• Bytes: Week in Review — Meta's antitrust trial, Nvidia's export restraint, and Jack Dorsey's hot take on IP law
    Apr 18 2025

    NVIDIA gets caught up in the trade war, the titans of Twitter/X debate intellectual property law — and the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust case against Meta kicks off in court.


    We're digging into all of it on today's Tech Bytes: Week in Review. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino speaks with Anita Ramaswamy, columnist at The Information, about what we learned in week one of Meta's monopoly trial.

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    10 mins
  • For the 2034 Olympics, Utah wants air taxis instead of Ubers
    Apr 17 2025

    Flying cars have been a staple of science-fiction visions of the future for ages. Perhaps most famously in “Back to the Future II.” The film may have overshot the mark a bit with Doc and Marty McFly navigating full-on air highways in 2015. But Utah is pushing for the technology to take off by 2034, when the state hosts the Olympic and paralympic winter games.


    We're not exactly talking about flying Delorians or vehicles you'd recognize as a car, but rather small, lightweight aircraft for traveling shorter distances. Reporter Caroline Ballard got a first look at the air taxis.

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    4 mins
  • Can the U.S. get around China's restrictions on rare earth minerals?
    Apr 16 2025

    China is responsible for most of the world’s processing of rare earth metals and minerals, but its new export restrictions have raised the stakes for U.S. efforts to build its own supply chain and processing industry. Barbara Arnold, a professor of mining engineering at Penn State, says there are options, but they require time, development and investment.

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    6 mins
  • Virginia's reliance on surveillance tech raises data privacy questions
    Apr 15 2025

    Surveillance technology like automated license plate readers has become commonplace in policing. They've made it easier to locate stolen vehicles and track suspects, but they've also raised concerns about civil liberties. Cardinal News Executive Editor Jeff Schwaner took a 300-mile drive through the state to see how often his car would be recorded. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Schwaner about his experience and issues related to privacy and who has access to the data.

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    8 mins
  • Is using AI in job interviews cheating?
    Apr 14 2025

    One area where artificial intelligence has been swiftly adopted is software coding. Google even boasted last year that more than a quarter of its code was generated by AI. But the technology is also generating challenges to the traditional technical job interview, where candidates are given programming problems as a way to assess their skills. And lately it’s become apparent that a lot of applicants are using AI to give themselves a boost, according to recent reporting from Business Insider's Amanda Hoover. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Hoover about the controversy over applicants using AI while interviewing for jobs that often use AI.

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    8 mins
  • Bytes: Week in Review — How tariffs impact consumer gadgets, e-commerce and the AI boom
    Apr 11 2025

    The tariff rollercoaster has created a lot of uncertainty in the tech industry. We're digging into how its playing out for makers of consumer tech, e-commerce platforms and AI. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino speaks with Paresh Dave, senior writer at Wired, about all these topics for this week’s Tech Bytes.

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    10 mins
  • Etsy's AI curates the search for the perfect thing
    Apr 9 2025

    Etsy, the online marketplace known for selling one-of-a-kind handmade items, is hoping that artificial intelligence can boost sales of those crafty creations. The site has been selling less stuff and recently announced a plan to double down on high-quality and unique merchandise over cheap and mass-produced. Now, it's launching AI-curated product collections, based on trends like island luxe or maximalism. They build on the work of human trendspotters, using AI to scan the site and tag thousands of matching products. Nick Daniel, chief product officer at Etsy, explains what the company calls algotorial curation to Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino.

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    8 mins
  • What does a bear market mean for Big Tech?
    Apr 9 2025

    After President Donald Trump's launched his “Liberation Day” tariff agenda, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite stock index suffered its biggest plunge since March 2020. The so-called Magnificent 7 — Nvidia, Apple, Meta, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Tesla — lost a combined $1.8 trillion of market value in two days. The tariff-induced downturn in business conditions is likely to be temporary, according to Daniel Newman, CEO and chief analyst at the Futurum Group, a tech research and advisory firm. Newman told Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino that tech consumers might feel more of the pain, but not much can stop corporate AI adoption and the data center buildout.

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    10 mins
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