Comcast and the Internet's Future New deals involving Comcast and other companies could have an impact on the quality, content and price of your Internet service. If its merger with Time Warner Cable goes through, Comcast will be the dominant provider of broadband in the United States. The powerhouse content provider Netflix, so popular that it consumes something like 30% of all broadband action during evening hours, has already agreed to pay Comcast to guarantee quality service, and nobody knows who might be next. It's a deal that's being called a major game changer when it comes to Internet service, content and cost to consumers. Will Comcast be able to dictate what finally reaches millions of users?  Will creative competitors have a chance? Will consumers pay more and get less?

Is Internet Technology Really 'Clean' Technology? Internet companies tell computer users their data is stored on "The Cloud," and a lot of them worry it might be disturbed by the weather. In reality, "The Cloud" is million of severs in hundreds of warehouse-sized buildings that can use enough electricity to power a medium-sized town. The New York Times has created a furor by raising questions about how much energy is wasted to make so much information available 24/7. What about air pollution? Can the IT industry power unstoppable growth, or will it hit a brick wall? Note: This segment originally aired on September 28, 2012.

Journey to the Center of the Internet Design and technology writer Andrew Blum was working away at his home in Brooklyn one day when his Internet connection was lost—something that happens to all of us more than we'd like to admit. It got him thinking: Where does the Internet come from? What does it look like? It lead to a 'round-the-world quest to find the tangible form of this ephemeral new infrastructure, and a book called Tubes: A Journey To The Center of the Internet . Blum discusses how he got to that "center, by following the paths of glass fiber-optic cables, carrying high velocity pulses of light underneath our streets and oceans.

Hooked on Gadgets, Muddling Our Minds? As you're buying holiday presents, think about this. Internet multi-tasking is both a magnificent research tool and an infuriating distraction. Neuroscientists are sure that it's transforming the human brain. What they're not sure about is whether the change is for better or worse. Critics insist it's reducing the ability to focus, enforcing shallowness, stifling the creative impulse and breaking connections between human beings. Advocates say the media revolution is producing new ways of thinking and more human connectedness than ever before. In this rebroadcast of a program originally aired in June of this year, we hear both sides.

Apple Worship: Creating a Brand

Designer Gadgets for the Rich and Poor The Last week was party-time for techies, with the Apple iPhone, GM's plug-in hybrid, gigantic flat-screen TV's and more. While Steve Jobs wowed crowds with his $500 cell phone, the spotlight at the Consumer Electronics Show fell on a designer gadget aimed at a very different market. The $100 laptop runs on Linux and is intended to be bought in vast quantities by foreign governments for distribution to poor children. Also, an industrial warehouse begins its new life as a transitional housing center for 55 homeless and mentally ill women and men in Santa Monica, and the Santa Monica Museum of Art opens a window into the Strange New World of Tijuana . Finally, Elsa Longhauser, Executive Director of SMMOA, on her favorite building in Los Angeles.