In 1996 MPR News saw big changes coming to the world of digital technology, and figured listeners could use a daily guide to the new, rapidly changing landscape. Future Tense was born, seeking from the very beginning to help users understand how technology was changing their lives -- for the good and bad. Future Tense, created, produced and hosted by Jon Gordon, offered listeners a peek into the future (sometimes presciently, sometimes not so much).
Future Tense aired across the U.S. on American Public Media stations until 2010. APM's tech show is now Marketplace Tech Report.
July 12, 2000 -
July 13, 2000 - This is Future Tense for Thursday, July 13th. I'm John Bischoff in for Jon Gordon. Today, is the world safe for internet voting? Arizona's Democratic Party made history in March when it held the country's first binding election allowing votes to be cast over the Internet. But a new report says that election was vulnerable to hacker attacks and vote manipulation. It also says the election failed to protect the secrecy of ballots. The Voting Integrity Project, a non-partisan non-profit organization, is suing Arizona's Democratic Party for allegedly violating the Voting Rights Act. VIP says the Internet is still a fundamentally unsafe space for holding elections. Organization Chair Deborah Phillips says most people don't know how to safeguard their PCs to the degree necessary to use them as polling machines. And she says the Internet itself holds threats:
August 1, 2000 - Republican convention on the net. Cable television and the internet are picking up the slack that standard television channels are dropping. The internet is covering indepth information regarding the convention.
August 2, 2000 - People are becoming increasingly addicted to the internet. They need to constantly check their email and need to be up-to-date on everything possible.
August 4, 2000 - From Minnesota Public Radio, this is Future Tense for August 3rd. I'm Jon Gordon. Today, judge gives the FBI a deadline on "Carnivore" --- It looks like a privacy group will soon be getting its hands on the FBI's email surveillance system known as "Carnivore." A federal judge says the FBI has 10 days to respond to a privacy group's request for information about the government's "Carnivore" e-mail surveillance system. But the FBI might cough up the information even sooner. The Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center, or EPIC, is seeking documents and software concerning the inner workings of Carnivore, which is designed to monitor and capture e-mail going to or from people under criminal investigation. The privacy group had asked the FBI to grant expedited review of its request filed under the federal Freedom of Information Act. David Sobel is EPIC's lawyer. David Sobel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. --
August 8, 2000 - From Minnesota Public Radio, this is Future Tense for August 8th. I'm Jon Gordon. Today, the rise of "advertainment" on the Internet. -- Advertisements that appear on Web sites --so called "banner ads"-- haven't proved very effective as tools to sell products and services, mostly because consumers ignore them. Web sites that rely on banner ads to pay the bills have found the ads just aren't enough. So we're starting to see Internet marketers try some new tricks. One is called "advertainment." As you'd imagine, it combines entertainment and advertising. Basically, it's Web sites offering games you can play that are related to the product. For example, at CapnCrunch.com, you can play a game called hunger attack where you shoot hungry aliens with little nuggets of cereal.
August 9, 2000 - From Minnesota Public Radio, this is Future Tense for August 9th. I'm Jon Gordon. Today, contextual commerce on the Web. -- Marketers have long been looking for a way to promote products on the Web. So-called "banner ads" aren't as effective as they hoped. Now, we're starting to see more "contextual commerce" marketing. That is, product promotions directly related to whatever you are viewing on the Web. Dan Janal is a Minneapolis-based Internet marketing consultant. Dan Janal, an expert in Internet marketing and commerce. In the news today... Germany is moving to Web addresses that contain Nazi slogans, after discovering someone had registered www.heil-hitler.de. De is the domain suffix for German Web sites. Officials who are worried about rising neo-Nazi violence concede there's little they can do about sites based elsewhere in cyberspace -- especially the United States. --
August 10, 2000 - Computers and the Internet are changing the way we live and work. Technology has added new words and phrases to our language. But there's also unnecessary hype, and a new style of tech-speak that's more likely to mystify than enlighten. Jon Gordon reports on the nearly impenetrable language of technology.
August 14, 2000 - From Minnesota Public Radio, this is Future Tense for August 14th. I'm Jon Gordon. Today, tipping your favorite musicians at Fairtunes.com. You like what you hear, but you're feeling a little guilty the Jayhawks aren't making a cent off you. Now, you can send money directly to musicans, bypassing the entire music distribution system that enriches recrord labels, promoters and other middlemen. You can do this at a new Web site called Fairtunes.com. It's a new site started by recent college dropouts John ___ and Matt Goyer from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Goyer says...
August 18, 2000 -