May 27, 2021 • 20 mins
There has been a lot of volatility with cryptocurrency lately, especially for bitcoin. China has been one of the key factors in the ups and downs. China recently took some actions that will likely ban all bitcoin mining there soon. About 75% of all bitcoin mining currently happens in China. Last week they also warned financial institutions not to participate in crypto transactions. Tim De Chant, tech policy reporter at Ars Technica, joins us for what is happening in the crypto market.
Next, the pandemic has changed how we shop and some things like wider aisles and curbside pickup will be sticking around, while companies that don’t adapt may continue to close. Retailers are expecting a spending boom, but business will have to give consumers reasons to get out, like new concept stores and in-store experiences. Hillary George-Parkin, contributor to Vox, joins us for what to expect from post-pandemic shopping.
Finally, the Army is getting some upgrades. New night vision goggles are being rolled out that look like the stuff out of video games. We all know the green-washed look of the traditional night vision equipment, but the new goggles offer more contrast with soldiers, objects, and locations outlined in white. It also offers augmented reality capabilities. Dalvin Brown, innovations reporter at The Washington Post, joins us for the new night vision tech.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Thursday, ma I'm Oscar Rameiras in Los Angeles and
this is the daily Dive. There's been a lot of
volatility with cryptocurrency lately, especially for bitcoin. China has been
one of the key factors in the ups and downs.
China recently took some actions that will likely ban all
(00:21):
bitcoin mining there soon. About all bitcoin mining currently happens
there in China. Tim Deshont, tech policy reporter at ours
Technica joins us for what is happening in the crypto market. Next.
The pandemic has changed the way we shop, and some
things like wider aisles and curbside pickup will be sticking around,
while companies that don't adapt may continue to close. Retailers
(00:45):
are expecting a spending boom, but businesses will have to
give consumers reasons to get out, like new concept stores
and in store experience. Hillary George Parkin, contributor to Vox,
joins us for what to expect from post pandemics office. Finally,
the Army is getting some upgrade. New night vision goggles
are being rolled out that looked like the stuff out
(01:06):
of video games. We all know the greenwashed look of
the traditional night vision equipment, but The new goggles offer
more contrast with soldiers, objects and locations outlined in white.
It also offers augmented reality capability. Dalvin Brown, innovations reporter
at the Washington Post, joins us for the new night
(01:27):
Vision tech. It's news without the noise. Let's dive in
and there. They said, basically, almost verbatim, that they were
going to crack down on bitcoin minding and trading. There
are a number of reasons for that, but the one
that Data lists first and foremost is financial stability. They
kind of view it as a commodity as opposed to
a currency, so they're worried about people gambling on that.
(01:50):
US now is Tim Deshant, tech policy reporter at Ours Technica.
Thanks for joining us, Tim, thanks for having me. I
wanted to talk a little bit more about Bitcoin in
the cryptocurrency market. You know, it's already been a very
volatile market to begin with, but in the past couple
of weeks we've seen some big swings. Bitcoin, the highest
(02:10):
value of cryptocurrency, just dropped tremendously and you know, has
effects on all the other cryptos out there as well.
China really seems to be a key figure in what's
going on with some of these swings, and it seems
like they will likely been all bitcoin mining pretty soon.
So Tim tell us a little bit about what we're
seeing from them. Yeah, it doesn't seem that way. The
(02:32):
latest news comes out of a statement that was put
forth by the Financial Stability and Developing Committee that's part
of the State Council there, which is kind of like
their cabinet, and there they said basically almost verbatim, that
they were going to crack down on bitcoin mining and trading.
There are a number of reasons for that, but the
one that Data lists first and foremost is financial stability.
(02:52):
They kind of view it as a commodity as opposed
to a currency, so they're worried about people gambling on that.
So how much actual coin mining is done out there
quite a bit. So the most recent ustment that I
saw exided about happening within the countries. So if all
that processing power comes offline, or even a portion of it,
(03:12):
that's going to have a significant impact. You know, you
mentioned kind of some of the concerns from the Chinese
government when it comes to uh, the volatility of it
and everything. They also have other concerns about money laundering, trafficking, smuggling,
and even the energy use that it takes to do this.
I've seen videos online of people, you know, kind of
showing off their bitcoin mining things, and some of them
(03:35):
are huge warehouses even and they get super loud because
they're just a bunch of computers constantly running. Tell me
a little bit about that those concerns. That's a big
probably a big part of what Chinese concerned about two.
