Archive for March, 2012

In 1955 – Doug Ross demonstrated the Director tape for MIT’s Whirlwind machine, the first digital computer with real-time text and graphics. The idea of the Director Tape was to allow multiple problems to be read by the computer in one session without humans having to intervene and change tapes. IN other words an operating system.

In 1978 – The first radio episode of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, is transmitted on BBC Radio 4. Some credit Adams with accidentally predicting the PDA and smartphone.

In 1979 – Philips publicly demonstrated a prototype of an optical digital audio disc at a press conference called “Philips Introduces Compact Disc”

In 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for an “Improvement in Telegraphy” (No.174,465) which established the principle of bidirectional signals that made the telephone possible.

In 1926 – The first successful Transatlantic telephone call was placed between New York City and London. Transatlantic service began the following year at $75 a minute.

In 1994 – The Supreme Court found that 2 Live Crew’s parody of Roy Orbison’s “Oh Pretty Woman” was fair use, and not a violation of copyright, thus ensuring the future of The Onion.

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

Google gets rid of Android Market, Anonymous beheaded, or was it!?! Music industry making money, and more.

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Submit and vote on story coverage at technewstoday.reddit.com.

We invite you to read, add to, and amend our show notes at wiki.twit.tv.

Thanks to Cachefly for the bandwidth for this show.

Running time: 39:51

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

Master Chief gets personal in Halo 4, Valve working on a ‘Steam Console’? The hackers become the hacked, and more.

Guests: Jon Strickland

Download or subscribe to this show at twit.tv/tnt.

Submit and vote on story coverage at technewstoday.reddit.com.

We invite you to read, add to, and amend our show notes at wiki.twit.tv.

Thanks to Cachefly for the bandwidth for this show.

Running time: 48:34

Hosts: Brian Brushwood and Tom Merritt

Where is TV Everywhere? TV unaffected by the Web? QAM vs. IP delivery, and more.

Guests: Justin Robert Young and Andy Beach

Download or subscribe to this show at twit.tv/fr.

We invite you to read, add to, and amend our show notes at wiki.twit.tv.

Thanks to Cachefly for the bandwidth for this show.

Running time: 59:00

Hosts: Tom Merritt and Scott Johnson

Pregnancy will get easier, safer and we’ll pay the hospital bills in hugs.

Guests: Kristin Brandt and Nicole Lee

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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].

Thanks to Cachefly for the bandwidth for this show.

Running time: 50:37

We chat with author and magician Andrew Mayne.  And we mean he’s actually amagician, not just magical with stories, although also that. Plus we talk about the best ways to sign Kindle books.

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Tom: 2008 Red Diamond Winery Shiraz 

Veronica: 2012 Agua

QUICK BURNS

New Terry Pratchett novel given a title 

Brandon Sanderson plans 36-volume fantasy series 

Michael Whelan to paint the final WHEEL OF TIME cover 

Rudy Rucker’s new imprint launches with his complete short stories 

2 Science Publishers Delve Into Science Fiction 

Science fiction writers irked with Amazon.com, redirect links to other booksellers

CALENDAR  

INTERVIEW

Books by Andrew Mayne

BARE YOUR SWORD

How do I get my kindle signed?

Female SciFi Leads 

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES

Latest GAME OF THRONES S2 trailer 

GAME OF THRONES S2 trailer: Seven Devils 

New LEGEND OF KORRA trailer 

New BATTLESTAR GALACTICA pilot completed 

BOOK CHECK-IN

The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1)by Scott Lynch

Purchase The Lies of Locke Lamora  

EMAIL

Hi, this is Chris from Poland again from the “”No, I fixed it!”" debacle . I’m now all caught up with the podcast. I just graduated from English Studies at the University of Warsaw. I thought I’d send you guys my MA Theis, as it deals with the cyberpunk fiction of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson (the novels “Neuromancer”, “Snow Crash” and “The Diamond Age”).

The Thesis explores the themes of innocence and individualism in American fiction and cyberpunk in particular. Check it out if you’re ever bored enough to start reading an academic paper .

Cheers, Chris.

NEW MEMBER HELLOS

Irene, Paul, Princess Nenji, Jessica-star, David, Tasha, Jani, Ray, Jukka, Penny, Nick, Jill, Joey, Rob, Justin, Jonny, Laura, Vicky, Joel, Kyle, Steve, Dan, Benjamin, Chad, Stuart, Paige, Jordy, Michael, Christine, RK, Adam, Sergio, Jim, Tim, Virgil, Timi, Sil-in-thar, Richard, Steve, Theresa, Gloria, Caribeth, Jamie, Maike, Paul, Jim, Josh, Joe, John, Joey, Zev871, Silvan, Jason, She’Nundi, Skaw, Steve, Brent, Theodore, Matt, Adrian, Christopher, Charlotte, Jared, Jon, Kam, Penny, Cian (key-in), Dexter, Aarón, Julia, Adam

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 1886 – The first alternating current power plant in the US was put into regular operation in Great Barrington, Massachusetts

In 1937 – The first woman in space and only woman ever to fly solo in space, Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova was born in the Yaroslavl region of Russia.

In 1992 – The first media-hyped computer virus reached fever pitch as the Michelangelo boot sector virus began to affect computers. Worldwide catastrophe did not follow.

In 1975 – The Homebrew Computer Club, held its first meeting in a the garage of Gordon French in Menlo Park, California. 32 people showed up for the first meeting. John Draper, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs were some of the more famous members of the club.

In 1981 – Sinclair Research launched the ZX81 in Britain for £69.95 and would go on to sell over 1.5 million units around the world. It was much more successful than it’s predecessor the ZX80.

In 1982 Four days after it’s twin, the second of two Soviet probes to Venus, the Venera 14 landed on the planet. Venera 13 and 14 would continue to send data until 1983.

In 1976 – The first Freon-cooled Cray-1 supercomputer was shipped to Los Alamos Laboratories, in New Mexico at a cost of $19,000,000.

In 2000 – The Sony PlayStation 2 went on sale in Japan.

In 2007 – Election Day was held in Estonia, and for the first time in the world, voters were allowed to vote on the Internet. Approximately 30,000 voters took advantage of electronic voting. Ballots had to be completed three days before election day.