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Lisa, it’s your birthday — Revisiting Apples ill-fated Lisa computer, 40 years on On its 40th anniversary, we look back at the machine that brought the GUI to personal computers.

Jeremy Reimer – Jan 19, 2023 12:30 pm UTC Enlarge / Steve Jobs posing with the Lisa in 1983. Ted Thai reader comments 232 with 0 posters participating Share this story Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit

Forty years ago today, a new type of personal computer was announced that would change the world forever. Two years later, it was almost completely forgotten.

The Apple Lisa started in 1978 as a new project for Steve Wozniak. The idea was to make an advanced computer using a bit-slice processor, an early attempt at scalable computing. Woz got distracted by other things, and the project didnt begin in earnest until early 1979. Thats when Apple management brought in a project leader and started hiring people to work on it.

Lisa was named after Steve Jobs daughter, even though Jobs denied the connection and his parentage. But the more interesting thing about the Lisa computer was how it evolved into something unique: It was the first personal computer with a graphical user interface (GUI). The vision takes shape

GUIs were invented at Xeroxs Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in the early 1970s. The Alto workstation, which was never sold to the public, had a bitmapped screen that mimicked the size and orientation of a piece of paper. PARC researchers wrote software that displayed windows and icons, and they used a mouse to move a pointer on that screen. Enlarge / A restored Xerox Alto, still running code in 2017. Ken Sheriff

Jef Raskin, an early Apple employee who wrote the manual for the Apple ][, had visited PARC in 1973. He believed that GUIs were the future. Raskin managed to persuade the Lisa project leader to change the computer into a GUI machine. However, he couldnt convince Jobs, who thought Raskin and Xerox were incompetent.

Raskin altered his approach and got graphics programmer Bill Atkinson to propose an official tour of PARC in November 1979. Because Jobs thought Atkinson was great, he agreed to come along. Jobs visit to PARC became the stuff of legend, a tale of a brilliant visionary seeing the future of computing for the first time. But in reality, Atkinson was already working on LisaGrafthe low-level code that would power the Lisas GUImonths before Jobs saw the PARC demo.

The Lisas hardware changed as well. The team abandoned the bit-slice processor and adopted Motorolas new 68000 CPU. The 68000 was a 16/32-bit chip and used a 24-bit address bus, giving it a maximum of 16 megabytes of memory. This was fine, as memory prices were still sky-high in 1980, and most computers of the day had a maximum of 64 kilobytes of RAM.

In January 1981, senior leadership at Apple got tired of Jobs constant interference and micromanagement of the Lisa project and officially removed him from the team. Jobs seethed, then took over a smaller skunkworks project being run by Raskin. This would become important later. Advertisement

By early 1982, the Lisa hardware was mostly finalized. However, the software was still in flux. A team of designersincluding Larry Tesler, who had left PARC to join Applehad been busy doing tons of research, prototyping, and testing. The main question they had was: How should the Lisas GUI actually work? June 1979: A mockup of an early Lisa interface, running on an Apple ][. Interactions magazine August 1980: A mockup of menus and dialog boxes, running on a Lisa prototype. Interactions magazine October 1980: A mockup of the new single menu bar. Note the Note from Jef. Interactions magazine December 1980: An abandoned multi-column file browser. This design would return in NeXTstep and OS X. Interactions magazine July 1981: The Twenty Questions file locator. It worked, but nobody found it fun, so the team returned to the icon-based approach. Interactions magazine August 1982: The Lisas GUI is finally finalized. Interactions magazine

In an article in Interactions magazine, designers Roderick Perkins, Dan Smith, and Frank Ludolph described how the Lisas interface changed from early prototypes to a familiar desktop with icons, then away from that model, then finally back to an icon-based, document-centric approach. The goal was to make the Lisa powerful and fun to use.

At long last, the Lisa was ready to be unveiled to the public. On January 19, 1983, Apple announced the computer, which it accurately described as revolutionary. Page: 1 2 3 4 5 Next → reader comments 232 with 0 posters participating Share this story Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Jeremy Reimer I’m a writer and web developer. I specialize in the obscure and beautiful, like the Amiga and newLISP. Email jeremy_reimer@hotmail.com // Twitter @jeremyreimer Advertisement Channel Ars Technica ← Prevous story Next story → Related Stories Today on Ars

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Counter-terror police investigating second Kneecap video

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Counter-terror police investigating second Kneecap video

Counter-terror police are “assessing” a second video of a Kneecap performance – after it allegedly saw the rap trio calling for the death of Conservative MPs.

The footage is believed to have been taken during one of the Northern Irish band’s concerts in November 2023.

One member of the group is alleged to have said: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.”

On Wednesday the Metropolitan Police revealed its counter-terror unit was investigating another clip of a Kneecap performance over claims it showed one member shouting: “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah”.

That video was from a Kneecap gig at London’s Kentish Town Forum last November.

Hamas and Hezbollah are both proscribed as terrorist groups in the UK. Under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000, it is an offence to express “an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation”.

Commenting on the second clip, a Met Police spokesman said on Sunday: “We were made aware of a video on April 22, believed to be from an event in November 2024, and it has been referred to the counter-terrorism internet referral unit for assessment and to determine whether any further police investigation may be required.

“We have also been made aware of another video believed to be from an event in November 2023.”

He added that the internet referral unit is “assessing” both clips to “determine whether further police investigation is required”.

In their statement in response to the previous Met investigation, Kneecap described it as a “coordinated smear campaign”.

They said they “use their shows to call out the British and Irish governments’ complicity in war crimes” and that their fans “see through the lies”.

