If you’ve followed this podcast for any length of time, you’ll know I have a soft spot for the late Douglas Adams’ monumentally satisfying Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I love it in pretty much all of its forms (OK, I’m partial to the radio version…for slightly obvious reasons), and I love all of the characters (OK…I’m partial to Marvin the Paranoid Android, again for slightly obvious reasons). Like many fans, I have been waiting anxiously to see if another author would be given the chance to write Book Six of the Now Completely Unaptly Named Trilogy. Well, folks, it has been done. Irish author Eoin Colfer (who you might know from the Artemis Fowl series) got the nod a while back, and the new book is out. It’s called And Another Thing…, and on this week’s podcast Colfer talks about Adams, technology, and the popular cult that is H2G2.

We’ve also got the amazing tale of William Kamkwamba, who at the age of 14 built a windmill…by himself…from scratch. WTP first heard of Kamkwamba three years ago via Afrigadget. Now, he’s the co-author of a new book called The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. He’s a great interview, as you can tell from this video of his appearance on The Daily Show.

Rounding out WTP this week, we have an interview with Rod Beckstrom, President and CEO of ICANN, the California non-profit that ensures that when you type our web address into your browser, you end up here, and not at some Russian porn site. Beckstrom was in Egypt to represent ICANN at the Internet Governance Forum, a UN-sponsored annual shindig designed to provide a space for “multi-stakeholder discussion” about various aspects of global online life.

Last, but certainly not least, is a report from the Czech Republic on the company that makes plastic explosive Semtex. The company’s name is…and we’re not making this up…Explosia.

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