Computers Audiobooks | Science & Technology

The Friendly Orange Glow: The Untold Story of the PLATO System and the Dawn of Cyberculture

At a time when Steve Jobs was only a teenager and Mark Zuckerberg wasn't even born, a group of visionary engineers and designers-some of them only high school students-in the late 1960s and 1970s created a computer system called PLATO, which was light-years ahead in experimenting with how people would learn, engage, communicate, and play through connected computers. Not only did PLATO engineers make significant hardware breakthroughs with plasma displays and touch screens but PLATO programmers also came up with a long list of software innovations: chat rooms, instant messaging, message boards, screen savers, multiplayer games, online newspapers, interactive fiction, and emoticons. Together, the PLATO community pioneered what we now collectively engage in as cyberculture. They were among the first to identify and also realize the potential and scope of the social interconnectivity of computers, well before the creation of the internet. PLATO was the foundational model for every online community that was to follow in its footsteps. The Friendly Orange Glow is the first history to recount in fascinating detail the remarkable accomplishments and inspiring personal stories of the PLATO community. The addictive nature of PLATO both ruined many a college career and launched pathbreaking multimillion-dollar software products. Its development, impact, and eventual disappearance provides an instructive case study of technological innovation and disruption, project management, and missed opportunities. Above all, The Friendly Orange Glow at last reveals new perspectives on the origins of social computing and our internet-infatuated world.

BRIAN DEAR (Author), George Newbern (Narrator)

Audiobook

Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars From 4Chan And Tumblr To Trump And The Alt-Right

Recent years have seen a revival of the heated culture wars of the 1990s, but this time its battle ground is the internet. On one side the alt right ranges from the once obscure neo-reactionary and white separatist movements, to geeky subcultures like 4chan, to more mainstream manifestations such as the Trump-supporting gay libertarian Milo Yiannopolous. On the other side, a culture of struggle sessions and virtue signalling lurks behind a therapeutic language of trigger warnings and safe spaces. The feminist side of the online culture wars has its equally geeky subcultures right through to its mainstream expression. Kill All Normies explores some of the cultural genealogies and past parallels of these styles and subcultures, drawing from transgressive styles of 60s libertinism and conservative movements, to make the case for a rejection of the perpetual cultural turn.

Angela Nagle (Author), Mary Sarah (Narrator)

Audiobook

Homo Deus. Breve historia del mañana

Tras el éxito de Sapiens. De animales a dioses, Yuval Noah Harari vuelve su mirada al futuro para ver hacia dónde nos dirigimos. La guerra es algo obsoleto. Es más probable quitarse la vida que morir en un conflicto bélico. La hambruna está desapareciendo. Es más habitual sufrir obesidad que pasar hambre. La muerte es solo un problema técnico. Adiós igualdad. Hola inmortalidad. ¿Qué nos depara el futuro? Yuval Noah Harari, autor bestseller de Sapiens. De animales a dioses, augura un mundo no tan lejano en el cual nos veremos enfrentados a una nueva serie de retos. Homo Deus explora los proyectos, los sueños y las pesadillas que irán moldeando el siglo XXI -desde superar la muerte hasta la creación de la inteligencia artificial. Cuando tu Smartphone te conozca mejor de lo que te conoces a ti mismo, ¿seguirás escogiendo tu trabajo, a tu pareja y a tu presidente? Cuando la inteligencia artificial nos desmarque del mercado laboral, ¿encontrarán los millones de desempleados algún tipo de significado en las drogas o los juegos virtuales? Cuando los cuerpos y cerebros sean productos de diseño, ¿cederá la selección natural el paso al diseño inteligente? Esto es el futuro de la evolución. Esto es Homo Deus.

