Author desk
How It Works
Contributor at Make Tech Easier
- 34 stories
- Writing since 2026
How It Works explains the technology you already use. Clear answers, no jargon left undefined, and enough depth that the explanation sticks.
Signature pieces
- + Tech Explained How did a metal box first secured to a converted tanker in April 1956 cut ocean freight loading costs by more than 90… Sep 10, 2026
- + Tech Explained In December 2014, Google introduced a reCAPTCHA checkbox that let many users skip distorted letters while the system… Sep 9, 2026
- + Tech Explained A phone knows which way is up because a silicon chip smaller than a grain of rice contains tiny cantilever beams that… Sep 7, 2026
All stories
- Sep 4, 2026 Kishi Station in Wakayama Prefecture was destaffed in April 2006 to cut costs, then handed over the following year to a… + Tech Explained
- Sep 3, 2026 The ROICE program at the University of Houston started in 2022 as a thought experiment about what to do with thousands… + Tech Explained
- Sep 1, 2026 How did a phone game released in July 2016 briefly double foot traffic to small businesses near landmarks, and why did… + Tech Explained
- Aug 31, 2026 End-to-end encryption hides what you said, but metadata the app or carrier may still hold + Tech Explained
- Aug 21, 2026 How does a fibre-optic strand thinner than a spaghetti noodle carry a signal across 13,000 kilometres of ocean without… + Tech Explained
- Aug 20, 2026 Wi-Fi signals struggle through walls not because concrete is thick, but because water in the plaster absorbs 2.4 GHz… + Tech Explained
- Aug 18, 2026 How did a rubber gasket the size of a dinner plate, stiffened overnight in a Florida cold snap, rewrite the way NASA… + Tech Explained
- Aug 18, 2026 A QR code's three corner squares aren't decoration + Tech Explained
- Aug 17, 2026 When your phone shoots a portrait, the blurred background isn't optical + Tech Explained
- Aug 17, 2026 How did a country with no large rivers and limited land to collect rain build the capacity to meet up to 40 per cent of… + Tech Explained
- Aug 16, 2026 How did a cracked rubber O-ring the size of a coin, stiffened by a Florida cold snap in January 1986, destroy a space… + Tech Explained
- Aug 12, 2026 The 'root' of the internet is 13 named server clusters + Tech Explained
- Aug 12, 2026 How did a Sunday driving ban imposed by Dutch prime minister Joop den Uyl during the 1973 oil shock quietly turn empty… + Tech Explained
- Aug 11, 2026 Deleting a file removes only the signpost pointing to it + Tech Explained
- Aug 10, 2026 How did a publicly humiliated Japanese electronics firm turn a failed CD partnership with Nintendo into a console that… + Gaming
- Aug 9, 2026 How does a fibre-optic cable no thicker than a garden hose carry roughly 99 per cent of intercontinental internet… + Tech Explained
- Aug 7, 2026 Wi-Fi can slow to a crawl in a crowded café even when the fibre connection is fast, because 2.4 GHz offers only three… + Tech Explained