PRI's The World: Technology Podcast from BBC/PRI/WGBH

Sorry we missed you last week, but here goes. We've got news about Skype being surveilled in China. We also talk about the importance in telecommunications in UN relief efforts in Haiti. Then we check out a South African built electric car, complete with photovoltaic panels on the roof. We'll also give a tip of the wing to FusionMan, Yves Rossy, and talk mouse DNA. Show notes, links and pics at tinyurl.com/wtpblog.

In the midst of this week's global financial meltdown, we ask -- just what kind of risk management software were these financial giants using, anyway? Also, how much would you pay for therapy via cell phone? We also travel to India where we hear about a website designed to help busy Indians arrange their marriages. And we end with news that The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy will add a sixth book to the increasingly unaptly named trilogy. Find out who's going to write it. Show notes, links and pics at tinyurl.com/wtpblog.

The Large Hadron Collider switches on, the universe doesn't wink out of existence, and some in the US are wondering why America is not playing host to it. Also, we look at Google's move to invest in bringing low-cost, high-speed internet access to the developing world via satellite. Then, we hear about efforts to track African elephants using GSM cell phones. We also explore the case of Moroccan blogger Mohamed Erraji, and we have an update on Bletchley Park. Show notes, links and pics at tinyurl.com/wtpblog.

Google releases a shiny new browser called Chrome this week, which also happens to mark 10 years that the company's been incorporated. We have an assessment. Also, a famous French blogger uproots his family and moves to San Francisco to start Seesmic, a kind of Twitter for video. Then, we hear about the dark world of online poker, and some of the far-out ideas of geoengineering. And we wax lyrical to end the show, with the Large Hadron Collider rap. Show notes, links and pics at tinyurl.com/wtpblog.

A full podcast this week. We lead with the strange tale of iTunes in China over the last week or so. Seems that it keeps going, well, on and off. And we hear about the iPhone Girl, and about a possible crackdown on Internet news portals in South Korea. Then, an in-depth look at the issues and technologies surrounding music piracy on the Internet. Also, a British cartographer says online mapping services are killing our appreciation for map-making. And we end by asking some cows which way is north.

We lead with a look at what the US has in mind, technology-wise, for a missile defense shield based partly in Poland, and partly in the Czech Republic. Also, in the wake of the news that the US has busted a global cyber-crime ring, we take an in-depth look at just how safe your identity is. And we end with a great little piece that explores why the Japanese just aren't that crazy about the iPhone.

Georgia and Russia fight it out on the ground, and apparently on the Internet as well. Also, we take an in-depth look at the technologies and techniques involved in mining the deep ocean floor. Then, to Norway to listen in to something called a Telemegaphone. We'll also learn that, shock, the beer goggle phenomenon is real. And we end with a look at some labor-saving technologies from the Victorian Era. Good fun.

We lead this week with news that a major global group of cybercriminals has been busted for identity theft. We'll dig deep into that story, and we'll dig deep into electronic waste in the West African nation of Ghana. Then, our semi-regual check in with the folks at the AfriGadget blog. And we end this week with a fun take on some new research on, yawn, boredom.

Lots to chew and stew on this week. We start with an Olympic back-and-forth over Internet access for foreign journalists. Then, an update on the case of British hacker Gary McKinnon. That's followed by a foray into the world of emotibots. We'll also hear about Portugal's decision to buy 500,000 Classmate computers from Intel. And what's more fun than a 2,000 year old Greek computer? Well, how about a blog written by George Orwell?

A very full program this week. First, we look at the International Olympic Committee's test for EPO, a performance-enhancing drug. The test for EPO may not be very effective. Also, a card used for travel on the London Underground appears vulnerable to hacking and cloning. Then, we hear about plans to build giant solar farms in the Sahara desert, and also how Finns are using a wiki to convert gas-powered cars to electric vehicles. And we end with a look at efforts to save Bletchley Park, sight of some of the most important code-breaking work during World War II.

Network glitches force a rethink of the World's Tech Podcast this week. We've got everything from selling a serious public health issue, to the latest in hydrogen vehicles. In between, we'll talk biosolids (yes, it's what you're thinking), and about running cars on cooking oil. Oh, and this just in -- the Internet is killing newspapers.

Onward and upward. A French court tells auction giant Ebay to fork over 60 million in damages over the sales of fakes. Also, a major flaw in the Web is discovered. Then, two Knights for the price of one -- we have interviews with Sir Clive Sinclair and Sir Tim Berners-Lee. All that, plus an anecdote to the cynicism which runs rampant on the Tech Podcast.

Bill Gates steps down from the day to day management of Microsoft. We find out what people aroudn the world make of his legacy. Then, Icann decides to expand the Domain Name System. Good idea? Pandora's Box? Both? Also, how much would you pay to take a tour of Chernobyl, site of the world's worst nuclear disaster? And we end with Nol -- think of it as a text-message version of Esperanto. And yes, a tribute, of sorts, to the advent of podcast 200. Yeah, rah.

A very full show this week, and a day early. We start with some new athletic technologies that might be on display at the Summer Games in Beijing. Then, we hear about how Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan might have sold digital blueprints for a nuclear weapon to interested parties. Then, a sequence that highlights Honda's fuel-cell vehicle, the Tata Nano from India, and a Zeppelin for a new millennium. We end with Paul Otlet's proto-Internet, and what's believed to be the first ever computer generated music. Great fun.

A whole host of interesting stories for this special Friday the 13th edition of the Tech Podcast. We start with claims from two US Congressmen that sources inside China have hacked their computers. Then, some new measures to stop child internet pornography. We also hear about a hurricane simulator, no joke, in Florida. Also, an item on East Africa's most sought after stock these days, Safaricom. And we end with discussion of a device straight out of Get Smart.

