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The Two-Way
11:29 am
Wed January 30, 2013

BlackBerry Maker Unveils New Phones, New Corporate Name

Credit Leon Neal / AFP/Getty Images
A member of the RIM team poses with one of the new touchscreen Z10 Blackberry devices.
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By Eyder Peralta

Originally published on Wed January 30, 2013 11:34 am

It's no secret that Research In Motion is in trouble. The tablet device it released in 2011 did so poorly the company took a $485 million hit. Android phones and Apple's iPhone have left the company in the technology graveyard.

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Technology
10:57 am
Wed January 30, 2013

Keeping Up With Kids' Online Privacy

Credit George Nikitin / AP
Palo Alto High School teacher Esther Wojcicki helps student Allison Wyndham at a computer during class.
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By NPR Staff

Originally published on Wed January 30, 2013 1:26 pm

"Youth are much savvier about their online privacy than most adults give them credit for," says Rey Junco, a faculty associate at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. In the final installment of Tell Me More's series Social Me, Junco tells NPR's Michel Martin that research into teenagers' online behavior on sites like Facebook show that they adjust privacy settings and behave in ways that prove "they're very aware of privacy issues."

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Business
4:33 am
Wed January 30, 2013

RIM To Unveil BlackBerry Makeover

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By editor

Originally published on Wed January 30, 2013 9:44 am

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And there was a time only a few years ago when the BlackBerry was the undisputed champion of the smartphone market - a title now held by Apple's iPhone or the Samsung Galaxy. After years of falling sales and strategic blunders, the company that many have already written off, is unveiling a new device today. It's called the BlackBerry Z10.

And to talk about whether it can save the company, we called Rich Jaroslovsky. He's technology commentator for Bloomberg News.

Glad to have you on the show again.

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Asia
2:02 am
Wed January 30, 2013

In China, The Government Isn't The Only Spy Game In Town

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Credit EPA /Landov
A man sells surveillance cameras at the main electronics market in Tienhe district, Guangzhou, in southern China's Guangdong province, on Aug. 8.
Credit Frank Langfitt / NPR
Qi Hong, a former journalist, says he has helped more than a hundred friends find more than 300 surveillance devices, including audio bugs and hidden cameras.
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By

Originally published on Wed January 30, 2013 9:44 am

The final of two reports

It all started with a local Chinese official.

He couldn't figure out how his wife, who suspected him of having an affair, knew the contents of his private conversations.

"His wife knew things that he said in his car and office, including conversations over the telephone," recalls Qi Hong, a former journalist from Shandong province in eastern China, and a friend of the official.

So Qi asked a buddy who owned bug-detecting equipment to help.

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Science
1:59 am
Wed January 30, 2013

When Crime Pays: Prison Can Teach Some To Be Better Criminals

Credit iStockphoto.com
Prison provides an opportunity for networking with more seasoned criminals.
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By

Originally published on Fri February 1, 2013 12:09 pm

In popular lore — movies, books and blogs — criminals who go to prison don't come out reformed. They come out worse.

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Around the Nation
6:43 pm
Tue January 29, 2013

Drought Causes Ripple Effect Along Mighty Mississippi River

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Credit Debbie Elliott / NPR
International ships call at the busy Port of New Orleans. It's a major shipping convergence point on the Mississippi River. Ships come upriver from the Gulf of Mexico with imports from abroad, and barges come downriver, bringing U.S. goods for export.
Credit Debbie Elliott / NPR
The Mississippi River is flowing at near normal levels again in New Orleans, as measured by this old-fashioned staff gauge behind the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District office. The Corps has been fighting saltwater encroaching up the mouth of the Mississippi because of the persistent drought.
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Originally published on Wed January 30, 2013 7:30 pm

The persistent drought is raising questions about how the Mississippi River is managed — both upstream and down.

While cargo traffic upriver has gotten lots of attention, the drought is creating a different set of problems downriver at the mouth of the Mississippi, where saltwater has encroached.

