Ask HN: Everyday things you do that seem like magic

With the hullabaloo surrounding the iPad launch, I've been thinking a lot about the gulf between us techies and the rest of the world in how we use and understand technology.

I vividly remember an incident from a few years ago when I showed a friend how to create Excel macros. Within twenty minutes he had automated a task that had taken him four hours every week. He practically fell off his chair with excitement. To me it was the simplest of hacks, but to him it was as if I had taught him a magical incantation. He really couldn't believe that a computer could do such a thing.

I didn't really understand his reaction, but it occurred to me recently that he just had no concept of a computer being programmable. To him, the software on his PC seemed as hard-wired as the buttons on his washing machine.

Over the past couple of weeks I have been talking to a lot of non-geeks and have been amazed at the gulf of understanding between us. As users, they don't have the first idea about what goes on inside the computer, but as a developer, I don't have the first idea what goes on inside them. It felt like one of those moments when you learn enough to realise that you really don't know anything.

What have you done recently that has blown a non-geek's mind?