Why does a gallery wall above a low sofa so often look as if it’s drifting away from the sofa? Because the cluster ignores three measurements. One is where the …

Bluetooth audio reaches your ears about as late as a shout from 70 m away, and your eyes notice the gap. Why does Bluetooth audio lag behind the video? Because …

Dining room chairs feel too close when they sit the right distance from the table and the wrong distance from everything else. Three gaps decide it. One lies between neighbouring …

You ask for the time, and the speaker sits there for a beat, as if it’s thinking things over. Why does a smart speaker answer a second after you speak? …

Underfloor heating rarely feels as warm as it should, and the floor on top is usually the reason. Choosing flooring for a rented flat with underfloor heating comes down to …

A computer talks to a printer’s address and not its name, and addresses move. That’s why a printer will say offline when it is switched on, and the quickest cure …

A pendant hung at 150 cm sits 71 cm from the page of a book, while a sconce at 120 cm sits 40 cm away. That gap decides a pendant …

Passing data along costs a phone little, while reaching the mobile mast costs it most of what it spends. That’s what makes a phone run hot when you use it …

Buy the lowest frame your mattress allows, because every 10 cm of frame height pushes the bed about 12 cm further from the low wall. Choosing a bed frame for …

Why would a fan roar over a page of text? Because the page isn’t the only thing running. That’s what makes a laptop fan spin up while you’re only browsing, …