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

Sep 26, 2025 · 16 min
Retro Tech Rewind: Dawn of The Living VHS!
This week, we're time-tripping back to the 1980s, when hair was big, ties were skinny, and everybody headed over to the video store on Friday night to score the latest movies on VHS. But we don't have to rely on dim memories of Blockbuster days gone by, because we've got a museum with a real-life replica of an actual video store inside, called "Killer Video", in downtown Akron The museum, at 453 S. High Street, has a twist though, that makes it even more of "must see" this Halloween season. I
Sep 19, 2025 · 9 min
AI, Healthcare, and Ohio Law
When congress declined to implement a provision that would have prohibited states from regulating AI for the next ten years in their recently passed "big beautiful bill"; that left Ohio free to come up with regulations that our own legislators believe will protect the state's residents from harm stemming from the use of this new and rapidly evolving technology. Right now, there is a bill (SB-164) pending in the Ohio Senate, that would regulate the use of AI in the health insurance industry; som
Sep 12, 2025 · 10 min
The Moon, The Stars, Mars, & Robots!
This week, it's all things space, as we explore the possibility of life on Mars, Star Trek's upcoming 60th Anniversary, and the University of Akron's NASA Mining Robot team. Another new development this week that's newsworthy but unfortunately didn't make it into this a edition of "This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro", is that NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, has just been selected to lead the way on a new billion dollar effort to build a nuclear reactor on the Moon. But it's a perfec
Sep 5, 2025 · 10 min
Cash For Tech Workers: Ohio's New STEM Relocation Incentive
Want highly skilled STEM-skilled workers to permanently relocate to Ohio? Offer their employers cold, hard, taxpayer-generated cash to bring them here. That's what JobsOhio is doing right now, and you can get details on that story plus a whole lot more, like the latest on Google's big privacy fine, a last minute surge in EV sales before tariffs kick in, and a new data center planned for the site of the old Lordstown GM plant, when you listen to the latest edition of "This Week In Tech with Jean
Aug 30, 2025 · 11 min
Safety First: Fairlawn's New High Tech Connected Vehicle Corridor
The City of Fairlawn is embarking on an ambitious new plan to ease traffic flow and prioritize safety on State Route 18. They're spending $300,000 on a new system that will turn lights green ahead of buses and emergency vehicles, and warn motorists about adverse traffic conditions through a new mobile app. Listen now for details from Fairlawn Public Service Director Ernie Staten, in this week's edition of "This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro".
Aug 22, 2025 · 11 min
OK Boomers: Seniors, Technology, and Better Health
It was one of those "I can't believe I fell for it", moments on social media, where somebody was going on about how this "old lady" couldn't figure out how to process a particular type of electronic payment at a store, when I started seeing red, especially because "old" was defined (in her mind at least) as "over 50". The nerve! Well, I can laugh about it now, but at the time I was pretty steamed. Once I calmed down, I realized that I had fallen for the bait that the tech giants behind socia
Aug 16, 2025 · 16 min
This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro
Google took action this week to better protect children from harmful content on YouTube; announcing they're using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze users' behavior to determine whether they're under the age of 18. Like Meta did a few months ago on Instagram; they will restrict that user from viewing what they believe is age-inappropriate content, and will also disable personalized advertising. If an adult believes they have been incorrectly identified as a minor; they can prove their age
Aug 9, 2025 · 20 min
The Talking Dead
Two well-known celebrities ignited a firestorm of controversy this week, when they used AI to bring dead people "back to life" by creating video Avatars that looked and sounded so much like the originals that they totally creeped some people out, and made them really question both the ethics of those who did it, and the technology they used to make it happen. First, it was Rock superstar, Rod Stewart, whose audience didn't think he was all that sexy, after he shared an AI-generated video of Ozz
Aug 1, 2025 · 11 min
Put The Pedal To The Metal In Akron This Weekend!
