Technology

What's Trending: The Art And Strategy Of The Hashtag

2:20pm January 08, 2013

The American Dialect Society deemed "hashtag" the word of the year. NPR digital culture correspondent Laura Sydell and NPR senior strategist Andy Carvin explain how the social media tool works and why some get so popular.

Queue Listen Now

Science

Science Looked Good In 2012

12:23pm January 07, 2013

Catfish eating pigeons, water travelling uphill, a blue whale barrel roll — where can one see such things? The scientific journals! Flora Lichtman and Ira Flatow look back on the year's best moments in science cinema. What was your favorite science video of the year?

Queue Listen Now

Economy

3-D Printing Is (Kind Of) A Big Deal

10:15pm January 04, 2013

by Zoe Chace

It's miraculous to see: Press a button, make anything you want. But will it transform the economy?

Queue Listen Now

Music-Streaming Services Hunt For Paying Customers

8:58am December 27, 2012

by Laura Sydell

Services like Pandora and Spotify have been trying to win over two types of customers: younger people who don't buy music at all and older people who still like physical albums. But it's been difficult to lure customers willing to pay for music they won't own or that they can find for free online.

Queue Listen Now

A screengrab from the "Kony 2012" online video about the Central African warlord Joseph Kony, which skyrocketed in popularity after its release in March. It was criticized, then forgotten, just as quickly.

Arts

In Rapid-Fire 2012, Memes' Half-Life Fell To A Quarter

4:34am December 27, 2012

by Neda Ulaby

Internet memes used to stick around for months on end (remember "Charlie Bit My Finger"?). But in 2012, the shelf-life of an Internet sensation became increasingly fleeting. Funny videos and games are now enjoying only brief moments in the cultural spotlight before they're forgotten.

Queue Listen Now

Mobile apps and devices track a user's health statistics. But those data are sometimes sold and can end up in the hands of employers and insurance companies.

Health & Safety

Who Could Be Watching You Watching Your Figure? Your Boss

2:28pm December 26, 2012

by Aarti Shahani

Those of us trying to get in shape after overindulging this holiday season can get help from a slew of new devices that monitor steps climbed, calories burned and heart rate. But companies and venture capitalists in new startups hope to make money in a new way: by selling the data right back to the people tracking their activity — and to their employers.

Queue Listen Now

Kenyan Susan Oguya created an app to help farmers in her homeland. Shown here in the office of her company, M-Farm, she also belongs to the group Akirachix, which seeks to bring more Kenyan women into the tech world.

World News

Kenyan Women Create Their Own 'Geek Culture'

5:18pm December 24, 2012

by Gregory Warner

Say the words "high-tech startup" and chances are you picture a world that's mostly white, male and set in Silicon Valley. Now, a group in Nairobi, Kenya, is working to get more female entrepreneurs into the male-dominated world of tech.

Queue Listen Now

Tape with binary code close-up. Shallow DOF. Blue tone.

Forget YOLO: Why 'Big Data' Should Be The Word Of The Year

4:18pm December 20, 2012

by Geoff Nunberg

"Big Data" had just as much to do with President Obama's victory as phrases like "Etch A Sketch" and "47 percent," says linguist Geoff Nunberg. Big Data is also behind anxieties about intrusions on our privacy, whether from the government's anti-terrorist data sweeps or the ads that track us on the Web.

Queue Listen Now

Instagram was the target of a storm of outrage on Twitter and other sites after the company announced a change in its user agreement that hinted that it might use shared photos in ads.

The Day Instagram Almost Lost Its Innocence

3:16pm December 20, 2012

by Heidi Glenn

The wildly popular photo-sharing site Instagram nearly caused a user revolt when it revamped its terms of service and privacy policy to suggest it could allow uploaded photos to be used in ads without users' permission. Instagram later clarified its position in an effort to quell concerns.

Queue Listen Now

How The Internet Is Revolutionizing The Adoption Process

1:03pm December 19, 2012

Many pregnant women and potential adoptive parents are bypassing traditional adoption agencies and connecting online. This trend raises a number of ethical concerns about the regulation of the online process and interactions between birth mothers and hopeful adopters.

Queue Listen Now