• Bytes: Week in Review – Spotify is sliding into our DMs
    Aug 29 2025

    Chipmaker NVIDIA reported quarterly earnings this week and they were strong - better than expected, even. NVIDIA's sales rose last quarter by over 50% though its data center business was a little softer than expected. So why did share prices fall? Plus, OpenAI says it's updating ChatGPT to better handle mental distress. And Spotify is sliding into our DMs. The music streamer has launched a messaging system on its platform. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Jewel Burks Solomon, managing partner at Collab Capital, about all these headlines for this week’s Marketplace Tech Bytes: Week in Review.

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    10 mins
  • U.S. officials pressure EU regulators to soften tech regulations
    Aug 28 2025

    President Donald Trump called out countries trying to regulate U.S. tech companies earlier this week, warning they could face new tariffs. The White House has struck a provisional trade deal with the European Union, but tensions remain over the bloc's sweeping tech laws, like the Digital Services Act, which requires platforms to moderate illegal content and disinformation.

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    9 mins
  • Automated application systems add insult to injury in a tough job market
    Aug 27 2025

    Job growth in the economy has slowed, and the ranks of the long-term unemployed are growing. It makes the indignities of the modern hiring process even more frustrating for those in the market. Job-seekers are navigating a gauntlet of automated application systems set up to whittle down the hundreds — sometimes thousands — of applicants. Only for many to never hear from a human. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino has more from the front lines of algorithmic application hell.

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    5 mins
  • Denmark to End 400 Years of Letter Delivery Service
    Aug 26 2025

    Across Europe, postal services are grappling with declining letter volumes, amid a rise in digitalization. In Demark, where the decline has been particularly steep, the publicly-owned national postal service, PostNord, is bringing an end to 400 years of letter deliveries, to focus solely on parcels from 2026. And while a private firm will step into the gap, letters are a shrinking business. So as digitalization grows, do letters have a future? The BBC’s Adrienne Murray reports from the Danish capital with more details.

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    5 mins
  • Workers aren't getting what they want from AI
    Aug 25 2025

    A survey of about 1,500 workers showed AI has been a useful tool for repetitive work. But some respondents want more — sometimes, more than the technology is capable of.


    In this episode, Marketplace’s Meghan Mccarty Carino speaks with Stanford economist Erik Brynjolfsson about the disconnect between workers' wants and AI's current role in the workplace.

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    10 mins
  • Bytes: Week in Review: The White House joins TikTok
    Aug 22 2025

    On this week’s “Marketplace Tech Bytes: Week in Review,” Meta is under scrutiny on Capitol Hill after an investigation revealed troubling policies about how the company's chatbots can interact with children. Plus, the White House has officially joined TikTok, despite a looming deadline next month in the on-again-off-again effort to force the app's Chinese owners to divest or face a nationwide ban. But first, the Trump Administration itself is looking to claim a 10% equity stake in a different tech company - the chipmaker Intel. That stake would be in exchange for the grant money it was promised under the Biden Administration's CHIPS act. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Maria Curi, tech policy reporter at Axios, to learn more.

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    10 mins
  • New tools make it harder for AI to train off copyrighted music
    Aug 21 2025

    Last month, a band called The Velvet Sundown surged in popularity on Spotify with its 70s inflected rock. Yeah, it was all generated by AI.


    Synthetic music is getting better and better, leaving a lot of human artists concerned that their original work could be used to feed the machines that might take their jobs. Now some researchers are fighting back with a tool called “MusicShield.”

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    6 mins
  • AI-powered wearables raise privacy concerns
    Aug 20 2025

    Wearables aren't just for tracking steps or monitoring heart rates anymore. In AI-crazed Silicon Valley, a new crop of tech-enabled accessories has taken hold… and they could be listening to everything we say.

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    10 mins