PRI's The World: Tech Podcast 233 -- The One with Twittering Taco Trucks

March 02, 2009

OK, I love a good taco, especially one served up by a mobile taco truck in SoCal. I also love Korean BBQ. And while I have not yet consumed the Twitter Kool-Aid, I can definitely see the micro-blogging service's appeal. So, just imagine my surprise and delight when a story pitch that combines all three of these marvelous things crossed my desk a couple of weeks ago. There's no question that the Kogi Korean Taco Truck is the undisputed champion segment of this week's Technology Podcast (WTP 233). But kimchi quesadillas can't just be heard...and so here's a nifty audio slideshow for you:

Right, well you're probably too hungry now to read about the rest of the podcast, but here goes anyway. We start this week's show with a very interesting interview about how the technologies used to capture and distribute photographic images of the war dead have changed over the decades. The idea for this segment was sparked by last week's announcement that the Pentagon is reversing a ban on news media publishing pictures of the flag-draped coffins of soldiers. It will now be left to the families to decide whether the pictures can be published. We speak with documentary photographer David Perlmutter.

We also take an in-depth look at some potentially big news from Iran. The Iranian government allowed reporters inside Bushehr, the country's nuclear facility. The reporters were given a guided tour designed to showcase the beginning of some critical testing of the facility. Iran says its for energy purposes only, while many in the West aren't so sure. We hear from a reporter allowed inside the facility, and hear analysis from Ben Rhode of the International Institute of Strategic Studies.

And it's been kind of a roller-coaster week and a half for the social networking site Facebook. It all started when the massively popular service announced a few "tweaks," to its terms of service. Some felt the tweaks amounted to something quite sinister, claiming that the changes meant that anything anyone posted to Facebook would be owned, well, by Facebook. In perpetuity. Even if you deleted your account. Whew. The Electronic Privacy Information Center was only one of many organizations that threw a fit. Fittingly, Facebook groups against the new terms of service formed, and quickly. Facebook then countered by revoking the new terms of service, and has opted for a more community based approach to how the site is managed and governed. We get a much-needed reality check on the Facebook about-face.

Oh, and by the way, one of the UK's leading neuroscientists, Susan Greenfield, takes a swipe at Facbook and other social networking sites, claiming that they may in fact be bad for kid's brains. Is this just the old "video games are bad for you" argument, only for the Web 2.0 set? You can decide for yourself. I offer you Greenfield's argument in the podcast, but you can get more analysis here and here.

Fittingly, you can find WTP on Facebook and Twitter. Fry your brain along with us. You can hear all of WTP 233 by just clicking below!

(Screengrab from Facebook, naturally)

PRI's The World: Technology Podcast 230

February 08, 2009

In last week's podcast (WTP 229), we featured an in-depth look at Google. We asked, where could the "do no evil" crowd be headed to next? This week, Technology Podcast 230 gives you a couple of answers. First underwater, courtesy of Google Ocean, which is part of the latest release of Google Earth. Finally, there seems to be some realization that the vast majority of the Earth's surface is covered with water. We'll get an assessment Google Ocean from Carl Safina, of the Blue Ocean Institute. And, just because it's still the middle of winter here in Boston, why not take a tour of the Mediterranean?

Most of the reaction to Google Ocean has been positive. But another Google product that just came out recently has some privacy advocates in a tizzy. It's called Google Latitude. You can put it on your computer or your mobile phone, and it allows you to share your location, with anyone, anywhere in the world. Now Google claims that the user has complete control over what location information is or isn't shared, and with whom. But Simon Davies of Privacy International doesn't buy it, and he tells us his reasons why on the podcast.

Also, the kind folks over at the BBC's Digital Planet program rang me up to ask me about a blogger who has recently taken up residence in Washington. You may have heard of him -- Barack Obama? Yes, the White House website features a "blog" of sorts now, although fans of Mr. Obama's more personal tone during the campaign may be a bit disappointed. It's part and parcel of what happens when the desire to reach out digitally meets the reality of governing in a place like Washington. Or at least that seems to be what I told Digital Planet. We'll have an excerpt on WTP 230.

And we check-in with freelancer and author Cyrus Farivar, who tells us about Estonia's bid to use some of its homegrown high-tech (Skype, anyone?) to help keep costs low at local hotels in the face of a growing global recession. Cyrus' forthcoming book, The Internet of Elsewhere, includes a chapter on Estonia, or E-stonia as the budding tech hub of the Baltic has branded itself. So, will free Skype calls from hotel rooms in Tallinn be enough to lure back the British bachelor party crowd? Listen in.

Estonia also figures into one other story on this week's podcast. You may remember that back in 2007, some fairly nasty cyberattacks took place in Estonia. The Estonians blamed the Russians, and the Russian government denied it. To date, only one ethnic Russian hacker in Estonia has been arrested in connection with the attacks. But the attacks so crippled Estonia's computer systems that NATO took note. The organization has made cyberdefense a priority, and has even opened a special unit at its headquarters outside of Brussels to deal with it. We get a behind-the-scenes look at ops there, courtesy of BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner.

