily boardings. Silver Hill station opened in 1844 as one of the original stops on the Fitchburg Railroad. The Boston and Maine Railroad unsuccessfully attempted to close the station in 1959. It remained in use until its temporary closure by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in December 2020 due to low ridership and a lack of accessibility, with indefinite closure effective April 2021. (Full article...)
Interstate 380 (I-380) is a 73-mile (117 km) auxiliary Interstate Highway in eastern Iowa. The route extends from I-80 near Coralville to Waterloo. I-380 connects the cities of Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, the state's second- and sixth-largest cities, respectively, to the Interstate Highway System. Except for its last 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of U.S. Highway 20 (US 20), I-380 runs concurrently with Iowa Highway 27 (Iowa 27), which represents Iowa's portion of the 560-mile (900 km) Avenue of the Saints highway connecting Saint Louis, Missouri, with Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Construction of I-380 took 12 years to complete, ending in 1985. After the Interstate opened, US 218 was moved onto the new freeway south of Cedar Rapids. In the 1990s, the I-380 corridor was selected as part of the Avenue of the Saints corridor, which Iowa designated as Iowa 27 in 2001. I-380 has been affected by two major floods, the Great Flood of 1993 and the Iowa flood of 2008, both of which closed the road at the Iowa River for two weeks. (Full article...)
Construction of I-380 took 12 years to complete, ending in 1985. After the Interstate opened, US 218 was moved onto the new freeway south of Cedar Rapids. In the 1990s, the I-380 corridor was selected as part of the Avenue of the Saints corridor, which Iowa designated as Iowa 27 in 2001. I-380 has been affected by two major floods, the Great Flood of 1993 and the Iowa flood of 2008, both of which closed the road at the Iowa River for two weeks. (Full article...)
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Photo: Bachrach Studios; Restoration: Michel VuijlstekeThomas Edison (1847–1931) was an American inventor, scientist and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. Dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park" (now Edison, New Jersey) by a newspaper reporter, he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production and large teamwork to the process of invention, and therefore is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory. Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,093 U.S. patents in his name, as well as many patents in the United Kingdom, France and Germany. -
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The Trojan Room coffee pot was the inspiration for the world's first webcam. The coffee pot was located in the corridor just outside the so-called Trojan Room within the old Computer Laboratory of the University of Cambridge. The webcam was created in 1991 to help people working in other parts of the building avoid pointless trips to the coffee pot by providing, on the user's desktop computer, a live 128×128 pixel greyscale picture of the state of the coffee pot. The webcam was shut down on 22 August 2001, following the Computer Laboratory's move to the William Gates Building. -
Credit: Berthold WernerA telephone, or phone, is a telecommunications device that converts sound, typically the human voice, into electronic signals suitable for transmission via cables or other transmission media over long distances through satellite. -
Credit: Mike McGregorThe OLPC XO-1 is an inexpensive subnotebook laptop computer intended to be distributed to children in developing countries. -
Photograph: David GublerRail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. The oldest, man-hauled railways date to the 6th century B.C.; the method grew more popular after the introduction of steam locomotives in the 19th century. Here we can see four BNSF GE C44-9W diesel locomotives hauling a mixed freight train along the Columbia River in the US. -
Image credit: WikipedianProlificAn animated cut-away diagram of a typical fuel injector, which is used to spray controlled amounts of petrol (gasoline) into an internal combustion engine. A solenoid is activated when fuel is intended to be delivered to the engine, causing the plunger to become pulled toward the solenoid by magnetic force. This uncovers the valve opening, allowing fuel to flow into the atomiser and out the spray tip. The route of fuel is shown in orange; grey/blue indicates no fuel present. -
Photograph: Diego DelsoThe Assut de l'Or Bridge is a white single-pylon cable-stayed bridge in the City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia, Spain. Completed in 2008, it was designed by Valencian architect and civil engineer Santiago Calatrava as a variant of his cantilever spar cable-stayed bridge in Seville. -
A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axial bearing. The wheel is one of the main components of the wheel and axle which is one of the six simple machines.
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Diagram: H Padleckas and Ju gatsu mikkaA diagram showing a side and underside view of an 18-wheeler semi-trailer truck with an enclosed cargo space. The underside view shows the arrangement of the wheels, and in blue, the axles, drive shaft, and differentials.
