NPR Technology Podcast
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NPR: 05-22-2013 Technology
Stories: 1) Google Mines Our Data For Future Product Ideas 2) Seeing The (Northern) Light: A Temporary Arctic Retirement 3) Can Losing Weight In Your 'Second Life' Help In Your First? 4) Yahoo To Buy Tumblr In An Attempt To Revitalize Itself 5) If Your Shrink Is A Bot, How Do You Respond? 6) With New Xbox, Microsoft Makes A Bigger Play For Living Room
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NPR: 05-15-2013 Technology
Stories: 1) Peers Find Less Pressure Borrowing From Each Other 2) Facebook Users Question $20 Million Settlement Over Ads 3) New Closed-Captioning Glasses Help Deaf Go Out To The Movies 4) Google Fights Glass Backlash Before It Even Hits The Street 5) ABC's Live Streaming Aimed At Keeping Cable Cords Intact 6) Online Legacies Prompt Growing Legal Challenges
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NPR: 05-01-2013 Technology
Stories: 1) Blazing The Trail For Female Programmers 2) How One College Is Closing The Computer Science Gender Gap 3) When It Comes To Productivity, Technology Can Hurt And Help
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NPR: 04-24-2013 Technology
Stories: 1) This Building Is Supergreen. Will It Be Copied? 2) How Technology Helped FBI Narrow Field Of Bombing Suspects 3) Philly Turns Skyscraper Into Video Game Screen For Tech Week 4) Video-Streaming Firms Attract Customers With Exclusive Shows 5) Young Adults With Autism Can Thrive In High-Tech Jobs 6) Boston Bombing Sparks Firestorm Of Internet Hate
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NPR: 04-17-2013 Technology
Stories: 1) Great Long-Form Journalism, Just Clicks Away 2) Startup CEO Wields Small Antenna In TV Streaming Battle 3) Supreme Court Asks: Can Human Genes Be Patented? 4) When Digital Dust Is Gathered, Constellation May Be Muddled 5) Speak Up! Advertisers Want You To Talk With New Apps 6) Go Figure: The Machine That Put Computation In Your Pocket
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NPR: 04-10-2013 Technology
Stories: 1) Crowdsourcing Creativity At The Cinema 2) The Ups And Downs Of Cyber Currency Bitcoin 3) Listen Up To Smarter, Smaller Hearing Aids 4) Pirates Steal 'Game Of Thrones': Why HBO Doesn't Mind 5) What Drives Us? Car Sharing Reflects Cultural Shift 6) Vermont Finds High-Tech Ways To Sap More Money From Maple Trees
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NPR: 04-03-2013 Technology
Stories: 1) Cyberattack Against Spam-Fighting Organization One Of The Largest Ever 2) 'Bioshock Infinite': A First-Person Shooter, A Tragic Play 3) Tech Week Ahead: Rumors Of A Facebook Phone 4) Social Media Advice: Are Voicemails Verboten Or Not? 5) Facebook's Online Speech Rules Keep Users On A Tight Leash
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NPR: 03-27-2013 Technology
Stories: 1) On Its 7th Birthday, Is Twitter Still The 'Free Speech Party'? 2) Samsung Is On A Roll, But Can It Beat Apple? 3) Shareholders Re-Elect Hewlett-Packard Board Members 4) Google's Eric Schmidt Heads To Another Isolated Asian Nation 5) After Conquering Consoles, Hard-Core Gaming Shifts To Mobile 6) Republicans Launch Mission To Turn Up Their Digital Game
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NPR: 03-20-2013 Technology
Stories: 1) Are We Plugged-In, Connected, But Alone? 2) Will Man's Best Friend Be A Robot? 3) Is The Human Hand Our Best Technology? 4) Angry Birds TV, Coming To A Mobile Screen Near You 5) Samsung Unveils Its Galaxy S4 6) Is All The Talk About Cyberwarfare Just Hype?
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NPR: 03-13-2013 Technology
Stories: 1) 'Bowery Boys' Are Amateur But Beloved New York Historians 2) The 'Big Data' Revolution: How Number Crunchers Can Predict Our Lives 3) News Corp. Education Tablet: For The Love Of Learning? 4) The Life Cycle Of A Social Network: Keeping Friends In Times Of Change 5) Controlling Your Computer With A Wave Of Your Hand 6) 3-D Printing, Cat Videos The Hot Topic At SXSW Interactive Conference
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NPR: 03-06-2013 Technology
Stories: 1) Experts Boil Telecommuting Decisions Down To Flexibility Vs. Serendipity 2) Nonprofit Hopes To Get Kids Excited About Computer Coding 3) Job Applicants Are Wary Of Firms' Resume Sorting Software 4) Two For One: Groupon Replaces CEO Mason With Board Members 5) 'Consumer Reports' Offers Tips For Doing Taxes Online 6) A Multimedia Journey Through 'The Persian Square'
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NPR: 02-27-2013 Technology
Stories: 1) Amid Lawsuits, Aereo Brings Broadcast TV To The Internet 2) Google Invites Ideas For Its High-Tech Eyewear 3) At A Trade Show, Power Tools Fit For The Amish 4) Is China's Military Behind Cyberattacks on U.S.? 5) As Police Drones Take Off, Washington State Pushes Back 6) Tech Like 'Google Glass' Could Outsell PCs In Five Years
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NPR: 02-20-2013 Technology
Stories: 1) As 3-D Printing Becomes More Accessible, Copyright Questions Arise 2) When It Comes To Fashion, Shouldn't There Be An App For That? 3) In New York, Taxi Apps Raise Objections From Competitors 4) Pentametron Reveals Unintended Poetry of Twitter Users 5) Art Meets Geek at Toni Dove's Studio 6) Want To Keep Your Messages Private? There's An App For That
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NPR: 02-13-2013 Technology
Stories: 1) Automakers Drive Towards Hydrogen Cars 2) 'We Need To Talk': Missed Connections With Hyperconnectivity 3) Raising Personable Children, Even If They're Glued To Phones 4) When Social Media And Romance Mix, It's Complicated 5) To Foster Communication, Bay Area Boss Cut Off Email 6) Pentagon Goes On The Offensive Against Cyberattacks
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NPR: 02-06-2013 Technology
Stories: 1) Hack Attack On 'New York Times' Looks Like Part Of Chinese Campaign 2) African Americans Fly High With Math And Science 3) Iran's Leader Embraces Facebook; Fellow Iranians Are Blocked 4) How One Company Reinvented The Hand Dryer 5) Tech Week Ahead: Driverless Cars 6) Dell Makes Deal To Become Private Company
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NPR: 01-30-2013 Technology
Stories: 1) Shakespeare's Sonnets, Encoded In DNA 2) Turning Girl Scout Cookies Into Graphene 3) Cause Of Boeing's 787 Problems Remains A Mystery 4) No Mercy For Robots: Experiment Tests How Humans Relate To Machines 5) E-Readers Track How We Read, But Is The Data Useful To Authors? 6) Western Bloggers Use Google Maps To Expose North Korean Prison Camps
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NPR: 01-23-2013 Technology
Stories: 1) Bump On The Road For Driverless Cars Isn't Technology, It's You 2) Inventors Design Lamp Powered Entirely By Gravity 3) This Defense Contractor Has A Green Side 4) Tech Week Ahead: Controversial Founder Of File-Sharing Site Launches New Service 5) Inaugural Smartphone App Could Be Helping Mine Data For Democrats 6) Inauguration Attendees Use Smartphones As Public Diaries
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NPR: 01-16-2013 Technology
Stories: 1) In Video-Streaming Rat Race, Fast Is Never Fast Enough 2) Latest TV Technoloy: Ultra-High Definition TV. 3) 'M-Commerce' On The Rise As More Consumers Use Mobile Devices To Shop 4) Consumer Electronic Show Highlights Home Technology 5) Black Market Pharmacies And The Big Business Of Spam 6) How E-Waste Is Becoming a Big, Global Problem
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NPR: 01-09-2013 Technology
Stories: 1) FTC Closes Google Antitrust Investigation Without Penalties 2) Google Avoids Antitrust Charges 3) Science Looked Good In 2012 4) 3-D Printing Is (Kind Of) A Big Deal 5) 'RunPee' The Ideal App For Lovers Of Movies And Large Drinks 6) Are You Eating Too Fast? Ask Your Fork
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NPR: 01-02-2013 Technology
