Quoctrung Bui When Women Stopped Coding by Steve Henn October 21, 2014 For decades, the share of women majoring in computer science was rising. Then, in the 1980s, something changed. Listen Loading… 4:33 Download Playlist
Elsie Shutt founded one of the first software businesses in the U.S. in 1958. And the programmers were all women. Courtesy Elsie Shutt hide caption itoggle caption Courtesy Elsie Shutt Podcast Episode 576: When Women Stopped Coding October 17, 2014 A lot of computing pioneers, the ones who programmed the first digital computers, were women. For decades, the number of women in computer science was growing. But in 1984, something changed. Listen Loading… 17:12 Download Playlist
"They'd get the debt. They'd get people on the phone. They'd start dialing, and start collecting." iStockphoto hide caption itoggle caption iStockphoto Radio Spreadsheets, Ex-Cons And A Karate Studio: Life At The Bottom Of The Debt Business by Jacob Goldstein October 16, 2014 Not all debt collectors work at banks or big, corporate agencies. Many work at small, storefront shops. At least one worked in a former karate studio. Listen Loading… 6:55 Download Playlist
Quoctrung Bui/NPR Jobs The Most Common Jobs For The Rich, Middle Class And Poor by Quoctrung Bui October 16, 2014 What do people up and down the income ladder do for work?
Jestina Clayton, would-be braider. Jim Urquhart/AP hide caption itoggle caption Jim Urquhart/AP Episode 381: Why It's Illegal To Braid Hair Without A License October 15, 2014 Licensing laws are supposed to protect the public. But they also raise prices and make it harder for people to find work. Listen Loading… 14:32 Download Playlist
ClassicStock/Corbis Government Episode 575: The Fondue Conspiracy October 10, 2014 The popularity of fondue wasn't an accident. It was planned by a cartel of Swiss cheese makers, which ruled the Swiss economy for 80 years. Listen Loading… 16:00 Download Playlist
Quoctrung Bui/NPR Radio How College Students Battled Textbook Publishers To A Draw, In 3 Graphs by David Kestenbaum October 9, 2014 The price of new textbooks has gone through the roof. But what students spend on books has barely budged. Listen Loading… 4:27 Download Playlist
Screen shot of the mobile game Candy Crush Saga. Screen shot of Candy Crush Saga hide caption itoggle caption Screen shot of Candy Crush Saga Radio You Can Create A Hit Video Game About Anything. Even Making Toast by Stacey Vanek Smith October 9, 2014 Game designers get deep inside your brain to keep you playing. We challenged them to design a video game about the most boring thing we could think of: making toast. Listen Loading… 4:16 Download Playlist
Donovan Graen/flickr Podcast Episode 574: The Buffalo Talk-Off October 8, 2014 Today on the show: The story of a guy who tried to make something of himself by getting into a rough business. And the story of a time when the world went wild for debt. Listen Loading… 17:45 Download Playlist
John Liu/Flickr Podcast Episode 573: Why Textbook Prices Keep Climbing October 3, 2014 Prices of new textbooks have been going up like crazy — faster than food, cars, even healthcare. On today's show: why textbooks have gotten so expensive. Listen Loading… 14:56 Download Playlist
The details in a homeowners insurance policy are amazing Jacob Goldstein/NPR hide caption itoggle caption Jacob Goldstein/NPR Radio Bedbugs, Lava And Bowling Balls: Inside My Homeowners Insurance Policy by Jacob Goldstein October 3, 2014 What the fine print in my policy says about how insurance works. Listen Loading… 4:54 Download Playlist
Household Income Quoctrung Bui/NPR hide caption itoggle caption Quoctrung Bui/NPR Demography 40 Years Of Income Inequality In America, In Graphs by Quoctrung Bui October 2, 2014 Households at the top saw the biggest gains. Those at the bottom stagnated. But what about the people in between?