Though they didn't state at the top in the statement
that they put out from the State Council, it's something
that they've floated time and again again because the mining
(03:55):
is done within the country, especially in coal heavy regions
like Mongolia, where power is cheap because it's on cheaply
mind coal. But as a result, you're seeing some bitcoin
facilities drawing down fifty megawatts, which is easily the amount
of production that you can see from a coal fired
power plant. So I'm sure that pollution concerns are high
(04:16):
on their list because China has one of the most
energy intensive economies right now, and if they're going to
reach their goal of hitting zero by having the world's
bitcoin processing happening within their borders, does not make that
look very likely. I always love the comparisons of this
takes as much energy to run the whole country basically,
(04:37):
and the bitcoin network demands so much energy that it
uses as much power as the Netherlands does to maintain
its normal operations. So when you hear things like that,
you think, man, that is an outstanding output of energy
that they're using. And Tesla figures into all of this
stuff with bitcoin as well. Earlier in the year they
said they were going to make a big investment in
(04:57):
bitcoin and allow purchases of Tesla's with it. Then they
took that back and cited the energy and carbon footprint
as concerns about this. And you mentioned in your article
to how the bitcoin cost of a Model three and
the carbon dioxide explained that to us a little bit.
So if we were to just look at the actual
production of Tesla Model three, it takes just under nine
(05:20):
tons of carbon dioxide to produce that and operated over
its lifetime assu when you're driving about a hundred thousand miles.
When Tesla announced that you could buy a Model three
with bitcoin, the amount of energy embodied within that bitcoin
purchase was about four hundred tons, and when they canceled it,
it was over five hundred tons, so you're looking at
carbon footprint that vastly more significant in the purchase of
(05:45):
using bitcoin than even just in the production of a car.
In fact, it's more than the lifetime carbon cost of
a fossil fuel powered vehicle. So from a marketing perspective,
it didn't seem to make a lot of sense for
Tesla to continue accepting bitcoin. So I should say they
still hold quite a bit of bitcoin as kind of
a reserve currency of their own. So what does all
(06:05):
of this do to Bitcoin? To the cryptocurrency market? As
we start seeing China try to back out of some
of this on multiple angles, regulations who knows of the
United States will try to put forward some type of
regulations in the future as well. I mean, what does
this do to the cryptocurrency market? As you said earlier,
you know, Bitcoin kind of foreshadows what happens in the
(06:27):
rest of the market. You may start to see some splits.
If Bitcoin gets a lot of attention paid to it,
maybe some of the others that split off and be
able to navigate the waters a little bit differently in
terms of regulation, You're starting to see that in the US,
the i R S announced that any transactions over ten
dollars need to be reported, and several government agencies, Department
(06:48):
of Justice, Community Futures Trading Commission, and i r S
are looking into suspect transactions that went through one bitcoin
exchange known as Finance. So you are starting to see
things turned that way in terms of like the mining
and stuff like that happening within China. If that were
to be shut down, chances are you're going to see
those computers pop up somewhere else. They might appear in
(07:10):
nearby countries like Mongolia or Kazakhs done or they might
be shipped out and sold elsewhere, possibly popping up in
the United States. The amount of money that these people
have been invested in the hardware, it's pretty significant. I'm
guessing they'd want to see some return on that. One
last question on China and all this because we had
also heard that they're trying to do some type of
digital currency for themselves with their own dollar that you on,
(07:33):
how does this figure into that, Well, it would certainly
give them a window into what's happening with that currency
in a way that they don't have right now. With bitcoin.
Bitcoin isn't necessarily of anonymous there are ways to track
flows between wallets, and then when people go to cash
at in for a currency like the dollar or the
lan that's when you can start to see who's holding
(07:54):
some of that. But they don't have nearly the access
to it that they would have with other payment processing
systems like Ali pay within their country. So them rolling
out the digital you on the idea there is that
not only are they gonna maybe limit some of the
volatility that they're seeing in bitcoin, but they're also going
to get an idea of what's happening with that money,
(08:16):
something they can't really see right now with bitcoin. Tim Deshont,
tech policy reporter at Ours Technica, thank you very much
for joining us. Thank you. Retailers, do you want to
have people back in stores? And shoppers also want to
(08:39):
be back in them, So having some reason that they're
going to be there beyond just the merchandise that's sitting
on the shelf is going to be really important. Joining
us now is Hillary George Parkin, contributor to Vox. Thanks
for joining us, Hillary, Thanks so much for having me.
