Month: November 2025

The Mac calculator’s original design came from letting Steve Jobs play with menus for ten minutes

In 1982, a young Mac developer turned Jobs into a UI designer—and accidentally invented a new technique.

In February 1982, Apple employee #8 Chris Espinosa faced a problem that would feel familiar to anyone who has ever had a micromanaging boss: Steve Jobs wouldn’t stop critiquing his calculator design for the Mac. After days of revision cycles, the 21-year-old programmer found an elegant solution: He built what he called the “Steve Jobs Roll Your Own Calculator Construction Set” and let Jobs design it himself.

This delightful true story comes from Andy Hertzfeld’s Folklore.org, a legendary tech history site that chronicles the development of the original Macintosh, which was released in January 1984. I ran across the story again recently and thought it was worth sharing as a fun anecdote in an age where influential software designs often come by committee.

Design by menu

Chris Espinosa started working for Apple at age 14, making him one of the company’s earliest and youngest employees. By 1981, while studying at UC Berkeley, Jobs convinced Espinosa to drop out and work on the Mac team full time.

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The Mac calculator’s original design came from letting Steve Jobs play with menus for ten minutes

In 1982, a young Mac developer turned Jobs into a UI designer—and accidentally invented a new technique.

In February 1982, Apple employee #8 Chris Espinosa faced a problem that would feel familiar to anyone who has ever had a micromanaging boss: Steve Jobs wouldn’t stop critiquing his calculator design for the Mac. After days of revision cycles, the 21-year-old programmer found an elegant solution: He built what he called the “Steve Jobs Roll Your Own Calculator Construction Set” and let Jobs design it himself.

This delightful true story comes from Andy Hertzfeld’s Folklore.org, a legendary tech history site that chronicles the development of the original Macintosh, which was released in January 1984. I ran across the story again recently and thought it was worth sharing as a fun anecdote in an age where influential software designs often come by committee.

Design by menu

Chris Espinosa started working for Apple at age 14, making him one of the company’s earliest and youngest employees. By 1981, while studying at UC Berkeley, Jobs convinced Espinosa to drop out and work on the Mac team full time.

Read full article

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Lilbits: A new modular PC input device, Google brings even more AI to Pixel phones, Apple’s $230 knit iPhone holder

Over the past few years I’ve seen a couple of different widescreen touchscreen displays that are designed to be used as both a second screen and an input device for a computer. But the UltraBar X stands out for its unusual, modular design. At its…

Over the past few years I’ve seen a couple of different widescreen touchscreen displays that are designed to be used as both a second screen and an input device for a computer. But the UltraBar X stands out for its unusual, modular design. At its most basic, this device is just another 7 inch ultrawide touchscreen […]

The post Lilbits: A new modular PC input device, Google brings even more AI to Pixel phones, Apple’s $230 knit iPhone holder appeared first on Liliputing.

Thunderobot MIX G2 is a mini gaming PC with up to Core Ultra 9 275HX and RTX 5090 mobile

The Olares One isn’t the only new mini PC with NVIDIA RTX 50 Series graphics. Chinese PC maker Thunderobot has introduced a compact PC that looks more like a game console than a traditional computer. But under the hood it has the guts of a high-p…

The Olares One isn’t the only new mini PC with NVIDIA RTX 50 Series graphics. Chinese PC maker Thunderobot has introduced a compact PC that looks more like a game console than a traditional computer. But under the hood it has the guts of a high-performance gaming laptop. The Thunderobot MIX G2 is a computer with […]

The post Thunderobot MIX G2 is a mini gaming PC with up to Core Ultra 9 275HX and RTX 5090 mobile appeared first on Liliputing.

Google says new cloud-based “Private AI Compute” is just as secure as local processing

New system allows devices to connect directly to secure space in Google’s AI servers.

Google’s current mission is to weave generative AI into as many products as it can, getting everyone accustomed to, and maybe even dependent on, working with confabulatory robots. That means it needs to feed the bots a lot of your data, and that’s getting easier with the company’s new Private AI Compute. Google claims its new secure cloud environment will power better AI experiences without sacrificing your privacy.

The pitch sounds a lot like Apple’s Private Cloud Compute. Google’s Private AI Compute runs on “one seamless Google stack” powered by the company’s custom Tensor Processing Units (TPUs). These chips have integrated secure elements, and the new system allows devices to connect directly to the protected space via an encrypted link.

Google’s TPUs rely on an AMD-based Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) that encrypts and isolates memory from the host. Theoretically, that means no one else—not even Google itself—can access your data. Google says independent analysis by NCC Group shows that Private AI Compute meets its strict privacy guidelines.

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Plasma Mobile 6.5 brings big updates to this platform for small Linux devices (like phones)

Plasma Mobile is a user interface for mobile Linux distributions that includes a mix of features borrowed from the KDE Plasma desktop environment and mixes in some mobile-specific components designed for smartphones, tablets, and other touchscreen devi…

Plasma Mobile is a user interface for mobile Linux distributions that includes a mix of features borrowed from the KDE Plasma desktop environment and mixes in some mobile-specific components designed for smartphones, tablets, and other touchscreen devices. The latest version brings some key improvements including a more responsive lock screen, some cosmetic home screen enhancements, […]

The post Plasma Mobile 6.5 brings big updates to this platform for small Linux devices (like phones) appeared first on Liliputing.

Ryanair tries forcing app downloads by eliminating paper boarding passes

Ryanair CEO admits “there’ll be some teething problems.”

Ryanair is trying to force users to download its mobile app by eliminating paper boarding passes, starting on November 12.

As announced in February and subsequently delayed from earlier start dates, Europe’s biggest airline is moving to digital-only boarding passes, meaning customers will no longer be able to print physical ones. In order to access their boarding passes, Ryanair flyers will have to download Ryanair’s app.

“Almost 100 percent of passengers have smartphones, and we want to move everybody onto that smartphone technology,” Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said recently on The Independent’s daily travel podcast.

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Reddit mod jailed for sharing movie sex scenes in rare “moral rights” verdict

Redditor confessed to violating actresses’ “moral rights” in landmark ruling.

A Reddit moderator known as “KlammereFyr” was recently convicted by a Danish court after clipping and posting hundreds of nude scenes that actresses filmed for movies and TV shows but apparently never expected to be shared out of context.

As TorrentFreak reported, dozens of actresses had complained about the mod’s sub-reddit, “SeDetForPlottet” (WatchItForthePlot), with some feeling “molested or abused.”

Demanding Danish police put an end to the forum, the Rights Alliance—representing the Danish Actors’ Association, two broadcasters, and other rightsholders—pushed for a criminal probe.

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US states could lose $21 billion of broadband grants after Trump overhaul

Ernst bill would send broadband grant money to Treasury for deficit reduction.

A Senate Republican has drafted legislation that would effectively cut a $42 billion broadband deployment program in half.

The bill would complement the Trump administration overhaul of the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. The administration required states to rewrite their grant plans, reducing the overall projected spending and diverting some of the money from fiber projects to satellite.

The result is that over $21 billion is projected to be left over after money is allocated to projects that expand broadband access. Current US law allows nondeployment funds to be used for other broadband-related purposes, like providing Wi-Fi and Internet-capable devices to US residents. But a draft bill by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) would change the law to redirect all the remaining money to the US Treasury for deficit reduction.

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