Aside

Am I the last person to find out about this? I caught this fantastic story on Studio 360 this weekend. Apparently Time covered it back in April. Thanks Gregory Brothers!

Dear Friends, I’ve been informed that my radio piece on the interplay between botnets, cyberattacks and the legal system is airing today. It will be available on any of these stations (and their Internet streams): NYC – 3 pm Eastern – WNYC – 820 AM – www.wnyc.org Washington, DC – 8 pm Eastern – WAMU – 88.5 FM – www.wamu.org Los Angeles – 12 pm Pacific – KPCC – 89.3 FM – www.kpcc.opg Boston – 4 pm Eastern – WGBH…

This week, I’m on Radio New Zealand’s This Way Up. This Way Up with Simon Morton, is a weekly two-hour radio show broadcast on Radio New Zealand National Saturdays from 12pm-2pm – it explores the things we use and consume. It’s the same story on San Francisco’s TCHO chocolate that I recently did for NPR, but still, it’s fun to have my voice being bounced around the southern hemisphere. Any NZ listeners out there? The piece airs Saturday, Midday –…

I’ve announced this in other places, but I don’t think here on the blog. I’ll be teaching a crash course in radio for a few weeks at my alma mater, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism starting next week. My time there is booking up fast! I arrive in town tomorrow and already have a research day trip to Philadelphia planned as soon as I hit the ground early tomorrow morning, as well as an evening meeting back in Manhattan.…

Dear Friends, I’ve been informed that my piece on TCHO chocolate is on Morning Edition today (August 7). It will be available on any of these stations (and their Internet streams). New York – 5 am to 9 am Eastern – WNYC – 820 AM – www.wnyc.org Washington, DC – 5 am to 10 am Eastern – WAMU – 88.5 FM – www.wamu.org Los Angeles – 2 am to 9 am Pacific – KPCC – 89.3 FM – www.kpcc.opg Boston…

Thanks to all who showed up (and participated online!) at BayFF last night to talk tech, Iran and all kinds of other stuff. It was a pleasure to speak with Danny O’Brien again and meet Jacob Appelbaum of Tor for the first time. Thanks also to David Farris, Alex Farivar and Nate Cardozo for coming and supporting me. Also big ups to Sean Savage (who I’ve written about before, and first met six years ago!) and PariSoMa for organizing this…

If you can, spare a thought for former Iranian vice president Mohammad Ali Abtahi, who I had the pleasure of meeting in November 2007 here in Oakland, as seen above. The Associated Press: BEIRUT (AP) — The wife of a prominent pro-reform Iranian politician said Monday her husband was forced into confessing he helped fuel post-election riots as part of a plot to topple the government and said he appeared drugged days before the trial. The contention by Fahimeh Mousavinejad…

I just penned this for PBS’ MediaShift: by Cyrus Farivar, August 3, 2009 A couple of years ago, while browsing in a Philadelphia bookstore, I found a small red hardback book. Its worn woven cover was used, but in decent condition. The side of the book, in a matching faded red background, had a small vaguely Islamic curved label that reads in gold lettering: Mission for my Country / His Imperial Majesty Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi Shahanshah of Iran. This…

For the record, I *love* to cook, as evidenced by the photo above. Just made some flippin’ fantastic pizza last night, too. Still, this article is pretty thought-provoking. -CF Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch by Michael Pollan The New York Times Magazine August 2, 2009 But here’s what I don’t get: How is it that we are so eager to watch other people browning beef cubes on screen but so much less eager to brown them ourselves? For…

So this Sunnyvale ad company, VoloMedia, has been awarded U.S. patent 7,568,213 for podcasting. The abstract: A personalized media service provides, e.g., user customization of radio channel selections, immediate availability of multiple preprogrammed and/or customized channels, the ability to intersperse different types of content including periodically refreshed information content, availability of personal radio functions on devices such as car audio systems, PDAs, smartphones, MP3 players, etc. Available channels include, e.g., pre-programmed channels selected for the user based on an interest…