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The World

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Touch screen production proves toxic

By The World ⋅ March 19, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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Touch screens on high-tech gadgets may be fun to use, but making them is another story. Kathleen McLaughlin is a reporter with Global Post based in China. She’s found that in at least one Chinese factory that produces touch screens, workers were exposed to a toxic solvent that violated local codes and was used without proper safety equipment. Host Jeb Sharp speaks with Kathleen McLaughlin. Download MP3 (Photo: Mikael Häggström)

Tech Podcast: Wikileaks, Hactivism, and Four Views of the ‘Net

By Clark Boyd ⋅ March 19, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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This week’s Technology Podcast highlights some of the material the BBC has been producing as part of its special series of reports, called SuperPower, on the Internet. We’ve got an interesting and in-depth look at the website Wikileaks, as well as a report on the rise on online activism, or “hacktivism” as some call it. You can also hear a series of four short opinion pieces from some big digital thinkers on the future of the global Internet.

Geo Quiz

By The World ⋅ March 19, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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Our daily geography puzzler.

Guam loves Spam

By The World ⋅ March 18, 2010 ⋅ One comment ⋅ Transcript

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The US Pacific Island territory of Guam is notable not just for its US military bases, which are soon to be expanded. Guam is also the world’s leading consumer per capita, of Spam. The World’s Mary Kay Magistad reports about the Guamanian craze for processed meat. Download MP3 (Photo: Mary Kay Magistad).

Reporter’s Notebook: Return to Haiti

By The World ⋅ March 17, 2010 ⋅ 3 comments ⋅ Transcript

Reporter Amy Bracken is currently on assignment in Haiti, a country that she knows well, having lived and worked there extensively in the past. The World asked her to keep a diary of her experiences on this trip. In this, her first entry, she writes about being back in the country, and about how the Haitians are preparing for the rainy season. (Photo: Amy Bracken)

More Greece, Russian films, and German potholes

By Jason Margolis ⋅ March 16, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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More news from Greece on this edition of the Global Economy Podcast. The country in the middle of its “worst crisis” in modern history, as the Greek finance minister put it. How are the Germans feeling about Greece? And how are the Greeks feeling about Greece? Also on this edition of the podcast: potholes in Germany, film in Russia, and a new trade route through the Himalayas. Also, is it better to give charitable donations of money or goods to help rebuild Haiti? Download MP3

Tech Podcast: Living with and without the internet

By Clark Boyd ⋅ March 12, 2010 ⋅ 3 comments ⋅ Transcript

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This week, the tech podcast brings you a study in contrasts. As part of a series of reports on the power of the Internet, the BBC brought mobile phone connections to these two farmers in rural Nigeria. They’d never surfed the web before. Listen in to find out how they got on. At the same time, the BBC asked some South Koreans to disconnect from the ‘net for an entire week. Painful, considering South Korea is one of the most connected countries on earth. Also this week, we hear about how Indians are finding the love of their lives…online.

Travel Podcast: Soccer World Cup in South Africa

By Clark Boyd ⋅ March 9, 2010 ⋅ 5 comments ⋅ Transcript

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Now that the Winter Olympics are over, sports fans the world over are turning their attention to South Africa, and this summer’s soccer blow-out, the 2010 World Cup. In this episode of Talking Travel, Lonely Planet’s Robert Reid and Tom Hall assess South Africa’s readiness to host soccer’s premiere event, and about the unique prism that sports provide for tourism in general.

Tech Podcast 280: Cross Cultural Training Goes Online, & Reliving the Dot Com Bubble

By Clark Boyd ⋅ March 5, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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Here you see a graph of the tech-heavy Nasdaq stock index from 1994 to 2008. See that peak? That’s the “dot com” bubble. In this week’s podcast, we take a step back in time to those heady days just before that bubble burst. What was it like to live through that? We’ll hear from someone who survived. Also, new body scanners come to US airports, and cross-cultural business training finds a new home online. And we end with some very interesting research on voice recognition technologies.

Oh Canada

By The World ⋅ March 1, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

Canadians don’t know how to celebrate? “You’ve to to be kidding me, eh?” says Andrea Crossan, producer and reporter for The World. Andrea was in her hometown, Vancouver, to cover the games for The World. Read her Reporter’s Notebook, and listen in to her coverage.

Dangerous Mexican city

By The World ⋅ March 1, 2010 ⋅ 5 comments ⋅ Transcript

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In the Geo Quiz we’re looking for a Mexican city that has made headlines recently as one of the world’s most violent: registering thousands of homicides in the last two years alone. Yet a high school student exchange program continues there as usual, despite the dangers, and the exchange students say they couldn’t be happier as Monica Ortiz Uribe reports. Download MP3

Geo Quiz archive

Geo Quiz

By The World ⋅ March 1, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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Our daily geography quiz.

Tech Podcast: Germans prepare for RoboCup 2010

By The World ⋅ February 26, 2010 ⋅ 3 comments ⋅ Transcript

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In this week’s podcast, we feature a listener-generated segment on robotic soccer. Tell me, is there anything more awesome than teams of three kid-sized robots trying to score goals against one another? Absolutely not is the answer. We’ll hear from the FUmanoids, the German team that is currently the #2 team in the world. We’ll also talk about Google’s Europe woes, and about Latvia’s virtual “Robin Hood.”

A Cross-Border Comparison of Stimulus Spending

By Jason Margolis ⋅ February 26, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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Just over a year ago, President Obama and Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better know as “The Stimulus.” It was a $787 billion shot-in-the-arm to the U.S. economy, a mix of tax cuts and expenditure spending.

The U.S. wasn’t the only country to take such action. On the Global Economy Podcast, we look at how the stimulus plans in different countries have fared and compare the actions taken by the Canadian and U.S. governments.

Homeopathy in Britain

By Alex Gallafent ⋅ February 24, 2010 ⋅ One comment ⋅ Transcript

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British lawmakers have determined that homeopathy, a form of alternative medicine, is not medicine of any kind at all (beyond a placebo.) Britain funds four homeopathic hospitals in the UK, spending about six million dollars per year. The World’s Alex Gallafent reports.