The Engadget Show 45: Security with Cory Doctorow, John McAfee, Microsoft, the EFF and more!

Welcome to the wild world of security and surveillance. From CCTV to massive government spying initiatives, there's no escaping it. Recent high-profile leaks have served as a sobering reminder of just how present it is in all of our lives, so we figured what better time to take a deep dive? We kick things off with one of the strangest (and raciest) segments in Engadget Show history: a visit to the set of John McAfee's latest web video. The one-time security software guru and fugitive discusses the state of antivirus, bath salts and offers some unsolicited advice to Edward Snowden, one exile to another. Trevor Timm of the Electronic Frontier Foundation sits down for an animated discussion of recent NSA surveillance revelations, including a breakdown of which major tech companies are doing right by their user base.

Boing Boing editor, sci-fi author and privacy activist Cory Doctorow climbs a tree in San Diego to discuss Wikileaks, the NSA, the "surveillance state" and more. "Edward Snowden is a hero," he begins, not speaking on behalf of the EFF, mind you -- and things get really good from there. Cryptographer and computer security specialist Bruce Schneier also chimes in on wiretapping, whistleblowing and "security theater."

Next up, we pay a visit to The New Yorker's midtown office to talk Strong Box, the magazine's secure deposit box for anonymous whistleblowers. The team behind Ubisoft's Watch Dogs joins us to discuss partnering with computer security company Kaspersky to bring a realistic portrait of the world of hacking to its much anticipated title. And one-time hacker turned head of security community outreach at Microsoft, Katie Moussouris, discusses Redmond's Bluehat bounty program and working with the hacking community to build safer software.

All that, plus the usual prognosticating from resident philosopher John Roderick in this month's Engadget Show, just after the break.

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The Engadget Show 44: Education with Google, OLPC, Code.org, LeapFrog, SparkFun, Adafruit and more

It's time to rethink the way our children learn. It's all a bit overwhelming, attempting to restructure the age-old classroom model, particularly in a system as bogged down in bureaucratic red tape as education. This month, however, we packed up our things and toured the country to find out how educational institutions are adopting new models to help reinvent the learning process -- rather than sitting idly by, waiting for the system to change around them. Naturally, technology is playing a huge role in that shift, moving from models of teaching to models of learning, where students can explore, express themselves and learn at their own speed.

We kick things off in Chicago, where Jackie Moore, a former systems programmer, is teaching inner city students how to build robots in a shopping mall basement at LevelUP. Next up, we head Miami and California, to see how technologies like the iPad, Google Chromebook and One Laptop Per Child's XO laptop are being implemented in three schools, including interviews with educators, students, OLPC CEO Rodrigo Halaby and Google director of product management, Rajen Sheth. We'll also talk to component retailers SparkFun and Adafruit about the initiatives those companies have implemented to help kids learn electronics at an early age, and then we sit down with American Museum of Natural History president, Ellen Futter, to discuss the ways the New York City institution is redefining itself for the 21st century.

We've also got an interview with Ali Partovi, a serial entrepreneur, who is working to make computer science an essential part of the elementary-level STEM program, through Code.org. Richard Culatta, the acting director of the US Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology discusses how devices can help target the learning process for individual students and LeapFrog CEO John Barbour tells us how his company is rethinking the educational toy. All that plus prognostications from John Roderick and some really sweet moose dioramas can be yours to enjoy after the break.

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The Engadget Show 43: Music with John Vanderslice, Black Milk, Dan Deacon, Pandora, Sub Pop and more!

These days, music and technology are inexorably linked -- from creation and recording, to distribution and discovery, it's hard to imagine a song reaching our ears that hasn't made its way through some electronic filter. Being the huge music nerds we are, we figured we'd use our April episode to explore the state of the music industry in 2013 and the roles technology has played in its successes and failings. This month, we start things off with a visit to Santa Cruz, where UCSC professor emeritus David Cope has spent decades developing classical music composing computer programs, work he began after one particularly bad bout with writer's block. We also stop by Seattle's Experience Music Project, where we speak to curator Jacob McMurray about the role technology has created in building a better music museum.

Next up, we've got a trio of interviews with artists who are using technology to very different ends in the creation and distribution of their music. John Vanderslice is the founder and proprietor of San Francisco's Tiny Telephone, one of the last remaining analog-only recording studios in a world increasingly dominated by Pro Tools. He's also a successful musician in his own right, who recently opted to eschew the traditional record label model for the release of his two new Kickstarter-backed albums. Hip-hop producer and emcee Black Milk, meanwhile, has taken to recording and producing recordings in his Dallas apartment. We discuss his crate digging, love of analog tools and the role of YouTube and Shazam in his production. And we meet up with indie electronic music Dan Deacon outside of LA's Natural History Museum to talk about his live rig and innovative iPhone app.

What about radio stations, you ask? We pay a visit to Jersey City's WFMU and Santa Monica's KCRW, two of the most prominent freeform stations in a space dominated Clear Channels and internet and satellite radio, to discuss the importance of human curation and embracing the same technology that has spelled the end of so many of their peers. We've also got interviews with Seattle's Sub Pop Records, music criticism site Pitchfork and California record store Amoeba, plus trips to music app developer Smule, internet radio pioneer Pandora and the legendary Moog factory. All that plus another installment of "John Roderick: Famous Prognosticator" and art by cartoonist Jim Rugg.

Oh, and we'd be remiss if we didn't remind you that today is the last day to vote for us in the Webby Awards! In the meantime, check out the full show, after the break.

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The Engadget Show 42: Expand with OUYA, Google, DJ Spooky, robots, space, hardware startups and more!

Listen, we're not going to promise you that watching an hour-long episode is the same as going to Expand. The good news for those of you who were unable to attend due to scheduling or geography, however, is that the ticket price is a bit lower, and many of our favorite moments have been saved for posterity. We've done our best to whittle a weekend at San Francisco's beautiful Fort Mason center into one bite-sized chunk of Engadget Show goodness. We'll take you behind the scenes at the event and show you what it takes to run your very own consumer-facing electronics show.

We've got conversations with Google's Tamar Yehoshua, OUYA's Julie Uhrman, Jason Parrish and Corinna Proctor from Lenovo, Chris Anderson, DJ Spooky, Mark Frauenfelder, Veronica Belmont, Ryan Block, plus folks from NASA, 3D Robotics, Oculus, Google Lunar X Prize, TechShop, Lunar and IndieGogo. We'll go for a spin on ZBoard's latest electric skateboard and show off the da Vinci surgical robot, the Ekso robotic exoskeleteon and the latest UAV from 3D Robotics -- we'll also be taking you out on the town in a Tesla Model S. And for a little bit of high drama, there's our first-ever Insert Coin: New Challengers competition, including conversations with the semi-finalists and the big moment of truth. All that plus kids, dogs and your favorite Engadget Editors. Join us after the break for a warm and fuzzy Engadget Show, won't you?

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The Engadget Show Mini: Mobile World Congress with Stephen Elop and more

That's right, we went to Barcelona, so you don't have to. Join the Engadget team halfway across the world for a very special mini-episode of the Engadget Show, where we take you to center stage for the year's biggest mobile event. Back in January at CES, we bemoaned the lack of smartphone releases -- did those companies make up for lost time this year in Spain? Or will the trend toward single product events continue to rob the bigger shows of their highlights?

We'll take you around the floor to show off some of our favorite MWC products like the HP Slate 7, ZTE Grand Memo and, of course, that GPS cane. We'll also be speaking to top execs like Nokia's Stephen Elop and Stephen Sneeden of Sony. Join us after the break for all the Mobile World Congress action you could ever possibly need (or at least as much as we could cram into a 16-minute serving).

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The Engadget Show 41: ‘Space’ with NASA, SETI, Liftport and Mary Roach

The Engadget Show 41 'Space' with NASA, SETI, Liftport and Mary Roach

"Space," a great man once said, "is the place." Over the centuries, the cosmos have inspired mankind's imagination and innovation, in pursuit of that final frontier. The past few decades, however, have seen a fading of such romantic pursuits, a phenomenon no better illustrated than with the end of NASA's shuttle program. So, where does that put us in 2013? This month, we travel the country in pursuit of an answer, speaking to some of the top minds in the public and private space games.

We kick things off with a profile of LiftPort, a commercial space endeavor operating out of a small garage in rural Washington State that has been funding its dreams of space elevators through crowdfunded Kickstarter campaigns. Next, we head out to Cape Canaveral in Florida, where Swamp Works has set up shop in an old Apollo training facility. NASA scientists will tell us about some of the organization's far-out plans for getting to Mars and back and 3D printing structures on lunar and planetary surfaces once we arrive.

NASA's Tom Rivellini joins us to discuss "seven minutes of terror," and what it takes to land a rover on the surface of Mars. We'll also pay a visit to NASA's Ames facility to discuss why space travel is still important to life on Earth. And while out in the San Francisco Bay Area, we swing by the SETI institute to find out how the organization is actively looking for extraterrestrial life in the universe, including a discussion with SETI founder and developer of the Drake Equation, Frank Drake.

Next up, things get a bit animated with Packing for Mars author Mary Roach, who will discuss the grosser side of manned space travel, while professional prognosticator (and sometimes rock musician) John Roderick kicks off his new reoccurring segment by explaining how space exploration helps him get out of bed in the morning.

We also take a closer look at how the commercial space sector is pushing exploration forward with Google Lunar X Prize senior director, Alexandra Hall, a lunar rover team at Carnegie Mellon, the Space Angels Network VC firm and Laser Motive, which is working on powering crafts through lasers. Then we'll cap things off by speaking to two former movie costume makers who have launched their own commercial space suit companies. Excited? Take one small step with us after the break.

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The Engadget Show 40: The Best of CES with Kaz Hirai, 50 Cent, Ken Block and Arianna Huffington

The craziest week of the tech year is at end, and we have to say, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Sure, it wasn't quite as epic as it has been in years past, but CES is still the show that sets the stage for the rest of 2013. By that measure, we may well be seeing an interesting shift. With the loss of Microsoft, some smaller companies have been using the show to make names for themselves amongst the 4K TVs released by the bigwigs like Samsung, Sony and LG. The Pebble smart watch, the Oculus Rift and the Razer Edge all scored big. We take a look at the products and discuss how things like crowdfunding are affecting the world of hardware startups.

We've also got interviews galore -- we'll be talking with Sony CEO Kaz Hirai, SMS Audio CEO (and rapper, we're told) 50 Cent, rally car driver Ken Block, Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington, Stern Pinball CEO Gary Stern, MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis and CEA president Gary Shapiro among many, many others (including a very special appearance from Gallagher -- this is Vegas, after all). Daniel, the winner of our Bring a Reader to CES contest will show you what it's like going to the show for the first time and our editors discuss how this year's event compares to years past. And, of course, we've also got lots of floor time with our favorite gadgets from the show.

Toss on a comfortable pair of walking shoes, because it's time to do CES all over again.

Hosts: Tim Stevens, Brian Heater
Guests: Kaz Hirai, 50 Cent, Ken Block, Arianna Huffington, Gary Stern, Gary Shapiro, Daniel Orren, and many, many others
Producer: Ben Harrison
Executive Producers: Brian Heater, Joshua Fruhlinger

Download the Show: The Engadget Show - 040 (HD) / The Engadget Show - 040 (iPod / iPhone / Zune formatted) / The Engadget Show - 040 (Small)

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The Engadget Show 39: Holiday Spectacular with Jonathan Coulton, John Roderick and Ben Heck

It's the most wonderful time of year. There's stockings hung above the fireplace, overflowing hot cocoa on the table, a MakerBot Replicator 2 printing ornaments beneath the tree and a sampling of the year's most exciting gadgets strewn about. Yes, friends, it's time for the Engadget Holiday Spectacular!

We're kicking off this very special holiday episode with a visit to Ben Heck's private workshop in Madison, Wisconsin to watch the construction of his holiday creation, the Naughty or Nice Meter. Also on the docket is a trip to NORAD's headquarters on a base in Colorado Springs, to find out how the military will be hard at work tracking Santa Claus later this month. Of course, not even Saint Nick can deliver all of the presents this year, so we've paid a visit to UPS's massive 5.2 million square foot Worldport shipping facility in Louisville, Kentucky to get a behind the scenes look at its late night operations.

