The top technology news, views, interviews and reviews!
book
Ep. 306 – Lance Fortnow’s “Golden Ticket”
May 1st
TOPIC: ”To P or not NP, that is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the electronic minds of men to solve their problems quickly, or to suffer the slings and arrows of non-deterministic machine solutions in polynomial time … “ Alright, admittedly we wind up a bit off topic this week (though not so far afield as to be Bowdlerizing Shakespeare) but we have an absolute blast interviewing author Lance Fortnow about whether P will ever be equal to NP and solve all of life’s problems! A special shout-out goes to Lance, who was brave enough to join us physically, in-studio and take part in the whole show!
Jay Garmon joins us with some geek flavor and a fantastic geek trivia question too:
What sport was created in the Year 2000 by a single UseNet post?
No time at all for going off with multiple cool sites, but these are cool enough:
- Golden Ticket Book – One of many places to find out more about P, NP and Lance Fortnow!
- Computational Complexity – Lance’s long-running blog, and a great place to see what else is going on in theoretical computation.
We close out with our podcast only song of the week “One Day/The Reckoning Song”.
Ep. 296 – Singularity Rising Author James Miller
Jan 17th
TOPIC: The coming AI singularity – that point when the growth of non-human intelligence surpasses our ability to control (even understand it) is coming. Do you know how it will affect you, and what you can do about it? This week we have a fantastic conversation with author James Miller about his new book Singularity Rising … tune in to find out if you should be excited, afraid, or both!
Jay Garmon hits us up with this great question:
What was the Boeing 787 “Dreamliner” technology originally intended for?
No coolsites of the week (though you should check out http://singularityrising.com for more info Professor Miller’s fantastic book), but we end with a great song, Robert Smith and Crystal Castles with “Not In Love”.
Ep. 291 – Do Facts Have a Half-Life? Sam Arbesman Says “Yes!”
Dec 5th
TOPIC: We have a great interview today with the author of the book “The Half-Life of Facts,” Sam Arbesman! It’s a fascinating and deep book, and Sam does a wonderful job of explaining how all of the “facts” we know are constantly being overturned … and that this is occurring at a mathematically definable rate. If that scares you, don’t worry, we also spend a lot of time talking about Popeye, astronomy, and who exactly discovered the last major organ in the human body!
The show wouldn’t be complete without Jay Garmon on hand to ask us this geek question of the week:
How and when did the first reported lottery in history occur?
No cool sites of the week this week, but make sure you check out these links for more info about Sam Arbesman and his book:
- “The Half Life of Facts” Book website: http://www.halflifeoffacts.com
- Sam Arbesman’s website: http://www.arbesman.net
Finishing it all off is a fantastic new song by Alt-J called “Fitzpleasure.” It’s also one of the creepiest videos I’ve seen in a long time – go find it on YouTube when you get a chance!
Ep. 288 – Alexandre Montagu on Intellectual Property
Nov 14th
Alexandre Montagu Intellectual Property: Money and Power in a New Era Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (87)
TOPIC: Alexandre Montagu, founder of MontaguLaw – a leading intellectual property law firm – joins us to talk about all things IP! Did you know that the color red can be considered intellectual property, and sued over? We don’t stick with fashion, but have a very interesting and in-depth discussion about what IP is and how it affects you and the technologies you use every day. We even have time to freewheel some ideas on just exactly what is wrong with IP law today!
We also have the pleasure of Jay Garmon coming on air via the wonders of wireless to answer last week’s question and provide this nugget for next week:
What was the training technique developed specifically for use in Gemini 12 (still in use today) and what mission objective was it used for?
Once again we get so involved in our discussion there just isn’t time for any coolsites, but you should definitely follow the links here to get more info about the book Intellectual Property: Money and Power in a New Era, and if you’ve got any other legal questions go to MontaguLaw directly!
We end the show with a special podcast only song of the week, an ode to everyone who is still arguing about the election … just listen and you’ll understand 
Ep. 287 – Michael Miller Talks Windows 8
Nov 8th
TOPIC: Michael Miller, prolific author, musician and tech expert returns to the show to give us his opinion on the new Windows 8, and whether you should be excited, wary, or just bored! If you’re thinking of getting a new windows device in the near future, this is an episode you won’t want to miss! We also get to hear a bit about some of Michael’s new projects such as “Easy Facebook” which was just released through Que.
Jay Garmon joins us for a fun discussion about business continuity, Shoretel Sky failings, disaster recovery, your data and Hurricane Sandy as well as this brain “twister” (bad pun fully intended):
For what legal reason do the elections occur on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November?
