National

New York City subway conductor Paquita Williams (left) and passenger Laura Lane became friends after a two-hour train breakdown.

National

Making New Connections On A Trapped Subway Train

12:37pm November 15, 2013

by NPR Staff

Laura Lane was heading to work when her train got stuck. Conductor Paquita Williams was soon walking through the cars, putting passengers at ease in the darkness. Laura was so impressed with how Paquita handled the two-hour ordeal, she wanted to learn more about her.

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National

Mobster 'Whitey' Bulger Gets Two Life Terms And Then Some

10:22am November 15, 2013

Convicted mobster James "Whitey" Bulger was sentenced Thursday to two life terms in prison plus five years for crimes he committed, which included 11 murders. The 84-year-old Bulger is expected to appeal, but it seems likely that he'll spend the rest of his life behind bars.

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A Lyft driver in San Francisco drops off a passenger as a taxi passes by. The smartphone app lets city dwellers hitch rides from strangers.

For Ridesharing Apps Like Lyft, Commerce Is A Community

7:34pm November 14, 2013

by Sonari Glinton

Services where regular people use their cars to take passengers to their destinations have found a foothold in the smartphone age. And for many participating in this sharing economy, the appeal is in more than just the cost savings or convenience.

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A prototype of a flexible battery from Imprint Energy, one of 40 companies working on battery technology in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Electric Cars Drive Demand For Cheaper, More Powerful Batteries

7:29pm November 14, 2013

by Lauren Sommer

Unlike the technologies in laptops, smartphones and electric cars, the batteries inside them have been slow to evolve. In Silicon Valley, more than 40 companies are working on finding a battery breakthrough. And they're facing international competition.

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An all-plastic gun fires a bullet in this screenshot from a video made by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

National

Plastic Guns Made With 3-D Printers Pose New Security Concerns

12:30pm November 14, 2013

by Carrie Johnson

Agents at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have spent months testing new plastic weapons, and report that the guns can be lethal and hard to detect. The findings come just as a federal law that requires guns to be composed of at least some metal to help people in schools and airports detect them is set to expire.

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National

Rolling Stone's Tsarnaev Cover: What's Stirring Such Passion?

10:42am November 14, 2013

by Eyder Peralta

The magazine hasn't hit newsstands, but some say it glorifies alleged Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Rolling Stone's editor stands by the use of the photo to help tell the story of "an incredibly normal kid" who turned into "a monster."

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Who Gets The Blame For NSA Spying? NSA Says Not Us

8:01pm November 13, 2013

by Tom Gjelten

Faced with harsh criticism over its vast surveillance operation, the NSA and its allies are pushing back. They say their intelligence collection is being done in response to demands from the executive branch of the U.S. government and not on its own. The NSA says it is currently working on 36,000 pages of what it calls "requirements" — intel speak for intelligence assignments it gets from branches of the U.S. government.

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Todd Park, the U.S. chief technology officer, testifies before the House oversight committee about problems implementing the health care program.

National

The Tech Stats We Now Know About HealthCare.gov

8:01pm November 13, 2013

by Elise Hu

Government's top tech officials — including U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park — showed up on Capitol Hill to give a status report of the troubled HealthCare.gov system. As the administration unveils enrollment numbers, the tech officials outlined technology metrics of progress.

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President Obama's response to the NSA spying revelations has changed over the past five months.

How Obama's Response To NSA Spying Has Evolved

8:01pm November 13, 2013

by Ari Shapiro

Over the five months since Edward Snowden began leaking secret documents to the media about American spying, President Obama has adjusted his response to the disclosures. At first, he suggested the concern was misplaced, but more recently, his message has been that something needs to change.

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Even visitors to the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., can't see the Gunboat Philadelphia from every angle. But online, viewers can flip the boat in every possible direction using the Smithsonian Institution's new 3-D viewer.

Print Your Own Revolutionary War Boat, In 3-D

8:01pm November 13, 2013

by April Fehling

The Smithsonian Institution has millions of fossils, sculptures and other historic artifacts in its vast collections. Twenty of them are now available for 3-D printing — and viewing from every conceivable angle — online.

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