Behind the painstaking process of creating Chinese computer fonts

The most detailed dark-matter map of our universe is weirdly smooth 

Sponsored by National Reconnaissance Office The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology Turning handwriting into pixels 06.01.21 Good morning! I hope you enjoyed the long weekend, if you also had one! Today we have a little slice of history about how computers were equipped to handle Chinese fonts, and the most detailed map yet of dark matter in the universe. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. Behind the painstaking process of creating Chinese computer fonts   Back in the late 1970s, Bruce Rosenblum cooked up a program called “Gridmaster” to build one of the world’s first Chinese digital fonts. He was developing the font for an experimental machine called the Sinotype III, which was among the first personal computers to handle Chinese-language input and output. At the time, there were no personal computers being built in China. So to make a “Chinese” PC, Rosenblum’s team was reprogramming an Apple II to operate in Chinese. While Gridmaster may have been a simple program, the task that it would be used to accomplish—creating digital bitmaps of thousands of Chinese characters—posed profound design challenges. In fact, creating the font for Sinotype III took far longer than programming the computer itself. For each Chinese character, designers had to make 256 separate decisions. Multiplied across thousands of characters, this amounted to literally hundreds of thousands of decisions in a development process that took more than two years to complete. Sinotype III was never commercially released. Nevertheless, the painstaking work that went into its development—including the development of this bitmap Chinese font—was central to a complex global effort to solve a vexing engineering puzzle: how to equip a computer to handle Chinese, one of the most widely used languages on Earth. Read the full story. By Tom Mullaney, a professor of Chinese history at Stanford University. The most detailed dark-matter map of our universe is weirdly smooth   Hunting for dark matter: Trying to describe dark matter is like trying to describe a ghost that lives in your house. You can’t see it, but what you can see is all the stuff it’s moving around. And the only explanation is an invisible force you can’t observe, measure or interact with directly. Scientists estimate that about 27% of the universe is made of dark matter. The question is: where is it? An answer: An international project of over 400 scientists called the Dark Energy Survey is working on finding out. Last week it released the largest and most detailed map of dark matter in the universe, created by surveying the sky in near infrared using the four-meter Victor M. Blanco Telescope in Chile. It threw up some unexpected findings that don’t yet neatly align with current ideas in physics. Read the full story. —Neel V. Patel We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)   + This fashion influencer coordinates his outfits with his dog. 10/10.   + Now that's my kind of biker gang.   + Some incredible iced biscuits (or, if you must, "cookies.")   + An amazing new shot of the Milky Way from NASA.   + The singing parrot strikes again (thanks Richard!)   + This photographer likes to capture overgrown, abandoned places. Sponsor Message Innovate with NRO Research & Development Funding The National Reconnaissance Office Director's Innovation Initiative (DII) program funds cutting-edge scientific research in a high-risk environment to discover innovative concepts that transform overhead intelligence capabilities for future national intelligence needs. The program seeks the brightest minds and breakthrough technologies from industry, academia, national laboratories, and U.S. government agencies. Learn more about NRO R&D funding. The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 We might be entering the pandemic's deadliest phase We need a global summit to coordinate how to get as many people vaccinated as possible, yesterday. (NYT $)   + Peru has more than doubled its covid death toll after a review. (BBC)   + Vaccine patent waivers are no closer, despite US approval. (Reuters $)   + Finally, a better way to name the variants. (Stat)   + Vietnam has detected a new variant. (BBC)   + We have bigger problems than covid-19's origins. (The Verge)  2 Two US states are cracking down on police use of genetic genealogy  It's currently pretty much a free-for-all. (NYT $)   + The DNA database used to find the Golden State Killer is a national security leak waiting to happen. (TR)  3 The UK is reportedly scrapping plans for vaccine passports They've been highly contentious right from the start. (The Telegraph $)   + A third covid wave may be kicking off in the UK. (The Guardian)   + What it will take to get more Americans vaccinated. (Ars Technica)  4 A bit of debris hit the International Space Station 🛰️ Luckily, it didn’t cause too much damage. But space junk is a major problem. (Space)   5 Facebook is facing a reputation crisis in the Middle East Leaked documents show plummeting approval rates and advertising sales. (NBC)   + Instagram has promised changes to its algorithm after it was accused of censoring pro-Palestine content. (The Verge)  6 Climate change is to blame for over a third of the world's heat deaths This study is another reminder that the severe impacts are already here. (New Scientist $)   7 Bacteria has been enlisted to clean a Michelangelo 🦠 Amazing. (NYT $)   8 US soldiers accidentally spilled nuclear secrets on online flashcards "OOPS" doesn't really even begin to cover this. (Vice)   9 Go ahead and hide your Instagram likes Anything that helps to wean you off those dopamine hits seems worth a try. (Wired $)   + Who is winning all those Instagram giveaways?! (Vox)   10 What the process of actually buying an NFT is like Tiresome and unexpectedly expensive, at least for this person. (BBC) Limited-time offer!  Get 2 months FREE when you purchase a 12-month subscription. It's time to make MIT Technology Review your go-to resource for thought-provoking insights, analysis and news about the world of technology. Don't wait–this offer ends Friday. Subscribe now. Quote of the Day “They will literally leave bundles of cash somewhere for you to pick up. They bury it underground or hide it behind a bush, and they’ll tell you the coordinates. There’s a whole profession.”    —Dr Tom Robinson, co-founder of Elliptic, a group that tracks crypto transactions, tells the Financial Times how criminals use "Treasure Men" to cash out of bitcoin. Top image credit: LOUIS ROSENBLUM COLLECTION, STANFORD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS Second image credit: DARK ENERGY SURVEY Please send Chinese computer fonts to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @charlottejee. Thanks for reading! —Charlotte Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? Sign up today Re-envision the future of work Join us virtually | June 8-10, 2021 Register now Follow us: MIT Technology Review One Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142

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