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

Jan 12, 2024 · 11 min
Protecting Kids From The Harmful Effects of Social Media
Today we're exploring the harmful effects of social media on kids and teens, and what is being done to address them. This has been an interesting week, with the state of Ohio's new law that requires parents to consent to children under the age of 16 now on hold, because of a lawsuit filed by an organization representing the tech industry. That group, NetChoice, got a federal judge to issue a temporary injunction to stay the law, that was supposed to go into effect on Monday, January 15th. In
Jan 5, 2024 · 8 min
Update: Summit County's Multi-Million Dollar Fiber Ring Project
Find out how everyone in Summit County might eventually being able to get much faster, and more affordable broadband internet service, as the result of the County's their big fiber ring project connecting municipalities and government agencies.
Dec 15, 2023 · 11 min
Art, Music & AI: Human Vs. Machine
Although people can't necessarily explain why, and often can't tell the difference; they still prefer art made by humans, over art generated by Artificial Intelligence. That's the word from a new study done recently by researchers at Bowling Green State University, and on today's edition of This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro, we're going to find out why, with BGSU Organizational Psychology PhD candidate, Andrew Samo. We also talked to Grammy-nominated guitarist, composer, producer, and en
Dec 8, 2023 · 10 min
Solving The Nation's Pilot Shortage: Walsh University Streamlines Aviation Program
With a nationwide pilot shortage putting a real strain on the airline industry; Walsh University in North Canton is streamlining its Bachelor of Science in Aviation degree program. We talked to the University’s President, Dr. Tim Collins, who flies his own private plane, is a former US Air Force Fighter Pilot, and has also worked in Aviation technology research. Find out more about how they are aiming to help ease the ongoing pilot shortage, through an innovative, and collaborative degree pro
Dec 1, 2023 · 11 min
Uncle Sam Wants You! (To Help Fight Voice Cloning Scams)
From the "Grandparent Scam" where tricksters try to extort people for money by convincing them someone in their family is in terrible danger, to disinformation so toxic it threatens democracy itself; voice cloning enabled by Artificial Intelligence (AI) is posing unprecedented challenges to law enforcement, and to society as a whole. So, in an effort to safeguard consumers, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched "The Voice Cloning Challenge", which aims to crowdsource innovative ways to
Nov 18, 2023 · 16 min
Cameras, and Drones, and Tractors, Oh My!: America's High Tech Farmers
Just days away from our annual Thanksgiving food extravaganza; "This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro” is focusing on the new technology America’s farmers are using to ensure we have plenty of food on the table. From cameras, drones, and autonomous tractors, to Artificial Intelligence and solar panels; farm operations are becoming increasingly more efficient and productive. As you’ll hear from our featured guest today, Professor Scott Shearerer, who is Chair of the Department of Food, Agricultu
Nov 12, 2023 · 28 min
Drink Up! New Clean Water Technology
"This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro" is all about water this week, which is perhaps kind of fitting, but not at all intended; as it just happens to come at the same time the City of Akron just announced they're increasing water rates for city residents by about $10.00 per month, starting in January. But, while Akron residents fret about the effect that increased water rates might have on their budgets; there are millions of people around the world who would pay a king's ransom just to have en
Nov 3, 2023 · 30 min
High Tech High: New Opportunities For NE Ohio Students
Today, a special bonus edition of "This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro" focused on two new programs in our community aimed at getting high school students excited about, and ready for careers in the tech industry. First, we'll be talking with the founder and CEO of information security consulting company, TrustedSec, headquartered in Fairlawn, and of the managed security service provider, Binary Defense, which is headquartered in Stow. As you'll hear from David Kennedy, he's just started a ne
Nov 3, 2023 · 14 min
Ultra High Speed Municipal Broadband On The Way For Everyone In Summit County
This week, news that Summit County's multi-million dollar, 125 mile fiber-optic cable ring project, is now in the process of growing and developing into something much bigger and better. Originally conceived as a network that that would connect the County, through it's new data center, with 31 city, village, and township governments; now they're planning to bring more affordable, ultra high speed internet access like they have in Fairlawn, through their Fairlawn Gig municipal broadband, to all
Oct 27, 2023 · 10 min
Big Money For Tech Development In Northeast Ohio
This week, we have more news about the federal government's efforts to both promote sustainable, energy-efficient technology, and to encourage manufacturing growth and job creation in Northeast Ohio. To further those goals, the U.S. Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), is investing more than $10 million dollars in a new program called “Manufacturing the New Energy Economy in Appalachia,” and $1.25 million dollars of that money has been directed toto MAGNET, the Ohio Manufacturing Extension Pa
Oct 20, 2023 · 19 min
Canton's Big Hydrogen Bus Bonanza
