Source: Gie Knaeps / Getty
Okay, we can all attest to the power that Janet Jackson possesses in her music… but we didn’t know it was THIS powerful!
Apparently, there is a certain song in her iconic catalog that can cause certain Windows laptops to crash. Seriously! Let us explain.
In a recent blog post, Microsoft’s principal software engineer Raymond Chen explains that some Windows XP laptops would crash by playing the music video of Jackson’s 1989 hit Rhythm Nation. Apparently, there’s a certain sound in the video that is so powerful, it would crash the hard drive.
Think this is a joke? Well, Australian DJs Kyle and Jackie O tested it out for themselves. And…well…
According to Chen, an “unnamed manufacturer” made the discovery. “One discovery during the investigation is that playing the music video also crashed some of their competitors’ laptops,” he explains. “And then they discovered something extremely weird: Playing the music video on one laptop caused a laptop sitting nearby to crash, even though that other laptop wasn’t playing the video!”
You read right. Even if you were minding your own business on your laptop, your laptop would crash too! That would be an awkward conversation.
Upon further investigation, it is discovered that the issue was the sound. The video includes one of the same natural resonant frequencies used in laptops with 5400 rpm hard drives. The manufacturer ended up working around the problem with the addition of a custom audio filter to remove the offending frequencies during playback.
And how does Ms. Jackson feel about this?
https://www.instagram.com/p/Chc6XHcJ6AT/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
I guess even she didn’t know her own strength. (LOL)
