Technology

Robots and touch screens touched more lives this past year. Will we continue to distance ourselves from human contact? Futurist Andrew Zolli talks about trends for the upcoming year.
This year for the first time Brazil will export more soybeans than the United States. The country's maintained a longstanding ban on genetically modified soybeans. But industry experts say as much as a quarter of Brazil's crop is produced from illegal GMO seed. The situation has caused frustration among American producers.
Spam, the mark of fly-by-night companies, increasingly is being deployed by much more established firms. Geek Squad® chief Robert Stephens stops by Midmorning to offer tips on countering unwanted email and answer your other digital questions.
Security measures at airports, in our offices and on the internet are supposed to protect us from harm, but do they really? An expert in security technology says we all need to understand the limits of elaborate measures and look to simple solutions.
A small but growing number of Minnesotans are ditching their telephone company to make calls over the Internet. "Voice Over I.P." technology, known as "VoIP", is most popular on the east and west coasts, but its use is spreading. The rapid growth is partly because VoIP is largely unregulated. Minnesota regulators are the first to try to rein in the new technology.
A Minnesota teenager charged with modifying a version of the Internet worm that crippled computer networks worldwide returned to high school this week, and said the government has exaggerated its case against him.
A Hopkins high school student faces a maximum 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for re-working and spreading a copy-cat computer worm. Jeffrey Lee Parson, 18, was arrested Friday morning and made an initial appearance in federal court that afternoon. At the hearing, a judge ordered Parson released on $25,000 bond. He's restricted to his parents' home and cannot have access to computers or the Internet.
The computer worm Jeffrey Parson is accused of releasing represents just one of several attacks Internet users have been alerted to in recent weeks. Parson's creation wasn't even an original. But computer security experts say even as a variant of the Blaster worm, it had plenty of potential to frustrate computer users.
Neighbors of 18-year-old Jeffrey Lee Parson say the high school student in federal custody for launching a worldwide computer virus was a loner who drove too fast and idolized Bill Gates.
Power outtages in major cities in the U.S. and Canada sent waves of people into the streets, paralyzed transportation and left people wondering what happened.