Week of February 10th, 2014

Taking a look at what has, so far, been a bad year for Bitcoin.

This week on Marketplace Money, guest host Lizzie O’Leary gets the latest news on Obamacare from Marketplace reporter Dan Gorenstein. Marketplace Tech’s Ben Johnson gives us a lesson in the volatile currency Bitcoin. Lizzie O’Leary and personal finance columnist Liz Weston answer your questions, and now that most people have their W-2s, we’re looking at the psychology and the practicalities behind taxes and refunds. Indian-American politician Reshma Saujani reflects on how her family’s approach to handling money influenced her own financial habits and digital producer Raghu Manavalan looks at the conversations we’re having out in social media.

A Japanese company bets $900 million that Viber will take over your phone. Their goal: to take the place of smartphones.

The U.S. speed skating team asks for new uniforms

“Operational efficiencies” is often just another way of saying job cuts.  So how many of those are we looking at with this merger?  Later, President Obama makes his first visit to the Central Valley of California, to talk about the state’s drought emergency. What a president can do about making it rain. And finally, It’s that time again – Valentine’s Day… Whether you’re single, married or wooing, chocolate is a must on this day.  But brace yourself before you hit the stores for that last-minute chocolaty gift…the sweet stuff is a little richer this year. The price of chocolates has been rising and doesn’t look like it’s going down anytime soon. Finally, African American buying power may be rising – but do rosy projections of buying power translate into growing economic, social or political power? 

Look forward to continued climate change, says President Obama in California today

Why it could be the best decision for college grads… and America.

A whole week for the lovebirds.

Kai talks to Nela Richardson and Cardiff Garcia. Bets are settled.

Colleges can include surprising fees on prepaid and debit cards.

President Obama’s aid for Western states hurt by drought shows the limits of what can be done without… rain. His main point, buried in his plan, is to look forward to continued climate change and prepare communities and industries to be “resilient” in the face of new conditions. Plus, the latest digital area of intense competition is messaging apps, which provide wide-ranging communication services that will challenge not only instant messaging, but also companies like Skype. Later, Pandora uses what it knows about our musical taste to lure political advertisers. The promise and the peril. And finally: The debut of the second season of the smash hit House of Cards doesn’t just mark the success of Netflix – it’s also an indicator of the enormous changes wrought in the televisual entertainment business.

Sharing data and best practices have caused dramatic savings

What happened to the good ol' snow shovel?

A closer look at the psychology behind filing tax returns.

Jos. A. Bank wants to keep another suitor away.

From quizzes, to twitter trends and corporate promotions, the currently unattached are getting some attention.

A roundup of conversations we're having out in the social media landscape.

62 percent of new health insurance enrollees have chosen the Silver plan. What does that mean, anyway?

President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit the agriculturally-rich city of Fresno, Calif. to address the state's drought.

California's thirst for water may be quenched by federal relief

Comcast says a merger with Time Warner Cable will create about $1.5 billion in "operating efficiencies." Translation: layoffs are coming.

Play Silicon Tally to find out how well you've kept up on this week's tech news.

If the U.S. government allows a $45 billion merger deal between Comcast and Time Warner Cable, many changes could be coming, and not just when it comes to the logo that sits on top of some 30 million monthly cable bills. There could be new departments, new restructuring and improving so-called “operational efficiencies” — otherwise known as job cuts. Plus, Brendan Francis Newnam from APM’s The Dinner Party Download joins us this week to play Marketplace Tech’s Friday numbers game: Silicon Tally.

Austin Golding runs Golding Barge Lines out of Vicksburg, Miss.

Taking action on research suggesting health has a lot to do with where you live

President Obama plans to launch an initiative to help young minority men stay in school and out of criminal justice system.

A rose by any other name wouldn't smell as sweet for CEO Jim McCann.

Comcast’s merger with Time Warner cable will create the biggest cable company in the nation – if not the world. If it goes through, it would leave few competitors for Comcast in the cable business.  Plus, how “seasonally adjusted” works in economic statistics – since this winter season is adjusting a lot of economic behavior in much of the country. Finally, Verizon has responded to the competition by cutting prices, adding more data and international texting with a new “More Everything” plan. As smartphones become ubiquitous – are mobile companies forced to focus less on bringing in new users and more on picking off customers from competitors?

The pay is low, the work can be hard.

Social media currency that can be exchanged for actual products

Tracking the history of the cable industry.

Retail numbers out today don’t look great, sales fell by 0.4 percent in January— when you take into account “seasonal adjustment”.

Comcast’s merger with Time Warner Cable will create the biggest cable company in the nation – if not the world

Marketplace Datebook for Friday, February 14, 2014

A merger would put Comcast in a stronger position with content providers.

Comcast is trying to buy Time Warner Cable for $45 billion.

Beyond the $45 billion in stock, why would Time Warner Cable want to hand itself to Comcast? President Obama launches a new initiative to help young men of color find good jobs. The $1.1 trillion buying power of black people. And how wearing wacky clothes can help your career.

A look at class divisions through public transportation and education.

Senator Rand Paul files a class action law suit against the National Security Agency. The Kentucky Republican has long been known for Libertarian politics, but going up against the National Security Agency is by some measurements a bold move. Also, we check in on a story we’ve covered about growing tensions in and around Silicon Valley, where ideas about class and even tradition are being disrupted. And where there are plenty of accusations that the tech industry in northern California is way too insular.

Guess what they gave attendees at their "Women in Computer Science" event

Reshma Saujani tells us the lessons she learned growing up with immigrant parents and as a former lawyer.

Residents and business owners continue to use bottled water in wake of last month's chemical oil spill

Groups say pieces of plastic — called microbeads — end up in our waterways

Unlike the Olympians I admire, I gave up

The numbers we use to measure our economy might not be telling us what we think they are.

