Shows / Marketplace Tech
Marketplace Tech
Monday through Friday, Marketplace demystifies the digital economy in less than 10 minutes. We look past the hype and ask tough questions about an industry that's constantly changing.
Episodes
Marketplace TechPhysical media's comeback
Move over, streaming services. Physicial media is making a comback. A Consumer Reports survey finds that nearly half of people in the US are watching Blu-rays…
Marketplace TechAI meets the search for a BA
As teenagers decide whether to go college, and where, more of them are turning to artificial intelligence to help make that decision. According to a survey out…
Marketplace TechHere's how to prep for a job interview with AI
Imagine you're getting ready for a job interview. What do you do to prepare? You may have your sibling do a mock interview. You might also panic-buy a…
Marketplace TechAI makes it easier to code websites — including ones that scam consumers
Thanks to AI coding agents, basically anyone can program their own software without much technical knowledge. But lowering the barrier to sophisticated web…
Marketplace TechBytes: Week in Review — Google to make links more prominent, Palantir moves to Florida and Ring reportedly had plans to use "Search Party" for more than finding lost dogs
This week, Palantir announced on X it’s relocating its headquarters to Miami. Plus, we look at the controversy around Ring's Search Party feature.But first, an…
Marketplace TechMeta's big bet on "superintelligence"
Meta anticipates up to $135 billion worth of capital expenditures this year, nearly double the company’s outlay in 2025. One driver of that expenditure growth…
Marketplace TechCan software companies survive the AI boom?
As artificial intelligence companies roll out more sophisticated agents, many analysts and investors raised concerns that AI could replace traditional…
Marketplace TechFewer students are enrolling in computer science classes and majors
According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, the number of students enrolling in computer and information science decreased this past fall…
Marketplace TechHigh-tech data centers get a powerful assist from a century-old company
Caterpillar, which manufactures heavy duty equipment like asphalt pavers, diesel engine locomotives, and industrial gas turbines, has been around for 101…
Marketplace TechBytes: Week in Review — Alphabet takes on debt to pay for AI projects, the social network where humans aren't allowed, and Spotify reports record user growth
This week, we look at Spotify's stellar quarter. Plus, there's a new AI-only social network called Moltbook. But first, Alphabet, parent of Google, went to the…
Marketplace TechCrypto’s big growth on the books and in the shadows
Cryptocurrency is being used more frequently in illegal transactions — about $158 billion was used in illicit crypto activity last year. That’s an all-time…
Marketplace TechIs the moon (and its resources) up for grabs?
NASA’s Artemis II mission, which will send humans around the moon for the first time in over five decades, could launch as early as March. This is part of a…
Marketplace TechTPU? GPU? What's the difference between these two chips used for AI?
Graphics processing units (GPUs) have become the most important commodity in the AI boom — and have made Nvidia a multi-trillion dollar company. But the tensor…
Marketplace TechNew study reveals a "smartphone penalty" that distorts survey results
According to surveys by the FINRA Foundation, our knowledge of personal finance here in the U.S. went down by 15% between 2009 and 2021. But what if it…
Marketplace TechBytes: Week in Review - SpaceX and xAI merge, Nvidia and OpenAI's funding relationship and U.S. TikTok's rough start
On this week’s “Marketplace Tech Bytes: Week in Review,” we take a look at Nvidia's changing investment relationship with OpenAI. Plus, a stormy start for the…
Marketplace TechIs social media addictive? And are social media companies liable?
A landmark lawsuit that accuses social media companies of intentionally designing their platforms to be addictive — and causing harm to children and teenagers'…
Marketplace TechWhat AI fitness apps can and can't do — for now
You can get a pretty good workout plan from a chatbot, but the tech is also being incorporated into all kinds of existing fitness apps, from Apple's Workout…
- Marketplace Tech
Making AI work — for work
In his new book, Wall Street Journal tech columnist Christopher Mims offers a guide for getting the most out of the technology. He's compiled two dozen "Laws…
Marketplace TechMaking the most of AI, without the hype
With all the fanfare surrounding AI these days — the utopian dreams and dystopian nightmares — it can be hard to see the technology as simply a tool that…
Marketplace TechBytes: Week in Review – Are we in an AI bubble?
