Digital Life

World News

Russian Trolls Spread False Information On The Internet

8:50pm June 04, 2015

NPR's Audie Cornish speaks with freelance reporter Adrian Chen, who wrote about his experience reporting on Russian trolls, individuals who are paid to create chaos on the Internet and in communities.

Queue Listen Now

Chinese Hackers Breach Government Personnel Office Computers

8:50pm June 04, 2015

by Brian Naylor

The federal government says hackers breached the computer system of the Office of Personnel Management in December. The personal data of 4 million federal employees may have been compromised.

Queue Listen Now

Books
Arts

Infiltrating 'The Dark Net,' Where Criminals, Trolls And Extremists Reign

9:25am June 04, 2015

Jamie Bartlett exposes an encrypted underworld to the Internet in his book The Dark Net: "Anybody with something to hide, whether it's for good reasons or for ill, finds a very natural home there."

Queue Listen Now

Rachel Ahn, who goes by "Aebong-ee," is among the top 100 most-watched mukbang stars in South Korea.

Koreans Have An Insatiable Appetite For Watching Strangers Binge Eat

7:26pm June 01, 2015

by Elise Hu

What's behind the curious food fad of mukbang, or live-streamed broadcasts of people eating endless amounts of food? The genre is so popular in South Korea that its stars pull in $10,000 a month.

Queue Listen Now

Apple's Watch: A Timepiece Designed To Give You Back Your Time

4:01pm June 01, 2015

by Alexis Madrigal

Apple's newest product is a screen on your wrist, with its own operating system and software. Tech correspondent Alexis Madrigal calls the Apple Watch "a powerful extension of what your phone can do."

Queue Listen Now

The case of Anthony Elonis, who was convicted in 2010 of making violent threats on Facebook, was argued at the Supreme Court in December. Here, an advocate for victims' rights speaks with reporters about the case.

National

Supreme Court Tosses Out Man's Conviction For Making Threats On Facebook

3:25pm June 01, 2015

by Bill Chappell

The messages Anthony Elonis posted to Facebook prompted his now ex-wife to get a state protection order against him, and led his bosses to fire him.

"What makes a game fun is not that it's easy," says Greg Toppo, "but that it's hard."

Exploding Myths About Learning Through Gaming

10:50am June 01, 2015

by Eric Westervelt

A central misunderstanding, Greg Toppo writes, is that video game-based learning is somehow "easier." Often, he says, it's hard work, but students love the challenge.

In the face-to-face interview process, research shows that managers tend to hire applicants who are similar to them on paper.

National

Blind Auditions Could Give Employers A Better Hiring Sense

8:27pm May 31, 2015

by Brenda Salinas

It works for singing competitions. What about landing a job? To beat hiring bias, some applicants could first complete an online challenge with companies that are in the dark about their background.

Queue Listen Now

Eating a chocolate bar daily can help you lose weight? Sorry, that study was a sweet lie — part of an elaborate hoax to school the news media about proper nutrition science journalism.

Why A Journalist Scammed The Media Into Spreading Bad Chocolate Science

6:35pm May 29, 2015

by Maria Godoy

A lot of junk nutrition science gets reported in the media. It's a big problem. But did a science journalist's elaborate hoax to expose the crisis go too far?

National

Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht Sentenced To Life In Prison

5:20pm May 29, 2015

by Krishnadev Calamur

The creator of the shadowy online marketplace had faced at least 20 years in prison, but federal prosecutors had sought a "substantially" longer sentence.