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

Apr 25, 2025 · 25 min
Can AI Save Your Kids From Online Predators?
While Instagram's parent company, Meta, battles the government in court over antitrust claims; they're also battling to keep your kids safe online. Or so they say. But, can we believe them? That's the question I asked former CNET Editor and current CBS News Tech contributor, Ian Sherr, about Instagram's announcement this week that they're rolling out a new AI tool that can protect young teens from harmful content, by being able to detect whether they are lying about their age. But, what they
Apr 18, 2025 · 22 min
Facial Recognition Technology Spotlighted In Cleveland Murder Case
If the foundation of your house is made of sand, it will eventually fall, and if the foundation of a legal case is built on questionable evidence; it may do so as well. That is what is playing out right now in Cleveland, where where a murder case is in the process of potentially falling to pieces, because it was based, in part, on AI-driven facial recognition technology. At a time when we are all increasingly under surveillance from both public and private security cameras– whether on lamp po
Apr 11, 2025 · 10 min
How Will Tariffs Affect Ohio's Auto Industry?
Because Ohio has the nation’s #2 largest workforce in motor vehicle manufacturing (OEM assembly) and motor vehicle parts manufacturing (auto parts suppliers); President Trump's on again-off again tariff policies that have been rocking the stock market this week, also have the potential for affecting the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people in our state. While Automotive Industry Union leaders have cheered the possibility tariffs helping to bring more automotive jobs back to
Apr 4, 2025 · 10 min
Tariffs, Trade Wars, & Technology
Because the innovative and advanced technology that powers manufacturing in Ohio relies heavily on imported parts and components; the latest increase in tariffs on imported goods imposed this week by President Trump will likely make products produced here, more expensive. But will they last, or are they just one more trick up Trump's sleeve aimed at making bigger, better, and more favorable trade deals that will eventually pay off for US businesses and consumers? That's the multi-billion doll
Mar 28, 2025 · 6 min
What's Causing Fatal Fires In Ohio?
The State Fire Marshal's Office recently figured out the root cause for most fatal fires in Ohio, and they did so by using a new data analytics tool. Listen now, to find out how that allowed them to start distributing lifesaving devices that can stop what could become deadly fires, before tragedy strikes.
Mar 14, 2025 · 14 min
UA Rocket Design Team Plans Big Launch March 29
Something very special is about to happen out in the California's Mojave Desert, on March 29th. That's when the University of Akron's "Akronauts" rocket design team will launch their latest, entirely student made "Emergence 5" rocket, which they're hoping hoping will go faster, and fly higher than any other they've launched in the past; powered by a custom-blended liquid fuel they call "Wayside White". To find out more about it, I talked with Akronauts Project Manager, Corbin Lauvray. Listen
Mar 7, 2025 · 8 min
Cleveland Clinic Docs Embrace AI For Office Tasks
Doctor visits are going high tech at the Cleveland Clinic, where they are now using an AI (Artificial Intelligence) tool for help with notes and record keeping related to patient visits at medical offices outside the hospital. I talked about it this week, with Cleveland Clinic Internal Medicine Physician, and Associate Chief Medical Information Officer, Dr. Eric Boose. Find out more, listen now:
Mar 1, 2025 · 26 min
Asteroids, Adventure, & Money!
The vast economic potential of outer space is not just for the few rich and famous entrepreneurs who are flourishing in today's commercial space race, such as Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos. There is in fact, room for many other visionary and adventuresome entrepreneurs, and their success can help power our economy–and society at large– to new heights. That's the message from the new book "Space to Grow: Unlocking the Final Economic Frontier", and we talked about it with co-author, Brendan Rosseau.
Feb 21, 2025 · 17 min
"Virtual Nurses" On Call Now At Akron Children's Hospital
The demand for nurses is so great, that the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reports there will be more than 193,000 more job openings than nurses to fill them each year, through 2030. This national shortage, which started during the pandemic, has inspired hospitals and other care facilities to find new, and creative ways to treat their patients. At Akron Children's Hospital, they're using something called "Virtual Nursing", and we talked about it with their Chief of Nursing, Christine Young
Feb 14, 2025 · 21 min
EVs are the Future, So Why Is America Behind?
American consumers have been more than a little skittish when it comes to whole heartedly adopting Electric Vehicles. From their comparatively high cost that is only partially offset by tax incentives, to a lack of adequate charging stations; Americans have been more likely to choose old, familiar gas guzzlers, or to hedge their bets with hybrids. But, as you'll hear in my interview with Wall Street Journal Deputy Bureau Chief, Autos, Mike Colias, who wrote a new book called "INEVITABLE: Insid
Feb 8, 2025 · 27 min
As AI Gobbles Jobs: How Can Humans Compete?