Stories: 1) In Rapid-Fire 2012, Memes' Half-Life Fell To A Quarter 2) Music-Streaming Services Hunt For Paying Customers 3) TV Broadcasters Amp Up The 'Second Screen' Experience 4) The Year In Tweets 5) From 3-D Printers To Wired Glasses, The Tech Year Ahead 6) Social Sharing Site Reddit Had Big Year, But Not All Positive Attention
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NPR: 12-26-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) With Growth Of 'Hacker Scouting,' More Kids Learn To Tinker 2) FAA Pressured To Give E-Readers A Pass During Takeoff, Landing 3) Online Videos: Not Just Made By Amateurs Anymore 4) Forget YOLO: Why 'Big Data' Should Be The Word Of The Year 5) Future Fibers May Be Spun From Slime 6) Kenyan Women Create Their Own 'Geek Culture'
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NPR: 12-19-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) Don't Like The Government? Make Your Own, On International Waters 2) Protecting Kids' Digital Privacy 3) New Car Features May Keep Older Drivers Out Of The Big Yellow Taxi 4) 'Fat Fingers' Blamed For Accidental Mobile Ad Clicks 5) The Day Instagram Almost Lost Its Innocence
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NPR: 12-12-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) To Catch A Suspect — On Pinterest 2) Will U.S.-Made Mac Computers Start A Trend? 3) Forget The Register: Stores Use Mobile To Make Sales On The Spot 4) Tech Week Ahead: Feuding Companies 5) FTC: Apps For Children Raise Privacy Concerns 6) Who Needs College? Young Entrepeneuer Bets On Bright Idea For Solar Energy
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NPR: 12-05-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) Facebook Arrests Ignite Free-Speech Debate In India 2) A Bet Or A Prediction? Intrade's Purpose Is Debated 3) Yet Another Shift In Facebook Policies Raises Privacy Concerns 4) Senate Committee Approves Stricter Email Privacy 5) Senate Committee OKs Electronic Privacy Measure 6) The Next Workplace? Behind The Wheel
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NPR: 11-29-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) Outsmart Crowds With Mobile Shopping Revolution 2) Rich Jaroslovsky's Gadget Picks For 2012 3) Spain Expands Renewables With Wave-Powered Electricity Plant 4) How Ordinary Chinese Are Talking And Fighting Back 5) Tech Week Ahead: Cyber Monday
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NPR: 11-21-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) What's The Big Idea? Pentagon Agency Backs Student Tinkerers To Find Out 2) Israel, Hamas Battle Becomes A Twitter War 3) Shortage Of Nintendo's New Wii U Expected 4) #Gaza: Fighting In Cyberspace? 5) Fingerprint Scans Create Unease For Poor Parents 6) Post-Petraeus, Net Privacy Backers Hope For A Boost
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NPR: 11-15-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) Studying How, And What, We Download 2) Car Dealers Sue Tesla, Citing State Franchise Laws 3) Distracted Driving: We're All Guilty, So What Should We Do About It? 4) Left Homeless, Storm Victims Turn To Internet To Find Shelter 5) Supercomputers Act Like Talent Magnets 6) New Technologies Boosted Obama Campaign's Efforts
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NPR: 11-08-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) A Mohawk Hero In The Not-So-Diverse Gaming World 2) Wireless Carriers Under Scrutiny After Sandy 3) Mobile Apps A Digital Take On Political Canvassing 4) When A Floppy Disk Icon No Longer Signals 'Save' 5) Why Some Spread Misinformation In Disasters 6) Crews Work To Restore Power, And Explain The Delay
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NPR: 11-01-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) Watching TV Online Often Exposes Slow Bandwidth 2) Windows 8 Billed As Biggest Change To PC In 17 Years 3) Can Windows 8 Bridge The Gap Between Tablet And PC? 4) The Future Of 'Short Attention Span Theater' 5) What Windows 8 Could Mean For You 6) A Contest To Build A Disaster-Ready Robot
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NPR: 10-24-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) For Sports Fans, A Plethora Of Platforms To Watch On 2) French Tweet Sweep Shows Twitter's Local Struggles 3) The Afterlife Of A TV Episode: It's Complicated 4) Microsoft, An Empire Under Siege, Makes Its Next Moves 5) Tech Week Ahead: Apple To Unveil iPad Mini 6) Microsoft Taking Big Gamble On Surface, Windows 8
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NPR: 10-18-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) One Child, One Laptop ... And Mixed Results In Peru 2) Software Calculates City-Specific Carbon Footprint 3) Do Chinese Tech Firms Pose U.S. Security Threat? 4) Now-Ubiquitous LED Lights Invented 50 Years Ago 5) Pentagon Revising Cyber Rules Of Engagement 6) The Secret To Making Ultrastrong 'Gorilla Glass'
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NPR: 10-11-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) HP CEO Meg Whitman Asks Wall Street For Patience 2) Google, Publishers Reach Deal On Book Scanning Plan 3) Piecing Together 'The World's Largest Jigsaw Puzzle' 4) Why Mobile Maps Sometimes Lose Their Way 5) Tech Week Ahead: New Google Earnings 6) Writer Embraces Technology To Save Sight
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NPR: 10-03-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) Has Apple's Feud With Google Hurt Its iPhone 5? 2) 'Angry Birds' Spinoff Flies To Top Of iTunes Charts 3) Biodegradable Electronics Could End Toxic Trash 4) Apple's New Maps Become Major Embarrassment 5) QR Codes For Headstones Keep Dearly Departed Close 6) Cloud Computing Saves Health Care Industry Time And Money
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NPR: 09-26-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) Samsung Keeps Up Patent Fight Against Apple 2) Vimeo's Virtual Tip Jar Invites Viewers To Chip In 3) Your PIN May Not Be Uncrackable After All 4) Plagued By Attacks, Iran Develops Its Own Internet 5) Employee Shopping: 'Acqui-Hire' Is The New Normal In Silicon Valley 6) 'No Place Like Home' Shoes Use GPS To Get You There
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NPR: 09-19-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) iPhone 5 Wireless Plans And The User Experience 2) Is The New iPhone Worth The Upgrade? 3) What Anti-Islam Film Says About Free Speech And The 'Heckler's Veto' 4) Singapore's Rising Tech Industry Draws Expat Innovators And Investors 5) Tech Week Ahead: Owning Social Media Content 6) 'Figure' Music-Making App Lets You Be The Artist
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NPR: 09-12-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) Gaggle Of New Gadgets Wow Tech Lovers 2) Amazon's New Kindle Will Have Thin Profit Margin 3) Amazon Rolls Out Its New Kindle E-Readers 4) Oregon Power Project Needs The Motion Of The Ocean 5) What Will Apple's Patent Case Mean For Phone Design? 6) Tech Week Ahead: TechCrunch Disrupt Conference
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NPR: 09-05-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) Samsung Vows To Appeal Patent Verdict 2) Drone-Tracking App Gets No Traction From Apple 3) Surveying The Mobile Landscape, Post Patent Battle 4) Web-Based Subscription Businesses Surf A New Wave 5) When A Kickstarter Campaign Fails, Does Anyone Get The Money Back? 6) Tech Week Ahead: Amazon Hints At New Kindle
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NPR: 08-29-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) In Japan, Mobile Startups Take Gaming To Next Level 2) Telescope Innovator Shines His Genius On New Fields 3) Is The Cloud In Gamers' Future? 4) Demand For Smartphones Takes A Human Toll Abroad 5) Web Cartoonist Raises $1 Million For Tesla Museum 6) Massive Cyberattack: Act 1 Of Israeli Strike On Iran?
