December 27, 2000 - Future Tense for December 27th looks at shopping bots. One of the most sought-after items this holiday season is the Sony PlayStation 2, the powerful game console that's been in short supply. Some of those lucky enough to find PS2s did so with shopping bots, software that crawls through the Web looking for product availability and price. Shopping bots allow consumers to comparison shop and hunt for bargains; they can cover more ground than a human shopper. Carrie Johnson with Forrester Research says bots are beginning to make their presence felt.
December 26, 2000 - Future Tense for December 26th reports on doctors in Connecticut treating climbers on Mt. Everest. A study by Yale University says recent expeditions to the world's highest mountain prove the reliability of telemedicine. That's when doctors monitor vital signs, diagnose illness, and recommend courses of treatment long distance, through telecommunications. Richard Satava, Yale surgery professor, was part of the telemedicine team for two Everest expeditions, in 1999.
December 22, 2000 - Future Tense for December 22nd reports on keeping tabs on your car with "GlobalTrax". Coming soon: a service that lets you log onto the Internet to check on the location, speed and direction of your car while it's being driven anywhere in the world. It's called "GlobalTrax" from GeoSpatial Technologies. John Lim is CEO.
December 21, 2000 - Future Tense for December 21st reports on religion and the Internet. Interviewee is Lee Rainie of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which has just completed a survey of a thousand congregations. The point of the study is to examine the relationship between American spiritual life and the 'Net.
December 19, 2000 - Future Tense for December 19th reports on images of women in video games. Video games have long been criticized for their violent nature. Now a new report blasts them for their portrayal of girls and women. Child advocay group Children Now examined best-selling games for Sony Playstation, Sega Dreamcast and Nintendo 64. The group says many of the games promote unrealistic body images and stereotypical female characteristics, such as provocative sexuality, high-pitched voices and fainting. Patty Miller is director of the Children and the Media Program at Children Now.
December 18, 2000 - Much of the web has nothing to do with buying and selling. Most are about how to better yourself.
December 18, 2000 - Lots of people decorate their homes with lights this time of year. Some take this holiday tradition to the extreme. MPR’s Jon Gordon visits a couple of folks who go beyond the usual Christmas decorations, and into the realm of what some people call the purest form of art.
December 13, 2000 - How can we prevent identity theft and medical records? Somebody broke into computers at the University of Washington Medical Center to steal confidential information.
December 4, 2000 - From Minnesota Public Radio this is Future Tense for December 4th. I'm Jon Gordon. Today, help wanted: chief privacy officer: ((tease cut)) Last week IBM appointed a chief privacy officer. The move is a sign that the information technology industry is getting serious protecting consumers' personal data--or at least giving the appearance of doing so. The job of a 'CPO' is to craft a privacy policy, and make sure a company can pull it off technically. Jim Grady is an analyst with research company Giga Information Group.
November 30, 2000 - From Minnesota Public Radio, this is Future Tense for November 30th. I'm Jon Gordon. Today, e-customers: more satisfied than brick and mortar shoppers... ((tease cut)) Each quarter the University of Michigan business school releases the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The ACSI measures how satifsied consumers are across different segments of the economy. For the first time the ACSI looked at electronic commerce, and the results show Americans are generally happier with e-commerce than the old-fashioned kind. Professor Claes Fornell is director of the National Quality Research Center at the University of Michigan. ((fornell))