Portal:Technology

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The Technology Portal

P:TECH

Technology is the application of conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word technology can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible tools such as utensils or machines, and intangible ones such as software. Technology plays a critical role in science, engineering, and everyday life.

Technological advancements have led to significant changes in society. The earliest known technology is the stone tool, used during prehistoric times, followed by the control of fire, which contributed to the growth of the human brain and the development of language during the Ice Age. The invention of the wheel in the Bronze Age allowed greater travel and the creation of more complex machines. More recent technological inventions, including the printing press, telephone, and the Internet, have lowered barriers to communication and ushered in the knowledge economy. (Full article...)

Outline of technology

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Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

Image 1
Cottalango Leon (born 1971) is an Indian-American computer graphics technician who won the Academy Award for scientific and technical achievement jointly with Sam Richards and J. Robert Ray in 2016.

Leon won the Academy Award for "the design, engineering and continuous development" of Sony Pictures Imageworks itView technology, a digital 3D film review software. Leon worked on the itView technology for eight years as the chief contributor. (Full article...)
Image 2
New York State Route 335 (NY 335) is a north–south state highway located within the town of Bethlehem in Albany County, New York, in the United States. It extends for 1.77 miles (2.85 km) from an intersection with Feura Bush Road near the hamlet of Delmar to a junction with NY 443 in the hamlet of Elsmere. The two-lane route, named Elsmere Avenue, also has an intersection with NY 32 about halfway through the route. NY 335 was assigned to its current alignment in the 1930s. (Full article...)
Image 3

Exit A of the station

Holland Village MRT station is an underground Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the Circle line (CCL), located along the boundary of Bukit Timah and Queenstown planning areas in Singapore. Situated close to the junction of Holland Avenue and Holland Road, it primarily serves the area of Holland Village, where its name was derived from. The station is operated by SMRT Trains.

First announced as Holland MRT station in 2003, the station was renamed Holland Village through a public poll in 2005. The station opened on 8 October 2011 when Stages 4 and 5 of the CCL stations opened. The station features Holland Beat by Jeremy Sharma as part of the MRT network's Art-in-Transit programme. (Full article...)
Image 4

Lemington Power Station, alongside disused ironworks
Viewed from the Lemington Gut c.1903.

Lemington Power Station was a small, now demolished coal-fired power station, located in North East England. It was situated on the Lemington Gut, a backwater of the River Tyne, at Lemington, 3.5 mi (5.6 km) west of Newcastle upon Tyne. The station's main building stood until 2017 as a rare example of an early power station, dating from before the nationalisation of the United Kingdom's electrical supply industry.

The station was opened in 1903 with a total generating capacity of 970 kilowatts, the electricity generated being used to power a tram system, and provide local households and streets with electric lighting. The station ceased generating electricity in 1919, however the structure was retained for use as a sub-station until 1946 when the tram line closed. The station was partially demolished in 1949, but was made a locally listed building and its site currently owned by construction company Nortland Construction. In March 2012 Norland applied to Newcastle City Council for permission to demolish the building on the grounds of it being at risk of collapse. The station was finally demolished in 2017. (Full article...)
Image 5

State Route 225 (SR 225) is an 11.32-mile (18.22 km) long two-lane state highway located entirely in Benton County, Washington, United States. The highway travels over the Benton City – Kiona Bridge, which is listed on the Washington Heritage Register and National Register of Historic Places, over the Yakima River. After turning through Benton City, the highway parallels the river for the remainder of the route. Several different proposals have been introduced to alleviate traffic flow issues at the SR 224 / SR 225 interchange, which was ultimately replaced with a roundabout in 2016. (Full article...)
Image 6

A train arriving at Kendal Green station in February 2024

Kendal Green station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station in Weston, Massachusetts, US, served by the Fitchburg Line. The station has a single platform serving two tracks; it is not accessible. It originally opened with the Fitchburg Railroad in 1844 as "Weston"; it was renamed Kendal Green after the green cloth around 1886. A new station building was constructed in 1896. Service passed to the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1900, and to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) in the 1970s. The former station building, reused as a private residence, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000 as a contributing property to the Kendal Green Historic District. (Full article...)
Image 7
State Route 821 (SR 821) is a state highway in central Washington state. It runs for 25 miles (40 km) through the Yakima Canyon, following the meandering Yakima River between Selah and Ellensburg. Both ends of the highway are at interchanges with Interstate 82 (I-82) and U.S. Route 97 (US 97).

