There's a new radio format inspired by the random and eclectic nature of the shuffle feature of the iPod digital music player. The "Jack" format features a wide variety of juxtaposed musical styles.

In Houston, one station is going further -- if only for two hours every week -- by broadcasting the contents of listeners' MP3 players.

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From 4 to 6am once a week, a person chosen by by public radio station KPFT will bring his or her iPod or other device to the station, set it to shuffle, plug it into the broadcast board, and send the songs over the air.

The idea comes from Houston Chronicle technology columnist Dwight Silverman, who suggested it on his blog. KPFT programmer Ernesto Aguilar thought it was worth a try.

Jon's tech news links:

Congressman backs asteroid protection agency (Wired News)

First look at Google Earth (Via Waxy)

Cell phones to take flight (CNET News.com)

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Earlier this month, federal agents carried out searches in at least two states as part of an investigation into the theft of Social Security numbers and other personal information from database giant LexisNexis.

Secret Service and FBI agents executed a search warrant in Minnesota, and FBI agents conducted 10 searches in Northern California.

No arrests have been made in connection with the searches.

LexisNexis disclosed in March that hackers had gained access to the personal files of as many as 32,000 people. The company has since increased its estimate of those affected to 310,000.

Wired News senior reporter Kim Zetter recently talked with three of the people being investigated for stealing data from LexisNexis.

Jon's tech news links:

Technology lets parents monitor school lunch choices (AP)

A blog with engaging online confessions (nytimes.com)

Broadcasting music from your car to other drivers (Wired News)

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For years, many system administrators have told computer users never to take pen to paper as a way to remember passwords for PCs, Web sites, an online accounts.

Earlier this week, a Microsoft executive told a conference of security experts that the common wisdom about passwords is dead wrong.

Bruce Schneier agrees. The author of Beyond Fear: Thinking Sensibly about Security in an Uncertain World says it's a mistake to discourage the writing down of passwords.

Jon's tech news links:

Ergonomic keyboards make happy hands (AP)

Web ads becoming more like TV (New York Times)

Reality check for municipal Wi-fi (CNET News.com)

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A group of academic publishers is challenging Google's plan to scan millions of library books into its Internet search engine index, saying the ambitious project will violate copyrights and hurt sales.

The Association of American University Presses is upset because Google has indicated it will scan copyright-protected books from three university libraries - Harvard, Michigan and Stanford.

Google decline an interview request, but sent the following statement:

"Google respects the rights of copyright holders, and Google Print incorporates several ways to view books to protect copyright. For example, for books scanned from a library that are still in copyright, users will only be able to view the bibliographic information and a few short sentences of text around their search terms ... Although we believe there are many business advantages for publishers to participate in Google Print, they may opt out, and their books scanned in libraries will not be displayed to Google users."

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The World Community Grid harnesses unused computing power of PC's and directs it to solve scientific problems. Participants -- so far 100,000 of them -- download a small program that detects when their PC is idle. The computer then performs computations, and sends data back to a central computer. By breaking the data crunching into small pieces, research time is greatly reduced.

In its first six months, operators of the World Community Grid say
they've donated 10,000 years of computer time to scientific research.

Jon's tech news links:

LexisNexis hackers reveal tactics (Wired News)

BitTorrent creator makes search engine (CNET News.com)

Blogs are like locusts (Kevin Maney in USA Today)

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Weblogs are often given credit for setting the agenda in American politics and the mainstream media. Are bloggers really that influential? That's a central question in a new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project and market research firm BuzzMetrics.

It seems the answer is that sometimes blogs exert tremendous influence, but often they're powerless echo chambers of political talk.

Pew's Michael Cornfield says it appears that one ingredient must be present in order for a blog to set the agenda.