California is in the middle of its worst drought in a century. Why isn't that enough to tip the economy?

Love them or laugh at them, Olympics figure skating costumes are hard to ignore. They’re just so shiny. But how much does all the sparkle cost? Thousands.

Marketplace Datebook for Thursday, February 13, 2014

What could be more fitting for Sports Illustrated's annual swimsuit issue than Barbie, in her first swimsuit from 1959?

This week the FCC adopted new phone rates for people in prison, jail or detention centers.

A very significant study is out that sheds considerable doubt on the value of regular mammograms. We look at how this might affect the industry and the machine  that has sprung up around the screening test. Next, the subject of Sports Illustrated ’s swimsuit issue is…. Barbie. How did this happen? Who is going to be excited about this publishing event? Finally, legislation in New York would make NY the first state to ban microbeads used as scouring devices in facial creams and toothpastes, catching up to studies showing the beads are entering the aquatic food chain because they’re too small to be filtered out by water treatment systems.

…not to mention the Federal Reserve and treasury yields.

Timothy Draper has a crazy idea. The noted tech venture capitalist is pushing a ballot initiative to break California into six separate states.

The House passes a temporary debt ceiling relief measure, college philanthropy hits a new high, and how to never miss a call again. 

A venture capitalist wants California to be six separate entities.

The House voted to increase to the government’s borrowing limit

An easier way to keep track of messages

Donations to higher ed reached $33.8 billion in 2013.

If there was a Net Neutrality Paranoia Index, it would be way up this week. There’s a new quarterly report from video streaming company Netflix. It looks at how well Netflix’s content streams on different internet service providers. And there’s been an interesting pattern. Both Verizon and Comcast’s performance on this report have been dropping for several months. 

Book publishers are taking a page from Netflix's binge-watching-centric business model

Increasing government borrowing authority eases worries.

And your grilled cheese sandwich will never be the same

As more and more Americans work freelance jobs, a new industry emerges to meet their needs

Making primary and specialty care for the poorest – and sickest – patients accessible

The percentage of high school graduates who have taken AP tests have doubled.

Behold the new Era of Good feelings on Capitol Hill? Well, maybe not quite. The latest on the state of play, as well as an assessment of whether the government has finally managed to get out of its own way and create the certainty that markets, investors and business leaders say they need. Also: The College Board’s AP tests have become a highly successful product line — more students are taking the tests, which don’t come cheap. Finally, New York may be the first state to ban microbeads used as scouring devices in facial creams and toothpastes, catching up to studies showing the beads are entering the aquatic food chain because they’re too small to be filtered out by water treatment systems. Some companies have pledged to switch to natural materials.

Marketplace Datebook for February 12, 2014

In early February, the Obama administration announced again it was pushing back some health care rules.

Another Obamacare delay that gives businesses some breathing room. And, the first part of our series on the increasingly isolated culture of the tech industry: Silicon Island.

Switzerland isn't an European Union member, but still benefits from the charter. Official members say the country is cherry-picking which laws to follow.

Like other technology and software out of the DPRK, the new OS seems to imitate rather than innovate.

The Taiwanese phone maker considers new moves after a disappointing earnings report.

Autoworkers at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee vote on whether to have union representation.

Yellen faces her first congressional hearing today as Fed chair.

Internet companies work to influence Congress… again.

A new generation of pioneers is seeking to create their own communities where the focus is on innovation for business outside of the mainstream — and outside of the United States.

Providing basic financial services could bolster the post office's income

A list of more than 5,000 online companies and organizations want to help — and hurt — two separate pieces of legislation moving through Capitol Hill. The bills deal with the Nationasl Security Agency and surveillance. Taiwanese phone maker HTC announced quarterly earnings that fell to $1.4 billion this week. That may not sound bad, but in a competitive smartphone market, HTC has struggled to sit at the table with the likes of Apple and Samsung. Plus, a new operating system out of North Korea and a novel way to give out your phone number.

In China, foreign automakers typically markup the prices of their luxury vehicles by more than 100 percent, just because they can. Tesla has a different strategy.

Companies have more time to figure out how the healthcare law affects them

In sum: it never hurts to ask.

He told ESPN and The New York Times that he's gay — and now the NFL has to make a business decision

Isn't his board getting tired of the mea culpas?

The non-profit makes a deal with Getty to stock more pictures of empowered women. We look at how stock photos have taken over the image world, what the move can mean, and what it can’t do (change needs to come from the demand side, and not just the supply side). In other familiar pictures, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong is in the news again, having delivered yet another mea culpa related to his fast mouth and poor choice of words. How many passes does the man get before he loses his job? And, in medical news, rather than getting paid based on how many tests they do, but on whether their patients get better and stay better. So healthcare providers are looking for comparatively inexpensive ways to improve outcomes. Enter the “lay community health worker.” 

And seriously, what's with those key chains you can't take apart?

Community health workers: an inexpensive and extremely effective medical resource

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has her first Congressional hearing today, and auto workers at a the three year-old Volkswagen plant in Tennessee will vote on whether to have union representation, a decision that could change the strength of auto unions in the American South. 

Millions downloaded this mobile game that flew too close to the sun.

Going away to school is an adjustment for nearly every student, but when you're the first in your family to go, the transition can be even harder

Getty Images and Lean In are putting together alternatives to women climbing ladders and smiling at their salads

The Marketplace Datebook for February 11th.

The U.S. has a new ambassador to China, who'll have to face challenges in getting Chinese and American businesses to play nice. And in New Orleans, learning music by watching the feet.

A grim domino effect for car manufacturing in Australia.