What to know what new audiobooks have arrived?

Scott D.

SFFaudio News

metaSFFaudio LogoHere at the SFFaudio Research and Development Lab, we’ve been watching TV hard at work on innovative solutions to match you with your audiobooks.

That’s why, when we noticed that Scalzi started to use Twitter to list his incoming books, we immediately spent hours reading his list leapt into action. We stole his idea, called it our own, and started our own feed called NewAudiobookIn. Turns out that is a very quick and easy way to note everything that comes in.

For those that aren’t on Twitter but use RSS readers to read blogs, I suggest you use this link to read the new Twitter feed as an RSS feed:
http://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline.rss?screen_name=NewAudiobookIn

Our regular Twitter feed, @SFFaudio, will not be changed.

Stay tuned for other copied innovations, like the new SFFaudio Grill. We’ve also been playing with a new thing all the kids are doing called YouTube. Coming soon!

Posted by Scott D. Danielson

Inkstuds: Interview with Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra of Y: The Last Man

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

InkstudsThere’s an interesting 2008 interview with Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra, the writer and artist behind Y: the Last Man, right here |MP3|. Here’s the description:

The inkstuds were joined by two stellar creators today. Brian K Vaughan and Pia Guerra have been doing Y the Last Man for the 5 years, and just released the last issue of their acclaimed series. It was a really neat chat about there collaborative work and the series.

Y: The Last Man - Collection 1

Posted by Jesse Willis

Heinlein speaks (briefly) from the set of Destination Moon

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News

An older post, called The Sound Of Robert Heinlein’s Voice, has finally turned up some of that very stuff!

Check out this wonderful video a 1949 group interview from the set of Destination Moon! Robert A. Heinlein is there, on set, as he served as a technical adviser.

Heinlein appears at about 5 minutes into Part 1. He reappears again, briefly, at the end of Part 3.

[immeasurable thanks to Robert, Bill Higgins and CrowTRobot1313]

Posted by Jesse Willis

Bill C-11 – Canada’s new copyright legislation

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio News

CBC.ca - Tories Want To Wrap Copyright Law By Christmas

A September 29th, 2011 CBC.ca article entitled “Tories want to wrap copyright law by Christmas” garnered 596 comments in the 48 hours before comments were locked. The proposed legislation, now titled Bill C-11, appears to be an exact copy of the previously unpassable Bill C-32. The book burning provisions are just some of the new “rights” Bill C-11 offers:

-Copy content from one device to another, such as from a CD to a computer or an iPod. This provision, however, does not apply to content protected by a digital lock, which is any technological measure, such as encryption or digital signatures, that rights holders use to restrict access to or prevent the copying or playing of CDs, DVDs, e-books, digital files and other material.

-Record television, radio and internet broadcasts and listen to or view them later on whatever device they choose but not for the purposes of building up a library or for commercial use. This provision does not extend to content that is offered “on-demand” (streamed video, for example) or protected by a digital lock.

-Make a backup copy of content to protect against loss or damage — again unless that content is protected by a digital lock or offered as an on-demand service.

-Incorporate legally acquired copyrighted content into their own user-generated work, as long as it’s not for commercial gain and does not negatively impact the markets for the original material or the artist’s reputation. An example would be the posting of your own mash-up of a Lady Gaga song and, say, a Beyoncé number on YouTube.

-Use copyrighted content for the purposes of education, satire or parody. This expands what is known as the fair dealing provisions of the existing law — which until now covered only research, private study, criticism and news reporting.

-Copy copyrighted material that is part of an online or distance learning course in order to listen to or view it at a later time. Under this provision, teachers can provide digital copies of copyrighted material to students as part of the course but only if they and the students destroy the course material within 30 days of the end of the course. Teachers are also expected to take reasonable measures to prevent the copying and distribution of the material other than for the purposes of the course. Critics have referred to this part of the Act as the “bbook burning” provisions.

Ummm….aren’t we better off with the status quo?

The functions of VCRs and DVRs, we are told, have been illegal since their introductions in 1977 and 1999 respectively. I personally recorded thousands of hours off of TV with the half a dozen VCRs I’ve owned since the 1980s. Somehow TV still exists. Former Industry Minister Tony Clement’s iPod has 10,452 songs on it, “most of them transferred from CDs he bought” – we’re told that each such instance was an illegal act.

Funny that neither Clement nor I am in jail or being sued. Funnier still, nobody in Canada has been prosecuted for using their VCRs or DVRs to record TV shows. Nobody in Canada is being prosectued or sued for all of the stuff we’re being told is currently illegal. So how exactly are we better off if we change the law to make it easier to be sued and prosecuted?