Yuval Noah Harari (Author), Carlos Manuel Vesga (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Selfie Generation

Whether it's Kim Kardashian uploading picture after picture to Instagram or your roommate posting a mid-vacation shot to Facebook, selfies receive mixed reactions. But are selfies more than, as many critics lament, a symptom of a self-absorbed generation? Millennial Alicia Eler's The Selfie Generation is the first book to delve fully into this ubiquitous and much-maligned part of social media, including why people take them in the first place and the ways they can change how we see ourselves. Eler argues that selfies are just one facet of how we can use digital media to create a personal brand in the modern age. More than just pictures, they are an important part of how we live today. Eler examines all aspects of selfies, online social networks, and the generation that has grown up with them. She looks at how the boundaries between people's physical and digital lives have blurred with social media; she explores questions of privacy, consent, ownership, and authenticity; and she points out important issues of sexism and double standards wherein women are encouraged to take them but then become subject to criticism and judgment. Alicia discusses the selfie as a paradox-both an image with potential for self-empowerment, yet also a symbol of complacency within surveillance culture The Selfie Generation explores just how much social media has changed the ways that people connect, communicate, and present themselves to the world.

Alicia Eler (Author), Teri Schnaubelt (Narrator)

Audiobook

Technically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech

Buying groceries, tracking our health, finding a date: whatever we want to do, odds are that we can now do it online. But few of us ask how all these digital products are designed, or why. It's time we change that. Many of the services we rely on are full of oversights, biases, and downright ethical nightmares. Chatbots that harass women. Signup forms that fail anyone who's not straight. Social media sites that send peppy messages about dead relatives. Algorithms that put more black people behind bars. Technically Wrong takes an unflinching look at the values, processes, and assumptions that lead to these problems and more. Wachter-Boettcher demystifies the tech industry, leaving those of us on the other side of the screen better prepared to make informed choices about the services we use-and demand more from the companies behind them.

Sara Wachter-Boettcher (Author), Andrea Emmes (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Secret of Invisibility

Chris Kenter (Author), Chris Kenter (Narrator)

Audiobook

I Hate the Internet

What if you told the truth and the whole world heard you? What if you lived in a country swamped with Internet outrage? What if you were a woman in a society that hated women? Set in the San Francisco of 2013, I Hate the Internet offers a hilarious and obscene portrayal of life amongst the victims of the digital boom. As billions of tweets fuel the city's gentrification and the human wreckage piles up, a group of friends suffers the consequences of being useless in a new world that despises the pointless and unprofitable. In this, his first full-length novel, Jarett Kobek tackles the pressing questions of our moment. Why do we applaud the enrichment of CEOs at the expense of the weak and the powerless? Why are we giving away our intellectual property? Why is activism in the 21st Century nothing more than a series of morality lectures typed into devices built by slaves? Here, at last, comes an explanation of the Internet in the crudest possible terms.

Jarrett Kobek (Author), Kathryn Merry (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Secret Life: Three True Stories of the Digital Age

The slippery online ecosystem is the perfect breeding ground for identities: true, false, and in between. The Internet shorthand IRL-"in real life"-now seems naïve. We no longer question the reality of online experiences but the reality of selfhood in the digital age. In The Secret Life, the essayist and novelist Andrew O'Hagan issues three bulletins from the porous border between cyberspace and IRL. "Ghosting" introduces us to the beguiling and divisive Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, whose autobiography the author agrees to ghostwrite with unforeseen-and unforgettable-consequences. "The Invention of Ronnie Pinn" finds the author using the actual identity of a deceased young man to construct an entirely new one in cyberspace, leading him on a journey deep into the Web's darkest realms. And "The Satoshi Affair" chronicles the strange case of Craig Wright, the Australian Web developer who may or may not be the mysterious inventor of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto-and who may or may not be willing, or even able, to reveal the truth.

