Spark 162 – November 13 & 16, 2011

By
Michelle Parise
– November 11, 2011Posted in: Audio, Episodes

On this episode of Spark: Solar Gadgets, Tactile Telepresence, and Social TV. Click below to listen to the whole show, or download the MP3 (runs 54:00).

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:35 — 50.1MB)

You can also listen to individual stories below.

Social Solar-power Gadget Chargers

Our tech got a little more green this week in the Spark office – we charged our phones using the sun! Changers is a solar-powered gadget charging system that aims to add a social dimension to CO2 emission. Nora Young talks to Changers co-founder Hans Raffauf, and Ottawa-based green IT consultant Bill St. Arnaud about whether everything has to be social now. (Runs 9:22)

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Solar Charger Giveaway: Changers sent us a solar charger kit to give away to one lucky Spark listener — maybe you! Entering is easy: scroll down to leave a comment on this page, and tell us what device you would like to charge using solar power. All entries will be entered into a draw, and we’ll select the winner at noon ET on November 18, 2011. The winner will be contacted by email. This draw is open to Canadian residents only. Good luck!

Social TV

Through the use of social networking tools, we’re re-embracing the social experience of watching TV. Now, companies are using analytics to get a sense of what conversations are happening about shows, and using that to taper what TV shows look like. Marie-Jose Montpetit is a scientist at the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT, she talks to Nora about the present and future of social TV. (Runs 12:43)

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Being There Without Being There

Back in 1986, a group of artists staged a telepresence exhibit, connecting Toronto to Rotterdam. 25 years later, telepresence has become ubiquitous through technology like Skype. But the telepresence of today is just a thin slice of what was imagined in 1986, when the artists imagined much more than audio and video, but communicating through touch. Nora Young visits a restaging of this exhibit to explore the limits of today’s telepresence technology. (Runs 8:45)

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Teens, Social Media, Kindness and Cruelty

This past week, the PEW Research Centre released a new study called Teens, kindness and cruelty on social network sites. Nora speaks to Amanda Lenhart, a Senior Research Specialist at PEW’s Internet and American Life Project, about some of the surprising and not so surprising (come on, they’re teenagers!) findings. (Runs 8:10)

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DIY Foodies

Sous-vide is all about cooking food sealed in plastic bags in hot water for long periods of time. It was once something only found in pricey restaurants or the homes of foodies willing to shell out big bucks for special equipment. Now do-it-yourselfers have figured out how to rig up simple and inexpensive sous-vide cooking systems by using old appliances. Spark’s guide to the DIY world, Jon Kalish, gives us the lowdown. (Runs 9:14)

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