Tech History Today – Feb. 6

Today in Tech History / February 6th, 2013

In 1957 – MIT introduced the cryotron, the first practical demonstration of superconductivity, invented by Dudley Allen Buck. The Cryotron paved the way for the integrated circuit which used semiconductivity.

In 1959 – Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments filed a patent for miniaturized electronic circuits, the first patent for what we now call integrated circuits.

In 1971 – Apollo 14’s Lunar Module lifted off from the moon returning astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell to the Command Module. Shepard had made extra history by becoming the first human to hit a golf ball on the moon.

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

S&L Podcast – #120 – Book Blind Dates

Shows / February 5th, 2013

We get the message and beef up the book discusiion. But the news is full of trailers and the feedback is full of awesome. But will Veronica Hughart the book? And if she did, what would that mean?

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: 2009 Toscana IGT “1967”
Veronica: Glenmorangie
 
QUICK BURNS
Book Trailer: “Etiquette & Espionage” by Gail Carriger 
TOC: ‘Dangerous Women’ Edited by Gardner Dozois and George R.R. Martin
Amazing Stories returns, as a social network for fandom (with stories)
Animated Fiction: Neil Gaiman Reads His Zombie Story “Down Among the Dead Men”
Locus 2012 Recommended Reading List 
Book Trailer: “The Daylight War” by Peter V. Brett 
 
CALENDAR
  
BARE YOUR SWORD
Welcome new forum mod, Josh!
Memoirs Found in a Bathtub $1.99 today 
Violent character names 
Book Blind Date 
 
TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES
Behind-the-Scenes Game of Thrones Video Explores Iceland as Setting for ‘Beyond the Wall’
 
BOOK CHECK-IN
The Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart
 
EMAIL
Hi Tom & Veronica. 
I love your show(s) and the GoodReads group.  On the podcast I listened to today, Tom said that he would like to pick a science fiction novel by a female author.  Ursula K. LeGuin was mentioned, but I’d like to see something more contemporary.  May I suggest God’s War by Kameron Hurley?  I’ve started reading it and it’s something really different.   It’s kind of like Joe Abercrombie writing SF taking place on a planet with a female dominated society.  The primary SF elements are genetic engineering and colonization of other planets.  It’s not an easy read and it’s very dark, but it seems pretty good.  I’ve paused it because it’s so intense, so I need an incentive to finish. 
Keep up the great work!
Sandi
 
***
 
I saw this and immediately thought it would make a great news piece for your show!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/354009039/beyond-words-a-year-of-daydreams-fantasy-author-ca
I am behind on my youtube episodes so if you have already covered this, please FORGIVE ME! I just saw it (I think Brandon Sanderson linked to it on his twitter) and thought it was AWESOME! Anyway, love your show and the podcast,
Sincerely
Jeane Ess
 
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.
 

Download the MP3 below!

S&L Podcast – #120 – Book Blind Dates

Shows / February 5th, 2013

We get the message and beef up the book discusiion. But the news is full of trailers and the feedback is full of awesome. But will Veronica Hughart the book? And if she did, what would that mean?

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: 2009 Toscana IGT “1967”
Veronica: Glenmorangie
 
QUICK BURNS
Book Trailer: “Etiquette & Espionage” by Gail Carriger 
TOC: ‘Dangerous Women’ Edited by Gardner Dozois and George R.R. Martin
Amazing Stories returns, as a social network for fandom (with stories)
Animated Fiction: Neil Gaiman Reads His Zombie Story “Down Among the Dead Men”
Locus 2012 Recommended Reading List 
Book Trailer: “The Daylight War” by Peter V. Brett 
 
CALENDAR
  
BARE YOUR SWORD
Welcome new forum mod, Josh!
Memoirs Found in a Bathtub $1.99 today 
Violent character names 
Book Blind Date 
 
TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES
Behind-the-Scenes Game of Thrones Video Explores Iceland as Setting for ‘Beyond the Wall’
 
