Category: How Does it Work? | Scottie's Tech.Info

A crash course in how the internet works

Way back in 1995, I was a freshman at university. I had this new thing called “The Internet” at my fingertips.

It was cool, but I wanted to know how it worked. I asked someone, and they wouldn’t answer the question – mostly because they couldn’t answer!

Today, everyone knows and uses the internet, but people keep asking me questions about the basic concepts that make it go.

So, I figured it was about time to give a basic intro to how the internet actually works, including a simplified discussion of networks, IP addresses, ports, protocols, DNS, bandwidth, latency, and more!

Surveillance Valley: What you need to know about the Internet

I recently finished reading the book Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet.

Now, I’ve known for awhile that the world of high-tech – and especially the internet – doesn’t quite work the way everyone thinks it does.

We worship tech billionaires as if they’re the Second Coming, praising them for their ingenuity and standing in awe of their sheer genius.

The reality, on the other hand, is a bit more mundane.

Pretty much all the big players in the internet/tech world got where they are with a little help. And by “a little help”, I mean A LOT…

How to turn down your home WiFi’s transmit power

Your average home WiFi router or access point often has a setting so that you can reduce its transmit power level.

This is pretty handy to know given what I talked about in my earlier video, Are WiFi, Bluetooth, 4G, and 5G bad for you?

The typical range for 2.4GHz WiFi is 150ft (46m) indoors, and 300ft (92m) outdoors. For 5GHz Wifi, it’s more like 50ft (15m) and 100ft (30m). The lower you set the power, the shorter the range – but the less you are blasted by the WiFi signal!

There’s no reason to leave the transmit power at maximum if you don’t need the range… As an added bonus, lower range means increased security since it’s less likely someone else will “see” your WiFi network.

What you can do about 5G, WiFi, etc.

In my last vid, 5G is just the tip of the iceberg, I talked about a bunch of recent studies showing that all this crazy wireless stuff is having negative effects on our health.

Naturally, the question on everyone’s mind is: What can we do about it?!

Well, minimizing your exposure is probably a wise idea. There are all kinds of fun ways you can do that.

And second, you should speak your mind. Share on social media, talk to your friends and family, show them the studies, sign petitions…

Ya know: Don’t assume that you are powerless!

Are WiFi, Bluetooth, 4G, and 5G bad for you? Hold on to your hats…

5G is coming, and people are worried. Well, should we be?

To answer that question, we need to know what studies have been done on the safety of microwave-frequency digital radio transmissions.

We need to look at WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G, and 4G studies, as well!

After all, much of the concern about 5G is based on the results of those studies.

It turns out that there ARE a ton of studies out there that indicate that yes, it looks bad.

Make any LCD computer screen high-end

Much ado has been made about certain brands and types of puter displays and how this kind or that kind looks so much better than the average LCD screen…

It turns out that much of this hoopla is quite often mostly just marketing.

In fact, some displays from certain fruity computer manufacturers in the past were actually technically inferior, yet they still looked really good!

How did they do it?

Easy! The displays were fine-tuned – calibrated, if you will.

Lucky for you, it’s a piece of cake to calibrate your puter’s display yourself.

Ferrite: Those magic thingies at the end of your cables

You’ve probably noticed those strange cylinders at the end of your puter cables.

It looks a bit like the cable was slightly overzealous at dinnertime and swallowed something a bit too large…

As it happens, those strange meals are actually ferrite cores.

Ferrite is a totally magical material!

Lightning surge protection that works

Most of us have “surge protector” power strips. They are supposed to protect against power line surges due to lightning and certain power line faults.