This semester, the know-it-all supercomputer Watson is heading to school. Watson made a name for itself after it trounced all its human competitors on Jeopardy! last year. The supercomputer is "enrolling" at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where Dr. Shirley Jackson is president.

If Congress and the President do not reach a spending deal by March 1st, budget cuts will automatically go into effect. Todd Zwillich explains the steps the president and Congress are taking to avoid sequestration.

Advertised as the first full-service window washing robot, the Winbot 7 is a kind of Roomba for windows. But can a robot really replace a real, live window washer? Patrick J. Shields, who has been washing windows for 25 years, says no way.

Kickstarter is a crowd-funding site where creative people ask for money to complete projects. Creators state a funding goal, and come up with enticements for potential backers. If, and only if, the goal is reached, Kickstarter turns over the money and its involvement ends ...

Legendary music executive Tommy Mottola talks about how a college dropout from the Bronx became one of the music industry's most creative and controversial CEOs. He launched the careers of many superstars, including Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez and Gloria Estefan. In his memoir The Hitmaker: The Man and His Music, he discusses Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, and working with giants such as Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, Beyonce, Michael Jackson, Barbara Streisand, the Dixie Chicks, Pearl Jam, Aerosmith, Tony Bennett, and Ozzy Osbourne.

Kishore Mahbubani explores how the global middle class brings about an unprecedented convergence of interests, perceptions, cultures, and values. In Convergence: Asia, the West, and the Logic of One World, Mahbubani argues that it’s a positive change that world's population outside the West is rising to Western living standards and sharing Western aspirations, but warns a new global order requires a shift in policies and attitudes.

New York state is home to over 1,800 small gun retailers, many of which are trying to adjust to the state's new gun laws.

George Zornick, Washington reporter for The Nation, talks about his latest article, “How Walmart Helped Make the Newtown Shooter's AR-15 the Most Popular Assault Weapon in America.” It’s a look at how Walmart became the top seller of firearms and ammunition nationwide. As his story was going to press, Walmart pulled the weapon from its website, but it's still on shelves in about 1,700 stores nationwide. The article appears in the January 7-14 issue of The Nation.

The U.S. Justice Department has brought civil fraud charges against the credit-ratings agency Standard & Poor's. Felix Salmon, finance blogger for Reuters, explains what the suit means.

"If you did manage to find a multi-millionaire cow, I think S&P really would have rated it." -- @felixsalmon on ratings agency emails.

— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) February 6, 2013

When New York passed a wave of new gun-control laws in January, it outlawed a type of assault rifle made just over an hour's drive from the state capital.

Its allegedly rosy ratings for mortgaged backed securities understated the severity of the growing housing crash and may have actually contributed to the financial crisis. Michael de la Merced has been following the story reporter for our partner, The New York Times.

In the tech world, "hackers" are variously freedom fighters, poorly behaved geniuses, truth tellers, underground rock stars, and dangerous criminals where the objective is denial of service, identity theft, or exposure of private, even classified, data to the public. In the world of cyber warfare, the objectives are much bigger.

Both Democrats and Republicans seem to be getting more comfortable with the automatic cuts known as "sequestration," set to kick in on March 1st. But outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the cuts to the military budget would be "shameful and irresponsible." Nancy Cook, budget and tax correspondent for the National Journal, discusses the impending cuts, from social security to defense spending, and the political jockeying taking place in DC.

New York Times reporter Thomas Kaplan discusses the likely offers forthcoming from the state to buy your home if it's in the 100-year flood plain.

"What do you do if nine of your neighbors took the buyout and you didn't? This is complicated." @thomaskaplan on flood zone buyback program.

— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) February 5, 2013

Lawsuit Expected Against Standard and Poor's | Todd Park: President Obama's Tech 'Entrepreneur-in-Residence' | The Coming Cyber War | An Argument for Retiring the Penny | What a Cyber War Would Look Like | Ike and Dick: Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage

In 2009, Ed Whitacre, former chairman and CEO of AT&T, came out of retirement at the request of President Obama, to take over the corporate reins at General Motors when the automotive manufacturer was on the brink of bankruptcy. GM reached record profitability two years later. In American Turnaround: Reinventing AT&T and GM and the Way We Do Business in the USA, Whitacre describes his unique management style, the process of turning GM around, and what shaped his career.

Standard and Poor’s is the first rating agency to face civil fraud charges from the federal government. The Justice Department filed a civil complaint against the company on Monday. It’s the first federal enforcement action against a credit rating firm since the financial crisis almost five years ago.

New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission is starting a one-year pilot program February 15 that will bring the technology to Manhattan for the first time.

Ki Mae Heussner is a staff writer at GigaOm.