MPR People

Jon Gordon

Host/Producer, Future Tense
Minnesota Public Radio
jgordon@mpr.org

Jon Gordon joined Minnesota Public Radio in 1983 as an 18-year-old intern at KRSW in Worthington, Minn. Since then, he has worn many hats as assistant/associate producer, reporter and host while working at MPR stations in Bemidji, St. Peter and St. Paul. In 1997, Gordon left St. Paul for San Francisco, Calif., to pursue technology reporting for Minnesota Public Radio. As host and producer of Future Tense, his job is to remain alert of the rapidly changing technological world, and to present the most important and interesting information in a simple, straightforward manner. Gordon's work has been recognized by the Associated Press, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, The Northwest Broadcast News Association, and most recently he received the prestigious Gerald Loeb Award for business journalism from UCLA's Anderson School of Business. Future Tense can be heard weekdays at 8:20 a.m. during Minnesota Public Radio's Morning Edition and at 10:30 p.m. during As It Happens. Future Tense also airs on more than 70 stations across the country, including the markets of New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.

Jon Gordon Feature Archive

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Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.

Google's new OS: Too soon to hype?

Future Tense's Jon Gordon talks with analyst Michael Cherry about how Microsoft will be affected by Google's proposed new operating system. (07/08/2009)

Watchdog site crowdsources stimulus spending

President Obama is promising to use the Web site Recovery.gov to track spending under the economic stimulus bill passed by the U.S. House and being considered by the Senate. But that site hasn't been built yet. Until then, you can follow requests for stimulus money coming from local governments on Stimulus Watch. The new site relies on public contributions - a process sometimes called "crowdsourcing" - to help monitor stimulus spending. (02/06/2009)

Blackberry users across the U.S. go dark

People who depend on their wireless Blackberry devices may have felt uncomfortably "out-of-the-loop" today. (02/11/2008)

To take on Google, Microsoft bids $44.6B for Yahoo

After two years of on-and-off talks and speculation, Microsoft offers to buy Yahoo for $31 per share, or $44.6 billion. (02/01/2008)

Texting, not talking

Mobile phone text messaging has spawned a lexicon of its own. These tools have also led to ever-shorter communiques. Future Tense host Jon Gordon considers how this style of communication affects the English language. (09/05/2007)

Private medical records exposed on Internet

How safe are electronic medical records? Future Tense host Jon Gordon has discovered that detailed, personally identifiable medical records of thousands of Colorado residents were viewable on a publicly accessible Internet site for an unknown period of time. (05/23/2007)

Daylight savings time: a mini-Y2K?

Daylight saving time arrives earlier this year, on March 11. And experts say that could mean trouble from everything to stock trades to airline schedules, from voice mail to Microsoft Outlook. (02/15/2007)

Twins sweet season comes to bitter end

The Twins' surge at the end of the regular season, giving them the A.L. Central Division championship, didn't last through the first round of the playoffs. (10/06/2006)

Hewlett Packard's snooping reveals workplace truth: there are no secrets

Although it's making headlines now, workplace spying is quite common -- and usually legal. (10/02/2006)

Population explosion returns to the Internet

The Internet population is growing again after a period of stagnation, according to a new poll from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. (04/27/2006)

In San Francisco, the Giants went private for their stadium

With the prospects for a new publicly-subsidized stadium fading yet again, the financing puzzle for the Minnesota Twins remains unsolved. It's much the same position the San Francisco Giants found themselves in. But after voters rejected public financing four times in the 1980s and 1990s, the Giants financed their new park largely on their own. Since 2000, Barry Bonds and the rest of the Giants have played to a consistently packed house in one of baseball's premier parks. But that doesn't mean San Francisco's privately-financed stadium honeymoon will last forever. (05/14/2004)

The Blaster worm explained

The computer worm Jeffrey Parson is accused of releasing represents just one of several attacks Internet users have been alerted to in recent weeks. Parson's creation wasn't even an original. But computer security experts say even as a variant of the Blaster worm, it had plenty of potential to frustrate computer users. (08/29/2003)

Internet sports broadcasts may compete with TV

The quality and reliability of video broadcasts on the Internet have improved to the point where they can compete with television. Increasing numbers of consumers are watching news, music videos and sports on their computers. The latest example: A new service from Major League Baseball. (04/08/2003)

'Contraction kids' will play for pennant

Not only are the Minnesota Twins here to stay, now they're going home - to open a most unlikely AL championship series. (10/07/2002)

Twins are kin to A's

The Minnesota Twins open the postseason on the road this afternoon agaist the Oakland A's. Game time is 3 o'clock. Sure, one team's from the Midwest, the other from the West Coast. One is in the playoffs for the third straight year, the other hasn't tasted baseball's post-season since 1991. But the Twins and the A's have a lot in common. (10/02/2002)