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NPR: 08-22-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) What's In Your Wallet? Wait, You Don't Need One 2) At This Camp, Kids Learn To Question Authority (And Hack It) 3) Smartphone Apps Help More Singles Find The Boy (Or Girl) Next Door 4) Study To Test 'Talking' Cars That Would Warn Drivers Of Unseen Dangers 5) Apple's China Plants Still Face Union, Overtime Issues 6) Jury To Decide Apple's Patent Case Against Samsung
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NPR: 08-15-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) Hackers Wreak Havoc On 'Wired' Writer's Digital Life 2) 5 Ways To Avoid Being Hacked 3) Encoding Geopolitics: Virus Infects Banks In Lebanon 4) Hard Lessons At the Olympics, Like The Metric System 5) Tech Week Ahead: Google Takes On Piracy 6) Drones Drifting Into Markets Outside War Zones
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NPR: 08-08-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) New Moo-Bile App Helps Keep Cows Cool And Farmers Updated 2) Amazon Takes Entertainment Step With App Offerings 3) Its Financial Future In Question, Facebook Tries To Tell A Different Story 4) Drones: From War Weapon To Homemade Toy 5) Tech Giants Gear Up For Patent Battle 6) That's No Swimsuit, That's A Racing System
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NPR: 08-01-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) Watching The Olympics, Online And Everywhere 2) Facebook Reports Net Loss After Bumpy IPO 3) LCD Price-Fixing Ends With Historic Settlement 4) Hackers Convene To Find Mobile Security Flaws 5) Samsung Fight Among Many In Apple's Patent War 6) Tech Week Ahead: Apple And Samsung Battle In Court
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NPR: 07-25-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) Silicon Valley Boot Camp Aims To Boost Diversity 2) Yahoo May Be Marissa Mayer's Biggest Challenge Yet 3) High-Tech Shortcut To Greek Yogurt Leaves Purists Fuming 4) As Wikipedia Gets Pickier, Editors Become Harder To Find 5) Stanford's Next Lesson: Free Online Courses For Credit And Degrees? 6) YouTube Network Plays Well With Latino Audiences
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NPR: 07-18-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) Tanglewood Celebrates 75th With Free Web Stream 2) New Online Users Have A Longer Timeline 3) Mobile Ad Networks Accused Of Invasive Apps 4) Apple's Change Of Heart On Green Certification 5) Silk Stretches Drugs' Shelf Life To New Lengths 6) In-Q-Tel: The CIA's Tax-Funded Player In Silicon Valley
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NPR: 07-11-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) In High-Def Shift, Are Studios Blurring The Picture? 2) U.N. Human Rights Council Backs Internet Freedom 3) When Does An App Need FDA's Blessing? 4) New Projects Help 3-D Printing Materialize 5) Father Of The Cellphone 'Unleashed' World's Callers From Copper Wires 6) Conquering Reverb: Behind Recorded Music's Oldest Sound Effect
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NPR: 07-04-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) Google Is The Latest To Get Into Computer Tablets 2) Samsung's Galaxy S3 Sets A Marker For iPhones 3) Tech Week Ahead: Another Nail In Kodak's Coffin 4) Place Me App Places You ... Everywhere 5) Online Classes Cut Costs, But Do They Dilute Brands?
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NPR: 06-27-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) How Can Videos "Flip The Classroom"? 2) Your New Digital Wallet: In The Cloud But Still Tethered To Fees 3) Oracle CEO Purchases Hawaiian Island 4) Tesla's New Electric Sedan: Five Passengers, 89 MPG, And No Engine 5) Prevent Your Password From Becoming Easy Pickings (Or PyPfbEp) 6) 9 Powerful Moments In The Day Of A Viral Web Editor At BuzzFeed
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NPR: 06-20-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) You Know You Want One: Personal Robots Are Coming, But Not Ready For You Yet 2) Lights, Camera, YouTube: Studio Cashes In On An Entertainment Revolution 3) Does Your Smartphone Go Next To The Salad Fork Or The Soup Spoon? 4) Tech Look Ahead: Tesla Motor's 'Model S' 5) Failure: The F-Word Silicon Valley Loves And Hates
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NPR: 06-13-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) Computers Grade Essays Fast ... But Not Always Well 2) Google Shows Map Features, Apple Likely To Follow 3) Big Data Needs May Create Thousands Of Tech Jobs 4) Texting And Driving Bans May Make Roads Less Safe 5) Games Launched At Electronic Entertainment Expo 6) How 'Flame' Malware Hijacks A Computer
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NPR: 06-06-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Find Me A Part-Time Job 2) Seattle Area Lacks Computer Science Majors 3) SpaceX's Dragon Capsule Returns Safely To Earth 4) Schilling Blames Rhode Island For Company's Troubles 5) 'Call Of Duty' Creators, Activision Settle Lawsuit 6) Paralyzed Rats Walk, Even Sprint After Rehab
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NPR: 05-30-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) Long Before The Internet, The Linotype Sped Up The News 2) Travel Apps That Help You Pack, Explore And Enjoy The Scenery 3) Friend Your Students? New York City Schools Say No 4) What Will HP's Restructuring Look Like? 5) Why Printer Ink Is The Other 'Black Gold' 6) Vintage Spy Plane Gives High-Tech Drone A Run For Its Money
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NPR: 05-23-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) Can We Open-Source Hardware? 2) How Do You Make A Virtual Choir? 3) Facebook To Begin Trading On Nasdaq 4) NASA, SpaceX Aim To Launch Private Era In Orbit 5) Military Addresses Double-Edged Sword Of Troops On Social Media 6) Stroke Victims Think, Robotic Arm Acts
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NPR: 05-16-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) Cybersecurity Firms Ditch Defense, Learn To 'Hunt' 2) Algorithms: The Ever-Growing, All-Knowing Way Of The Future 3) Disguising Secret Messages, In A Game Of Spy Vs Spy 4) Steve Jobs Didn't Invent Design, But He Patented It 5) Lack Of Support Puts The Brakes On High-Speed Rail 6) Draw Something App Reveals The Artistic Chimp In Us All
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NPR: 05-09-2012 Technology
Stories: 1) Top Universities Expand Free Online Classes 2) These Apps Are Going To The Birds, And People Who Watch Them 3) Bill Would Have Businesses Foot Cost Of Cyberwar 4) Cyber Briefings 'Scare The Bejeezus' Out Of CEOs
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Gazing Into The Cloud, From Storage to Servers
Apple and Amazon want to store your music in 'the cloud,' while companies from Google to Microsoft to Zoho offer ways to wrangle your office documents there. But what exactly is the cloud, and is the time right to start using it? Technology experts Tony Bradley and Nicholas Carr look at the switch away from traditional desktop computing.
