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.
May 19, 1997 - The popular local web site, Channel 4000, is teaming up with the Internet's largest directory, Yahoo!. Channel 4000 is providing news to Yahoo's new Yahoo! Twin Cities site, at www.Minnesota.yahoo.com. Channel 4000 has also announced partnerships with local media companies for health, sports and employment sites. Channel 4000 publisher R.T. Ryback describes what the partnership with Yahoo means.
June 17, 1997 - A solar-powered car using the same amount of power as a hair-dryer, but capable of breaking the speed limit on the open highway, is ready to hit the road. "Aurora 3" is the solar car built by University of Minnesota students to compete against solar cars from other schools in Sunrace '97, the cross-country contest which begins in Indianapolis tomorrow. Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr went along to watch preparations before the team left Minnesota.
February 3, 1998 - Minnesota and ten other states have subpoenaed Microsoft for documents about how Windows 98 will include Microsoft's Internet Explorer software. New York Attorney General Dennis Vacco says the states are focusing on whether Microsoft is forcing users of its operating software to use its Internet technology. The Justice Department is making the same case in federal court in Washington D-C. Chris McKenna is a spokesman for the New York Attorney General.
February 5, 1998 - Over the last few years, technology used to search the bottom of oceans, lakes and rivers has progressed dramatically. One of the main tools of underwater archaeologiests and treasure hunters is called Sidescan Sonar. A vessel will tow the machine on a cable, and it sends back pictures to a computer on board the ship. Like a medical ultrasound machine, Sidescan Sonar takes pictures with sound waves. Marty Wilcox with Marine Sonic Technology says Sidescan Sonar's images keep getting better.
February 6, 1998 - Eagan based Cray Research, a division of Silicon Graphics, says it will speed the development of its supercomputers to better simulate nuclear explosions. The federal government has awarded a five million dollar contract to Cray Research, as part of a program to ensure the safety of the country's nuclear stockpile. Mark Goldman, director of business strategy for Cray Research, says today's supercomputers aren't powerful enough to do what the government needs them to do.
February 12, 1998 - Laura Gurak, Assistant Professor of Rhetoric at the University of Minnesota, talks about one of the technological highlights of the Olympics, and what it says about modern modes of communication.
February 13, 1998 - Minnesota's top trade technology trade groups are merging. One of the first joint efforts of the Minnesota Software Association and the High Technology Council is a campaign to lure highly sought after computer industry workers from the country's highest profile technology center, California's Silicon Valley. As Minnesota Public Radio's Todd Moe reports, the campaign is an effort to reverse a Minnesota brain drain.
February 27, 1998 - Over objections of many of the nation's governors, President Clinton is backing legislative to impose a five year moratorium on new taxes on products bought over the Internet. Speaking in San Francisco, Clinton said new taxes would stifle Internet commerce.
March 9, 1998 - Anne Green says more artists need to create work for the Internet, for their own sake, and the net's. Green is project manager of Open Studio, a joint project of the NEA and the Benton Foundation. Open Studio trains artists and art groups how to create and post art online. It also provides public Internet access at arts organizations around the country. Green says artists are behind the curve on the Internet.
April 1, 1998 - Later this year a California company will offer a new product called "mp-man." The small device, which can fit in the palm of your hand, is for storing music you download from the internet. The "mp-man" uses an audio standard called mpeg-3, that's near-cd quality sound. You can plug the device into any stereo. Kent Kiefer is ceo of nordic entertainment worldwide, the company that will sell the "mp-man"...and that currently sells songs on its website, for as little as a quarter. kiefer says downloading music from the web saves money ... and waste.