TMO Background Mode Interview with Science Fiction Novelist Steven Brust

Steven Brust is a popular science fiction author with 31 novels to his credit. He’s known for the Vlad Taltos series as well as the Khaavren romances. He’s also a musician: drummer, guitarist and banjo player, and he has a solo record out, A Rose For Iconoclastes. Like many writers, as we pondered on the show, he has a cat. We chatted about his early career as a computer programmer and the life-changing event that launched him into writing science fiction. Steven’s career has been filled with a fortunate series of happenstances, “luck,” both in the cover art of his novels and his choice of themes. Inspired by Roger Zelazny’s Lord of Light, Steven writes what he’d love to read himself, and that has worked amazingly well. You’ll enjoy our chat about all things science fiction.

Mac App Switcher, iOS Reminders, iPad Calculator, and Feedbag? – Mac Geek Gab 714

Do you like Quick Tips? Do you think you know everything about the macOS App Switcher? If you answered “yes” to those questions we think you’ll be in for a very pleasant surprise, and that’s just the kickoff of the episode! Then it’s on to a few other tips, including a great script for unmounting drives that contain iTunes libraries. Plus, your questions answered. Download or simply press play, and enjoy!

TMO Background Mode Interview with Georgia Tech Roboticist Dr. Ayanna Howard

Dr. Ayanna Howard is a professor of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology. She’s also in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Ayanna received her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California. I asked Ayanna how she became inspired by robot technology. Like many of us, it was via science fiction on TV. In graduate school, robotics was still immature, so she wisely elected to pursue electrical engineering. Her first job was at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) working on vision, fuzzy logic, and neural network methodologies. Today, she leads her students in the areas of assistive robots in the home, therapy gaming apps and remote robotic exploration of extreme environments. Our discussion covered the whole field of robotics, so tune in and hear all about the state-of-the-art from an accomplished roboticist.

TMO Background Mode Interview with IDA Astronomer Dr. John Barentine

Dr. John C. Barentine is an astronomer, historian, author and science communicator. He is currently the Director of Conservation for the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) in Tucson, Arizona. He earned his master’s degree in physics at Colorado State University and his Ph.D. in astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin. Throughout his career, he’s been involved in education efforts to help increase the public understanding of science. We started with a brief segment on his early career as a observing specialist at Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico. In the second segment, we chatted about his work at the IDA in Tucson, the organization, its goals, and why it’s so important for all of us who live on planet Earth to be able to look up on a clear night and see stars.