Stories tagged "technology"

If you know anything about Macintosh computers, you know that the annual Macworld trade show that kicks off today in San Francisco is one of the biggest events for the Apple community. But in December, Apple stunned its followers when it announced that Apple CEO Steve Jobs would not giving his traditional keynote speech. Not only that, Apple announced that after 2009, they will no longer be part of the expo. Questions abound: Why is Apple going AWOL? And is Jobs sick, again? WIRED magazine journalist Steven Levy joins The Takeaway from Macworld to discuss.

Steve Jobs' 2008 keynote address in 60 seconds

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Calls for the end of the media as we know it are not new to anyone in the business. For years media clairvoyants have been peering into their crystal balls to find ever shrinking staffs at newspapers and radio and television stations across the country. However, the combination of the significant shifts in technology and the economic downturn may constitute a critical mass for changes in the media. Between bankruptcies of significant media companies and transformative technology rushing to market, 2009 may be the year that media finally has to change. Siva Vaidhyanthan, an associate professor of media studies at the University of Virginia, joins us for more on the issue.

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For those living on the streets, newspapers could prove to be an unlikely lifeline this winter. Taxi, a Toronto-based advertising agency, is donating thousands of its high-tech, sub-zero coats to the homeless. The jacket, when filled with an assortment of op-eds, sports, movie listings and classified pages, is as protective as any down-filled coat. For a look at this news many can use, The Takeaway turns to Taxi's Steve Mykolyn, the creative force behind the winter gear.

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We were all taught to "Just Say No," but when it comes to performance enhancers, is it okay to say yes?

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Virtual reality world Second Life loses a news bureau.

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You might think that free speech is controlled by international laws, but law professor Jeffrey Rosen says you're wrong. He says free speech — at least, online — is now controlled by Nicole Wong, known within the halls of Google as "The Decider." Wong controls what video stays on YouTube and which links are picked up by the Google search engine. Jeffrey Rosen writes about "Google's gatekeepers" in a piece for this weekend's New York Times magazine, where he is a frequent contributor.

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There are now over 800,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. Of those, roughly 300,000 have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, but only half of these veterans have been professionally treated for their trauma. Traditional "exposure therapy" treatments help veterans get a handle on their experiences by having them relive them, using methods like talk therapy, guided visualizations, and others. Modern technology has recently begun making strides as effective treatment for 21st century combat. Software known as "Virtual Iraq" allows soldiers, through simulation, to become desensitized to deep-rooted traumatic experiences.

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Now that it's possible to program unmanned combat vehicles to make decisions about where (and who) to strike in war situations, new questions of ethics have risen: In which situations can we allow robots to make their own decisions? Can we program robots to follow the Geneva Conventions? There is a more basic question, too: Do we even want robot soldiers?

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In another sign the English language is evolving, you can add a new word to your vocabulary: "cyberchondria." It's the term for what happens when you go looking up your health symptoms online and wind up coming to the worst conclusion. A new survey by Microsoft showed this phenomenon on the rise. The Takeaway is joined by Cary Cooper, professor of Psychology and Health at Lancaster University in the UK, to look at why you're as likely to conclude your headache is from a brain tumor as from caffeine withdrawal.

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View links related to this segment at Garry Golden's The Energy Roadmap blog »

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"We can't ride the bucking bronco of day-to-day oil prices to determine our strategy."
-- Van Jones, author of "The Green Collar Economy"

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Google Inc. unveiled a new tool today, in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that estimates flu incidence though user searches on google.com. By tracking the searches state by state, Google's map may be able to provide data on where and how flu is spreading days faster than existing techniques.

View Google.org's Flu Trends site »

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"Cloud computing" is just a buzzword, but major software players are betting on computing that happens over the Internet rather than on desktops. Yesterday Microsoft unveiled its brand new "cloud-based" operating system, and if you use Facebook, Skype, Google Documents, or Apple's MobileMe, you are already computing in the cloud.

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After weeks of wrangling, and obscured by the attention on a Wall Street bailout, the Senate has approved a nuclear deal that allows the exportation of American nuclear materials to India. The agreement is being seen as a cornerstone in improving relations between the two countries.

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Mass produced on an assembly line, with a will of its own, it's 100 years old today: The Ford Model T. The car started a global craze and made Ford Motor Co. one of the world's largest companies.

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On Sunday, the White House and Congressional leaders agreed to the fine print of a $700 billion government bailout. They even posted the bill online not long before it was voted on. Does this qualify as transparency?

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