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Top Universities Expand Free Online Classes
Harvard and MIT are moving ambitiously into online education, jointly offering free classes to anyone in the world who wants to take them. The courses will include video lessons, quizzes and instant feedback. Online instruction has had a mixed track record, but the universities hope evolving technology will make it a powerful new tool to expand educational opportunities worldwide.
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Explosion In Free Online Classes May Change Course Of...
It's become much cheaper and easier to put college courses online, and new technologies have only made these classes more valuable. Following the lead of other top universities, Harvard and MIT announced a new venture Wednesday to provide online classes for free.
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NBC Will Stream The London Olympics Live — But Only To...
For the first time, American viewers of the Summer Olympics won't be limited by two words many sports fans loathe: "tape" and "delay." After years of saving the most popular events for prime time, NBC will also stream live video of the London Games, online and via mobile.
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Europe Pressures U.S. Tech On Internet Privacy Laws
American tech giants are under pressure from Europe to offer stronger privacy options to consumers. Privacy advocates say American Internet users will have the European Union to thank if tighter regulations pass, but the industry says the Europeans are hampering an American success story with regulation.
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In Cell Era, Timepieces Are Fashion Trend To Watch
With cellphones nearly ubiquitous, fewer people are relying on watches to tell time. But some retailers are doing brisk business marketing watches as fashion statements, or by appealing to shoppers' sense of novelty or nostalgia.
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Twitter: From Infancy To Political Powerhouse
Five years ago, Twitter was hardly a blip on the political radar. Now, it's a social media giant. President Obama recently urged college student to take to Twitter and pressure their representatives on student loan interest rates. Host Michel Martin discusses the role of Twitter in politics with NPR's Don Gonyea and SocialFlow's Frank Speiser.
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Profiled By The TSA? There's An App For That
Sikhs and other religious and minority groups often say they're unfairly singled out for additional screening. Now they hope to make their case with the help of a new mobile app.
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Designing The Pied Piper Of Fish
Mechanical engineer Maurizio Porfiri, of the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, designs robot fish. A few years ago, he found that real fish would mill about his aquatic robot, and now he's trying to understand why. His research suggests that it has less to do with how the robot looks, than how it makes fish feel.
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Mining Quarries Millions Of Miles From Earth
A private company has unveiled plans to mine precious metals and water from nearby asteroids. Planetary Resources co-founder Eric Anderson discusses the various stages of the mining process and how the excavated minerals could impact future space exploration and innovation on Earth.
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The Idea Factory: How Bell Labs Created The Future
In The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation, Jon Gertner writes of the legendary innovations developed at AT&T's Bell Labs, from lasers and transistors to solar cells and cell phones, and discusses how the lab became a hotbed for new ideas.
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What We Have Here: A Failure To Communicate
Thanks to Twitter, Facebook, Skype, mobile phones, chat, instant messages and countless other tech advances, we're more connected than ever — theoretically, at least. But all too often, being totally wired leaves us oddly disconnected.
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Could Iran Wage A Cyberwar On The U.S.?
The prospect of losing may well discourage Iran from launching a direct cyberattack on the United States. But having a cyber arsenal for deterrent purposes would not necessarily preclude Iran from sharing those weapons with groups less hesitant to use them, security experts say.
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Can A Computer Grade Essays As Well As A Human? Maybe...
A new study has determined that some automated essay graders can do as good a job as humans, but education columnist Michael Winerip says there weaknesses to the automated systems.
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Robot Eyes As Good As Humans When Grading Essays
A new study has determined that some automated essay graders can do as good of a job as humans. Melissa Block talks with New York Times education columnist Michael Winerip about the study and the weaknesses of automatic essay readers.
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With 'Drive,' Google Joins The Cloud Storage War
The new service is years in the making and has some critics asking if it's too little too late.
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Can 'Hackstability' Save Civilization?
Between the techno-utopia of AI singularities of and apocalyptic environmental collapse there just might exist the relative equilibrium of "hackstability."
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It's Zip It Day On Google
The search engine's latest "doodle" is in honor of Gideon Sundback, the inventor of the modern zipper.
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Is The Internet Closing Our Minds Politically?
On the Internet, it's easy to find like-minded people and to frequent sites where you agree with the content. And algorithms are serving up more personalized search content. Are we running the risk of getting trapped in information bubbles? A panel of experts debates for Intelligence Squared U.S.
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Arab Tech Startups Try To Seize The Moment
Social networking sites have been at the vanguard of the Arab uprisings over the past year. Egyptians used online pages to organize protests, and Syrian activists have posted frequent YouTube videos showing government forces shelling civilian areas.
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Designing A Bridge For Earthquake Country
Scientists estimate a more than 60 percent chance of a major earthquake hitting the San Francisco Bay Area within 30 years. Marwan Nader, lead design engineer for the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge, discusses features that give the bridge the flexibility to withstand the 'Big One.'
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The Social Media Shuffle: From Kony To Spooning
Remember Joseph Kony? A video about the African warlord dominated social media early last month. But its call to action on Friday night is largely being ignored by many of the same young people who were initially drawn to the cause. Some are focused on new and much less serious things.
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To Read All Those Web Privacy Policies, Just Take A...
It would take most people about 30 full working days to read the privacy policies of all the websites they visit in a year, according to a study. Most of us agree to the policies without actually reading them — or knowing how much personal information is being captured.
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Author Vernor Vinge Predicted Google Glasses
In his 2006 thriller, Rainbow's End, author Vernor Vinge imagined a near future when people use high-tech contact lenses to interface with computers in their clothes. Google plans to make at least some of it a reality later in 2012 with the launch of what are known as augmented reality glasses.
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From Silicon Valley, A New Approach To Education
Four major universities — Stanford, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania and University of Michigan — are joining forces with a startup called Coursera to offer free online classes in more than three-dozen subjects. The professors involved hope this kind of online interaction transforms higher education.
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In Noisy Digital Era, 'Elegant' Internet Still Thrives
Before Facebook and MySpace transformed how we interact online, there was another kind of Internet: the SDF network, made up of users connecting via phone lines and code. Around the world, 30,000 computing enthusiasts still use that network today.
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Greenpeace: How Clean (And Green) Is Your Cloud?
A report issued Tuesday by the environmental advocacy group found fault with Microsoft, Amazon and Apple. Greenpeace ranked the companies according to the efficiency of their cloud facilities, as well as where they get their electricity.
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Drones Moving From War Zones To The Home Front
Congress recently passed the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, which — along with funding the Federal Aviation Administration's budget through 2015 — encourages the acceleration of unmanned aircraft programs in U.S. airspace. Drones have taken on a large role in military operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. The new legislation could make the technology more prevalent in several arenas, from local police departments to farmers monitoring crops. What exactly are...
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Another Tech Bubble? Maybe Not
With Instagram sold to Facebook for $1 billion and Facebook itself expected to be valued at up to $100 billion in its initial public offering, some feel they're reliving the last tech bubble. But some analysts say this time is different. The new generation of tech entrepreneurs tends to reinvest its winnings in even more ideas.
