A feminist perspective on the early history of personal computing, revealing how computers were integrated into the most intimate aspects of family life The Intimate Life of Computers shows how the widespread introduction of home computers in the 1980s was purposefully geared toward helping sustain heteronormative middle-class families by shaping relationships between users. Moving beyond the story of male-dominated computer culture, this book emphasizes the neglected history of the influence of women’s culture and feminist critique on the development of personal computing despite women’s underrepresentation in the industry. Proposing the notion of “companionate computing,” Reem Hilu reimagines the spread of computers into American homes as the history of an interpersonal, romantic, and familial medium. She details the integration of computing into family relationships—from helping couples have better sex and offering thoughtful simulations of masculine seduction to animating cute robot companions and giving voice to dolls that could talk to lonely children—underscoring how these computer applications directly responded to the companionate needs of their users as a way to ease growing pressures on home life. The Intimate Life of Computers is a vital contribution to feminist media history, highlighting how the emergence of personal computing dovetailed with changing gender roles and other social and cultural shifts. Eschewing the emphasis on technologies and institutions typically foregrounded in personal-computer histories, Hilu uncovers the surprising ways that domesticity and family life guided the earlier stages of our all-pervasive digital culture.

“There were live measurements of reactor temperatures. Three other buildings that hadn’t exploded. It was like a movie. Will they catch fire? Blow up? Melt down? Or won’t they…?” Readers who enjoyed Youth in Revolt and Bridget Jones's Diary won't want to miss this tale of a pale-skinned foreigner navigating life in Japan. How To Make Love to Foreigners is the diary of Randy Campbell, whose life, after moving to Japan, has taken him places he never expected. Fresh off the plane, he faces the challenges of learning Japanese, navigating the Tokyo train system, and compiling a list of women he's quick to bed, but terrified of committing to. With all this going on around him, Randy has to deal with threats from yakuza while filming a documentary, the racist comments of a girl who is in love with him, and feelings of helplessness when, on March 11, 2011, an earthquake strikes eastern Japan, unleashing a deadly tsunami that envelops a nearby coastline. With a radioactive wind drifting towards Tokyo from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, Randy discovers the terror and absurdities that arise during a devastating catastrophe. Inviting us in on the feelings you go through when everything—your career, the place you live, perhaps... even your life—seems about to be wiped away forever. From inside the book… “These buildings were important to national security. There were FBI, secret service, and CIA offices in some of these buildings. They needed guarantees that if another bombing took place, no one could just walk in and peruse their files.” “Uh-huh, but if I was the owner, why would I destroy my own buildings?” “These buildings were a terrorist target. They were the tallest buildings in New York. After the first bombing there were meetings about structural integrity, potential casualties, financial losses. But never in all these discussions did anyone imagine that somebody would try to fly a plane into these buildings. Or if they did, it would be something small, not a commercial airliner. “You have to think about this not from our point of view, but from the perspective of 1994. They really believed that someone was, at some point, going to drive another truck into the basement. Finish what they’d tried to do in ’93. This became a real panic after that Timothy McVeigh thing in Oklahoma City.” “Oh, yeah, that’s right. That was ’95.” “Yeah. The guy parked a fertilizer truck next to the building, and the whole thing came down. So the consensus at the time was that someone might try to blow up the buildings again. From the street level. Or the basement. Hell, even the subway was identified as a possible route. What no one wanted to talk about was that if you blew up the building from the basement, the entire structure might topple over. Like a domino. Anything in a thousand foot radius could be destroyed, including the other tower.” I took a sip of my drink. “That seems highly unlikely.” “I’m sure the engineers who designed Chernobyl said the same thing. Anyway, they came up with a plan that would prevent the building from toppling over.” “A controlled demolition.” “Exactly. A completely vertical collapse. So the building wouldn’t kill as many people. I mean, nowadays there are residential apartments in that area.” I looked at Dewey. I was interested, but unconvinced. How many others bought into the same crazy theories?

You don't have to have a degree in computer science to enjoy this unique collection of funny stories, parodies, laughable true-life incidents, comic song lyrics, and jokey poems from the world of computing. Humour the Computer brings together a selection of some of the best computer-related humorous material culled from a variety of sources: news groups and FTP sites on the Internet, The New Yorker, Punch, New Scientist, BYTE, Datamation, Communications of the ACM, The Journal of Irreproducible Results, and many more. Among other topics, the 70-odd assorted writings embrace the impact of computing on our lives, hilarious hardware, silly software, first encounters with computing, computer companies that we love, programming pains, and absurd academia.

What you're reading right now is known as the "cover copy," or “flap copy.” This is where the 84,951 words of my latest book are cooked down to 350 words or less to capture your imagination/download. I pondered how to do that. Should I cut to the chase and reveal pivotal plot points like the one at the end of the book where the little girl on crutches points an accusing finger and shouts, "the killer is Mr. Porter"? No. I have too much respect for you as an intelligent consumer to attempt such an obvious ruse. But let's not play games here. You clicked your way to this page, so you either: A. Know who I am. B. Like the cool smoking jacket I'm wearing on the cover. Or: C. Thought this was a secret link to Ashley Madison. Is it a sequel to my autobiography If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor? Sadly, no, which made it much harder to write. Is it an "autobiographical novel"? Yes. I am the lead character in the story (coincidentally an actor), and I am a real person, and everything in the book actually happened - except for the stuff that didn't. The action revolves around my preparations for a pivotal role in the A-list relationship film, Let's Make Love! My Homeric attempt to break through the glass ceiling of B-grade genre fair is hampered by a vengeful studio executive and a production that becomes infected by something called the "B-movie virus" - symptoms of which include excessive use of cheesy special effects, slapstick, and projectile vomiting. From a violent fistfight with a Buddhist to a life-altering stint in federal prison, this novel has it all. And if the 84,951 words are too time-consuming, there are lots and lots of cool graphics – all of which have been upgraded to vibrant color since the first publication. I hope you enjoy the book – and if you learn anything at all about making love, please share it with me! Regards, Bruce "Go Ahead and Call Me Ash" Campbell

Should we enhance the human condition with technology? Does anyone really want to live for a thousand years? Could AI end up destroying mankind? Discover the incredible potential of mankind's near future as Doctor and entrepreneur Laurent Alexandre and tech-philosopher Jean Michel Besnier go head to head on the big questions in an entertaining and thought-provoking debate on the fundamental principles of transhumanism. This movement seeks to improve the human condition through science - has fast become one of the most controversial the scientific community have ever faced. As great strides are made in using advanced technology to enhance human intellect and physiology, the ethical and moral questions surrounding its possibilities have never been more pressing. Should we change the way we reproduce? Could we enhance the human body with technology to the point where we are all technically cyborgs? Is it possible to make love to a robot?

"Get off your phone and read Jess Kimball Leslie's funny book!" -- Andy Cohen, host of Bravo's Watch What Happens LiveI 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. Through effortlessly comedic storytelling and looks at tech through the ages (with photos!), Jess takes you on a journey through the hilarious times that technology and the Internet changed her life. From accounts of the lawless chat rooms of early AOL to the perpetual high school reunions that are modern-day Facebook and Instagram, Jess's essays paint a clear picture: That each of us has a much more twisted, meaningful, emotional relationship with the online world than we realize or let on.