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Esports Evangelists Want To Bring Gaming To A Broader Audience Competitive video gaming — esports — has become a global phenomenon with billions in revenue and hundreds of millions of fans. But a divide remains between those who embrace it, and those who don't. Read more on NPR

By BY DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI AND TIFFANY HSU from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY DAVID MCCABE from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY DAVID STREITFELD from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY STEVE LOHR from NYT Technology via New York Times

Puerto Rico's Internet Voting Plan Threatens Election Security: ACLU The civil liberties group is urging the U.S. territory's governor to veto a bill that could shift all voting to the Internet by 2028. Read more on NPR

Critics: U.K.'s Chinese Telecom Deal Is A Cybersecurity Risk NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with cybersecurity expert Alan Woodward about concerns that the United Kingdom is allowing Chinese telecom firm Huawei to build a new 5G data network. Read more on NPR

News Brief: Impeachment Trial, Coronavirus, U.K.-Huawei Deal The Q&A session in the Senate impeachment trial continues. Many questions remain unanswered about the coronavirus. And, the U.S. is critical of the U.K.'s decision to hire a Chinese telecom giant. Read more on NPR

By BY NATASHA SINGER AND MIKE ISAAC from NYT Technology via New York Times

Interior Department Grounds All Of Its Drones, Citing Cybersecurity, Other Concerns The move is a turnabout for Chinese firms such as drone giant DJI — which made special "government edition" drones that the Interior Department approved last summer. Read more on NPR

By BY NATASHA SINGER AND MIKE ISAAC from NYT Technology via New York Times

In Battle For Europe's Phones, U.S. Suffers Setback, Huawei Notches A Win In U.S. national security, one foreign company sets off alarm bells like no other: Huawei, the telecom giant. The Chinese firm just received a green light to help build Britain's 5G cellular network. Read more on NPR

By BY MIKE ISAAC from NYT Technology via New York Times

Esports Is Booming, But Its Reception Remains Divided Competitive video gaming continues its tremendous growth, with billions in global revenue and hundreds of millions of fans. But a divide remains between those who embrace esports and those who don't. Read more on NPR

'New York Times' Reporter On The Attempted Saudi Hack Of His Smartphone NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Ben Hubbard of The New York Times, who has reported extensively about Saudi Arabia, about the Saudi attempt to hack his iPhone. Read more on NPR

By BY LISA FRIEDMAN AND DAVID MCCABE from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY KATE CONGER AND MIKE ISAAC from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY BRIAN X. CHEN from NYT Technology via New York Times

Space Traffic Is Surging, And Critics Worry There Could Be A Crash As private companies race into orbit, some experts in satellite operations say there isn't enough public infrastructure to keep all the satellites safe. Read more on NPR

By BY ADAM SATARIANO AND CADE METZ from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY JACK NICAS from NYT Technology via New York Times

'New York Times' Reporter On The Attempted Saudi Hack Of His Smartphone NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Ben Hubbard of The New York Times, who has reported extensively about Saudi Arabia, about the Saudi attempt to hack his iPhone. Read more on NPR

By BY NATHANIEL POPPER from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY ADAM SATARIANO from NYT Technology via New York Times

2020 Political Campaigns Are Trying To Avoid A 2016-Style Hack Four years after Russians hacked the Clinton campaign's emails, political candidates are scrambling to beef up their defenses against cyberattacks. Many politicians haven't updated their security. Read more on NPR

By BY RAYMOND ZHONG from NYT Technology via New York Times

Canada Wins, U.S. Loses In Global Fight For High-Tech Workers If there is a global war for tech talent, right now Canada is winning. And U.S. immigration policies are part of the reason. Read more on NPR

Why Elections Officials Aren't Taking A Simple Security Step Elections officials could improve their cybersecurity in a simple way — by using dot gov website domains instead of the others they use. Why don't they? Read more on NPR

New Podcast Targets The 'Crap' On WhatsApp The phone messaging app WhatsApp is beloved by millions but infamous as a platform for hoaxes. We speak with the co-host of the new South Africa-based podcast, "What's Crap with WhatsApp?" Read more on NPR

Space Walk Underway For Final Fix Of International Space Station Device Two astronauts aboard the International Space Station make their fourth foray outside the spacecraft to prolong the lifespan of a cosmic ray detector. Read more on NPR

A Shortage In Tech Workers Drives Some U.S. Companies To Canada Canada's tech industry is booming. At the same time, the Trump administration is making it harder to hire international workers, so U.S. companies are setting up shop north of the border. Read more on NPR

By BY KASHMIR HILL from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY GABRIEL J.X. DANCE AND JENNIFER VALENTINO-DEVRIES from NYT Technology via New York Times

As Esports Take Off, High School Leagues Get In The Game Today, more than 170 colleges and universities offer esports. And there's money on the table — more than $16 million in college scholarships. Naturally, high schools have followed suit. Read more on NPR

Tech Companies Take A Leading Role In Warning Of Foreign Cyber Threats U.S. cybersecurity firms are making headlines with reports of online attacks by Russia and other foreign actors. Why are tech companies taking the lead, rather than the U.S. government? Read more on NPR

