Technology & Digital Life

Of all the individuals in President Obama's first-term Cabinet, physicist Steven Chu was arguably the least likely to be found in official Washington.

The Energy Department secretary, after all, was a Nobel Prize-winning physicist from the University of California, Berkeley, the first science laureate to serve as a Cabinet secretary.

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IRA FLATOW, HOST:

This is SCIENCE FRIDAY, I'm Ira Flatow. When you read a news article online, how much attention do you pay to the comments that follow at the bottom? What about how many times the story has been re-tweeted or how many Facebook likes it has? Do you pay attention to those?

Officially as of last week, there's nothing quite like Apple's stores. After an array of patents of its products, Apple has decided to go whole hog and trademark its minimalist store design. The trademark was approved by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Jan. 22, Reuters reported.

This news ...

"For the last four months, Chinese hackers have persistently attacked The New York Times, infiltrating its computer systems and getting passwords for its reporters and other employees."

... appears to be "part of a broader campaign against American media reporting on Chinese leaders," NPR's Louisa Lim reports from Beijing.

Melissa Block speaks with Steve Henn about the reinvention of Samsung and Blackberry.

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AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

In today's volunteer force, when women sign up, they may have questions about military life that are different from the ones men would ask.

NPR's Brenda Salinas has discovered one place where female recruits are turning for help. They're going to video blogs.

BRENDA SALINAS, BYLINE: If you want to be let in on a military secret, go to YouTube and search for Sock Bun.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)

DOLLY MARIE SPICE: Hi, YouTube. This video is going to be a tutorial on how to create a Sock Bun.

It's no secret that Research In Motion is in trouble. The tablet device it released in 2011 did so poorly the company took a $485 million hit. Android phones and Apple's iPhone have left the company in the technology graveyard.