Editor's note: This article will appear in Wired magazine's April issue, on sale March 24, 2009. It is being published online now because the subject of the story, Leonardo Notarbartolo, was released from prison in Belgium this week. Leonardo Notarbartolo strolls into the prison visiting room traili...

I lectured in my friend Jonathan Zittrain’s class at Harvard Law about ten days ago. I shared the stage with Nicco Mele, internet strategist for Howard Dean and co-founder of tech consultancy EchoDitto. I gave a typically long-winded talk on citizen media in Kenya and Madagascar… and the...

Here in the US, the topic of electronic medical records has popped back to the top of the agenda, due to an impending mass injection of government money. Long talked about, long promised and long mandated ( remember HIPAA? ) -- electronic medical records in the US are for all intents and purposes st...

The Canadian Forces are feeling the strain of their ISAF responsibilities and need another operational pause to set things right: OTTAWA — Canada's army, strained by the military mission in Afghanistan, may need a one-year operational pause to regroup and rebuild when troops withdraw in 2011, ...

Erica, who writes Philadelphia Weekly's Style blog, went to Target this past Saturday to purchase some new tank tops. She and her boyfriend filled their cart with a lot of other stuff too—"Ready to stimulate the economy?" she joked to him on their way to the register—and they agreed to s...

Mankind has always been driven by contradictory drives.  The relentless curiosity that pushes us forward and is directly responsible for our progress from caves to  cities.  The fear of change that tells us "hang on, these caves/cities are really nice, we don't want to risk losin...

Lin is replacing the bearings on his work truck. It isn’t going altogether well, so I am staying out of his way as much as possible by doing housework and puttering in the garden. He hates an audience, especially when he’s having problems. I don’t blame him. I do too. As soon as I ...

It’s time for another edition of The First Time News Was Fit To Print, where we travel into the archives of The New York Times and find the first time the paper covered various subjects. If you have a suggestion for a future installment, leave a comment. Automated Teller Machines October 9, 19...

Editor’s note: Below is a guest post from Nova Spivack , CEO of Radar Networks, about a new computational knowledge engine called Wolfram Alpha being developed by computer scientist Stephen Wolfram. Spivack originally published it on Twine, and it is republished here with his permission. Some ...

Section: Audio, Home Audio, Speakers, Video, HDTV, Communications, Cellphones, Gadgets / Other, Green, Household, Features, Originals In a world where the environment quality and economy are rapidly declining, it is important to know what you, as an individual, can do to help the environment and sta...