Page 837 – Tom Merritt .com

Today in Tech History – April 2, 2016

Today in Tech History/ Writing / April 2nd, 2016

1973 – Lexis launched Computerized Legal Searching. It was limited to searching the full text of cases in Ohio and New York.

1978 – The patent expired on Swiss inventor George de Mestral’s invention of a hook and loop fastener he called Velcro. Soon children everywhere no longer had to learn to tie shoes quite so early in life.

1980 – Microsoft Corporation announced its first hardware product the Z80 SoftCard for Apple. It was a microprocessor on a printed circuit board that plugged into the Apple II and sold for $349.00.

2014 – Amazon announced Fire TV, it’s set-top TV box to deliver streaming TV shows and video games. It also included voice commands spoken into a Bluetooth remote control.

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DTNS 2726 – Privacy isn’t over until the Fat Canary dies

Daily Tech News Show / April 1st, 2016

A statement that Reddit had never received a national security letter disappeared from their latest transparency report. Is the canary dead? Darren Kitchen and Tom Merritt discuss while Len Peralta illustrates.

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A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.

If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!

Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!

Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!

Today in Tech History – April 1, 2016

Today in Tech History/ Writing / April 1st, 2016

1976 – Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne decided to change their garage project into a partnership and Ron Wayne typed up the papers. Wayne would leave the partnership after 11 days and Apple Comupter would be incorporated the following January.

2004 – In one of the best April Fool’s jokes ever, Google launched a real product. Weren’t expecting that, were you Internet? Gmail launched in invite-only mode, making a Gmail account temporarily prestigious in the geek world.

Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

DTNS 2725 – CortanaOS

Daily Tech News Show / March 31st, 2016

Are virtual assistants the next app store? As Microsoft pushes Cortana served by Azure, to take over mobile Amazon’s leveraging Alexa to win your home. Justin Young and Tom Merritt discuss.

MP3

Using a Screen Reader? Click here

Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.

If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!

Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!

Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!

Today in Tech History – March 31, 2016

Today in Tech History/ Writing / March 31st, 2016

In 1939 – Harvard and IBM signed an agreement to build the Mark I, also known as the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC). It weighed 5 tons and read data from paper tape and punch cards.

In 1993 – Richard Depew accidentally posted 200 identical messages to news.admin.policy while testing some auto-moderation software. It became the first USENET postings to be referred to as spam.

In 1998 – After three years of development and much wrangling with the Warcraft engine it was originally built on, Blizzard released the iconic game Starcraft.

In 2013 – IBM shut down the Roadrunner supercomputer, the first computer to run at more than one petaflop.

Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

DTNS 2724 – Bash on Windows 10

Daily Tech News Show / March 30th, 2016

Bots as a service, Holoens ships, and Bash integrated in Windows. But did Microsoft do anything to assuage Tim Sweeney’s criticism of the closed Windows Universal Platform? Scott Johnson and Tom Merritt discuss.

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A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.

If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!

Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!

Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!

It’s Spoilerin’ Time 114

Cordkillers / March 30th, 2016

Summer Movie Draft starts, 11.22.63 (107), Better Call Saul (206), Zootopia, Justified (111)

00:32 – Summer Movie Draft

07:17 – 11.22.63 (107)

11:26 – Better Call Saul (206)

22:04 – Zootopia

29:37 – Justified (111)

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Today in Tech History – March 30, 2016

Today in Tech History/ Writing / March 30th, 2016

In 240 BC – Chinese astronomers observed a new broom-shaped “star” in the sky. It was the first confirmed sighting of Halley’s Comet.

In 1950 – Bell Telephone Laboratories announced the invention of a new kind of electric eye called the phototransistor. Dr. John Northrup Shive invented the transistor, which operated by light rather than electricity.

In 1951 – The Census UNIVAC System was accepted and subsequently devoted almost exclusively to tabulating results of the 1950 Census of Population and Housing. It was the first UNIVAC and was capable of completing 1,905 operations per second, which it stored on magnetic tape.

Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.

#249 – Secrets Of All The Birds In The Sky W Charlie Jane Anders

Shows/ Sword and Laser / March 29th, 2016

We’re joined by Charlie Jane Anders to wrap up her book, All the Birds in the Sky. Did you know Kevin has a secret history? What anime inspired Ernesto? These things, as well as all the winners of all the awards on this episode.

DTNS 2723 – FBI Says “Nevermind, We Got It.”

Daily Tech News Show / March 29th, 2016

In-game purchases are made by almost nobody. So how do the games make $10 billion a year? Patrick Beja and Tom Merritt discuss whether the same thing that made spam a success works for mobile games.

MP3

Using a Screen Reader? Click here

Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.

Please SUBSCRIBE HERE.

A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, none of this would be possible.

If you are willing to support the show or give as little as 5 cents a day on Patreon. Thank you!

Big thanks to Dan Lueders for the headlines music and Martin Bell for the opening theme!

Big thanks to Mustafa A. from thepolarcat.com for the logo!

Thanks to our mods, Kylde, TomGehrke, sebgonz and scottierowland on the subreddit

Show Notes
To read the show notes in a separate page click here!