Your Health Smartphone Detox: How To Power Down In A Wired World Listen · 3:24 3:24 Toggle more options Download Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/584389201/585032374" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Facebook Twitter Flipboard Email Enlarge this image Ryan Johnson for NPR Ryan Johnson for NPR If the Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov were alive today, what would he say about smartphones? He might not think of them as phones at all, but instead as remarkable tools for understanding how technology can manipulate our brains. Pavlov's own findings — from experiments he did more than a century ago, involving food, buzzers and slobbering dogs — offer key insights into why our phones have become almost an extension of our bodies, modern researchers say. The findings also provide clues to how we can break our … [Read more...] about Smartphone Detox: How To Power Down In A Wired World
A wire
Model Ambra Battilana wore a wire to record Harvey Weinstein allegations
THE sexual harassment scandal surrounding Harvey Weinstein deepened as it emerged the Hollywood producer was allegedly recorded apologising to an Italian model who accused him of groping her breasts. Beauty queen Ambra Battilana Gutierrez wore a wire during a police sting in 2015 in an attempt to extract a confession from Weinstein. Here is everything we know about the model and her allegations against the disgraced movie mogul. Who is Ambra Battilana Gutierrez? Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, 24, is an Italian model of Filipino descent who competed in the Miss Italia 2010 pageant. The Miss Italy finalist is one of several woman have come forward with allegations against Weinstein including high-profile stars including Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, She claims Weinstein lunged at her breasts, groped them - then asked if they were real, and tried to put his hand up her skirt at his office in Manhattan in March 2015. Ambra, then 22, went to cops to … [Read more...] about Model Ambra Battilana wore a wire to record Harvey Weinstein allegations
AG candidate says Speaker Madigan once thought he was ‘wearing a wire’
A Democratic state lawmaker from Lake County said Sunday that he believes House Speaker Michael Madigan once thought he was “wearing a wire” during a meeting between the two. A Madigan spokesman said he didn’t have any information to verify that state Rep. Scott Drury’s story was “accurate.” Drury has long been at odds with Madigan, who also is the state Democratic Party chairman. The former federal prosecutor was the only Democrat who did not vote for Madigan for speaker in the current General Assembly. Drury’s tale dates back to 2016. He recounted an effort to advance legislation involving protection of children’s data on computers used in schools. The three-term lawmaker from Highwood said he got a call from Madigan saying “‛Hey, we should go to dinner.’” The two met at the Union League Club in Chicago, Drury told WGN 720-AM on Sunday. “And all of a sudden, there’s just this, this shady juxtaposition … [Read more...] about AG candidate says Speaker Madigan once thought he was ‘wearing a wire’
‘Wearing a wire’ in the digital age: Smaller, safer, more comfortable
On secretly recorded tapes played in a federal courtroom this week, jurors heard Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski’s staff plan the handoff of leftover meatballs — code for a bribe, one lawyer yelled. On another recording, the mayor is allegedly heard grousing about a stingy campaign contribution. Much of the prosecution’s evidence in Pawlowski’s corruption trial so far has revolved around secretly recorded conversations. But if you were imagining that FBI informant Mike Fleck nervously strapped a tape recorder to his chest before leaning close to the mayor to get what the feds wanted a la “The Soparanos,” well, fuggedaboutit. Gathering covert evidence in the digital age goes far beyond “wearing a wire” for the feds. Informants today can be fitted out with cameras tiny enough to be concealed in a piece of jewelry, and voice recorders smaller than a Bic lighter. The end result is high-tech evidence that juries find credible. “The … [Read more...] about ‘Wearing a wire’ in the digital age: Smaller, safer, more comfortable
Gates Sends a Message: A Wired World
Bill Gates for President–next time. Now that we’ve gotten used to millionaires running for the presidency, why not a billionaire and a self-made one at that? At least Gates is aware that the biggest problem in the world is not how to make some Americans even wealthier but how to deal with the abysmal poverty that defines the condition of two-thirds of God’s people. Odd as it may seem, it took the richest man in the world in a dramatic speech last week to remind us that no man is an island, and that when most of the world’s population lives on the edge of extinction, it mocks the rosy predictions for our common future on a wired planet. Gates shocked a conference of computer industry wizards with the news that the billions of people who subsist on a dollar a day are not in a position to benefit from the Information Age. He charged that the hoopla over the digital revolution, which he pioneered, is now a dangerous distraction from the urgent need to deal … [Read more...] about Gates Sends a Message: A Wired World
