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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The company's long-term position in the smartphone market is complicated because of its historical association with hardware. One analyst says that what really matters to consumers are the software and new experiences. -
Executives have recently focused attention on Silicon Valley's workplace culture. While companies like Google, Facebook and Yahoo operate by their own set of rules, what happens there may influence how many Americans work. The key components? Interactive learning and fun, one expert says. -
Facebook has unveiled a redesign of its News Feed, but any social network knows that drastic changes come with risks. Just look at Friendster, a site that fizzled after changes to the interface and a subsequent exodus made it less valuable to users. -
Internet networks control more and more of our environment every day. And many of these things can be hacked. That's because over the past decade, the Internet and the mobile phone network have been layered on top of all kinds of technologies that weren't built with security in mind. -
A 3-D printer allows people to easily create Yoda busts, Tintin's rocket ship — and even NPR action figures. But as this technology gets cheaper, the budding industry could face the same intellectual property battles that upended the music business a decade ago.
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After The New York Times published a scathing review of Tesla's Model S electric car, the automaker's CEO took to Twitter to slam the reporter. Disputed facts aside, the timing of the spat could hurt Tesla, which is under pressure to improve its financial performance.
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Up to 1 billion people in emerging markets will buy mobile phones in the coming years, and many will use them in lieu of a computer. While this might seem a natural opportunity for Apple, it may be a struggle for the tech giant to land these new customers.
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One of President Obama's gun control proposals appears to have widespread support — universal background checks for gun purchases. Some experts on mental health and gun violence find problems with the current laws, and they say the system doesn't do a very good job of predicting and preventing gun crime. -
Eden Full dropped out of Princeton to found a startup company that brings the solar panel technology she invented to developing countries as part of a fellowship. The unusual program, funded by tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel, gives young people $100,000 to skip college and focus on their work and research instead. -
Apple's CEO Tim Cook made news by announcing the company will start manufacturing a line of Mac computers in the U.S. But Cook, like Steve Jobs before him, says the main reason Apple produces most of its products overseas isn't about price. It's about a lack of skilled workers in the U.S.