Andrew O'Hagan (Author), Liam Gerrard (Narrator)

Audiobook

Blockchain: An Essential Beginner's Guide to Understanding Blockchain Technology, Cryptocurrencies,

Do you want to find out what blockchain is, how it works, and what it can do for you? This audiobook could be the answer you are looking for.... This audiobook is the ultimate beginner's guide to understanding blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, bitcoin, and the future of money. In this guide, we shall be discussing everything there is to know about cryptocurrencies, their impact on the future of money and trade, and most importantly, how you can prepare yourself for the disruptive technology that is the blockchain. Here is just some of the information covered in this audiobook: - The history of money - What is the blockchain technology? - History of the blockchain - A chronological development of blockchain related technologies - Benefits of the blockchain technology - Disadvantages of using blockchain technology - Understanding Ethereum - How Ethereum developed - How Ethereum works - How smart contracts work - The application possibilities for smart contracts - How mining works - How to get started with blockchain and implementing blockchain into business operations - Blockchain-based applications you can integrate into your business - How to get started with smart contract and Ethereum web development - Understanding cryptocurrencies and their emergence - How cryptocurrencies work - Bitcoin lifecycle: how cryptocurrency transactions work - How to invest in blockchain and cryptocurrencies - And much more! Listen to this audiobook now to learn more about blockchain!

Herbert Jones (Author), Dryw Mcarthur (Narrator)

Audiobook

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made

Developing video games-hero's journey or fool's errand? The creative and technical logistics that go into building today's hottest games can be more harrowing and complex than the games themselves, often seeming like an endless maze or a bottomless abyss. In Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, Jason Schreier takes listeners on a fascinating odyssey behind the scenes of video game development, where the creator may be a team of 600 overworked underdogs or a solitary geek genius. Exploring the artistic challenges, technical impossibilities, marketplace demands, and Donkey Kong-sized monkey wrenches thrown into the works by corporate, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels reveals how bringing any game to completion is more than Sisyphean-it's nothing short of miraculous. Taking some of the most popular, bestselling recent games, Schreier immerses listeners in the hellfire of the development process, whether it's RPG studio Bioware's challenge to beat an impossible schedule and overcome countless technical nightmares to build Dragon Age: Inquisition; indie developer Eric Barone's single-handed efforts to grow country-life RPG Stardew Valley from one man's vision into a multi-million-dollar franchise; or Bungie spinning out from their corporate overlords at Microsoft to create Destiny, a brand new universe that they hoped would become as iconic as Star Wars and Lord of the Rings-even as it nearly ripped their studio apart. Documenting the round-the-clock crunches, buggy-eyed burnout, and last-minute saves, Blood, Sweat, and Pixels is a journey through development hell-and ultimately a tribute to the dedicated diehards and unsung heroes who scale mountains of obstacles in their quests to create the best games imaginable.

Jason Schreier (Author), Ray Chase (Narrator)

Audiobook

Windows 10 Mastery: The Complete User Guide to Learn Windows 10 from Beginner to Expert

Have you recently upgraded to Windows 10? Do you want to get the very most out of this exciting new improvement to Windows? Learning something new can often be tricky, but when it comes to computers it is often much harder. Many people have a home PC which they use to surf the net or keep up with emails, but there is much more to them than that and if you want to get the most from your PC, you can learn everything you need to know from Windows 10 Mastery: The Complete User Guide to Learn Windows 10 from Beginner to Expert. Inside this fabulous new guide, you will learn about: A brief introduction to the Windows 10 system Your system's minimum requirements Windows 10 versions Upgrading your old Windows What's new With Windows 10 Mastery you can become a knowledgeable expert quickly, even if you are a total novice. Written in an easy-to-understand style, this is the best book to get you started and is ideal as a handy reference guide you can go back to again and again. Get your copy now and open more doors with your Windows 10!

Alex Nelson (Author), Matthew Parrish (Narrator)

Audiobook

Amazon Echo for Beginners: OK, Alexa, What Can You Do?

Figure out how you can change your life with the best home assistant so far. Don't miss a chance to change your future now! In this book you will learn: 1. What Amazon Echo is 2. How to use the Amazon Echo effectively for your personal needs 3. How to utilize all the skills built into the device 4. How to create your own custom skills for the device 5. How to fix a variety of common troubleshooting issues 6. The advantages of a smart home system and how to get your own 7. How to connect the Echo to your smart home system 8. And much, much more!

Danielle Kinley (Author), Rebecca Roberts (Narrator)

Audiobook

Computers Audiobooks in Science & Technology