Keyboards

The keyboard on the first ever commercially successful typewriter and the keyboard on your smartphone are separated by a gulf of time and technology. Yet their layout is essentially the same (plus or minus a few new buttons along the way).Who invented the QWERTY keyboard layout and why hasn’t it been updated?What is the Shift button all about?Who else remembers the weird way it felt to type on the ZX Spectrum?To tell the stories that lurk underneath the keyboards you use every day, Dallas is joined by Marcin Wichary. His book ‘Shift Happens’ is available via Kickstarter now: bit.ly/3ETOn8cProduced by Sophie Gee, Edited by Freddy Chick, Senior Editor is Charlotte Long.For more History Hit content, subscribe to our newsletters here. If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android or Apple store  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.