Technology Podcast | PRI's The World

Technology Podcast | PRI's The World

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Technology Podcast

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Tech Podcast: Internet Addiction and Depression

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

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We’ve got a great mix of stories on this week’s podcast. We take you inside a Crisis Camp for Haiti meeting in Montreal, to hear how concerned people thousands of miles away are helping the relief effort. Also, two great stories about design and technology: one concerns an ancient footbridge across the Nile, and the other the humble, but dangerous, British pint glass. And we end with some research into potential links between Internet addiction and depression.

Tech Podcast 275: Nope, no iPad

By Clark Boyd ⋅ February 2, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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No, this is not an exclusive screenshot from the new iPad. In fact, this episode has absolutely nothing in it about Apple’s shiny new gadget. This is, in fact, the first “screengrab” from John Logie Baird’s “televisor.” Find out all about it in this week’s episode. Also, we hear about Internet connectivity in Nigeria and Finland.

Tech Podcast 274: Mapping Haiti, Google and China

By Clark Boyd ⋅ January 25, 2010 ⋅ One comment ⋅ Transcript

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This week’s podcast features more news on different tech efforts to help relief workers in Haiti. We look at Open Street Map, and Project EPIC’s “Tweak the Tweet.” We also delve into Clinton’s speech on Internet freedom, and get two in-depth views of Google’s recent announcements about China. Also, let us not forget the power of radio in Haiti.

Tech Podcast: Tech aids Haiti relief efforts

By Clark Boyd ⋅ January 15, 2010 ⋅ One comment ⋅ Transcript

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This week, we look at two major stories. The first is the relief effort in Haiti, which was hit by a devastating earthquake earlier this week. We examine the importance of getting telecommunications back up and running, both for aid groups and for locals. Also, we talk about how US aid groups are turning to text messaging to raise funds. Our other big story is Google’s announcement that it may pull out of China completely.

Tech Podcast: M-PESA, Y2K10, and Call of Duty

By Clark Boyd ⋅ January 8, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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And…we’re back, ready for a whole new year of fun and frolics on the Tech Podcast. The centerpiece for this episode is a conversation with Tavneet Suri of MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Suri, a Kenyan herself, has been studying the impact of the mobile money transfer system called M-PESA on her native country. We’ve also got two items on tech and Iran, some news about a Y2K10 bug in Germany, and some Russians who are riled about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.

Tech Podcast 271: Drones, tech in crisis, and the Copenhagen Wheel

By Clark Boyd ⋅ December 18, 2009 ⋅ 4 comments ⋅ Transcript

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It’s a nice line-up for the last podcast of 2009. We’ve got an item on the MIT SENSEable City Lab’s Copenhagen Wheel project. Turn your ordinary bike into an e-bike. Cool. Also, we revisit drones, and we hear all about the pluses and minuses of technologies in times of crisis, political and otherwise. PHOTO: Max Tomasinelli

Tech Podcast 270: Drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan

By Clark Boyd ⋅ December 11, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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On this week’s podcast, we kick off with an extended version of an interview with Noah Shachtman of Wired.com. Noah’s just back from checking out the drones that are currently flying over Pakistan and Afghanistan, and he’s got a lot of interesting things to talk about. We’ll also take a trip into space to hear about a new NASA telescope, and about Sapporo’s “Space Barley” Beer.

Tech Podcast: Tackling Cybercrime and Spam

By Clark Boyd ⋅ December 4, 2009 ⋅ 3 comments ⋅ Transcript

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This man is Shane Atkinson, allegedly part of global spamming team that at its peak may have been responsible for one-third of all the world’s junk email. Two years ago, the BBC’s Simon Cox tracked him down. Then, Cox became part of the story of bringing Atkinson to justice. We have that story in this week’s technology podcast, along with a round-up of cybercrime in 2009.

Tech Podcast 268: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Returns!

By Clark Boyd ⋅ November 20, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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Tons of fun in this week’s podcast. The highlight is the return of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Eoin Colfer, who you may know as author of the Artemis Fowl series, has taken on the task of writing Book Six of Three in the H2G2 universe. It’s called And Another Thing… and we’ve got an interview with Colfer on this week’s podcast! We also hear about expert windmill builder, William Kamkwamba.

Tech Podcast 267: Churchill, Comets, Samasource, and Ventilators

By Clark Boyd ⋅ November 13, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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Our Friday the 13th podcast features a segment on Samasource, a San Francisco based non-profit that’s helping people in the developing world make a little luck for themselves by helping them get employment. Also, we hear about how Sir Winston Churchill’s speeches flunk a new computerized essay marking program. We’ll hitch a ride on a comet, and hear about one listener’s own project to create a low-cost ventilator.

Tech Podcast 266: The Strange Case of Blogger Hossein Derakhshan

By The World ⋅ November 6, 2009 ⋅ One comment ⋅ Transcript

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The centerpiece of this week’s podcast is a look at the strange case of Iranian-Canadian blogger Hossein Derakhshan. He was jailed a little more than a year ago after returning to Iran. We hear about the twists and turns his life has taken in recent years. We also hear about some new research on Persian blogs, and about the world’s smallest FM transmitter! Oh, and a guy who has most of his life recorded digitally…and loves it.

Tech Podcast 265: “Internet’s” birthday, 40 years of modulated anarchy

By Clark Boyd ⋅ October 30, 2009 ⋅ 6 comments ⋅ Transcript

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This week, we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the birth of the Internet. We hear from UCLA’s Leonard Kleinrock (pictured), and others who worked to send that first message between two computers, hundreds of miles apart. We get the international perspective from Chinese blogger and activist Isaac Mao. And we also hear about the ‘Net’s next step, Internationalized Domain Names.

Technology Podcast: Smart phones for scientists

By Clark Boyd ⋅ October 23, 2009 ⋅ 2 comments ⋅ Transcript

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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.

Tech Podcast: Viktor Mayer-Schönberger

By The World ⋅ October 19, 2009 ⋅ 3 comments ⋅ Transcript

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The highlight of our technology podcast this week is an interview with author Viktor Mayer-Schönberger about his new book, called Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in The Digital Age. It’s a fascinating look at how digital technologies, and especially the growing capacity for storage, has made us forget how to forget. Listen in, and then weigh in with your comments. Download MP3

WTP 262: Moon crash, Peruvian fog nets, Nobel Prize in physics, and Trongs!

By Clark Boyd ⋅ October 9, 2009 ⋅ 2 comments ⋅ Transcript

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A listener-centered episode this week. Tech Podcast listener and inventor Eric Zimmerman shares his low-tech solution to a high-tech problem; namely, how do manage to answer your cell phone when you’re eating buffalo wings and your fingers are covered in sauce? Trongs. Also, NASA crashes into the moon (on purpose), and Peru tries to harvest water with fog nets. And, we have a technological nod to the winners of this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics.