What's old-school is new again

Kimberly Adams (0:01)

What's old is new again, and a building boom creating opportunities in Texas.

From Marketplace in Washington, I'm Kimberly Adams. Remember the earbuds with the white cord that plugged into your phone or iPod from like 20-ish years ago? Some of us never let them go, but for most, they're a relic of the past. Not anymore though, Bose announced new wired earbuds this week. The company is calling the renewed interest in a cultural renaissance. As Marketplace's Caitlin Tan reports, this is part of a larger analog tech comeback.

Caitlin Tan (0:36)

Wired headphones are all over social media. People love them, including Instagram user Zanele, who posted a reel about it.

Jason Medina (0:44)

But there's just something about the OG wires that just go crazy.

Jason Medina (0:47)

I don't know what it is about it.

Paul Ganyan (0:48)

I don't know if I'm tripping.

Andrew Roth (0:49)

It's just nostalgia.

Caitlin Tan (0:50)

Zanele, you're not tripping. Paul Ganyan with Circona says consumers spent 16% more on wired headphones in 2026

Paul Ganyan (0:59)

It's for this kind of throwback nostalgia to a simpler time with a device that just does a very simple basic function, but sparks maybe some joy.

Caitlin Tan (1:08)

Like popping in a CD or calling a friend on a landline, the kind with the curly cord. Ganyan says this isn't necessarily about saving money.

Paul Ganyan (1:17)

Everybody has a camera in their smartphone.

Why would somebody want to buy $150 point and shoot camera? It's for the experience.

Caitlin Tan (1:27)

It's novel for Gen Z, says Eric Athas, the author of Saying No to New.

Eric Athas (1:31)

They're the generation that has known Amazon Prime and apps. This is all they've known their whole lives.

Caitlin Tan (1:38)

Twenty-eight-year-old Andrew Roth recently switched to an analog alarm clock.

Andrew Roth (1:43)

Instead of rolling over and grabbing your phone and checking it, you have like five, ten minutes of feasting in the morning.

Caitlin Tan (1:49)

Roth says that as AI surges, people are re-evaluating their relationship with technology and thinking.

Andrew Roth (1:56)

As, hey, maybe this is not so good for us and for the world around us.

Caitlin Tan (1:59)

Roth's company, Offline, promotes another throwback, meeting up with people in real life. I'm Caitlin Tan for Marketplace.

Kimberly Adams (2:09)

The financial services company Robinhood announced yesterday that it will start letting its users trade certain stocks 24-7 on the weekends. This comes as the financial industry has been making a broader push to expand trading hours. Robinhood has allowed users to do round-the-clock trading on weekdays since 2023

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Kimberly Adams (3:16)

Industrial growth has spurred demand for skilled trade workers in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas. SpaceX is planning to expand to liquefied natural gas export facilities are being built there, and there are plans for a massive high-tech shipyard to come to the area. It's a unique opportunity for locals in the Rio Grande Valley. Wages and unemployment trail behind the rest of the state and the nation, but new trades programs are aimed at getting the local workforce into the skilled trades. Marketplace's Elizabeth Troval reports.

Elizabeth Troval (3:50)

Sparks fly in the air in this Brownville, Texas warehouse where students practice grinding bevels into steel pipes. This is Jason Medina's 12-week hands-on program for pipe fitting.

Jason Medina (4:02)

How good that weld comes out depends a lot on how good the bevel comes out.

Elizabeth Troval (4:08)

A secure weld depends on that pipe cut being perfectly square.

Jason Medina (4:12)

When they get out there, that's probably one of the first things they'll be tasked to do.

Elizabeth Troval (4:17)

Medina started his school, STX Metal Trades, three years ago. He was a union pipe fitter and worked on projects across the country, but he decided to come back home to Brownsville.

Jason Medina (4:27)

There was a mission to come home and open up a training facility that catered to the industry that was coming.

Elizabeth Troval (4:35)

He says he anticipated a deficit of workers. It's just him and his business partner who run it.

Jason Medina (4:40)

In three years that we've been operational, we've trained about 150 different pipe fitters, and we've pumped most of those into the local workforce.