Steve Henn
Steve Henn is NPR's technology correspondent based in Menlo Park, California, who is currently on assignment with Planet Money. An award winning journalist, he now covers the intersection of technology and modern life - exploring how digital innovations are changing the way we interact with people we love, the institutions we depend on and the world around us. In 2012 he came frighteningly close to crashing one of the first Tesla sedans ever made. He has taken a ride in a self-driving car, and flown a drone around Stanford's campus with a legal expert on privacy and robotics.
But Steve's favorite technology stories are the ones that explain how little-understood innovations can change the way millions of us behave. Why do people buy cows in Farmville? Why are video games so compelling and why do some people have such a hard time setting Twitter aside? He is fascinated by how digital companies attempt to mold our behavior and study our every move in a world where we are constantly interacting with connected devices.
Prior to moving to Silicon Valley in 2010, Steve covered a wide range of topics for the public radio show Marketplace. His reporting kicked off the congressional travel scandals in late 2004, and helped expose the role of private military contractors at Abu Ghraib.
At Marketplace, Henn helped establish collaborations with the Center for Public Integrity and the Medill's School of Journalism.
Steve spent his early life on a farm in Iowa where his parents, who are biochemists, hoped to raise all their own food and become energy self-sufficient. It didn't work. During college Steve hoped to drop out and support himself by working in the fishing industry in Alaska. That also didn't work. After college he biked around the country with his sweetheart, Emily Johnson. He then followed Emily to Africa, volunteering at Soweto Community Radio. That did work out. He and Emily are now happily married with three daughters.
Steve graduated from Wesleyan University's College of Social Studies with honors and Columbia University's Graduate school of Journalism.
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Over the past few months, the country's biggest technology firms have spent billions buying startups like WhatsApp and Nest. That has analysts wondering if another tech bubble is about to burst.
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On the eve of the next trial in the continuing patent war between Apple and Samsung, one of the iPhone's original designers is speaking out publicly for the first time.
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The Pentagon's Defense Department Research Agency — DARPA — is pushing to build a semi-autonomous search and rescue robot. But scientists see obvious dual uses, for war.
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The price and difficulty of building robots has fallen, and Google has scooped a half-dozen robotics firms. It's a safe bet that bots will be an increasing part of our workplaces and daily lives.
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Facebook is rolling out changes to its 159 million members in the U.S. that will allow people to have a wider choice than simply male or female when selecting a gender description on the site. Users can choose from roughly 50 options including Trans Male, Trans Woman or Androgynous.
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Despite the technical feat, researchers say that much basic research remains, and the relationship between glucose and tears is still unproven.
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A handful of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs say it's time to turn your finances over to bots. Algorithms can monitor a person's financial behavior better than most advisers, they say, and aren't biased by commissions or complex fee structures.
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President Obama is hosting a high-profile group of technology executives at the White House on Tuesday. Almost every one was a big financial backer of the president's political career. Chad Dickerson, chief executive of Etsy, is among the group but only gave $500 to the Obama campaign.
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Silicon Valley has created mind-boggling amounts of wealth. Entire industries have been invented here. Billionaires are minted annually, but inequality is rising rapidly and the middle class is thinning out. Could the same technology that's making so many so rich undermine the labor market?
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The rollout of the health care exchange has been plagued by a host of technical problems. Entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley likely would have approached the website differently from the beginning — one former startup employee says that has to do with how projects are funded.