Archive for May, 2012

In 1884 – A group of people interested in the new field of electricity met in New York to start the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.

In 1939 – Franklin Doolittle put experimental station W1XPW on the air, making it the first commercial FM radio station in the United States. The station later became WDRC-FM in Bloomfield, Connecticut.

In 1958 – The trademark Velcro was registered, protecting the name of the multi-purpose material that manages cables everywhere.

Hosts: Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, and Chad Johnson

Apple ditching Google Maps, Spider-Man renounces US citizenship, Facebook wants to charge you to post, and more.

Guest: Shannon Morse

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Running time: 44:23

In 1936 – University of Washington education professor August Dvorak received a patent for his new more efficient keyboard layout. While widely recognised as superior to the QWERTY layout, the Dvorak keyboard is not widely used.

In 1939 – The first appropriation was made to begin construction of the Harvard Mark I. When completed in 1944 the Mark I became the first successful fully automatic computing machine.

In 1941 – German engineer Konrad Zuse unveiled the Z3, the first program-controlled electromechanical digital computer. It succeeded the Z1 which was the first binary digital computer.

Learn more about our guest and book pick!

Hosts: Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, and Chad Johnson

Bing and Facebook team up to beat Google, Google and Mozilla beat up on Microsoft, Harry Potter and Amazon team up to … lend you Harry Potter books, and more.

Guest: Jonathan Strickland

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Running time: 55:28

In 1951 – Jay Forrester filed a patent application for matrix core memory. Professor Forrester led a team at MIT that developed a three-dimensional magnetic structure code-named Project Whirlwind. It was the first random access memory that was practical, reliable and relatively high-speed.

In 1979 – Daniel Bricklin and Robert Frankston gave the first demonstration of VisiCalc, the program that made the Apple II popular with businesses.

In 1997 – Deep Blue won its final match against Chess master Garry Kasparov, becoming the first computer to defeat a chess champion in match play.

BayCon, the San Francisco Bay Area science fiction and fantasy convention is happening Friday, May 25 to Monday, May 28 2012 at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara.

My Sword and Laser co-host Veronica Belmont is speaking on practically every panel!! I think she’s only outdone by star convention guest Brandon Sanderson.

Of course Veronica got me to head down there too and we’re doing a Sword and Laser panel!! So come on Bay Area SFF fans, head down to Santa Clara.

The Sword and Laser panel is Saturday from 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM in Central. I assume “Central” is the name of a ballroom. But it *might* be Central Command or something which would rock.

Hope to see you there!

Hosts: Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Iyaz Akhtar and Chad Johnson

Ultrabook? So over. SLEEKBOOK! The great Zuck hoodie scandal, A Bioshocking delay, and more.

Guest: Scott Johnson

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Running time: 46:47

Hosts: Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Iyaz Akhtar and Chad Johnson

Yahoo CEO is sorry you’re mad, Google self-driving car got its license. ROAD TRIP! And Comcast in trouble for packet prioritization, and more.

Guest: Peter Wells

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Running time: 42:58

In 1946 – The US launched its second V-2 rocket at White Sands Proving Ground, which became the first successful launch of a large rocket on US soil. The rocket climbed straight up then pitched to the north reaching an altitude of 71 miles and impacted about 35 miles uprange.

In 1960 – The nuclear-powered USS Triton submarine, arrived in Groton, Connecticut, after completing the first completely submerged circumnavigation of Earth.

In 2011 – Google announced its Open Hardware Platform and the Google Music service which would eventually become Google Play Music.