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In this week’s podcast, Iceland says “nei” to boring electricity pylons. The country’s sponsoring a contest for innovative new girder designs for holding up electricity lines. We’ll hear from one of the finalists, whose design calls for giant humanoid shaped pylons to stride across the Icelandic landscape. (Photo: Choi Shine)
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Former U.S. Army Captain Blake Hall reflects on his time in Iraq. A shorter version of this interview ran on the radio show on August 19, 2010.
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In this week’s World in Words podcast, Iran’s leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is known for his fruity prose, and this month he outdid himself with a new anti-American insult. Also, we hear from a linguist who’s spending a year in Northwest Greenland. And getting from Point A to Point B in Urdu, a language that has the same word for “go straight” and “turn right” Download MP3
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Images like this are a stark reminder of how the unusual summer heat and the accompanying wildfires, have seriously affected life in Moscow. In this episode of our Talking Travel podcast, Lonely Planet’s Robert Reid says Russia’s a big place, and you shouldn’t let the wildfires stop you from visiting the country’s many tourist destinations. We’ll also discuss air rage, and some animals that seem to want to pack their suitcases and take a holiday. (Photo: Sergei Gutnikov)
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Traffic in Delhi, India can be, well, trying at times. The city’s Traffic Police recently started up a Facebook page to give people the latest traffic reports. Turns out, Delhi drivers started using it to out other bad drivers! We’ve got that story and more in this week’s Technology Podcast. (Photo: Enthusiast10)
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In this week’s World in Words podcast: an Israeli-British study shows bilinguals respond differently depending on the language of the questions; Sarah Palin compares her coinage of new English words to Shakespeare’s; and Clark Boyd’s adventures in linguistically confused Belgium. Download MP3
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In our monthly tech round-up, we talk about the latest developments in professor Sugata Mitra’s Hole in the Wall project (pictured). Find out what happens when you let kids in a Delhi slum figure out a computer all by themselves. We also talk about Facebook’s half-a-billion users, and about how you use technology to make sense of information during times of crisis. (Screengrab from the Hole in the Wall website)
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In this week’s technology podcast, we take an in-depth look at WikiLeaks, and their decision to release some 91,000 classified documents from the war in Afghanistan onto the Internet. We also have an interview about Google Maps and border disputes, and hear about so-called conflict minerals. We end with an update on the extradition battle of British hacker Gary McKinnon.
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In the latest World in Words podcast: a translator recalls the Nuremberg Trials; sign languages that don’t have signs for some Islamic words; the phrase that Manute Bol didn’t invent; a controversial move in Southern India to make Tamil more official; and those alleged spies from Russia and their faux Euro/Canadian accents. Download MP3
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In this week’s World in Words podcast: you can hear Latin America’s clearest, crispest Spanish in Colombia. So, Bogota is now home to everything from call centers to telenovela production houses. Also, what the spread of Spanish in the United States is doing to both the language and the country. Finally, Dora the Explorer and Kai-Lan: two fictional TV characters who introduce American kids to their first words of Spanish and Chinese.Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Cuban streets might still be filled with American cars, but American tourists have been effectively banned from visiting the island nation for decades now. But the US Congress is now looking at a number of measures designed to ease restrictions on travel to Cuba. In this episode of our Talking Travel podcast, Lonely Planet’s Robert Reid and Tom Hall offer their assessments of what increased US tourism might mean for Cuba, and its people. (Photo: Dirk van der Made)
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In this week’s episode of The World’s Technology Podcast, we reach back in time to February 2006 for an encore performance. At the time, the mad comedy trio of Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington were rocking the world of podcasting with their crazy episodes. The World’s Clark Boyd managed to get himself invited to the party for half an hour.
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The Solar Impulse project, based in Switzerland, aims to create a solar-powered airplane that can one day circumnavigate the globe without using a single drop of conventional fuel. They got one step closer this week, after a successful 26 hour test flight. Find out how the solar cells, and the pilot, held up during the night. We’ve also got stories on recent developments regarding Internet censorship in China, and on an early version of the radio that used…the telephone. (Photo: Matth1)
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In this week’s World in Words podcast, the case for and against Globish. A group of writers and artists debate the proposition that a simplified version of English is uniquely equipped to take over the world. Also, health care access for non-English speakers in the United States. Plus, a conversation with Gregory Levey, whose book “Shut Up I’m Talking” has more Facebook fans than Bill Clinton. Download MP3
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If you love soccer, and you love Lego, then you’re going to want to listen to this week’s Tech Podcast. We’ve got an interview with Fabian Mortiz, a young German who is painstakingly recreating the highlights, and lowlights, of each World Cup match…in Lego. Plus, Estonia’s “Johnny Appleseed” of free wi-fi, and some robots that want to help you choose the right clothes online. (Photo: Fabian Moritz)
