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This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro

Jeanne Destro

WAKR's Jeanne Destro discusses a new tech topic each week!

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  • 155 episodes
  • Updated Friday

Episodes155

Newest first
  • February 27 · 12 min

    US Issues Iran Cyber Threat Warning: How To Protect Your Networks

    As the US gears up for a possible military confrontation with Iran; the federal government has issued a warning for US companies and government agencies, to tighten up cyber defenses to ensure our networks here at home, can withstand possible state-sponsored cyber attacks. But though the current buildup of military force against Iran is fairly recent; our adversarial relationship with that country goes back many years, perhaps exemplified best by the release of the Stuxnet worm that sabotaged I

  • February 20 · 13 min

    Better, Faster, More Secure: Latest On Summit County's Fiber Ring Project

    More smart traffic cameras, better coordinated Emergency response, and smoother bus rides are all on the way within the year, as Summit County's $50 million dollar, high speed broadband fiber ring network project nears completion. That's the word today from Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro's Chief of Staff, Brian Nelsen, who is our featured guest on this week's edition of This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro. Listen now for more information on how getting all of the county's governmental

  • February 13 · 23 min

    Kids Harmed By Social Media: Who Should Pay?

    This week, we're featuring an in-depth discussion about the harm social media is doing to kids and teens; addiction, depression, anxiety, and in some cases—even suicide. It is in sharp focus now, because two separate lawsuits went to trial this week, alleging that the big companies running social media platforms, including Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads), and Alphabet (YouTube), know that they are causing harm, and aren't doing enough to stop it. While the two suits are similar,

  • February 7 · 18 min

    Musk Moves: Rockets, Robots, & AI Outrage

    It was quite a week for news related to the world's richest man; Elon Musk, who announced he was merging X-AI with SpaceX, caused quite a stir on Wall Street, and simultaneously faced serious legal issues when French Prosecutors raided the X office in France. They are investigating allegations including complicity in possessing and spreading pornographic images of minors, and sexually explicit deepfakes, as well as denial of crimes against humanity such as the Holocaust.  But they are not alon

  • January 30 · 15 min

    Social Media Addiction, AI Music, and Data Privacy

    We're covering some of the biggest stories in tech this week, including a big civil trial out in Los Angeles involving a teen who is suing big tech companies, alleging that social media addiction has severely damaged her mental health, AI technology that is helping consumers build even better custom playlists on Spotify, and big-name musical artists create new songs. It is also National Data Privacy Week, and we're getting some expert advice on how to better stay safe from scams and hackers, fr

  • January 23 · 27 min

    Who Invented The Like Button?

    Everybody, everywhere, it seems, wants you to "like" their product, podcast, delivery service, social media post, or whatever. But, did you ever stop to wonder, who actually invented the "Like" button? Well, business strategy expert and author, Martin Reeves did, and he turned what was supposed to be a short coffee conversation with Like button inventor, Bob Goodson, into a new book called  "Like: The Button that Changed The World". Listen now, as Reeves explains how that seemingly innocuous

  • January 17 · 28 min

    Rebooting Tech Culture

    This was quite a week both for big tech developments, and big tech hassles. Listen now, to find out more about Verizon’s big outage , which affected more than a million customers on Wednesday. We'll also hear about  how the US Government is planning to integrate Elon Musk’s controversial Grok AI into Pentagon networks, rising concerns about the potentially damaging environmental effects of data center expansion throughout Ohio, and new federal EPA air pollution rules that no longer take the ec

  • January 9 · 9 min

    Career Pro Tip: Don't Be Yourself!

    This week, all the reasons why the currently popular “bring your whole self to work” trend is most definitely not a great idea when it comes to being successful and effective at work.  At least, that’s what organizational psychologist, author, and entrepreneur, Dr. Tomas-Chamorro-Premuzik, tells us his new book; “Don’t be yourself: Why authenticity is overrated, and what to do instead”. Listen now:

  • Dec 30, 2025 · 7 min

    The Future Of Employment: Mechanical Engineering

    This week, I interviewed Dr. Dane Quinn who is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Akron, while I was hosting the Ray Horner Morning show. I wanted to hear what he thinks about future employment prospects for students interested in pursuing that type of degree, in the face of so much change and disruption expected from AI.