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Cybersecurity Bills Compete For Attention
Cybersecurity will get a lot of attention on Capitol Hill in the coming weeks, with several competing bills up for consideration. The most stringent proposal mandates minimum cybersecurity standards and requires companies to notify the government when their networks have been breached. White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan says it is essential that the federal government take steps to better prepare the country for devastating cyber attacks.
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Redefining 'Hacker' In Technology Hotbed
Palo Alto, Calif., recently hosted a 12-hour bonanza for software developers, artists and families. The "Super Happy Block Party Hackathon" was a marathon for coders to make new software in a short amount of time. It also featured food trucks, music and homemade robots. Corey Takahashi reports.
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Who Is A Parent? Surrogate Technology Outpaces Law
For thousands of years, there was no doubt. A woman who gave birth was that child's mother, and her husband the presumed father. Thanks to scientific advances, multiple people may be involved in creating a child now, but the law has not caught up.
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There's A Reason It's Called Rocket Science
The history of rocket launches is filled with failure, but out of those failures came knowledge that helped lead to success, experts note. The question is whether North Korea's latest failure will put it on a successful path.
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Engineering For Success By Building on Failure
In a new book, To Forgive Design: Understanding Failure, engineer Henry Petroski chronicles disasters from the sinking of the Titanic to the destruction of space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. Petroski discusses why these accidents are often caused by factors other than a design flaw.
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Instagram Seen Adding 10 Million Users In Past 10 Days
Days after it was acquired by Facebook for $1 billion, reports have emerged that Instagram now has more than 40 million users in its photo-sharing community. The gain, which was derived from the service's API, represents a 10 million spike in Instagram's users in the past 10 days, according to Venture Beat.
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Hearing In Megaupload Case To Determine Fate Of Users'...
The implications could be great for companies hoping consumers will trust them to store their files.
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The DOJ E-Book Lawsuit: Is It 1934 All Over Again?
The Department of Justice's lawsuit against Apple and five major publishers for e-book price fixing sent shivers through the industry — but Jason Boog says this fraught relationship between American publishers, retailers and the DOJ goes back to the Great Depression.
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Your (Virtual) Future Self Wants You To Save Up
Experts say one of the biggest barriers to saving for retirement is psychological: It can be hard to save when retirement feels so far away. Now, new research has found a way around that barrier with technology that lets you "meet" a digital version of the person you're saving for — your retired self.
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Justice Department Sues For E-Book Price-Fixing
The Department of Justice filed an antitrust suit on Wednesday against Apple and five major publishers for allegedly colluding to drive up the price of e-books. Three publishers — Hachette, Simon and Schuster, and Harper Collins — settled with the Justice Department. Macmillan, Penguin, and Apple remain as defendants.
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A DJ Kit You Can Take For A Spin — On Your Bike
With sensors that translate the motions of a bike — turning the handlebars, spinning the wheels, etc. — into customizable sounds, the Turntable Rider "is an epic bicycle accessory which converts a bicycle into a musical instrument," according to Cogoo, the company that created the device.
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Justice Dept. Accuses Apple And Others Of Fixing E-Book...
The Justice Department's concerns stem from the way e-books have been priced since Apple introduced the iPad. Apple and other companies have denied any wrongdoing and say they have improved competition.
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Wireless Industry Tries To Thwart Smartphone Thefts
The wireless phone industry has a plan to take the profit out of the market for stolen smartphones. At the urging of police chiefs across the country and federal regulators, the industry is developing a database of stolen devices.
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Iran Seeks To Set Record Straight On Intranet 'Hoax,'...
Iran isn't ready to cut off the Internet, its communications ministry says. Iranian officials are rebutting stories about the nation turning off access to the Internet — in part by suggesting that the original story, which came out April 1, was a hoax.
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Instagram Sells For $1 Billion, Despite No Revenue
The technology world is abuzz over Facebook's $1 billion deal to acquire the photo-sharing app Instagram. Two years ago Instagram didn't exist. Some reasons behind the company's meteoric rise: apps are everywhere and Instragram took advantage of the moment with a playful, easy-to-use service. Now Instagram's fans wonder whether its identity will be retained.
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New Database Hopes To Curb Smartphone Theft
A new program is designed to make your smartphone worthless if it's stolen. The phones have become tempting targets for thieves around the country. The mobile phone industry, along with police and regulators, hope to reduce thefts by drying up the market for stolen smartphones.
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Philly Cops Bust Crime In 140 Characters Or Fewer
Philadelphia police have been hitting the streets to prevent crime, and now they're hitting the Web. This month, a small group of cops will start using Twitter to crack down on criminal activity. Supporters say it could save money and puts a modern spin on walking the beat.
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State Approves Bill To Ban Employers From Seeking...
The practice of employers asking job applicants for their account login information for Facebook and other social media sites is meeting its backlash, as Maryland is poised to be among the first states to ban the practice, reports The Baltimore Sun.
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More, Better, Faster Sushi? Call In A 'Sushi Bot'
Wired reports that "sushi bots" were among the eye-catching products at the World Food and Beverage Great Expo, which just wrapped up in Tokyo.
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'Kinect Star Wars': Flawed, But Welcome
Commentator Harold Goldberg says Kinect Star Wars is far from a perfect game, but in a world without new movies to dive into, it's a welcome visit to the universe anyway.
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Carriers, FCC Join In Bid To Curb Cellphone Thefts
Companies have agreed to create a national database for stolen or missing phones, which would then be deactivated. It's hoped that will make them less tempting.
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'Do Not Track' Web Browser Option Gains Steam
Government regulators in the U.S. and Europe are putting pressure on the online advertising industry to adopt a new Web browser option called "do not track." The option is designed to offer users more privacy from the websites they visit — but there's still no consensus on precisely how much privacy the feature should provide.
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Jack Tramiel, Man Behind Commodore 64, Has Died
Jack Tramiel, the man behind the Commodore 64 computer, died Sunday, according to reports. Tramiel, who was 83, came to America after World War II. He was a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp in his native Poland.
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Cochlear Implants Redefine What It Means To Be Deaf
Recent advances in medicine and technology are now reshaping what it means to be deaf in America. With the new implants, children who could never hear a sound are now adults who can hear everything. That advance is having a dramatic impact on the nation's historic deaf schools as well as the lives of the deaf.
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A Brief History Of The Mobile Phone
Early on, experts predicted about a million Americans would have cell phones by the turn of century. They were wrong. The actual number was more than 100 times that estimate. NPR's Wendy Kaufman explores the history of the mobile phone.
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Chinese Teen Sells Kidney For iPad And iPhone
An iPhone and iPad were worth more to a Chinese teenager than his kidney, according to a report Friday from China's Xinhua news agency. Now five people in southern China face charges of illegal organ trading.
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Intel Legends Moore And Grove: Making It Last
In Silicon Valley, the spotlight is often on young entrepreneurs with fresh ideas that will change the world. But for decades, two titans of the tech world thrived in the fast-paced industry: legendary Intel executives Gordon Moore and Andy Grove.
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When Online Hacking Poses Real-World Dangers
Powerful and potentially damaging tools, including those that take advantage of communications networks, have become much more widely spread. They could be used to disrupt everything from factory valves to chips used to track cattle.
