How Stuff Works explains the "Transatlantic Accent," a cultivated accent that people in the United States affected in an attempt to trick others that they were in some way affiliated with the British upper crust.
Why do people in old movies talk weird?
Listen to the evolution of speech synthesizers from 1939-1985
From Homer Dudley 1939 VODER device through Dennis Klatt's 1983 Klattalk that later became the DEC voice of Steven Hawking, this is an impressive evolution of human speech synthesis by machines. Posted by Brian Roemmele from and LP record that came with Dennis Klatt's "Review of text-to-speech conversion for English" J. Acous. Soc. Amer. 82,… READ THE REST
Twitter confirms Trump will lose "public interest protections" for tweets when Biden takes office
Twitter has two sets of rules for users — loose ones for public officials and more restrictive ones for everyone else. Trump relies on Twitter's "public interest protections" to tweet threats, lies, and hate speech that would get anyone else banned. But he will lose those protections when Biden assumes the presidency, according to Twitter.… READ THE REST
People can hear your gesticulations
According to a new study from the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour in the Netherlands, our speaking voices actually register subtle changes along with our gesticulating limbs. It's all about acoustics: the pitch and volume of a voice change together with the movement of arms and hands. "That change is very subtle with… READ THE REST
This ultra-powerful and portable digital microscope is now 20% off
Maybe you're a tinkerer who needs to inspect tiny computer components. Or perhaps you sharpen knife blades and want to inspect your work. You might even just have an insatiable curiosity for the often unseen intricacies of our world. There are countless reasons why you might need a quality microscope handy. Unlike the ancient versions… READ THE REST
This smartwatch gives Apple a run for its money at a fraction of the price
If you're in the market for wearable tech, you'll likely look at Apple first. That's no surprise considering the Cupertino giant owns nearly 50 percent of the entire smartwatch market share. But that definitely doesn't mean that Apple has a monopoly of smartwatch quality — and its products certainly don't come cheap. There are a handful… READ THE REST
This smart air purifier automatically cleans your breathing environment for you
High-quality air is important, but it's hard to properly gauge whether or not your area is experiencing a bad air day. You'd think there would be more smart air purification systems on the market because of this. The Sensibo Pure Smart Air Purifier jumps to the head of that line, utilizing what Sensibo calls the world's… READ THE REST