The Dispatch by Molly Wood

Next week is a big one in the tech world news: WWDC, Apple's developer conference, kicks off in San Francisco on Monday morning with a 10 a.m. (PT) keynote. And it's widely expected to be ... kind of boring? That's to hear some of the press tell it, anyway, based on rumors that there won't be any hardware announcements and only minor software improvements. I would argue that while hardware is sexy, there are plenty of ways to make software, apps, artificial intelligence and the like interesting — but you have to have something to say. And it's true that at WWDC, that's far from certain. For this week's Dispatch, I took advantage of being in New York to jump in a studio with Ben Johnson, host of Marketplace Tech, so we could engage in the time-honored tradition known as "the WWDC preview."

Trend alert! Communes are back! But not in the way you're probably thinking of. Group housing is a big trend among 20- and 30-somethings (although not exclusively), but this time around, they're calling it "co-living," and it comes with a twist: it's not just a lifestyle, it's a business model.

Let's take a trip into the wonderful world of TV recaps.

For every Gmail, Chromecast and Chromebook, there's a Nexus Q, a Pixel computer and a Google Glass.

Is retail dead, or just needing a reboot? Molly's about to find out.

In this week's Dispatch, I argue that the fundamentals that make these businesses so hard to grow might also mean that as they grow, they get less satisfying. http://www.marketplace.org/2016/05/04/world/dispatch-ep-14-its-meal-delivery-apocalypse

This week's Dispatch is truly a dispatch from the field! I'm writing this now from New Orleans, where I've been attending the Collision Conference, a confab of startups, investors, marketers, journalists, assorted tech industry smart people and, as it happens, a surprising number of athletes and sport-related tech companies.

Molly has the most San Francisco day ever.

Facebook's chatbots, Yahoo's bidding war and biomimicry.

This week on The Dispatch, we talk about Nest Labs' announcement that it will shut down its smart home hubs. Plus, Oculus fails to deliver its first batch of Rift headsets, and Tesla earns $275 million from Model 3 pre-sales.

This week on The Dispatch, we hear from just one of many drone startups plying the increasingly crowded skies over North Dakota, where Molly's on vacation. Plus: some thoughts on Waze.

This week, Molly Wood looks at the use of social media in the aftermath of a natural disaster or terrorist attack. Facebook's Safety Check — a feature that enables users to report themselves as safe — has garnered criticism because of its selectivity, becoming activated after some events and not others. But it can be a powerful tool. Wood spoke with one woman who was across the street from the Brussels airport when the bombs went off on Tuesday morning. For her, the social network provided solace.

This week, Molly dives into the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco and finds out why developers are cautious about virtual reality and its potential complications. Plus, a look at Apple's face-off with the FBI over privacy.

This week, Molly talked to basketball star Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors about water--the crisis in Flint, Michigan; digging wells in Africa. They also talked about the economics of his specialty: the 3-point shot. He was fresh from setting an NBA record the night before, for the most 3-pointers in a single season. That would be 300. http://www.marketplace.org/2016/03/10/world/dispatch-steph-curry-and-economics-3-pointers

This week, Molly tries out the Amazon Echo...and likes it! She also tried out the Amazon Tap, a portable Bluetooth and WiFi-connected speaker that has Alexa built in and the Echo Dot, the smaller, cheaper, more space-conscious Echo.

Sadly, this dispatch is not coming to you *from* Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, but happily, lots of folks were kind enough to brief me back here in San Francisco.

This week, there's really only one story dominating the world of tech and business: the Apple v. FBI cage match. I took this opportunity to call up the always insightful Tom Merritt, host of Daily Tech News Show, to talk about what a watershed moment this is in the conversation between law enforcement and the tech community, but also what it means for consumers looking for the most private communication platform they can find. http://www.marketplace.org/2016/02/18/world/dispatch-ep-3-apple-and-fbi

This week, the CEO of the big unicorn startup (insert-tech-boom-cliche here) Zenefits got the unceremonious boot from his job, after allegations that the company has been letting unlicensed employees sell health insurance. http://www.marketplace.org/2016/02/11/tech/molly-dispatch-episode-2-zenefits-tv-prices-and-car-sharing

Dispatches from the weird world of business and tech here in the Bay Area. This episode, I paid a visit to Super Bowl City, the place where branding, extreme love of football and high tech collide.