Computer Memoir

Listen to hilarious stories with serious lessons that Michael Lopp extracts from his varied and sometimes bizarre experiences as a manager at Apple, Pinterest, Palantir, Netscape, Symantec, Slack, and Borland. Many of the stories first appeared in primitive form in Lopp’s perennially popular blog, Rands in Repose. The third edition of Managing Humans contains a whole new season of episodes from the ongoing saga of Lopp's adventures in Silicon Valley, together with classic episodes remastered for high fidelity and freshness.

Grace Brewster Hopper (December 9, 1906 to January 1, 1992) was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and United States Navy rear admiral. A pioneer of computer programming, Hopper was the first to devise the theory of machine-independent programming languages and used this theory to develop the FLOW-MATIC programming language and COBOL, an early high-level programming language still in use today. She was also one of the first programmers on the Harvard Mark I computer.

Grace Brewster Hopper (December 9, 1906 to January 1, 1992) was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and United States Navy rear admiral. A pioneer of computer programming, Hopper was the first to devise the theory of machine-independent programming languages and used this theory to develop the FLOW-MATIC programming language and COBOL, an early high-level programming language still in use today. She was also one of the first programmers on the Harvard Mark I computer.

Alan Turing: The Genius Codebreaker Who Helped Win a War and Paved the Way for Computers is an accessible, compelling exploration of one of the most brilliant and misunderstood figures of the 20th century. Written for curious listeners of all backgrounds, this book unpacks the science, context, and personal struggles behind Turing’s legacy—explaining complex ideas in clear terms and revealing why his influence is still felt in every corner of modern life.

Reddit hails itself as 'the front page of the Internet'. It's the sixth most-visited website in the world -- and yet, millions have no idea what it is. They should be paying attention. We Are the Nerds takes listeners inside this captivating, maddening enterprise, whose army of obsessed users have been credited with everything from solving crimes and spurring millions in charitable donations to seeding alt-right fury and even landing Donald Trump in the White House.

Catastrophic computer failures have led to aircraft entering death dives, fatal car crashes and killer radiation overdoses in hospitals. Advances in Artificial Intelligence and the UK Post Office Horizon IT scandal have further raised public concern, as an ongoing, previously unreported scandal involving TV Licensing appears to be unfolding. Computer scientist, Dr. Junade Ali, peels back the layers of cover-up, negligence and wrongdoing to uncover how killer computers are born and how everyone can protect themselves.

I Love My Computer Because My Friends Live in It is a hilarious memoir of growing up in the early days of the internet and celebrating technology's role in our lives. Coming of age in suburban Connecticut in the late '80s and early '90s, Jess Kimball Leslie looked to the nascent internet to find the tribes she couldn't find IRL: fellow Bette Midler fans; women who seemed impossibly sure of their sexuality; interns trudging through similarly soul-crushing media jobs.

Alan Meckler was the first person to start a venture in the commercial internet space in October, 1990. There were few means to connect to the internet back then. Yet Meckler anticipated that the internet would be a "black swan event" and that it would revolutionize all aspects of personal and commercial life. The book is a history, but also a very personal memoir of a career entrepreneur and all the difficulties one encounters with raising funds, dealing with cash flow shortages, personnel, and getting people to believe in the next big thing.

Johannes Gutenberg was our first geek, the original technology entrepreneur, who had to grapple with all the challenges a Silicon Valley startup faces today. Jeff Jarvis tells Gutenberg's story from an entrepreneurial perspective, examining how he overcame technology hurdles, how he operated with the secrecy of a Steve Jobs, but then shifted to openness, how he raised capital and mitigated risk, and how, in the end, his cash flow and equity structure did him in.