SR 821 was established in 1973 on the old alignment of US 97, which usurped previous state roads that were part of the Inland Empire Highway. The Yakima Canyon road was constructed in 1924 by the state government to replace a gravel road over the mountains to the west and became popular with tourists. The highway was designated as the Yakima River Canyon Scenic Byway by the state government in 1967 and bypassed five years later by a section of I-82 running uphill to the east. (Full article...)

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Image 1
Parabolic antenna
Photo credit: Richard Bartz
A parabolic antenna, a high-gain reflector antenna used for radio, television and data communications, at Erdfunkstelle Raisting, the largest facility for satellite communication in the world, based in Raisting, Bavaria, Germany. Parabolic antennas work by reflecting electromagnetic radiation off the paraboloid dish to or from the feed horn (center), for reception or transmission respectively.
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Image 2
Pin tumbler lock
Photo credit: Eric Pierce
The pin tumbler lock is a lock mechanism that utilizes a group of pins of varying lengths to prevent opening the lock without the correct key. Pin tumblers are most commonly employed in cylinder locks, but may also be found in tubular or radial locks.

When the correct key is inserted, the gaps between the key pins (red) and driver pins (blue) align with the edge of the plug (yellow).
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Image 3
Continuous casting
Photo: Alchemist-hp
A disc of copper made by continuous casting, the process whereby molten metal is solidified into a "semifinished" state for subsequent rolling in the finishing mills. Continuous casting replaced the creation of ingots using stationary moulds. The process allows lower-cost production of metal sections with better quality, due to the inherently lower costs of continuous, standardised production of a product, as well as providing increased control over the process through automation. After casting, this disc was then etched to achieve its final state.
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Image 4
Walchensee Hydroelectric Power Station
Photograph credit: Diego Delso
The Walchensee Hydroelectric Power Station is a storage power station in Bavaria, Germany. The turbines, seen here, are fed by water from the Walchensee which is then released into the Kochelsee. The power station uses the hydraulic head of about 200 metres (660 ft) between the two natural lakes, and water from the Rißbach river is also used to augment the supply. The installed capacity is 124 MW with an annual production of 300 GWh; this is one of the largest of such power plants in Germany.
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Image 5
Escalator
Credit: Stig Nygaard
An escalator is a moving staircase for carrying people between floors of a building. The device consists of a motor-driven chain of individual, linked steps that move up or down on tracks, allowing the step treads to remain horizontal.
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Image 6
Apple Bandai Pippin
Photograph: Evan Amos
The Apple Bandai Pippin is a multimedia technology console designed by Apple Computer based on the Apple Pippin platform, and produced by Bandai. Only 100,000 of the consoles were produced between its 1996 release and 1997 discontinuation. The Bandai Pippin was intended to create an inexpensive computer aimed mostly at playing CD-based multimedia software, especially games, but also functioning as a thin client.
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Image 7
Wheel
Credit: fir0002
A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axial bearing. The wheel is one of the main components of the wheel and axle which is one of the six simple machines.
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Image 8
Let L-410 Turbolet
Photo: Łukasz Golowanow
The Let L-410 Turbolet is a twin-engined short-range transport aircraft, manufactured by the Czech aircraft manufacturer LET, mostly used for passenger transport. The L-410 first flew in 1969, and with more than 1100 produced, is the most popular 19-seat plane in history.
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Image 9
M198 howitzer
Photo credit: L Cpl. Samantha L. Jones, USMC
Nine Marines from Mike Battery, 4th Battalion, 14th Marines operate the 155mm M198 howitzer in November 2004. The battery was based at Camp Fallujah, Iraq and was supporting Operation Phantom Fury. All nine members of the M198 crew are present.
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Image 10
Empire State Building
Image credit: Lewis Hine
A structural worker bolts beams on the framework during the construction of the Empire State Building in New York City. The 1,250-foot (380 m) building opened on May 1, 1931, at the time the tallest building in the world, overtaking the Chrysler Building (seen to the right), which had just been completed the year before. The addition of a pinnacle and antennas later increased its overall height to 1,472 feet (449 m).
