Month: July 2019

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CrowdScience - Where’s my time machine?

Laser swords, time machines, matter transporters - before the turn of the millennium, movies, books and television promised some extraordinary future technology. Now we’re twenty years into the next century and CrowdScience listeners are wondering: Where is it all?

Marnie Chesterton delves into the sci-fi cupboard to dust off some imaginary gadgets and find out if any are finally becoming reality. How far into the future will we have to go to find a time machine as imagined by H.G. Wells in 1895? Where are the lightsabers wielded by fictional Jedi? Why are we still using cars, planes and trains when a matter transporter or a flying taxi could be so much more convenient? Marnie is joined by a panel of experts to find out if and when any of these much-longed for items are going to arrive.

Presenter Marnie Chesterton. Producer Jennifer Whyntie

(Photo: Dr Who, Tardis. Travelling through time and space. Credit: BBC Copyright)

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Stuff They Don't Want You To Know - Project Horizon: The Secret US Moon Base

There have always been conspiracy theories about secret structures on the lunar surface, and in modern decades numerous fringe researchers have alleged that various governments have already built some sort of permanent structure on the moon. It sounds pretty out there, but could there be a grain of truth to the stories? Tune in to learn more about Project Horizon.

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The Best One Yet - Microsoft’s triple-threat quarter, Skechers’ 12% surge, and iHeartMedia’s back on Wall Street

Microsoft remains the world’s biggest publicly-traded company, so we jumped into the big question no one understands these days: How it makes money. Skechers stock popped because it’s basically become an international company, but its core focus is (ironically) avoiding trends. And iHeartRadio just started trading again on Nasdaq after emerging from a hefty bankruptcy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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The Intelligence from The Economist - Servant’s entrance: Ukraine’s elections

Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party looks set to make big gains in Ukraine’s parliament this weekend. It must, if it wants to weaken oligarchs’ hold over the country. If space exploration and exploitation is to really take off, there’s one big thing missing: the laws to regulate it. And, we remember João Gilberto, the father of bossa nova, whose rise coincided with an all-too-brief cultural renaissance in Brazil.
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The NewsWorthy - Puerto Rico Protests, Apollo 11 & Alexa Board Game – Friday, July 19th, 2019

The news to know for Friday, July 19th, 2019!

Today, we're talking about new tensions with Iran and why so many people are protesting in Puerto Rico.

Plus: what to know about the federal minimum wage, Netflix subscribers, and the first board game made for Amazon's Alexa.

Those stories and many more in less than 10 minutes!

Award-winning broadcast journalist and former TV news reporter Erica Mandy breaks it all down for you. 

Today's episode is brought to you by Zola.

 

Sources: 

Iran Drone: NBC News, AP, The Washington Post, CBS News

Puerto Rico Protests: ABC News, Reuters, Washington Post

Minimum Wage Increase: CNBC, The Hill, NYT

British Open: CBS Sports, Bleacher Report

50 Years Since Apollo 11: Vox, NBC News, The Verge (events)

Sesame Street Honors: Deadline, LA Times

Netflix Subscribers Drop: CNBC, AP, USA Today

Toys R Us Returns: Business Insider, CBS News, CNN

Alexa Board Game: Engadget, VentureBeat

 

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African Tech Roundup - Will Facebook’s Digital Currency Libra Be Good For Africa? feat. Michael Kimani & Simon Dingle

In this in-studio taping of the African Tech Roundup podcast, Andile Masuku is joined by the Kenyan digital money analyst Michael Kimani and the South African crypto entrepreneur Simon Dingle to discuss how Libra and the proposed Calibra network stacks up against existing cryptocurrency concepts like Bitcoin, and to establish whether or not Facebook's digital currency might be good for Africa. It's safe to say that the world hasn't been quite the same since Facebook and its high-powered corporate collaborators - Visa, MasterCard, Uber, Spotify, South Africa's PayU and several others - revealed plans to re-imagine global finance using a digital coin called Libra— an idea that, according to the Libra whitepaper, is set to be backed by a reserve of actual currencies and assets. This show was taped prior to US President Donald Trump forcefully panning cryptocurrencies in a public statement earlier this week. His provocative sentiments came in the wake of lawmakers in the US and Europe demanding that The Libra Association's plans be placed on hold pending formal investigations. Meanwhile, in Africa, policymakers will also need to grapple with many of the concerns being raised about Libra abroad. In this episode, Andile, Simon and Michael delve into issues that African lawmakers would do well to apply their minds to. Listen in to hear the trio unpack why Libra is potentially an ingenious innovation that - if permitted by regulators - could do much to advance financial inclusion on the continent, but, equally, a potentially hazardous vehicle which could enable Facebook & Co. to wield unprecedented economic control over Africa's future. Image credit: Maksim Shutov