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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New York State Route 63 (NY 63) is a state highway in the western part of New York in the United States. It extends for 82.11 miles (132.14 km) in a generally southeast–northwest direction from an intersection with NY 15 and NY 21 in the village of Wayland in Steuben County to a junction with NY 18 in the town of Yates in Orleans County, 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the Lake Ontario shoreline. The route passes through the city of Batavia and enters or comes near several villages, including Dansville and Medina.
NY 63 was assigned as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, but to a largely different routing than it follows today. The original alignment of NY 63 was identical to its current alignment between Mount Morris and Pavilion; however, the route deviated significantly from its modern routing past those points as it extended southwest from Mount Morris to Hinsdale and north from Pavilion to Hamlin. It was rerouted north of Pavilion c. 1939 and south of Mount Morris in the early 1940s. The latter realignment supplanted New York State Route 36A, a Dansville–Mount Morris highway assigned in 1930. For a brief period during the 1970s, NY 63 began in Dansville instead of Wayland. (Full article...) -
State Route 117 (SR 117) is a short, 1.40-mile (2.25 km) long state highway located entirely within Port Angeles, the county seat of Clallam County, in the U.S. state of Washington. The short roadway, named the Tumwater Truck Route, serves the waterfront of Port Angeles and intersects two streets and crosses under another street on a short bridge. Beginning at an interchange with U.S. Route 101 (US 101), the highway travels northeast to terminate at Marine Drive. SR 117 was first established in 1991, but a road parallel to the current roadway had existed since 1966. (Full article...) -
IG-11 is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise who appears in the Disney+ television series The Mandalorian. An extremely deadly and efficient bounty hunter droid, IG-11 initially attempts to capture and kill an alien known as the Child but is stopped and destroyed by another bounty hunter known as the Mandalorian. IG-11 is later repaired by the Ugnaught alien Kuiil and reprogrammed as a nurse and protector of the Child and an ally of the Mandalorian. Following IG-11's destruction, its remains are rebuilt as IG-12, a pilotable exoskeleton to be controlled by the Child, then after further destruction, is rebuilt again, this time with a recycled memory circuit, to serve as city marshal of Nevarro.
The voice of IG-11 is performed by Taika Waititi, who was offered the part by The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau based on their mutual work in the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Waititi said he tried to create a voice that lacked human emotion while still maintaining some semblance of humanity and described his performance as a cross between Siri and HAL 9000. IG-11 is based on and closely resembles another Star Wars bounty hunter of the same IG model named IG-88 created by George Lucas, so much so that fans and journalists initially mistook IG-11 for the other droid when the character was first unveiled. (Full article...) -
The Port of Miami Tunnel (also State Road 887) is a 4,200-foot (1,300 m) bored, undersea tunnel in Miami, Florida. It consists of two parallel tunnels (one in each direction) that travel beneath Biscayne Bay, connecting the MacArthur Causeway on Watson Island with PortMiami on Dodge Island. It was built in a public–private partnership between three government entities—the Florida Department of Transportation, Miami-Dade County, and the City of Miami—and the private entity MAT Concessionaire LLC, which was in charge of designing, building, and financing the project and holds a 30-year concession to operate the tunnel.
The project was approved after decades of planning and discussion in December 2007, but was temporarily cancelled a year later. Construction began in May 2010. The tunnel boring machine began work in November 2011 and completed the second tunnel in May 2013. The tunnel was opened to traffic on August 3, 2014. In the first month after opening, the tunnel averaged 7,000 vehicles per day, and nearly 16,000 vehicles now travel to the port on a typical weekday. (Full article...)
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman best known for co-founding the software company Microsoft with his childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), president, and chief software architect, while also being its largest individual shareholder until May 2014. He was a pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s.
Gates was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. In 1975, he and Allen founded Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Gates led the company as its chairman and chief executive officer until stepping down as CEO in January 2000, succeeded by Steve Ballmer, but he remained chairman of the board of directors and became chief software architect. During the late 1990s, he was criticized for his business tactics, which were considered anti-competitive. (Full article...)
New York State Route 149 (NY 149) is an east–west state highway that runs for 32.20 miles (51.82 km) through the Capital District of New York in the United States. It begins at exit 20 on the Adirondack Northway (Interstate 87 or I-87) in the Warren County town of Queensbury and intersects U.S. Route 9 (US 9), US 4, and NY 22, among other routes, as it progresses eastward to its eastern end at the Vermont state line in the Washington County village of Granville. Here, the highway becomes Vermont Route 149 (VT 149) and continues for an additional 1.302 miles (2.095 km) to an intersection with VT 30 in Rutland County. Both NY 149 and VT 149 traverse mostly rural areas.
