Last week Microsoft announced that its legendary Internet Explorer browser would be riding off into the sunset. The browser, in its heyday, dominated the Web so thoroughly that it reached over 90% market share, raised the ire of the U.S. Department of Justice, and nearly led to the breakup of Microsoft.

What is the legacy of IE and what does its demise mean for Microsoft? Are the browser wars finally over? In this episode of The Digital Life, we discuss the end of the IE era and get a first report from Dirk Knemeyer from his trip to Asia to research technology and culture.

Every year, the SXSW festival attracts the top tech companies looking to debut new products and services. In this episode of The Digital Life, we discuss some of the latest and greatest wearables and health centered products that debuted at the conference, with Boston mobile entrepreneur, Giuseppe Taibi, who made the annual pilgrimage to Austin.

Is South by Southwest the big tent tech revival for the American creative class? As knowledge workers make their annual pilgrimage to Austin this week to participate in a giant festival filled with the latest in technology, music and film, it’s worth asking if conferences like this one are the 21st century’s communities of engagement.

As traditional organizations, civil and religious alike, like Lions Club International and Rotary International, churches, and even unions lose membership, there is a need for new structures to organize and engage people in meaningful ways, especially those in the creative class.

Witness the rise of the conference, the unconference, the meetup and the ascendancy of the professional group as one of the primary binding elements of our society — at least for those involved in the information economy. In this episode of The Digital Life, we discuss this phenomenon examined through the lens of the popular SXSW festival.

At Apple’s big unveiling on Monday, we got a better look at the Apple Watch, what the company hopes will be its next category-busting tech product. At the event, Apple also announced HBO NOW, fulfilling the dreams of cord-cutters everywhere; ResearchKit, the open source health study software; and the next generation of its CarPlay system, rolling out with 40 new autos next year. In this episode of The Digital Life, we consider whether Apple has jumped the shark with its new Watch, the implications of CarPlay for the rolling tech boxes that used to be just transportation, and the promise of ResearchKit for the medical research community.

The age of bio-inspired technology is upon us. Whether it’s DNA as data storage, transparent displays based on mollusk shells, or surveillance robots modeled after swarming bees, the possibilities abound for natural systems to serve as patterns for the products of the future.

In this episode of The Digital Life, we consider the evolution of the designer as technologist and engineer in conjunction with the ever expanding importance of bio-inspired technologies.