WAMU 88.5 : The Kojo Nnamdi Show

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The Computer Guys & Gal

August 7, 2012
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Let the games begin! Olympic athletes embrace social media. Fans perfect the art of ignoring Twitter spoilers in advance of evening rebroadcasts. Meanwhile, the video game industry confronts an ongoing problem in competitive gaming: sexist language and harassment. The Computer Guys and Gal are back to explore the latest news from the technology world.

Computer Guys And Gal Picks

Some people are calling the 2012 London games the "social media Olympics." The Computer Guys And Gal share suggestions for celebrating the Olympics from the office cubicle or living room couch. Plus, what the online gaming industry can and should do about sexist behavior.

Allison Druin

  1. Has social media ruined the Olympics, or is it NBC and its time delay?

  2. Why did Twitter suspend a journalist covering the games?

  3. Thank the wrong person or group and your Olympic dreams are over! An update on Rule 40, which severely limits athletes' rights to market themselves during the Olympic Games.

  4. Free is not so free when it comes to Olympics live-streaming.

  5. Olympics sponsor BMW develops technology to help U.S. athletes improve their training and performance.

  6. Olympic technology: The winners and losers.

  7. A crackdown on WiFi access points in the Olympics.

  8. Ever wonder how the score boards know when someone has won a race within 1 100th of a second? Pressure sensors in the pool! Technology that's hiding in plain sight at the Olympics.

  9. Simulated Olympic training, such as Australian cyclists who watch a screen that looks like a video game but actually is a "mile for mile, hill for hill recreation of the London Olympic road cycling course."

  10. Want Olympic Tickets? Let Twitter help you.

Bill Harlow

  1. In virtual play, sex harassment is all too real.

  2. The ugly side of fighting games: Sexual harassment in competitive gaming.

  3. The fighting game community rallied to include a gamer with cerebral palsy.

  4. Power Pwn, the world's most sinister power strip.

  5. As security researcher Cody Brocious put it, "My Arduino can beat up your hotel room lock."

  6. The perils of a hacked iCloud account.

  7. What happens when David Pogue loses his iPhone? The world watches (and helps).

  8. Forum trolling against terrorism. Internet "flame wars" may have higher stakes here.

Arts & Culture

NPR

A Read Down Memory Lane: Lessons From Your Former Self

Writings from childhood — cards, stories and other notes — can hide for decades, like time capsules tucked away in boxes, old bedrooms, attics and journals. Writer Jim Sollisch talks about how old thank you notes from his youth foreshadowed his adult life.

Food

NPR

Inside A Tart Cherry Revival: 'Somebody Needs To Do This!'

The revival is partly based on the humble sour fruit's growing reputation as a superfood. And in Michigan, a scientist is on a quest to introduce a whole new world of hardier, tastier tart cherries by breeding American trees with ancestral varieties from Eastern Europe.

Politics

NPR

Srinivasan's Confirmation First For D.C. Circuit In 7 Years

The partisan war over judicial nominees has accelerated in recent years. It took nearly a year to win Senate confirmation for Sri Srinivasan to the important federal appeals court for the District of Columbia, though he had no formal opposition.

Technology

NPR

3-D Printer Makes Life-Saving Splint For Baby Boy's Airway

A 3-D printer is being credited with helping to save an Ohio baby's life, after doctors "printed" a tube to support a weak airway that caused him to stop breathing. The innovative procedure has allowed Kaiba Gionfriddo, of Youngstown, Ohio, to stay off a ventilator for more than a year.

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