Archive for February, 2012

Hosts: Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Iyaz Akhtar and Jason Howell

Apple’s done with the whole contact list crap, Lightsquared is toast, why Georgia hates the Internet, and more.

Guest: Christopher Mitchell

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Running time: 42:21

Hosts: Leo Laporte and Tom Merritt

BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen talks about utorrent, childhood programming, P2P and more.

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Running time: 01:00:48

In 1880 – the American Society of Mechanical Engineers was founded when 30 engineers from eight states met in the New York editorial offices of the American Machinist

In 1968 – The first-ever 911 call was placed by Alabama Speaker of the House Rankin Fite from Haleyville City Hall to U.S. Rep. Tom Bevill at the city’s police station.

In 1978 – After a particularly harsh January gave them plenty of time for programming, Ward Christensen and Randy Suess completed the Computerized Bulletin Board System (CBBS) in Chicago. It was the first BBS.

Current Geek Episode 192: Star Wars Forever

Hosts: Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Iyaz Akhtar and Jason Howell

How many iPads are coming March 7? Yahoo-Alibab deal off, Why you’ll pay for free TV on the Internet, and more.

Guest: Christopher Null

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Running time: 46:36

Hosts: Tom Merritt and Scott Johnson

Computing will be everywhere and so will media, but it will all happen in our minds.

Guests: Russ Pitts and Myriam Joire

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Got a prediction of your own? Guest you’d like to see? Question for the show? Email us at [email protected].

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Running time: 45:04

Hosts: Brian Brushwood and Tom Merritt

Amazon getting into originals, Aereo brings OTA TV to your Internets, Walking Dead returns, and more.

Guest: Glenn Rubenstein

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Running time: 1:03:48

In 1897, Ferdinand Braun published a paper in the journal Annalen der Physik und Chemie describing his “Braun tube“, the first cathode-ray oscilloscope, which paved the way for the modern CRT.

In 1946 A few days after its first public demonstration, the first practical all-digital computer, ENIAC was formally dedicated.

In 1995 – Kevin Mitnick was arrested by the FBI on charges of wire fraud and breaking into the computer systems of several major corporations.

In 2005: Chad Hurley and Steve Chen debut their new website, YouTube. It would quickly become the place to share videos, and quickly become hated by the movie and TV industry.

We talk about the importance of scientists and writers partnering up as well as debate the distinction between science fiction and science fantasy.  And we wrap up Rule 34 by Charles Stross.  Did our opinons turn?  Listen and find out.

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Veronica: 2007 d’Arenberg d’Arrys Original Shiraz Grenache 

Tom: 2005 Cosentino Winery Cabernet Sauvignon 

QUICK BURNS

The science fiction effect 

SF flash fiction from Gaiman, Moorcock, Westerfeld, Ann Vandermeer, Gene Wolfe and others

WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE news plus some new GoT pics 

What Frank Herbert’s Dune Can Teach Us About the Power of Positive Thinking 

CALENDAR 

BARE YOUR SWORD

Your One and Only

Science Fantasy vs Science Fiction 

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES

It’s Honest Abe versus bloodsuckers in the first Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter trailer

HBO on the Battle of the Blackwater (and Dunk ‘n’ Egg) 

George R.R. Martin reads nursery rhymes. 

BOOK WRAP-UP

Rule 34 by Charles Stross

Charles Stross’ about page – Thanks to Nick on Goodreads for pointing it out

EMAIL

“Love the podcasts,

So the idea started with one of the guys calling the other “”girly-man”". So to keep a fight from starting I gave a quick class on how all males are 50% female do to the X chromosome. I have seen shows where a person goes through hormone replacement therapy as part of their gender change and are shocked by the changes in their personalty. Has there ever been a book where someone “”grew”" a man with two “”Y”" chromosomes? A “”fe”" free male so to say. If not, I am sure it would be a great idea for some book. Part of it sounds like something China or North Korea would to make a super soldier.  

If nothing else maybe they could just be put in charge of the House of Representative. (inside joke for Tom and another show)

Signing off from Afgahnistan,
SSG Michael Mugler”

—

“Hi Tom & Veronica,     I heard you talking about the Baen free library on the last episode and wanted to mention that for years Baen included CD’s with some of their hardback books that included ebooks versions not only of that book but other Baen books.

I always thought it was a great way to encourage fans to try other authors as well as additional books in the series and Baen encouraged people to share the CD’s with friends.
A fan has put together an archive of all the CD’s online at http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com for those of us who own the Baen hardbacks its an easy way to get all of the CD’s content in one place. Since the CD’s were distributed freely it appears to be a completely legal way to get a number of free books from Bean that are not available for free in their store. 

Not sure if this is show worthy material since I have not heard if Baen has commented on the website either way though it has been mentioned on Penny-Arcade before.  Regardless I highly recommend Baen as they are a company who seems to understand the benefits of digital distribution and go treat their customers much better than most publishers with reasonably priced ebooks combo packs and free books.
Brandon

P.S. Keep up the great work on the show!!” NEW MEMBER HELLOS Scott, Manuel, Brad, Aubrey, Erik, Jeane (pronounced Genie), Ryan, Chris, Bob, Shane, Nick, Stan, Susan, Barry, Jess, Paul, Thomas, Ted, Robbin, Terje (pronounced TARE-yuh), Mira, Mason, Stuart 

ADDENDUMS 

This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com the internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 100,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature and featuring audio versions of many New York Times Best Sellers. For listeners of this podcast, Audible is offering a free audiobook, to give you a chance to try out their service. For a free audiobook of your choice go to audiblepodcast.com/sword.

In 1924 – The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company merged with its subsidiary and took its name, International Business Machines Corporation AKA IBM.

In 1989 – The Department of Defense got the first of 24 satellites that will make up the global positioning system put into orbit.

In 2011 IBM’s Watson, an AI computer system competed against Jeapardy champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Watson cleaned up winning $77,147 to Mr. Jennings’s $24,000 and Mr. Rutter’s $21,600.