This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro

More smart traffic cameras, better coordinated Emergency response, and smoother bus rides are all on the way within the year, as Summit County's $50 million dollar, high speed broadband fiber ring network project nears completion.

That's the word today from Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro's Chief of Staff, Brian Nelsen, who is our featured guest on this week's edition of This Week in Tech with Jeanne Destro.

Listen now for more information on how getting all of the county's governmental agencies and municipalities hooked up to high speed fiber is going to improve their operations, and what that means for you.

This week, we're featuring an in-depth discussion about the harm social media is doing to kids and teens; addiction, depression, anxiety, and in some cases—even suicide.

It is in sharp focus now, because two separate lawsuits went to trial this week, alleging that the big companies running social media platforms, including Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads), and Alphabet (YouTube), know that they are causing harm, and aren't doing enough to stop it.

While the two suits are similar, they are not exactly the same, so we asked CBS News Tech Contributor, and former CNET Editor, Ian Sherr, to help us sort it all out.

Listen now:

It was quite a week for news related to the world's richest man; Elon Musk, who announced he was merging X-AI with SpaceX, caused quite a stir on Wall Street, and simultaneously faced serious legal issues when French Prosecutors raided the X office in France.

They are investigating allegations including complicity in possessing and spreading pornographic images of minors, and sexually explicit deepfakes, as well as denial of crimes against humanity such as the Holocaust. 

But they are not alone.

An investigation into Musk's AI tool, Grok, also launched in the UK where authorities are also concerned about the production of harmful sexualized videos and images.

In addition , there are growing questions about what's next for Tesla, as Musk recently announced they're  discontinuing some Tesla models, so they focus more attention on building robots.

To find out more about that; I had a conversation with CBS News Automotive industry expert, Jeff Gilbert.

We're covering some of the biggest stories in tech this week, including a big civil trial out in Los Angeles involving a teen who is suing big tech companies, alleging that social media addiction has severely damaged her mental health, AI technology that is helping consumers build even better custom playlists on Spotify, and big-name musical artists create new songs.

It is also National Data Privacy Week, and we're getting some expert advice on how to better stay safe from scams and hackers, from the Superintendent of Financial Institutions for the Ohio Department of Commerce, Robert Rutkowski.

Listen now:

Everybody, everywhere, it seems, wants you to "like" their product, podcast, delivery service, social media post, or whatever.

But, did you ever stop to wonder, who actually invented the "Like" button?

Well, business strategy expert and author, Martin Reeves did, and he turned what was supposed to be a short coffee conversation with Like button inventor, Bob Goodson, into a new book called  "Like: The Button that Changed The World".

Listen now, as Reeves explains how that seemingly innocuous little "Like" button, has supercharged commerce, and changed society worldwide.