Read more from Sky News
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Two British MPs have been murdered in the past 10 years – Labour’s Jo Cox in 2016 and Conservative Sir David Amess in 2021.

A UK government spokesman commented: “We unequivocally condemn threatening remarks made towards any individual.

“Political intimidation and abuse must have no place in our society. We recognise the chilling effect that harassment and intimidation of elected representatives can have on our democracy.

“All reports of intimidation, harassment and threats are taken extremely seriously. We work with the police and Parliament to do everything in our power to crack down on threats to elected officials.”

Sky News has contacted Kneecap’s management for further comment.

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The cost of innovation — Regulations are Web3’s greatest asset

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The cost of innovation — Regulations are Web3’s greatest asset

The cost of innovation — Regulations are Web3’s greatest asset

Opinion by: Hedi Navazan, chief compliance officer at 1inch

Web3 needs a clear regulatory system that addresses innovation bottlenecks and user safety in decentralized finance (DeFi). A one-size-fits-all approach cannot be achieved to regulate DeFi. The industry needs custom, risk-based approaches that balance innovation, security and compliance.

DeFi’s challenges and rules

A common critique is that regulatory scrutiny leads to the death of innovation, tracing this situation back to the Biden administration. In 2022, uncertainty for crypto businesses increased following lawsuits against Coinbase, Binance and OpenSea for alleged violations of securities laws.

Under the US administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission agreed to dismiss the lawsuit against Coinbase, as the agency reversed the crypto stance, hinting at a path toward regulation with clear boundaries.

Many would argue that the same risk is the same rule. Imposing traditional finance requirements on DeFi simply will not work from many aspects but the most technical challenges.

Openness, transparency, immutability, and automation are key parameters of DeFi. Without clear regulations, however, the prevalent issue of “Ponzi-like schemes” can divert focus from effective innovation use cases to conjuring a “deceptive perception” of blockchain technology. 

Guidance and clarity from regulatory bodies can reduce significant risks for retail users.

Policymakers should take time to understand DeFi’s architecture before introducing restrictive measures. DeFi needs risk-based regulatory models that understand its architecture and address illicit activity and consumer protection. 

Self-regulatory frameworks cultivate transparency and security in DeFi

The entire industry highly recommends implementing a self-regulatory framework that ensures continuous innovation while simultaneously ensuring consumer safety and financial transparency. 

Take the example of DeFi platforms that have taken a self-regulatory approach by implementing robust security measures, including transaction monitoring, wallet screening and implementing a blacklist mechanism that restricts a wallet of suspicion with illicit activity. 

Sound security measures would help DeFi projects monitor onchain activity and prevent system misuse. Self-regulation can help DeFi projects operate with greater legitimacy, yet it may not be the only solution.

Clear structure and governance are key

It’s no secret that institutional players are waiting for the regulatory green light. Adding to the list of regulatory frameworks, Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) sets stepping stones for future DeFi regulations that can lead to institutional adoption of DeFi. It provides businesses with regulatory clarity and a framework to operate.

Many crypto projects will struggle and die as a result of higher compliance costs associated with MiCA, which will enforce a more reliable ecosystem by requiring augmented transparency from issuers and quickly attract institutional capital for innovation. Clear regulations will lead to more investments in projects that support investor trust.

Anonymity in crypto is quickly disappearing. Blockchain analytics tools, regulators and companies can monitor suspicious activity while preserving user privacy to some extent. Future adaptations of MiCA regulations can enable compliance-focused DeFi solutions, such as compliant liquidity pools and blockchain-based identity verification.

Regulatory clarity can break barriers to DeFi integration

The banks’ iron gate has been another significant barrier. Compliance officers frequently witness banks erect walls to keep crypto out. Bank supervisors distance companies that are out of compliance, even if it’s indirect scrutiny or fines, slamming doors on crypto projects’ financial operations.

Clear regulations will address this issue and make compliance a facilitator, not a barrier, for DeFi and banking integration. In the future, traditional banks will integrate DeFi. Institutions will not replace banks but will merge DeFi’s efficiencies with TradFi’s structure.

Recent: Hester Peirce calls for SEC rulemaking to ‘bake in’ crypto regulation

The repeal of Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121 in January 2025 mitigated accounting burdens for banks to recognize crypto assets held for customers as both assets and liabilities on their balance sheets. The previous laws created hurdles of increased capital reserve requirements and other regulatory challenges.

SAB 122 aims to provide structured solutions from reactive compliance to proactive financial integration — a step toward creating DeFi and banking synergy. Crypto companies must still follow accounting principles and disclosure requirements to protect crypto assets.

Clear regulations can increase the frequency of banking use cases, such as custody, reserve backing, asset tokenization, stablecoin issuance and offering accounts to digital asset businesses.

Building bridges between regulators and innovators in DeFi

Experts pointing out concerns about DeFi’s over-regulation killing innovation can now address them using “regulatory sandboxes.” These dispense startups with a “secure zone” to test their products before committing to full-scale regulatory mandates. For example, startups in the United Kingdom under the Financial Conduct Authority are thriving using this “trial and error” method that has accelerated innovation.

These have enabled businesses to test innovation and business models in a real-world setting under regulator supervision. Sandboxes could be accessible to licensed entities, unregulated startups or companies outside the financial services sector.

Similarly, the European Union’s DLT Pilot Regime advances innovation and competition, encouraging market entry for startups by reducing upfront compliance costs through “gates” that align legal frameworks at each level while upgrading technological innovation.

Clear regulations can cultivate and support innovation through open dialogue between regulators and innovators.

Opinion by: Hedi Navazan, chief compliance officer at 1inch.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

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