 And we end with a super-secret hidden track...an update on a story we've covered before. Yep, it's the Skycar, and it's making its way over the Sahara desert en route to Timbuktu in Mali. We check in with expedition leader Neil Laughton.

As always, we like to remind you that you can subscibe to The World's Technology Podcast via RSS, and via iTunes. You can also find us via internet radio aggregator services such as radiotime. Of course, if you'd like to sample before you subscribe, you can simply play episdode 230 below.

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PRI's The World: Technology Podcast 220

November 24, 2008

Believe it or not, what you're looking at there is essential to your cell phone, your Playstation, and a host of other electronic products. In Africa, it's called coltan. From it, we get a blue-grey powder called tantalum...and tantalum, because it's durable and can withstand high temperatures, is great for making capacitors, which can store tiny electrical charges. That, as you can imagine, makes them handy in electronics. Unfortunately, one source for the increasingly valuable coltan is...the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo. And that's the story that leads this week's Technology Podcast (WTP 220). We speak with Jack Ewing, BusinessWeek's European Correspondent. He's been following the coltan trail to see just how much so-called "conflict coltan" actually makes it into the electronics we carry around with us all day. The answer might surprise you, so be sure to give a listen.

We move to West Africa for our second story. You have doubtless received an email which starts "I am a manager at the Bank of Nigeria," and then goes on to entice you with promises of millions. It's lovingly referred to as a 419 scam. It's named after the Nigerian law governing this kind of fraud. Despite all the warnings against answering such emails, many folks are duped into replying. West Africa has gotten a reputation for being a hotbed for Internet scams, but this week, computer experts gathered in Ivory Coast to discuss ways to the tackle the problem. We speak with the BBC's John James in Abidjan.

Then, we have an ever-so-brief item on a new Google Earth project called Virtual Rome. Too freakin' cool.

Our next story is the latest twist in the increasingly strange tale of Hossein Derakhshan, or Hoder as he's known to the blogging world. Hoder's widely regarded as the "Blogfather" of the Persian blogosphere. Back in 2000, he was one of the first to launch a blog in Persian. He even wrote a how-to guide for other would-be Iranian bloggers. His blogs, both in English and Farsi, covered a wide range of topics. His posts, however, made it clear that he was a critic of the Iranian government. Then things changed, and Hoder started siding with the Iranian government, and attacking dissidents. Not long ago, he moved back to Tehran from Canada. And now, this week, news has trickled out that he may or may not have been arrested. We get an update from Cyrus Farivar, who leads us through the twists and turns of Hoder's blogging career.

Then, we wish Happy Birthday to the International Space Station. Ten years ago this week, the first module lifted off, carrying the first module, a Russian one named "Dawn." It was soon joined by an American module called "Unity." Ten years later, it's still not finished, and it's way over-budget. Critics contend that it's not worth the money. Supporters say the ISS is proving a valuable teaching tool and training ground for future long-duration missions, possibly even to the Moon and Mars. We hear from smart people on both sides of the argument.

And speaking of the ISS...there was a spacewalk on the station that went, well, slightly awry this week. Here's the video I promised, and bear in mind...this HAS happened to you, too, just not in space.

We then switch into "science mode" for a bit, and hear about an amazing medical breakthrough in Spain. Doctors in Spain removed the windpipe of a woman with respiratory disease, and replaced it with a new airway created, in part, in the laboratory using adult stem cells. Read the write-up in The Lancet. See a video depiction of the process here. We hear from Barcelona, where the surgery took place.

And we end...with a tribute to that incredible piece of Eastern European automotive technology -- the Yugo. Didn't you know that it's production run is ending? I'll miss the jokes.

(Both photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

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Blogs Bring World War I (and More) Back to Life

November 11, 2008

Today is Veterans' Day (Armistice Day in the UK) and I wanted to find an appropriate story. Mission accomplished. The man pictured at left is Pvt. Harry Lamin, a laceworker from Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England. In 1917, Harry was drafted to fight in World War I. He was sent first to the trenches in Flanders, where he managed to survive months of some of the most gruesome fighting, the most inhuman conditions, the world has ever seen. Then, he was sent to Italy to fight the Austrians. How do I know all this? Well, Harry Lamin's a blogger. OK, that's not entirely accurate. Harry's grandson, Bill Lamin, has spent the last two and half years blogging his grandfather's letters. Bill posts them 90 years to the day after they were written or postmarked. I've had the good fortune to follow the story for close to two years now. Here's the original radio piece (June 2007), and a follow-up (February 2008). It has been an incredible journey for Bill, Harry, and for readers. When Bill began blogging his grandfather's letters (found in a drawer in his house, they were written in indelible purple pencil), he figured 50 or 100 World War I buffs might find them interesting. The site's had more than two million hits. Bill quit his day job (teaching), and has a deal to turn the blog into a book.

Obviously, Harry's words have hit a chord worldwide. Bill puts that down to Harry being "an ordinary man living through an extraordinary situation," and for conveying so well in his letters all that is most horrific and mundane. Readers have been following along, day to day, wondering what will happen to Harry. Will the letters suddenly stop, possibly meaning the end of Harry? Or, will the letters carry on and follow Harry back to England, and home? The blog format nicely augments this kind of narrative tension. Many days, my first stop on the old RSS feed is to check to see if there's an update from Harry.