NY 149 was assigned in the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York and initially extended from NY 9L in Queensbury to NY 22 south of Granville by way of an east–west highway built during the first two decades of the 20th century. It was cut back to US 4 c. 1939, but extended westward back to NY 9L in the mid-1950s. It was extended further west to US 9 in the late 1950s and to I-87 exit 20 c. 1962. In the mid-1960s, NY 22 was rerouted to bypass Granville to the west. NY 149 was then extended to Vermont by way of NY 22's former routing into the village and East Main Street. The short continuation of Granville's East Main Street in Vermont, designated as Vermont Route 30B since 1935, was renumbered to VT 149 in December 1966 to match the New York number. (Full article...)
NY 149 was assigned in the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York and initially extended from NY 9L in Queensbury to NY 22 south of Granville by way of an east–west highway built during the first two decades of the 20th century. It was cut back to US 4 c. 1939, but extended westward back to NY 9L in the mid-1950s. It was extended further west to US 9 in the late 1950s and to I-87 exit 20 c. 1962. In the mid-1960s, NY 22 was rerouted to bypass Granville to the west. NY 149 was then extended to Vermont by way of NY 22's former routing into the village and East Main Street. The short continuation of Granville's East Main Street in Vermont, designated as Vermont Route 30B since 1935, was renumbered to VT 149 in December 1966 to match the New York number. (Full article...)
Delaware Route 9A (DE 9A) is a two- to four-lane road in Wilmington, Delaware that serves as the primary access route to the Port of Wilmington as well as provide access to Interstate 495 (I-495). The official designation of the route runs 0.78 miles (1.26 km) along Terminal Avenue between DE 9 and the Port of Wilmington, interchanging with I-495. Signage has the route continuing north along Christiana Avenue to an intersection with U.S. Route 13 (US 13) and DE 9 for a total length of 2.0 mi (3.2 km). Christiana Avenue originally became a state highway in the 1920s, serving as part of US 40 that connected to a ferry across the Delaware River to Penns Grove, New Jersey. US 40 was removed from this road in the 1930s and it later became part of DE 48, which was subsequently removed in the 1950s following the discontinuance of the ferry. DE 9A was designated by 1971. (Full article...)
Selected picture
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Photo credit: Michael ReevePitstone Windmill, believed to be the oldest windmill in the British Isles
A windmill is an engine powered by wind energy. In Europe, windmills have been used since the Middle Ages. They were developed from the 12th century, apparently from technology gained by crusaders who came into contact with windmills in the Middle East. Persian sources indicate windmill use as early as the 7th century BC. In the United States, the development of water-pumping windmills was a major factor in allowing the farming of vast areas of North America. -
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. -
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Credit: Mike McGregorThe OLPC XO-1 is an inexpensive subnotebook laptop computer intended to be distributed to children in developing countries. -
The GameCube is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo beginning in 2001. Meant as a successor to the Nintendo 64, the GameCube sold approximately 22 million units worldwide. It was the third most-successful console of its generation, behind Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox. The GameCube was succeeded by the Wii in 2006. -
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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Photograph: Peter TrimmingThe Mark IV tank was introduced by the British in May 1917 to fight in World War I. The "female" version, as pictured here, was armed with five machine guns. Production of the Mark IV ceased at the end of the War in 1918. A small number served briefly with other combatants afterwards.
This Mark IV tank, on display in Ashford, Kent, was presented to the town after the end of World War I. The engine was removed to install an electricity substation inside it, though this substation was subsequently removed; the tank's interior is now empty. -
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". -
Image credit: Prolineserver/TomiaThis diagram of four pulley systems illustrates how increasing the number of pulleys increases the mechanical advantage, making the load easier to lift. MA is the factor by which a mechanism multiplies the force put into it. In this diagram, 100 newtons is required to lift the weight off the ground. Each additional pulley increases the MA such that the four-pulley system only needs 25 newtons to accomplish the same task, but the rope must be pulled four times as far. -
Photograph credit: Stefan KrauseThe BMW S1000RR is a sport bike made by BMW Motorrad. It was introduced in 2008, initially for competition in the 2009 Superbike World Championship, and has been in commercial production since then. Powered by a 999 cc (61.0 cu in) four-cylinder engine, redlined at 14,200 rpm, it delivers 133.6 kW (179.2 hp; 181.6 PS) to the rear wheel, making it the most powerful motorcycle in the class. Rubén Xaus and Troy Corser rode the bike for its inaugural Superbike World Championship in 2009, gaining highest finishes of fifth and seventh respectively, but it achieved greater success in the 2010 FIM Superstock 1000 championship season, with rider Ayrton Badovini winning every single race but one on the S1000RR. -
Diagram: Jeff Dahl -
Photo credit: L Cpl. Samantha L. Jones, USMCNine Marines from Mike Battery, 4th Battalion, 14th Marines operate the 155mm M198 howitzer in November 2004. The battery was based at Camp Fallujah, Iraq and was supporting Operation Phantom Fury. All nine members of the M198 crew are present. -
