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Your weekly roundup of tech headlines from NPR and publications around the country, including more credit card security breaches and the latest developments with the "Internet of Things." We asked what was in the hacked fridge, but — spoiler alert (pun intended) — we didn't find out.

Richard Powers' new novel tells the story of an avant-garde classical composer who finds himself dabbling in DNA. He "gets obsessed with finding music inside of living things," Powers explains, and, as a fugitive, ends up leading officials on a low-speed chase.

The state's controversial law required women who want to have an abortion to first have an ultrasound scan and have it described to them. A federal judge calls the law "an impermissible attempt to compel these providers to deliver the state's message in favor of childbirth and against abortion."

The conservative base of the Republican Party, long skeptical of Gov. Chris Christie because of his bro-hug with President Obama after Superstorm Sandy, is beginning to rally to his side.

Freedom Industries has been blamed for a chemical spill that left around 300,000 people without water for days. Last week, a chemical the company uses in cleaning coal leaked into the Elk River and into the public water system.

Rachel Joyce's new novel offers two parallel narratives: the 1972 story of Byron, an anxious schoolboy, and the present-day account of Jim, a supermarket worker who has spent most of his life in institutional care. But critic Ellah Allfrey says that the novel is made up of two distinct and unequal parts.

A new report says instant messaging is surpassing old-fashioned texting in Britain. It may seem too soon to talk about the good old days of texting, but technological turnover is another sign of the times. Also on the decline: phone numbers.

Armistead Maupin's famous series Tales of the City winds down with one last story about Anna Madrigal, the transgender landlady of 28 Barbary Lane. Maupin tells NPR the series originally grew out of his attempts to write a nonfiction piece about the heterosexual pickup scene at his local Safeway.

It's getting close to Super Bowl time, so here's a little fantasy. What would happen if a British sports announcer who has no idea how American football works (not a clue) were suddenly thrown on the air and had to do play-by-play for a game between Alabama and Notre Dame? He knows nothing.What would he say?

Under a deal mediated by a federal bankruptcy judge, a group of local and national foundations this week pledged more than $330 million to help Detroit's pension fund and protect the city's valuable art collection. Bio-chemical entrepreneur Paul Schaap is one of the donors; he speaks with NPR's Lynn Neary about the effort.