In 1962 – NASA “Relay 1” launched, the first active repeater communications satellite in orbit.
In 1977 – Young Bill Gates was arrested for traffic violation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, leading to one of the most famous mugshots ever.
In 1977 – Robert Metcalfe et. al were awarded a patent for “Multipoint data communication system with collision detection” also known as ethernet.
Like Tech History? Purchase Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
As I previously posted, I was let go, and starting January 2 I’ll be on my own for all my shows.
I’ve already announced one new project with Scott Johnson, called Current Geek, which will be a weekly show covering all the things geeks care about.
But I wouldn’t be me without a daily tech news show. I’m still in the process of figuring out exactly what form that will take. Last week’s hangout was essential in helping figure that out.
In the meantime, if you’d like to make sure you don’t miss it, I’ve set up a website and an RSS Feed you can subscribe to. Starting Jan. 2, whatever I’m up to will show up there.
Thanks y’all!
10 Print “Hello .”
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Hi.
I’m Tom Merritt. This is the placeholder site for my future daily tech news show to be named later.
Sign up now to be part of what’s next.
Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.
Or download the welcome message.
Hosts: Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Iyaz Akhtar, and Jason Howell
Instagram launches private parts, Yahoo’s mail nightmare, Twitter wants to control your cable box, and more.
Guest: Marshall Kirkpatrick
Download or subscribe to this show at twit.tv/tnt.
Submit and vote on story coverage at technewstoday.reddit.com.
Check out the full show notes for today’s episode.
We invite you to read, add to, and amend the wiki entry for this episode at wiki.twit.tv.
Please take the TWiT Audience Survey at http://twit.tv/showsurvey. It only takes a few minutes and we’d love to know what you think.
Thanks to Cachefly for the bandwidth for this show.
Running time: 52:31
In 1896 – Guglielmo Marconi amazed a group at Toynbee Hall in East London with a demonstration of wireless communication across a room. Every time Marconi hit a key a bell would ring from a box across the room being carried by William Henry Preece.
In 1973 – Founder of LinkExchange, CEO of Zappos, and promoter of customer-centric business, Tony Hsieh was born.
In 1980 – Apple’s stock was initially offered for sale. Regulators in Massachusetts prohibited individual investors in the state from buying the stock, as it was deemed too risky.
In 1991 – Paul Kunz set up the first website in North America. It searched particle physics literature at Stanford.
Like Tech History? Purchase Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
Autopilot S3E09 – Space 1999
The crew of Moonbase Alpha must struggle to survive when a massive explosion throws the Moon from orbit into deep space.
Hosts: Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Iyaz Akhtar, and Jason Howell
Will Microsoft kill Nokia’s Android phone? How you can get Led Zeppelin on Spotify, Twitter competing with SnapChat, and more.
Guest: Danny Sullivan
Download or subscribe to this show at twit.tv/tnt.
Submit and vote on story coverage at technewstoday.reddit.com.
Check out the full show notes for today’s episode.
We invite you to read, add to, and amend the wiki entry for this episode at wiki.twit.tv.
Please take the TWiT Audience Survey at http://twit.tv/showsurvey. It only takes a few minutes and we’d love to know what you think.
Thanks to Cachefly for the bandwidth for this show.
Running time: 52:31
In 1910 – Georges Claude, the first person to apply an electrical discharge to a sealed tube of neon gas, displayed the first neon lamp to the public at the Paris Motor Show.
In 1967 – The Concorde, a joint British-French venture and the world’s first supersonic airliner, was unveiled in Toulouse, France. Bigger news than the speed of the jet was the announcement that it was finally agreed that the British and French planes would both be spelled with an “e” at the end.
In 1972 – Apollo 17 became the sixth and last Apollo mission to land on the Moon.
In 1998 – The Mars Climate Orbiter was successfully launched on a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Station in Florida. However, the probe disappeared on September 23rd before reaching Mars, apparently destroyed because scientists had failed to convert English measures to metric values.
Like Tech History? Purchase Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
It’s a very dragon-filled episode, as we kick off our December pick, A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent, actually by Marie Brennan. Also Temeraire. And Paul and Storm steal our idea but we decide we like them anyway.
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey, bitters and a brandied cherry
Veronica: Hot Toddy with Bulleit Rye
QUICK BURNS
Samuel R. Delany Named 2013 Damon Knight Grand Master Recipient
George R.R. Martin shows what happens when dragons go to war
Paul and Storm do an anthology with everyone you love
Young adult readers ‘prefer printed to ebooks’
Website Launch: THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH Edited John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey
TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES
SHANNARA to become a TV series at…MTV?
The climate of Middle Earth
First scientific paper to be released in Elvish, Dwarvish and English
Original Ballantine book cover concept art for J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings on eBay
Book Kick-Off
A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent (but actually by Marie Brennan)
Alt pick: His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik
BARE YOUR SWORD
Tom and Veronica,
I’ve been listening to the podcast for a few months now and am
really enjoying it. I’ve backfilled a good number of the past
episodes and watched most of the video shows. I listen to a
fair number of podcasts, but S&L always skips to the front of
the queue.
I really like that it is both relaxed and professional at the
same time. The quick burns are excellent. The show lengths
are about right. I wouldn’t mind if the frequency of episodes
was a little higher.
Also, thanks for keeping the language clean. The amount of
swearing in many podcasts makes me uncomfortable with sharing
them with my daughters. This is especially lossy when the content
would be interesting to them. I am aware that the school yard is
full of colorful speech, but I am trying to promote a more varied
vocabulary.
I haven’t been able to follow along with any of the book club reads.
The queue is already too long (and getting longer (curses S&L!)), but
I still enjoy listening to you talk about the books.
Originally I hated the theme music, but it is growing on me a little.
Thanks (or curses) for the heads-up on the information about the
non-attending member benefits of WorldCon (more things to read).
I don’t understand you S&L was not in the running for a Hugo this
year. Is it not eligible for some reason?
Thanks for a wonderful podcast!
–paul
Voicemail from Chris from Maine. Thanks!
ADDENDUMS
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My first new show of 2014 has a name. And it is Current Geek.
In 2009 Scott Johnson and I, looking for an excuse to podcast together started a three times a week show talking about stuff that geeks liked but wasn’t tech so it wouldn’t conflict with my day job at CNET. Then while looking for an excuse to do a show on TWiT, we started doing a version called Current Geek Weekly, still with the same restriction. When I left CNET in 2010 we kept doing Current Geek Weekly and the original Current Geek for awhile. Eventually though the Weekly faded out, and the original was folded into The Morning Stream. Finally, even that last version was replaced by Tom’s Tasty Tech Time.
The problem with Current Geek was that restriction. That problem is gone.
So I’m VERY happy to let you know that our new weekly show on Frogpants will be called Current Geek. Scott and I have yet to nail down the exact format, but our goal is cover all the things the Frogpants crowd cares about, including gadgets, tech, movies, comics, TV shows, books and more. Each week we’ll be joined by different folks from around the Frogpants network and beyond.
More details and launch dates to come as we try to figure out how to make it all work?
Like to help?
We could do a kickstarter to help get the show off the ground. There’s nothing wrong with that. We could have just taken donations. But Scott and David had a grand idea. What if people had a way to help fund the show but they got something out of it, and they didn’t have to wait 30 days in the bargain.
Presenting the Frogpants store Current Geek show pack You can get prints, posters or the Tech History wall calendar and help kick us until we get the show started. Which will be soon.
So go do that if you can. If not, we’re still making the show, so don’t fret. We got you.