WAMU-FM: WAMU: The Kojo Nnamdi Show: Tech Tuesday Podcast

Many of the most famous artworks in the world have long been available to audiences looking for them on the web. But until recently, one still had to travel to museums to fully experience those masterpieces. Now museums are presenting high-resolution images of masterpieces in the public domain, allowing viewers to observe colors and textures like never before. We'll explore how technology is bringing the public closer to art and if that changes how we experience it.

A new study says even voice-activated texting and hands-free phone calls are distracting when you're behind the wheel. The electronics association disagrees, but has its own answers for safer driving. Tech Tuesday explores cognitive distraction and "inattention blindness" for drivers, and examines guidelines for automakers and apps for consumers to help reduce distracted driving.

If the uber-secret National Security Agency is poring through Verizon phone records and tapping Google and Facebook servers, what does that mean for you? Is there any privacy online? What happens when people start wearing Google Glass and recording your every move? The Computer Guys and Gal discuss privacy, social media and the future of gaming.

The government has the data and the private sector has the innovators. How can the two join forces to make us healthier and reform the nation's health care system? Tech Tuesday explores open data, public-private partnerships and how they could improve your health as Kojo broadcasts live from this week's Health Datapalooza in Washington, D.C.

We book flights and hotels online, then yearn for free WiFi at 30,000 feet. We use Google maps to find tourist sights and Yelp to to pick restaurants in unfamiliar cities. When it comes to travel, the smart phone is travel agent and guidebook rolled into one. But the surging demand for free WiFi and greater bandwidth has airports, airlines and hotels scrambling to keep up. Tech Tuesday explores how technology is changing the way we travel and shaping our expectations when we're on the road.

Online platforms like Facebook and Twitter gave people a place to connect and share ideas. And because they reach global audiences, the private companies that run them are at the center of an international debate over competing conceptions of free speech. Kojo looks at how these tech companies are shaping their content policies, and what those policies mean for interpretations of free speech around the globe.

A growing number of people are contemplating "digital suicide" — disconnecting from Facebook and social media to get a break from all-consuming devices. Tech writer Paul Miller tried it: he gave up his smartphone and the Internet for a year to see if it would make him a better person. We hear what it was like, and how you can take meaningful but less drastic steps to dial back your digital obsession.

In India, a massive new biometric identification program links information from an individual's irises and fingerpints to a unique ID number. Other countries use ID cards with smart chips to authenticate identities. Here in the United States, immigration reform is raising questions about what a new U.S. identification system might look like. Tech Tuesday samples electronic and biometric ID from around the world and explores what could work here.

Google's ultra high-speed Internet network in Kansas City known as Google Fiber, is introducing Americans to a new level of web surfing and shaking up the telecommunications industry. But, as Google Fiber expands to Austin, Texas, some are raising concerns over access and questioning whether the private or public sector should be leading the way in broadband expansion. Kojo looks at the landscape of community broadband and the implications of high-profile projects like Google Fiber.

Has your computer been hijacked by hackers and linked to a giant botnet — without your knowledge? Are you downloading apps you know little about — and unwittingly compromising your mobile phone? Threats to personal cybersecurity have never been greater, with a vast underground world of young hackers attacking people's devices out of malice or just for kicks. Tech Tuesday examines the perils of being connected and answers your questions about how to stay safe online.

Technology built into the dashboard of the car is changing the way we drive. It helps us navigate, change lanes and park. It sends email and makes phone calls for us. It can even read the newspaper to us while we're stuck in traffic. But is it making us safer, or more distracted? Tech Tuesday explores the new "connected car" and the features drivers want most.

In the early days, the Internet and email were text-driven. But a decade after email began, the sideways smiley-face emoticon showed up, along with other symbols of emotion constructed largely from punctuation marks. Love 'em or hate 'em, they're still around and have been joined by emoji, an extensive keyboard of images available on Apple products, and GIFs, a short-loop animation. Tech Tuesday explores the history, function and future of these images as a means of communication and their place in the tech lexicon.

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer sparked an uproar last week when she said employees at her company would no longer be able to work from home. In a country where a growing number of workers telecommute, some said the move was unfair and unwise, while others applauded her effort to build an in-person culture of innovation. Tech Tuesday explores the debate over telework and the tools to work well at home, from hardware to software and security to accountability.

Reports of Chinese hackers descending on U.S. companies are raising new questions about cybersecurity and how we hunt the digital bad guys. Tech Tuesday explores how the FBI, Mandiant Corp. and other cyber sleuths track hackers and examines what you should do to protect your data, whether it's on your home computer or your business's vast network.

A trio of major newspapers made news last week after hackers in China allegedly attacked their systems, possibly in retaliation for their reporting on Chinese leaders. BlackBerry unveiled two new smart phones, but some say it's too little too late for the mobile phone pioneer. And the FCC wants to build free nationwide Wi-Fi networks, which could mean free cell phone calls via the Internet. The Computers Guys and Gal are back to explore these tech stories and more.