Laura Sydell

NPR

Laura Sydell appears in the following:

iPhone X's Face ID Inspires Privacy Worries — But Convenience May Trump Them

Monday, September 18, 2017

Advocates are concerned facial scan data could be stolen, or that a successful rollout could make consumers more comfortable with less innocuous, less accurate uses of facial recognition technology.

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Apple Unveils Highly Anticipated iPhone 10 To Mark Device's Anniversary

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Apple staged a big event Tuesday to unveil new products. The iPhone 10 debuts on the 10th anniversary of the iPhone and costs $1,000.

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Unlikely Allies Join Fight To Protect Free Speech On The Internet

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

After big tech companies took action to take down white supremacist content, there have been calls for the government to step in to protect free speech from the right and left.

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Kyle Quinn Hid At A Friend's House After Being Misidentified On Twitter As A Racist

Thursday, August 17, 2017

A University of Arkansas professor falsely identified as a participant in a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville says the online reaction was frightening and felt like being chased by a mob.

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Some Are Troubled By Online Shaming Of Charlottesville Rally Participants

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

The "Yes, You're Racist" Twitter account uses crowdsourcing to help identify white supremacists. But sometimes it gets things wrong. And not everyone is happy about efforts at public shaming.

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Colleges Have Increased Women Computer Science Majors: What Can Google Learn?

Thursday, August 10, 2017

About half of Harvey Mudd College computer science graduates are women, up sharply in the past decade. It and other schools found success by adjusting their curriculums and making other changes.

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Google CEO Cuts Vacation Short To Deal With Crisis Over Diversity Memo

Tuesday, August 08, 2017

CEO Sundar Pichai says that he supported the right of workers to express themselves but that a senior engineer's memo had gone too far. The memo's author says he is weighing legal action.

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Google Fires Engineer Who Criticized Diversity Efforts

Tuesday, August 08, 2017

The software engineer's internal memo created controversy after it was leaked. The memo, called "Google's Ideological Echo Chamber," criticized the company's efforts to diversify its workforce.

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Google Engineer's Criticism Of Diversity Programs Sparks Controversy

Monday, August 07, 2017

A Google engineer's critique of the company's diversity programs is stoking controversy. The male engineer wrote that women aren't suited for tech jobs for "biological" reasons. Google executives are now trying to tamp down the furor as the memo ricochets around the tech industry and beyond.

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Apple Has Good Sales News For Wall Street

Tuesday, August 01, 2017

Investors expected a slowdown in iPhone 7 sales but they were up 1.6 percent year-over-year. Apple also enjoyed iPad and Mac sales well ahead of the overall industry for computers and tablets.

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Before Silicon Valley, New Jersey Reigned As Nation's Center Of Innovation

Monday, June 05, 2017

Silicon Valley is known as the nation's tech hub, but decades ago New Jersey had that distinction. The state was once home to Thomas Edison's lab and Bell Labs, the home of Nobel laureates.

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For Video Soundtracks, Computers Are The New Composers

Monday, May 29, 2017

In some cases, the job of composer might be going the way of typewriter repairman and bowling pinsetter as software creates music more cheaply and quickly than humans. Can you hear the difference?

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At The Dawn Of Recorded Sound, No One Cared

Monday, May 22, 2017

In the late 19th century, French inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville patented the earliest known sound recording device. But his accomplishments were only recognized recently.

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In Google's Vision Of The Future, Computing Is Immersive

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Point your camera at a flower and your phone identifies it. Walk into a store and your phone leads you to the item you're looking for. It's part of a future world blurring the virtual and the real.

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Google Is Investing In 'Immersive Technology'

Friday, May 19, 2017

Google is making a push into virtual reality with a headset that doesn't require a user to connect to a phone or computer. Amidst massive hype, virtual reality has been slow to take off.

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In 'The Circle', What We Give Up When We Share Ourselves

Friday, April 28, 2017

The film, based on the book by Dave Eggers, presents a dystopian view of where Silicon Valley is taking the world and captures the tech industry's failure to acknowledge the downside of its creations.

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Murder Video Again Raises Questions About How Facebook Handles Content

Friday, April 21, 2017

A murder video uploaded to Facebook brought attention to how the company monitors upsetting content. Artificial intelligence may be a solution, but experts say it could bring unwanted results.

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Online Video Producers Caught In Struggle Between Advertisers And YouTube

Friday, April 14, 2017

YouTube has tweaked algorithms to prevent ads from appearing next to objectionable and extremist videos. But the moves have left YouTube content creators earning less money.

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Morning News Brief: Jared Kushner Rising, Bill O'Reilly's Future, YouTube Ads

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Jared Kushner's star appears to be rising inside the Trump administration. Also, Fox News star Bill O'Reilly is under fire and going on vacation, and YouTube is dealing with concerns from advertisers.

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Has Apple Lost Its Innovation Mojo?

Monday, April 10, 2017

Apple was once considered the most innovative company in the tech sector. But by some accounts, it's being shown up by products from Amazon, Microsoft and now Samsung.

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