Along with a look at loads of new hardware like 3-D printers and motion-sensing computer interfaces, 2013's South by Southwest Interactive put a focus on technology as a driver of social movements good and bad. The estimated 27,000 attendees of the annual five-day event, an outgrowth of the SXSW music and film festivals, were offered sessions on how government and hackers are joining forces, the role of social media in fostering free speech, and a warning from former Vice President Al Gore about some of the darker aspects of the rise of tech in everyday life. The civic hacking movement's increasing visibility is driven partly by the growing connectedness between people and their government, said Alexander Howard, a reporter who covers government and transparency for O'Reilly Media in Washington, D.C. Civic hacking also has found itself in legally questionable territory at times, Howard said, highlighting the recent suicide of Internet activist Aaron Swartz, who was facing an investigation into charges he stole data from a computer network at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Six Drivers of Global Change, which argues that the planet is being abused, technology is amiss and special-interest groups have control of the government. In a wide-ranging discussion, Gore touched on robo-sourcing, which is the replacement of human workers with machines, 3-D printing, cloning and genetic engineering. Near the end of the session, Mossberg turned to Gore's decision to sell Current TV to cable news network Al Jazeera for $500 million. Musk termed the Times' recent stinging review of his electric automobile company's Model S sedan - the facts of which he and the paper have publicly debated - a low-grade ethics violation. "Texas is the leading candidate, but we need certain legislation to pass that's supportive of space launch," Musk said, including provisions that would allow authorities to close the beach near the spaceport during a launch and protections from what he described as nuisance lawsuits.

[...] Sandberg says her focus remains on spurring action and progress among women. With "Lean In," Sandberg aims to arm women with the tools and guidance they need to keep moving forward in the workforce. In the book, Sandberg illuminates facts about the dearth of women in positions of power and offers real-world solutions. Women, Sandberg writes, make up only 14 percent of executive officers, 18 percent of elected congressional officials and 22 of 197 heads of state. Sandberg says it's only been in the last few years that she's started thinking seriously about the issues affecting working women.

Facebook is apparently full of secrets.

Microsoft has pulled the plug on its Tay Artificial Intelligence chatbot, which was designed to mimic Millennials, after it started to sound less like an 18-24 young adult and more like Joseph Goebbels.

Instagram will soon be falling in line with Twitter and Facebook.

An aggravated Florida couple cancels their service after Comcast insists they must pay for porn they never ordered.

What's the first rule of fasting club? Talk about fasting all the time, apparently.

A parking version of Airbnb says that homeowners in San Francisco and other cities are making up to $400 a month renting out their unused apartment parking spaces, garages and driveways.

A 10-year-old boy named Jani (whose parents withheld his last name) found a way to get Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's attention.

A Minnesota startup has invented a smartphone-mimicking handgun that could potentially make police-suspect confrontations deadlier.

If, like many Costco shoppers, you use a store-branded American Express card to pay for your 50-pound bag of rice, pallet of cat food or lifetime supply of athletic tube socks, expect a big change in June.

Are the cons of living in the Silicon Valley starting to outweigh the pros?  A new study cites high housing costs and gridlock as reasons for a domestic exodus from the tech hub.