Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [software]

Software is the term applied to any set of instructions carried out automatically by a computer. The most familiar type of software is a software application, which is a set of instructions, or a number of instructions sets used together, designed to meet a particular need or related set of needs (e.g. a document editor, a movie player, a website browser, etc.)

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Does progress in algorithms beat progress in hardware?

A 2010 report to the U.S. President and Congress about past and future advances in information technology notes that: While improvements in hardware accounted for an approximate 1,000 fold increase in calculation speed over a 15-year time-span,…
Amelio Vazquez-Reina
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Was this pile of code written by a single team of software engineers?

This article reads: [This is a] picture of her next to the code she and her colleagues wrote for the Apollo 11 guidance computer that made the moon landing possible. [..] To clarify, there are no other kinds of printouts, like debugging printouts,…
Franck Dernoncourt
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Did MIT develop software that can recover sounds from video of vibrating objects?

MIT claim to have invented a technology that, by using special video cameras, can detect vibrations and recover the sounds being played that cause those vibrations: YouTube video: The Visual Microphone: Passive Recovery of Sound from Video Reddit…
DLeh
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Is the Windows 10 upgrade event the largest upgrade event?

I got an e-mail from Microsoft about my Windows 10 reservation. It's lacking free-hand circles, but the message is clear. Microsoft states it's the largest software upgrade event ever. Are there any numbers to back-up this claim or to prove it's…
Mast
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Are 1 in 5 pieces of software in the US unlicensed?

This BSA form claims that 1 in 5 pieces of software in the US are unlicensed. How true is it?
Franck Dernoncourt
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Does having a specification result in better code?

From Joel on Software, 12 Steps to Better Code, Joel asserts that: Writing specs is like flossing: everybody agrees that it's a good thing, but nobody does it. And: Software that wasn't built from a spec usually winds up badly designed and the…
Dave Hillier
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Has Telegram decrypted user messages and provided them to a gov agency?

Background: Telegram is a secured messaging app, similar to many others (WhatsApp, Signal, ...). It emphasizes its security features and has become (like a few others) a way for people to exchange messages in a secured way. "People" can be good or…
WoJ
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Is Tetris by Electronic Arts the best selling video game on mobile?

According to Wikipedia, Tetris by Electronic Arts is the best selling video game ever made. With 100 million downloads, it sold 17.46 million copies more than the next best selling game, Wii Sports on the Nintendo Wii, which sold 82.54 million…
user25258
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Does Windows 7 have lower latencies than Windows 10 in gaming workflows?

I saw a claim that Windows 7 is superior to Windows 10 for gaming: There’s a lot of reasons win7 is utilized. Especially in strictly competitive games that support it, (CSGO, Valorant, Fortnite), a lot of the time it’s a superior option due to…
niemiro
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Did the "Windows Web Browser Choice Screen" enforced by the EU make a difference?

In response to a EU anti-trust ruling, European Android users will soon be presented with a browser choice screen. Those of us who are old enough will remember that the same thing happened on Windows in 2010. Did it work? Apparently, the EU seems…
Heinzi
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Was a tech support call made, mid-coup, to help unlock an armoury?

I'm trying to verify an urban tech legend I heard a few years ago. Some poor SuperMac TechSport got a call from some middle level official... from the legitimate government of Trinidad. The fellow spoke very good English, and fairly calmly…
RNs_Ghost
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Sharing tool claims files can be "unshared"

A company called Intralinks sells a sharing software that it claims allows you to "unshare": “Favorite” files so you can access them offline UNshare™ gives you the power to instantly revoke access to files you've already shared, even after…
nic
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Does voice stress analysis work for Lie Detection?

There seem to be many Voice Stress analysis software available. Does vocie stress analysis work for lie detection? How reliable is it? The first one I found was a Skype plugin…
Dudey
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Does the Google Chrome browser spy on users?

There are a number of places that claim that Google Chrome spies on its users: Is Google Chrome spying on its users? Google Chrome browser is spying all of us Does Google Chrome spy on users? I'm not so concerned about individual web sites doing…
James
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Does Test Driven Development decrease development time and create better quality software?

As any software developer out there I hold my own opinions about programming related stuff. I also hold my own opinion about TDD (Test Driven Development). But my opinion is irrelevant because it's just that, an opinion. The more I read about TDD…
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