That is right this moment’s version of The Obtain, our weekday publication that gives a each day dose of what’s happening on the earth of expertise.
How the search to sort Chinese language on a QWERTY keyboard created autocomplete
—That is an excerpt from The Chinese language Pc: A World Historical past of the Info Age by Thomas S. Mullaney, revealed on Might 28 by The MIT Press. It has been flippantly edited.
When a younger Chinese language man sat down at his QWERTY keyboard in 2013 and rattled off an enigmatic string of letters and numbers, his forty-four keystrokes marked the primary steps in a course of often known as “enter” or shuru.
Shuru is the act of getting Chinese language characters to seem on a pc monitor or different digital gadget utilizing a QWERTY keyboard or trackpad.
The younger man, Huang Zhenyu, was considered one of round 60 contestants within the 2013 Nationwide Chinese language Characters Typing Competitors. His keyboard didn’t allow him to enter these characters straight, nevertheless, and so he entered the quasi-gibberish string of letters and numbers as a substitute: ymiw2klt4pwyy1wdy6…
However Zhenyu’s prizewinning efficiency wasn’t solely noteworthy for his spectacular typing velocity—one of many quickest ever recorded. It was additionally premised on the identical sort of “further steps” as the primary Chinese language laptop in historical past that led to the invention of autocompletion. Learn the remainder of the excerpt right here.
Should you’re inquisitive about tech in China, why not try a few of our China reporter Zeyi Yang’s current reporting (and subscribe to his weekly publication China Report!)
+ GPT-4o’s Chinese language token-training knowledge is polluted by spam and porn web sites. The issue, which is probably going as a consequence of insufficient knowledge cleansing, might result in hallucinations, poor efficiency, and misuse. Learn the total story.
+ Why Hong Kong is concentrating on Western Massive Tech corporations in its ban of a well-liked protest music.
+ Deepfakes of your lifeless family members are a booming Chinese language enterprise. Individuals are searching for assist from AI-generated avatars to course of their grief after a member of the family passes away. Learn the total story.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the web to seek out you right this moment’s most enjoyable/essential/scary/fascinating tales about expertise.
1 Election officers need to pre-bunk dangerous on-line campaigns
It’s a bid to forestall political hoaxes from ever getting off the bottom. (WP $)
+ Faux information verification instruments are failing in India. (Remainder of World)
+ Three expertise traits shaping 2024’s elections. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
2 OpenAI has began coaching the successor to GPT-4
Simply weeks after it revealed an up to date model, GPT-4o. (NYT $)
+ OpenAI’s new GPT-4o lets folks work together utilizing voice or video in the identical mannequin. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
3 China is bolstering its nationwide semiconductor fund
To the tune of $48 billion. (WSJ $)
+ It’s the third spherical of the nation’s native chip funding program. (FT $)
+ What’s subsequent in chips. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
4 Nuclear vegetation are extraordinarily costly to construct
The US must discover ways to lower prices with out slicing corners. (The Atlantic $)
+ The best way to reopen a nuclear energy plant. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
5 Laser programs may very well be the very best line of protection towards navy drones
The Pentagon is investing in BlueHalo’s AI-powered laser expertise. (Insider $)
+ The US navy can be pumping cash into Palmer Luckey’s Anduril. (Wired $)
+ Contained in the messy ethics of constructing warfare with machines. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
6 Klarna’s advertising campaigns are the product of generative AI
The fintech agency claims the expertise will reserve it $10 million a 12 months. (Reuters)
7 The US has an EV charging drawback
Would-be automotive patrons are nonetheless nervous about investing in EVs. (Wired $)
+ Micro-EVs might provide one answer. (Ars Technica)
+ Toyota has unveiled new engines suitable with various fuels. (Reuters)
8 Good luck betting on something that’s not sports activities within the US
The result of a significant election, for instance. (Vox)
+ How cellular cash supercharged Kenya’s sports activities betting habit. (MIT Expertise Evaluation)
9 Perfectionist mother and father are Facetuning their kids
It goes with out saying: don’t do that. (NY Magazine $)
10 Why a film model of The Sims by no means bought off the bottom
The beloved online game would make for a severely bizarre cinema spectacle. (The Guardian)
Quote of the day
“As soon as materialism begins spreading, it might probably have a nasty affect on youngsters.”
—Chinese language state media Beijing Information explains why China has began cracking down on luxurious influencers identified for his or her ostentatious shows of wealth, the Monetary Instances studies.
The large story
Recapturing early web whimsy with HTML
Web sites weren’t at all times slick digital experiences.
There was a time when browsing the online concerned opening tabs that performed music towards your will and sifting by partitions of textual content on a coloured background. Within the 2000s, earlier than Squarespace and social media, web sites have been manifestations of individuality—constructed from scratch utilizing HTML, by customers who had some information of code.
Scattered throughout the online are communities of programmers working to revive this seemingly outdated strategy. And the motion is something however a superficial attraction to retro aesthetics—it’s about celebrating the human contact in digital experiences. Learn the total story.
—Tiffany Ng
We will nonetheless have good issues
A spot for consolation, enjoyable and distraction to brighten up your day. (Obtained any concepts? Drop me a line or tweet ’em at me.)
+ Get pleasure from this potted historical past of why we are saying okay, and the place it got here from.
+ There’s something very humorous about Elton John calling The Lion King’s Timon and Pumbaa “the rat and the pig.”
+ One of the best of British press pictures is at all times price a peruse.
+ I had no concept that Sisqo’s Thong Track used an Eleanor Rigby pattern.