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Phone Tracking Big Business For Cell Companies
Earlier this week the American Civil Liberties Union revealed information it obtained from a FOIA request to local police departments across the country about how police track and tap cell phones, often without warrants. Also contained in the release is information that cell carriers make money by charging law enforcement for that information. Robert Siegel speaks with Andy Greenberg of Forbes who has looked into fees.
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Security Company Says About 600,000 Macs Infected With...
Security experts say with two virus outbreaks in a year, Macs may no longer be a safe haven.
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Google's New Glasses And The War On Serendipity
Google unveiled a video showing off what it intends smartphone-like goggles to be all about. But the elimination of friction from everyday life isn't an entirely positive development.
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America's Magnet For Innovation, And Investments
It's become a Silicon Valley ritual: a passionate entrepreneur asks a venture capitalist for money, promising technological innovation — and maybe a big financial return. But the area's tradition started just five decades ago, when the only certainty about high-tech was that it would be big someday.
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Flying Car Glides Closer To Reality
Finally, there is a flying car for the average driver. But the real question is if the average driver ready for a flying car. Terrafugia Transition is a $279,000 car-turned-airplane. It's meant to bridge the gap between the road and the sky.
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Latest Round Of Yahoo Layoffs The Most Severe
Yahoo will lay off 2,000 employees in an attempt to save money and restructure the company. Despite an enormous Web audience, Yahoo has struggled to build an identity as social media has taken off. It is currently embroiled in a big patent dispute with Facebook.
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Look Out! There Are Robots All Around
Marketplace correspondent David Brancaccio wanted to see if it was possible drive across the country without interacting with a human being — just machines. He discovered how technological advances — from factory robots to self-checkout machines — are changing the future of U.S. jobs.
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The Birth Of Silicon Valley
Stretching along the peninsula southwest of San Francisco Bay, Silicon Valley is a breeding ground for high-tech startups. But in its early years, the area was nurtured by something relatively new: venture capital. A look at the innovators and key moments that shaped Silicon Valley.
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College Student Pieces His Way To Lego Mastery
After prevailing in a grueling Lego build-off by replicating a Picasso sculpture, 23-year-old Andrew Johnson of Illinois is the newest — and youngest — person to earn the title master model builder. Which means he'll get paid to build things with Legos.
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A Rare Mix Created Silicon Valley's Startup Culture
Silicon Valley has become a powerful economic engine, driven by tech-savvy entrepreneurs. But in simpler times, the area was known as the Valley of the Hearts Delight. And it took years to assemble the mix of talent, money and gumption to create America's startup hub.
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Mobile Gaming Powers Up: '99 Cents Is The New Quarter'
Mobile games like Angry Birds and Draw Something have gained huge popularity partly because of one asset: simplicity. As a result, the traditional video game industry is taking note. But not all of them are following the same route.
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Who Has The Right To Our Facebook Accounts Once We Die?
Lawmakers in at least two states – Nebraska and Oregon — are considering legislation that would require social networks like Facebook to grant loved ones access to the accounts of family members who have died. Oklahoma already has such a law.
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America's First Celebrity Robot Is Staging A Comeback
Before IBM had Watson, Westinghouse had Elektro. The Ohio manufacturer built the 7-foot-tall robot as a showpiece for the 1939 World's Fair. Now, more than 70 years later, a replica of the once-famous machine is preparing to embark on a national tour.
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Fixing The Cutting Edge: Innovation Meets Table Saw
When you think of new technology, table saws don't generally come to mind, but more and more inventors are trying to make them safer — and David Butler is one of them. His Whirlwind safety brake can stop a blade in less than a second and fits onto any existing saw.
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'Serious And Pressing' Violations Found At Foxconn
An audit has found serious violations of Chinese labor laws at some factories that supply parts for Apple products. Robert Siegel speaks with Auret van Heerden, CEO of the Fair Labor Association, about his organization's report on several Foxconn sites in China.
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'Anonymous' Hacking Group Threatens The Internet
The mysterious hacking group known as "Anonymous" is threatening to take down the Internet on Saturday. Cybersecurity experts are highly skeptical that Anonymous can deliver on this threat, but they also say the group is ambitious and demonstrating ever more impressive technical capability.
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Apple, Foxconn To Improve Factory Conditions
Apple and its China-based supplier Foxconn have agreed to limit worker overtime and significantly improve health and safety conditions at the plants that produce, among other products, the iPhone and iPad. The move comes after an investigation by the Fair Labor Association found Foxconn factories violate numerous Chinese work rules.
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Group Finds 'Significant Issues' At Foxconn Factories
The Fair Labor Association has released its audit of Apple's largest supplier in China, Foxconn. The group found "significant issues with working conditions" at three factories there. The labor rights group, which was asked by Apple to audit the plants, found excessive overtime, problems with overtime compensation, health and safety issues as well as communication gaps that have led to widespread sense of unsafe working conditions. Melissa Block talks with NPR's Steve Henn.
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Online Voting 'Premature,' Warns Government...
Warnings about the dangers of Internet voting have been growing as the 2012 election nears, and an especially noteworthy one came Thursday from a top cybersecurity official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, who said e-voting should not yet be used for "real elections."
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Auditor Finds 'Serious Issues' At Apple Supplier Foxconn
Some employees, the audit found, worked seven days in a row without the required 24 hours off.
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New Law Raises Funding Hopes For Startups, Worries Over...
The Jobs Act could make it easier for tech startups to raise money by allowing anyone — not just millionaires — to invest. But many are concerned it will also lead to a new wave of financial fraud. "I think we can expect to see ... African princes inventing cold fusion any second now," says one entrepreneur.
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Using An App To Report Injured Wildlife
A Colorado animal protection group has created a website and smartphone application designed to help someone who's found an injured animal, lost or found a pet or wants to report animal cruelty. Animal Watch hopes to expand the program nationally in the future.
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To Keep Customers, Brick-And-Mortar Stores Look To...
New apps could guide you to specific products and even deliver discounts based on where you're standing in a store. It's all designed to get you to continue shopping locally instead of online.
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Jobs Act Could Expand Funding For Startups
Lawmakers in the House are expected to vote on a jobs act Tuesday. Part of the legislation would allow the public to make investments in start-up companies and small businesses. These companies could raise money online or through social networks. The bill would lift SEC regulations that restrict soliciting investors.
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Wanted: Digital Bloodhounds For The Hotel Industry
These days, hotels aren't just looking to hire bellhops, concierges and housekeepers. What the industry really needs are "knowledge workers" who understand how to use social media and new technologies to track — and attract — potential guests and boost revenue.
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Finding Cheaper Gas With Your Smartphone
Several companies have developed smartphone applications to help people find the cheapest gasoline prices in town. We tried two popular apps; they work, but there are a few things to watch out for.
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Hospitals Warn Smartphones Could Distract Doctors
Apple's iPads and rival devices are finding a happy home in hospitals and medical practices. But as with driving, distractions are threatening safety — in this case, patient safety.
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Facebook May Not Be So Friendly For Those With Low...
They complain a bit more than everyone else, and they often share their negative views and feelings when face to face with friends and acquaintances. Researchers wondered whether those behavior patterns would hold true online.
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Making the Shift To Electric Vehicles
Though the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf entered the market to fanfare, the battery-powered cars haven't been selling as quickly as hybrid models such as the Toyota Prius. Industry experts discuss electric car technology, from batteries to charging stations, and what it might take to encourage drivers to make the shift.
