The twin security flaws called Spectre and Meltdown let hackers take advantage of almost any device with a chip in it and steal data, passwords, keystrokes — pretty much all the things you want to keep private. Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood talks with independent security reporter Brian Krebs, who says that on the scale of one to 10 in terms of how worried he is, this is about an eight. He also says we should patch our computers. We get into the nitty gritty of the hack for our segment Quality Assurance, a second look at the news. 

The controversy over net neutrality hasn’t died down a bit. In December, the Federal Communications Commission overturned rules that prevent internet service providers from blocking, slowing down or charging more to access content online. The ruling drew the ire of internet users and small business owners arguing that net neutrality protects consumers and internet startups. Since then, states are considering their own laws, and this week, some 44 senators, including Republican Susan Collins of Maine, said they’ll support a bill that would overturn the FCC’s ruling.

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation. It’s a new privacy regulation that will affect people who live in the European Union beginning in May. It affects any company that serves residents of the EU, and it could make it harder for companies to access their data. So any company that relies on data as a form of currency may have to figure out another revenue stream. Does this mean that European residents might have to pay for Google searches? And could this trickle over to the United States? Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood talks about it with Jessica Lee, a partner with the law firm Loeb & Loeb, who’s advising clients on the upcoming regulation.  

It’s hard for humans to drive in bad weather, and it’s hard for self-driving cars to drive in it, too.  Many of the cars started their lives in sunny California and haven’t experienced much of the world. So automakers are sending them out into more snowy climes. Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood talks about it with Chris Gerdes, director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford.  

The hottest electric car market in the world right now is China. Chinese consumers bought more than double the number of electric cars as the U.S. did in 2016. The Chinese government has said it wants 11 percent of all cars sold there to be electric by 2020. How could this change the global electric vehicle market? Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood talks about this with Marketplace’s China correspondent, Jennifer Pak.

In the world of startups, getting venture capital funding isn’t exactly easy. It’s sort of a business of who-knows-whom. And getting in front of investors can be key. Enter the accelerator. These are for-profit business incubators that invest in groups of startups, give them advice and mentoring, and connect them with other investors. One of the biggest tech accelerators is Y Combinator. It has funded companies including Airbnb, Instacart and Dropbox. Marketplace Tech host Amy Scott talks with Michael Seibel, who leads Y Combinator’s accelerator program.

The Trump administration is asking NASA to send astronauts back to the moon. This would be the first American lunar mission since 1972. The administration says that traveling to the moon will build a foundation for trips to Mars and beyond. But they’ll need to establish funding for it first. Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood talks about the initiative with Kimberly Adams, who follows space for Marketplace. 

Disney has just opened a virtual reality ride called “Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire,” at Disney World. Riders go on a mission to recover intelligence that’s essential to the Rebellion’s future. And virtual reality might also be the future of amusement parks — in part because it can be cheaper. A typical headset costs about $400 to buy, as opposed to a big moving platform and screen, which can cost millions to install. Marketplace Tech host Molly Wood talks about the economics of the virtual amusement park with Elbert Perez, co-founder of Doghead Simulations, a virtual reality software company.