An old-fashioned staff river gauge behind the New Orleans district office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shows the Mississippi is running just shy of 6 feet above sea level at the river bend.

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Superstorm Sandy: Before, During And Beyond
4:25 pm
Tue January 29, 2013

Sand After Sandy: Scientists Map Sea Floor For Sediment

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Credit Courtesy of John Goff / University Of Texas
Highly detailed sonar systems aboard the research vessel Pritchard gave researchers a clear view of the sediment on the seafloor off Long Island.
Credit Christopher Joyce / NPR
John Goff supervises the sonar mapping of the seafloor along the south shore of Long Island. The scientists are trying to track down where Sandy deposited sediment and sand from the barrier islands from the beaches.
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By

Originally published on Mon February 4, 2013 1:29 pm

Congress has now agreed to give some $60 billion to states damaged by Hurricane Sandy. A lot will go to Long Island, one of the hardest hit areas. Besides damages to homes and businesses, its system of protective barrier islands and beaches were partially washed away.

Scientists are trying to find out where that sand and sediment went, and whether it can be used to rebuild Long Island's defenses.

In January. On a boat in Long Island Bay.

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The Two-Way
4:24 pm
Tue January 29, 2013

Stefan Kudelski, Who Made Sound Recording Portable, Dies

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Credit Courtesy of the Kudelski Group
Stefan Kudelski poses with the Ampex-Nagra VPR-5 portable recorder in an undated photograph. The devices were used to record the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico.
Credit Courtesy of the Kudelski Group
Kudelski with actors Maggie Smith (left) and Maureen Stapleton at the 1978 Academy Awards. That year, Kudelski won a Scientific and Engineering award for improvements "in the Nagra 4.2L sound recorder for motion picture production." It was one of four Oscars awarded Kudelski in his lifetime.
Credit Courtesy of Jim Anderson
A Nagra recorder used to record a 1976 interview at the University of Chicago for the NPR Program 'Folk Festival USA.'
Credit Courtesy of Randy Thom
Randy Thom, director of sound design for Skywalker Sound, with his Nagra 4.2. While filmmakers now use smaller and lighter digital recorders, Nagras are still used to record gunshots and other very loud sounds.
Credit Courtesy of the Kudelski Group
Stefan Kudelski poses with the Ampex-Nagra VPR-5 portable recorder in an undated photograph. The devices were used to record the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico.
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By editor

Originally published on Wed January 30, 2013 5:42 am

While few outside the film and radio industries may recognize the name Stefan Kudelski, his Nagra recorder — meaning "will record" in Kudelski's native Polish — transformed the world of sound recording for radio, television and film.

Kudelski, inventor of the first portable professional sound recorder, died Saturday in Switzerland at the age of 84, according to a statement from the Kudelski Group.

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Animals
3:28 pm
Tue January 29, 2013

Study: Domestic Cats Kill Billions Of Birds And Mammals Each Year

Credit Vishnevskiy Vasiliy / iStockphoto
Out For Lunch? Researchers estimate that billions of birds and small mammals are killed by cats in the U.S. annually.
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By editor

Originally published on Tue January 29, 2013 10:48 pm

The battle between cat lovers and bird lovers has been going on for a long time. Cats and birds just don't mix. But trying to get a handle on how many birds and other animals are being killed by cats isn't easy. Just figuring out how many cats there are is tough enough.

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Research News
3:27 pm
Tue January 29, 2013

Swiss Scientists Discover Dung Beetles Use The Milky Way For GPS

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By editor

Originally published on Mon February 4, 2013 1:29 pm

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

And I'm Audie Cornish. And we have a story now about celestial navigation - that is, looking to the sky for guidance.

BLOCK: But before we get too lofty, this story also happens to be about dung beetles. And so we start with this lowly central unpleasant fact about dung beetles.

ERIC WARRANT: Dung beetles and their grubs eat dung and everything about dung beetles has to do with dung in some form.

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