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All Tech Considered

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The Industry

Thursday

Tuesday

This Defense Contractor Has A Green Side

AeroVironment's Raven drone is used for military surveillance and can be launched by hand. Courtesy of AeroVironment Inc. hide caption

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Courtesy of AeroVironment Inc.

The Industry

This Defense Contractor Has A Green Side

AeroVironment has an unusual combination of products — military drones and electric vehicle chargers. The company's president acknowledges that some workers are uncomfortable with the company's dual interests, but he doesn't see a conflict.

This Defense Contractor Has A Green Side

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Wednesday

'It's About Time': Facebook Reveals New Search Feature

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., on Tuesday. Jeff Chiu/AP hide caption

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Jeff Chiu/AP

The Industry

'It's About Time': Facebook Reveals New Search Feature

The "graph search" feature, which will let users comb their friends' pages for everything from travel tips to restaurants they like, gives the company a path to grow its revenue but could also add to privacy concerns. Most analysts don't see the new feature as a direct threat to Google — for now.

'It's About Time': Facebook Reveals New Search Feature

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Friday

Monday

Why Is Google Exec Interested In North Korea?

Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt (left) arrives at Pyongyang International Airport on Monday. There is speculation that Schmidt's presence in North Korea could have an upside for Google by positioning Schmidt as the company's global ambassador. David Guttenfelder/AP hide caption

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David Guttenfelder/AP

The Industry

Why Is Google Exec Interested In North Korea?

Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman, has landed in North Korea. His trip there is a bit of a mystery. North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong Un, recently set out a series of policy goals that included expanding science and technology as a way to improve the North Korean economy in 2013.

Wednesday

Tech Idea List: 5 Nerds To Watch In 2013

Gina Bianchini speaks during a conference in Palm Desert, Calif., in 2010. She is founder of Mightybell, a company she hopes will unlock social media's power by helping small groups organize easily and quickly in the real world. Francis Specker/Landov hide caption

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Francis Specker/Landov

The Industry

Tech Idea List: 5 Nerds To Watch In 2013

In Silicon Valley and around the world there are thousands of folks toiling away on new technologies, convinced that the thing they are building will transform the way we live. NPR's Steve Henn introduces us to five techies whose research and work he'll be keeping a close eye on in the coming year.

Tech Idea List: 5 Nerds To Watch In 2013

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Wednesday

Online Videos: Not Just Made By Amateurs Anymore
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The Industry

Online Videos: Not Just Made By Amateurs Anymore

This year has seen an explosion of professional online videos, eclipsing home videos of cats and babies. In 2012, 8 of the top 10 YouTube videos were professional — and Hulu, Netflix and multichannel networks like MiTu all produced exclusive new programming.

Online Videos: Not Just Made By Amateurs Anymore

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Monday

Kenyan Women Create Their Own 'Geek Culture'

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. Gregory Warner hide caption

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Gregory Warner

The Industry

Kenyan Women Create Their Own 'Geek Culture'

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.

Kenyan Women Create Their Own 'Geek Culture'

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Monday

Don't Like The Government? Make Your Own, On International Waters

Andras Gyorfi's winning entry in The Seasteading Institute's 2009 design contest. The institute supports the idea of permanent, autonomous offshore communities, but it does not intend to construct its own seasteads. Courtesy of The Seasteading Institute hide caption

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Courtesy of The Seasteading Institute

The Industry

Don't Like The Government? Make Your Own, On International Waters

A nonprofit called The Seasteading Institute is advancing a hugely ambitious scheme: constructing floating structures that will house hundreds of people in international waters, out of the jurisdiction of any nation. Now, the organization has attracted its first big name donor.

Don't Like The Government? Make Your Own, On International Waters

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Monday

What's The Big Idea? Pentagon Agency Backs Student Tinkerers To Find Out

Students Blake Jamar (from left), Ryan Clifton and Gregory Gonzales take apart a bicycle that generates electricity at Analy High School in Sebastopol, Calif. Jon Kalish for NPR hide caption

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Jon Kalish for NPR

The Industry

What's The Big Idea? Pentagon Agency Backs Student Tinkerers To Find Out

The Pentagon's research agency, DARPA, played key roles in developing the Internet and GPS. Now it's investing money in high school hackerspaces, where students gather to come up with high-tech ideas — like a bicycle that generates electricity.

What's The Big Idea? Pentagon Agency Backs Student Tinkerers To Find Out

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Tuesday

Bigwigs Out At Microsoft And Apple. Now What?

Steven Sinofsky introduces a new Microsoft tablet computer and Windows 8 software to the media in Shanghai on Oct. 23. The former president of Microsoft's Windows division has since left the company. AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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AFP/Getty Images

The Industry

Bigwigs Out At Microsoft And Apple. Now What?

Steven Sinofsky and Scott Forstall, instrumental figures at two of the world's biggest tech companies, have left their positions. What does that mean for the future of those companies?

Hear Wendy Kaufman's Report On 'Morning Edition'

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Saturday

Google, Facebook And The Next Billion Users

Men look at mobile phones at the Adjame market in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The market for mobile telephones in developing countries has grown quickly, and now Facebook and Google are trying to get users to use the Internet on their devices. Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images

The Industry

Google, Facebook And The Next Billion Users

Approximately three-quarters of the world's population now have access to a mobile phone, and the majority of those subscriptions are in developing countries. But those phones don't usually have data plans. Now, Google and Facebook are offering free apps on these devices to get users hooked on social media.

Wednesday

The Night A Computer Predicted The Next President

Walter Cronkite (right) listens as Dr. J. Presper Eckert (center) describes the functions of the UNIVAC I computer he helped develop in the early 1950s. AP hide caption

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AP

The Industry

The Night A Computer Predicted The Next President

Sixty years ago, computers were used for the first time to predict the outcome of a presidential race. CBS used the UNIVAC, one of the first commercial computers, on loan. The prediction was spot on, but a decade passed before the computer's potential was finally realized on election night.

The Night A Computer Predicted The Next President

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Monday

Two Top Execs Out At Apple

Apple announced Monday that two top executives who had presided over missteps at the company, including the Maps software, are leaving. Lukas Barth/dapd hide caption

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Lukas Barth/dapd

The Industry

Two Top Execs Out At Apple

John Browett, the head of Apple's store operations, is leaving after just six months on the job. Scott Forstall, who's been at the company since 1997 and is seen as one of OS X's original architects, will leave next year. In the interim, he will serve as an adviser to CEO Tim Cook.

Why Is This Supercomputer So Superfast?

Cray employees put the finishing touches on Titan at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. The supercomputer may be the world's fastest. It's designed to do 20 petaflops — or 20,000 trillion calculations — each second. It consumes enough electricity to power a small city of 9,000 people. Courtesy of Nvidia hide caption

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Courtesy of Nvidia

The Industry

Why Is This Supercomputer So Superfast?

Titan, potentially the world's fastest computer, comes online at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The supercomputer is designed to do more than 20,000 trillion calculations a second, allowing researchers to model everything from black holes to nuclear reactors. And they'll have video gamers to thank for its blazing speed.

Why Is This Supercomputer So Superfast?

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