By BY DAVEY ALBA from NYT Technology via New York Times

The End May Be Nearer: Doomsday Clock Moves Within 100 Seconds Of Midnight The two-minute warning that had held over the past two years has now shrunk to 100 seconds before midnight on the Doomsday Clock set by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Read more on NPR

By BY KAREN WEISE from NYT Technology via New York Times

Don't Be Like Jeff Bezos. Here's How To Keep Your Phone Safe From Hackers The world's richest man and high tech mastermind Jeff Bezos allegedly was hacked by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. What do you need to know to protect your phone from perhaps less royal attacks? Read more on NPR

By BY SHEERA FRENKEL from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY KASHMIR HILL from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY SHEERA FRENKEL from NYT Technology via New York Times

Ready For Meat Grown From Animal Cells? A Startup Plans A Pilot Plant Memphis Meats, a start-up company that has just raised $161 million, says it has a "clear path" to bringing cell-based meats to market. Yet the company and its competitors face challenges. Read more on NPR

Exclusive: Seattle-Area Voters To Vote By Smartphone In 1st For U.S. Elections King County, Wash., plans to allow all eligible voters to vote using their smartphones in a February election. It's the largest endeavor so far as online voting slowly expands across the U.S. Read more on NPR

Election Security Boss: Threats To 2020 Are Now Broader, More Diverse In an exclusive interview with NPR, election threats executive Shelby Pierson says more nations may attempt more types of interference in the U.S. Read more on NPR

U.N. Experts Urge Probe Of Reported Hacking Of Jeff Bezos' Phone By Saudi Arabia U.N. human rights experts said they were gravely concerned by reports that a WhatsApp account held by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was used to hack The Washington Post owner's phone. Read more on NPR

By BY J. D. BIERSDORFER from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY ERIN GRIFFITH from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY KAREN WEISE AND MATTHEW ROSENBERG from NYT Technology via New York Times

As Esports Take Off, High School Leagues Get In The Game Esports is a booming business — and schools are taking note. As competitive video gaming has grown from a niche community to a mainstream industry, states are creating high school leagues. Read more on NPR

By BY ERIN GRIFFITH AND PETER EAVIS from NYT Technology via New York Times

Iran Conflict Could Shift To Cyberspace, Experts Warn After the U.S. killed Iran's top military leader, government officials and security experts say Iran could retaliate with cyber attacks ranging from destroying data to defacing websites. Read more on NPR

By BY VINDU GOEL AND KATE CONGER from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY KASHMIR HILL from NYT Reader Center via New York Times

Extradition Trial For Huawei Executive Facing U.S. Fraud Charges Begins In Vancouver Meng Wanzhou was arrested in 2018 as she changed planes in Vancouver. The U.S. says the Chinese technology giant misled banks about the nature of Huawei's business in Iran. Read more on NPR

By BY VINDU GOEL from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY KASHMIR HILL from NYT Technology via New York Times

Election Security In Georgia NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks with Marilyn Marks of the Coalition for Good Governance about the reasons behind the lawsuit seeking to bar Georgia from using its paperless voting machines. Read more on NPR

Lawsuits Over Voting Machines In Pennsylvania After an Election Day meltdown last year, two lawsuits in Pennsylvania could result in the state decertifying a popular voting machine ahead of of the 2020 elections. Read more on NPR

How To Spot Misinformation In An Election Year The Life Kit podcast team looks at misinformation in an election year. Read more on NPR

By BY KASHMIR HILL from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY CECILIA KANG from NYT Technology via New York Times

What We've Learned From The Data On Crisis Counseling Via Text Message NPR's Audie Cornish speaks with Nancy Lublin, CEO of Crisis Text Line, about what text messages say about people in need — and how her service uses that data. Read more on NPR

The News Roundup - International A new cabinet in Russia, Iran takes responsibility for shooting down a plane and Parnas goes public. Read more on NPR

By BY NATHANIEL POPPER from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY JACK NICAS from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY JACK NICAS from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI from NYT Technology via New York Times

'PigeonBot' Brings Robots Closer To Bird-Like Flight Birds change the shape of their wings far more than planes. The complexities of bird flight have posed a major design challenge for scientists trying to translate the way birds fly into robots. Read more on NPR

'Get In Line:' What It Takes To Legally Immigrate To The United States "I am constantly in fear. I think I have a lot of potential, but I sometimes think I could’ve done so much more. There are so many people like me out there," a listener told us. Read more on NPR

Decrypting The Decryption Dilemma The government wants access to cell phone data from criminals, but tech companies aren't sure that's a good idea. Read more on NPR

By BY CADE METZ from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY BRIAN X. CHEN from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY KASHMIR HILL from NYT Technology via New York Times

Study: Grindr, Tindr and Other Apps Share Sensitive Personal Data With Advertisers Researchers in Norway say the data-sharing appears to violate European data privacy laws. In the U.S., groups are asking state and federal regulators to investigate whether the practices are illegal. Read more on NPR

