IT facts

Did you know?

True facts from the history and present of technology that are hard to believe.

1947

The first computer “bug” was a real insect: a moth found in a relay of the Harvard Mark II, taped into the logbook by its engineers.

4 KB

The computer that flew Apollo 11 to the Moon had about 4 KB of working memory — millions of times less than a phone today.

1991

One of the first webcams watched a coffee pot in Cambridge, so researchers wouldn’t walk over to find it empty.

~99%

Almost all intercontinental internet traffic travels through cables on the ocean floor, not via satellites.

1956

IBM’s first hard disk stored about 3.75 MB and weighed around a ton.

123456

For years the world’s most common password has been “123456” — an attacker can crack it in under a second.