OK, here we go. We've got some new insight, maybe, into laziness. I wish I had the energy to care. Then, we take a look at how, and why, Vladimir Putin's enemies seem to be disappearing from small screens across Russia. Then, an in-depth look at whether or not animals are still an essential part of scientific testing. And we end with a report on some humble, yet lovable, plankton. Music this week by The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Plankton Man.

Lots of podcast exclusive material this week. First, The World's Alex Gallafent is back from the Amazon with tales to tell us. Then, off to Helsinki to hear about the Finnish capital's high-tech transit system. And finally, we look ahead to an exciting weekend on the Red Planet, as NASA's Phoenix mission gets set to touch down on Mars.

OK, a very full show this week. Britain's Defence Ministry releases some secret files on UFOs. Also, Google tries to help a remote tribe in the Brazilian Amazon. Then, to Estonia for a report on plans for a new Nato cyber-defense center. We'll also have a podcast exclusive interview with some scientists who've developed a low cost way to test for diseases in the developing world. And finally, a band from Manchester, England gets CCTV fever.

The venerable Sigue Sigue Sputnik blasts us into the past and the podcast this week. We've got two items on satellites; the first looks at how the UN's Rapid Mapping Unit is using satellite images to assess damage in Burma. The second looks at how satellites are aiding conservation in Kenya. Then a podcast exclusive interview with Dr. Brian Levine, who is helping to connect Ghanian doctors to one another via cell phones. And we'll end by dipping our toes into the genetic quagmire that is the platypus.

This week's 'cast takes a look at a new bill making its way through the US Congress called The Global Online Freedom Act. Then, another update on the One Laptop Per Child project. Also, the latest Afrigadget segment, followed by a look at an online outfit that turns the news into music, and fast. Finally, the Old Bailey gets grisly online.

I'm back from my wanderings with a very full show for you. First, we hear about the re-release of a mobile phone-based video game called Silverback. Then, to Zimbabwe to hear about FrontlineSMS. We'll have a studio talk with The World's Alex Gallafent about his multimedia-laced trip to the Amazon, and a chat with Cyrus Farivar about his trip to the Baltics. And somewhere in there, we'll talk about a new social networking site designed to bring donors and malaria researchers in Africa together. And yes, finally, a piece on Phorm.

Just a short WTP this week, since Clark's out and about reporting. So in his absence we're heading first to Cern, in search of the Higgs-Boson. That story features Professor Peter Higgs himself.. That's got to screw with your head, right, having a particle named after you? Then it's to Germany where in a quest to eliminate inefficient service one restaurant has automated the delivery of food to table. And finally, a story about bats in New England. Something's killing the bats, and that's not a good thing.

OK, here we go. First, to the Irish Sea to hear about a new tidal turbine technology. Then, we'll examine the recent hacking of some Darfur-related websites. Could the Chinese be involved? Then, to the Iranian city of Qom to hear about the digitization of Muslim scholarship there. We'll follow that with a report on a new old-school campaign to raise awareness of an imprisoned Egyptian blogger. And we'll end in Barcelona with a report on the birth of a new instrument.

A very good Good Friday podcast. We've got news from Nanaimo, British Columbia, the self-proclaimed "Capital of Google Earth." Also, we'll hear what happens when the French get fed up with speed cameras. Not pretty. Then, a report from inside Saudi Arabia about how blogging is leading to a new form of activism. We'll follow that with a look at a new book that explores the extent to which nations across the globe censor the internet. And we'll finish with a great interview about fakes. All that, plus The National.

A special podcast on Scotland's Amplifico. We focus on the band's debut album, which took a lot of NETworking to see the light of day.

Full line-up this week. We start with news that Al-Qaeda may be using cell phone memory cards to carry calls for cash into, and across, Saudi Arabia. Then, one bloggers quest to figure out what the world thinks about America. We'll also chat about solar cell phone chargers and Kenyan carvings of Simpsons characters with the folks at AfriGadget. And we'll finish off with desperate news: there may be a world wide shortage on two of the key ingredients for making beer. All that, plus a new way to support the Tech Podcast.

Nearly 45 minutes of global tech goodness this week. We've got a report on the possiblity that terrorists might use Second Life or World of Warcraft to train for attacks. Also, the US military says no to Google's Street-View. Then, a report from ETech 2008. And we'll end with an extended interview on the plight of the Monarch butterfly, and what role satellite imagery is playing in tracking that plight.

The kind of show you get once every four years...literally. Our Leap Year edition features an in-depth look at the Taliban's threat to blow up cell phone masts in Afghanistan. Also, a podcast exclusive interview with Helena Zinkham at the Library of Congress about their pilot project with Flickr. And we end with an update on an English gent who is blogging his grandfather's letters from the trenches of World War I. All that, plus Amplifico's STUDIO ALBUM...finally!

A little bit different feel to the Tech Podcast this week. First, an interview with Alf Hermida, new media watcher, about how technology is changing the way we produce and consume news. Then, we kick off a monthly segment on threats to bloggers worldwide. We have an interview with Curt Hopkins of the Committee to Protect Bloggers. Finally, a music piece on Ireland's Bell X1, a fine soundtrack to this podcast.

We kick off this week's podcast from a new report on the state of the world's oceans from the AAAS conference in Boston. Then, on to the Balkans for a report on couchsurfing.com. From there, we hop to London for a look at a website that allows people to exchange the fresh fruits and vegetables that they grow. And we'll end in Los Angeles, which recently played host to the world's first speedcabling championship. Fear not, all will be explained.