Digital Life

Aspiring Internet star Huang Xian'er (right) live-streams a chat with a guest about hiking around Beijing.

World News

China's Internet Stars Embrace Lowbrow — And Aim For High Profits

4:23pm October 20, 2016

by Anthony Kuhn

China's Internet stars are widely panned as vulgar, vapid and materialistic. But China's fierce demand for online content is helping the newly minted celebs to surpass A-list movie stars in earnings.

Queue Listen Now

Multitasking may be preventing you from getting work done.

Don't Look Now! How Your Devices Hurt Your Productivity

3:34pm October 19, 2016

by Lesley McClurg

Our tendency to respond immediately to email and texts gets in the way of high-level thinking, a neuroscientist says. Want to be more productive at work? Turn off most tech, at least part of the day.

Overlapping maps of the five boroughs of New York were combined in "Mapping Inequality," to show redlining across the entire city.

World News

Interactive Redlining Map Zooms In On America's History Of Discrimination

3:22pm October 19, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

In the early 20th century, the federal government categorized neighborhoods, based largely on race, to determine mortgage eligibility. A new site combines the maps — and their revealing backstories.

'Unsubscribe' Outlines How to Change Your Email Habits

7:19pm October 17, 2016

NPR's Kelly McEvers speaks with Jocelyn Glei about email: why it's so addicting, why we haven't switched to something better, and how to use it without being consumed by it. Her book on the topic is called, Unsubscribe.

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Author Tim Wu says that much of the content on the Internet is created by businesses that are on a "quest for clicks."

Books
Arts

How Free Web Content Traps People In An Abyss Of Ads And Clickbait

4:02pm October 17, 2016

Author and law professor Tim Wu says much of the "free" content on the Web comes at a price to users, who are subjected to ads that are targeted specifically at them and increasingly hard to ignore.

Queue Listen Now

Twitter and Facebook have restricted access to users' data for Geofeedia, a data analytics firm, over privacy concerns.

National

Police Searches Of Social Media Face Privacy Pushback

10:00am October 15, 2016

by Martin Kaste

Data analytics firms that analyze vast amounts of public social media are a tool for law enforcement. But there are signs that Twitter, Facebook and others are shutting off access to that data.

Medical apps are getting pretty good at monitoring the heart. The question is what to do with that data.

You Can Monitor Your Heart With A Smartphone. But Should You?

5:00am October 15, 2016

by Erin Ross

Smartphones can be used to test for atrial fibrillation, a common heart condition that can cause strokes. But it's still not clear who should use this emerging technology.

Dating app Hinge has killed its freemium product and, in an effort to get serious daters only, is offering a new service for $7 a month.

Can Dating App Hinge Make You Talk, Not Swipe?

8:04pm October 11, 2016

by Aarti Shahani

Once upon a time, there was a startup that wanted to play Cupid. But Hinge lost its way and became just another hookup app. Now it's issuing a public confession and taking a big risk.

Queue Listen Now

Author Kelly Oxford attends a brunch in Hollywood in September. Oxford invited women to share stories of assault on Twitter; she says she received more than 1 million responses.

One Tweet Unleashes A Torrent Of Stories Of Sexual Assault

5:10pm October 11, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

Donald Trump talked about grabbing women's genitals. On Twitter, tens of thousands of women have told stories from the other side of sexual assault, sharing their stories with the hashtag #NotOkay.

Samsung and Apple, two smartphone giants, have been battling each other — not just in the marketplace, but in the courts — since 2011.

National

What's In A Design? A Smartphone Battle In The Highest Court

7:58am October 11, 2016

The Supreme Court hears oral arguments on Tuesday in a case that pits Samsung against Apple — and could have major repercussions for tech products across the board.