Is AI a bubble? It's the trillion-dollar question in the economy. So Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino decided to look to history for some answers in this…
Marketplace TechA recycling startup joins the AI boom
Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino takes a tour of Redwood Material’s new R&D Lab with CTO Colin Campbell. Redwood, an EV battery recycling startup, is now…
Marketplace TechInfrastructure lessons from the dot-com bubble
Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino speaks with Paul Vixie, vice president at AWS Security and an early internet innovator, about the rapid buildout of fiber…
Marketplace TechA historic home tour of the virtual world
529 Bryant St. in Palo Alto, California, is home to a key landmark in tech history. Now owned and operated as a data center by Equinix, the building has been a…
Marketplace TechRaising the “speed limit” on AI’s “information highway”
Billions of dollars has been poured into the AI economy in recent years. As part of a new series about what the AI economy means for you, Marketplace Tech is…
Marketplace TechBytes: Week in Review - SpaceX eyes an IPO, community members want legal commitments from Micron, and YouTube to ditch AI slop
A Micron memory chip factory in upstate New York is wrangling with local groups who want legal assurances the project will benefit the local community. Plus…
Marketplace TechUnraveling the complex knot of an AI-generated hoax
In the era of AI, sometimes a story is really just too good to be true, even if the initial evidence suggests otherwise.And as artificially engineered content…
Marketplace TechWelcome to the 'infocalypse'
Information Apocalypse Now.AI content is flooding social feeds and its getting increasingly hard to determine what is real versus what is fake. Aviv Ovadya…
Marketplace TechHow "surveillance pricing" charges one online customer more than another for the same item
Consumers have heard of “dynamic pricing,” when the prices are based on demand within a single moment. But whether they know it or not, they’re also contending…
Marketplace TechThe 'biohacking' trend that has tech workers experimenting on themselves
In an industry known for pushing the bounds of human innovation, tech elites are now trying to push the bounds of their own bodies. The hot new biohacking…
Marketplace TechBytes: Week in Review – New chip exports for China, Microsoft to pay electricity for AI data centers, and Gemini will power Apple’s AI
Those massive AI data centers going in across the country can use as much energy as an entire city. President Trump said this week he wants tech companies to…
Marketplace TechTeaching students to 'be better than a robot'
When it comes to AI, educators biggest worry: cheating.With the click of a button, students can form papers, generate test answers or even finish their…
Marketplace TechThis Swiss city wants to become the bitcoin capital of Europe
The pretty Swiss lakeside town of Lugano has set out to become Europe’s bitcoin capital, with the aim of attracting bitcoin companies and the cryptocurrency…
Marketplace TechAI is eating up the world's computing memory
Much like graphics processing units, high bandwidth memory is essential for training and running AI. It's paired with all those NVIDIA chips that have been…
Marketplace TechBuilding a home with future fires in mind
On Jan. 7, 2025, the Eaton and Palisades Fires began, killing 31 people and destroying around 13,00 homes in the Los Angeles area. A year later, residents are…
Marketplace TechBytes: Week in Review – New year, new state AI laws, new showdown with Trump admin.
X, formerly Twitter, is facing a global backlash because users are directing the platform's AI chatbot, Grok, to generate non-consensual intimate imagery…
Marketplace TechSurveillance cameras livestreamed for the internet to see
For the past couple months, YouTube technologist Benn Jordan has been investigating Flock Safety surveillance cameras. With the help of 404 Media, they found…
Marketplace TechFarming in the digital age
Over a century ago, farmers exchanged their horses and plows for the automated tractor. Generations of farmers have come, gone and watched technology transform…
Marketplace TechHow convergence will define the tech sector in 2026
Artificial intelligence isn't just chatbots. The technology is being integrated all across our economy and our lives. And that convergence of AI and robotics…
Marketplace TechHow U.S. political campaigns have used generative AI
The 2024 presidential race was the first big election to happen in the new generative AI era. There have, of course, been major concerns that the technology…
Marketplace TechTrying to stay off your phone? There’s an app for that
The digital detox economy is estimated to grow to $20 billion by 2032. The gamification that got you addicted to your phone might be the key to putting it down.
Marketplace TechA tech company that ‘happens to build homes’
When it comes to homebuilding, Ronda Conger, vice president of CBH Homes, wants to be like the Savannah Bananas.“We are out there trying to do things so…
Marketplace TechA whiplash year for electric vehicles
2025 brought some new speed bumps for electric vehicle sales, namely the Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill Act. It cut federal EV tax credits — up to $7,500…
Marketplace TechAI-powered chatbots sent some users into a spiral
AI psychosis became a thing in 2025. That's when a chatbot leads a user into a delusional spiral.The technology's tendency to affirm what people say can result…
Marketplace TechRobotaxis moved into the fast lane in 2025
This year turned out to be a pretty big year for autonomous vehicles. Waymo is the leader in the robotaxi race and over the last year, its signature Jaguar…
Marketplace TechHow online age-gating laws went mainstream this year
About half of U.S. states now require some form of online age verification to prevent kids from accessing certain content — usually pornography. But in some…
Marketplace TechThe year in AI wearables
Will Gottsegen, a staff writer at The Atlantic, tests out Meta’s AI smart glasses and gives us a recap of how AI continues to get embedded in consumer tech.
Marketplace TechMushrooms could help curb plastic waste
Polystyrene is the chemical compound that makes up styrofoam, which is used for packaging and insulation. But it’s not the most environmentally friendly.By one…
Marketplace TechWhy Big Tech leaders aligned themselves with White House politics this year
In January, we saw a who's who of tech leaders front and center at President Donald Trump's inauguration.Since, the White House has advocated for the build out…
Marketplace TechDr. AI will see you now
Could AI chat bots replace human doctors? Probably not, but that won’t stop people from trying.Just as they did during the emergence of Google, doctors across…
Marketplace TechBytes: Week in Review - Micron's big earnings, Oracle's data center woes and "slop" is Merriam-Webster's word of the year
Building artificial intelligence tools requires a lot of graphic processing units, and those GPUs need huge amounts of ultra-fast memory to feed them data…
Marketplace TechThe challenges of integrating ads in AI search engines
Search engines, social media, e-commerce, and mobile games all make money by selling advertising. But making ads work in AI search might not be so straight…
Marketplace TechTech sector job postings on Indeed (mostly) stabilized this year
A career in tech was once seen as a safe bet — the jobs were plentiful, the pay was ample. But this year the tech sector had another “meh” year for hiring…
Marketplace TechHow states are competing in the data center gold rush
Tech giants are estimated to have spent almost $400 billion in capital expenditures this year, mostly to build data centers for artificial intelligence. A…
Marketplace TechA case for AI models that understand, not just predict, the way the world works
Gary Marcus, professor emeritus at NYU, explains the differences between large language models and "world models" — and why he thinks the latter are key to…