Benj Carson/Flickr, Stacey Vanek Smith/NPR Episode 572: Jewelers, Futurists And Whistleblowers October 1, 2014 Today on the show: Stories about the secrets of jewelry stores, the problem with World's Fairs and a law signed by Abraham Lincoln that's being used today to go after the largest banks in the world. Listen Loading… 16:52 Download Playlist
Union soldiers found that gunpowder was sometimes mixed with sawdust. Mathew B. Brady/AP hide caption itoggle caption Mathew B. Brady/AP Radio How A Law From The Civil War Fights Modern-Day Fraud by Stacey Vanek Smith October 1, 2014 A Civil War-era law that encourages whistleblowers to turn in their employers has been successful at exposing corporate fraud. Listen Loading… 4:52 Download Playlist
Nurses learn how to use Ebola protective gear in Sierra Leone Michael Duff/AP hide caption itoggle caption Michael Duff/AP Government Episode 571: Why Raising Money For Ebola Is Hard September 26, 2014 On today's show, the psychology of giving. Charities raised $1.4 billion to help rebuild Haiti after the earthquake. But when something like Ebola happens, so far, people look the other way. Listen Loading… 15:28 Download Playlist
The key to Japan's economy? Courtesy of Cartoon Network hide caption itoggle caption Courtesy of Cartoon Network Government Episode 477: Waiting For Robot Nannies September 24, 2014 More than half of all Japanese women quit their jobs after giving birth to their first child. That's more than double the rate in the U.S., and it's a problem for Japan's economy. Listen Loading… 15:02 Download Playlist
Medical workers in Monrovia, Liberia, put on their protective suits before treating Ebola patients Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty Images hide caption itoggle caption Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty Images Radio Why Raising Money To Fight Ebola Is Hard by Zoe Chace September 22, 2014 Donors like being part of a recovery story. It's hard to tell that kind of story about Ebola. Listen Loading… 4:18 Download Playlist
How much for the blue one? Stacey Vanek Smith/NPR hide caption itoggle caption Stacey Vanek Smith/NPR Radio Why Jewelry Stores Hide The Price Tags by Stacey Vanek Smith September 22, 2014 In most stores, you can see how much everything costs. Why do jewelry stores hide the price tags? Listen Loading… 4:45 Download Playlist
Jacob Goldstein Podcast Episode 570: The Fine Print September 19, 2014 Today on the show, we read our homeowners insurance policy — and get to the bottom of all that fine print that nobody every reads. Listen Loading… 17:32 Download Playlist
Alex Blumberg and Matt Lieber work on their startup James Ellis hide caption itoggle caption James Ellis Podcast Episode 569: How To Divide An Imaginary Pie September 17, 2014 Alex Blumberg is starting a podcasting business, but he needs a partner. Today on the show, Alex searches for that partner. Hewlett-Packard, Ben & Jerry, and now there's Blumberg and ... Listen Loading… 26:34 Download Playlist
Photo of a "wrong way" sign. David M. Goehring/Flickr hide caption itoggle caption David M. Goehring/Flickr Radio A Tiny, $25 Million Mistake September 16, 2014 A small mistake in a contract can cost a company $25 million. But, most of the time, business doesn't work that way. Listen Loading… 4:08 Download Playlist
Will Davidson and his Minecraft creation, modeled off the Santa Cruz Mission Steve Henn hide caption itoggle caption Steve Henn Radio Minecraft's Business Model: A Video Game That Leaves You Alone by Steve Henn September 16, 2014 Microsoft is buying the company that created the video game Minecraft, which has a loyal following in part because of the freedom it allows players — including freedom from pressure to buy add-ons. Listen Loading… 3:19 Download Playlist
Nico Sell works in her "office," creating an app that helps users avoid data tracking. Mark Reibel hide caption itoggle caption Mark Reibel Podcast Episode 568: Snoops, Hackers And Tin Foil Hats September 12, 2014 We pay for an amazing amount of stuff on the internet with our personal data. Today on the show: The story of two people trying to create online services that won't collect any data at all. Listen Loading… 16:19 Download Playlist