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Image 11
Fuel injection
Image credit: WikipedianProlific
An animated cut-away diagram of a typical fuel injector, which is used to spray controlled amounts of petrol (gasoline) into an internal combustion engine. A solenoid is activated when fuel is intended to be delivered to the engine, causing the plunger to become pulled toward the solenoid by magnetic force. This uncovers the valve opening, allowing fuel to flow into the atomiser and out the spray tip. The route of fuel is shown in orange; grey/blue indicates no fuel present.
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Image 12
Telephone
Credit: Berthold Werner
A telephone, or phone, is a telecommunications device that converts sound, typically the human voice, into electronic signals suitable for transmission via cables or other transmission media over long distances through satellite.
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Overhead power line
Credit: Simon Koopmann
An overhead power line is a structure used in electric power transmission and distribution to transmit electrical energy along large distances. It consists of one or more conductors suspended by towers or utility poles.
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BMW S1000RR
Photograph credit: Stefan Krause
The BMW S1000RR is a sport bike made by BMW Motorrad. It was introduced in 2008, initially for competition in the 2009 Superbike World Championship, and has been in commercial production since then. Powered by a 999 cc (61.0 cu in) four-cylinder engine, redlined at 14,200 rpm, it delivers 133.6 kW (179.2 hp; 181.6 PS) to the rear wheel, making it the most powerful motorcycle in the class. Rubén Xaus and Troy Corser rode the bike for its inaugural Superbike World Championship in 2009, gaining highest finishes of fifth and seventh respectively, but it achieved greater success in the 2010 FIM Superstock 1000 championship season, with rider Ayrton Badovini winning every single race but one on the S1000RR.
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Image 15
Steam turbine
Photo credit: Christian Kuhna
The rotor of a modern steam turbine , which converts steam (heat) energy into kinetic (mechanical) energy. The steam path is from the smallest blade, expanding through progressively larger blade elements. Steam turbines are used in power plants to extract mechanical work from pressurized steam and benefit from their high efficiency and high power-to-weight ratio compared to other technologies, leading to their widespread deployment from electricity generation to marine propulsion.
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Image 16
Bucket-wheel excavators
Photograph: Raimond Spekking
Bucket-wheel excavators (BWEs) are heavy equipment used in surface mining. The primary function of a BWE is to act as a continuous digging machine in large-scale open pit mining operations. These BWEs were photographed at the Garzweiler surface mine in Germany.
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Image 17
Laptop computer
Credit: Mike McGregor
The OLPC XO-1 is an inexpensive subnotebook laptop computer intended to be distributed to children in developing countries.
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Image 18
Windmill
Photo credit: Michael Reeve
Pitstone Windmill, believed to be the oldest windmill in the British Isles

A windmill is an engine powered by wind energy. In Europe, windmills have been used since the Middle Ages. They were developed from the 12th century, apparently from technology gained by crusaders who came into contact with windmills in the Middle East. Persian sources indicate windmill use as early as the 7th century BC. In the United States, the development of water-pumping windmills was a major factor in allowing the farming of vast areas of North America.
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Image 19
Red telephone box
Photograph: Christoph Braun
A 'K6' model red telephone box outside of St Paul's Cathedral in London. These kiosks for a public telephone were designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and painted "currant red" for easy visibility. Although such telephone boxes ceased production when the KX series was introduced in 1985, they remain a common sight in Britain and some of its colonies, and are considered a British cultural icon.
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Image 20
Blender (software)
Image credit: Michael Otto
A pastoral scene of a lone house, composed using Blender, an open source 3D computer graphics software. Blender can be used for a number of applications and is available for a wide variety of operating systems.
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Main topics

