Tom Merritt's Blog, page 1191
August 8, 2012
Tech History Today – August 9
In 1859 – US Patent no. 25,076 was issued to Nathan Ames of Saugus, Mass. for the first escalator-type moving staircase.
In 1927 – Computer pioneer Marvin Minsky was born in New York City. Minsky grew up to become a pioneer in Artificial Intelligence research and wrote the book “The Society of Mind.”
In 1995 – Netscape Communications staged an IPO. Shares opened at $28 and shot up to $75 per share in one day, becoming one of the indicators of the beginning of the dot-com boom.
Tech News Today 560: Square-bucks
Hosts: Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Iyaz Akhtar and Jason Howell
Square comes to Starbucks, BitTorrent releases millions of legal movies, Microsoft Surface 2, and more.
Guest: Julio Ojeda-Zapata
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Thanks to Cachefly for the bandwidth for this show.
Running time: 54:10
Tech News Today 559: FaceBookies
Hosts: Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Iyaz Akhtar and Jason Howell
Acer tells Microsoft to stop, Samsung’s crisis of design, Facebook allows gambling, and more.
Guest: Lauren Goode
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Submit and vote on story coverage at technewstoday.reddit.com.
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: 50:08
August 7, 2012
Tech History Today – Aug. 8
In 1876 – Thomas Edison received a US patent for a mimeograph, which combined with an invention by A. B. Dick led to the first widely successful mimeograph machine.
In 1908 – For the first time in public, Wilbur Wright showed off the Wright Brothers’ flying machine at the racecourse in Le Mans, France. French doubts about the Wright Brothers’ claims to flight were put to rest for the time being.
In 2007 – Barbara Morgan became the first educator to safely reach space on the U.S. Space Shuttle Endeavour.
Tech News Today 558: Eight Burrito Cores
Hosts: Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Iyaz Akhtar and Jason Howell
Mars Curiosity landing, what if Zynga loses to EA, eBay tests same day shipping, and more.
Guest: Jonathan Strickland
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Submit and vote on story coverage at technewstoday.reddit.com.
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: 53:28
August 6, 2012
Tech History Today – Aug. 7
In 1944 – IBM officially presented the Mark I computer, also known as the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, or ASCC, to Harvard. The computer produced reliable results and ran continuously.
In 1955 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering released Japan’s first commercially produced transistor radio, the TR-55, sold under the company’s new name, Sony.
In 1966 – Jimmy Wales was born in Huntsville, Alabama. He grew up to co-found Wikipedia.
S&L Podcast – #107 – Victory bringer!
In this episode, we learn how to control Veronica using the power of her “true name”: Nathan! Like the hot dogs! We also talk about the fine art of seducing writers.
WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?
Tom: Bear Republic: Racer 5 India Pale Ale
Veronica: Red Wine
QUICK BURNS
GAME OF THRONES & WINDS OF WINTER news
The Most Brilliant Fairy Tale Novel We’ve Read in Years
Scott Lynch sets up a new blog
Sci-Fi writers of the past predict life in 2012
Classic SF of the 1950s: beautiful books introduced by Gibson, Gaiman, Reed, Willis, Straub and others
CALENDAR
BARE YOUR SWORD
Neil Gaiman’s advice on how to seduce a writer.
MOAR!! More kids
What Else Are You Reading? > Renegade Read for August/September 2012: Cloud Atlas
TV, MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES
Lorenzo Di Bonaventura wants Mark Wahlberg to play the Neuromancer
Science Fiction Authors Who Could be Hollywood’s Next Philip K. Dick
BOOK CHECK-IN
Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb
Dear Tom and Veronica,
First of all, I love the show and I’m excited to be a part of your book club. I’d just like to thank you for this month’s pick. I must admit I had my reservations about the novel (I’m not a huge fan of first person narration.) But I was quite surprised by how quickly the pages were turning. I was at the Half-Price bookstore and on page 13 when my brother showed me what he’d intended to buy. The Playstation version of Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. Then it occurred to me I should try to read the book using Simon Templeman’s voice as an older Fitz relating his childhood. The book went from pretty interesting to nothing short of awesome. The voice of Kain going through your head and narrating a tale of a boy’s travails as he learns the trade of killing people? What’s not to love? Anyway, I thought you’d get a kick out of that. Once again, thank you so much for the pick. I can’t wait to see how it turns out. Take care guys.
Yours truly,
Dwayne.
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 88: Seems Legit
Hosts: Brian Brushwood and Tom Merritt
Guest: Justin R Young
Pay TV, Amazon VS Netflix, YouTube double down, Aereo victory, and more!
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:: 1:04:43
August 5, 2012
Tech History Today – Aug. 6
In 1943 – Jon Postel was born in Altadena, California. He created the Internet’s address system, and administered it for 30 years as director of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). 20 years after his birth, Kevin Mitnick was born in Van Nuys, California.
In 1991 – Tim Berners-Lee posted a short summary of his WorldWideWeb Project to alt.hypertext and pointed to a simple browser and a Web page describing the project. Thus the WWW became a publicly available service on the Internet.
In 1997 – At MacWorld in Boston, Microsoft announced it would invest $150 million in Apple, and continue to make Microsoft Office for Mac for at least five years. The two companies also ended their lawsuit.
August 4, 2012
Tech History Today – Aug. 5
In 1858 – The west end of the first transatlantic cable was completed when the ship Niagra anchored at the Newfoundland coast having laid 1,016 miles of telegraph cable.
In 1914 – The American Traffic Signal Co. installed their first electric traffic light at East 105th street and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio.
In 1921 – The first radio broadcast of a baseball game happened on KDKA from Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field. Harold W. Arlin announced the game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Philadelphia Phillies.