Photo credit: Alfred T. Palmer"Big Pete" Ramagos, rigger at work on Douglas Dam, Tennessee, June 1942. A rigger is a person or company which specializes in the lifting and/or moving of extremely large and/or heavy objects. Riggers use equipment expressly designed for moving and lifting objects where ordinary material handling equipment cannot go. -
Photograph: LucasboschA micrometer is a device incorporating a calibrated screw, widely used for precise measurement of components in mechanical engineering and machining. Micrometers are usually, but not always, in the form of calipers (opposing ends joined by a frame). The spindle is a very accurately machined screw and the object to be measured is placed between the spindle and the anvil. The spindle is moved by turning the ratchet knob or thimble until the object to be measured is lightly touched by both the spindle and the anvil. -
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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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. -
Photograph: Christoph BraunA 'K6' model red telephone box outside of St Paul's Cathedral in London. These kiosks for a public telephone were designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and painted "currant red" for easy visibility. Although such telephone boxes ceased production when the KX series was introduced in 1985, they remain a common sight in Britain and some of its colonies, and are considered a British cultural icon. -
Photograph: NACAKitty Joyner (1916–1993) was an American electrical engineer with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and then the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She was hired in 1939 as the organization's first woman engineer, shortly after she had become the first woman to graduate from the University of Virginia's engineering program. -
Diagram credit: AstroBidulesThe Soyuz MS is the latest revision of the Russian spacecraft series Soyuz. It is an evolution of the Soyuz TMA-M, with modernization mostly concentrated on its communications and navigation subsystems. The spacecraft is used by Roscosmos for human spaceflight. The Soyuz MS has minimal external changes with respect to the Soyuz TMA-M, mostly limited to antennas and sensors, as well as the thruster placement. The first launch, Soyuz MS-01, took place on 7 July 2016 aboard a Soyuz-FG launch vehicle towards the International Space Station. This exploded-view diagram illustrates and labels various components of the Soyuz MS spacecraft and the Soyuz-FG rocket. -
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.
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General images -
The following are images from various technology-related articles on Wikipedia.
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A late Bronze Age sword or dagger blade (from History of technology) -
Edison electric light bulbs 1879–80 (from History of technology) -
A water-powered mine hoist used for raising ore, ca. 1556 (from History of technology) -
3D printer (from Emerging technologies) -
Eric M. C. Tigerstedt (1887–1925) was known as a pioneer of sound-on-film technology. Tigerstedt in 1915. (from Invention) -
Self-replicating 3D printer (from Emerging technologies) -
Newcomen steam engine for pumping mines (from History of technology) -
Ford assembly line, 1913. The magneto assembly line was the first. (from History of technology) -
Design for a flying machine (c.1488) by da Vinci (from History of technology) -
Thomas Edison with his second phonograph, photographed by Levin Corbin Handy in Washington, April 1878 (from History of technology) -
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'BUILD YOUR OWN TELEVISION RECEIVER.' Science and Invention magazine cover, November 1928 (from Invention) -
Pont du Gard in France, a Roman aqueduct (from History of technology) -
A variety of stone tools (from History of technology) -
Alessandro Volta with the first electrical battery. Volta is recognized as an influential inventor. (from Invention) -
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) -
The preserved Rocket (from History of technology) -
Top 30 AI patent applicants in 2016 (from Emerging technologies) -
Agriculture preceded writing in the history of technology. (from History of technology) -
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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) -
Dome of Florence Cathedral (from History of technology) -
Johannes Gutenberg's printing press was voted the most important invention of the second millennium. (from Invention) -
The compartmented water wheel, here its overshot version (from History of technology) -
Walls at Sacsayhuaman (from History of technology) -
Clock from Salisbury Cathedral, ca. 1386 (from History of technology)
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Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that Criccieth Castle combined the "latest advances in military technology" with the "haphazard Welsh castle building style"?
- ... that ice XVII (structure shown) potentially has a use in green technology as a medium for storing hydrogen?
- ... that Henry E. Sigerist felt "depressed" after reading A History of Science, Technology, and Philosophy in the 16th and 17th Centuries?
- ... that Małgorzata Kalinowska-Iszkowska was awarded a Polish Gold Cross of Merit for her work in information technology?
- ... 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 Pamela McCorduck, who chronicled the evolution of artificial intelligence, regretted not recognizing the technology's potential for misuse?
- ... 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?
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...)
Artificial intelligence (AI), in its broadest sense, is intelligence exhibited by machines, particularly computer systems. It is a field of research in computer science that develops and studies methods and software that enable machines to perceive their environment and use learning and intelligence to take actions that maximize their chances of achieving defined goals. Such machines may be called AIs. (Full article...)
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple languages. (Full article...)
