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 9, 2019
CES 2019: The googleplex of smart tech
David Becker/Getty Images
The "internet of things" has come for our cars and for our mirrors.
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Jan 9, 2019
Exodus of Chinese investment from Silicon Valley is real. But how much does it matter?
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Part of the Trump administration’s hard line against China is focused on intellectual property concerns. One fear is that widespread investment of Chinese money in startups gives the Chinese too much access to cutting-edge American tech innovations. That’s why legislation was passed to limit foreign investment. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, is now able to probe foreign investments in startups. And that is making investors, especially Chinese, balk. Deals are being abandoned. Silicon Valley watchers say Chinese money has pretty much stopped coming into the Valley. Marketplace’s Jed Kim talks about it with Heather Somerville, a tech reporter for Reuters, based in San Francisco. (01/08/19)
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Jan 9, 2019
Exodus of Chinese investors from Silicon Valley is real. But how much does it matter?
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
U.S. legislation is making Chinese investors balk.
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Jan 9, 2019
CES 2019: A preview of the inevitable robot wars, and maybe a Bread Bot, too
David Becker/Getty Images
Two days of the trade show have (technically) passed and there's alot to talk about.
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Jan 8, 2019
When Big Tech embeds staffers in political campaigns
Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
If there’s one thing that’s clear from the 2016 election, it’s that the internet and social media have a huge influence on the political process. These days if you want to run a successful campaign, you need an effective digital strategy. Fortunately for politicians, Big Tech companies like Google and Facebook provide representatives to embed within a campaign. They help navigate digital platforms and give tech support. But are those tech reps getting too much access to politicians and future leaders? We talk about it with Daniel Stevens, executive director of the Campaign for Accountability, a nonprofit watchdog group in Washington, D.C. (01/08/19)
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Jan 8, 2019
When Big Tech embeds staffers in political campaigns
Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
What can we expect in 2020?
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Jan 7, 2019
Tech can sift through video evidence…but can it avoid bias?
John Moore/Getty Images
Hardly anything happens these days that isn’t caught on video. Cell phones, security cameras, drones, even doorbells have cameras built in these days. All of that video would seem to be evidence galore for law enforcement, except for a few problems. First: there’s so much of it. Companies and law enforcement agencies are developing algorithms and machine learning to sift through all that video, looking for patterns or places or people. Second: that technology can have all the same biases and flaws as the people who designed it. Molly Wood talks about this with Kelly Gates, associate professor at the University of California San Diego, who’s studied the rise of forensic video evidence. (1/7/19)
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Jan 7, 2019
Tech can sift through video evidence … but can it avoid bias?
John Moore/Getty Images
Forensic video evidence is no smoking gun.
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Jan 4, 2019
CES trade show is not just about the gadgets anymore
David McNew/AFP/Getty Images
If you live in a city with a lot of tech companies, expect that city to be pretty empty next week. That’s because tens of thousands of people are headed to Las Vegas for the annual tech trade show, CES. It’s the place where companies roll out their newest technologies, from huge televisions to gaming laptops to virtual reality gear to Wi-Fi connected plant feeders. It’s all there, but the tech industry has also changed a lot in the many years that CES has been happening. For one thing, it used to be called the Consumer Electronics Show. But the name has since officially changed to just CES. Because it’s not just all about the gadgets anymore, says Nicholas Thompson, editor-in-chief of Wired magazine. Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood talks with Thompson about what to expect at the trade show this year. (01/04/19)
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Jan 4, 2019
Will techlash show up at the CES trade show?
David McNew/AFP/Getty Images
Privacy features could take center stage at this year's show.
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