Interested in the future of journalism? You can help shape it. That’s the idea behind a new graduate program beginning in the Fall of 2011 at Columbia University that includes semesters in both the Columbia School of Journalism and in Columbia’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. Will this create programmers who can think like journalists, journalists who can code, or something entirely different? Bill Grueskin, the Academic Dean of the School of Journalism, joins Mario to discuss the program’s goals.

air date: May 11, 2010

We’re building toward a Web where the default is social. Every application will be designed from the ground up to use real identity and friends. – Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO

Max Willens, editor of WeAllMakeMusic.com, a site dedicated to helping musicians thrive in a post-label world, joins Mario to discuss how brands and musicians are in position to benefit from Open Graph. It’s a new set of tools that integrate Facebook with websites outside the walled garden of the social network.

air date: May 4, 2010

Students spend an average of $900 a year on textbooks—20 percent of tuition at an average university and half of tuition at a community college. Textbook prices have increased at four times the rate of inflation since 1994 and continue to rise. – US PIRG, Public Interest Research Group

Mario examines a report from research firm TBI Research that thinks students might be going digital sooner than expected due to cheaper texts driving adoption of E-Book readers.

air date: March 2, 2010

Could Google be coming to Baltimore? Google’s unprecedented announcement to build ultra-highspeed broadband networks in the US has rallied Baltimore like nothing else. For many it would be like the hi-tech version of winning an Olympic bid. Baltimore Mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has gone as far as electing a Google Czar. Find out more at BmoreFiber.com

CDs are about to get cheaper, sort of. The Universal Music Group, which is the largest of the four major labels which also include Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and EMI is about to test a plan that could influence the rest of the recording industry to lower prices on compact discs. Are $6 CDs an enticing offer? What was the last CD you bought?

air date: April 27, 2010

air date: February 2, 2010

What if a social network was based around who you emailed the most and let your contacts see that info? Have some relationships you’d prefer not to reveal to others? That’s too bad because if you turned on Google Buzz, Google’s latest messaging and social networking tool, both of those happen by default.

[update]  Since this segment aired, Google has tweaked its settings to that this does not happen by default.

air date: February 16, 2010

According to an Associate Press-MTV poll, 1 in every 4 teens and 1 in every 3 young adults is “sexting.” There’s no statistics on how commonly this is done in the workplace, but sexting has now sparked a debate over privacy. The Supreme Court accepted a case in December involving Jeff Quon, a California Police Sergeant,  that will determine whether or not employers have the right to review the contents of electronic transmissions on employer issued devices. Of 450 messages sent in one month, only 57 were work related.

Censorship! Espionage! Communism! Alex Pasternack, editor of Vice’s technology site Motherboard, joins us to discuss why Google has suddently decided to change their stance on censorship after nearly half a decade.

Dana Stibolt, President of Mac Medics, joins us to discuss how he uses social media to stay up to date on specific health information and to search for a kidney.

David-Michel Davies is the Executive Director of the Webby Awards which has recently launched Netted. It’s a daily email newsletter filled with ways to use the web to make your everyday life easier. He shares some of his recent favorites.

• Gazelle – be green and get some cash while you’re at it.
• Rent-The-Runway – it’s like Netflix for dresses. Instead of buying that $800 dress you can rent it. They even send you two sizes in case one doesn’t fit.
• RunPee – the guy who runs this has figured out the best time for you to take a bathroom break during a movie so you don’t have to worry that you’ve missed anything.