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The Baltic city of Tallinn hardly looks modern with its blend of medieval towers and Soviet-era architecture. Smoke-spewing buses and noisy streetcars look as if they have been plucked from the past.

Even so, the Estonian capital is one of the world's most technologically advanced cities. The birthplace of Skype has repeatedly been cited for its digital accomplishments. Last week, Tallinn once again made the short list of the world's most intelligent cities as selected by the Intelligent Community Forum.

Talinn residents depend on the Internet for just about everything, and automation is the rule. Riding the bus is free, but requires a "smart card" that you wave over an onboard sensor pad that allows central transit authorities to track your movements.

Mailing a package requires senders to use their cell phone to request a code from the electronic post office downtown. The code opens a locker to start the package on its journey.

City parking is another digital adventure. Journalist Gustaf Antell says it starts with a text message to an electronic parking authority.

"I think everybody in the city knows the number to the parking service – One nine zero two," he explains. "Then I put my car's number, and then I also write the code" for the parking lot.

The fee appears on his monthly cell phone bill, which he pays electronically.

Estonians are also required to carry chip-embedded identification cards. Without the card, residents don't officially exist in Estonia. The cards are used for voting, prescriptions and most other transactions, all done online.

Working Toward Better Government

Many Estonians appear to embrace their digital dependence. It's a trend that began after Estonia broke away from the Soviet Union two decades ago.

Officials say they had to create an "e-government."

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As Russia prepares to host the world for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, it faces a number of challenges: The weather is mild for winter sports; residents are complaining about being displaced; and the project is costing a huge amount of money.

Yet the Black Sea resort town, a favorite of President Vladimir Putin, is bustling with construction cranes. Workers are racing to complete high-rise hotels and state-of-the-art venues for figure skating, speedskating and hockey.

Officials are brushing aside questions about the costs, while Olympstroy, the Russian state corporation that oversees the project, is proud to show off its crown jewels, such as the Bolshoy Ice Dome, a gleaming new stadium for hockey.

The roof resembles a giant beetle shell, fashioned from thousands of glass panels that change colors at night. Inside, members of the builders' public relations team point out the venue's 12,000 seats and its luxury boxes for dignitaries.

The guide notes that the venue has already been tested, with ice hockey matches and a full-scale ice show.

Over at the Adler Arena, two giant Zambonis take a stately turn around the speed-skating oval.

In the center of the track, the building director describes the technical ingenuity that's required to maintain perfect racing for ice and spectator comfort in a subtropical climate that's nearly at sea level.

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I'm surrounded here at NPR Books by people with sophisticated, grown-up tastes — happy to dive into the latest Claire Messud or Daniel Alarcon or James Salter. Meanwhile, give me — any day — a book about teenagers (and preferably dragons). A good YA novel is a polished gem of solid storytelling, but more than that, it draws us back in time to the teenagers we once were — or never were, or wanted desperately to be. Here are five (well, really six) books that capture the roller coaster of adolescent experience: that delicate thump in the gut when you realize that suddenly a friendship is more than a friendship. Or the rock-solid conviction that YOU are the chosen one, the heroine of your own drama (whether or not you want to be). Or just that all-over twitchy feeling, lying on the living-room couch and staring out the window, of longing for your real life to begin.

If you've experienced sticker shock shopping for ground beef or steak recently, be prepared for an entire summer of high beef prices.

Multi-year droughts in states that produce most of the country's beef cattle have driven up costs to historic highs. Last year, ranchers culled deep into their herds – some even liquidated all their cattle – which pushed the U.S. cattle herd to its lowest point since the 1950s.

And dry conditions this summer could cause the herd to dwindle even further. That means beef prices may continue on a steady climb, just in time for grilling season.

At Edwards Meats in Wheat Ridge, Colo., near Denver, workers divvy up the bright red ground beef into trays, sliding one into a glass display case. A laminated price tag is the final touch. Recently, the number on that slip of paper has been getting higher.

"In the last three weeks, it has really jumped," says owner Darin Edwards. "Most of our prices have gone up at least a dollar a pound or more."

Price increases are commonplace when people start firing up their backyard grills, but Edwards says this year is different. Prices for certain cuts of beef have jumped to all-time highs.

"Sometimes you throw a couple big, thick T-Bone steaks up on the scale and it's 30, 40 bucks and [customers are] like, 'Yeah, I can't afford those,'" Edwards sayx.

And it's not just T-Bones. The same story goes for New York strips, tenderloins and ribeyes.

Even with the higher prices. Edwards is absorbing some of the cost. That's not something he can keep up for long.

"If it doesn't come back down in the next couple of weeks, we'll have to adjust our prices accordingly," he says. "We just kind of bite the bullet for a little bit."

So why are prices going up? Simply put, here just isn't enough feed. Because of the drought that has been battering much of Midwest cattle country for more than a year, there's a smaller supply of hay and dense grasses. Ranchers are having a tough time finding feed and when they do, it's more expensive.

During the winter, Gerald Schreiber, whose ranch is Last Chance, Colo., paid more than double what he usually does for hay. He usually maintains a herd of 250 cattle, but last year he prematurely sold more than 30 of his animals, unable to justify the high feed prices. With hindsight, he said he should've culled even deeper. A combination of drought, wildfire and wind transformed Schreiber's pastures into a blanket of invasive, noxious weeds. The fields haven't recovered.

"This is pretty unpredictable country," Schreiber says. "We deal with drought a lot. You got to get the rose-colored glasses off."

Recent research shows more than half of the country's beef cattle are in states where the pasture can't support large herds.

"A rancher has to make a decision," says Elaine Johnson, a market analyst with Cattlehedging.com. "Do I buy expensive hay and try to hang on for another year? Or do I just liquidate my cows? Tighter and tighter supplies means higher and higher prices."

Those higher prices mean more people could choose to forgo burgers and steaks this summer. Sales of beef have been down so far this year, while less-expensive options, like pork, are up. Johnson says consumers can expect to pay more for beef as long as dry conditions persist across the high plains.

"When you have a drought like this and have liquidated numbers significantly, it typically means that supplies are going to be reduced for two, three, four years, and it's one of the reasons why we've seen such a big increase in beef prices," Johnson says.

Most economists agree and expect prices to stay high the rest of the year. Until ranchers can build up their herds, the family barbecue will put a bigger dent in the pocketbook.

Luke Runyon reports from Colorado for KUNC and Harvest Public Media, a public radio reporting collaboration that focuses on agriculture and food production issues. A version of this post appeared earlier on the Harvest Public Media website.