This week, we're having a conversation with Deborah Perry Psicionne, who co-authored the new book "Employment is Dead: How Disruptive Technologies Are Revolutionizing The Way We Work", and as you'll hear; the future does not look good for anyone expecting to just go to work everyday as usual and get a regular paycheck. Find out how and why employers will increasingly use AI (artificial intelligence) to replace workers, and what that will mean for anyone who hopes to stay employed in what will
Jan 31, 2025 · 7 min
Tech Training Spotlighted At Walsh University This Week
It has been a big week at Walsh University in North Canton, as they wrap up up their annual Science and Business Innovation Summit, today. The three-day event, which features keynote speakers including Michael White, former Director at the U.S. Department of Defense, and Dr. Victor McCrary, Vice Chairman of the National Science Board, is open to the public, and continues today with their Science and Business Entrepreneurship Day for High School Seniors. While a number of different topics such as
Jan 18, 2025 · 25 min
Human Creators Vs. AI: Can Copyright Law Keep Up?
Creatives of all types are waking up to the fact that much of what they have spent their entire lives learning to do, and be, is endangered by Artificial Intelligence applications that can replace them at a fraction of the price. Their concern was evident during the Hollywood actors' strike of 2023, which was in part over getting assurances that they could be protected from being replaced by digital replicas. There are also a number of copyright infringement lawsuits pending right now, with ma
Jan 3, 2025 · 21 min
Why Laws Aren't Enough: Stepping Up To Keep Kids Safe Online
Despite the US Surgeon General's call earlier this year for Congress to approve a law that would require mental health warnings on social media for younger users, and heart-breaking stories about children suffering terrible trauma, up to and including death, as a result of negative online interactions; we are living in a world where children are just not safe online. They're not safe either from the peer pressure of people they know, or the sick manipulations of strangers–and even AI chatbots–
Dec 22, 2024 · 11 min
Can AI Help Prevent School Shootings?
When I first started writing this story a couple of weeks ago, I had no idea that there would be a horrific school shooting in Madison, Wisconsin, the very week it was to be published. But, I suppose I should have. After all, according to data compiled by CNN; there have been 83 school shootings so far this year, and 56 of them have taken place in K-12 Schools. What makes this story which is already horrendously tragic even more so; is that if they had the type of technology we're going to ta
Dec 13, 2024 · 26 min
Chinese Tech Trade War Threatens National Security & Ohio Economic Growth
If you've ever had to wait to get your car, or anything else repaired because parts are on backorder; you know how frustrating it can be. Now, multiply that by about a zillion, and add a bunch of zeros to the end of the price tag, and you've got a recipe for both economic disaster, and political mayhem. The problem is; that's exactly the kind of situation we're facing right now, as our country's ongoing tech trade war with China continues to heat up. At issue, is both the US and China needing
Dec 7, 2024 · 10 min
Time Magazine Spotlights New U-A Invention
A new medical device that allows surgeons to more easily see while they maneuver around even the tiniest of spaces in the human body, has made TIME Magazine's list of the 200 best inventions of 2024. Amplio is the world’s first wearable 3D full-color surgical microscope. It is a platform technology with capabilities that include surgical magnification, fluorescence imaging, night vision, surgical navigation, computer vision, artificial intelligence and augmented reality. The UA-developed techn
Nov 22, 2024 · 24 min
Art +Technology=Fashion@Kent State University
From mass-produced jeans, to one-of-a-kind designer creations only seen on gorgeous runway models; most of today's fashion is extremely high-tech. To find out more about how clothing evolves from an artistic impulse to a fully realized product, we talked with Professor Margarita Benitez, who Directs the TechStyleLAB at Kent State University's Shannon Rogers and Jay Silverman School of Fashion Design and Merchandising. Listen now to hear how they are using advanced technology including Artifici
Nov 15, 2024 · 21 min
Bigger, Stronger, Better: Ohio's Expanding Tech Boom
From sustainable polymers in Akron, to semiconductors near Columbus, Defense R& D in Dayton, and Solar Panels in Toledo; Ohio is a hotbed of new technology. To find out more, and why the future of new technology in Ohio is so bright; I talked to Chris Berry, who is the President and CEO of Ohio X; a non-profit organization aimed dedicated to building Ohio's tech hub. Listen now:
Nov 8, 2024 · 21 min
This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro
Better, smaller, more powerful batteries are the wave of the future, not only for vehicles; but also for whole home energy storage, and all the electronic gadgets you use every day, like laptops and mobile phones. But when it comes to Ohio; the focus is squarely on batteries that power electric vehicles, and that's why both The Ohio State University in Columbus, and The University of Akron have received big government and private industry grants to discover both better ways to make and recycle