Knotty Geeks Episode 00

Links to things we mentioned in the show:

White Dwarf Books: http://www.deadwrite.com/wd.html
Warcraft FigurePrints: http://www.figureprints.com
Perception of Time Slows Down: http://www.livescience.com/health/071211-time-slow.html
More Time Slowing Down Stuff: http://blogs.villagevoice.com/forkintheroad/archives/2008/06/adventures_...
Randy Pausch's Last Lecture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
Dactyl Nightmare Arcade Game: http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=dactyl-nightmare&page=detail&id=12493

Knotty Geeks Episode 01

We're back! In this episode we start out with a shoutout to all our listeners of the last podcast! Individually! By name! We then move on to discussing this week's tech news: Microsoft's ads are awful, AmigaOS 4.1 is released, six-core Intel CPUs are out. Then we sidetrack into computing history and devolve into general silliness. Devolve?

Here is a list of the URLs that we talk about in the show:

http://www.lovenstein.org/tough/ - It's Tough Being A Republican in 2008
http://www.sleazysoft.com/megaslz/holycrap.php - Terry says this is the same as the chances of Microsoft's new ad campaign working! Yikes!
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you... - Stats on how third-world countries are modernizing
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/aubrey_de_grey_says_we_can_avoid_agin... - 150 to 1,000 year lifetimes? Could happen.
http://www.e-brighthorizons.com/repeat-after-me/ - Just be glad you don't have this guy's job!
http://web-hosting.tophostingcenter.com/?p=120 - Ebay buys, then tries to sell, Stumbleupon
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/31/mccain-oil-donations/ - John McCain gets zillions from oil lobbyists
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~kaltofen/words.html - What the same words mean in German and English
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/09/top-10-amazing.html - Top 10 Amazing Physics Videos for 2008

Knotty Geeks Episode 02

In this episode, we talk primarily about the release of Google's Android phone. We compare it to the iPhone and contrast the different strategies and philosophies behind these platform's respective application stores. Hey, how about an Amiga phone? We get into how two science fiction authors described the near future and how smart phones might enable this future--in Japan, of course, a new company is making this happen already!

List of URLs referenced in the show:

http://technorati.com/videos/youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DinRMILwJa-U First Google Android phone released
http://www.geeknewscentral.com/archives/008249.html Apple bans podcasting application from the iPhone store
http://www.joyoftech.com/joyoftech/joyarchives/1151.html Joy of Tech explains Apple's process for approving iPhone apps
http://www.amazon.com/Halting-State-Charles-Stross/dp/0441014984 Halting States novel by Charles Stross
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End Rainbow's End novel by Vernor Vinge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgTwSXK_5dg Tonchidot augmented reality on iPhone video
http://www.myvu.com/Shades.html MyVu heads-up display glasses for iPods and iPhones
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2008/09/chrome-brand-ne.html Chrome loses some market share

In this episode, we take a trip from the Chinese government, through the promise and peril of cloud computing, and finally find liberation through YouTube and a trip into Earth orbit.

List of URLs referenced in this episode:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081002-skype-security-flub-leads-... - China monitoring Skype
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2008/09/avalanche.html - Author Charles Stross says it is getting harder to write near-future SF
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080930-why-stallman-is-wrong-when... - Ars Technica dismisses Richard Stallman's criticism of cloud computing
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO-lZ4_hU - An anthropologist reports on YouTube
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=_yxHKgQyGx0 - A brilliant mashup exploring copyright issues in a modern world
http://admin.brightcove.com/viewer/federated_f8.swf?autoStart=false&cdnU... - It's a weird URL, but this should work. Full 10 minute launch from the ground into space of SpaceX's rocket.

We're back! In this episode, we discuss our trip to Sacramento for Amiwest 2008, my shiny new Macbook, and end up with genetically altered super-vegetables.

Links discussed on the show:

Amiwest show 2008

New macbooks:
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/2008-macbookpro-review.ars/1

Mac market share:
http://jeremyreimer.com/postman/node/58

Bluray on macs, and Psystar with bluray
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/10/28/psystar-introduces-...

Video Games Live

Purple Tomatoes
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081101-science-week-in-review-pur...

We're back! In this episode, we talk about where we've been, and look back at the past year. Our conclusion: Technology news sucks! WHAT?? A podcast about technology news saying that technology news sucks? It's true.

We try and explain ourselves a little bit. It's not the fault of the technology news reporters (at least, not really). It's all because of the acceleration of technology itself. Listen to find out more!

Links to sites discussed in the podcast:

http://www.figureprints.com - Get your World of Warcraft 3D custom figures!

http://www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0134.html?printable=1 - Explains acceleration quite starkly.

http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/looking-back-looking-forwards.ars/2 - Ars Technica's 2007 predictions.

Books:

http://www.amazon.com/Super-Crunchers-Thinking-Numbers-Smart/dp/0553805401 - SuperCrunchers

http://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Revolutionary-Business-Essentia... - The Innovator's Dilemma

After too long an absence, we're back with a show covering one specific theme: Should expert systems and possibly artificial intelligences take over the big banking and other financial decisions, in order to prevent us flawed humans from having another economic meltdown?

I argue that they should, while Terry has a more nuanced view of the subject.

Links from the show:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_collapse#Indian_theory - P.R. Sarkar's theory of economic collapse
http://www.amazon.com/Darwins-Radio-Greg-Bear/dp/0345435249 - Darwin's Radio sci-fi novel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_technology - Disruptive Technology
http://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Revolutionary-Business-Essentia... - The Innovator's Dilemma
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Monday_(1987) - Black Monday 1987
http://www.amazon.com/Artificial-Life-Frontier-Computers-Biology/dp/0679... - Steven Levy's Artifical Life

We're back! After a long absence, we've figured out what we were missing from our podcasts. Car noises--lots and lots of car noises.