Jon's tech news links:

EU tells Microsoft to comply or face the music (BBC)

eBay drop-off stores balk at regulation (New York Times)

The latest in toilet technology (IEEE Spectrum)

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For those of you who have ever wondered how to install a USB hub in your car ashtray, or just how much velcro you should use to attach a Nintendo Gamecube to the axel hump in the back seat, there is a new book for you. Geek My Ride - Build The Ultimate Tech Rod has recently appeared in stores.

Author Auri Rahimzadeh says since cars are getting more tech-heavy anyway, it makes sense to stay ahead of the curve. (Jeff Horwich hosts)

Jon's tech news links:

USA Today: Fewer students majoring in computer science

New York Times: Do blogs set the agenda?

New Scientist: Digital music sharing leads to social tensions

Engadget: iTunes 4.9 to support podcasting

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America's junked computers are creating an environmental nightmare in China. An entrepreneur thinks his new company can help.

GreenCitizen aims to change how Americans recycle computers. Founder James Kao envisions it as one way to improve a serious environmental problem in China, where recyclers dump toxic electronics garbage.

This Future Tense interview is part of Think Global, public radio's week of special coverage.

Jon's tech news links:

BBC: Netscape offers "hybrid" browser

USA Today: Cell phones make us angry

Wired News: China's blogfather?

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It's estimated more than a million people are now blogging from China, and all of them are controlled by "The Great Firewall." That's a nickname for the extensive Internet filtering, blocking and surveillance system employed by the government in Beijing.

Andrea Leung is a Hong Kong native now living in Vancouver. Her blog, T-Salon, covers Chinese blogging, politics, culture and technology. She started her blog during a three year stay in eastern China. She says most Chinese bloggers write about their daily lives, not politics.

This Future Tense interview is part of Think Global, public radio's week of special coverage.

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Experts predict that in five years, more Internet users will be logging on from China than any other country. They say that could have serious implications for the rest of the global online population, including more spam, viruses, worms and other security headaches. If you've noticed more Chinese language messages in your inbox lately, you get the idea.

Jamz Yaneza is an expert on Internet use in China. He works for security firm Trend Micro in the Phillipines. He says strict government controls have insulated Chinese Internet users from the securtiy problems plaguing the U.S., but that's changing as China hooks up to the world via the Web.

This Future Tense interview is part of Think Global, public radio's week of special coverage.

Jon's tech news links:

BBC: Sony shows off new PlayStation 3

New York Times: Robots that reproduce

Kottke.org: 50 fun things to do with your iPod

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The Internet has allowed for unparalleled freedom of expression. But many countries are working hard to limit what their citizens can say and read in cyberspace. Nowhere has a government worked harder to corral the Internet than China, where the consequences of breaking the rules can lead to prison or even death.

Ronald Deibert has travelled extensively in China and other countries where the Internet is controlled. Deibert is associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto, and a researcher with the OpenNet Initiative, a group that studies Internet censorship around the globe.

This Future Tense interview is part of Think Global, public radio's week of special coverage.

Jon's tech news links:

BBC: Game industry gears up for E3 show

New York Times: CNN to add free video to Web site

Wired News: Hacks for Google Maps

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Out in the open, GPS pinpoints your location within a yard or two. But devices that use global positioning satellites are of little use in dense urban landscapes or inside big buildings.

Now, one of the original architects of GPS has come up with a way to fill in the gaps, using signals from television broadcasting towers.

Civil libertarians say the tracking technology could be abused.

Guests: Todd Young, Rosum; Kurth Opsahl, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Jon's tech news links:

CNET News.com: Microsoft unveils new XBox

New York Times: Microsoft to offer virus defense

LittleOslo.com: Play Blogopoly!

AP: Gates predicts fall of iPod

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Computer security investigators and federal officials have spent the last year investigating a series of computer crimes that appear to be related.

They believe a single hacker, or perhaps a small band of hackers,
broke into thousands of computer systems belonging to the U.S. military, NASA, government research labs, and corporations such as Cisco Systems. At Cisco, an intruder stole source code for computers that direct Internet traffic.

New York Times technology reporter John Markoff says the first break-ins started in April of last year.