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Tracking High-Speed Internet In Your Neighborhood
How wired are the homes in your neighborhood compared to ones across town? An interactive map released today from American University's Investigative Reporting Workshop helps answer that question.
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Cybersecurity Bill: Vital Need Or Just More Rules?
The prospect of a paralyzing cyberattack has convinced U.S. security officials and lawmakers that a new law may be needed to promote improved cyberdefenses at critical facilities. Progress on that legislation, however, has been slowed by a debate over whether new cybersecurity measures should be mandated or merely encouraged.
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A Job At What Cost? When Employers Log In To Dig In
Robert Collins says he felt "violated" when the Maryland Department of Corrections asked to log in to his Facebook account during a job interview. He's now pushing back, working with lawmakers to bar employers from asking such a privacy-invading question.
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Resume, Cover Letter And Your Facebook Password?
At your next job interview you might need to hand in more than a resume and references. More employers are requiring applicants to submit their Facebook password as part of the application process. States like Illinois and Maryland are enacting legislation to ban the practice. Robert Siegel talks with Robert Collins, who had to hand over his Facebook user name and password when applying for a job with the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
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FBI Still Struggling With Supreme Court's GPS Ruling
The Supreme Court recently said police overstepped their legal authority by planting a GPS tracker on the car of a suspected drug dealer without a search warrant. The decision set off alarm bells at the FBI, where officials are trying to determine whether they need to change the way they work.
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Social Media Put Fla. Case In National Spotlight
Scores of people signed online petitions to Attorney General Eric Holder, asking the Justice Department to investigate the killing of Florida teen Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watch volunteer. The case shows the power of social networking to quickly mobilize advocates in sometimes volatile situations.
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Paying Dividend Gives More Investors A Bite Of Apple
Apple announced Monday that for the first time since the mid-1990s the company will start paying a dividend. At the end of 2011, Apple had almost $100 billion in cash burning a hole it its pocket, and investors have been clamoring for the company to start sharing the wealth.
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Digital Technologies Give Dying Languages New Life
As many as half of the world's languages are at risk of disappearing by the end of the century. More aboriginal groups around the world, including Oregon's Siletz tribe, are using "talking dictionaries" and other digital tools to help preserve their native languages.
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Apple's Dividend Underwhelms Some
Robert Siegel speaks to Roben Farzad, a senior writer at BusinessWeek, about the implications of Apple's decision to pay dividends.
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Do Digital Gadgets Increase Our Appetite For News?
More than twice as many people read news recommended on Facebook than on Twitter, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. One in four Americans now gets their news digitally from mobile devices.
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Apple To Buy Back $10B In Shares; Pay Dividend Of $2.65...
The buyback program begins Sept. 30. The dividends will start to be paid in the quarter beginning July 1. Apple has about $98 billion in cash and securities on hand.
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'This American Life' Retracts Mike Daisey's Apple...
The story became the show's most popular podcast and inspired a petition, signed by hundreds of thousands, demanding better working conditions for factory workers. But, now, This American Life says Daisey fabricated many aspects of the story.
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Petitions Are Going Viral, Sometimes To Great Success
Petitions have been a common form of protest throughout modern history, often bringing attention to a cause through little more than handwritten letters and word of mouth. But like a lot of other things, petitions are going viral. And one website in particular has contributed to the phenomenon.
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The Metropolitan Opera Anytime — And Anywhere — You Want...
Ten things to know about what should be a tech-savvy opera lover's dream app: more than 350 full operas from the 1930s to the present, all ready to stream on your iPad.
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Controversy Comes To Boil Over 'Homeless Hotspots'
For this year's South By South West conference, some of Austin's homeless were equipped with mobile Wi-Fi devices and t-shirts inviting attendees to use these hotspots to get online. Reactions have ranged from support, to disbelief, to outrage. Host Michel Martin discusses the ethical implications with a technology reporter and an ethicist.
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The Question Of SXSW Interactive: What Are We Going To...
When thousands and thousands of tech professionals descend on Austin in March, what do they talk about? In large part, they talk about how to manage the future.
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Homeless Hotspots: Exploitation Or Innovation?
An advertising agency sparked controversy at the South by Southwest technology conference when it hired homeless people in Austin to act as "Homeless Hotspots." Critics charge that it exploits the homeless. But Megan Garber, a staff writer for The Atlantic, sees some good in the project.
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Yahoo Sues Facebook: Why Programmers Don't Like Patents
Yahoo says it patented on the whole idea of Facebook. In polls, most software engineers say the patent system actually hinders innovation.
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NCAA's Big Dance Available On Small Screens
During March Madness, there's no shortage of options to watch basketball games. Fans can watch on their TVs at home or stream it on a computer at work. But the hot ticket this year is streaming it on a smartphone.
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How Teenagers Learned To Hate Joseph Kony
The social media campaign by Invisible Children has drawn some 60 million viewers, many of them teenagers, to a video about a mass murderer in Africa. It will be closely studied by other nonprofit groups hoping to gain attention for their cause. Lesson one: It took years to lay the groundwork.
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Gamer Double Fine Works Around Publishers
Game-makers are in San Francisco this week for the industry's largest global event. Roughly 20,000 people from 100 countries are there. And a game that hasn't even been created yet is getting lots of attention. It's also exposing the rift between the creative and business minds in this $33 billion industry.
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Solar Storm Goes Easy On Earth — But More Are Sure To...
The huge solar storm that NASA detected hurtling toward Earth hit our planet at 5:42 a.m. ET Thursday. So far, there have been no reports of major power or communications disruptions. But it's not the last you'll hear about solar storms; the sun's activity won't peak until 2013.
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Apple: Latest iPad Leads Post-PC Revolution
Apple head Tim Cook unveiled the new iPad at an event in San Francisco Wednesday. The iPad will have a higher resolution screen, an HD camera and a faster processor. Cook is pushing for a world were people carry iPads and iPhones instead of owning desktops and laptops.
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Scams And Malicious Apps Invade Smartphones
The viruses, spam and malware that have plagued desktop computers for years now increasingly threaten mobile smartphones, as well. More text messages now deliver scams and a growing number of malicious apps install spyware, target personal information and attempt to charge users hidden fees.
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UPDATED: Apple Unveils New iPad, Apple TV
The iPad will have a higher resolution screen, an HD camera, the ability to connect to a faster mobile network and a faster processor.
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Apple: Rise Of The Gadgets (In 1 Graph)
Three years ago, Apple made more money from Macs than from iPhones. The iPad hadn't been invented yet.
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How Many U.S. Jobs Does Apple Really Create?
Amid growing concerns about its outsourcing practices, Apple posted a study showing it has helped create more than 514,000 jobs in the U.S. But many of those jobs are based in industries that indirectly benefited from Apple's business, and now some economists are calling foul.
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To Solve Hacking Case, Feds Get Hacker Of Their Own
Federal prosecutors have charged five men with responsibility for some of the biggest computer hacks in the past few years. The FBI says the hackers penetrated the computer systems of businesses like Fox Broadcasting and Sony Pictures, stole confidential information and splashed it all over the Internet.
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Let A Stranger Drive Your Car? More Owners Say 'Yes'
Several new startups are connecting people who need a car with strangers who want to make a few extra bucks renting theirs out. Wheelz is one such peer-to-peer car-sharing company. The Silicon Valley startup is gaining traction on college campuses in the Bay Area.
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What 'Mastered For iTunes' Really Means
Is Apple's decision to sell higher-quality recordings a compromise, or part of a larger plan?