General images - load new batch

The following are images from various technology-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1A water-powered mine hoist used for raising ore, ca. 1556 (from History of technology)
Image 2A variety of stone tools (from History of technology)
Image 3Top 30 AI patent applicants in 2016 (from Emerging technologies)
Image 4Johannes Gutenberg's printing press was voted the most important invention of the second millennium. (from Invention)
Image 5Alessandro Volta with the first electrical battery. Volta is recognized as an influential inventor. (from Invention)
Image 6The compartmented water wheel, here its overshot version (from History of technology)
Image 7Self-replicating 3D printer (from Emerging technologies)
Image 8The wheel, invented sometime before the 4th millennium BC, is one of the most ubiquitous and important technologies. This detail of the "Standard of Ur", c. 2500 BCE., displays a Sumerian chariot. (from History of technology)
Image 9An axehead made of iron, dating from the Swedish Iron Age (from History of technology)
Image 103D printer (from Emerging technologies)
Image 11Thomas Edison with his second phonograph, photographed by Levin Corbin Handy in Washington, April 1878 (from History of technology)
Image 12Design for a flying machine (c.1488) by da Vinci (from History of technology)
Image 13A late Bronze Age sword or dagger blade (from History of technology)
Image 14Eric M. C. Tigerstedt (1887–1925) was known as a pioneer of sound-on-film technology. Tigerstedt in 1915. (from Invention)
Image 15Pont du Gard in France, a Roman aqueduct (from History of technology)
Image 16Dome of Florence Cathedral (from History of technology)
Image 17Agriculture preceded writing in the history of technology. (from History of technology)
Image 18A rare 1884 photo showing the experimental recording of voice patterns by a photographic process at the Alexander Graham Bell Laboratory in Washington, D.C. Many of their experimental designs panned out in failure. (from Invention)
Image 19'BUILD YOUR OWN TELEVISION RECEIVER.' Science and Invention magazine cover, November 1928 (from Invention)
Image 20Walls at Sacsayhuaman (from History of technology)
Image 21The preserved Rocket (from History of technology)
Image 22NASA Fuel cell stack
Direct-methanol cell (from Emerging technologies)
Image 23Clock from Salisbury Cathedral, ca. 1386 (from History of technology)
Image 24Newcomen steam engine for pumping mines (from History of technology)
Image 25Edison electric light bulbs 1879–80 (from History of technology)
Image 26Ford assembly line, 1913. The magneto assembly line was the first. (from History of technology)
Image 27Solid-state air batteries
Li-Air composition (from Emerging technologies)

Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch

... that the Atari 410 Program Recorder was used to store programs on the Atari 8-bit family, but was also used for computer aided instruction?
... that Guy Parmelin, now President of Switzerland, opened the study program of cyber security of the Lucerne School of Information Technology in 2018?
... that several science fiction critics praised "Rock Diver", the first short story by American writer Harry Harrison, for its compelling take on technology for passing through matter?
... that Peter Corby's electric trouser press used technology designed for Concorde?
... that Pamela McCorduck, who chronicled the evolution of artificial intelligence, regretted not recognizing the technology's potential for misuse?
... that Criccieth Castle combined the "latest advances in military technology" with the "haphazard Welsh castle building style"?
... that Mary Earle was born near Ben Nevis, and although she became a professor of food technology in New Zealand, she never forgot her Scottish roots?
... that Henry E. Sigerist felt "depressed" after reading A History of Science, Technology, and Philosophy in the 16th and 17th Centuries?

News

See also: 2024 in science and technology

August 21, 2024 –: With regards to the rapid growth of the artificial intelligence market, Bloomberg alleges that technology companies are "concealing their actual carbon footprints" by invoking outdated emissions accounting rules. (Bloomberg)
August 18, 2024 – Libyan crisis: The Central Bank of Libya suspends all operations following the kidnapping of the head of its information technology department by an unknown party. (Reuters)
August 2, 2024 – Mass surveillance in the United Kingdom: Several civil rights groups denounce proposals made by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to grant British police nationalized live facial recognition technology and surveillance to charge people police consider significantly likely to participate in far-right riots, condemning the opportunism of the proposals, their potential racial and gender inaccuracy, and their possible use to target future legal protests. (The Guardian)