A hand-blown carbon-filament lightbulb hanging in a California fire station has burned almost continuously since 1901. By 2016, it had already outlived three webcams set up to watch it.

A hand-blown carbon-filament lightbulb hanging in a California fire station has burned almost continuously since 1901. By 2016, it had already outlived three webcams set up to watch it.

Two pieces of technology, pointed at each other. One is a glass bulb, blown by hand and first lit in 1901. The other is a webcam, a modern webcam whose whole job is to keep an eye on that bulb. You’d expect the newer device to last longer. It hasn’t. Or rather, they haven’t. As […]