Forgotten World

The Forgotten History Of Chinese Keyboards

Thomas S. Mullaney | IEEE Spectrum | 29th May 2024

Before QWERTY was adapted for Chinese input, many other possible keyboard interfaces were tried. In one design, the keyboard itself became a computer. It had 160 keys arranged in a 16-by-10 grid, with 15 characters per key and the 2,400 Chinese characters on a paper overlay to assist the operator. Cylindrical keyboards and a drawing stylus on a touch sensitive pad were also attempted (3,000 words)

World In A Box

Shannon Mattern | Places | 15th May 2024

The cardboard box is "an abject object that touches all parts of the city, from the granite kitchen island to the sewer grate". It is the closest many of us come to true contact with the realities of globalised trade and connected systems. The shipping container changed the world forever, but the humble boxes within are in our houses, played in by our children and slept in by our cats (8,400 words)