journalist and author
Bianca Bosker is the former Executive Tech Editor at the Huffington Post. She is the author of Original Copies: Architectural Mimicry in Contemporary China. and the forthcoming Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste.
A slow tech movement Social media played a big role in 2016, from President-Elect Donald Trump's tweeting to the spread of disinformation on the web to the constant rush of daily viral stories, both entertaining and anxiety-inducing. The power and addictiveness of social media now has some Silicon Valley insiders comparing the tech industry to big tobacco, fast food or even gambling, as in eager to sell people on a pleasure that could be dangerous for our psychological health. DnA talks to Bianca Bosker about her profile of Tristan Harris, former "product philosopher" at Google who is pushing for a "hippocratic oath" for software designers. Google's Rob Giampietro talks about ways in which the industry is designing tools to calm the online experience.
What Does the Beats Purchase Mean for Apple? Executive Tech Editor of the Huffington Post, Bianca Bosker, details what Apple's purchase of Beats might mean for the direction of the Silicon Valley company.
Mormons Knocking on Digital Doors Less than a year ago, the LDS Church had very strict rules prohibiting its missionaries from spending much time online. Mormon leaders believed that the temptations of the internet would distract the young men and women from God’s work. These days, things couldn’t be more different. After a policy change last June, missionaries are now using social media, chat rooms and Skype to bring more people into the fold. And it's working, big time.
Google Glass In case you’ve been out of the tech news loop recently, Google Glass – singular -- looks and sounds like some sci-fi spectacles. But it doesn’t aid your eyesight. Rather, Glass gives and takes information. It is a wraparound frame that dangles a mini-screen near your right eye, and can deliver instant web notifications, or, with a tap or a voice-command, it can take photos and video. On the show, Bianca Bosker and Betsy Moyer discuss everything from the aesthetics (they both chose a "shale"-colored frame, though Betsy would have liked hot pink) and the feel of the screen that suspended just above ones right eye (it can cause a bit of eyestrain at first). They also address the big issues: the point of the device and privacy.
Copycat Architecture in Contemporary China The term "contemporary Chinese architecture" conjures up imagery of hyper-modern steel-and-glass showpieces like the CCTV building designed by Rem Koolhaas or the Bird’s Nest constructed for the 2008 Summer Olympics. But, for patrons who can afford it, a very different kind of new architecture is currently being constructed in China—buildings that look like they were transplanted from a Parisian arrondissement or an Austrian village. Tech writer Bianca Bosker spends time in China researching the country's architectural nostalgia and has just published a book about her findings entitled Original Copies: Architectural Mimicry in Contemporary China , which explores this concept of "duplitecture." The copying mania in China is not embraced by all architects there. Some, like last year’s Pritzker Prize winner Wang Shu, are on a quest to create buildings that draw on Chinese traditions while being unabashedly modern. That’s according to Qingyun Ma, head of USC’s architecture school, who explains the dilemma the copycat architecture presents to the Chinese intelligentsia. A rendering for the Wangjing SOHO in Bejing designed by Zaha Hadid, which is currently being copied in Chongqing But it's not just traditional architecture that's being copied. In Chongqing, a knock-off of a Beijing building designed by Zaha Hadid is actually being built faster than the original. And, in one of the more famous examples of Chinese copying, Apple found that its stores and branding had been duplicated so convincingly in China that people working in the fake stores thought they were Apple employees. In a bid to try and thwart this kind of copying both at home and overseas, Apple has managed to trademark the design of its stores. The trademark includes "a clear glass storefront surrounded by a paneled facade" and, within the store, an "oblong table with stools... set below video screens flush mounted on the back wall." Marissa Gluck follows piracy issues as an advisor to new media and design companies and explains the difference between trademark and copyright protection. Top image: One of many White House-inspired buildings in China, photo by China Daily
Why did Jared Kushner want a back channel with Russians? News broke Friday that President Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, tried setting up a back channel between the Trump transition team and the Russian government. What are the consequences for Kushner, President Trump, and the investigation into Russian meddling?
In 'Speechless,' Scott Silveri combines comedy, family & disability Scott Silveri has written and produced sitcoms for more than 20 years. In all that time, he never encountered a TV family that looked anything like the one he grew up in -- with a mom, a dad...and a brother with cerebral palsy. He changed that with his show Speechless on ABC. Silveri tells us about looking to his own past for stories, and why he was determined to make a family comedy and not just a "disability show."
Why is Trump so behind on filling staff jobs, establishing concrete policies? Yesterday Donald Trump signed a “decision memo” to revamp the air traffic control system. But there was little legislative detail in the plan. There’s not much to other splashy announcements from the White House, including tax cuts and the arms deal with Saudi Arabia. And hundreds of positions are unfilled in federal agencies.
