Molly Wood

Host and senior editor

Molly Wood is the former host and senior editor of "Marketplace Tech," a daily broadcast focused on demystifying the digital economy, and former co-host of "Make Me Smart," where she and co-host Kai Ryssdal would try to make sense of big topics in business, tech and culture. What was your first job? Grocery store checker (but I also drove an ice cream truck once). Fill in the blank: Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you ______. Time, the most precious thing of all. What is something that everyone should own, no matter how much it costs? A pet! What’s the favorite item in your workspace and why? My electric fireplace! It is both cute and cozy.

Latest from Molly Wood

Jan 14, 2011
There’s more to protecting your privacy online than turning off your Spokeo profile
A company called Spokeo has been freaking out a lot of people lately: the site is sharing information thought to be private. Spokeo creates profiles that contain where you live, how much money Spokeo thinks you make, if you're married, hobbies, what names you use online. But Spokeo is just the tip of the iceberg.
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Jan 13, 2011
Are you going to plug your next car into a wall?
General Motors thinks you might do exactly that. This week at the Detroit Auto Show, GM CEO Daniel Akerson said the company will make 25,000 Chevy Volts this year. That's up from the earlier forecast of 10,000.
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Jan 12, 2011
Will Verizon slow down with all the new iPhone users?
So the new Verizon iPhone gets announced and about a thousand people I've heard from have the same suspicion: all those new iPhone users on Verizon will make that network clunky and full of dropped calls while AT&T's networks suddenly gets zippier and more efficient. It makes sense, but is it true?
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Jan 11, 2011
The Justice Department wants information from Twitter
The Justice Department has been investigating Wikileaks for a while now, trying to figure out if it can go after the international organization with formal charges. Now it's asking Twitter to give detailed information about the official Wikileaks account and the accounts of people associated with Wikileaks.
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Jan 10, 2011
Mobile phones in prisons raise growing concerns
Mobile phones have become inescapable in society and they're becoming incredibly abundant behind the walls of prisons as well. Apparently it's not all that hard for inmates to obtain them, even though they're banned. A crooked guard, a sneaky visitor, a toss over a wall sometimes is all it takes. Those phones connect prisoners to the world, for good or ill, and there is increasing debate about how to control the situation.
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Jan 7, 2011
What you need to know coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show
The annual Consumer Electronics Show is in full swing in Las Vegas. Electronics companies are showing off the stuff they think you'll want to buy in the coming year. This year there's a big push for tablet computers and some companies still insisting 3D is going to be huge. We'll tell you what you need to know.
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Jan 6, 2011
Watching Sudanese elections from your computer
The southern part of Sudan is holding a referendum on whether to separate from the North. There are concerns that the election could lead to violence and terrorism. Part of the international effort to monitor the election involves leveraging satellite technology and mapping software to let people all over the world — including you — watch what's going on.
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Jan 5, 2011
Can the police search your cell phone without a warrant?
Can the police look at what's on your cell phone without a warrant? The California Supreme Court, in a 5-2 decision this week, said yes. Your phone, texts, emails, whatever is found on that phone, is fair game. It's a move that could have a big impact on issues of privacy and search & seizure. We look at the case and its implications.
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Jan 5, 2011
Now you can draw state redistricting maps too
Congress begins a new session tomorrow. But some members of the House are wondering just how long they'll be keeping those seats. The process known as reapportionment is being taken up by legislatures in 18 states that will be gaining or losing congressional seats based on numbers in the 2010 census. We look at the technology that goes into guiding that process.
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Jan 3, 2011
The coming conundrum of home DNA testing
Technology is always presenting us with situations where there is more known about us than we would perhaps like to be known. Don't believe me, go Google yourself and see what's out there. So as the field of direct to consumer genetic testing begins to really gain traction, we wonder what's it going to mean to our health and our society.
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Molly Wood

Latest from Molly Wood