Digital Life

The website of the "married dating" service Ashley Madison was the target of hackers, who apparently released customer data.

Hackers Appear To Post Customer Data Of Affair-Enabling Website

3:46pm August 19, 2015

by Eyder Peralta

Security analysts say the huge data dump may include the account details of more than 30 million users of AshleyMadison.com and its companion site EstablishedMen.com

Daniel Craig plays James Bond in the film Casino Royale. Dramatis, a computer program, can detect suspense from this scene and rates it even higher as the plot thickens.

Can You Teach A Computer To 'Feel' Suspense?

12:09pm August 19, 2015

by Chris Benderev

Scientists want to make computers into better storytellers, but to do that they have to teach the machines a tricky element: suspense. Now researchers believe they've taken a big step forward.

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Jonathan Zittrain, co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, says the right to be forgotten online is "a very bad solution to a real problem."

Debate: Should The U.S. Adopt The 'Right To Be Forgotten' Online?

12:10pm August 18, 2015

by NPR Staff

People don't always like what they see when they Google themselves. EU residents have a right to request that unflattering material be removed from online search results. Should the U.S. follow suit?

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National

Bloomberg Columnist: Report On Amazon's Work Culture Not Surprising

7:48pm August 17, 2015

NPR's Audie Cornish speaks with Justin Fox, columnist for Bloomberg View, about Amazon's work culture, following a scathing article in The New York Times.

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Letting Go Of The Wheel: How Google Is Easing People Into Self-Driving Cars

11:11am August 17, 2015

by Steve Henn

Google has begun testing a new self-driving car this summer that is designed to work without a steering wheel. But as the Planet Money team reports, the company's biggest challenge may be convincing Americans to hop inside.

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A man using a mobile phone walks past an AT&T store, in June. The New York Times and ProPublica report that the telecom giant helped the NSA spy for decades.

National

Report: AT&T Had Long, 'Highly Collaborative' Partnership With NSA

4:43pm August 15, 2015

by Scott Neuman

The New York Times and ProPublica examined documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. They reveal an extensive relationship between the spy agency and the telecom giant.

A brown bear in its natural habitat. Wildlife ecologists in Minnesota found that black bears in their study experienced an increase in heart rate when buzzed by drones.

Drones Increase Heart Rates Of Wild Bears. Too Much Stress?

12:52pm August 14, 2015

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Scientists studying animals in their natural habitats can now just send in a drone with a camera, rather than trudging through rough terrain. But a new study finds that the drones don't go unnoticed.

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In Twitter Rant, Tinder Blasts 'Vanity Fair' Article On New York Dating Culture

6:55pm August 13, 2015

In an outburst on Twitter, the dating app Tinder criticized a recent Vanity Fair article describing the hookup culture in New York City. Tinder said it was unfairly portrayed in the article, and reporter Nancy Jo Sales failed to seek the company's comment for the story.

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Participants play the latest video games at the gamescom computer game fair in Cologne, Germany, on Wednesday. The Electronic Sports League, which sponsors a tournament in the city later this month, says it will require random drug tests to ensure players

Video Game League Announces Random Drug Tests For Competitors

1:43pm August 13, 2015

by Scott Neuman

The Electronic Sports League is implementing the new requirement after a top player at one of its tournaments acknowledged he and his team "were all on Adderall" during competition.

Wary Of Kaspersky? Consumer Choices In Computer Security Abound

7:36pm August 10, 2015

by Aarti Shahani

NPR reviews the consumer choices in the anti-virus and anti-malware market.

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