Tech News Today 814: Piracy is a Compliment

Shows/ Tech News Today / August 9th, 2013

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

Email services shut down because of spies, piracy better than an Emmy! BlackBerry’s almost out of options, and more.

Guests: Julio Ojeda-Zapata and Len Peralta

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Thanks to Cachefly for the bandwidth for this show.

Running time:: 0:47:18

YouTube: Tom answers 20 questions

YouTube / August 9th, 2013

So I decided to maybe use YouTube for something. I have a channel. Might as well do something with it. So I took to Twitter and asked people to ask me questions. I answered the first 20 of them on a video just as an experiment. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Tech History Today – August 9, 2013

Today in Tech History / August 9th, 2013

In 1859 – US Patent no. 25,076 was issued to Nathan Ames of Saugus, Mass. for the first escalator-type moving staircase.

In 1927 – Computer pioneer Marvin Minsky was born in New York City. Minsky grew up to become a pioneer in Artificial Intelligence research and wrote the book “The Society of Mind.”

In 1995 – Netscape Communications staged an IPO. Shares opened at $28 and shot up to $75 per share in one day, becoming one of the indicators of the beginning of the dot-com boom.

Like Tech History? Purchase Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

Tech News Today 813: The Next Next Steps

Shows/ Tech News Today / August 8th, 2013

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

Will Acer dump Windows for Android? YouTube founders mix up mobile video, CBS encourages piracy, and more.

Guest: Ken Denmead

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Thanks to Cachefly for the bandwidth for this show.

Running time:: 0:50:03

Tech History Today – August 8, 2013

Today in Tech History / August 8th, 2013

In 1876 – Thomas Edison received a US patent for a mimeograph, which combined with an invention by A. B. Dick led to the first widely successful mimeograph machine.

In 1908 – For the first time in public, Wilbur Wright showed off the Wright Brothers’ flying machine at the racecourse in Le Mans, France. French doubts about the Wright Brothers’ claims to flight were put to rest for the time being.

In 2007 – Barbara Morgan became the first educator to safely reach space on the U.S. Space Shuttle Endeavour.

Like Tech History? Purchase Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

Tech News Today 812: I Wanna Get Chipped

Shows/ Tech News Today / August 7th, 2013

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

Google leaves Chrome passwords visible, AOL plans to take all the ad money, unauthorised streaming to become a felony, and more.

Guests: Eric Franklin and Jon Brodkin

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

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Thanks to Cachefly for the bandwidth for this show.

Running time:: 0:45:10

Tech History Today – August 7, 2013

Today in Tech History / August 7th, 2013

In 1944 – IBM officially presented the Mark I computer, also known as the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, or ASCC, to Harvard. The computer produced reliable results and ran continuously.

In 1955 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering released Japan’s first commercially produced transistor radio, the TR-55, sold under the company’s new name, Sony.

In 1966 – Jimmy Wales was born in Huntsville, Alabama. He grew up to co-found Wikipedia.

Like Tech History? Purchase Tom Merritt’s Chronology of Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

S&L Podcast – #138 – Why Scott Lynch and Neil Gaiman are awesome

Shows/ Sword and Laser / August 6th, 2013

 We give our final views on Ringworld, and Veronica reveals her secret love at the end of the show. Plus we kick off our August pick, the Curse of Chalion. Nothing very shocking there. BUT we DO deliver a Yet-sized serving of news about books becoming movies. Don’t sasquatch our dreams. Bigfoot your way into the show now. 

*(editor’s note: Tom is no longer allowed to write show descriptions after beer)

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?

Tom: Fuller’s ESB

Veronica: 2011 Hangtime Cellars Pinot Noir California

QUICK BURNS

Sneak Peek: Cover art for Hang Wire by Adam Christopher

Scott Lynch auctioning REPUBLIC OF THIEVES for charity

Cover art for Brandon Sanderon’s WORDS OF RADIANCE

One of the world’s most popular SF novels finally coming in English

172 Reasons To Read Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror in August 2013 (A GIANT Book Cover Gallery)

CALENDAR

TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES

Disney wants to turn Artemis Fowl into the new Harry Potter

GAME OF THRONES finds its Mace Tyrell (plus a general series update)

Bridge Of Birds Movie being made by Vispop

David Weber’s ‘Honorverse’ books to be turned into movies

Sandman author Neil Gaiman ventures into gaming with Wayward Manor

BOOK KICK-OFF

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Curse of Chalion Wikipedia article

Lois McMaster Bujold interview on  Sword and Laser

BOOK WRAP UP

Ringworld by Larry Niven

BARE YOUR SWORD

I have never finished the Dune series due to dislike.

What’s so wrong about giving up on a book?

EMAIL

New comment from Francisco on S&L Podcast – #137 – A rasher of Abercrombie.

On race and genre novels:

I know that Pratchett has his characters (in the City Watch novels) reference the problems of policing in a muli-vital society.

Here’s a question for you:

If you assume that race is not going to be an issue in the future do you mention it?

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.  

This episode is brought to you by Squarespace, the all-in-one platform that makes it fast and easy to create your own professional website or online portfolio.  For a free trial and 10% off, go to squarespace.com and use offer code SWORD8.

Direct download link!

Tech News Today 811: Mattricknadoed

Shows/ Tech News Today / August 6th, 2013

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

Jeff Bezos buys the Washington Post, Amazon gets into fine art, and Comcast goes rogue with its own copyright enforcement.

Guests: Sharif Sakr

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.

Thanks to Cachefly for the bandwidth for this show.

Running time:: 0:47:40