Month: February 2014

The Most Unusual Alternate History Novels Ever Published

http://io9.com/the-most-unusual-alternate-history-novels-ever-publishe-1518395336?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_facebook&utm_source=io9_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

I may add a few of these books to my already staggering stack of to – be – read books.

See any that you like or would recommend?

Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon

Sun Dogs on Snow Day

The day after the Kansas City metro area got nearly a foot of snow dumped on it, I ventured out to return to work.  Most of the local schools and some businesses remained closed that day, but not my employer or the employer of one of my other vanpool riders. On the commute home, I enjoyed watching some sun dogs playing around the sinking sun.  My smartphone camera just doesn’t do them justice:

sun dogs
Click on photo to see rest of Snow Day Sun Dogs album

There’s something rotten in the state of online video streaming, and the data is starting to emerge — Tech News and Analysis

http://gigaom.com/2014/02/06/theres-something-rotten-in-the-state-of-online-video-streaming-and-the-data-is-starting-to-emerge/

Unfortunately ISPs gloss over the real debate, which is whether transit providers, content companies and CDNs should have to pay to peer — that is, pay for the right to deliver all of the traffic that an ISP’s users are demanding — given that the end user has paid the ISP to deliver the content the user has asked for?

It’s a long article but full of insights into the battle for broadband going on v out of sight and mind of most consumers.

Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon

Answering the Question: What’s Wrong with Epic Fantasy?

That is tricky question to answer, because the very nature of the work is what makes epic fantasy…well, epic. Maybe there really isn’t anything broken or wrong with epic fantasy as a subgenre, maybe the thing that gets broken, or perhaps a better word might be “tired,” of epic fantasy is the reader.

— Teresa Frohock, author of  Miserere: an Autumn Tale

One of many ‘epic’ answers to the question ‘What’s Wrong with Epic Fantasy?’ found at the recent MIND MELD: What’s “Wrong” with Epic Fantasy? – SF Signal post.

Article: Google’s Chromecast Is Open To All, So Bring On The Streaming Apps – ReadWrite

Google’s Chromecast Is Open To All, So Bring On The Streaming Apps – ReadWrite

http://readwrite.com/2014/02/04/google-chromecast-sdk-streaming-apps

Squee!  I see more apps using Chromecast in my future.

Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon

eBook Review: Three Princes by Wheeler (2.5 Stars)

Three Princes by Ramona Wheeler

2.5 to 3 stars out of 5

Read in January/February 2014

In the beginning, there were only Two Princes – Oken and Mabruke, apprentice/journeyman and master spies of the Egyptian Empire, an empire that never fell and where Cleopatra didn’t kiss an asp. The offspring of Caesar and Cleopatra multiplied and prospered across the centuries, bringing us to the golden age of culture and civilization we normally associate with the Victorian era. Never fear, Victoria and Albert have their parts to play in the political theater bubbling across Europe and between the two Empires of the Old and New Worlds.

And that’s where our Third Prince, Viracocha, makes his dramatic entrance, as a member of the royal family of the Inca/Aztec Empire of the New World. Logically, to the author at least, if Spain never rose to prominence, then the South American continent wouldn’t have been invaded and devastated by the Conquistadors. Instead, they flourished and prospered just as their Egyptian peers did in the Old World.

Continue reading “eBook Review: Three Princes by Wheeler (2.5 Stars)”