Technology

The new mobile operating system's design acknowledges that we no longer need physical analogs -- like a camera shutter or old-timey microphone -- to describe an app's function.

Smartphones and the Internet have made it easier than ever to share photos of their friends, family, pets and children. But sharing personal photos raises technological and ethical questions.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg says he feels a little defensive about choosing "selfie" -- a word that wears its ephemerality on its outstretched sleeve -- as the word of 2013. But not only was this a year when we couldn't stop posting photos of ourselves online; we couldn't stop talking about it either.

Fresh Air tech contributor Alexis Madrigal counted 76,897 microgenres on the online streaming and DVD rental service, many of which are bizarrely personalized (Violent Action Thrillers Starring Bruce Willis, Tearjerkers From The 1970s). He says the company "knows you."

For an extra layer of online protection, author P.W. Singer advises making your security answers something counterintuitive, like pizza.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg lives in the Mission and says young tech employees have been pouring into the neighborhood. But what to call these new residents? He says the term "techie" used to suggest a computer whiz with no social skills; now it suggests one with no social conscience.

The U.S. needs to start treating the Internet like electricity or railroads, law professor and author Susan Crawford says. "We can't create a level playing field for all Americans or indeed compete on the world stage without having some form of government involvement," she says.

In Dragnet Nation, Julia Angwin describes an oppressive blanket of electronic data surveillance. "There's a price you pay for living in the modern world," she says. "You have to share your data."

The once-futuristic concept is closer than ever to becoming a reality. Parallel parking? Let the car find the perfect approach. Squeezing into a tight space? Hop out and use your smartphone.

Fresh Air tech contributor Alexis Madrigal considers why people still jump on frustrating conference calls. While tech startups aim to kill the PIN, he says, the phone bridges generations.

Fresh Air tech contributor Alexis Madrigal explains how a tiny computer attaches to a pill you ingest to record how your body responds. It sounds crazy, he says, but it was approved by the FDA.

For the first time, a computer passed the test for machines engaging in intelligent thought. Linguist Geoff Nunberg says the real test is whether computers can behave the same way thinking people do.

Brian Krebs, who broke the Target security breach story last year, says cybercriminals are "some very bad people." He tells Terry Gross about how they have found creative ways to taunt him.

Pinterest has created a database of things that matter to humans. And with a programming team that's largely been hired away from Google, the company has begun offering what it calls "guided search."

Some of the nation's restaurants are using technology to make diners commit before their night out. It's convenient for the restaurant an customer -- and it may pry people away from old habits.

In The Innovators, Walter Isaacson explains that Pentagon officials wanted a system the Russians couldn't attack, and 1984 made the public wary of new technology's Big Brother potential.

Teenage girls explained to writer Hanna Rosin that boys collect sexts like baseball cards or Pokemon cards. "There's so much free porn out there that these pictures serve a different role," she says.

A couple of hours can go a long way toward making your data secure from criminals. It's a hassle, but you'll be forever safe from malicious forces.

In the book @War, Shane Harris reports that U.S. intelligence agencies, sometimes aided by corporations, are trying to dominate cyberspace. It's "changing the Internet in fundamental ways," he says.

Brian Krebs' new book tells the story of how two companies groomed spammers, and then destroyed each other. In the process, Krebs got access to documents that illuminated how cybercriminals operate.