Marketplace Tech

About 20 percent of Americans have one or more disabilities. And just like the the physical world, the digital one is not always readily accessible. So, how do we make the internet a place everyone can enjoy? It starts with design. Marketplace’s Lizzie O’Leary spoke with Mikey Ilagan, an accessibility specialist with the design firm Think Company, about the challenges people with disabilities face online and how to solve them. 

The computer company Dell is going public again later this year. Just five years ago, Dell did the opposite and went private. Back then, company leaders decided they had to retool in order to survive. Making the personal computers that every other kid in your dorm had probably wasn't going to cut it. Dell and its future are the topic we chose for this week’s Quality Assurance, where we take a second look at a big tech story. Klint Finley is a reporter with Wired and has written about Dell. He spoke with Marketplace's Lizzie O’Leary about the company’s motivations for going private in the first place.

Robots have a long sci-fi history with humans in space. Now the International Space Station is getting a robotic assistant of its own: CIMON. Short for Crew Interactive Mobile Companion, it arrived on the International Space Station on the back of a SpaceX rocket on Monday and looks like a floating soccer ball with a digital face. Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood spoke with Matthias Biniok of IBM, one of CIMON’s designers, about how the robot will help astronauts aboard the ISS.  

The Federal Communications Commission didn't used to get so much attention. But the five-person commission that was mostly known for regulating TV and radio is now essentially in charge of managing how the internet works in the United States, and what used to be wonky policy discussions about net neutrality and broadband subsidies have gotten a lot more political. Back in April, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn announced she was leaving after serving for nine years. Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood spoke to her in May, and asked her why she decided to step down when she did.

As cryptocurrency evolves, it's less about buying things and more about investing. Regulators are trying to figure out how to protect investors as prices have swung from $20,000 to less than $6,000 in just a few months. But no one has yet decided how to classify bitcoin and other digital currencies. That's because they're not really currencies. They're not exactly securities, to be regulated like stocks and bonds. And they're not exactly commodities, since there's no physical product. Nathaniel Popper covers cryptocurrencies at the New York Times and wrote a book called "Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money." He spoke with Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood about how both regulators and investors are thinking about bitcoin. (07/03/2018)

These days, when a show gets canceled on TV, there's still one last shred of hope: streaming services. It’s possible that Netflix, Amazon or Hulu will ride in to save the day and pick up the show after a social media hash tag campaign. Recently, Amazon was that hero when the cable network SyFy canceled its space drama “The Expanse.” But what goes into the decision to rescue a show? Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood spoke with Todd VanDerWerff, critic at large for Vox, about the business rationale behind these decisions. (07/02/2018)

Facebook announced tools yesterday that show who bought ads, where they're running and that give more information about branded pages to help people determine if they're real. That's on top of tools from April for tracking political and issue ads. But is it enough? The tracking tools don't let you see who's being targeted by ads, and advertisers themselves are worried that the tools will let their competitors see what they're running and respond in real time. It's our topic for Quality Assurance, where we take a second look at a big tech news story of the week. Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood talks with Tom Merritt, the host of the podcast Daily Tech News Show. 

The Trump administration this week decided against the hard trade restrictions it had been considering against China, but it's still planning on new tariffs on Chinese goods. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin made it clear the government would aggressively protect the U.S. tech industry. Meanwhile, China is working on building up its own advanced tech economy, one that doesn't rely on the United States or anyone else. Marketplace’s Molly Wood talks with our China correspondent Jennifer Pak about the Chinese government's tech initiative called Made in China 2025. (06/28/2018)

U.S. trade tensions with China are very much about technology. The Trump administration is set to roll out new restrictions this week on Chinese tech investments in the United States and possibly more tariffs in areas like robotics, aerospace and green tech. That's on top of the new 25 percent tariff, set to take effect on July 6, on other Chinese imports, many of them tech related. The United States says the taxes are punishment for intellectual property theft and forced technology transfer — the idea being that American companies must share tech secrets with Chinese companies in order to do business there. Jennifer Pak is Marketplace's China correspondent based in Shanghai, and she recently attended a consumer electronics show there. She told Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood what Chinese manufacturers were saying about the tariffs. (06/27/2018)

President Donald Trump has directed the Pentagon to create a sixth branch of the military called the Space Force. It was proposed last year as part of the budget for the Department of Defense. A DOD report to Congress in March said that "space has become a warfighting domain." Right now, for example, the military has its eyes on Russian or Chinese missiles and whether they could cripple telecommunications satellites. The Air Force has lobbied against a Space Force, and Congress hasn't authorized it. Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood talked with Kimberly Adams, our resident space expert, about what exactly Trump's directive means. (06/26/2018)