The numbered parts are:
'"`UNIQ--templatestyles-00000018-QINU`"'
#tractor unit
#semi-trailer (detachable)
#engine compartment
#cabin
#sleeper (not present in all trucks)
#air dam
#fuel tanks
#fifth-wheel coupling
#enclosed cargo space
#landing gear (legs for when semi-trailer is detached)
#tandem axles -
Image credit: Søren Peo PedersenTwo TRS connectors (also known as jack plugs or phone plugs), a common audio connector. They are cylindrical in shape, with two or more contacts. Originally invented for use in telephone switchboards, jack plugs are still widely used, both in the original ¼-inch (6.3 mm) size and in miniaturized versions. The top plug in this image is for stereo connections, while the bottom is for mono. -
Photo: Sergey KrivchikovThe Sukhoi Su-30 is a twin-engine, two-seat supermanoeuverable fighter aircraft developed by Russia's Sukhoi Aviation Corporation. It is a multirole fighter for all-weather, air-to-air and air-to-surface deep interdiction missions. Its primary users are Russia, India, China, Venezuela, and Malaysia. -
A disc of copper made by continuous casting, the process whereby molten metal is solidified into a "semifinished" state for subsequent rolling in the finishing mills. Continuous casting replaced the creation of ingots using stationary moulds. The process allows lower-cost production of metal sections with better quality, due to the inherently lower costs of continuous, standardised production of a product, as well as providing increased control over the process through automation. After casting, this disc was then etched to achieve its final state. -
An overhead power line is a structure used in electric power transmission and distribution to transmit electrical energy along large distances. It consists of one or more conductors suspended by towers or utility poles.
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Photograph: Julia Margaret Cameron; restoration: Adam CuerdenJohn Herschel was an English mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, and experimental photographer. He named seven moons of Saturn and four moons of Uranus, invented the cyanotype and actinometer, and wrote extensively on topics including meteorology, physical geography and the telescope. -
Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring is a 1943 painting by the British painter Laura Knight depicting a young woman, Ruby Loftus (1921–2004), working at an industrial lathe as part of the British war effort in World War II. The painting was commissioned by the War Artists' Advisory Committee, and is now part of the Imperial War Museum's art collection. The painting brought instant fame to Loftus, and has been likened to the American figure of "Rosie the Riveter". -
Diagram: Jeff Dahl -
Photo: Arthur Rothstein; Restoration: Lise BroerA portrait of George Washington Carver, American scientist, botanist, educator and inventor, from 1942. Much of Carver's fame is based on his research into and promotion of alternative crops to cotton, such as peanuts and sweet potatoes. In addition to his work on agricultural extension education for purposes of advocacy of sustainable agriculture and appreciation of plants and nature, Carver's important accomplishments also included improvement of racial relations, mentoring children, poetry, painting, and religion. One of his most important roles was in undermining, through the fame of his achievements and many talents, the widespread stereotype of the time that the black race was intellectually inferior to the white race. -
The Bernina Express passing over the Brusio spiral viaduct. Located near Brusio, Graubünden, Switzerland, the single track nine-arched stone spiral railway viaduct was opened in 1908. It is part of the World Heritage-listed Bernina railway. -
Photograph: MyrabellaThe Nice tramway crossing Place Garibaldi, Nice, where it lowers its pantograph and is powered by batteries. This 8.7-kilometre (5.4 mi), single-line tramway is operated by Veolia Transdev. It opened on 24 November 2007, replacing bus lines 1, 2, 5 and 18.
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General images -
The following are images from various technology-related articles on Wikipedia.
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Thomas Edison with his second phonograph, photographed by Levin Corbin Handy in Washington, April 1878 (from History of technology) -
Agriculture preceded writing in the history of technology. (from History of technology) -
The preserved Rocket (from History of technology) -
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Alessandro Volta with the first electrical battery. Volta is recognized as an influential inventor. (from Invention) -
Ford assembly line, 1913. The magneto assembly line was the first. (from History of technology) -
The compartmented water wheel, here its overshot version (from History of technology) -
A late Bronze Age sword or dagger blade (from History of technology) -
Design for a flying machine (c.1488) by da Vinci (from History of technology) -
Pont du Gard in France, a Roman aqueduct (from History of technology) -
Edison electric light bulbs 1879–80 (from History of technology) -
The wheel, invented sometime before the 4th millennium BC, is one of the most ubiquitous and important technologies. This detail of the "Standard of Ur", c. 2500 BCE., displays a Sumerian chariot. (from History of technology) -
3D printer (from Emerging technologies) -
Newcomen steam engine for pumping mines (from History of technology) -
'BUILD YOUR OWN TELEVISION RECEIVER.' Science and Invention magazine cover, November 1928 (from Invention) -
Johannes Gutenberg's printing press was voted the most important invention of the second millennium. (from Invention) -
Clock from Salisbury Cathedral, ca. 1386 (from History of technology) -
Self-replicating 3D printer (from Emerging technologies) -
A water-powered mine hoist used for raising ore, ca. 1556 (from History of technology) -
Walls at Sacsayhuaman (from History of technology) -
Dome of Florence Cathedral (from History of technology) -
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Eric M. C. Tigerstedt (1887–1925) was known as a pioneer of sound-on-film technology. Tigerstedt in 1915. (from Invention) -
Top 30 AI patent applicants in 2016 (from Emerging technologies) -
A variety of stone tools (from History of technology) -
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A rare 1884 photo showing the experimental recording of voice patterns by a photographic process at the Alexander Graham Bell Laboratory in Washington, D.C. Many of their experimental designs panned out in failure. (from Invention)
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Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that Justin Yu, the current Classic Tetris World Champion, is also a cellist in MIT's video game orchestra?