I want to talk a little bit about the future
of shopping post pandemic. You know a lot of places
are opening back up. Some are already full the open,
(09:00):
but as we kind of get more vaccines out there,
the public is starting to venture out more. You start
your story off with someone excited to go to the
mall and how the experience was a little different. I
personally have not gone out to them all yet, but
this is kind of what we're back in for. Everybody's
going to get back to normal. We're seeing things like
wider aisles and grocery stores. Curbside pickup was such a
(09:22):
huge thing throughout the pandemic, and a lot of those
things are gonna stick. A lot of things are gonna
be involved in the future of of shopping. So Hillary
tell us what we can expect to see. Definitely, a
lot of these habits that we have picked up during
the pandemic and retailers have worked so quickly to adjust
to and to help us shop with, are definitely gonna
(09:45):
stick around post pandemic as well. So something like curbside
pick up, now that Americans have gotten used to being
able to go drive up to their local store and
have their groceries or order delivered to their trunks, they
want to stick around. So definitely they're going to be
stores that are going to continue to offer that stores
(10:06):
that are catering to something like ordering online and going
to the store to pick it up, or having the
item ship directly from the store rather than from a warehouse.
Wider aisles is one thing that stores have now realized
are an amenity that customers actually like having a bit
of room to walk around and look at merchandise and
not feel crowded. And you know, that's something that historically
(10:29):
has been kind of pushed to the side in favor
of having more and more merchandise on display that now
I think we'll have seen that. One of the interesting
things about this also is we heard a lot about
store closures. You know, malls themselves are kind of already
in decline pre pandemic, but there's been a lot of
store closures. There's forecasts for more. You just kind of
retail locations that just can't make it through all of this.
(10:52):
So what a lot of stores are also gonna have
to do is give you that reason to go shopping,
give you that reason to get in store. So there's
a lot of new con steps that a lot of
stores are working on. Michael's has craft corners, maker spaces,
They call them. The exporting goods is going to have
a bunch of interactive things, batting cages, climbing walls. So
this is kind of another thing that stores are really
(11:14):
gonna have to revamp what they do to draw those
people in as well. Experiential retail is something that the
industry talked a lot about even prior to the pandemic,
and for a while it seemed like, oh, maybe that's
going to go away in the conversation because people are
just looking for convenience now they want to go, you know,
be in and out quick from the store. But it
really is something that now that we are in the
(11:36):
recovery mode and more people are getting vaccinated and comfortable
in indoor spaces, retailers do want to have people back
in stores, and shoppers also want to be back in them.
So having some reason that they're going to be there
beyond just the merchandise that's sitting on the shelf is
going to be really important. You mentioned Nike in your article.
Tell me about what they're doing with some of their stores,
because this is part of that thing, you know, giving
(11:57):
people more reasons to come, but it's also creating things
for the community. Nike is interesting because they have so
much data on their customers based on their membership program,
so they are able to really tailor the individual stores
to the customer demographics in that area. So they have
these Nike Live stores, which basically take data about customers
(12:20):
buying patterns and engagement and provide a very localized brick
and mortar experience. So location in Tokyo would be very
different from one in Tampa or one in Atlanta, one
in New York City, and each one is going to
really reflect the community around it. Yeah, the fashion is different,
the buying trends are different, so that that's a that's
(12:41):
a great idea on their behalf. Finally, on all of this,
what's not gonna last? We've been talking about how things
are changing, wider aisles, all that stuff, more detailed experiences.
What's not going to last in all of this one
thing that was going away prior to the pandemic, and
I think the past year it's really expudited at UM
some of the less successful department stores and less successful
(13:04):
malls that they were anchoring. So there's statistics that say
that only based department stores remain in the US, and
half of them are expected to be shuttered by the
end of so you know, it's not that all department
stores are going to close, or that all malls are dying.
It's that only the best of the best are going
(13:24):
to survive because those are really the kinds of shopping
experiences that can in some cases be easily replicated online.
So it's really going to just be the ones that
really serve a purpose that will kind of outlast this
major shift in consumer spending patterns. Hillary George Parkin, contributor
to Vox, thank you very much for joining us. Thanks
(13:47):
so much. Have a good day. For what's happening there
is Typically there's a green boss for material that's baked
into the goggles, and that's why it has that greenish shoe.