Sarah Palin not convinced that Texas teen’s homemade clock is not a ‘wired-up bomb-looking contraption’
Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin is following her daughter’s lead in criticizing Obama’s invitation to a Texas teen detained for bringing a kit clock to school. A homemade clock crafted by 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed looked nothing like a clock, the one-time vice president candidate said on Facebook sharing a photo of its jumbled parts. “That’s a clock, and I’m the queen of England,” Palin wrote Saturday. While a world of scientists and engineers rallied around the MacArthur High School student, Palin dismissed the Irving teenager as only “an evidently obstinate-answering student” who deserved to be arrested by authorities — unlike kids who accidently bring squirt guns to school or leave ammo in their vehicles after hunting. "Kids humiliated and intimidated for innocent actions like those real examples are often marked the rest of their lives and made to feel really rotten," she wrote. Formal charges were not filed … [Read more...] about Sarah Palin not convinced that Texas teen’s homemade clock is not a ‘wired-up bomb-looking contraption’
Judge Napolitano on Why He Believes Trump Campaign Adviser ‘Wore a Wire’
Dershowitz: Mueller Is a 'Zealot' on Russia Investigation, But Not Unethical Lewandowski: FBI to Blame for Not Informing Trump Campaign About Manafort The Russia investigation cannot be dismissed by the White House as "fake news," Judge Andrew Napolitano explained. The Fox News senior judicial analyst emphasized the seriousness of the guilty plea by former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopolous, who he said most likely "wore a wire" to potentially gather incriminating evidence against other Trump campaign officials. Special Counsel Robert Mueller announced the guilty plea on Monday, saying Papadopolous lied to FBI agents about contacts with a Russia-linked professor who spoke of "dirt" on Hillary Clinton in the spring of 2016. The professor, based in London, has denied the claims laid out by Papadopolous. Napolitano said the guilty plea by Papadopolous was "very unusual" because it occurred in secret and the judge ordered the … [Read more...] about Judge Napolitano on Why He Believes Trump Campaign Adviser ‘Wore a Wire’
Nelson Castro pleads not guilty to charges that led him to wear a wire
A humbled ex-Assemblyman Nelson Castro pleaded not guilty Wednesday to the perjury charges that inspired him to secretly record his Albany peers for nearly four years. Led into Bronx Supreme Court in handcuffs, Castro turned his first public appearance since resigning into an act of contrition, insisting that he’d become an informant not to save his skin - but to do the right thing. “I'd like to make no excuses for my misconduct and the way I behaved before I became elected,” he said outside court. “I intend to take full responsibility for these actions and continue to do what I can to make it right.” Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson unsealed the felony perjury charges that date to July 2009. Since then, Castro has secretly cooperated with law enforcment in a wide-ranging corruption probe. So far Castro’s recordings helped lead to the arrest last week of Assemblyman Eric Stevens (D-Bronx) on charges of taking cash to do favors for … [Read more...] about Nelson Castro pleads not guilty to charges that led him to wear a wire
Man on a wire
When Mitt Romney steps up to speak in Tampa, he’s going to try hard to look like he’s steady on his feet. In fact, he’ll be walking to the podium on a tightrope. Actually, expect to see five separate, crucial balancing acts play out over the course of this convention. 1. The economy vs. social issues Republicans desperately want to defeat President Obama. They know that the economy is still far too weak, that deficits are exploding and that Romney’s calling card is as a Mr. Fix-It private sector type. That gets him most of the way into their hearts. But not all the way. No GOP nominee in memory, not even maverick John McCain, has had a more confusing and contrived record on the social issues that are near and dear to Republican voters. Romney was pro-choice as recently as 2002. He signed an assault weapons ban as governor of Massachusetts. He was left-leaning on social issues, once trying to outflank Ted Kennedy as a supporter of gay rights. And, … [Read more...] about Man on a wire
Leonard Cohen collapses onstage in Madrid singing ‘Bird on a Wire’
Leonard Cohen is recovering after collapsing onstage because of a stomach problem while on tour in eastern Spain, his music company said on Saturday.The veteran poet and performer was partway through his song "Bird on the Wire" in Valencia when he fainted, causing the band to rush to his aid. A video showing Cohen kneeling down several times during last week's performance and then keeling over sideways during a saxophone solo was posted on YouTube by a fan. The Canadian-born musician, who will be 75 on Monday, came out of retirement five years ago when he discovered that most of his retirement fund had disappeared in a disputed case of mismanagement. Join the Conversation: … [Read more...] about Leonard Cohen collapses onstage in Madrid singing ‘Bird on a Wire’