Technology

An attempt to draw out the various parts of HealthCare.gov's tech system, based on the testimony of its contractors.

A Diagram Of HealthCare.gov, Based On The People Who Built It

12:52pm October 30, 2013

by Elise Hu

We used the testimonies of the biggest contractors involved with the HealthCare.gov application system to create this guide to how the site's various parts work together, and how the complex system for registering you for health insurance is supposed to work.

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Rae Padulo creates handmade ceramics, like these holiday ornaments, for her Etsy-based company, mudstar ceramics. She's disappointed with the site's new policy to allow outsourced manufacturing. "There's nothing wrong with factory-made," she says, but "th

Arts
Economy

Etsy's New Policy Means Some Items Are 'Handmade In Spirit'

7:49am October 30, 2013

by Ashley Milne-Tyte

Online marketplace Etsy is a hive for creative vendors selling handmade goods. But the site recently said it will allow sellers to outsource their manufacturing. Some vendors with growing businesses are delighted at this news; others feel Etsy is abandoning its small enterprises.

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Cell towers are constantly tracking the location of mobile phones. And that data, federal courts have ruled, is not constitutionally protected.

National

Who Has The Right To Know Where Your Phone Has Been?

7:49am October 30, 2013

by Larry Abramson

Law enforcement agencies across the country subpoena cellphone location data regularly. But civil liberties groups hope a series of state-level legal victories will usher in stronger protections for that often-revealing digital information.

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Eva Hu-Stiles virtually interacts with her grandmother. iPad assist by Elise Hu-Stiles.

What You Need To Know About Babies, Toddlers And Screen Time

12:15pm October 29, 2013

by Elise Hu

Researchers are still learning about the effects of touch-screens on kids. But scientists say that certain kinds of screen time, involving interaction with other people, can help youngsters learn.

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Ashley Hentze (left) gets help signing up for the Affordable Care Act from a volunteer in Florida. The government says that 40 percent of the expected enrollees for 2014 must be young and healthy for health insurance premiums to remain affordable.

For Obamacare To Work, It's Not Just About The Numbers

3:38pm October 28, 2013

by John Ydstie

Relatively few people have enrolled in new health insurance plans since the Affordable Care Act exchanges launched this month. But some health care experts say it's early days yet — and that getting the right proportion of healthy, young new enrollees is just as important as how quickly people sign up.

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Faster delivery is the new frontier of Internet competition.

Economy

Moving In With Manufacturers, Amazon Delivers A New Approach

11:58am October 28, 2013

by Yuki Noguchi

Amazon has been quietly making inroads into a new approach to retail, partnering with manufacturers to ship products directly from the warehouse to consumers, essentially taking out the middle man. The online retailing giant's move comes as it and its competitors experiment with faster delivery.

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A Company's Tweets Can Help Make It Creditworthy

10:12am October 28, 2013

by Wendy Kaufman

Banks use credit scores and similar metrics to assess creditworthiness. A company called Kabbage that lends working capital to small businesses does some of that but also relies on unconventional measures, using real-time data from things like UPS shipments, eBay, Facebook and Twitter.

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A Teenage Music Phenom, Infographics, Motorcycles In Vietnam

9:45pm October 26, 2013

Ozy co-founder Carlos Watson tells NPR's Arun Rath about a teenage singer with a grown-up voice, two tutors turned bloggers, and Vietnam's Harley Davidson craze.

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Mike Bracken is executive director of digital for the U.K. government.

National

U.K. Official Urges U.S. Government To Adopt A Digital Core

6:43pm October 23, 2013

by Elise Hu

Does this sound familiar? A national IT project plagued with high-profile problems, integration breakdowns involving contractors, and taxpayers left footing a multimillion-dollar price tag: The scenario's playing out with HealthCare.gov, but a similar one in the U.K. led to major reforms.

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A September 1959 advertisement for the Xerox 914

Economy

Happy Birthday, Copy Machine! Happy Birthday, Copy Machine!

2:37pm October 23, 2013

by Kate O'Connell

This week marks the 75th anniversary of the first modern copier ever made. The technology, which came from serial inventor Chester Carlson, revolutionized the business world and formed the foundation of Xerox's success. It also meant no more messy carbon paper.

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