[Swprograms] Podding Along - Issue 49

[John Figliozzi <jfiglio1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Most radio listening takes place in the car or while doing other things that allow freedom for the ear, but not the eyes and hands.  Podcasts permit a shift of listening time from a set appointment to virtually any convenient occasion.   
I do it while âpower walkingâ (most) every other day.  The âartâ of putting one foot in front of the other can be pretty monotonous and by âpodding alongâ while Iâm plodding along my mind gets something to do along with my body.  Some of the best radio comes from the public networks of the UK, Australia, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and the U.S.  Apart from the originating programâs web site, most programs are made available through any number of other amalgamation sources such as iTunes and TuneIn. Hereâs another in a continuing series of small samplings:

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âApps and Access to Phone Dataâ
CLICK - BBC World Service
A report by the mobile security company Pentest shows that a keyboard app that had been downloaded 50 million times, was asking users permission to access their camera, GPS and can even terminate background processes? And why is it then sending this information to servers across the globe including to China? We have Andrew Pannell, security consultant and Head of Mobile at Pentest coming in to tell us what he found and why so many apps want access to so much on our phones?
Academic Certification and Blockchain
Have you ever applied for a job and then frantically tried to find your academic or professional certificates? With rising levels of academic fraud a new digital system of certificate verification has been developed by the Media Lab at MIT. It uses blockchain - the technology behind virtual currencies like bitcoin. Once a qualification is gained it is added to a ledger in the system that cannot be removed and should be almost tamper proof. Other academics can then check these qualifications online and know who created the ledger and if anyone has altered it as the ledger itself cannot be removed.
Google Autism Glasses
A student at Stanford University has developed google glasses that recognise different emotions and a clinical trial is currently underway to see if they help children with autism detect different emotions. The glasses use a machine learning system to do this. Currently the most common method of teaching children with autism about recognising emotions is to use flashcards, but this method can be applied in real time and also situations can be played back so children can learn from them, for instance why someone was angry.
T-rays and Chips
Terahertz radiation, or T-rays, can be used to scan for tumours and weapons and can even see though solid objects. And until now they did have limitations particularly with high imaging resolutions. Researchers at the University of Exeter have developed a new terahertz camera that can see at a microscopic level. This is a significant development for quality control. Electronic products can be now tested at the end of the production process to ensure there are no faults in the chips, something that is currently done at the beginning of the production process. The researchers also hope to develop cancer screening tests as T-rays can detect high levels of water in skin cancer cells much earlier than current tests can detect cancer cells in the skin.  (27â)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03xj6zh

"The 1968 US Presidential race; Life of Aileen Palmer"
LATE NIGHT LIVE - ABC Radio National
The 1968 US Presidential election was a major turning point for both major political parties. Michael A Cohen's book "American Maelstrom: the 1968 election and the Politics of Division" tells the story of that extraordinary year.  In the USA in 1968 there were two political assassinations, a serving President whoâd won a landslide at the 1964 election decided  not to renominate. And at the Democratic convention, some of the worst  and most violent political riots in US history took place.  
Aileen Palmer was a 21 year old Australian communist when she got the opportunity to join the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. She spent two years in Spain and then went on to drive ambulances in London during the blitz. The daughter of Australian writers Vance and Nettie Palmer, her full potential as a poet and writer were never fulfilled as she struggled to cope with mental illness at least partially brought on by her experiences of war. (54â) 
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/13th-june-2016/7493944

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Good listening!

John Figliozzi
Editor, "The Worldwide Listening Guide"
New 7th edition now available from Universal Radio, Amazon and W5YI.com

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