Technology

Science writer James Gleick ("GLICK"). His new book "Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything" (Pantheon) is about the accelerating pace of modern life. He writes about how technology has created the feeling that life moves too fast, but that we have become "addicted" to the pace and might as well learn to enjoy it.

Fortune magazine Editor-at-Large, Joseph Nocera, talks about the industry and consumer implications from the on-going trial of Microsoft. The U.S. Justice Department alleges the Microsoft engaged in illegal predatory practices against its competitors. Nocera has been covering the trial for Fortune. Nocera is author of "A Piece of the Action; How the Middle Class Joined the Money Class" by Simon and Schuster. (This book is out of print) He also is a regular business commentator for Saturday Weekend Edition on NPR.

Lori B. Andrews is one of America's leading legal experts in the field of advanced reproductive technologies. These include cloning, surrogate motherhood, and harvesting human eggs and sperm. She is a professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law. Her latest book is "The Clone Age: Adventures in the New World of Reproductive Technology." (Holt Publishing) She has been a consultant on reproductive issues to The World Health Organization, U.S. Congress, and the National Institutes of Health. She lives in Chicago.

Tom Standage is author of "The Victorian Internet."(Walker) He explores the development of the telegraph and the parallels it has with today's internet. Standage is a science writer for The Economist in London. He lives in Greenwich, England.

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.

Computer software engineer and NPR commentator Ellen Ullman. Her book is titled "Close to the Machine" (City Lights). It's her semi-autobiographical account of a computer programmer trying to reconcile her work -- machines and information -- with the need for human contact and the feel of living in the real world. (Interview by Barbara Bogaev)

Linguist Geoff Nunberg on the problems of navigating the internet.

Author Robert Kanigel discusses his new biography, "The One Best Way: Frederick Winslow Taylor and the Enigma of Efficiency." (Viking) Taylor was a nineteenth century pioneer of business management. He developed Taylor's Scientific Management, a system which would encourage higher efficiency by creating more stressful work which was rewarded with higher wages.

Beth Givens of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse talks about privacy in the digital age.

Chess master Garry Kasparov may have lost to Deep Blue, but linguist Geoff Nunberg says there are some areas where humans will beat computers -- at least for now.

Yang is co-founder of YAHOO, a directory to the World Wide Web. YAHOO has an online site, as well as a companion book. YAHOO is one of the most popular sites on the Web. Users can access YAHOO, once in the Web at http://www.yahoo.com. Yahoo's book is YAHOO! Unplugged.