These are the episodes published so far. Each one follows a single journey through a piece of technology — start anywhere. New explainers are added regularly on YouTube.
17 explainers and counting, across networking, the web, wireless, payments and security.
In the two seconds it takes to read this, your browser can race across four continents and back — to paint one page.
Type a website's name and press Enter. That name means nothing to the internet — so someone has to translate.
Thirteen. That's how many root server names hold up the entire internet. Here's what they really do.
Two people on two continents type the same address at the same second — and get sent to different machines.
The little padlock is the visible end of a fast, invisible negotiation. Here's the whole handshake.
Log in once, and for hours you never type your password again. A tiny string is doing the remembering.
A fresh device joining a network is a tourist with amnesia: no address, no map, no language for the locals.
Every click doesn't travel straight to the network — it falls through seven layers first. Here they are.
Two routers, each sure the other knows the way, could bounce a packet forever. One number stops them.
The last ten metres of the internet are the strangest: no cables, just invisible radio filling the room.
Right now, invisible waves are carrying calls, videos and downloads through open air — no wire in sight.
Every day, hundreds of billions of messages make this trip. Follow one from your thumb to theirs.
You're at a counter. In under a second, a chain of systems approves the money. Here's the chain.
Most of security is about building walls. A honeypot does the opposite — it invites the attacker in.
Right now a program is reading every file you touch — every download, attachment and USB stick. Why?
Every company app has one quiet question in front of it: should this person open this thing right now?
The best way to understand a risky moment is to follow one — safely, on purpose, before a real one lands.
These episodes come from a structured library of 950 topics across 18 subject areas. New explainers are published regularly — the best way to keep up is to follow the channels.