In this first ever experimental Knotty Geeks episode, we tear off the Skype headsets and exit our homes, braving the fierce DayStar and horrific drivers to reach our destination--Wick's Cafe, home of free WiFi and decent hot chocolate.

Listen if you dare as we talk about some science fiction stories we are working on, and interact with various strange people we found outside.

Links from the show:

http://darcvhal.com/demo/ Terry's experimental graphic novel, GN001
http://web.archive.org/web/20051127010734/http://home.comcast.net/~kngjo... True Names, a novel by Vernor Vinge

In this episode, the wind picks up and crashes Audacity, but thanks to the Internet, no files are lost!

We talk about:

The Macintosh owners club
Twitter Analytics
Terry’s story and how insects are related to computing
Jeremy’s adventure into print-on-demand publishing
The problem with portable gaming
Enterprise applicatons: Microsoft versus EMC versus Google
Microsoft may be old-school, but is Google boring?
David Pogue on TWIT and conflict of interest: does it matter?
Health care in the future
Corporations as people?
Terraforming the Earth

Note: This episode runs a little long, but I felt it was worthwhile to keep most of it.

Links from the show:

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/only-comic-can-inquire-into-such.... - Stephen Colbert and Jeffrey Toobin talk about the original ruling that made corporations "people" --

Quote:
Colbert explained that the 1886 case (Santa Clara v. Southern Pacific Railroad) that conferred 14th Amendment equal protection rights onto corporations wasn't even in the original ruling. But when the Chief Justice made an off-hand comment that the Court wouldn't hear an argument on whether the 14th Amendment applied to these corporations (saying, "We are all of the opinion that it does"), the court reporter wrote it into the ruling opinion, and the precedent has held ever since. And that reporter of the Supreme Court didn't only have ties to the railroad barons, he used to run one.

We're back from BarCamp 2009 and we've got a lot of stuff to talk about! We review the show and the presentations, then go on to talk about podcasting, acceleration, uneven distribution of the future, and the future of mass media!

Links from the show:

http://www.barcamp.org/BarCampVancouver2009
http://www.flickr.com/groups/barcampvancouver/
http://www.barcamp.org/BarCampVancouver2009Sponsors
http://bmannconsulting.com/
http://www.techvibes.com/blog/some-notes-on-barcamp-vancouver-2009-part-1
http://www.topdownview.com/2009/10/barcamp-vancouver-what-did-we-achieve/
http://www.strangelyentangled.com/2009/10/05/barcamp-vancouver-2009/
http://www.mainwriter.com/2009/10/04/barcamp-vancouver-2009-rocked/
http://ow.ly/tuKx
http://barcamp09comic.pbworks.com/ <- A cool comic based on the show!

We're back! The weather has finally allowed us to venture outside to brave the scary world outside Wick's Coffee. In this episode, we talk about the Gervais Principle, work/life balance, Timothy Ferris and the four-hour work week, Penny Arcade dissing the iPad, and somehow end up discussing... LISP? Is that the language with all the stupid parentheses?

Notes from the show:

Knotty geeks episode 10 notes

The Gervais Principle

http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office...

They actually produce, but are not compensated in proportion to the value they create (since their compensation is set by sociopaths operating under conditions of serious moral hazard). They mortgage their lives away, and hope to die before their money runs out. The good news is that losers have two ways out, which we’ll get to later: turning sociopath or turning into bare-minimum performers. The losers destined for cluelessness do not have a choice.

Timothy Ferris and the 4-hour work week

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/

Life doesn’t have to be so damn hard. It really doesn’t. Most people, my past self included, have spent too much time convincing themselves that life has to be hard, a resignation to 9-to-5 drudgery in exchange for (sometimes) relaxing weekends and the occasional keep-it-short-or-get-fired vacation.

The truth, at least the truth I live and will share in this book, is quite different.

The Fourth Way

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Way

Gurdjieff taught people how to increase and focus their attention and energy in various ways, and to minimize daydreaming and absentmindedness.

Tycho destroys (and then buys) the iPad

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2010/1/29/

That iPad presentation had to be the worst thing I've even seen on on the Apple stage. There is a part where they - I am not making a joke - there is a part where they try to make creating spreadsheets seem awesome. Jilted may be the word. Of course, we're at the second wave of commentary now, the reflexive defense phase, but I've seen this practiced arc too many times to feel its pull. Apple didn't make a case for the device.

Paul Graham on LISP

http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html

So if Lisp makes you a better programmer, like he says, why wouldn't you want to use it? If a painter were offered a brush that would make him a better painter, it seems to me that he would want to use it in all his paintings, wouldn't he? I'm not trying to make fun of Eric Raymond here. On the whole, his advice is good. What he says about Lisp is pretty much the conventional wisdom. But there is a contradiction in the conventional wisdom: Lisp will make you a better programmer, and yet you won't use it.

In this episode, we get scared of the wind and venture inside Wick's Cafe, only to find ourselves face to face with eating and drinking noises, light reggae, and... ourselves.

We talk a little bit about creating art in 2D and 3D, the current state of smartphones, and then get into the history and future of programming, a subject we know virtually nothing about.

Links from the show:

Jeremy's new "Star Gamer" 2D comic, made on a Bamboo tablet:

http://www.jeremyreimer.com/postman/node/446

Malcom Gladwell's "10,000 hours to become an expert" book Outliers:

http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/index.html

Coders at Work - the most entertaining book about programming you'll ever read:

http://www.codersatwork.com/

The Dunning-Kruger effect, where you are too incompetent to know you are incompetent (maybe that's us?)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning-Kruger_effect