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TIL that the first smartphone, an IBM prototype codenamed Angler, debuted in 1992--three years before the word 'smartphone' was invented. It sent emails, ran apps, and had a working touch screen.

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MQbm TIL that the deep and ominous hum that rises through the subway grate at 45th/Broadway in Times Square, which many would assume is owed to a generator or some other NYC Transit equipment, is in fact an art installation by sound artist Max Neuhaus. It has been in operation, on and off, since 1977.
Vx54 TIL, when Carl Linnaeus was in Hamburg, the mayor proudly showed him the remains of a seven-headed hydra. Linnaeus found out the remains were fake and made it public. As a result Linnaeus was forced to leave Hamburg immediately, as he crushed the mayor´s dream of selling the hydra for a large sum.
7rgp7 TIL an Australian man was working as a hairdresser when he had the idea to make 3D printed prosthetic limbs from recycled shampoo and conditioner bottles. Working with 38 salons in Queensland, he is now testing the limbs with two children who had no access to practical and inexpensive prosthetics.
yyRw TIL that In 1963, a 16-year-old mailed a survey to 150 novelists, asking if they intentionally planted symbolism in their work. Jack Kerouac, Ralph Ellison, Ray Bradbury and other notable names responded.
X0Br8 TIL about the Iguanodon featured on the Maidstone coat of arms, honouring the discovery of its fossilised remains in 1834 at Bensted’s Quarry, which helped reaffirm the hypothesis that such remains belonged to prehistoric animals.