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Monthly Archives: October 2012
Introducing SnackReads Bite-size Entertainment
Southwest Cyberport is proud to be a full-service ISP and aspire to be even more. We’ve recently opened adjacent office space as Ideas and Coffee, a coworking facility that’s a friendly alternative to coffee shops for quiet online work or meeting clients and colleagues. And now, SWCP’s getting into the online publishing business with SnackReads. As longtime readers of genre fiction, many staff members have greatly enjoyed shorter works as well as novels. But with the decline of magazines and anthologies, short pieces are getting shafted. They’re becoming harder to find even as ereaders and tablets create more opportunities for enjoying them than ever before. So when Josh Gentry, one of our talented network administrators and now director of the project, came up with the idea of SnackReads, we jumped at the chance. SnackReads are short, enjoyable tales that are perfect for unwinding after a long day or while waiting for an appointment, during breaks, riding the RailRunner, etc. They’re quick, easy fun that won’t keep you up at night, and inexpensive, too – less than $2 each. All are offered in several convenient formats and there’s no DRM: once you buy it, it’s yours. Our goal is not just to help readers but writers, too. There are many great once-published stories now gathering dust in their files that deserve a second chance. So we’re hoping to uncover some real gems. We’ve started off strong with a great space-opera story … Continue reading
Posted in Interesting Items, News, This and That
Tagged Daniel Abraham, DRM, ebooks, fiction, Ideas and Coffee, online publishing, SnackReads, Suzy McKee Charnas
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The 3D Replicator Revolution Is Here
While the world has been suffering through the Great Recession and many still worry about all the manufacturing jobs lost overseas, the next industrial revolution was quietly launched in garages, basements, and labs right here at home. This new method of producing goods will cause greater changes and more social upheaval than anything since Henry Ford started up his assembly line. This new technology is called 3D printing and it will change how we make everything from what we wear and what we eat to the vehicles we drive and the jobs we perform. 3D printing will give the average person the freedom of expression and specialty crafted goods which was once the exclusive realm of royalty and the super-rich. Not just in the abundance of “bespoke” objects available as customized products or reproductions of rare artworks, either, but in terms of the sheer variety of things also. The ability to render mathematical expressions in solid form gives designers, engineers, and architects a tool of incredible power. Since the 1980s, expensive professional devices have been able to prototype new gadgets. But the tech is now finally poised to enter the consumer market. 3D printing is, of course, the latest step in the digitization of the world. It may be helpful in imagining the effects of this new way of doing things by recalling how digital 2D printing altered everything. Before the invention of the personal computer, printing was an established … Continue reading