Accessibility links
Laura Sydell
Stories By

Laura Sydell

Friday

Music Students Program A Robot Orchestra

A CalArts student shows off his robot. Laura Sydell/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Laura Sydell/NPR

Music News

Music Students Program A Robot Orchestra

Learning how to program computers isn't generally a requirement for music students, but a professor at one top school says it should be. At the California Institute for the Arts, music students are learning how to program and build robots.

Music Students Program A Robot Orchestra

Listen · 5:36
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/127140593/127257128" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Website Editors Strive To Rein In Nasty Comments
iStockphoto.com

Technology

Website Editors Strive To Rein In Nasty Comments

It's easy to lose your temper on the Internet. Anyone who reads -- or writes -- comments on blogs and news sites knows that the conversation can quickly digress into scathing personal attacks. For years, many sites just let users go at it, but now editors are requiring people to keep their comments civil.

Website Editors Strive To Rein In Nasty Comments

Listen · 6:20
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/126782677/127222125" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Sunday

Thursday

Religion

Online 'Draw Mohammed' Campaign Triggers Protests

Free speech advocates declared May 20 "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" to protest censorship of an episode of South Park that featured illustrations of the Islamic prophet. A Facebook page was created for people to post drawings, but many of the entries were anti-Muslim, leading the cartoonist who inspired the campaign to disavow it.

Online 'Draw Mohammed' Campaign Triggers Protests

Listen · 3:54
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/127018729/127019036" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Business

Apple's Steve Jobs Publicly Criticizes Adobe Flash

The war of words between Apple and Adobe, maker of the popular Flash video technology, is escalating. Apple CEO Steve Jobs posted a lengthy explanation of his company's decision not to support flash on its mobile devices. Adobe's CEO shot back, calling the comments made by Jobs an "extraordinary attack" on his company.

Apple's Steve Jobs Publicly Criticizes Adobe Flash

Listen · 1:35
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/126408361/126408338" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Millions Of Book Club Readers, 140 Characters
iStockphoto.com

All Things Considered

Millions Of Book Club Readers, 140 Characters

There are plenty of online book clubs, but what about Twitter? Jeff Howe of Wired magazine is tweaking the One Book, One City phenomenon by trying to get millions of people to pick a novel and then discuss it on Twitter. Users voted, and soon they'll start reading the winner, Neil Gaiman's American Gods.

Millions Of Book Club Readers, 140 Characters

Listen · 3:31
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/126365370/126395276" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

iPhone Flap Sparks Police Raid, Shield-Law Talk

Gizmodo's articles about a next-generation iPhone reportedly found last month at a California bar included photos of the device in various stages of disassembly. Gizmodo via CreativeCommons hide caption

toggle caption
Gizmodo via CreativeCommons

Technology

iPhone Flap Sparks Police Raid, Shield-Law Talk

When an unlucky Apple employee left a still-secret iPhone prototype in a bar, the person who found it reportedly sold it to the gadget blog Gizmodo for $5,000. Then the Gizmodo blogger's home office was searched by law enforcement, and more questions are swirling: Were Apple's corporate secrets illegally purchased? Was a California journalist-shield law violated?

iPhone Flap Sparks Police Raid, Shield-Law Talk

Listen · 3:35
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/126312576/126312730" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Media

YouTube Pulls Hitler 'Downfall' Parodies

Downfall, a German film about Adolf Hitler, has spawned dozens of video parodies on everything from Michael Jackson to the iPad. Users add new subtitles for a scene in the film and then upload the videos to YouTube. The movie's producer is claiming copyright infringement.

YouTube Pulls Hitler 'Downfall' Parodies

Listen · 3:14
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/126225405/126226706" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Twitter Co-Founder Biz Stone Gives App Makers Some Cause For Worry

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone speaks during the first annual "Chirp," Twitter Developer's Conference in San Francisco. In 2009, Stone was added to the Time 100, a yearly list of the world's most influential people. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

All Tech Considered

Twitter Co-Founder Biz Stone Gives App Makers Some Cause For Worry

"There's a natural tension when you look at platform companies and then third parties that come in and work on a platform," says Twitter co-founder Biz Stone.

Tuesday

Business

Companies Tweet For Attention

Twitter is wildly popular, credited with making the career of pop stars and keeping Conan O'Brien in the public eye while he is off TV. But Twitter isn't making money that is proportional to its pop culture cred. Today it announced one way it is going to try to change that: promoted tweets, also known as advertising. Companies can pay to have their messages show up first in searches on Twitter's site.

Companies Tweet For Attention

Listen · 1:55
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/125914108/125914033" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Monday

Microsoft Releases A Phone Of Its Own

With these two phones, Microsoft is looking to break into the young, female market. Press Photo/Courtesy of Microsoft hide caption

toggle caption
Press Photo/Courtesy of Microsoft

All Tech Considered

Microsoft Releases A Phone Of Its Own

With it's new "Kin," Microsoft is trying to appeal to the 15- to 30-year-old crowd, specifically women. Microsoft research shows that these users are most interested in social networking and the average smart phone doesn't really cater to them.

Monday

Apple's iPad: The End Of The Internet As We Know It?

Customers waited in line outside Apple stores across the country to purchase the new iPad. Apple is marketing it as a revolutionary device that lets you feel like you're "holding the Web right in the palm of your hand." Tom Pennington/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Technology

Apple's iPad: The End Of The Internet As We Know It?

The tablet computer is being hailed by many as a revolutionary device. But there are some critics who say it's a sign that the Internet revolution could be coming to an end. "With the iPad," says one critic, "you have the anti-Internet in your hands."

Apple's iPad: The End Of The Internet As We Know It?

Listen · 3:32
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/125561844/125570088" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Saturday

iPad Could Help Self-Publishers Kick Open Doors

The iBook store for Apple's iPad will sell books from most of America's major publishers. Authors without book deals hope it'll sell their work too. Courtesy of Apple hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of Apple

Books

iPad Could Help Self-Publishers Kick Open Doors

More writers are turning to self-publishing companies to get their work to readers, and the e-readers like the iPad may make the transaction even easier. Laura Sydell talks to authors who are bypassing traditional publishing companies.

iPad Could Help Self-Publishers Kick Open Doors

Listen · 4:57
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/125503109/125533454" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript