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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While many of those messages are tucked away from the prying eyes of the public, it's not clear they are well-protected from hackers.
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Silk Road operator Ross Ulbricht has been on trial in New York on seven charges, including money-laundering and trafficking narcotics. On Wednesday afternoon, a jury found him guilty on all charges.
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Ross Ulbricht is accused of running the now defunct site. For years, the website allowed hundreds of thousands of drug buyers, and thousands of drug dealers, to find each other online anonymously.
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Doxing is the act of distributing personal information about someone online in an effort to embarrass, frighten or intimidate, and has become increasingly common during highly charged news events.
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Companies including PayPal and Apple are competing to convince merchants and consumers to use their swipe-and-go mobile payment systems. Credit card breaches may speed up the use of digital wallets.
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NPR's Steve Henn, along with two tech experts, allowed Internet traffic through his laptop and cellphone to be monitored. If someone tapped your Internet connection, what would he find out? -
Congress has ordered the FAA to create new rules to safely integrate drones into U.S. airspace by 2015, but North Dakota's farmers aren't waiting. -
Facebook has introduced a way for users to log into apps anonymously as a way to build trust and protect privacy. User info would be protected from app developers, but visible to Facebook. -
The quest for cheap, reliable electricity to power enormous cloud computing facilities is sending tech companies to the ends of the earth. -
A bug called Heartbleed has revealed a hole in one of the most popular encryption programs online. Tech professionals are working on other ways to protect your data beside needing a password.
