Science & Technology

Tech Week: The Facebook Fail, Internet 2025 And Fondue Footwear

By Allie Caren

Published July 5, 2014 at 11:53 AM CDT

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at a developer conference in April. His company was unliked this week for manipulating users' news feeds to test their emotions.

The world of technology keeps on spinning. Hang on, here's what happened this week in tech, from NPR and beyond.

ICYMI

Sell Your Spot: Trouble finding a parking spot? See if someone's selling one. New apps are popping up that allow drivers to buy and sell parking spots in high-traffic areas. But, as NPR's Aarti Shahani found, there are some problems with the concept.

The Future Internet: What will the Internet look like in 2025? That was the question the Pew Research Center put to more than 1,400 tech industry leaders and academics. The outlook isn't pretty. As NPR's Elise Hu reports, they say the Internet will be more balkanized, more surveilled and less open.

Fondue Footwear: This week's innovation pick came from Ozy's Vignesh Ramachandran, about a Tokyo-based designer who has come up with a do-it-yourself, fondue-inspired shoe. Fondue Slipper is made out of thermosetting PVC material. You dip your feet into the mixture, let it harden, and voila! — slippers to wear both inside and outside the house.

The Big Conversation

A Week Of Facebook: First, we learned that the social media giant manipulated more than 600,000 users' news feeds in 2012 to test how that affected their emotions. Then, Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer and second-in-command, apologized for the "poorly communicated" testing. Key researcher, Adam D. I. Kramer, apologized, too.

It's generated a lot of conversation — NPR's Linda Holmes thinks it's "gross." And a privacy group had filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

Curiosities

Forbes: 'Reading Rainbow' Closes Kickstarter Campaign At Over $5.4 Million

Reading Rainbowset the record for Kickstarter's most number of donors for a single project, with 105,857 investors. The crowdfunding project closed after raising $5.4 million in 35 days.

Engadget: "This is what a day's worth of transatlantic air travel looks like (video)"

Visualize the hundreds of flights that jump the Pond each day.

Vox: Yahoo is trying to purchase credibility with the Community renewal

Missing Community?The NBC sitcom starring Joel McHale that was canceled after its fifth season gets a second chance, thanks to Yahoo.