Cory Doctorow's Blog, page 76
November 4, 2013
Fighting patent trolls and corruption with the Magnificent Seven business-model
My new Locus column, Collective Action, proposes a theory of corruption: the relatively small profits from being a jerk are concentrated, the much larger effects are diffused, which means that the jerks can afford better lawyers and lobbyists than any one of their victims. Since the victims are spread out and don't know each other, it's hard to fight back together.
Then I propose a solution: using Kickstarter-like mechanisms to fight corruption: a website where victims of everything from pate...
November 2, 2013
Young brothers explain Bayes’s theorem
These two young fellows are brothers from Palo Alto who've set out to produce a series of videos explaining the technical ideas in my novel Little Brother, and their first installment, explaining Bayes's Theorem, is a very promising start. I'm honored -- and delighted!
Technology behind "Little Brother" - Jamming with Bayes Rule
Canada Reads top-ten voting ends this weekend
As I mentioned last week, the CBC's Canada Reads list of top 40 Canadian books is up, and it's got a really commendable, wide-ranging variety of titles in it (including my own novel Little Brother). The CBC is asking for readers to choose their favorites by tomorrow, at which point they'll release the top ten list.
It's a great exercise for energizing the nation about reading, and I'm immensely flattered and excited to have a small part in it.
October 24, 2013
Canada Reads Top 40 books — including Little Brother!
I just received the delightful news that my novel, Little Brother made it to the CBC's "Canada Reads" list of top 40 Canadian books, and it is in some spectacular company. There's a competitive element to this (you can vote for your top ten here), but the real value of this list is as a broad, eclectic, amazing collection of books that deserve your attention and enjoyment. Have at it -- and yeah, if you feel so moved, by all means, vote for Little Brother!
What is the one novel that could chan...
October 17, 2013
PRI’s Studio 360 on Disney parks
The PRI Show Studio 360 has released a great episode in its "American Icons" series, this one dealing with the Disney themeparks. I was delighted to be interviewed for it, and they've included our complete, unedited interview with the piece.
Generations of Americans have grown up with Walt Disney shaping our imaginations. In 1955, Disney mixed up some fairy tales, a few historical facts, and a dream of the future to create an alternate universe. Not just a place for fun, but a scale model of a...
October 4, 2013
Comic about Doctorow/Doctor Who from a ten-year-old artist
David sent me a note and a pic:
Claire and I have been “happy mutants” for several years; and so our 10 year-old son, Joseph, has often seen us chuckle at a Boing Boing posting, marvel at some piece of LEGO engineering or share a piece of Whoviana. I’ve read a few of your books, and I have recently tried to introduce some of your YA fiction to him (without success, so far). Our son enjoys manga, anime and comics. He occasionally will create his own comic for our amusement.
The other day, he cre...
October 2, 2013
Talking Little Brother on KQED’s The Forum
I was privileged to appear on Michael Krasny's Forum on KQED in San Francisco this morning as part of the San Francisco Public Library's One City/One Book celebrations for my novel Little Brother. The KQED people already have the audio (MP3) up on the Internet, which is pretty zippy production-mojo.
September 25, 2013
Coming to San Francisco next week for SFPL’s One City/One Book events
As I've mentioned before, my novel Little Brother is the San Francisco Public Library's pick for its first One City/One Book citywide book-club. They're already in the middle of the three months' worth of events, from debates to robotics and crypto workshops to movie screenings (and much more), and I'm gearing up to head to San Francisco for several days' worth of school visits and other presentations.
If you'd like to catch me while I'm there, your best bet is my evening presentation with Nic...
Coming to San Francisco next week for SPFL’s One City/One Book events
As I've mentioned before, my novel Little Brother is the San Francisco Public Library's pick for its first One City/One Book citywide book-club. They're already in the middle of the three months' worth of events, from debates to robotics and crypto workshops to movie screenings (and much more), and I'm gearing up to head to San Francisco for several days' worth of school visits and other presentations.
If you'd like to catch me while I'm there, your best bet is my evening presentation with Nic...
September 16, 2013
How to foil NSA sabotage: use a dead man’s switch (podcast)
In this week's podcast, I read aloud a recent Guardian column, "How to foil NSA sabotage: use a dead man's switch, which proposes a "dead-man's switch" service that'll tip people off when the NSA serves a secret order demanding that Web operators sabotage their systems.
No one's ever tested this approach in court, and I can't say whether a judge would be able to distinguish between "not revealing a secret order" and "failing to note the absence of a secret order", but in US jurisprudence, comp...
