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

Nov 20, 2010
Border dispute involves Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Google Maps
A Nicaraguan general looks on Google Maps, sees that some nearby land is marked as belonging to his country but is currently flying a Costa Rican flag. So he marches in, has the flag taken down, and claims the land. If it was a movie, he'd be played by Steve Carrell. But the reality of the situation is more complex and thought-provoking.
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Nov 19, 2010
Same-sex couple in Texas gets married via Skype
Mark Reed and Dante Walkup have been together for 10 years and decided to get married. But they live in Dallas where same-sex marriage is not legal. After doing a little research, they found that the District of Columbia, where same-sex marriages are recognized, does not have clear laws forbidding what are called proxy weddings. So they got married via Skype.
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Nov 18, 2010
Why was 15 percent of the world’s internet traffic routed through China for 18 minutes?
Short answer? We don't know. Slightly longer answer: It's kind of strange that we don't know. The incident occurred last April and was recently reported by the security firm McAfee. The Chinese government says the sudden traffic reroute was an accident but little is known about what happened to the data when it was there.
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Nov 17, 2010
Do you trust Facebook enough to let it handle your email?
Facebook announced a new messaging system that incorporates email, texts, instant messaging, and the Facebook messaging people are already using. But given the privacy concerns that have dogged the social media giant for years, are users going to be willing to trust Facebook enough to use it for all their personal communications?
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Nov 16, 2010
New prosthetic arms are wired directly to the human brain
A new breakthrough in the field of prosthetic limbs could make available a new generation of arms that are more nimble and dexterous than ever before. And not only do they resemble a natural arm in shape, size, weight, and strength, they have much more sophisticated wiring, letting the wearer operate the arm with brain signals.
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Nov 13, 2010
Amazon.com removes controversial book but controversies may return
Amazon.com has removed an especially controversial title from its Kindle electronic book store. Amazon initially defended its own carrying of the book, saying that to remove it would be censorship, and then they yanked it anyway. But given the way Amazon stocks the virtual shelves of its online store, isn't this issue likely to come up again?
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Nov 12, 2010
Google picks up data, threats, investigations, criticisms
The Federal Communications Commission confirmed Wednesday it's investigating Google in response to the company collecting information from unsecured Wi-Fi networks while taking pictures for the Google Street View service. Google says it was an accident but the issue is far from settled.
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Nov 10, 2010
Fired for Facebook slams: Is Facebook a water cooler or a blog?
Dawnmarie Souza worked as an emergency medical technician for a company called American Medical Response of Connecticut. Souza didn't like her boss. At all. So she dealt with it on Facebook, ripping into him repeatedly, using vulgar language, and calling him a "17", the company term for a psychiatric patient. Souza got fired. Now the National Labor Relations Board has taken up her case, saying that she shouldn't have been.
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Nov 10, 2010
Bracelet may help communication for people with autism
For people with autism, communication can be a struggle, one that can seem insurmountable. But a team of researchers at MIT may have come up with a fairly simple solution: a bracelet. The Q Sensor wristband can provide a window into how the wearer is feeling at a given time.
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Nov 9, 2010
Mind Blowing Monday: Digital sweatshops are hiring
As the economy struggles to rebound and unemployment continues to hover above 9 percent, it may be heartening to hear that there are plenty of jobs available online that you can do from home. But it may not be that simple.
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Molly Wood

Latest from Molly Wood