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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For decades, the share of women majoring in computer science was rising. Then, in the 1980s, something changed.
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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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Steve Henn of NPR's Planet Money team profiles some entrepreneurs who are working on a novel business model to start up a new tech company. It's pay for service. What a concept.
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Microsoft is buying the company that created the video game Minecraft, which has a loyal following in part because of the freedom it allows players — including freedom from pressure to buy add-ons. -
Alibaba is the biggest e-commerce company in the world. It may also save the lives of a few chickens in Northern California.
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There's a mall in California that straddles two cities. Here's what happened when workers on one side of the mall started making 25 percent more because one city voted to raise the minimum wage. -
Collecting data about people has become $1 trillion industry, but keeping this information safe is proving near impossible. So, a small group of entrepreneurs and developers are building new technologies that don't rely on data as a digital currency.
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Printing your own book used to be seen as a mark of failure. But now many independent authors, both well-known and relatively unknown, say they're making good money without a publishing house. -
Unsecure Wi-Fi networks have been a well-known vulnerability in the tech industry for years. They can let even an unsophisticated hacker capture your traffic and possibly steal your identity. -
We looked at 15 top companies and services that handle your email or store your data every day to see what steps they take to keep it from prying eyes. See how they stack up.
