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In 1821, two Rhode Island brothers went looking for buyers for their woolen fabric, and stumbled into a lucrative, captive market: Southern slave plantations. Roman Mars and historian Seth Rockman trace the strange life of so-called "Negro cloth" — a textile category defined by n ...  عرض المزيد

Behind every perfect nature-inspired design is a far more complicated story. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus. Hosted by Sim ...  عرض المزيد

We send 10 billion of them every day. Where do they come from? Zachary Crockett hearts this topic.

We dig into the unexpected origin story of the universal screen language… emoji! We talk to the designers behind emoji, and the steps (and missteps) emoji design took before the icons found their way to our screens. Read the PDF transcript of this episode. 

In 1999, Japanese software developer Shigetaka Kurita created the first emoji. The umbrella was one of 176 original images, featuring weather, transport signs, numbers and emotions.He was inspired after noticing the popularity of a pager, aimed at teenagers, that used a heart sym ...  عرض المزيد

Entrepreneur and attorney Tracey Pickett explores the emoji as a legitimate and important tool for communication. This talk was filmed at TEDxGreenville. All TEDx events are organized independently by volunteers in the spirit of TED's mission of ideas worth spreading. To learn mo ...  عرض المزيد