AuthorsCast

AuthorsCast brings you fun, entertaining, fast-paced interviews with prominent tech authors. These authors talk about themselves, their careers, their projects, and the other things that fuel their passion. Each episode features a recently published work, with topics spanning the entire range of the technological world. ... Read more about AuthorsCast

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  photo by Dan Lamont

Mark Russinovich on Zero Day: A Novel

Mark Russinovich works at Microsoft in the Windows Azure product team as a Technical Fellow (Microsoft’s senior-most technical position) and is a global authority on cyber security. He is the creator of the Windows SysInternals tools, coauthor of the Microsoft Press Windows Internals book series, a contributing editor for TechNet Magazine, and a senior contributing editor for Windows IT Pro Magazine.

In his first novel, Zero Day (March 2011, Thomas Dunne Books), Mark presents a chilling "what-if" scenario akin to a technological 9/11 -- and in this episode, explains how in a world completely reliant on technology, the looming threat of cyber-terrorism is all too real. Zero Day is first a page-turning potboiler, but as Mark tells it, it serves as an alarm-sounding cautionary tale as well.

Mark talks about this first foray into fiction writing, his motivations for writing a novel, and the five year effort to see the book through from concept to publication. He discusses how he uses his extensive background knowledge to imbue his story with a true sense of authenticity, in the tradition of literary influences like Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton. He goes on to discuss his own real-life work in the field, including how IT professionals are fighting back against malware, and other efforts now underway to make the Internet more secure.

Finally, he explains why he put sex scenes in the book, reveals how he got Bill Gates to provide a blurb, and speculates on who might play the lead characters in Zero Day: The Movie.

March 22, 2011 | 00:41:14

Rated 4.9 (click a star to rate this episode)

Hosted by:

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  Lee Dumond

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Episode Links:

• Zero Day: A Novel at Amazon.com
• Zero Day: A Novel at Thomas Dunne Books
• Zero Day: A Novel website
• Internet2
• Stuxnet
• Windows Azure
• Windows Internals book
• Windows Sysinternals utilities
• Zero Day attacks
• Mark Russinovich on Facebook
• Mark Russinovich on Twitter
• Mark Russinovich's blog
• Lee Dumond on Twitter
• Lee Dumond's blog

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previous episodes

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  Charles Petzold on Programming Windows Phone 7

  As an author and contributor to nearly two dozen books and countless magazine articles on Windows programming (and as a pioneer in early electronic music), Charles Petzold is a true "rock star" in every sense of the term. A Microsoft MVP for Client Application Development and a Windows Pioneer Award winner, Petzold's latest work, Programming Windows Phone 7, was published by Microsoft Press in December 2010.
  
  In this episode, host Julie Lerman shows us Charles Petzold as we've never seen him before. Charles talks about his first experiences with smartphones, and gives us his take on e-books. He then goes on to tell us some of the seminal events that led him to his chosen path, and of the many influences in his life that have lent to his one-of-a-kind writing style. He offers a rare glimpse into his writing process, recounts how his highly acclaimed The Annotated Turing came to be, and reveals some of the other subjects he is keen to write about in the coming months and years. After listening, you will come to know Charles Petzold as a man who has much, much more to teach us than how to program.

  March 8, 2011 | 00:39:11 |

  

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  Stephen Baker on Final Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything

  Stephen Baker was BusinessWeek's senior technology writer for a decade, based first in Paris and later New York. He has also written for the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, and the Wall Street Journal.
  
  His latest work, Final Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything, tells the fascinating story of "Watson" - from its birth in the IBM labs to its epic, nationally televised Jeopardy! showdown against two of the game's all-time champions. Watson may be a technological marvel, but at its heart, Watson’s story is very much a tale of heartbreak and hubris, turmoil and triumph; and in the end, speaks more to the power of human ingenuity than it does of that of machines. Final Jeopardy provides a fascinating glimpse into our collective futures as individuals, as a society, and as a species.
  
  In this interview, recorded less than a week from the book's publication and the aforementioned contest, Stephen talks about this milestone in the quest for artificial intelligence, and what it took to get here. He gives us a fascinating behind-the-scenes view of the "evolution" of Watson, the often contentious negotiations that took place between IBM and the Jeopardy! producers, and the events leading up the dramatic televised conclusion. We discuss what Watson's success portends for education, health care, and the economy, and its implications for how humans will store, access, and use knowledge in the future. Finally, we speculate on whether a computer could win the Daytona 500 in 2025.

  February 22, 2011 | 00:51:55 |

  

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  Scott Millett on Professional ASP.NET Design Patterns

  Scott Millett is an enterprise software architect working in London for Wiggle.co.uk, an e-commerce company specializing in cycle and triathlete sports. He has been working with .NET since version 1.0 and was awarded the ASP.NET MVP in 2010 and again in 2011. He has written several books around the .NET platform, including his latest, Professional ASP.NET Design Patterns.
  
  In this episode, Scott talks about how his book builds on the existing software design literature, clears up the confusion between design patterns and design principles, explains how to quickly become proficient at applying patterns, and expounds on the benefits of creating your own ASP.NET framework. Along the way, he offers pointers on becoming a better developer, tells how he learned to embrace the power of positive thinking, and waxes philosophical on the problem with American beer.

  February 15, 2011 | 00:45:38 |

  

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  Julie Lerman on Programming Entity Framework, Second Edition (Part 2 of 2)

  In the second and final part of this two-part episode, Julie Lerman, author of Programming Entity Framework, gives us a preview of some of the new features coming in the next version of Entity Framework, and addresses some common pitfalls EF newbies often encounter. She tells the story of helping Ayende write his EF Profiler in a dark corner of a Swedish bar, and explains how the CodeBetter Guys served as her “conscience” while writing her book. Finally, she talks about her experiences as an outspoken female succeeding in a male-dominated field, and offers words of wisdom to all the aspiring tech book authors out there.

  February 1, 2011 | 00:37:43 |

  

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  Julie Lerman on Programming Entity Framework, Second Edition (Part 1 of 2)

  Julie Lerman is the leading independent authority on the Entity Framework and has been using and teaching the technology since its inception in 2006. Julie is the author of the highly acclaimed Programming Entity Framework (with a 2nd edition released in August 2010). She is well known in the .NET community as a Microsoft MVP, ASPInsider, INETA Speaker, and frequent presenter at technical conferences around the world.
  
  In Part One of this two-part episode, Julie talks about life in Vermont, how her interest in Entity Framework began, why the book almost never came to be, her thoughts on the "EF Vote of No Confidence" and the ALT.NET movement that sprang from it, and how EF is increasingly finding its way into the enterprise.

  January 25, 2011 | 00:37:47 |

  

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