Technology

His new book is called Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution (Perseus, 2001). It charts the movement begun by computer programmers who believe software should be given away for free. Moody is a London-based writer whose work has appeared in Wired, The Economist, and The Financial Times.

Kim Alexander is President of the California Voter Foundation, organized to pioneer new technologies to improve democracy. The group produces the California Online Voter Guide. Recently Alexander was part of the Task Force for Internet Voting put together by California’s Secretary of State.

Writer Vernor Vinge. The author of 16 books of science fiction, he gained a cult following for his early role in writing about cyber-culture and the Internet. His new book “Across Realtime,” (Orion Audio) came out earlier this year. He talks about the difficulty of writing science fiction when technology out dates itself as rapidly as it does. He teaches computer science at San Diego State.

Music critic Milo Miles gives us his take on Napster, the online music community that allows users to download entire songs free of charge.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg comments on false etymologies and race.

The Republican National Convention convenes in Philadelphia in a week. A talk with Frank Punzo, Sales Manager for Verizon Communications which is the official local telecommunications provider for the convention. Punzo is responsible for providing the infrastructure that supports telephone service, video conferencing, internet access and video streaming.

With all the hype surrounding new advances in information technology, what is truth and what is fiction? Paul Duguid (DO-good), co-author of “The Social Life of Information,” (Harvard Business School Press) helps us answer that question. Duguid is a Research Associate in Social and Cultural Studies at the University of California, Berkeley and consultant at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center.

Founder and Editor in Chief of the online magazine Salon, David Talbot. Last week the magazine had to lay off 13 employees because of financial problems. It was one of three online journalism sites to do so. Talbot started the magazine in 1995. Before that he was the arts and features editor of the San Francisco Examiner. Talbot is also the author of “Burning Desires: Sex in America.” This interview was conducted live before an audience and taped for broadcast.

Publisher of the New York Times Arthur Sulzberger Jr. He’s just been named “Publisher of the Year” by Editor and Publisher Magazine. Sulzberger’s family is one of the foremost newspaper families in the world. His great-grandfather Adolph Ochs bought the paper more than a century ago. Arthur Sulzberger Jr., was appointed publisher by his father Arthur Ochs Sulzberger in 1992.

These days, there’s a lot of public concern about objectionable content on the Web. Fresh Air’s Linguist Geoff Nunberg discusses the problems with so-called “censorware”, the software programs that claim to screen out pornography and other offensive material.