Kansas City is one of the cities making technology a bigger priority in its procurement processes. Brent Flanders/Flickr hide caption

Renting out your couches — or your entire place — is powered by San Francisco–based Airbnb, which has now connected more than half a million willing hosts and travelers in more than 34,000 cities. iStockphoto.com hide caption

Napster founder Shawn Fanning in February 2001, after a ruling that the free Internet-based service must stop allowing copyrighted material to be shared. Paul Sakuma/AP hide caption

French Minister for Industrial Renewal Arnaud Montebourg attends the Made in France fair in Paris on Saturday. According to a poll, more than 70 percent of the French say they would pay more for goods made at home. Alain Jocard/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid speaks during a news conference as the Senate prepares to vote on a bill that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation on Thursday. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Lobbyists for Citigroup, one of the country's largest banks, offered lawmakers draft language for a bill that was obtained by New York Times and Mother Jones reporters. And 70 of the 85 lines in the final House bill reflected Citigroup's recommendations. Mark Lennihan/AP hide caption

Military personnel from the U.S. and the Philippines unload relief goods at the Tacloban airport, Nov. 11, 2013. Some reports estimate that 10,000 people may have died in the city of Tacloban. Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

This map from the NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory shows the amount of heat energy available to Typhoon Haiyan between Oct. 28 and Nov. 3. Darker purple indicates more available energy. Typhoons gain their strength by drawing heat out of the ocean. The path of the storm is marked with the black line in the center of the image. NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory hide caption

The phrase "Who Dat" is ubiquitous in New Orleans. A Texas-based company says it owns the rights to the phrase, and while homemade signs don't run afoul of its trademark, it says merchandise like T-shirts is another matter. David J. Phillip/AP hide caption

The Coachella Valley High School mascot gives the thumbs up at a 2010 football game. Image courtesy of MyDesert.com. Jay Calderon/Courtesy of The Desert Sun hide caption

Lady Gaga's new album, ARTPOP, is out now. Inez and Vinoodh/Courtesy of the artist hide caption