When Did the Smartphone Get So Smart?

Brain_Booster_Forbidden_Planet_1956

Walter Pidgeon tries on the Krell Brain Booster in the 1956 Sci-Fi classic “Forbidden Planet.” Though it increased his already considerable intelligence to astounding levels, it also unleashed the dark side in his subconscious. Let’s hope smartphones use their power for good, rather than evil.(photo: MGM)

IBM brought a touchscreen phone named Simon with more than phone functions to the market in 1994. Nokia produced the Nokia 9000, a clam-shell phone/PDA with a keyboard in 1996, which was, at the time, their best selling phone. But it wasn’t until the 1997 that Nokia called the GS 88 “Penelope,” the successor to the 9000 a “smartphone,” coining the term that would describe all phones with computing capabilities built in from then on.  That’s the official story, and it’s factual, but I think it’s off the mark.

The Way of The Dinosaurs

The GS 88 was smart, certainly, and a phone, arguably, but its clamshell with a keyboard format showed its mini-computer heritage, coming out of “palmtop” computers like the HP100 LX and the Psion MXs, which were trying hard to be laptop computers you could fit in a pocket, though it had to be a big pocket. They were an attempt to get around the size and weight of early laptops in a time when the concept of something like an ultra-book was still in the realm of science fiction. While palmtop computers were a good idea, they never really caught on, and represent a branch of computer evolution that went the way of the dinosaurs. Like many techie folks, I’m fond of dinosaurs, and I was very fond of my palmtop computer, and sorry to see it die off. But it did, and we (mostly) moved on.
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Sony DSCRX10/B Cybershot – Worth the Stickershock

Sony’s 20.3 megapixel DSCRX10/B may be part of their Cybershot line, with an integrated lens and an electronic viewfinder, but it might just make serious photographers consider an all-in-one camera for all that it offers, including a DSLR feel in a semi-compact format.

Review by Ernest Lilley
Price: $1299.99 (a value despite the sticker shock)

Sony’s been doing some interesting things with smaller cameras with bigger sensors, among them the DX10/B, which they’re positioning as a “bridge” camera for people who are used to the feel and performance of a DSLR but want something smaller without leaving their comfort zone. That’s good, because there are a number of things that a good all-in-one camera can do that DSLRs can’t, or at least need a whole collection of special lenses to accomplish, while most smaller cameras lack enough mass to feel steady in your hand, regardless of whether they have image stabilizing or not.
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Preview: “American Craftsmen” by Tom Doyle

American Craftsmen, Tom Doyle’s debut novel, is out in May from Tor. Highly recommended.

I’m currently reading American Craftsmen, Tom Doyle ‘s debut novel about occult operatives, known as “Craftsmen.” Out from Tor Books in May as the first part of a three book deal, it’s very, very good. I wish they’d toned down the Baen-ishness of the cover, which will no doubt put some folks off, because this fantasy/government conspiracy thriller has a lot of interesting stuff about powerful occult families woven through American history. Starting in the middle east in a classic op gone horribly wrong, it mines a number of spiritual, historical, literary, and political veins to create a very interesting thriller. SF of Fantasy? As the main character’s grandfather (deceased, but loquacious nonetheless) says, “Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.” If you liked Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, Charles Stross’ Laundry series, or are a 24/Jack Bauer fan, you should definitely read American Craftsmen. Continue reading →

SFRevu Review: On Such a Full Sea by Chang-rae Lee

On Such a Full SeaFan and Reg are young people living in a not too distant future where governments have collapsed from financial over-extension and the global network of commerce has collapsed, leaving enclaves of civilization dotting the landscape and rotting infrastructure between them.  The story starts out in B-mor, the future Baltimore, which had been largely abandoned by its population but for a few squatters and hangers on, and was taken over wholesale some generations back by a transplanted Chinese city, one which had been an industrial center until its products were no longer needed. Continue reading →

Review: A Learning Experience by Chris Nuttall

A Leaning Experience
Christopher Nuttall
ISBN: 1497543835
Published: March 2, 2014

When a none too bright bunch of aliens decides to capture some humans to see why everyone thinks they make such good fighters they find out, much to their regret. Chris Nuttall’s latest novel, A Learning Experience is a lot of fun and makes the title’s point as the main character discovers that power really does make things complicated, no matter how simple you’d think a libertarian mindset should make things.

The story opens with a handful of retired marines being abducted from their combined camping trip and bitching session by a group of classically despicable aliens, who fortunately, never got around to setting the security safeguards on their ship’s AI. They didn’t build it, they don’t understand it, and as a result they got to lose it in short order. In fact, that happend so easily that it’s a weak point in the story, but, but it had to be done to get to the real story which is  about setting up a lunar colony / nation with Heinlinian flair and a lot of vets that alien medical technology could make whole again. Then setting up shop to protect Earth, because someone’s bound to notice one of their starships went missing on a simple snatch and scuttle mission. And thumbing their noses at the US Government in true libertarian fashion.

What’s I liked is exactly what annoys some, the preachy bits. I like that the main character’s libertarian ideals come up against hard realities when dealing with organizing the new nation, and the tribute bits that the author has thrown in to make it clear that he’s well read in the genre. A nice touch is that when confronted with alien tech that seems straight out of Star Trek, they just go for it – adopting Trek terms where it fits. Also telling is the tribute to John Ringo’s Live Free or Die, in which a human discovers that maple syrup is a precious trading commodity. Nuttle’s clearly given the libertarian near future genre a lot of though, and the book delivers on the title’s promise. It’s more than a shoot em up in space novel, and I liked it quite well.

The central character is full of self rightfulness and the romance of lost American Exceptionalism at the book’s outset, but as the book progresses he has to come to grips with the slippery slope that having the power to make the other guy do what you want offers, hence the title. Along the way you have about as much fun as any mil-sf oriented first contact novel offers, and I’m not sure why one reviewer thought the book was too short, unless he means that it ended before he wanted it to. Certainly for the price, A Earning Experience is a great value.