Q 01/05

What everyday object did the world's first webcam watch at Cambridge University's Computer Laboratory from 1991?

A) A coffee pot

B) A vending machine

C) A fish tank

D) A car park

Answer · why

A) A coffee pot

A coffee pot was the star: a camera was aimed at it so nobody trekked to the Trojan Room only to find it empty. The last of the machines was auctioned...

Q 02/05

Which Hollywood star co-invented a frequency-hopping radio guidance system for torpedoes with composer George Antheil?

A) Ingrid Bergman

B) Greta Garbo

C) Hedy Lamarr

D) Marlene Dietrich

Answer · why

C) Hedy Lamarr

Hedy Lamarr entered the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014, long after her wartime patent had expired. Frequency hopping went on to become a stan...

Q 03/05

What product carried the first barcode ever scanned at a shop checkout, at a Marsh supermarket in Ohio in 1974?

A) Tinned soup

B) Breakfast cereal

C) Toothpaste

D) Chewing gum

Answer · why

D) Chewing gum

Chewing gum made retail history when a 10-pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit crossed the scanner at 8:01 a.m. on 26 June 1974. A facsimile of the pack went...

Q 04/05

Which piece of internet slang comes from a 1970 Monty Python sketch featuring singing Vikings?

A) Troll

B) Spam

C) Flame

D) Worm

Answer · why

B) Spam

Spam took its name from a sketch in which a restaurant serves the luncheon meat in almost every dish while Vikings sing about it. Early chat-room pran...

Q 05/05

Which short-range wireless technology is named after a tenth-century king who united the scattered tribes of Denmark?

A) Zigbee

B) Wireless USB

C) Z-Wave

D) Bluetooth

Answer · why

D) Bluetooth

Bluetooth borrows the epithet of King Harald, because the standard was meant to unite devices as he united Denmark. Intel's Jim Kardach proposed it in...