If you're looking for something fun and maybe a little different to do this weekend in Akron; head on over to Bowery Street, where Akron's Earthquaker Devices is having their annual "Earthquaker Day" with factory tours, live music, DIY recording demonstrations, and more. That company, which makes guitar effects pedals for musicians and bands, is one of the topics we're getting into, on today's edition of "This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro". We're starting out with a look at what manufacture
Jul 25, 2025 · 9 min
New Glue Fuses Art & Science @ Akron U
Art conservators at museums worldwide had a very sticky problem, and the University of Akron had the solution. It's called "Beva 371 Akron", and is a new type of adhesive developed by polymer scientists to help preserve old, fragile paintings. Listen now to my conversation with Professor Dr. Ali Dhinojwala, who is the W. Gerald Austen Endowed Chair and H.A. Morton Professor at the University of Akron's School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, to find out why their innovative and less
Jul 18, 2025 · 9 min
AI Marks The Spot: High Tech Cancer Treatment @ UH
A new AI-assisted radiotherapy system is giving doctors at University Hospitals in Cleveland the ability to more accurately target and treat certain types of cancer, leading to better outcomes for patients. That's the word from Seidman Cancer Center Chairman, Dr. Daniel Spratt, who talked to us this week about adaptive radiotherapy with their new Varian Ethos 2.0. Listen now:
Jun 27, 2025 · 10 min
Rise Of The Machines
Imagine you're in a life and death struggle, and it's you, or the other guy. What would you do? Would you fight dirty? Well, probably a lot folks would say, "Sure, of course; if it's me or him, yeah." But, others, who have more of an ethical mindset, or moral compass, might say, "Well, it depends. There are rules, and I might find a way to accomplish my goals that didn't include low-down deeds." But what if it wasn't a person making that kind of determination. What if it was a machine, or at
Jun 20, 2025 · 20 min
Streaming Success @ The University of Akron
One of the biggest personalities in streaming media recently put the University of Akron on the map in a new way for a new audience. That's what we're talking about today, with University of Akron Conference and Events Center Director, Brandon Alexander, and E-Sports Director, Nate Meeker, who helped organize and facilitate a unique event hosted by popular online streamer, YouTuber, and internet personality, Kai Cenat, over the Memorial Day weekend. Cenat, who has 17 point 6 million followers
Jun 14, 2025 · 24 min
Double-Edged Deepfake Dilemma
While the new federal "Take It Down Act" that aims to protect people from the unauthorized sharing of intimate, sexually explicit images, is a really welcome and much needed weapon against revenge porn and deepfake cyberbullying; it could also be misused to supress legitimate political speech. That's what we're talking about today, with Visiting Associate Professor of Law, Jess Miers, who has experience working for Google as a Senior Government Affairs & Public Policy Analyst, and who teaches c
Jun 4, 2025 · 16 min
One Ring To Connect Them All
Summit County is moving full steam ahead with its ambitious "Summit Connects" , 130 mile fiber ring, which will connect law enforcement, public agencies, smart traffic cameras, and even roadway infrastructure, through an ultra high speed broadband internet connection. However, work is running behind schedule by about six to eight weeks because of the long and snowy winter, as well as unexpected delays related to utility line inspections. Overall, though, as you'll hear from Summit County Execu
Jun 3, 2025 · 15 min
Project Update: Summit County Fiber Ring
Summit County is moving full steam ahead with its ambitious "Summit Connects" , 130 mile fiber ring, which will connect law enforcement, public agencies, smart traffic cameras, and even roadway infrastructure, through an ultra high speed broadband internet connection. However, work is running behind schedule by about six to eight weeks because of the long and snowy winter, as well as unexpected delays related to utility line inspections. Overall, though, as you'll hear from Summit County Execu
May 22, 2025 · 11 min
Revenge Porn Smackdown & Robot Bosses
From a new law to protect people from unauthorized intimate images posted online, to why some people think robots would make better bosses; we've got a great collection of some of the biggest stories in tech this week. Listen now.
May 16, 2025 · 27 min
Who Is Spying On Your Phone?
Imagine a state-sponsored surveillance app secretly monitoring everything on your phone; recording it all for some shady intelligence agency so they can direct assassins to come cut you to ribbons and carry you away in a suitcase. Now, imagine that's not fiction. It is in fact, exactly what happened to Saudi-born Washington Post Journalist, Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, when he was brutally murdered inside a Turkish embassy by agents of the Saudi government, who tracked him by using a spyware app
May 9, 2025 · 19 min
Why "Work From Anywhere" Is Great For Midwest Economy
Despite some corporate leaders' insistence that "return to work" initiatives are a great idea; it turns out, that flexibility about employee location is actually the key to success. That is what Harvard Business Professor and author, Prithwiraj “Raj” Choudhury, concludes in his new book, "The World Is Your Office: How Work from Anywhere Boosts Talent, Productivity, and Innovation". Listen now, to find out why he believes that employees being able to choose where they live and work, is a big wi
May 2, 2025 · 18 min
Military Cybersecurity & Why Signalgate Still Matters
The national debate over security issues raised in early March when top-level US officials engaged in a Signal messaging app group text chat using their personal mobile phones instead of on secure government-issued devices, or in a secure government facility, continues to rage this week. In fact, the official who started that text chat, US National Security Advisor, Mike Walz, was replaced just yesterday, Thursday, May 1, by Marco Rubio, who will fill that position in addition to his other duti