Computers

Kits and Revolutions

Kits and Revolutions

The Industrial Revolution began with kits. In 1763, Glasgow University’s scale model Newcomen steam engine broke, so the physics professor asked the school’s resident mechanic to fix it. A talented instrument maker, this university employee didn’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 […]