- Social:
New York University
Professor of urban informatics and head of the quantified community lab at New York University's Center for Urban Science and Progress
PROFILE
Constantine Kontokosta
Guest
FROM Constantine Kontokosta
To the Point
The Pros and Cons of "Smart Cities" Big tech companies including IBM and Cisco invented the idea of "smart cities" using Big Data to systematize public services and improve the quality of life. Complex networks of sensors and cameras would monitor everything from traffic congestion, crime and disease to temperatures and the weather. That's a hard sell to local officials with limited budgets — and it's raised concerns about the invasion of privacy and other abuses. But "The Internet of Things" offers limitless opportunities, and they're not going away. Neither are "smart cities." We get a progress report.
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To the Point
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
To the Point
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.
To the Point
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?
To the Point
Janesville and the American Dream Janesville, Wisconsin is the hometown of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. But he couldn’t prevent the closing of the General Motors factory after 100 years. On this Memorial Day rebroadcast of To the Point, we hear what’s happened to what once was a model of American middle-class unity.