Reading Passage 5A

1. Facts and Stats

Technology brings the future we have always imagined. With the following technology facts, you will find interesting information about tech giants such as Google, Apple, and Microsoft. Here are a few surprising technology facts that you probably didn’t know!

2. First Fact: Samsung is thirty-eight years and one month older than Apple.

Lee Byung-chul founded Samsung on the 1st of March, 1938, as a grocery store, while Steve Wozniak created Apple Computer Inc. on the 1st of April, 1976. Since then, the two companies have become competitors with each other.

3. Second Fact: Alexa is always listening to your conversations.

This isn’t news to most of you. Siri has been doing it forever. Amazon Alexa, known simply as Alexa, is capable of voice interaction, and it saves your dialogue history to improve your Alexa experience. However, you can delete some or all of these recordings. Users can extend Alexa’s capabilities by installing various applications such as weather programs and audio features.

4. Third Fact: “Android” is gender-specific.

The word “Android” literally means a robot with the appearance of a human male. The Greek prefix "andr-" refers to man, while the prefix “gyn” refers to a woman. Therefore, the female equivalent of this word is a “Gynoid.”

5. Fourth Fact: Over 90% of the world’s currency is digital.

This means that most of the money in credit cards, debit cards, direct deposit, and online purchases exist on computers and hard drives, leaving only about 8% of global currency as physical money. Bitcoin is one of the digital assets without a bank. It was invented in 2008 by an unknown person or group of people. Therefore, some economists have criticized Bitcoin as an economic balloon. It has also been used as an investment, although many agencies have issued buyer alerts about Bitcoin.

We have come to the end of these technology facts. Did you learn something new? I hope you did!