Tech Podcast: The ‘Optigan’ returns

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They say that everything old is new again. But that doesn’t always ring true with tech. Betamax, anyone? Still, the Optical Organ, or Optigan, is once again catching the ears of practicing musicians. You can find out more about the instrument in this week’s podcast. We’ve also got a story on biometric data in Iraq, and we celebrate video-game hero Mario’s 25th birthday. (Photo: PMDrive1061)

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Technology Podcast: Smart phones for scientists

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In this week’s technology podcast, you can hear how some scientists in Britain are working to develop an open source application for smartphones that will allow field researchers to do some pretty sophisticated data collection and mapping. It’s all in an effort to fight the spread of infectious diseases across the globe. Also, we have a story on the future of electric vehicles, and a US researcher takes a look at how politicians Tweet in the US and UK.

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EU Puts Hurt on Intel, Persian Bloggers on Saberi’s Release, Google Oceans Goes Deep, and SixthSense at MIT

This week, MIT’s SixthSense human-computer interface aims to the web, well, wherever you want it. Also, the European Union puts some financial hurt on chip-maker Intel. Persian bloggers weigh in on the release of journalist Roxana Saberi. And Google Oceans goes deep. Listen