Science & Technology

Social media experts Baratunde Thurston, former digital director at The Onion and author of the book How to Be Black, and Deanna Zandt, author of Share This: How You Will Change the World with Social Networking, answer questions about how to behave in the digital age. This week's topic: leaving a voicemail message in a world that relies increasingly on text-based communication.

In an unusual move on Monday, Apple CEO Tim Cook apologized to Chinese customers over the company's warranty policy and vowed to improve customer service in the country.

Steve Henn looks at this week's technology news, including a possible Facebook phone announcement on Thursday and a nod to the multiple April Fools' Day jokes on the Internet.

I was out of the house, as it happens, for most of the first half of yesterday's Louisville-Duke game, and when I got home and looked at Twitter, before I turned on the TV, there was a huge stack of stuff to read, and the first thing that caught my attention about the game was this.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could soon issue a final ruling that aims to force oil companies to replace E10, gasoline mixed with 10 percent ethanol, with E15.

This move could come just as widespread support for ethanol, which is made from corn, appears to be eroding.

Mike Mitchell was once a true believer in ethanol as a homegrown solution to foreign oil imports. He owns gas stations, and he went further than most, installing expensive blender pumps that let customers choose E15, E20 and all the way up to E85.

To err is human.

So is refusing to apologize for those errors.

From toddlers and talk show hosts to preteens and presidents, we all know people who have done stupid, silly and evil things, then squared their jaws and told the world they've done nothing wrong.

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Tucked away inside the new federal budget for this year - which President Obama signed yesterday - is one, small paragraph dealing with genetically engineered crops. That paragraph - actually, one long, complicated sentence - has the biotech industry smiling. But opponents of biotech crops are hopping mad. They say this biotech rider, as they call it, is a blatant attempt to shield biotech crops from all judicial oversight.

Joining me now to talk about this is NPR's Dan Charles. Welcome, Dan.