- ... that Kathanar – The Wild Sorcerer is being shot on a custom-built studio spanning 45,000 square feet (4,200 m), utilizing the virtual production technology?
- ... that Flathead Lake Biological Station can detect invasive aquatic species in real-time using eDNA technology?
- ... that Mary Earle was born near Ben Nevis, and although she became a professor of food technology in New Zealand, she never forgot her Scottish roots?
- ... that Pamela McCorduck, who chronicled the evolution of artificial intelligence, regretted not recognizing the technology's potential for misuse?
- ... that Thomas Hall made an electric train that received power from the rails on which it travelled instead of onboard batteries, a new technology at the time?
- ... that several science fiction critics praised "Rock Diver", the first short story by American writer Harry Harrison, for its compelling take on technology for passing through matter?
- ... that the Atari 410 Program Recorder was used to store programs on the Atari 8-bit family, but was also used for computer aided instruction?
Top 10 WikiProject Technology popular articles of the month
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YouTube is an American online video sharing platform owned by Google. Accessible worldwide, YouTube was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States, it is the second-most visited website in the world, after Google Search. As of January 2024, YouTube has more than 2.7 billion monthly users, who collectively watch more than one billion hours of videos every day. As of May 2019, videos were being uploaded to the platform at a rate of more than 500 hours of content per minute, and as of 2021, there were approximately 14 billion videos in total. (Full article...)
Elon Reeve Musk FRS (/ˈiːlɒn/; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman and investor known for his key roles in the space company SpaceX and the automotive company Tesla, Inc. Other involvements include ownership of X Corp., the company that operates the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), and his role in the founding of The Boring Company, xAI, Neuralink, and OpenAI. He is one of the wealthiest individuals in the world; as of August 2024 Forbes estimates his net worth to be US$247 billion. (Full article...)
WhatsApp (officially WhatsApp Messenger) is an instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by technology conglomerate Meta. It allows users to send text, voice messages and video messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other content. WhatsApp's client application runs on mobile devices, and can be accessed from computers. The service requires a cellular mobile telephone number to sign up. In January 2018, WhatsApp released a standalone business app called WhatsApp Business which can communicate with the standard WhatsApp client. (Full article...)
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by American technology conglomerate Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, its name derives from the face book directories often given to American university students. Membership was initially limited to Harvard students, gradually expanding to other North American universities. Since 2006, Facebook allows everyone to register from 13 years old, except in the case of a handful of nations, where the age limit is 14 years. As of December 2022, Facebook claimed almost 3 billion monthly active users. As of October 2023, Facebook ranked as the third-most-visited website in the world, with 22.56% of its traffic coming from the United States. It was the most downloaded mobile app of the 2010s. (Full article...)
ChatGPT is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI. Launched in 2022 based on the GPT-3.5 large language model (LLM), it was later updated to use the GPT-4 architecture. ChatGPT can generate human-like conversational responses and enables users to refine and steer a conversation towards a desired length, format, style, level of detail, and language. It is credited with accelerating the AI boom, which has led to ongoing rapid investment in and public attention to the field of artificial intelligence (AI). Some observers raised concern about the potential of ChatGPT and similar programs to displace or atrophy human intelligence, enable plagiarism, or fuel misinformation. (Full article...)
Google LLC (/ˈɡuːɡəl/ GOO-ghəl) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial intelligence (AI). It has been referred to as "the most powerful company in the world" and is one of the world's most valuable brands due to its market dominance, data collection, and technological advantages in the field of AI. Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., is one of the five Big Tech companies, alongside Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft. (Full article...)
Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon (/ˈæməzɒn/, AM-ə-zon; UK also /ˈæməzən/, AM-ə-zən), is an American multinational technology company, engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It is considered one of the Big Five American technology companies, the other four being Alphabet (parent company of Google), Apple, Meta (parent company of Facebook), and Microsoft. (Full article...)
