#HistoryMatters Prof. Tom Mullaney's work on Chinese typewriters & his quest to bring a MingKwai to Stanford University Libraries featured in The New York Times “To me it’s just a typewriter,” [Ms. Felix said], “But to other people it’s history; it’s a story, a life, a treasure.” nytimes.com/2025/07/22/nyr…

Thank you ever so much Joseph Seeley

Being part of this The New York Times piece brought back so many memories of the 18 yrs spent on The Chinese Typewriter + The Chinese Computer, & all the countless people who helped me along the way. There was no space in the article to say thank you, so: Thank you. nytimes.com/2025/07/22/nyr…

I’ve organized many conferences in my life—& I’ve never seen so many strong proposals come in within the first 2 hours of the Call for Proposals going live. Such is ATypI: Association Typographique Internationale 2026! Deadline is in August. Don't sit on your hands! Here's the link: atypi.org/2025/07/23/aty…

Finally read this fascinating article on Tom Mullaney‘s research and the lucky rediscovery of Lin Yutang‘s #林語堂 MingKwai 明快-typewriter, which worked similar to modern computers in displaying possible characters you could mean as early as the 1940s. nytimes.com/2025/07/22/nyr…

Chinese-American Lois Lew who had spent most of her life running a restaurant in upstate New York, had played a key role in demonstrating the feasibility of an invention once thought impossible: an electric Chinese typewriter. Lew passed away in 2023, but her story would form

Our AI Safety and Alignment group is looking forward to hosting Tom Mullaney, for an insightful session on "Asia Has Been “Prompt Engineering” for 70 Years: What the Global History of Computing Teaches Us about the Age of Generative AI" on August 7th!

Honored and thrilled to be speaking next week Cohere Labs "Asia has been 'Prompt Engineering' for 70 Years: What the Global History of Computing Teaching Us about the Age of Generative AI" The talk is Open, Free, and Virtual, so please sign up below if interested.

Lots to love in this conversation between afra and Tom Mullaney: a Chinese restaurant owner in Rochester, an IBM engineer fearing "the coming collapse of China," weird keyboard designs, prompt engineering, entropy, and the destiny of things. sixthtone.com/news/1017405/d…

Be sure to join us tomorrow, August 7th for a session with Tom Mullaney, on "Asia Has Been “Prompt Engineering” for 70 Years: What the Global History of Computing Teaches Us about the Age of Generative AI"! Learn more: cohere.com/events/Cohere-…

This is a positive sign! :)

On August 18 @ 11am Pacific Time, the Stanford ATypI Local Organizing Committee is holding an informal Information Session for anyone interested in applying to ATypI: Association Typographique Internationale Stanford in May 2026. The deadline is Aug 27, so this is a great opp! SIGN UP HERE stanford.zoom.us/webinar/regist…

I am honored, Jeffrey Yost - Thank you for this incisive and generous review

On August 18 @ 11am Pacific Time, the Stanford ATypI Local Organizing Committee is holding an informal Information Session for anyone interested in applying to ATypI: Association Typographique Internationale Stanford in May 2026. Deadline = Aug 27, so this is a great opp! SIGN UP HERE: stanford.zoom.us/webinar/regist…

On August 25, will be debuting the SILICON app ecosystem that will enable us to dramatically scale Digital Inclusion in the 21st century. We'd love if you could join us.