Laura Sydell
Laura Sydell fell in love with the intimate storytelling qualities of radio, which combined her passion for theatre and writing with her addiction to news. Over her career she has covered politics, arts, media, religion, and entrepreneurship. Currently Sydell is the Digital Culture Correspondent for NPR's All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, and NPR.org.
Sydell's work focuses on the ways in which technology is transforming our culture and how we live. For example, she reported on robotic orchestras and independent musicians who find the Internet is a better friend than a record label as well as ways technology is changing human relationships.
Sydell has traveled through India and China to look at the impact of technology on developing nations. In China, she reported how American television programs like Lost broke past China's censors and found a devoted following among the emerging Chinese middle class. She found in India that cell phones are the computer of the masses.
Sydell teamed up with Alex Bloomberg of NPR's Planet Money team and reported on the impact of patent trolls on business and innovations particular to the tech world. The results were a series of pieces that appeared on This American Life and All Things Considered. The hour long program on This American Life "When Patents Attack! - Part 1," was honored with a Gerald Loeb Award and accolades from Investigative Reporters and Editors. A transcript of the entire show was included in The Best Business Writing of 2011 published by Columbia University Press.
Before joining NPR in 2003, Sydell served as a senior technology reporter for American Public Media's Marketplace, where her reporting focused on the human impact of new technologies and the personalities behind the Silicon Valley boom and bust.
Sydell is a proud native of New Jersey and prior to making a pilgrimage to California and taking up yoga she worked as a reporter for NPR Member Station WNYC in New York. Her reporting on race relations, city politics, and arts was honored with numerous awards from organizations such as The Newswomen's Club of New York, The New York Press Club, and The Society of Professional Journalists.
American Women in Radio and Television, The National Federation of Community Broadcasters, and Women in Communications have all honored Sydell for her long-form radio documentary work focused on individuals whose life experiences turned them into activists.
After finishing a one-year fellowship with the National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University, Sydell came to San Francisco as a teaching fellow at the Graduate School of Journalism at University of California, Berkeley.
Sydell graduated Magna Cum Laude with a bachelor's degree from William Smith College in Geneva, New York, and earned a J.D. from Yeshiva University's Cardozo School of Law.
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NewsLike a lot of machines, tractors are increasingly run by computer software that has proprietary locks. But if farmers break those locks to fix their John Deere, they are also breaking the law. -
NewsState officials say years of deregulation have made it nearly impossible for authorities to find out details from telecom companies.
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With a young, well-educated population, Iran has the potential to be a boom market for tech. But sanctions and negative political implications for doing business there seem to limit prospects. -
The social network Twitter is popular with users, but that's not enough. It also needs to be profitable, and by its 140-character nature that's a challenge.
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NewsA freelance writer got the company to take down several unauthorized uses of her humor by what she says are robot accounts, but legal scholars say proving copyright on jokes is difficult.
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NewsSatoru Iwata, who helped Nintendo innovate and launch its revolutionary Wii game console, has died. His business card summed him up this way: "I run a game company, in my heart I am a gamer."
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Ellen Pao stepped down Friday amid criticism following the company's dismissal of a popular employee. The challenge ahead will be keeping Reddit an open and vital community — and a profitable one.
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NewsMillions listen to services like Spotify and Pandora, but relatively few of them subscribe. Why should they when there are so many free options? The new Apple Music will be free for only 3 months. -
Developers are showcasing immersive virtual reality games at the E3 expo. But aside from VR headsets and demos, there isn't much software available yet to take advantage of the new technology. -
Investigators want to know if music companies are colluding with subscription services such as Apple Music to squeeze out free, ad-supported streaming.