Perhaps a glance at the official Bill C-32 talking points will give us an idea

Bonus: Here’s 22 Minutes take on Canadian Copyright Reform (circa 2009):

Posted by Jesse Willis

Inkstuds: Interview with Nick Abadzis about Laika

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

InkstudsI’m reading a terrific graphic novel called Laika. That’s writer/artist Nick Abadzis’s fictionalized history of the little Soviet dog who became the first Terran in space. The art is nicely stylized, the colours are wonderful, and the story is very moving. Here’s a vintage podcast interview (2007) that was broadcast on CiTR and podcast by Inkstuds |MP3|. Here’s the description:

“To celebrate 50 years of the Space Age, Nick Abadzis joined us to discuss his new book, Laika. Laika is a wonderful piece of historical fiction, looking at the history of the first animal in space, the Russian dog, Laika. Published by First Second books, Laika is a great insite in the world of coldwar USSR and some of the unique characters that surrounded this special event.”

Laika by Nick Abadzis

Laika by Nick Abadzis

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBCR4 + RA.cc: The Philosopher’s Arms

Jesse Willis

SFFaudio Online Audio

BBC Radio 4RadioArchives.ccThe Philosopher’s Arms is a new BBC Radio 4 program that moves the Café Philosophique movement into the English pub. All four episodes have been uploaded to RadioArchive.cc |HERE|!

I particularity like episode two in which one gentlemen says “it’s self evident” to a question that was not in the least self evident to me. Episode four is perhaps the most disturbing, it is an attempt to examine the feeble and disgusting groping that we feel for reasons we cannot explain, disgust (moral and physical). In another episode a participant suggested that having quick answers to these sorts of questions is likely because the answerer hadn’t thought very much about them. That sounded right to me, but I think I’ll have to think about it a bit more before I make any conclusions. To join in the fun go grab it.

The Philosophers Arms

The Philosopher’s Arms
Hosted by Matthew Sweet
4 Episodes – Approx. 28 Minutes (per episode) [DISCUSSION]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 4
Broadcast: Sept 6 – 27, 2011

Welcome to the Philosopher’s Arms – a very special pub where moral dilemmas, philosophical ideas and the real world meet for a chat and a drink. Each week Matthew Sweet takes a dilemma with real philosophical pedigree and sees how it matters in the everyday world.

Each week in the Philosphers Arms Matthew is joined by a cast of philosophers and attendant experts to show how the dilemmas we face in real life connect us to some of the trickiest philosophical problems ever thought up. En route we’ll learn about the thinking of such luminaries as Kant, Hume, Aristotle and Wittgenstein. All recorded in a pub in front of a live audience ready to tap their glasses and demand clarity and ask – what’s this all got to do with me?

So questions such as should the government put prozac in the water supply? And my daughter is a robot, how should I treat her? Lead us into dilemmas, problems and issues from the treatment of mental illness to the structure of financial markets, from animal rights to homosexuality. And they will challenge a few of the assumptions and intuitions about life that we carry round with us.

Episode 1 – The Experience Machine (September 6, 2011)
This week he’s been offered an Experience Machine. It’s a device that guarantees the sensation of a happy and fulfilled life. But it’s not real. Should Matthew plug in? David Willets, Jo Wolf and David Geaney join him for a drink to explain the big thinkers behind this idea and debate the nature of happiness, drugs, reality and the role of government.

Episode 2 – A Robot Daughter (September 13, 2011)
This week Matthew discovers that his adopted daughter is a robot. Should he treat her any differently from before? She’s indistinguishable from a human so should she have the same status as a human? Philosopher Barry Smith, Autism mentor Robyn Steward; Artificial Intelligence creator Murray Shanahan and all join Matthew for a drink and a bit of advice.

Episode 3 – The Ultimatum Game (September 20, 2011)
Where do we get our sense of justice and fairness from? Is it hardwired in us? Are we nakedly self-interested creatures, or are we, at least partially, altruistic? These are questions philosophers – from Plato to Hobbes, from Rousseau to David Hume – have pondered for hundreds of years. And a famous game invented by economists- called The Ultimatum Game – may help provide some of the answers. All this is up for discussion and debate this week in The Philosopher’s Arms.

Episode 4 – Moral Disgust (September 27, 2011)
And is there anything morally wrong with having sex with a supermarket chicken?

Guests in the series include:
David Willets, Universities Minister; Val Curtis, Hygiene Expert; Peter Tatchell, human rights activist; Barry Smith, Director of the Institute of Philosophy; Jo Wolff, professor of philosophy at University College London, Robyn Steward, mentor people on the Autism spectrum and their families; Murray Shanahan, creator of intelligent machines; Anders Sandberg from the Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford University.

Producer: David Edmonds

Posted by Jesse Willis