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The Industry : All Tech Considered Silicon Valley and its sister technology hubs around the country have driven unprecedented innovation. Learn about the state of the industry, from startups dreaming of profits to mature tech giants fighting to protect their patents.
All Tech Considered

All Tech Considered

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The Industry

Monday

$0 Profits Couldn't Hold Back This Year's Tech Darlings

Twitter made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange in November. Both the social media giant and the relative newcomer Snapchat are valued in the billions, but neither company has yet turned a profit. Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

The Industry

$0 Profits Couldn't Hold Back This Year's Tech Darlings

In Silicon Valley, zero profit and even zero revenue don't make a company a loser. Tech companies like Snapchat and Twitter, which have not yet turned any profit, can be worth billions of dollars based on future potential alone.

$0 Profits Couldn't Hold Back This Year's Tech Darlings

Listen · 4:46
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Tuesday

Check Out These Gorgeous, Futuristic Tech Company Headquarters

Architect's rendering of Apple's new facility Courtesy of City of Cupertino hide caption

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Courtesy of City of Cupertino

The Industry

Check Out These Gorgeous, Futuristic Tech Company Headquarters

Historically, companies often viewed buildings as simply a cost, one architect consultant says. Now they're beginning to think about them as an asset — something that can be used to drive creativity and performance and attract and retain talent.

Check Out These Gorgeous, Futuristic Tech Company Headquarters

Listen · 5:14
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Friday

The 'Blacks In Tech' Series Wraps, But Let's Keep Talking

Omar Wasow founded BlackPlanet, one of the earliest social networks, but isn't as widely recognized as the founders of Facebook or Myspace. Willi Wong hide caption

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Willi Wong

Society

The 'Blacks In Tech' Series Wraps, But Let's Keep Talking

In the years since BlackPlanet launched, Tom Anderson sold Myspace to News Corp. for hundreds of millions of dollars. Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook has become a household name. But nobody seems to remember tech success Omar Wasow. How can that be?

Thursday

A City Turns To Lettuce Fields To Grow High-Tech Startups

A lettuce thinner created by an agricultural tech startup uses cameras and sensors to thin lettuce rows. Salinas, Calif., has hired a venture capital fund to help it attract other high-tech agricultural companies to the area. Courtesy of Foothill Packing Inc. hide caption

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Courtesy of Foothill Packing Inc.

The Industry

A City Turns To Lettuce Fields To Grow High-Tech Startups

KQED

Salinas, Calif., is just an hour from Silicon Valley, but production at many local lettuce farms is decidedly low-tech. City officials here decided it's time for an upgrade — and have hired a venture capital firm to help Salinas transition into a high-tech agricultural hub.

A City Turns To Lettuce Fields To Grow High-Tech Startups

Listen · 4:35
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Wednesday

What It's Like To Live On Low Pay In A Land Of Plenty

Manny Cardenas, seen here with his 5-year-old daughter Zoe, has earned $16 an hour as a part-time security guard at Google. Laura Sydell/NPR hide caption

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Laura Sydell/NPR

The Industry

What It's Like To Live On Low Pay In A Land Of Plenty

Employees at Silicon Valley companies such as Apple, Google and Facebook are highly paid and enjoy a wide range of perks on the job. The security guards who watch over their workplaces earn around $16 an hour, a tough wage to get by on in the high-priced San Francisco Bay Area.

What It's Like To Live On Low Pay In A Land Of Plenty

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Tuesday

In A Divided San Francisco, Private Tech Buses Drive Tension

Protesters in San Francisco block a Google bus, which shuttles employees from the city to its location in Silicon Valley. cjmartin/Flickr hide caption

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cjmartin/Flickr

The Industry

In A Divided San Francisco, Private Tech Buses Drive Tension

KALW

Some of the most heated protests in San Francisco have been over big, sleek buses — private shuttles that Silicon Valley tech companies like Google and Facebook use to get their city-living employees to work. They've become a symbol of the city's changing socioeconomic landscape.

In A Divided San Francisco, Private Tech Buses Drive Tension

Listen · 4:19
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Almost All Tech Execs At White House Supported Obama Campaign

Chad Dickerson, chief executive of Etsy, was among the group of tech leaders visiting the White House. He gave $500 to the Obama campaign. Etsy hide caption

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Etsy

The Industry

Almost All Tech Execs At White House Supported Obama Campaign

President Obama is hosting a high-profile group of technology executives at the White House on Tuesday. Almost every one was a big financial backer of the president's political career. Chad Dickerson, chief executive of Etsy, is among the group but only gave $500 to the Obama campaign.

Monday

Is Silicon Valley Automating Our Obsolescence?

One of several robots at the University of California, San Francisco's hospital pharmacy helps manage and track its drug inventory. Leland Kim/University of California, San Francisco hide caption

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Leland Kim/University of California, San Francisco

The Industry

Is Silicon Valley Automating Our Obsolescence?

Silicon Valley has created mind-boggling amounts of wealth. Entire industries have been invented here. Billionaires are minted annually, but inequality is rising rapidly and the middle class is thinning out. Could the same technology that's making so many so rich undermine the labor market?

Is Silicon Valley Automating Our Obsolescence?

Listen · 5:31
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Exploring Economic Inequality From The Heart Of The Tech Boom

Last Monday, protesters blocked a bus that transports San Francisco Google employees to Silicon Valley. Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez/Courtesy of San Francisco Bay Guardian hide caption

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Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez/Courtesy of San Francisco Bay Guardian

The Industry

Exploring Economic Inequality From The Heart Of The Tech Boom

Something strange is going on in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the tech boom is helping lead the national economic recovery. The ultrarich are getting richer as many other Silicon Valley residents are slipping into poverty.

Thursday

Amid Cuts And Tax Hikes, Tech Companies Get Love in Ireland

Tech companies around the world have set up shop in the financial district in Dublin, Ireland. Peter Muhly/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Peter Muhly/AFP/Getty Images

The Industry

Amid Cuts And Tax Hikes, Tech Companies Get Love in Ireland

Ireland has made a concerted effort to grow its tech industry, through tax incentives and development programs. Officials credit the initiative with helping uplift the country's economy. But the country has also faces local and international criticism for its approach.

Amid Cuts And Tax Hikes, Tech Companies Get Love in Ireland

Listen · 5:25
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Friday

Friday

Hard-Core And Casual Gamers Play In Different Worlds

Kelly Kelley, who goes by the gaming pseudonym MrsViolence, streams her play nightly for her many fans to watch. Twitch.TV screenshot hide caption

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Twitch.TV screenshot

The Industry

Hard-Core And Casual Gamers Play In Different Worlds

Turnstyle

Among gamers, there's a great schism between the casual players who poke away at their cellphones and hard-core devotees who pound at controllers and keyboards for hours at a time. Game makers are trying hard to target both thriving groups.

Hard-Core And Casual Gamers Play In Different Worlds

Listen · 4:11
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Monday

Is It The End Of The Line For The Landline?

A lineman grounds a line on a replacement pole in McNeill, Miss., after 2012 Christmas day storms downed both telephone and electric power lines and poles throughout the state. Upkeep on traditional landlines is expensive, and some are pushing for relaxing requirements that phone companies maintain these lines. Rogelio V. Solis/AP hide caption

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Rogelio V. Solis/AP

The Industry

Is It The End Of The Line For The Landline?

The U.S. landline network was once the best in the world. But these days, phone companies see them as a burden, an old technology too expensive to maintain. AT&T wants to start replacing the system with cheaper options. Some call it a hasty abandonment of the tried-and-true traditional network.

Is It The End Of The Line For The Landline?

Listen · 3:50
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Friday