Computer Peripherals

DVD movies have region codes, and they typically only play on a player or DVD-ROM drive sold in the country where the DVD movie was sold. Find out why and how they're produced this way.

The QWERTY keyboard dates all the way back to the first typewriters. Why are the keys arranged this way, rather than alphabetically?

By Chris Pollette

Remember those faint horizontal lines on cathode ray tube computer screens? What caused them to appear?

Although Macintosh computers and UNIX workstations have sported dual screen connectivity for years, Windows was slower to progress. Find out how to hook it all up.

Because we use them daily, many of us have a lot of questions about our monitors and may not even realize it. What does "aspect ratio" mean? What is dot pitch? What does "refresh rate" mean? The answers just might help you make better use of your mon

By Jeff Tyson & Carmen Carmack

Dot pitch is measured in millimeters (mm), and a smaller number means a sharper image. How you measure the dot pitch depends on the technology used.

The mouse might just be the computer user's best friend. Every day of your computing life, you reach out for your mouse whenever you want to move your cursor or activate something. Learn how this human-machine interface translates your movements into

By Marshall Brain & Carmen Carmack

The strange bumps on your computer cables actually serve a very important purpose - keeping your system free from radio and electromagnetic interference. Learn how they do it.

Bubble jet printers are a type of inkjet printer. What makes this version so popular?

Webcam shots range from the silly to the serious -- a Webcam might point at a television or a space shuttle launch pad. There are business cams, personal cams, private cams, traffic cams ... You name it and there's probably a Webcam pointed at it.

By Julia Layton