The online virtual reality experience that almost every tech giant today wishes to commercially exploit may not catch onIn the 1992 sci-fi dystopia Snow Crash, the author Neal Stephenson imagined a bleak 21st century where the collapse of the global economy had seen governments fall and their power replaced by a few giant businesses. The book is notable for prescience, anticipating the adoption of what was then seen as outlandish technologies like the wireless internet, cryptocurrencies and smartphones, as well as the rise of the gig economy. But it is the book’s prophetic vision of “the metaverse” that has revived interest in the work.That is because Stephenson described the online virtual reality experience that almost every tech giant today wishes to commercially exploit. Last October, Microsoft announced that users of its Teams online meetings app would be able to turn themselves into avatars – the term Stephenson popularised in Snow Crash – to encourage users into virtual interaction. Days later Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder, rebranded his company as Meta, with a focus on the potential for virtual worlds. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2022-02-07 19:11:48 UTC ]
This week we're loaded with new stuff to watch on streaming, including Katee Sackhoff in a new non-Battlestar Galactica science fiction series, Another Life. Also new on Netflix this week is The Great Hack, a documentary focusing on the Cambridge Ana... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2019-07-23 02:28:00 UTC ]
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Literary agents are gatekeepers of the publishing industry. Find science fiction literary agents open to submissions in this post. List will be updated regularly. The post Science Fiction Literary Agents Open to Submissions by Robert Lee Brewer appeared first on Writer's Digest. Continue reading at Writer's Digest
[ Writer's Digest | 2019-07-22 11:00:17 UTC ]
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Tade Thompson has won the Arthur C Clarke Award for science fiction with his novel Rosewater (Orbit). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-18 04:11:12 UTC ]
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Science fiction illuminates reality by imagining the unreal in a mind-bending show at the Queens Museum. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-07-15 09:00:06 UTC ]
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When Microsoft announced that it was going to start charging its partners for software licenses that had previously been free, there was an understandable backlash. Now the company has announced that it is putting these plans on hold, and free software licenses will still be available to... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2019-07-13 09:35:14 UTC ]
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Welcome to the latest edition of Ad Age Publisher’s Brief, our roundup of news from the world of content producers across digital and print. Got a tip? Send it our way. Joining us late? Here’s the previous edition. Food for thought: Back in April, The New York Times announced that it would be... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-07-11 19:24:56 UTC ]
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At its core, science fiction is a tool for building thought experiment machines. That's the game Russell T Davies' new show is playing so beautifully. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2019-07-11 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Author photo: Tom Kneller; art director: Spencer Singer ¤ SAMUEL R. DELANY (born April 1, 1942) is one of the most — if not the most — important science fiction writers and critics alive today. As documented in the feature-length documentary The Polymath (2008), Delany’s work as a teacher,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2019-07-06 12:30:30 UTC ]
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In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle enjoys some vintage science fiction courtesy of The Best of John Wyndham, 1932-1949 I’ve blogged before about my discovery of John Wyndham’s science fiction in a local charity shop, which had a number of old paperbacks for 99p... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2019-07-05 14:00:22 UTC ]
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This week, Senior Editor Kris Naudus takes a look at a book that will please both sci-fi nerds and design geeks. 'Typeset in the Future' explores the typography and design in science fiction movies such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Trek, and more. Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2019-07-01 17:45:00 UTC ]
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It's a little while since Microsoft announced that is dropping the Books category from the Microsoft Store, but a serious deadline is now looming. If you have bought books or downloaded free books from the Store, you only have a few more days to read them -- so if there are any you haven't... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2019-06-28 15:41:08 UTC ]
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“Unlike some of my hard science fiction books, such as ‘Seveneves’ — where I sweated the details of orbits, rocket engines, etc. — ‘Fall’ is meant to be read as more of a fable,” he says. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-06-28 09:00:08 UTC ]
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Samsung and AT&T recently opened their collaborative 5G Innovation Center to much fanfare. Here is what the two corporate behemoths are actually working on within the secretive walls of Samsung's multibillion-dollar facility in Austin. Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2019-06-26 15:45:18 UTC ]
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Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg's personal security chief faces accusations of sexual misconduct and making racist and homophobic comments, according to a report Thursday by a business news site. In a detailed article, Business Insider cited legal letters reportedly written by... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun
[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-05-31 14:05:00 UTC ]
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Some shareholders wanted Facebook's chairman and chief executive to step down from one of his roles. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2019-05-31 08:58:17 UTC ]
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Some shareholders want Facebook's chairman and chief executive to step down from one of his roles. Continue reading at BBC News
[ BBC News | 2019-05-29 23:23:57 UTC ]
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Zuckerberg and Sandberg will be required to come before Canada's Parliament should they venture to into the country. Continue reading at Stuff
[ Stuff | 2019-05-29 06:41:19 UTC ]
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Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for communities on his platform is very different from how users are gathering there organically. Continue reading at The Atlantic
[ The Atlantic | 2019-05-17 15:55:10 UTC ]
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Tom Hunter, director of the Arthur C. Clarke Award, explores how science and speculative fiction publishing is dealing with the growing demand for diverse work. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-04-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For more than a year, the Observer writer has been probing a darkness at the heart of Silicon Valley. Last week, at a TED talk that became a global viral sensation, she told the tech billionaires they had broken democracy. What happened next?If Silicon Valley is the beast, then TED is its belly.... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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