The Biden administration continues its push toward both manufacturing growth in states like Ohio that have seen massive job blue collar losses over the past several decades, and the widespread expansion of sustainable green energy alternatives such as wind, solar, and just this week; an up to $8 billion dollar investment in clean hydrogen. As part of that push; Ohio was included in one of the seven regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs established nationwide, and Canton, Ohio is one of the communities
Oct 13, 2023 · 15 min
Online Learning: Lessons From The Pandemic
Three years ago at this time, no one had ever heard of COVID-19. But since then, the world has changed, and so has education—in particular— online learning. Like everywhere else in the country, Akron Public School students were forced to stay home and do their lessons online. They had live teachers leading the virtual class sessions, but then once the COVID case numbers dropped enough; the vast majority of the district's 20 thousand plus students went back to the classroom in person. Now, thou
Sep 29, 2023 · 19 min
This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro-9-28-23: Keeping Voting Machines Secure
CNN posted an intriguing story this week, about how several voting machine manufacturers are conducting "stress tests", to uncover possible flaws that might need to be fixed before the upcoming 2024 election. While that was of course, welcome news; it did make me wonder just how secure are voting machines really are, in general, and what cybersecurity experts do to ensure they stay in tip-top shape. So, I asked Dr. John Nicholas, who many people in our area will remember as a Professor teaching
Sep 22, 2023 · 15 min
What's Old Is New Again: Recycling Lithium-Ion Batteries
Because lithium-ion batteries are used to power so many of the electronic devices we find indispensable these days, including computers, mobile phones, and cars, and because the materials used to make them can be both both scarce and difficult to obtain the federal government is keen on finding safe and inexpensive ways to recycle them. So, that's why the National Science Foundation (NSF) just gave the University of Akron a $250,000 dollar research grant. As you'll hear during my conversatio
Sep 15, 2023 · 9 min
This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro-9-15-23: Big Dreams, Big Win For U-A NASA Robotics Team
The University of Akron NASA Robotics team made a good showing recently at a robotics competition at the University of Alabama, coming in eighth place overall, and first place, in the Project Management category. We talked to U-A Robotics team leader, Callie Lewis, about how their traditional focus on mining robots, will move in a new direction, as NASA starts looking at ways to build a base on the moon that can eventually serve as a way-station for their mission to Mars.
Sep 8, 2023 · 17 min
Hacking The Hackers: FBI Drops The Hammer
It's been a busy week for Federal law enforcement, which both brought down a huge Russian cybercrime botnet, and also indicted multiple Russian cyber criminals for spreading malware and ransomware that resulted in the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars from victims worldwide. The indictments out of three different jurisdictions; Northern Ohio, Middle Tennessee, and the Southern District of California, allege the defendants used Trickbot malware and Conti ransomware to attack hospitals, sch
Aug 25, 2023 · 31 min
Artificial Intelligence: Bias In A Box?
Most people have figured out by now, that when you watch an opinion show on Fox TV; you get a right wing, conservative point of view, and the same thing goes on the left, for MSNBC. Social media has also been overtaken by spin, and whether you’re on Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), or Meta’s new X alternative; Threads; you just know you’re going to be frequently exposed to people with a particular political agenda. But what most people don’t know, (and that included me until quite rece
Aug 20, 2023 · 19 min
HADAR: NEXT GEN THERMAL IMAGING
Imagine driving down the road on a dark night. Suddenly; your car slows and rolls to a gentle stop, just before a big deer that had been completely hidden from sight in the woods, darts out onto the road exactly where you would have been, if advanced thermal imaging sensors hadn't saved you from a potentially fatal crash. Sound far-fetched? Well, according to researchers at Purdue University, that could actually happen within the next few years, if their new HADAR technology is adopted by t
Aug 11, 2023 · 17 min
Dark Patterns: How The FTC Is Fighting Big Tech Consumer Fraud
Most consumers know what it's like to feel cheated, scammed, and manipulated, and no one does it better, or on a bigger scale, than big tech. Old scams like "bait and switch", false promises, and teeny-tiny “gotcha” fine print, get new life on a much broader scale when millions of people worldwide find out that without their consent; their private information has been harvested and sold, they've been opted-in to ongoing subscriptions, or they've accidentally signed up for services that no matte
Aug 5, 2023 · 14 min
Emerging Cyber Threats: Beyond Ransomware
Last week, we focused on cyber defense of government networks; today, we're looking at what is going on in the private sector, and how business owners and managers can deal with new and emerging threats. This is a major issue, because the number and severity of cyber attacks and data breaches continues to rise. In fact, they have become so common; many people don't even pay attention to news about them when they occur. Another day, another hack. Wash, rinse, repeat. But, as you'll hear today f