The first episode of “Pretend I’m Dumb About Star Wars” wherein we meet our heroes, good robe guys– who fight bad robe guys– and meet special boy in their mission to help a planet caught in the war between the Republic and the Federation.
Get the music! Live from the Cantina at more from andrewallentrio.com.
In 1895 – The US Patent office granted George B. Selden the US patent for his road engine, often considered the first car. He made good money licensing the patent, until Henry Ford crushed him in court. Hence the reason none of us drive Seldens.
In 1994 – Ken McCarthy of the Internet Gazette along with Marc Andreessen of the brand new Netscape (still called Mosaic Communications Corp) and Mark Graham held the first conference to focus on the commercial potential of the World Wide Web.
In 2007 – China’s first lunar satellite, the Chang’e 1 went into orbit around the Moon. The spacecraft operated until March 2009.
In 2007 – The Open Handset Alliance introduced a little something called the Android operating system for mobile phones. Few people expected it to seriously challenge the dominance of Blackberry and Palm.
Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
Facebook can look at photos and answer your questions about them while making 90% accurate predictions about the future. Meanwhile Google Inbox can answer your mail for you. Scott Johnson and Tom Merritt talk about how AI is showing up in our daily lives.
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Multiple versions (ogg, video etc.) from Archive.org.
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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!
Winter Movie Draft, Fargo (203), The Leftovers (205), The Shield (712)
00:42 – Winter Movie Draft
04:07 – Fargo (203)
11:30 – The Leftovers (205)
19:24 – The Shield (712)
In 1879 – James Jacob Ritty patented the first cash register as “Ritty’s Incorruptible Cashier”. He was motivated to invent it by the no-good thieving employees at his saloon.
In 1939 – Packard Motor Co. exhibited the first air-conditioned automobile at the 40th Automobile Show in Chicago, Illinois.
In 1952 – Fresh off census duty, the UNIVAC computer projected General Dwight David Eisenhower would defeat Adlai Stevenson for President of the US. All the polls showed Stevenson had a clear advantage so CBS delayed using the projection fearing inaccuracy.
Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
At Con-Volution 2015 we sat down with author/podcaster/publicist Jaym Gates and talked about her unique perspective on publishing from within and without.
Activision Blizzard will buy King Digital, makers of Candy Crush, in the biggest gaming merger since Microsoft bought Minecraft. Can a declining one-hit wonder maker save the console and PC platform maker’s mobile bacon? Or candy? Patrick Beja and Tom Merritt debate.
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!
In 1957 – The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2 carrying the first animal ever to enter orbit, a dog named Laika. It would go on to inspire the saddest Jonathan Coulton song ever, “Space Doggity” and the band Laika and the Cosmonauts.
In 1973 – NASA launched Mariner 10 towards Mercury. It would become the first space probe to reach the planet.
In 1992 – Tim Berners-Lee posted a page describing the World Wide Web. It’s the oldest page still served on the Web.
Like Tech History? Get the illustrated Year in Tech History at Merritt’s Books site.
CBS uses Star Trek to sell subscriptions, Sling TV sees surprising behavior, and whether you should by Apple TV.
CordKillers: 94 – CBS = Cash Buys Star Trek
Recorded: November 2, 2015
Guest: Andrew Mayne
Intro Video
Primary Target
Signal Intelligence
Gear Up
Front Lines
Under Surveillance
Dispatches from the Front
Hey Guys,
Your boss Dave in Cloudy Madison, WI
re: Football Stream on yahoo!
In response, to the uh oh regarding the numbers Yahoo reported keep in mind (full disclaimer that I’m a Packers fan):
– it was on early Sunday Morning when people are still sleeping off Saturday night
– It was the Jaguars vs. Bills. Not a big draw on a normal Sunday and probably a 3rd or fourth tier game
– It was from London. yawn.
– Multi tabs.. I opened a dedicated tab for this and then pulled it into a secondary monitor and maximized it. So while the browser may report other tabs open may be open, it doesn’t mean I’m not fully watching the game.
– it was auto launching on all Yahoo! Sports pages, e.g. open my fantasy football team, autolaunch even though it was already open
re: Justified
Tom, you need to watch this show! Just ask the TMS guys. IMO its not really a procedural cop show, its more of a modern Western. Having said that don’t forget the new Westworld is coming which you may want to do too.
Hope all is well,
– Dave
I just wanted to defend the numbers that Yahoo got for its first streaming event of an NFL game. First off the game came on at 6 AM Pacific time. This cuts out a significant portion of the audience as most people on the west coast aren’t up that early. Second, it was the Bills vs. Jaguars, two smaller market teams both of whom aren’t very good this year. Given these things I wouldn’t call Yahoo’s streaming numbers a failure, quite the opposite!
– Josh
Hi guys,
I listened to your latest episode and heard you talking about the box office deal Paranormal Activity is using for theaters and streaming.
I was amazed you didn’t know about the other thing that is happening with that movie. When we saw it over its opening weekend it had 3 ads for 1 movie in between every trailer they showed. Then as soon as the movie ended and the credits started rolling they played a longer ad. That’s right, there is an ad for a movie INSIDE of this movie! I was furious.
Love the show,
– Justin from Dallas
I wonder if part of the reason that Community failed on Yahoo was the Yahoo video app its self. It’s gotten better but it’s always been pretty bad. When community first started, I think the app was still annoyingly auto-playing video when you started it and made it really hard to find what you wanted.
I’m a huge fan of Community and consider it one of my top 5 favorite sitcoms of the last decade. But being on Yahoo kind of killed it for me. If it were still on TV or had gone to Netflix I would have watched it because it would have been in front of my eyeballs already
– Matt, Sterling VA
Hi, Brian and Tom!
In episode 93 you discussed the story about Vice buying TV stations overseas and partnering with current content providers here in the States. Over the summer, I attended a book signing/Q&A with Brad Meltzer here in N. VA. During the session the question about when to expect new episodes of “Lost History”.
He said (and I’m paraphrasing) that he’s recently met with History and they were working something out. One of the issues was that H2 was going away and going to become Vice TV. History and H2 are owned by A&E which back in August 2014 struck a deal with Vice. After hearing this, I found these articles from April 2015 from The Hollywood Reporter and the New York Times confirming it, which made me sad because I like “Lost History”.
Hug and Kisses!
– Mike aka gadgetchaser
Links
Winter Movie Draft, Triage, The Man in the High Castle (102), Fargo (202), The Leftovers (204), The Shield (711)
01:36 – Winter Movie Draft
07:19 – Triage (no spoilers)
10:55 – The Man in the High Castle (102)
17:09 – Fargo (202)
22:57 – The Leftovers (204)
28:58 – The Shield (711)