Computers

Kits and Revolutions

Kits and Revolutions

The Industrial Revolution began with kits. In 1763, Glasgow Universityโ€™s scale model Newcomen steam engine broke, so the physics professor asked the schoolโ€™s resident mechanic to fix it. A talented instrument maker, this university employee didnโ€™t just get the machine working again, he figured out a clever way to improve the design by turning a […]

Fifty years of squares

Fifty years of squares

Sci-fi and horror author extraordinaire, John Shirley (whom William Gibson dubbed “Cyberpunk Patient Zero”), sent me a link to this fascinating article about the birth of the square pixel in digital imaging. The piece starts out: Russell Kirsch says he’s sorry. More than 50 years ago, Kirsch took a picture of his infant son and […]