Quiz Monkey
What do you want to know?
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Quiz Monkey |
Computers and related technologies are indisputably a part of all our lives now, and we no longer think of them as scientific instruments. Many question setters, however, seem to think that anything to do with a computer is a science question. I beg to differ; here's a selection of questions about computers that IMHO belong in General Knowledge.
Admittedly there are grey areas. I've probably erred on the side of including stuff here, if I don't think it's scientific enough.
For more scientific stuff about computers and related technology, try looking here.
See also Websites, and Video Games (just in case you came here looking for them).
| IBM Personal Computer introduced |
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12 August 1981 |
| Sinclair ZX Spectrum introduced |
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23 April 1982 |
| Apple Macintosh introduced in an advert screened during Super Bowl XVIII, directed by Ridley Scott |
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22 January 1984 |
| IBM Personal Computer discontinued |
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2 April 1987 |
For starters, it's worth knowing which characters are on the same keys as the numbers, on the top row of a QWERTY keyboard. There's every chance you're sat at a computer as you read this, in which case this is virtually redundant; but for the record:
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£ |
$, €
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It's a sure sign that the question setter is running short on inspiration, but questions about the colours of the letters in the Google logo have become quite common in recent years.
| G | o | o | g | l | e |
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Blue |
Red |
Yellow |
Blue |
Green |
Red |
I have a mnemonic for this: I think of a Big Red Yacht with a Big Green Rudder.
Obviously you have to remember that it's the yacht that's red and the rudder that's green, and not the other way round. I find it helps to remember BRYan Robson; you might prefer BRYan Adams, or some other Bryan who you can bring to mind more easily.
Also ... if the rudder were red, that would make BRR – which would mean two adjacent letters having the same colour, and would also be much more memorable than either BRY or BGR (and therefore, as Murphy's Law would predict, obviously wrong).
Less popular (even with question setters) than the Google logo ... but I have heard it asked.
| e | b | a | y |
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Red |
Blue |
Yellow |
Green |
For this one, I find that one of my favourite Eurythmics songs offers some help. Right By Your Side doesn't quite do it – but Right By Your Guide is pretty close!
| Google's operating system for mobile devices (phones and laptops): launched in 2007, versions were named after sweet treats or desserts up to version 9 (2018) – each starting with a different letter of the alphabet: Angel Cake, Battenberg, Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, KitKat, Lollipop, Marshmallow, Nougat, Oreo, Pie |
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Android |
| Software company, based in San Jose, California, that developed the Acrobat ("open" file formatting) and Photoshop (graphics editing) applications, as well as the Portable Document Format (PDF) and the Flash multimedia platform |
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Adobe |
| 'Cryptocurrency', or worldwide payment system, created by person or persons unknown operating under the name Satoshi Nakamoto, and released as open–source software in 2009 |
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Bitcoin |
| Proprietary open wireless technology standard (for connecting computers, phones, printers, etc.) – named after a 10th–century king of Denmark (Harald Bluetooth, grandfather of Canute) |
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Bluetooth |
| Regarded as the world's first programmable, electronic, digital computer, (programmed by switches and plugs, not by a stored program); built at the Post Office Research Station in Dollis Hill, north–west London, and used in code–breaking activities at Bletchley Park from January 1944 |
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Colossus |
| Everyday name for a parcel of data that's downloaded to your PC when you visit a website, and sent back to that website the next time you visit |
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Cookie |
| One of many graphic symbols used in electronic messaging and on websites – essentially a development of the emoticon; name is Japanese for "picture character", so the similarity to the word "emoticon" is allegedly coincidental; OED's Word of the Year for 2015 |
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Emoji |
| Representation of a facial expression, originally made from punctuation marks (and sometimes letters), to express the writer's mood – now available as graphic symbols – the best known being a "smiley" |
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Emoticon |
| The two letters with raised marks, as an aid to touch–typists, on a QWERTY keyboard |
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F, J |
| Russian cyber–espionage group, believed to be linked to the Russian intelligence service: made news in 2016
(after Russian athletes had been barred from participating in the Rio Olympics and Paralympics) when it leaked what it claimed were the Olympic
drug–testing files of several American athletes, including gymnast Simone Biles and tennis players Venus and Serena Williams; also gave
details on athletes, from several countries, who had been granted exemptions by WADA for various reasons – including Bradley Wiggins's
therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) |
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Fancy Bear |
| Free and open–source web browser, developed by the Mozilla Foundation and first released in 2002 |
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Firefox |
| Vulnerability "bug", announced in April 2014 to have infected one in six of the world's web servers |
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Heartbleed |
| Manufacturer of the 80286, (80)386, (80)486, and Pentium processors; co–founded (1968) by Gordon Moore (originator of Moore's Law) |
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Intel |
| Amazon's electronic book system ('e–reader'), launched in 2007 |
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Kindle |
| Developed in the 1990s by Linus Torvald – said to be the world's most widely–used operating system; Tux the penguin is its official mascot or logo |
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Linux |
| British restaurant chain that was the first company to use a computer for commercial business applications (LEO I, 1951) |
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J. Lyons & Co. |
| Term used for any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or network – including viruses, worms, Trojan( horse)s, ransomware, spyware and adware |
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Malware |
| Famous scientist who appeared in the first logo of Apple Computer, Inc., along with a quotation from Wordsworth's Prelude |
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Isaac Newton |
| Greek letter shown prominently to the left of the W, on Wikipedia's "jigsaw globe" logo |
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Ω (Omega) |
| Attempting to acquire personal information through apparently trustworthy emails |
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Phishing |
| Microsoft Office product (application) used for slide presentations |
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PowerPoint |
| Petya (2016), WannaCry (2017) |
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Ransomware |
| Feature of websites and apps, typically indicated by a cogwheel icon |
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Settings |
| Created by Niklas Zennström (Swedish) and Janus Friis (Danish); first released in 2003; provides online text message and video chat services |
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Skype |
| Name for junk email, said to be from a Monty Python sketch |
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Spam |
| Term derived from an Ancient Greek story, used for any malware that conceals its true intent from users |
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Trojan (horse) |
| Country whose government is said to get 10% of its revenue from its lucrative 'dot tv' Internet domain name |
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Tuvalu |
| Range of personal computers launched by Sony in 1996, and sold to the investment firm Japan Industrial
Partners in 2014 |
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Vaio |
| Michelangelo (1992), Chernobyl (1998), Melissa (1999), Anna Kournikova (2001) |
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Viruses |
| A website that anyone can edit using a web browser (a Hawaiian word meaning 'quick') |
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Wiki |
© Haydn Thompson 2017–22