Marketplace Tech

By Marketplace

Technology

What's Marketplace Tech about?

Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood helps listeners understand the business behind the technology that's rewiring our lives. From how tech is changing the nature of work to the unknowns of venture capital to the economics of outer space, this weekday show breaks ideas, telling the stories of modern life through our digital economy. Marketplace Tech is part of the Marketplace portfolio of public radio programs broadcasting nationwide, which additionally includes Marketplace, Marketplace Morning Report and Marketplace Weekend. Listen every weekday on-air or online anytime at marketplace.org. From American Public Media. Twitter: @MarketplaceTech

4.5

601 ratings

Download our free app to listen on your phone

LAST EPISODE

If we live forever as digit...

06.25.2019

Science fiction author Neal Stephenson thinks there'll be a lot of augmented reality and uploading of the consciousness.

Marketplace Tech episodes:

06.26.2019 2020 campaign update: Targeted ads are definitely following you It worked for President Donald Trump, and now the Democrats are catching on.
06.25.2019 If we live forever as digital souls, how would we treat our digital world? Science fiction author Neal Stephenson thinks there'll be a lot of augmented reality and uploading of the consciousness.
06.24.2019 Is social media tearing us apart? Author Neal Stephenson argues it is and has imagined the worst possible outcome.
06.21.2019 What happens if the trade war hits the tech industry? A fourth round of tariffs on Chinese imports could make tech production more expensive.
06.20.2019 Forced tech transfers happen. But how do they actually work? China is using forced technology transfer to advance local firms.
06.19.2019 Facebook’s crypto dream The social media giant announced the cryptocurrency Libra this week, but why?
06.18.2019 AI for Earth helps researchers get more granular with climate data With access to major computing power, the Chesapeake Conservancy can better manage the watershed.
06.17.2019 Sharing cars with ride-hailing was supposed to cut congestion. It hasn’t. Uber and Lyft are making traffic worse, recent studies show.
06.14.2019 Would you buy cellphone service from your cable company? Cable companies hope cheaper prices can sell you on their phone service.
06.13.2019 Looking back at what the movie WALL-E has to say about how we live It's a commentary on consumption, via one lonely little robot.
06.12.2019 On the ground at Huawei’s headquarters: anger and polite robots Marketplace got a look inside Huawei's campus in Shenzhen, China.
06.11.2019 Video games went from virtual currency to real money, and it changed the business In-game transactions are growing revenue, but not without controversy.
06.10.2019 SpaceX satellites lit up the night sky… too brightly Astronomers worry all that light could mess with their data.
06.07.2019 Are YouTube’s excuses for terrible content finally wearing thin? And where should the platform draw the line?
06.06.2019 Automation could make ports more efficient and eco-friendly, but with fewer jobs Dockworkers are fighting the use of more unmanned vehicles at the Port of Los Angeles.
06.05.2019 The future of phone use is group chat and messaging And plain old texting is not going to cut it.
06.04.2019 How to get venture capital for your startup: know somebody Scott Kupor of firm Andreessen Horowitz decodes VC in his book "Secrets of Sand Hill Road."
06.03.2019 Four women who conquered venture capital and are paying it forward The book "Alpha Girls" tells the stories of pioneering women in early days of Silicon Valley.
05.31.2019 Why isn’t cybersecurity getting more attention? And why aren’t our institutions sounding more alarms?
05.30.2019 Could a challenger to iOS and Android come from China? Two Chinese companies are going to give it a shot.
05.29.2019 Politics aside, climate data is a growing business Companies are paying to understand their risks from climate change.
05.28.2019 When summer camp is about becoming a YouTuber Lighting, editing, and branding are taught at summer video programs.
05.27.2019 “Hollywood Dream Machines” exhibit explores sci-fi vehicles used on screen Designers of cars for sci-fi movies and TV shows still strive for a level of realism.
05.24.2019 Are we entering a tech cold war with China? And where would the battle lines be drawn?
05.23.2019 Can tech help protect aging brains from online scams? Software that better screens for fraud might help.
05.22.2019 Fake pictures of faces are getting much harder to detect Inside the world of "counterfeit" faces, or deep fakes.
05.21.2019 “Ethical hacker” is a big and growing job Careers in cybersecurity are a pretty sure bet.
