How Ballpoint Pens Killed Cursive

While many blame the downfall of handwriting on computers, tablets and smartphones, its decline actually began long ago—after a man named Marcel Bich released the first Bic Crystal ballpoint pen in 1946. Back then, fountain pens were the norm, and their inks were thin and bled at the first sign of applied pressure. But with the new ballpoint pens (and their thicker inks), connecting letters …

Retro-Futuristic X-Ray Images

Whether at the hospital or standing in line at airport security, x-rays are usually associated with dreary situations—but thanks to artist Roy Livingston, they’ve been given new life. In his series of retro-futuristic photos, Livingston x-rays the guts of old-school mechanical objects, including transistor radios, alarm clocks, microscopes and movie cameras, revealing a bevy of wires, rods and gears that keep them running. He then …

Force Touch Technology for Any Device

When Apple announced its newest Macbook, arguably its most talked about feature was the Force Touch trackpad, which can alter its function depending on how hard you push. This same technology may soon be available to the world outside of Apple thanks to a young company called Sensel Morph. The start-up has developed a tablet-sized pad that pairs Force Touch with any PC or Mac …