Technology & Digital Life

Unwanted telemarketing calls, trademarked for interrupting dinners across the nation, have become such a nuisance over the years that the Federal Trade Commission is calling for help to stop the illegal robocalls.

The agency receives more than 200,000 complaints a month about the prerecorded messages, which offer everything from credit cards to new medications.

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AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Finally, we're going to take a step back to look at the best apps of 2012. And for help compiling that list, we asked five tech writers to share a few of their favorites.

MAT HONAN: My favorite app of 2012 is Strava.

CORNISH: That's Mat Honan. He's a senior writer at Wired. Strava is an activity tracker for cycling and running, though Honan says he uses it mostly for riding his bike around town.

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AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Here's a motley crew for you. Newsman Dan Rather, rapper Snoop Dogg - or is it Snoop Lion - actress Molly Ringwald, Public Radio host Ira Glass and President Obama. All right, what do they all have in common? They all hosted question and answer sessions on Reddit this year, a link sharing website that's become one of the most popular social media communities online. This month, the site reported more than three and a half billion page views.

It's unlikely 2013 will be the year that jet packs make it big, but the coming year could bring us a host of other new technology trends and products, such as 3-D printers for consumers, smarter smartphones and more connected devices like glasses and cars.

Jeff Jarvis has had enough of the White House's petition site.

The 1-year-old site, We the People, is meant to be a place for Americans to directly entreat the president. Any petition that gathers more than 25,000 signatures in its first month is supposed to generate an official response from the Obama administration.

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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin, and this is TELL ME MORE, from NPR News. Coming up, are you invited to any parties for Kwanzaa, which is going on now? If the answer is yes, you're not alone. If the answer is no, you're not alone, either. We'll ask just how widely observed is this inspired-by-Africa, made-in-America celebration.