BOOK CHECK-IN
The Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart
 
EMAIL
Hi Tom & Veronica. 
I love your show(s) and the GoodReads group.  On the podcast I listened to today, Tom said that he would like to pick a science fiction novel by a female author.  Ursula K. LeGuin was mentioned, but I’d like to see something more contemporary.  May I suggest God’s War by Kameron Hurley?  I’ve started reading it and it’s something really different.   It’s kind of like Joe Abercrombie writing SF taking place on a planet with a female dominated society.  The primary SF elements are genetic engineering and colonization of other planets.  It’s not an easy read and it’s very dark, but it seems pretty good.  I’ve paused it because it’s so intense, so I need an incentive to finish. 
Keep up the great work!
Sandi
 
***
 
I saw this and immediately thought it would make a great news piece for your show!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/354009039/beyond-words-a-year-of-daydreams-fantasy-author-ca
I am behind on my youtube episodes so if you have already covered this, please FORGIVE ME! I just saw it (I think Brandon Sanderson linked to it on his twitter) and thought it was AWESOME! Anyway, love your show and the podcast,
Sincerely
Jeane Ess
 
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.
 

Download the MP3 below!

S&L Podcast – #120 – Book Blind Dates

Tech News Today 684: Ultra Everything

Shows/ Tech News Today / February 5th, 2013

Hosts: Sarah Lane, Iyaz Akhtar and Jason Howell

Dell goes private, OUYA lands impressive distribution, Ultrapixels over Megapixels, and more.

Hosts: Simon Dingle

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:: 0:50:31

Tech History Today – Feb. 5

Today in Tech History / February 5th, 2013

In 1850 – The first U.S. patent for push-key operation of a calculating machine was issued to Dubois D. Parmelee of New Paltz, N.Y.

In 1974 – The U.S. space probe Mariner 10 returned the first close-up images of Venus and became the first spacecraft to use a gravity assist from one planet to help it reach another.

In 1999 – The first Victoria’s Secret online fashion show became the first major webcast, attracting an estimated 1.5 million viewers worldwide. Proving even back then the Internet is for shopping.

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

Tech News Today 683: Wacom if Ya Bought Em

Shows/ Tech News Today / February 4th, 2013

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

Twitter gets hacked and also wins Super Bowl, ChromeBooks taking over? Run Windows on Android, and more.

Hosts: Sean Hollister

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:: 0:49:30

Tech History Today – Feb. 4

Today in Tech History / February 4th, 2013

In 1890 – Thomas Edison received a patent for the first quadruplex telegraph, which could send two messages simultaneously in each direction. One message consisted of an electric signal of varying strength, while the second was a signal of varying polarity.

In 1998 – Noël Godin, a Belgian who made a practice of pieing rich and famous people struck a pie against the face of Bill Gates. Gates did not press charges.

In 2004 – Mark Zuckerberg and a few other guys at Harvard launch TheFacebook so Harvard students can look up and hook up with each other. They would eventually expand the service to the world. And drop the “the”.

Tech History Today – Feb. 3

Today in Tech History / February 3rd, 2013

In 1879 – the first practically usable incandescent filament electric light bulb was demonstrated to an 700 people by Joseph Wilson Swan at the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne.

In 1966 – The Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft landed safely on the moon in the Ocean of Storms. It was the first lunar soft landing and first transmission of photographic data from the Moon to Earth.

In 2011 – The Number Resource Organization announced that the free pool of available IPv4 addresses was fully depleted. The IANA allocated the last of the blocks equally between the five Regional Internet Registries.

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

Things I’ve experienced in LA

Writing / February 2nd, 2013

– I’ve walked to the hardware store, the pet store, the book store and the coffee shop. Other people were walking too.

– Most people are friendly, and not in a fake way.

– People bicycle a lot.

– I rarely drive, when I do it isn’t far and I fill up gas rarely.

– On Groundhog Day I walked to breakfast without a jacket. I’d take four more weeks of this kind of winter.

– I don’t think I’ve had a single dish with cilantro. I did have excellent Lengua guisada yesterday for lunch. I’ve also had a lamb burger with duck confit and Kim Chee tacos.

– I’ve seen one or two smoggy days so far but the only day the air actually didn’t feel clean was the afternoon I arrived in Salt Lake City.

– I learned that people in LA often find it rude when you run your windshield cleaner in traffic. I did not find this put through personal experience.

– Parking will often cost you a couple bucks in meter or valet tips but its never been the impossible situation it often was for me in San Francisco.

– The fresh meat selection at Trader Joes is vastly inferior to what it was in Novato and Petaluma. I guess the restaurants buy all the good steaks.