Tech History Today – April 27

In 1981 – The first mouse integrated with a personal computer made its appearance with the Xerox Star workstation.

In 1995 – The Justice Department sued to block Microsoft’s purchase of Intuit, claiming the acquisition would raise prices and squash innovation. Intuit still exists but Microsoft Money is long gone.

In 1998 – Roughly 8,000 AOL subscribers joined the first known live interspecies chat with Koko the gorilla. Koko signed her answers; Penny Patterson interpreted them; and an AOL chat facilitator entered them in the computer.

Tech News Today 487: Linux Not Left 4 Dead

Hosts: Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Iyaz Akhtar and Jason Howell

Valve coming to Linux? Zune dies one more time, Google Drive’s terms of disservice, and more.

Guest: David Pierce

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

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: 50:46

Tech History Today – April 26

In 1884 – The New York Times reported that “sending mails by electricity” was to be investigated by the Post Office Committee of the U.S. House, by providing for contracts with an existing telegraph company. It could lead to 10 cent telegrams!

In 1970 – The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization entered into force.

In 1986 – Design flaws made worse by human error during a safety test, led to the worst nuclear disaster yet, and a partial meltdown at the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant.

comedy4cast #236: Takeover Talk

I had fun guest-appearing (word?) with Scott Johnson on on the Comedy4cast!

While trying to convince guest star Tom Merritt (“FourCast!”, “AutoPilot!”) to get on board with a project, Clinton hears some shocking news. Scott Johnson (“The Morning Stream”, FrogPants Studios) and Paul Barrie (“A Window to the Magic”, “WTTM24″) also guest star.

Get the episode.

Solve this puzzle for a secret look at Mira Grant’s BLACKOUT

Yesterday, io9 published an excerpt of Mira Grant’s Blackout, the final book in her Newsflesh trilogy. Today, an intrepid Newsie hacked into the CDC computer system and liberated another file. For this one, though, you’ll have to do a little digging…

Below is a puzzle whose answer reveals one of the five codes you’ll need to access the second, top-secret document.

Rumor has it that you should be hanging around these other blogs to gather the other four:

Rose-Owls and Pumpkin Girls (The Journal of Seanan McGuire)

The Mary Sue

SF Signal

Fantasy Café

Once you’ve gathered all five codes, you can access the encrypted document at the Orbit Books site. WARNING: Massive spoilers for Feed and Deadline ahead!

Blackout will be available May 22nd.

Let us know where you would hole up during a zombie apocalypse in the comments below, and you will be entered to win the Newsflesh triology (FeedDeadlineBlackout)! Open to participants in the US, Canada, and the UK. Winner will be randomly selected on May 2nd!

 

Tech News Today 486: It’s Not A Beta, It’s A Preview

Hosts: Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Iyaz Akhtar and Jason Howell

Google Drive is real, so is Google selling phones again, so is Asteroid mining, and more.

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

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: 55:23

Tech History Today – April 25

In 1944 – Lt. Carter Harman of the 1st Air Commando Group rescued four men from the jungle in Burma Flying a Sikorsky YR-4 helicopter. It was the first combat rescue by helicopters in the U.S. Army Air Forces.

In 1953 – Watson and Crick’s presented their findings on the double helical structure of DNA in the publication Nature. They noted that the structure “suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material.” 50 Years later the Human Genome Project had concluded sequencing the genome and published a follow-on in Nature on their vision for genetic research.

In 1961 – Robert Noyce received the US patent for the silicon-based integrated circuit. He went on to found the Intel Corporation with Gordon E. Moore in 1968. Noyce fought a long patent rights battle with Jack Kilby who invented a germanium based integrated circuit.