Technology

Neil Gershenfeld is author of "When Things Start to Think." (Henry Holt) He talks about his research into the future technology. This includes shoes with computers in them, Refrigerators that tell you when the milk is expired, and coffee cups that know how you like your coffee. He co-directs the Things That Think research consortium at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, Ma.

Founder and CEO of IDEO Product Development, David Kelley. He is one of America's leading design innovators. His design innovations include Apple's first mouse, Crest's "Neat Squeeze" toothpaste tube, squishy colorful Oral-B toothbrushes for children, Kodak's digital camera, and a portable heart defibrillator which the AMA says will save over 100,000 lives per year. Kelley's company is based in Palo Alto, California. He is also a professor at Stanford University's in the school's innovative Product Design program.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg comments on how the internet has change the way we talk. For example, the frequent use of words like cyber, e-cash, e-mail.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg talks about the inaccuracies of automatic translation systems on the Web.

Hillis is one of the world's leading computer scientists and is the designer of the world's fastest computer. He's also Vice President and Disney Fellow at Walt Disney Imagineering. His new book is "The Pattern on the Stone: the simple ideas that make computers work" (Basic Books)

Linguist Geoff Nunberg considers the use of the first person pronouns to personalize everything from computers to contracts.

Language critic Geoffrey Nunberg talks about the accuracy of automatic grammar checkers included with computer word processing programs like Microsoft Word.

Joshua Quitner and Michelle Slatalla are authors of "Speeding The Net: The Inside Story of Netscape and How It Challenged Microsoft." (Atlantic Monthly Press) Quittner is the computer columnist for Time magazine and an assistant managing editor at Time Inc's on-line site Pathfinder. Slatalla writes a technology column for The New York Times. They have also collaborated on the books: "Masters of Deception," "Flame War," "Mother's Day," and "Shoo-Fly Pie to Die."

Writer Ron Chernow has written a new biography one of America's most powerful men. His book is "Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr." (Random House) Chernow has also written: "The House of Morgan," "The Warburgs," and "The Death of the Banker." The New York Times this month called Titan "a triumph of the art of biography."

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg comments on the popularity of e-mail. Noting that in this "age of banter" e-mail suits us well.