Tech History Today – Sep. 18

In 1830 – America’s first native locomotive, the “Tom Thumb” lost a race to a draft horse at Ellicotts Mills, Maryland.

In 1927 – The Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System went on the air with 47 radio stations. Within two years it would be sold and become the Columbia Broadcasting System and later simply CBS.

In 1998 – The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers aka ICANN was created in order to take over Internet administrative tasks from the US Government. The most famous of those tasks is overseeing the Domain Name System.

S&L Podcast – #110 – Interview with Anton Strout!

It’s a virtual bachelorette party of SciFi and Fantasy discussion today, with a chat about how SciFi can be interesting if it follows the laws of physics, and an interview with author Anton Strout.

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: Kona Big Wave Golden Ale
Veronica: Fruity vodka drink with Passion Fruit and stuff

QUICK BURNS
The full story of the Targaryen Conquest in A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE
Sneak peek at graphic novel of Wrinkle in Time
William Gibson on Twitter, Antique Watches and Internet Obsessions
William Gibson on Why Sci-Fi Writers Are (Thankfully) Almost Always Wrong
William Gibson on Punk Rock, Internet Memes, and ‘Gangnam Style’
William Gibson on the io9 show
Neal Stephenson on the Hieroglyph Project
Neal Stephenson on Predictions and Surprises 
How to Write a Killer Space Adventure Without Breaking the Speed of Light 

CALENDAR

Interview with Anton Strout

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 a free audiobook of your choice go to audiblepodcast.com/sword

 

Tech News Today 587: Assume Everyone is a Shill

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

Hot new cameras from Photokina, Samsung leaks new phone release, Yahoo snubs RIM, and more.

Guests: Raj Deut

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: 52:41

Tech History Today – Sep. 17

In 1822 – Jean-François Champollion, permanent secretary of the French Académie des Inscriptions, presented his Lettre a M. Dacier, describing his solution to the mystery of the Hieroglyphic inscriptions on the Rosetta Stone. A nifty bit of decryption.

In 1991 – The first version of the Linux kernel (0.01) was posted to a Finnish FTP server in Helsinki. Originator Linus Torvalds wanted to call the OS FreaX, but the FTP admin didn’t like the name and renamed it Linux.

In 2007 – AOL announced plans to refocus the company on advertising relocate its corporate headquarters from Dulles, Virginia to New York City

Tech History Today – Sep. 16

In 1959 – The first successful photocopier, the Xerox 914, was introduced at the Sherry-Netherland hotel in New York City. ONe caught fire. The demo that was carried live on television did not catch fire.

In 1985 – Steve Jobs spent his last day as an employee of Apple after submitting his resignation to the board.

In 1997 – After purchasing NeXT the previous December, bringing Steve Jobs back to the company, the Apple Board named Jobs as interim CEO, replacing Gil Amelio.

Origins of the Sport

Sports all of many kinds has existed across timelines and realities in many forms from the simple to the unfathomably complex.

The Portllflliaxx of the Transitive Continua play an extremely complicated sport, roughly described as a combination of the board game Go, Cricket, Team Handball and Synchronised Aerial Acrobatics. Its combination of automatic scoring and adjudicated results make it difficult for outsiders to understand. A typical test match can last several lifetimes and cross multiple realities and universes.

On the other end of the scale is the game of Po, played by the residents of the one-dimensional Pointillist Plane. The first player to place a slice of one-dimensional space in front of itself wins. While multiple players can compete, the most popular version among pointillions is the solitaire version.

However in an attempt to create a unified sport, the Ecumenical Sporting Council was created to reconcile all variants of sport into one unified set of rules. The rules were set by the council and approved by the founders at a trans-dimensional polygon the cut through most universes at a more or less convenient angle. Because we know where the rules were set it is, unfortunately, impossible to know when.

However these rules are followed by all organizations governed by the FSL.

Tech History Today – Sep. 15

In 1947 – The Association for Computing Machinery was founded as the Eastern Association for Computing Machinery at a meeting at Columbia University in New York. It developed into the world’s largest organization of computer professionals.

In 1947 – RCA released the 12AX7 vacuum tube for public sale. The miniature dual triode vacuum tube with high voltage gain became popular with tube amplifier enthusiasts and has been in continuous production since.

In 2008 – Electronics retailer Best Buy acquired the Napster music service for $121 million, preventing the once dominating music-sharing service from going out of business.

Tech News Today 586: You’re All Pretty

Hosts: Tom Merritt, Iyaz Akhtar and Jason Howell

iPhones 5 and simultaneous data and calls, how to make a phone, Intel blows your mind, and more.

Guests: Andy Ihnatko and Brian Cooley

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: 53:07

S&L Video – #12 – Interview with LeVar Burton!

Take a look, he’s not in a book, he’s on Sword & Laser! LeVar Burton joins us to discuss his favorite novels, the future of Reading Rainbow, and what one line he’d strike from our memory of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

More about our guest, LeVar Burton!

Webpage: http://levarburton.com/
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/levarburton
Reading Rainbow App: http://www.rrkidz.com/

Show Notes: 

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/09/03/the-hugo-winners-2012/
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/09/patrick-rothfuss-will-write-more-fantasy-aft…
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/third-hobbit-film-sets-release-367258
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-3126_7-57507546/amazons-new-kindles-everything-y…
http://scifisongs.blogspot.com/2012/08/new-album-due-september-18th.html

“Kitty Norville” Whiteboard Review by Aaron: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjk9ecE5sv0