Answers of a sort can be found in the piece I filed today.

Much has been written of late about the death of the blog. Maybe, maybe not. Harry's letters wouldn't really work as tweets on Twitter, although some of George Orwell's diary entries might. By posting Harry's letters as a blog, Bill's managed not only to re-create the past, but also create a legion of readers; readers who have taken inspiration from Bill's example, and have, in turn, helped him answer nagging historical questions and fill in gaps in the record.

Crowd-sourced history, right before your eyes. I'm glad the Harry survived the war, and I'm glad Bill didn't decide to kill his blog...

(Photo courtesy of Bill Lamin)

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PRI's The World: Technology Podcast 217, Special Election Edition

November 04, 2008

What's a technology correspondent to do when he's left off the Election Day broadcast? Why, do a special Election Day podcast, of course. Here's WTP 217, which focuses on how technology has shaped, and been shaped by, the seemingly endless campaign for the US presidency.

We begin with a report that examines how both the McCain and Obama campaigns have tried to harness the power of on-line tools such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. The report includes a couple of great clips from Arianna Huffington of The Huffington Post.

From there, we try to get a handle on which camp better harnessed technology in pursuit of victory. We speak first with Phil Noble, founder of a website called Politics Online. Phil told me that he's been amazed at what the Obama campaign has managed to do on-line, both from a fundraising point of view, and an organizational point of view. He looks back to 2004, and Howard Dean's failed campaign for the Democratic nomination. Noble quoted veteran 'net campaigner Joe Trippi: "The Dean Campaign was the Wright Brothers. The Obama Campaign is the Apollo moon shot."

Then, we broaden it out by turning to Andrew Rasiej at the non-partisan group blog techPresident. Andrew also has praise for the Obama campaign when it comes to using not just the web, but also cell phone text messages. The interesting question for Andrew is what happens to the online communities Obama has created after the election. He told me:

"Win or lose, it's very clear that politics is going to be completely changed, not so much as battles between two parties, but between generations over the future of the country in relation to how much information is available, when decisions get made, who makes them. This is a new vanguard of citizen activists that this technology has enabled, and every administration going forward is looking at a new 21st century democracy."

Next, we hear from a San Francisco based mobile phone company called Credo. It's a full-service company that's doing some very interesting free projects around social causes in general, and around this election in particular. They're offering a web and text message service that allows you to send friends and family an SMS reminder to go and vote. You can also send a text message to 69866, with your street address and zip code, and you will receive back, in short order, your polling location and a Google map to help you find it. And finally, Credo's implemented a Mobile Action project. Some 12,000 poll watchers worldwide will be monitoring polling locations, and using texts and calls to alert folks to potential problems at polling stations.

I find this use of mobiles and texts fascinating, and familiar. Familiar because I've reported on it before, and fascinating because it's usually in the context, not of developed democracies, but in emerging democracies. Phil Noble cites The Orange Revolution in Ukraine. See also great blog posts on this by Ethan Zuckerman of the Berkman Center at Harvard, and Erik Hersman, blogging at White African.

Happy Voting!

Oh, almost forgot. The Onion has already called the election. The winner? The voting machines.

Thank you, Onion, for some much needed, semi-comic relief.

Beam Me Up, Billy...

May 13, 2008

These must certainly be the salad days for the online, armchair astronomer.  Making the rounds today was news that Microsoft has just launched WorldWide Telescope.  The program, still deemed to be in beta, can be downloaded free of charge, and allows for some serious virtual zooming around the heavens.

According to Microsoft, users can choose from any number of telescopes trained on the sky, be they on the ground, or flying in space.  That includes the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center, the Spitzer Space Telescope or others. They can view the locations of planets in the night sky — in the past, present or future. They can view the universe through different wavelengths of light to reveal hidden structures in other parts of the galaxy.

There are also a number of "tours" designed by top astronomers from which you can choose.  Or, you can simply create your own tour, and record it to your computer.

As Bill Gates himself put it: “The WorldWide Telescope is a powerful tool for science and education that makes it possible for everyone to explore the universe.  By combining terabytes of incredible imagery and data with easy-to-use software for viewing and moving through all that information, the WorldWide Telescope opens the door to new ways to see and experience the wonders of space. Our hope is that it will inspire young people to explore astronomy and science, and help researchers in their quest to better understand the universe.”

Microsoft, so you know, isn't the only tech outfit that NASA has teamed up with.  Last year, Google announced the launch of Google Sky, an add-on to Google Earth that also allows for some serious star-gazing.  Google also has specific programs for Mars, and the Moon.

As I said, the salad days.

Ah, one drawback, and I bet you're ready for it.  WorldWide Telescope, being a Microsoft product, only runs on Windows.  Mac users -- Starry Night makes a widget for the Dashboard you can try for free.  If you want to try a free, open source product that works on a variety of operating systems, you might take a look at Stellarium.

Happy hunting!

photos courtesy of The WorldWide Telescope project.

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