Fredric Brown was born October 29, 1906 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. He’s still famous as a mystery / detective story and science fiction writer. In the field of science fiction he’s famous for his very short stories with a twist at the end. Among his most famous short stories there are “Arena”, (1944), adapted into a “Star Trek” original series episode, and in particular “Sentry” (1954). Fredric Brown died on March 11, 1972.
The multinational semiconductor producer Qualcomm Incorporated announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire NXP Semiconductors N.V., which operates in the same field, for a total of about $47 billion to be paid in cash at $110 per share. This is the largest acquisition in the history in the semiconductor field.
“The Masque of Mandragora” is the first adventure of the fourteenth season of “Doctor Who” classic series, which aired in 1976. It follows “The Seeds of Doom” and it’s a four parts adventure written by Louis Marks and directed by Rodney Bennett.
The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) is showing Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) various rooms inside the Tardis and at some point they reach its secondary control room. The Doctor activates the screen and see that there’s a living energy vortex, known as Mandragora Helix. The Tardis travels through it and when eventually rematerializes and lands, it brings a fragment along with it.
The Duke of San Martino is dying and passes away exactly in the day that the astrologer Hieronymous predicted. His son Giuliano becomes the new Duke but doesn’t believe in superstitions and in fact there’s a plot carried out by Hieronymous together with Count Federico to take over the city. The arrival of the Doctor and Sarah Jane, who unknowingly carry a fragment of alien energy, makes the situation even more dangerous.
A few days after the attacks incredibly massive attacks suffered in two stages by Dyn, a provider of Internet service including the DNS management, information, estimates on affected devices and theories on the potential culprits keep on arriving. Very high profile sites such as the social networks Twitter and Reddit, famous online services such as e-Bay, Netflix and Spotify and other sites have been hit more or less hard. The involvement of many devices for the Internet of Things shows how their security is too often non-existent.
The novel “2001: A Space Odyssey” by Arthur C. Clarke was published for the first time in 1968.
Moon-Watcher and his group of hominids barely survive in the veldt eating the few roots and berries they can find. The presence of other hominids in the area makes their situation even more difficult until one day the appearance of a monolith changes everything. Moon-Watcher and the other hominids of his group learn new things that allow them to dominate the territory.
On the Moon a secret research is investigating a mysterious monolith. Dr. Heywood Floyd goes there on the pretext of a possible epidemic in the human outpost and he’s explained that the object is for sure of alien origin. When it’s brought to the surface and at dawn is hit by sunlight, it sends a signal. The spaceship “Discovery” is sent in the Saturn system, officially on a scientific mission.
