Curiosities
October 2026
Every article published in October 2026. 47 articles · Back to full archive
News
WhatsApp will only support iPhones on iOS 15.5 and newer from 30 November 2026, and it warns affected users inside the app before support ends
News
Turn on Theft Detection Lock under Settings > Google > All services > Theft protection and your Android locks itself when a thief runs off with it
Curiosities
Otto Rohwedder's bread slicer cut its first commercial loaf at the Chillicothe Baking Company in Missouri on 7 July 1928, and the machine that made Kleen Maid Sliced Bread fell apart after about six months of heavy use.
News
A 100,000-ton aircraft carrier running four years behind schedule caught its first F-35C on a wire off Virginia on the Navy’s birthday, the jet Congress ordered it fitted for in the first place, while a second F-35C flew the test with inert bombs mounted under its wings
Curiosities
Cambridge researchers built a camera system to check their coffee in 1991 — two years later, it became the world’s first webcam
News
Arduino raises the VENTUNO Q from its $299 introductory price to $399 on 19 October, blaming a sharp rise in memory module costs.
Curiosities
Clyde Dawson picked a pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit for the first UPC barcode scan in 1974 because nobody was sure a barcode could be printed on something that small, and Sharon Buchanan scanned it at a Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio.
How-To Guides
WhatsApp can hide your IP address in calls through Settings, Privacy, Advanced, Protect IP address in calls, at some cost to call quality.
News
Apple’s first foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo, starts at $1,999 with a 7.58-inch inner display and is available from 23 October.
Curiosities
NASA's Kepler telescope lost two of the four wheels it used to aim at stars — engineers gave it a second mission by balancing the spacecraft against the pressure of sunlight
Curiosities
A 990-foot ocean liner that still holds the transatlantic speed record from her maiden voyage in 1952 will be sunk in the Gulf off Destin, Florida, in the second week of November, after 29 years tied to a pier in Philadelphia, to become the world’s largest artificial reef
Curiosities
A 228-year-old wooden warship still in active Navy commission sailed out of Boston this summer for America’s 250th birthday, and she is regularly turned around in the harbor, because a ship that sits facing the same way at her pier weathers unevenly on one side
Curiosities
In 2010, the US Air Force stacked more than 1,700 PlayStation 3 consoles on wire shelves and wired them into the Pentagon's most powerful interactive supercomputer
News
Amazon's new Alexa Tablets drop Fire OS for Android with full Google Play Store access, starting at $229.99 for the Alexa Tablet 8.
News
Anbernic's RG DDS is a dual-screen clamshell handheld modelled on the Nintendo 3DS, with pre-orders at $284.99 and shipping gradually from 10 December 2026.
How-To Guides
WhatsApp shows your profile photo to every user by default, and Settings > Privacy > Profile photo is where you switch it to My contacts, My contacts except..., or Nobody.
News
Sound stickers, a toggle to remove the sticker outline and a two-line compose box are in WhatsApp's beta code, per an Android Authority teardown.
Curiosities
On 3 December 1992 a 22-year-old Sema Group engineer typed "Merry Christmas" on a PC and sent it over Vodafone UK's network to an Orbitel 901 handset that weighed 2.1kg.
Curiosities