Yelp for Noise

Over an iced chamomile tea at the midtown Radiance Tea House & Books, whose ambient noise level is not much louder than a coffee percolator's, Gregory Scott Farber described the app he created, SoundPrint, as "Yelp for noise." The free program allows users to search for and grade restaurants and bars according to their sound level.

7 years for Sheldon Silver

Sheldon Silver, the former speaker of the state Assembly who rose to become one of New York's most powerful politicians, was sentenced to seven years in prison Friday for his conviction on federal corruption charges. Silver, a Democrat from Manhattan's Lower East Side, had served as speaker for more than two decades, and influenced nearly every major aspect of state politics.

Filmmaker Sara Driver on Jean-Michel Basquiat

In this week's episode of " Scheer Intelligence ," host and Truthdig Editor in Chief Robert Scheer talks with independent film director Sara Driver, whose film, " Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat ," explores the artist's life in the late 1970s and early '80s, before he reached the height of fame in the art world. Driver tells Scheer that while New York City during Basquiat's teenage years was dangerous, it was also a great place to be an artist and experiment.