Speaking of gifts, we've got two huge presents in the form of songsters Jonathan Coulton and John Roderick, who will be playing a trio of brand new holiday classics off their new record, One Christmas at a Time. We've also got a visit from Engadget founder Peter Rojas, who will be helping us make a twice-checked list of some of the year's top gadgets. And as if that weren't enough, we've got an appearence by a very familiar looking Santa Claus and a special holiday animation. So light a fire, get cozy and prepare for a very special -- and very spectacular -- episode of The Engadget Show.

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The Engadget Show 37: Halloween Spooktacular with Wayne Coyne, movie monsters and ghost hunting!

Welcome boys and ghouls, to a very spooky episode of The Engadget Show. We've got plenty of tricks and treats for you in this Halloweentastic October episode. We kick things off with a trip to Oklahoma City, to the home of Flaming Lips frontman, Wayne Coyne, who talks Parking Lot Experiments, Halloween displays and why if your phone screen isn't broken, you aren't living your life. Next up, we'll show you all the necessary tools for a proper ghost hunt, with a little help from author Mary Roach, Ghost Hunters' Adam Berry and the crew of the Central NY Ghost Hunters.

In Vermont, we have a conversation with robot head Bina48 to find out what it really means to be alive and we travel to Los Angeles to talk to movie makeup Wizard Kevin Yagher and the costume experts at Global Effects Inc. And when the Engadget Van breaks down outside of an electronics store, it's up to Tim, Brian and rock band, Free Energy, to solve a very spooky mystery.

All that plus a new Ask @hodgman and a gadget table featuring the new iPod touch, Kindle Paperwhite and Galaxy Note II from Dapper Cadaver, our favorite place to buy prop corpses in the Southern California area. Jump on in after the break -- if you dare!

Hosts: Brian Heater, Jordan Morris, Tim Stevens
Guests: Wayne Coyne, Mary Roach, Kevin Yagher, Adam Berry, Chris Gilman, Jesse Thorn, John Hodgman, Bruce Duncan, Stacey Jones, BJ Winslow
Musical Guest: Free Energy
Producer: Ben Harrison
Executive Producers: Brian Heater, Joshua Fruhlinger

Download the Show: The Engadget Show - 037 (HD) / The Engadget Show - 037 (iPod / iPhone / Zune formatted) / The Engadget Show - 037 (Small)

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The Engadget Show 37: Halloween Spooktacular with Wayne Coyne, movie monsters and ghost hunting! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Oct 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Engadget Show 36: John Hodgman, iPhone 5, Improv Everywhere, Samsara and the New Museum

It can be tough to shake the notion that art and technology are conflicting forces -- that is, until you're confronted by a concept that lives at the crossroads of these seemingly dissonant concepts. For this latest episode of the Engadget Show, we set up shop right there, in order to explore what it means when technology itself is a work of art. We're starting things off at the New Museum on the Bowery in Manhattan, where Tim and Brian will be diving deep into the "Ghosts in the Machine" exhibition, to check out pieces like Stan VanDerBeek's Movie-Drome, a dome dreamed up in the mid-60s that foresaw a world in which the viewer is bombarded by visual stimuli. We'll also discuss how the museum is harnessing the power of the web to open its offerings up well beyond its gallery doors.

We speak to the founder and principal players of comedy performance art group Improv Everywhere about the role technology has played in the rise of the group and some of its most famous (and infamous) pranks. As ever, we're breaking out the Gadget Table to discuss the month's latest and greatest (and not-so-greatest), including the iPhone 5, Amazon's Kindle Fire and Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1, before Brian heads out to the private (annex) library of comedian-turned-deranged-billionaire John Hodgman to discuss how technology is impacting the publishing industry and his upcoming books "That is All" and "The Complete World Knowledge Boxed Set".

While we're at it, we'll be speaking with the producer and director of the classic film Baraka and its newly released spiritual sequel, Samsara and paying a visit to the gang at Breakfast New York, who have worked with the likes of Google and Conan O'Brien to turn advertising into art. All that and the introduction of our latest feature "Ask @hodgman." Welcome to the new Engadget Show.

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The Engadget Show 36: John Hodgman, iPhone 5, Improv Everywhere, Samsara and the New Museum originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 15:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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