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Laura Sydell
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Laura Sydell

Tuesday

Google Unveils System For Prioritizing E-Mail

Google has created a new priority inbox system for its Gmail service. The new system sorts through your messages and puts the important ones in a separate box called Important. hide caption

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Technology

Google Unveils System For Prioritizing E-Mail

The company says the feature will help set priorities for a user's inbox and ease up that sense of information overload. Google says people who used the new system in its testing phase saved about a week's worth of time over the course of a year.

Google Unveils System For Prioritizing E-Mail

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Saturday

Law

Microsoft Co-Founder Sues Major Tech Companies

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is reaching back in time to file a lawsuit against some of the best-known technology companies of today. Allen contends that Google, Apple, Facebook and Yahoo all breached patents owned by one of his former start-ups.

Microsoft Co-Founder Sues Major Tech Companies

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Wednesday

Saturday

Sci-Fi Inspires Engineers To Build Our Future

Philip Rosedale created the virtual world of "Second Life" based on the "Metaverse" of Neal Stephenson's science fiction novel Snow Crash. AFP/AFP hide caption

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AFP/AFP

Technology

Sci-Fi Inspires Engineers To Build Our Future

Search engines, virtual worlds, the Internet -- ever get the feeling you're living in a science fiction fantasy? Well, indeed you are. For more than a century, inventors have been driven to create what sci-fi writers have boldly imagined before.

Sci-Fi Inspires Engineers To Build Our Future

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Thursday

Control Your Image: Women Musicians Seize On Social Media

Given that more women than men use social media, shouldn't the Twitter bird be pink? Mito Habe-Evans / NPR hide caption

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Mito Habe-Evans / NPR

The Record

Control Your Image: Women Musicians Seize On Social Media

Women musicians are using alternative methods to sell records and connect with fans.

Control Your Image: Women Musicians Seize On Social Media

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Tuesday

National

Healing Rural Patients With A Dose Of Broadband

The Federal Communications Commission has pledged $400 million a year to provide rural health clinics with broadband access. The program connects patients at far-flung sites with limited staff to specialists around the country. Critics say it's a federal overstep, but the FCC says it's necessary and potentially a source of savings.

Healing Rural Patients With A Dose Of Broadband

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Friday

Wednesday

Business

Apple Earnings Beat Expectations

Despite all the bad press about reception problems with the iPhone 4, Apple's third-quarter results beat Wall Street expectations. The key was unexpectedly strong computer sales.

Apple Earnings Beat Expectations

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Friday

Business

Apple Offers Free Cases To Fix iPhone Problems

Apple announced Friday it would give free protective cases to buyers of its latest iPhone. CEO Steve Jobs announced the giveaway to alleviate problems with the phone's antenna. Users had complained if you hold the phone a certain way, signal strength is drastically reduced.

Apple Offers Free Cases To Fix iPhone Problems

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Business

PR Headache: Apple To Deal With iPhone Backlash

Apple plans to hold a new conference Friday to discuss the technical backlash over reception problems with the new iPhone 4. Earlier this week, Consumer Reports confirmed user reports that holding the iPhone 4 over a particular spot drastically reduces the signal strength it receives.

PR Headache: Apple To Deal With iPhone Backlash

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Thursday

Business

Apple Plans iPhone Announcement

Apple plans to hold a press conference Friday to discuss the latest iPhone amid complaints that if users hold the phone over a certain spot, signal strength is drastically reduced. Consumer Reports magazine has refused to endorse the phone until the problem gets fixed.

Apple Plans iPhone Announcement

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Wednesday

Thursday

Reading A Book On An iPad Or Kindle? It Might Take Longer

A small study indicates that reading electronic books is up to 10.7 percent slower than an old-fashioned paper version. Manu Fernandez/AP hide caption

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Manu Fernandez/AP

All Tech Considered

Reading A Book On An iPad Or Kindle? It Might Take Longer

A small study indicates that reading electronic books is up to 10.7 percent slower than an old-fashioned paper version. But the study's author says there was no difference in reading comprehension between iPads, Kindles and regular books.

Stanford Ushers In The Age Of Bookless Libraries

In 2004, Stanford University became one of the first institutions to allow Google to digitize chunks of its library collection as part of the Google Books Library Project. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Technology

Stanford Ushers In The Age Of Bookless Libraries

Stanford University's School of Engineering had more books than its library could hold. So school administrators built a new library -- with even less space for books. NPR's Laura Sydell reports that Stanford's counterintuitive solution marks a definite move toward digital collections over print.

Stanford Ushers In The Age Of Bookless Libraries

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Thursday

When Legit Companies Advertise On Pirates' Sites

This Vonage ad was part on a site (freehdmovie.net) that specializes in distributing Hollywood films for free and more than likely illegally.  NPR hide caption

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NPR

All Tech Considered

When Legit Companies Advertise On Pirates' Sites

An independent filmmaker was upset when her film was pirated. But she was dismayed when she realized legitimate companies were inadvertently helping them.

When Legit Companies Advertise On Pirates' Sites

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