Sci-Tech Prelims

Ashwini Kumar SahayAditya Shekhar Acharya

Question 1

X is a company which came up with the K series of processor (K signifying Kryptonite) which had the power to kill the Superman, the Superman in this context being the market leaders of processors Y. Give me X & Y.

X: AMD Y: Intel

Question 2

It was originally spun off from Acer in 2001 to provide a separate branded channel. Its first mobile phone was M775C and it has launched 8 new mobile phones till now ranging from bar, clamshell to windows mobile. The slogan of the company is “bringing enjoyment and quality to life”.

BENQ- Bringing ENjoyment and Quality to life

Question 3

The pocket, the original, the revenge, the professor’s, the void, the helicopter, skewb and square one are increasingly difficult variations of what?

Question 4

Identify.

Michael Dell

Question 5

Which place from the world of technology bans tobacco, firearms, used underwears, lottery tickets and over a hundred such items?

E-Bay

Question 6

Howard Eves, a Mathematical historian says “X has the peculiar distinction of being the mathematical problem for which the greatest number of incorrect proofs have been published”

Proofs for X submitted to the Wolfskehl committee apparently constitute over 3 metres of stacked paper.

Fermat’s Last Theorem

Question 7

In 2010, a certain Holzle sent a memo warning that their company would be crushed if it didn’t figure out its social media strategy. A team started working on a project and

codenamed it ‘Emerald Sea’ after this 1878 painting by Albert Bierstadt. Which project?

Google +

Question 8

Connect.

Question 9

A version of this operating system was released on October 10, 2010. This departed from the traditional schedule of releasing at the end of the October in order to catch the perfect 10, and make a playful reference to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to galaxy boks, sice, in binary, 101010 equals decimal 42, “the answer to life, the universe and everything.” The versions are generally codenamed using an adjective and an animal. The OS is named after a South African philosophy which stands for “the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity”.

Ubuntu

Question 10

Though not an “environment” person, this mathematician is credited for the discovery of the green house effect. Expanding the heat wave function in terms of sine and cosine and calculating the size of earth which was so close to the sun he concluded it should have been colder than it actually was. The idea spread and greenhouse effect was confirmed.

Joseph Fourier

Question 11

It is a robot or synthetic organism designed to look and act like a human, especially one with a body having a flesh-like resemblance. Although the term is used almost universally to refer to both sexes, and those of no particular sex, it technically refers to the male form. Until recently, they have largely remained within the domain of science fiction, frequently seen in film and television.

Android

Question 12

Parody of which scientist?

Schrodinger

Question 13

What is this xkcd strip parodying?

Question 14

Founders of what?

Instagram

Question 15

The Belize Prime Minister called him ‘bonkers’ when he turned fugitive on being charged with murder. When asked about his most famous creation, he said that he didn’t use it as it was annoying. Which product is being talked about?

McAfee

Question 16What is being tested?

Question 17

This word, derived from the Latin genitive plural form of ‘who’, refers to the minimum numbers of members necessary for an assembly to function. A similar but unrelated word is the name of a Palo Alto based website. Give either word.

Quora

Question 18

According to a study by Tom Chavez of Rapt, what feature costs Google $110 million a year?

I’m Feeling Lucky

Question 19

The ever-ready mechanical pencil was created by this company. The name of the company bears a relation to this product of theirs too.

Which company?

Sharp

Question 20

Popular myths connect this ‘standard industry practice’ to Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King.

Another popular myth says it represents a positive expression. But insiders say that is done to highlight manufacturer’s logo.

Which standard practice?

It’s 10:10