TMO Background Mode Interview with Colorado Charter School Academic Director Johanna Harth

Johana Harth is the Academic Director of a Colorado charter school. Over the last 12 years, she’s gained enormous experience in how to match the curriculum needs of K-8 grade students with modern computer technology. Thanks to the technical influence of her father, and being very good at math, as a youth her plan was to become an engineer. She graduated from U.C. San Diego with a degree in industrial engineering. All was according to plan until some significant, serendipitous events changed her life. Just how she became the Academic Director of a charter school, and then became involved in computer technology is an amazing story. Johanna explained the school’s migration from Macs to Chromebooks, when the students start with computers, how they use them and what they’re taught about computers. It’s a very, ahem, educational story.

The Silofication of Movies and TV, LOL Fitbit, and Fooling Self-Driving Cars - ACM 423

Disney said it’s pulling its huge portfolio from Netflix in 2019, and Bryan and Jeff are concerned that the silofication of more and more content will be bad for consumers. They also chat about Fitbit’s plans for a smartwatch…ah, we’re just kidding. LOL Fitbit. Oh, and it turns out it’s pretty easy to fool a self-driving car.

TMO Background Mode Interview with Joy of Tech Co-founder Nitrozac

Nitrozac (Liza Schmalcel) is an accomplished artist and cartoonist. Along with her partner, Snaggy, she founded Geek Culture in 1997, and it continues to thrive. She’s also the co-founder of the Joy of Tech webcomic. Nitrozac told me about growing up in northern Manitoba, Canada. She knew at a very early age that she wanted to become an artist, and she’s been drawing non-stop ever since. After high school, she attended the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto. Nitrozac suffered for a bit with not very capable computers before she went on to photography and communication design. Eventually, she met Snaggy the team has been at the center of our geek culture for two decades. And now, she’s graciously provided a new self-portrait for us. It’s the Nitrozac mystique!

TMO Background Mode Interview with Hyperledger Project's Executive Director Brian Behlendorf

Brian Behlendorf is the Executive Director of the Hyperledger Project at the Linux Foundation. He’s also the co-author of the Apache Web server, now under the Apache Software Foundation. Plus, he holds a seat on the board of the Mozilla Foundation and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Brian has been one of the leading proponents of the open source software movement. Brian’s parents met at IBM, and so computers became a natural part of his early life: the TRS-80 (he learned BASIC and gaming), Mac IIc’s at school, and later IBM PC Jr. He studied physics at Berkeley, but in so doing fell in love with the internet. In 1991, he started thinking about a better Web server than the original from NCSA, and Apache was born. We chat about Brian’s distinguished career and current work.