The Orange Cutter and the Mystery of Wi-Fi

Some inventions make life easier. Others simply take up space. And then there are the ones we use every day without really understanding them.

Before our conversation even started, I had already used several inventions without thinking about them. My phone. My laptop. My coffee machine.

The coffee machine is a good example. It is easy, it is fast and it does what I need. My laptop bag is the same. Without it, I could carry one laptop and maybe one phone. With the bag, I put everything inside and take it with me.

These things are so normal that I don’t usually think about who invented them or why. They are simply part of everyday life.

But once I started looking around, I realised there are also inventions where I have a different question:

Why do we need this?

The orange cutter

We have an orange cutter in our kitchen.

It looks a little like a pencil, with a small sharp part at the front. You use it to cut through the skin of an orange so that you can peel it more easily.

I hate it.

A normal knife does exactly the same job. The orange cutter needs space, and for me it is not more useful than a knife. I think there are probably many things like this in a kitchen. If I walked into ours now and started looking properly, I could probably find ten things that are not very useful.

But there is another kitchen invention I like much more: frying pans with removable handles.

Our kitchen is not very big, and normal frying pans are difficult to stack because the handles are always in the way. With these pans, you remove the handle and stack them neatly in the cupboard. They also fit better in the dishwasher. When you need the handle again, you simply put it back on.

That is useful.

Of course, the handle should not come off while you are cooking. That would be a different problem.

No cables, please

I think in a similar way about my car.

I am a very clean person. I don’t like having unnecessary things lying around inside the car. Normally, I only want the things I really need.

One small invention I especially like is the wireless phone charger. I put my phone in the middle of the car and it starts charging.

No cable.

For maybe ten years, I had a charging cable in my car. The problem is that you might need it only once or twice a month. The rest of the time it is simply lying there. I don’t like that. It doesn’t look good, especially when somebody gets into the car and there are cables everywhere.

The same thing has happened with the phone holder. A phone holder was a useful invention, but in a modern car I don’t really need one anymore. With Apple CarPlay, the navigation is already on the screen. I don’t have to look at my phone while I am driving.

Sometimes a good invention solves a problem. Then another invention comes along and makes the first one unnecessary.

The simple things at work

At work, one of the most normal inventions I use is also one of the most useful: the spray can.

For cleaners, degreasers or lubricants, you often need to put the product in one particular place. With a spray can, you can do exactly that. You don’t have to work with an open bottle that can leak.

It is a very simple idea, and normally I don’t think about it at all.

Maybe that is what happens with useful inventions. When they work well, they become normal very quickly. We stop seeing the invention and just use it.

But how does Wi-Fi actually work?

Then, during our conversation, the internet started causing problems.

Sometimes the sound arrived several seconds late. We could see each other, but the voices were not always moving at the same speed.

And that made me think about Wi-Fi.

We were sitting in different parts of the world, having a conversation. Normally I speak and the other person hears me immediately. They answer and I hear them.

I know it works.

But I don’t really know why and how.

It is a very technical thing, and I understand a little of it, but not very deeply. Most of the time that doesn’t matter. I connect to Wi-Fi, it works, and I continue with whatever I am doing.

Only when it doesn’t work do I start thinking about it.

At home, we are getting a new internet connection. The street has been opened and new cables are being installed. Now I am curious what will happen when the new cable reaches the house.

Will the internet be faster? Will the Wi-Fi be better? Will there be fewer problems?

I don’t know yet.

With the frying-pan handle, I understand the problem and the solution. With the spray can, I understand it. Even with the orange cutter, I understand exactly how it works.

I just don’t understand why I need it.

Wi-Fi is the opposite. I definitely need it. I use it all the time.

I just don’t really understand how it works.

And somehow, that is much more interesting.