Tom Merritt's Blog, page 1178

Tech History Today – Oct. 4

In 1957 -The Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, becoming the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth, and motivating the US to get into gear and heat up the space race.

In 1985 – Richard Stallman started a non-profit corporation called the Free Software Foundation, dedicated to promoting the universal freedom to create, distribute and modify computer software. The FSF among other things, enforces the copyleft requirements of the GNU General Public License often referred to as the GPL.

In 2004 – SpaceShipOne returned from its third journey, a reusable spacecraft that could carry passengers beyond the earth’s atmosphere. It won the $10 million Ansari X prize for private spaceflight.

Tech News Today 599: Tom’s Twitter Dumb

Hosts: Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane and Jason Howell

T-Mobile is saved? Samsung calls jury foreman a liar, Twitter partners with Nielsen, and more.

Guest: Shannon Morse

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

Check out the full show notes for today’s episode.

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Thanks to Cachefly for the bandwidth for this show.

Running time: 51:55

Tech News Today 598: A Backbone to Pick

Hosts: Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane and Jason Howell

Nest thermostats get more attractive, Ultrabooks prospects plummet, a plan to get you back in the theater, and more.

Guest: Donald Bell

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: 51:55

Before You Buy: ZaReason UltraLap 430 review

Here’s a somewhat lengthy look at my new laptop that runs Ubuntu.

Tech History Today – Oct. 3

In 1942 – Germany conducted the first successful test of the V-2/A4 rocket, launched from Test Stand VII at Peenemünde. It traveled 118 miles.

In 1954 – John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley received US patents for circuits what would eventually be called the transistor.

In 1972 – The first USA/Japan Computer Conference was held in Tokyo.

In 1985 – STS-51J lifted off Sending the Space Shuttle Atlantis on its maiden flight. It was the fourth shuttle created and eventually became the last shuttle to fly in July 2011.

S&L Video – #13B – ‘Foundation’ Wrap-Up

September is drawing to a close, and that means its time to wrap up this month’s Laser pick, Foundation by Issac Asimov! We wonder if Hari Seldon could have predicted it was this month’s pick…

Learn more about our September pick!
Foundation: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29579.Foundation

Discussion Threads:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/972592-renegade-read-for-august-september…
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/999082-post-your-pulp-gems
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/993638-serialised-novels-what-do-you-think

Railsea review by David: http://youtu.be/fV17ak0C0_8

Tech News Today 597: Drive-In To Go

Hosts: Sarah Lane and Jason Howell

Oracle’s coming for Amazon’s cloud, the Paperwhite is a hit, Netflix is even more kid-friendly, and more.

Guest: Erica Ogg and Brian Brushwood

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: 56:58

Tech History Today – Oct. 2

In 1925, John Logie Baird performed the first test of a working television system. It delivered a grayscale 30-line vertically scanned image, at five frames per second. After a ventriloquist’s dummy appeared on screen, 20-year-old William Edward Taynton became first person televised in full tonal range.

In 1955 – ENIAC was shut down for the last time. After 11 years running at 5,000 operations a second and taking up 1,000 square feet of floor space, it deserved its retirement.

In 1996 – US President Bill Clinton signed amendments to the Freedom of Information Act requiring the US government to make electronic documents available online.

S&L Podcast – #111 – Shhh! Science fiction is tired

Is science fiction exhauasted?  It has a had a hard century’s work.  We’ll examine that, invite you to read some banned books, and smell Veronica’s feet. Don’t let that last one put you off. We also kick off Cloud Atlas.

WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?


Tom: Racer 5 
Veronica: Fridge was empty
 


QUICK BURNS
 


 Joe Haldeman lecture on SF writing
 


Rudy Rucker has launched a new novel, Turing & Burroughs
 


Silvia Hartmann is writing a novel and is welcoming you to watch her progress. Live and in real-time.
 

Demystifying Science Fictional Terms (+ Reading Recommendations to Help You Understand), Part 4
 


Cover & Synopsis: “Etiquette & Espionage” by Gail Carriger
 


CALENDAR
 



BARE YOUR SWORD



Banned Books Week
 


Is SF&F exhausted? 
 






BOOK CHECK-IN



Cloud Atlas Kick-off video coming at the end of this week
 


Great resource for Cloud Atlas 







EMAIL




I have always been an avid reader but not a fantasy/sci-fi reader until I started to listen to your audio podcast, I came by the way of Buzz Out Loud.  Listening to ya’ll talk about the Game of Thrones so much made me decide I had to give a shot, well I started reading them in July and am over half way through the 5th book now we are also watching the HBO series.  I wanted to thank you for introducing me to such a great series that I otherwise would have missed and to send you some pictures that I think of every time the talk about the old gods in the weirwood trees.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/82006512@N00/8037943720/in/photostream/ These pictures are from Orr Park in Montevallo, Alabama were a local artist by the name of Tingle has been carving in the deadwood trees since at least 1993.  Just had to share these pics with ya’ll.

Love the show,
Laura Boggs
Montevallo, Alabama





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. 

 

Frame Rate 95: Don’t believe anyone, ever

Hosts: Brian Brushwood and Tom Merritt

DISH in talks with Viacom about internet TV, Netflix just for kids on iPad, Barnes & Noble launching Nook video, SmartStick, and more.

Guest: Scott Wilkinson

Download or subscribe to this show at twit.tv/fr.

We invite you to read, add to, and amend our show notes at wiki.twit.tv.

Thanks to Cachefly for the bandwidth for this show.

Running time: 1:03:54