05.20.2019 Startups looking for funding now have more options The venture capital industry is evolving with more angel investors and options for backing startups.
05.17.2019 Why adapting to climate change can be a heated topic Does using more money and tech to adapt to climate change mean giving up on slowing down global warming?
05.16.2019 In a changing climate, we need tech to adapt Innovations include smart tech for agriculture, advanced data-driven risk assessment and all new inventions for drinking water.
05.15.2019 Who pays for the tech to survive climate change? It will be expensive to adapt to a changing climate, from creating new technologies to scaling what we already have.
05.14.2019 Climate intelligence has to come before climate tech To adapt to a changing climate, we have to understand the scope of the problem in order to better predict what might happen, and when.
05.13.2019 In a changing climate, how can tech help us survive? Scientists and investors are talking more seriously about adaptation.
05.10.2019 Nobel economist Paul Romer says the path to tech privacy may be taxes. Specifically, taxes on targeted ads online.
05.09.2019 Will drivers cash in on Uber stock when the company goes public? Some Uber drivers can buy stock in the company's IPO this week. But do they even want to?
05.08.2019 People in their 20s are injecting face fillers to look like their selfie filters Some millennials wish their real-life faces could look more like their Instagram faces. And the cosmetic medical cosmetic industry is taking notice.
05.07.2019 China’s retail sales are growing fast on social media And it looks a little like QVC.
05.06.2019 Nintendo’s Game Boy turns 30 Can the company keep up in a smartphone world?
05.03.2019 Facebook’s version of privacy still collects plenty of data Facebook's shift to more secure messaging does not mean it won't be collecting data about you. Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood talks with Carolyn Everson, Facebook’s vice president of global marketing solutions.
05.02.2019 How will the tech IPO boom change Bay Area real estate? In a place where the median home price is $830,000, what's all that wealth going to do to housing prices?
05.01.2019 Will virtual reality films ever go mainstream? The Tribeca Film Festival, which is underway in New York, features more than 30 immersive movies, or as the term goes, "experiences."
04.30.2019 Apple might make its own modem chips to get to a 5G iPhone Host Molly Wood talks with Anshel Sag, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, who says all this drama is going down in ... San Diego.
04.29.2019 Who protects you from making a bad purchase … on your smart speaker? Think of smart devices in your home kind of like an army of door-to-door salesmen offering encyclopedias or vacuum cleaners.
04.26.2019 After Facebook’s 15 months of “fresh hell” why is its business still so solid? Despite the privacy scandals, the federal investigations and the accusations of destroying democracy, this week Facebook reported its advertising revenue and global users are growing.
04.25.2019 Online retail has all the advantages over brick-and-mortar stores, right? Amazon's two-day shipping was forecast to be a very large nail in the coffin for brick-and-mortar retail. But all those physical spaces still have some advantages over the online giant.
04.24.2019 In the novel “Delta-v,” asteroid mining gets us to move to space Molly Wood talks with Daniel Suarez, whose new book is about a group of asteroid miners recruited by an eccentric billionaire to kick-start the space economy.
04.23.2019 Is ‘Fortnite’ any more addictive than Facebook? Last year, the World Health Organization classified game addiction as a mental health disorder for the first time. But many psychiatrists still disagree with that assessment.
04.22.2019 Sometimes it takes a big prize to solve big tech problems It's been called "'American Idol' for science geeks." The George Barley Water Prize will award $10 million to the team that develops the most promising technology to remove excess phosphorus from freshwater lakes and streams.
04.19.2019 What does it mean to be “employed” in the gig economy? This week the European Parliament passed a law establishing basic rights for workers in the gig economy. It could apply to some 3 million people, and it's supposed to make working short-term gigs a little more stable.
04.18.2019 Big Tech is prepping for California’s tough new privacy law Last year, California passed the California Consumer Privacy Act, which requires companies to be more careful in the way they handle consumer data. It doesn't go into effect until next year, and it's still a work in progress.

Older episodes