The Best Episodes of Technology Connections

Alexander Graham Bell is famous for his invention of the telephone. In 1876, his device was the first ever to be able to reproduce sound. Before its invention, nothing existed capable of taking sound waves and replicating them. Bell's invention marks the beginning of our journey through time. This series, of which this video is the first, will be taking you step-by-step through the history of sound reproduction. We begin today with the Telephone.

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Bell's invention, the telephone, was the first device capable of reproducing sound. But it couldn't record it. Thomas Edison's invention of the phonograph brought us the first device capable of capturing sound to be played back later. How did Edison figure this out? By combining one of his earlier ideas with the ideas in the telephone, Edison was able to bring a revolutionary product to market (well, sort of). This week, we're exploring how Edison thought up his device.

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Thomas Edison's cylinder phonograph was fantastic, no doubt. Can you imagine what it would've been like to hear the first artificial sound? But Edison's mind for the accurate doomed his cylinder, because the cylinder as it turns out is a really stupid shape for this sort of a thing. Emile Berliner threw accuracy to the wind with his disc phonograph, assuming people would rather deal with an easier and cheaper phonograph than a more "scientifically correct" one. Boy was he right. We explore Berinler's idea of storing sound in a different way on a different shape in this episode of Technology Connections.

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In today's episode of technology connections, we take a look at the vacuum tube. This simple device had tremendous implications for sound reproduction. We explore how vacuum tubes revolutionized radio, and why they were necessary to make radio practical. Vacuum tubes made possible the next advancements in sound technology.

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Once we figured out how to amplify a signal with a vacuum tube, the possibilities became endless for the world of sound recording. In this video, we explore how the invention of radio improved the phonograph record by introducing electric recording technology.

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Rather than use electromagnets to cut a groove, why not use them with other magnets? By using materials that could be magnetized, the electromagnets used in the phonograph cartridge could be adapted into a magnetic recorder. This technology is still very much in use today, but in this episode of Technology Connections, we're exploring the two earliest forms of audio reproduction done with magnets: the wire recorder, and the magnetic tape recorder.

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From the Chevy Volt, to the Nissan Leaf, to the Tesla Model S, electric cars seem to be the way of the future. Join me as we explore a typical wind farm and discuss the potential for wind energy and electric cars. While today's electric grid propels these bastions of modern engineering with a fair bit of fossil fuel, it's clear that electric cars are pretty green and will only continue to get greener.

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We've come along way since the invention of the phonograph. But up to this point, artificial sound was still decidedly artificial sounding. "High fidelity" isn't really one technology, but a collection of technologies that combined to create natural sounding recordings. Similarly, stereo sound, though now completely universal, had to be introduced. This episode explores what makes a good high fidelity recording, and how stereo came to be.

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On Technology Connections, we looked at this machine briefly when we explored the invention of magnetic recording technology. Now, in long form, is a more thorough look at this machine and how it works. We start with an overview of operation, then take it apart to get a look at the inside.

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The technological advances that we've investigated so far have revolved around the vacuum tube. But the invention of the transistor really sparked a whole new era of sound. The advent of small circuits for sound reproduction meant that things could shrink. Tape went into cartridges. Amplifiers used less energy. And everything became more robust.

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As more and more EV's make it onto our roadways, people start to freak out about how we're going to charge all these things. The thing is, they shouldn't. EV's are so much more efficient than their gasoline powered counterparts that they don't consume all that much electricity, in fact the size of the grid only needs to increase about 4.5% to accommodate an entirely electric commuter fleet. But people still worry about charging them. In this video, I explain why this shouldn't worry you in the slightest.

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If you remember the cassette as sounding awful, I have news for you. They actually sound just fine. The Compact Cassette has a unique history in the world of sound, which we explore along with their attributes in this Tech Explorations video.

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It's not hard to make things safer. But sometimes people don't think about the tools they already have. With a simple reprogramming of an engine computer and perhaps with the addition of a sensor or two, the Jeep that killed Anton Yelchin could have saved his life. If cars were able to detect that their driver had exited, accidental rolling of a car could be a thing of the past. If we're lucky, it will quickly become one.

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In the video today we look at current home automation technologies and what's behind them. I illustrate what's involved in adding a new device to a home automation network (it's actually quite easy) as well as demonstrate how they work.

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These days a VCR seems more quaint than anything else. But in fact, there's a device inside every VCR that solved what seemed to be an unsolvable problem. The video head drum is a fascinating solution to the complex problem of tape speed, and therefore I think it deserves to be remembered. Plus, the video head drum shares some motor technologies with modern hard disk drives. So there's that.

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In this video we discuss the Dolby Noise Reduction systems found in consumer cassettes decks and how they work. Though technically very simple, Dolby B noise reduction provides a very effective means of reducing audible tape noise, and was ubiquitous throughout the cassette's life. Dolby noise reduction was such an important part of their legacy that the company still pays homage to it in their logo. The "D"s in the Dolby Double D logo are really the shape of audio tape heads.

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Ever wonder why the gas-fired furnace is still so prevalent? Why isn't electric heat the standard? Well, wonder no more as we explore the economic and practical reasons the gas-fired furnace is so ubiquitous in colder climates, and how in the future this is almost certainly going to change.

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We've been told that our laptops can watch us without our knowledge. That little indicator light? Worthless. Hackers can get around that. But why? There's a simple way to make sure this is impossible, which is explored in this, the very first episode, of Stupid Design.

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The late 1970's and early 1980's were a frightening time to be a video enthusiast. Two formats are duking it out and trying to assert their dominance, and although Sony was first* to market with their Betamax machine, they were caught off guard by JVC's competing VHS system which, rather than focus on pedantic details like cassette design and technical perfection, strived to make a cheap, versatile format that worked.

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This is the continuing exploration of Sony's repeated missteps in the development and marketing of the Beta videotape format.

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This is a much fairer comparison than using the Panasonic unit as the VHS playback device. Many people believe that Beta was a vastly superior product to VHS, but I think this was mostly marketing prowess on Sony's part. People seemed to think that they were giving up something of quality if the went with VHS over Beta. But as this video will demonstrate, I don't think that was really the case.

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Have you ever wondered how old-school television worked? It seems almost impossible for a device to make moving images without a computer being involved. Yet analog television is very, very old. How on Earth did it work? Find out in this video.

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John Logie Baird is often considered to be the inventor of television, but not of television as we know it. His mechanical television is a remarkable invention for its simplicity, but as you'll soon see, it would never have been all that practical.

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While the CFL is pretty much done being a thing these days, it was a really great invention for saving energy. But some people claimed they caused them headaches. In this video, I explore the reason that fluorescent light can indeed cause headaches or eyestrain in sensitive people, and I explain why that wasn't an issue with the CFL. Then we explore the modern LED bulb and how it actually is bringing the cause of this flicker back.

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Meet the grandfather of the compact fluorescent light. This device from GE is really interesting and ahead of its time, but far too weird to gain widespread acceptance. GE manufactured these adapters to shoehorn the standard circline tube into more everyday applications, and the result is kinda weird. This video's a quick exploration of this early attempt to bring the energy saving virtues of fluorescent lighting into the domestic arena.

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