Marketplace Tech

The Justice Department filed a landmark antitrust lawsuit against Google yesterday over the company’s anticompetitive practices, specifically around search. The Justice Department and 11 states charged Google with maintaining an illegal monopoly on online search through business deals and agreements that lock out competitors, like paying Apple billions of dollars to make Google the default search engine for iPhones, and other deals with browser makers. It’s the most significant case against a Big Tech company in more than 20 years, since the one against Microsoft in 1998. Molly speaks with Charlotte Slaiman, an antitrust attorney at Public Knowledge.

The Justice Department filed a landmark antitrust lawsuit against Google yesterday over the company’s anticompetitive practices, specifically around search. The Justice Department and 11 states charged Google with maintaining an illegal monopoly on online search through business deals and agreements that lock out competitors, like paying Apple billions of dollars to make Google the default search engine for iPhones, and other deals with browser makers. It’s the most significant case against a Big Tech company in more than 20 years, since the one against Microsoft in 1998. Molly speaks with Charlotte Slaiman, an antitrust attorney at Public Knowledge.

Fashion has changed since the COVID-19 outbreak began because what we’re wearing has changed a lot. One company that knows exactly how much is Stitch Fix. It learns your style through a mix of online quizzes and algorithms, and hires stylists who choose clothes specifically for you. You get a box of personalized items — one at a time or as a subscription — and you keep what you want and send back the rest. Behind the scenes, the company’s tech predicts what you and people like you might like, so it’s always updating inventory and its in-house brands. But what happens to a clothing company, even a super techie one, in a pandemic? Molly Wood speaks with Katrina Lake, the founder and CEO of Stitch Fix.

Fashion has changed since the COVID-19 outbreak began because what we’re wearing has changed a lot. One company that knows exactly how much is Stitch Fix. It learns your style through a mix of online quizzes and algorithms, and hires stylists who choose clothes specifically for you. You get a box of personalized items — one at a time or as a subscription — and you keep what you want and send back the rest. Behind the scenes, the company’s tech predicts what you and people like you might like, so it’s always updating inventory and its in-house brands. But what happens to a clothing company, even a super techie one, in a pandemic? Molly Wood speaks with Katrina Lake, the founder and CEO of Stitch Fix.

This fall, we’ve been talking every Monday about education and technology during this pandemic, including how access to high-speed internet and devices is just not cutting it across the country. There’s new data on this in our latest Marketplace-Edison Research Poll. Thirty percent of parents or guardians with kids learning online and making less than $50,000 say their internet access is inadequate for online school. Marketplace’s Scott Tong reports from rural Virginia on the broadband gap.

This fall, we’ve been talking every Monday about education and technology during this pandemic, including how access to high-speed internet and devices is just not cutting it across the country. There’s new data on this in our latest Marketplace-Edison Research Poll. Thirty percent of parents or guardians with kids learning online and making less than $50,000 say their internet access is inadequate for online school. Marketplace’s Scott Tong reports from rural Virginia on the broadband gap.

Neither elections nor Supreme Court hearings nor social media controversies can stop the autumn announcement of new iPhones. And now, those new iPhones can connect to 5G networks. And you may be asking yourself at this point: What even is the deal with 5G? A survey out this month says nearly half of iPhone users in America believe their devices already connect to 5G — but they don’t. Or they might connect to AT&T’s not-really-5G called 5GE. Molly Wood speaks with Shara Tibken, a senior reporter for CNET.

Neither elections nor Supreme Court hearings nor social media controversies can stop the autumn announcement of new iPhones. And now, those new iPhones can connect to 5G networks. And you may be asking yourself at this point: What even is the deal with 5G? A survey out this month says nearly half of iPhone users in America believe their devices already connect to 5G — but they don’t. Or they might connect to AT&T’s not-really-5G called 5GE. Molly Wood speaks with Shara Tibken, a senior reporter for CNET.

In the past seven months or so, we as a society have spent a lot more time at home. Some of us in the company of family, maybe some pets or maybe with some robots. Our computers, smartphones, smart devices and even Roombas are taking on new significance in our lives as we are forced to stay away from other people. These robots, and our relationships with them, are the subject of a new audiobook by Ayanna Howard, a roboticist at Georgia Tech. The book is called “Sex, Race, and Robots: How to Be Human in the Age of AI.” Amy Scott speaks with Howard about the danger of gendered digital assistants.

In the past seven months or so, we as a society have spent a lot more time at home. Some of us in the company of family, maybe some pets or maybe with some robots. Our computers, smartphones, smart devices and even Roombas are taking on new significance in our lives as we are forced to stay away from other people. These robots, and our relationships with them, are the subject of a new audiobook by Ayanna Howard, a roboticist at Georgia Tech. The book is called “Sex, Race, and Robots: How to Be Human in the Age of AI.” Amy Scott speaks with Howard about the danger of gendered digital assistants.