No time for coolsites this week, but you should go check out the MoleHillGroup website and see what else the prolific Mr. Miller has been up to!
We end with a real interesting hybrid of a song called “Sari” by Nellie McKay.
Ep. 282 – Michael Miller, Maps and Music!
Oct 5th
TOPIC: That’s right, Michael Miller joins us this week (at least for a while) to talk about music, books, publishing through Molehill group, using Pinterest and more!
Before he joins us, we also get a chance to cover a ton of news and updates like how Apple’s new maps app works (or doesn’t), alternatives you can use today like Waze, and the prediction that by 2040 you won’t need to worry about any of it – including having a drivers license because of the advent of autonomous cars!
We lose Mike a little earlier than we wanted to (though he promised to come back again soon), but that gives us a little extra time for the coolsites of the week:
- AdoMatic – Get your own presidential TV commercial! Not enough libelous slander, but otherwise a lot of fun!
- RLVision – Export office and PDF images quickly and easily! (shareware)
And “The Kids Were Wrong” by Memory House is the song of the week!
Ep. 279 – Matt Richtel’s Floodgate
Sep 12th
TOPIC: That’s right, good friend of the show Matt Richtel is back – and so is Nat Idle (or at least a cameo). Matt and Mike get deep into search privacy, data dives and more … a lot more – you’ll have to listen to get the whole scoop! Of course, regular Jay Garmon is with us and, after discussing what we would do with a lock of Neil Armstrong’s hair, provides this tasty cerebral nugget:
What is the only non-technical Emmy that the Star Trek franchise has ever won?
Too much great conversation means no cool sites this week (though don’t forget to head over to http://mattrichtel.com for more on Floodgate, Cloud and Matt’s other books), but we do fit in a great, jazzy song by Jamie Lidell - ”Multiply”
Ep. 266 – Who’s #1?
Apr 25th
TOPIC: No, I’m not trying to beg for praise – that’s the title of the fascinating new book that authors Carl Meyer and Amy Langville have written … and we have a great time talking to them about it today! We cover some of the more interesting ways that math, sports, ratings and rankings all get together – it may not help you make your first million in Vegas, but then again, it won’t hurt!
Rusty Silber, from WRLR’s own Sports Corner joins us to add a much-needed sense of balance and insight.
There’s a few news stories in the beginning and then Jay Garmon also jumps in for a quick Geek Trivia fix:
What was the first linewide change of the Coca Cola formula in 1935 – and why was it performed?
We have too much fun talking with Amy and Carl this week, so the coolsites are little slim:
- Who’s #1 – You can buy it on Amazon today, either hard copy or e-reader.
- Carl Meyer’s Web Page
- Amy Langville’s Web Page
The podcast only song of the week is “Pickpocket” by Fujiya & Miyagi.
Ep. 260 – A Leap Year for Geeks!
Feb 29th
TOPIC: Mike, Dave and ubergeek Jay Garmon have a great time this week talking books, authors, new publishing ideas and leap years! It doesn’t hurt that Jay has just returned from (yet another) really cool fiction con to rub our noses in.
Leap years and leap days are so much fun that we enhance our enjoyment with a themed geek trivia question from Jay Garmon who asks:
What day in February is the day that was actually inserted into the month for leap year, that by result creates February 29th? (Hint: it’s not February 29!)
Another great set of coolsites comes along this week too:
- PlayFic – Play and make your own text adventures!
- Etymonline.com – Online etymologies at your fingertips!
- OldTime Radio Archive – Radio classics, free and available for download!
The podcast only song of the week is “Female Doctor” by Miniature Tigers.
Ep. 257 – 9 Algorithms That Changed the Future
Jan 25th
TOPIC: Dave and Mike have a great time, joined by John MacCormick discussing his new book “9 Algorithms That Changed the Future”! John breaks down the basics of everything from Euclid’s algorithm to modern day cryptography, web search and compression and somehow makes it accessible and easy to understand. If you’ve ever been mystified and impressed by all the goings-on that must be happening in that electronic box you stare at all day, this is the show to listen to!
Jay Garmon jumps in gives us some great trivia too:
What Apollo 1 crew practical joke became accepted NASA policy as a tribute to the loss of that mission’s crew?
Coolsites of the week included:
- The evergreen TechTalk Facebook page http://facebook.com/techtalkwrlr (don’t forget to “like” us)!
- Hipmunk comes up again, and of course …
- You’ll want to find out more about John MacCormick’s fantastic book here.
Podcast only song is the smooth “Swim Until You Can’t See Land” by Frightened Rabbit off of their Winter of Mixed Drinks album.
The Buzz