Every week millions of people come online for the very first time and everyone, no matter

where they live, what language they speak, or their level of digital literacy deserves

an internet that was made for them.

Google's Next Billion Users Initiative conducts research and builds products for everyone

everywhere.

Visit nextbillionusers.google to hear their stories.

What follows is a story I produced at the behest of Google's Next Billion Users Initiative.

They paid me to make it, but I still followed my own interests and talked to who I wanted

to and produced the episode to be valuable and relevant to people interested in design.

I actually really like the result, but they did pay me and I want you to know that because

it matters.

This is 99% Invisible.

I'm Roman Mars.

We started with a typewriter.

A mechanical key was struck. The type lever was pushed down. The type bar that corresponded

to the key that was pressed rose up and slammed onto the ink ribbon in front of a piece of

paper.

It was all very kinetic and satisfying.

But there was a problem.

With old typewriters, if he typed too fast, the type bars that were close together could

crash into each other.

So a man named Christopher Letham Sholes created a hack.

...