Jon's tech news links:

BBC: Yahoo launches online music service

AP: AOL steps into free email biz

Wired News: Mac Tiger OS has security hole

New Scientist: Worms prey on instant messaging

Business Week: Satellite radio to go

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Researchers at Iowa State University are developing a Pentagon-funded computer lab that simulates computer warfare. The aim is to develop better defenses against hackers, viruses and worms, and denial of service attacks.

The simulator is called ISEAGE, short for Internet Simulation Event and Attack Generation Environment.

Doug Jacobson, Iowa State professor of computer engineering, says current methods of simulating cuber attacks are ineffective.

Jon's tech news links:

New York Times: Internet attack broad, long lasting

BBC: Critical flaws found in Firefox browser

AP: Wired News writer may have fabricated sources

CNET News.com: Google "Accelerator" stirs controversy

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Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have devised a new way to make realistic three dimensional cityscape maps that show streets and buildings in painstaking detail.

Funded by the Pentagon, the project uses digital cameras and laser scanners, which measure distance. The pictures that could have wide-ranging uses, from video games to rescue operations. What's new is the speed -- images are created in hours rather than weeks or months.

Guest: U.C. Berkeley professor Avideh Zakhor

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Podcasts will soon become the programming of choice on a San Francisco radio station and a new channel on Sirius Satellite Radio.

Podcasts are radio shows that users download to their MP3 players. You can think of them as the audio equivalent of Weblogs. Many mainstream broadcasters are beginning to turn their programs into podcasts, but the vast majority come from non-professionals who are dabbling in radio for the first time.

Now, Infinity Broadcasting will fill the air with citizen-produced podcasts at an AM station in San Francisco. Podcasting pioneer Adam Curry, who you may remember as an MTV vee-jay, will host a satellite radio show made up of podcasts. Then there's Al Gore's Current.TV channel, which consists of citizen-produced video.

Jeff Jarvis, who blogs about new media at BuzzMachine, says it's about time big media started listening to its audience.

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Video games, the Internet, and even television are health food for the brain, according to writer Steven Johnson. His new book is
Everythying Bad is Good: How Today's Popular Culture is Actually
Making Us Smarter.

Johnson says he's out to show that video games are more good than bad.

Jon's tech news links:

USA Today: IBM to cut up to 13,000 jobs

New Scientist: Speedy way to capture a city (or find Starbucks)

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Your telephone would become a voting booth under a system developed by Twin Cities startup company PhonElect.

Founder and CEO Patrick Tittle, who designed Minnesota's electronic tax and payment system, says his patented invention is a solution to long lines, hanging chads, insecure electronic voting machines and low turnout.

But one voting rights group, Verified Voting.org, is skeptical.

Jon's tech news links:

BBC: World Cup ticket trap snares computer users

AP: New computer makes grocery carts smart

New York Times: "Wireless Living" special section

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A new report by the non-profit computer security firm Sans Institute says online criminals turned their attention to antivirus software and media players like Apple Computer's iTunes in the first three months of this year as they sought new ways to take control of users' computers.

Sans executive director Alan Paller says hackers are exploiting holes in operating systems such as Windows a little less, and instead are focusing on computer programs.

Also today: Blogger Jason Kottke on badly written headlines for Apple's Tiger OS.

Jon's tech news links:

BBC: Google eyes better news searches

USA Today: Customizable Scion car scores with young techies

Wired News: Tiny Smart Car seeks niche in U.S.

IEEE Spectrum: A device for zapping away depression

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The latest major update of Apple Computer's Macintosh operating system, named Tiger, hit the market last Friday. It includes 200 new features.

Guest: Bob LeVitus, author of several Macintosh-themed books, and author of a Mac column in the Houston Chronicle.

Jon's tech news links:

CNET News.com: Cities brace for broadband battles

New York Times: Podcast, MTV pioneer head to Sirius for podcast show

USA Today: Part human, part animal

Reuters: Hackers not picking on Microsoft only