  • Dec 21, 2025 · 10 min

    AI: The Good, The Bad, The Unknown

    As tech giants ramp up their investments in AI, and artificial intelligence-driven applications continue to be deployed throughout society; both the costs and benefits of this rapidly developing technology were on display in dramatic ways this week. Listen now, as we find out more about how the Stock Market reacted to concerns about returns on investments in AI, how teen reliance on AI chatbots to alleviate loneliness is becoming a mental health issue, Disney licensing some of its most iconic c

  • Dec 12, 2025 · 9 min

    Trump Takes On States Rights In Legal Battle Over AI

    There is a new legal battle brewing now between the Trump administration and states, including Ohio, over who gets to regulate AI. Congress recently punted on the question, when they refused to pass a measure embedded in the recent continuing resolution that reopened the federal government, that would have denied states the right to regulate AI.  But that did not make President Trump happy, and just yesterday; he signed an executive order to stop "excessive" state regulation of Artificial inte

  • Dec 5, 2025 · 30 min

    Artists Fight Back Against Internet Piracy: Who Will Win?

    Imagine you are a hit-making musician.   Then, imagine that you are excited about sharing your work, and making a living, when– poof–it all evaporates because somebody, somewhere on the internet, just ripped you off.  Well, that’s exactly what’s been happening to creative artists of all types, especially musicians, at an ever-accelerating speed since the dawn of the internet. And, because federal law shields digital platforms from getting sued for copyright infringement on the part of people w

  • Nov 21, 2025 · 10 min

    Who's Minding The Internet?

    Oh, the irony! While millions of other people were knocked offline for hours when the global internet infrastructure company, Cloudflare, experienced an outage on Tuesday, November 18; my online life at work was humming along just fine, as the critical systems I rely upon to keep our Newsroom and Morning Show running, just kept on ticking. But when I got home and started working on this show; something very weird happened. First, there was an area-wide Spectrum internet outage, which happened

  • Nov 14, 2025 · 10 min

    Internet Threats, AI Music, and Better EV Chargers

    Would you know the difference between an AI generated song and one by a real band, and if so; would you care? The answer this week seems to be "No" and "No", as a song entirely generated by AI is now topping the Country Digital Charts. Find out more about that, and other hot tech topics like Russian threats to the global internet, Denmark banning social media for children, a new way to increase the number of EV charging stations, and how some people are using technology to talk to God–or at le

  • Nov 8, 2025 · 24 min

    Tomorrow's Tech Dreams Start Here

    From the touch screen on your phone, to the"Popcorn" setting on your microwave; there's somebody, somewhere, who had to figure out how to make that work for you, and hopefully; how to make it work in such a way that the experience was seamless, satisfying, and really served your needs. But that doesn't happen all the time. If you've ever yelled at your computer, tried unsuccessfully to pair your phone with your car, or even tried to cancel a subscription onliine only to find out the "cancel" b

  • Oct 31, 2025 · 11 min

    Got Ghosts? There's an App For That

    From high tech hauntings, to new tech-related jobs in Northeast Ohio, 3-D printed homes, layoffs at Amazon, and more; we've got the latest in tech stories from all over the world this week. Find out more, listen now.

  • Oct 18, 2025 · 19 min

    Cleveland Tech Startup Fights Laundry Microplastic Pollution

    While most of us are at least dimly aware that plastic in the form of polymer microfibers goes into making our clothes; it probably never really even crosses our minds that when we wash them; tiny pieces of plastic make their way into our environment. But when Max Pennington was a student at Case Western Reserve not so long ago; it certainly occurred to him. So, that's when he and his friends came up with a plan to put a filter on their washing machine to catch plastic residue from the rinse wa

  • Oct 3, 2025 · 29 min

    Universities Adapt, Adopt, and Cash In On AI

    This week, we're exploring how two Universities in Northeast Ohio are using artificial intelligence. At the University of Akron, their College of Business just announced they are going to offer a brand new undergraduate degree; a Bachelor of Business Administration in Applied Artificial Intelligence and Information Systems. The goal, according to Associate Dean, Dr. Debmalya Mukherjee, is to equip graduates with both the technical literacy to understand artificial intelligence (AI), and the bus