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East Africa Tackles Telecom Snafu
People in countries like Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania rely on crucial undersea cables to keep them connected to the internet. A ship's anchor recently sliced one of those cables, so now web traffic is being re-routed to the company Seacom. Host Michel Martin talks with Seacom founder Brian Herlihy.
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As Gas Prices Rise, Natural Gas Vehicles Get A Boost
With gasoline prices on the rise and pressure mounting to make better use of domestic energy, natural gas vehicles are making a comeback. Climate change is also driving demand — natural gas produces 20 to 30 percent fewer carbon emissions than diesel.
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Online Pirating Hub Upgrades File-Sharing System
The Pirate Bay is the biggest website on the Internet to find illegal movies, music, games and software. The notorious file pirating site has changed the way it works — making it harder to trace pirated files.
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NASA Struggles With IT Security, Loses Space Station Code
NASA's inspector general reports in testimony to Congress that the space agency's IT security efforts need improvement in the areas of network security and the encryption of data on mobile devices.
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Damaged Ocean Cable Cripples Internet In East Africa
In East Africa, the Internet has slowed to a crawl thanks to a disruption of the telecommunications pipeline serving the region. Over the weekend, a ship dragging an anchor severed one of the three undersea data cables linking countries that include Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia to the Middle East and Europe. It may take about three weeks to fix. Audie Cornish talks to Solomon Moore, East Africa correspondent for the Wall Street Journal.
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Data Mining: Does Online Privacy Matter?
Google combined more than 60 privacy policies in order to streamline the information that it collects about its users. Google says it hopes to create a "beautifully simple, intuitive user experience across Google." Critics say the new policy digs deeper into users' lives.
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Microsoft Goes Mobile With Windows 8
Available later this year, Microsoft's Windows 8 is an operating system designed for mobile computing. It's built for a world of tablets and touch, and represents a huge departure for a company struggling to keep up with Apple and Google in mobile technology.
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Shoot Now, Focus Later: A Little Camera To Change The...
Does the new Lytro take the art out of photography? Or open up new doors to artistic interpretation?
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New Ways To Think About Online Privacy
Afraid to post your child's picture on Facebook? Worried your financial information will be compromised? Experts say we need to decide how we want to interact with each other, consider the importance of privacy to a democracy and take the time to learn privacy settings and rules.
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Google And Privacy: Is It Time To Give Up?
For many, trying to maintain privacy in contemporary America seems just too time consuming, too complicated, too exhausting. The latest frustration: Google's new privacy policy, which goes into effect Thursday. Privacy advocates say that Internet users should demand protections and not give up their rights.
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Protecting Your Privacy Amid Google Policy Changes
Starting Thursday, when you sign into Google and use its dozens of popular services, it will combine that personal data to produce more targeted ads. Host Michel Martin and Washington Post national technology reporter Cecilia Kang discuss what concerned users can do.
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How To Adjust Your Privacy Settings, Before Google's Big...
Not everyone who relies on Google's products is concerned about pending privacy changes. Some don't care; others don't know the change is looming. But for those who are concerned, the idea that Feb. 29 is their last chance to change these settings seems to have lit the fire of urgency.
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Users Can Control What Google Knows About Them
Starting Thursday, Google is changing its privacy policy. The change means Google will be able to combine information it collects and use it to shape ads or create new services in combination with other things it offers like maps.
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Nailing Down The Appeal Of Pinterest
Pinterest, the hot new social media taste-sharing site, isn't necessarily about how many friends you have. It's about interacting with people you may not know and in the process developing a certain style. But can the site, which has gained millions of users in a short period, sustain its stellar growth?
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Google To Ramp Up Online Tracking
Privacy protections on Internet browsers are anything but ironclad. Companies circumvent them routinely. Most people know they are being observed online but figuring out how is complicated.
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AT&T 'Throttles' Heaviest Data Users
Throttling is a way for the cell phone company to limit its unlimited customers. Bloomberg technology columnist Rich Jaroslovsky talks to David Greene about what AT&T has been doing to customers who use the most data.
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Ford's High-Tech Solutions May Ease Gridlock
Ford is betting technology can help relieve traffic congestion around the world. In a speech Monday, Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. said the company is investing in systems that will bypass traffic jams, locate parking spots and communicate with other vehicles to avoid accidents.
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To Get Out The Vote, Evangelicals Try Data Mining
The company United In Purpose is going through personal data — from magazine subscriptions to NASCAR ticket purchases — to identify unregistered Christian conservatives and sign them up. UIP hopes to sway the 2012 elections by signing up 5 million new voters.
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Active Video Games Don't Keep Kids Moving
Giving kids a Wii and active video games isn't enough to increase their daily exercise, a new study found. The active gamers didn't move more than children playing traditional sit-on-the-sofa video games.
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How Much Do They Know About Me In The 'Cloud'?
It's almost like there's an image of us accumulating in that Cloud that will become an ever more vivid copy, with information we wouldn't tell our best friends, our family or our spouse. But the Cloud knows.
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Rise Of The Robotic Bees
Researchers at Harvard have come up with a novel manufacturing process for building robotic bees, finding inspiration from the worlds of pop-up books and origami. They hope that within two years their bees will be flying on their own, perhaps in swarms.
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Google's Goggles: Is The Future Right Before Our Eyes?
Eye glasses with computing power have long been sci-fi fantasy, relegated to Terminator movies and the like. But now it appears Google may be a few months from selling a beta version of their own.
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Powering Up...With A Microbial Fuel Cell
Reporting in Environmental Science and Technology, researchers write of harvesting electricity from microbe-rich river sediments--enough to power a small LED bulb. Grant Burgess, a marine biotechnologist at Newcastle University, discusses the hunt for electron-burping bugs.
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Weaving Around Web Privacy Controls
Web browser manufactures often market their products to consumers with an emphasis on privacy, assuring users that their products can better control how personal information is used online. Carnegie Mellon privacy researcher Lorrie Cranor explains that many companies have developed quiet ways to step around some of that privacy-protecting code.
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Reaching For The Limits of Tiny Transistors
Computer chip makers have long struggled to build ever-smaller transistors to allow faster, more powerful computers. Writing in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, a team of scientists describes what may be the ultimate limit of that struggle — a transistor made of a single atom. Michelle Simmons, a physicist at the University of New South Wales in Australia and leader of the project, discusses the work.
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What Science Fiction Books Does A Futurist Read?
Science fiction's job is to give us a map of where we're headed. From Jules Verne to William Gibson, sci-fi authors describe their visions of the future, and how people might live in it. We ask Intel's futurist for his list of favorite sci-fi books.
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Is The 'Right To Be Forgotten' The 'Biggest Threat To...
A privacy law taking shape in Argentina and the European community could fundamentally reshape how we think about Internet privacy and the sharing and reposting of content online.
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Disease Sleuths Surf For Outbreaks Online
When sick people search the Web for remedies or tweet about their symptoms, they're sending an early warning signal about disease outbreaks. Now scientists and public health officials are listening in.
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A California Civil War Over Internet Piracy
In southern California, Hollywood howls over "piracy" and is pushing for legislation. In the north, Silicon Valley cries foul over what it sees as restrictions on a free and open Internet. The most pressing issue for both may be the huge sums of money each stands to lose.
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Google Glasses: Frightening Or Fantastic?
The buzz is building about the news that there soon may be "Google glasses" that can put information right in front of your eyes. But is that necessarily a good thing?
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