By BY JACK NICAS AND KATIE BENNER from NYT Technology via New York Times

Iowa Democrats Will Use A Smartphone App At Caucuses, Despite Cybersecurity Concerns Iowa's Democratic Party plans to use a smartphone app in its upcoming caucuses. Despite warnings about cybersecurity since 2016, party bosses are sanguine. Read more on NPR

Despite Election Security Fears, Iowa Caucuses Will Use New Smartphone App The Iowa Democratic Party confirmed to Iowa Public Radio and NPR that it plans to use an internet-based app to transmit results, but it declined to provide any more specifics or security details. Read more on NPR

Russia Hacked Ukrainian Company Linked To Trump Impeachment, Security Firm Says Days after the House formalized its impeachment inquiry into President Trump, Russian hackers reportedly started working to gain access to Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holding's email accounts. Read more on NPR

The Past Year, And Decade, In Music Listening: Video Rules, The Boy's Club Remains Two reports released recently shine a light on the decade-long trends shaping our relationships to listening, from the dominance of video to the vinyl "boom" that isn't quite. Read more on NPR

Russians Hacked Ukrainian Firm At The Center Of Impeachment California cybersecurity firm Area 1 says Russian hackers targeted the Ukrainian gas company at the center of President Trump's impeachment. NPR's Noel King talks to Area 1 co-founder Oren Falkowitz. Read more on NPR

News Brief: Esper Interview, Democratic Debate, Gunman's iPhones The Pentagon says the U.S. has the constitutional authority to strike Iranian proxies. In Iowa, there's been a shift in tone for the Democratic presidential race. And, Apple again defies FBI demands. Read more on NPR

Apple Declines DOJ Request To Unlock Pensacola Gunman's Phones Apple rejected a Justice Department request to unlock two phones used by the Saudi gunman who killed three sailors in Florida. It's another standoff between the government and Apple over privacy. Read more on NPR

By BY VINDU GOEL, KARAN DEEP SINGH AND ERIN GRIFFITH from NYT Technology via New York Times

Foxconn Promised Wisconsin 'Innovation Centers,' But Hasn't Yet Delivered When tech giant Foxconn said it would build a massive manufacturing facility in Wisconsin, it promised to open "innovation centers" — one of many side benefits that so far appear to be illusory. Read more on NPR

By BY VINDU GOEL from NYT Technology via New York Times

U.S. Driver's License Network Goes Down, Slowing DMV Offices Around The Nation The network that motor vehicle agencies across the U.S. use to verify critical information went down Monday morning. It took roughly 4 hours to fix the problem. Read more on NPR

Two Wheels, Lots Of Controversy: Electric Scooters And Urban Space Is the drama over electric scooters the same as the 19th-century fight over bicycles? Read more on NPR

By BY JENNIFER VALENTINO-DEVRIES from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY CECILIA KANG from NYT Technology via New York Times

Troll Watch: AI Ethics NPR's Michel Martin speaks with The Washington Post's Drew Harwell about the ethical concerns posed by new AI technology. Read more on NPR

Digital Threats On 2020 Elections NPR's Michel Martin speaks with media studies professor Siva Vaidhyanathan about digital threats facing democratic elections in 2020. Read more on NPR

Warner Bros. Signs Deal With Artificial Intelligence Analytics Company NPR's Audie Cornish speaks with James Vincent of The Verge about a new Warner Bros. deal with a company that uses artificial intelligence to predict movie success. Read more on NPR

By BY KEVIN ROOSE from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY CECILIA KANG from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY BRIAN X. CHEN AND ALEX WELSH from NYT Technology via New York Times

Boeing Employees Mocked FAA In Internal Messages Before 737 Max Disasters Employees bragged about getting approval for the jets without having to give pilots much new training. One employee says, "This airplane is designed by clowns who ... are supervised by monkeys." Read more on NPR

Unplugged: When Governments Cut Internet Access How and why do authoritarian leaders control the internet? Read more on NPR

FEC Commissioner Rips Facebook Over Political Ad Policy: 'This Will Not Do' Federal Election Commissioner Ellen Weintraub says Facebook's "weak plan suggests the company has no idea how seriously it is hurting democracy." Read more on NPR

By BY MIKE ISAAC from NYT Technology via New York Times

Federal Authorities Warn Of Iran's Cyber Threat Capabilities NPR's Rachel Martin talks to cybersecurity expert Peter Singer about Iran's cyberattack capabilities and what some vulnerable U.S. targets could be. Singer is a former defense department official. Read more on NPR

Esports Posts Its First $1 Billion Year Esports — competitive video gaming — raked in more than $1 billion globally in 2019, according to analytics company Newzoo. Remer Rietkerk, Newzoo's head of esports, speaks with NPR's Ari Shapiro. Read more on NPR

What We Know About The Ukrainian Jet That Crashed In Iran NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks to Bloomberg reporter Julie Johnsson about what we know about the plane crash in Tehran, Iran. The jet was made by Boeing. Read more on NPR

By BY KATIE HAFNER from NYT Technology via New York Times