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Software

SoftBank isn't a bank. So what is it?

by Jack Stewart
Oct 23, 2019
SoftBank’s Vision Fund is a major Silicon Valley investor that plows huge sums into startups — some more successful than others.
SoftBank is a Japanese technology and investment conglomerate owned by Masayoshi Son.
Carl Court/Getty Images
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The history of software "Easter eggs"

by Andie Corban and Kai Ryssdal
Aug 15, 2019
The New York Times' David Pogue recently took stock of a 40-year-old trick.
A Tesla Model S in a showroom in 2013.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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Apple pulls the plug on iTunes as we know it

by Erika Beras
Jun 3, 2019
The software is being split into separate applications for music, TV and podcasts.
Steve Jobs stands by a projection of the iTunes website as he launches iTunes Music Store in Great Britain, Germany and France in 2004.
Ian Waldie/Getty Images
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City governments and their vintage technology

by Kai Ryssdal and Liz Sanchez
Mar 12, 2019
Some cannot keep up.
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Marketplace Tech Blogs

A 20-year-old digital copyright law is still being fought about (and copied) today

by Molly Wood
Nov 8, 2018
Critics say the law is too broad, and that's had unintended consequences.
Demonstrators picket the U.S. embassy for the freedom of Russian computer programmer Dmitry Sklyarov Aug. 8, 2001 near the U.S. embassy in Moscow.
Getty Images
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Divided Decade

How a piece of software helped fuel the 2008 financial crash

by Molly Wood
Sep 17, 2018
The seeds of the Great Recession included a lot of greed, fraud ... and some technology.
Michael Osinski developed software that turned mortgages into securities for Wall Street banks. He retired years before the 2008 crash and now farms oysters on Long Island.
Tavner Murphy/Marketplace
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Marketplace Tech Blogs

Apple's secret weapon? The semiconductor

by Molly Wood
Sep 12, 2018
Apple unveils a new iPhone. What really makes it special? The computer chips inside.
An attendee looks at a new iPhone X during an Apple special event at the Steve Jobs Theatre on the Apple Park campus on September 12, 2017 in Cupertino, California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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Does tech designed to personalize learning actually benefit students?

by Sarah Tan
Mar 12, 2018
Learning platforms that create individualized curriculums for student are a growing industry.
Fifth graders working in a math class at AltSchool Yerba Buena. 
Sarah Tan/Marketplace
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Marketplace Tech Blogs

Why facial recognition software has trouble recognizing people of color

by Molly Wood , Stephanie Hughes and Shaheen Ainpour
Feb 13, 2018
"Data reflects our history, and our history has been very biased to date," MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini says.
Passersby walk under a surveillance camera that is part of a facial recognition technology test at Berlin's Suedkreuz train station in 2017.
Steffi Loos/Getty Images
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UPS is betting big on software this holiday season

by Marielle Segarra
Dec 8, 2016
The company says technology will help it deliver 700 million packages
Nafis Muhammad is a driver for UPS in New Jersey. A few months ago, his delivery center started using a software program that dictates the order that packages must be delivered in, with locations. That makes the job a whole lot easier.
Marielle Segarra/Marketplace
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