But they're using white prosper um in the goggles now,
(14:08):
which creates I guess greater depth and clarity, is what
some of the officers are telling me. Joining us now
is Dalvin Brown, innovations reporter at the Washington Post. Thanks
for joining us, Dalvin, Thanks for having me. The Army
is going to be getting some night vision upgrades pretty soon.
They're already rolling them out and training with them. You know,
everybody's familiar with the old fashioned night vision goggles has
(14:31):
that green tint obviously, uh, you've seen them in movies
and video games and everything. But now they're having taken
on a new look and it looks a lot more
like a video game. In one version, there's like an
outline mode where people are outlined with a white aura.
Let's say there's augmented reality that goes into these new goggles.
(14:51):
A lot of cool stuff. So Dalvin walk us through
some of the improvements that are being made on these. Well.
I think the big difference, the sweeping difference is certainly
the color. So we're we're accustomed to seeing that sort
of green washed night vision imagery, right, that's been around
for centuries. But what the Army is rolling out is
(15:12):
a pair of night vision binoculars that's more black and white,
if you will, so it offers greater contrast. So what's
happening there is typically there's a green fosper material that's
baked into the goggles and that's why it has that
greenish hue. But they're using white fosper um in the
goggles now, which creates I guess greater depth and clarity.
(15:35):
Is what some of the officers are telling me. Apparently
the green night vision looks really cool, but it can
make your eyes hurt and the head hurt over time.
So yeah, that's one of the big changes. But also,
like you said, it's it's a it's a more gamified experience.
So they're adding a virtual reality elements so that you
can overlay a map perhaps into the goggles. There's also
(15:57):
some connectivity that's being added, so you can perhaps communicate
with others, or show video or point out objects in
your goggles that other soldiers could also see. So yeah,
some pretty cool, some pretty cool stuff. You mentioned the
gamifying of all of this, and you spoke to the
maker of these new goggles too, and he he mentioned
that specifically that you know, a lot of the people
(16:20):
growing up right now playing these video games, they have
a lot of information in their field of vision when
they're playing these games and whatnot, and they're kind of
expecting that when they go into the battlefield of the future,
let's say, so they're kind of using that in a
sense when they're developing these things. As you mentioned, all
those things that you mentioned, you know, map overlays and
all that stuff. They can do that now and and
(16:41):
you're right. That contrast makes it really clear, so hopefully
there is no friendly fire things like that. You can
really identify targets and whatnot. But that was a big
thing is making it seem like familiar to our soldiers
of today when you know they were playing those games
as kids. That's certainly something that the company behind these
things that A Bit System said And one of the
(17:02):
things that they also noted, which you had mentioned earlier,
were the addition of modes, right, these different sort of
visual modes, and one of those is thermal imaging, and
so you know, traditionally, you know, it might be hard
to see an implement whether or you know, if there's
smoke ahead of you with night vision tech. But with
the thermal imaging, right, you're seeing anything that's giving off heat.
(17:25):
So soldiers can now see more clearly sometime in obstructed scenarios,
and as you mentioned, the outline mode that really makes
it look like a video game. That kind of also
helps people see and understand with greater clarity what they're
looking at. You know, if you're looking through these night
vision goggles all night, from what I've heard, the perception
(17:46):
isn't always as clear as you'd like it. To be,
so this new tech is supposed to help with that.
This is all part of modernization effort for the tools
that the military uses. This is always an important question
to ask, how much do they cost me? The goggles
from elbe It. While the company didn't break them down
by specific costs, but the Army specifically has a deal
worth four two million dollars to produce these things on
(18:08):
a rolling basis, so presumably that's a lot of goggles.
Elbt I looked at some costs online for comparable night
vision tech and these run from seven thousand dollars up
to twelve thousand dollars per headset. But again that's a
one off of someone's ordering one online, whereas the military
is getting them involved. But that's the cool thing. You know,
(18:30):
Civilians can play with these two It's probably not the
exact same models or setups and all that, but at
least some of this night vision technology is available to people.
As you mentioned, it's gonna cost you seven thousand, eleven
thousand dollars or a little bit more. Even it's not
just the Army. Also, the Marines are also getting to
improve their night vision tech too. Yeah, they are, and
(18:51):
the difference with the Marines is that they have to
add a clip on to unlock the thermal imaging, whereas
the Army is sort of getting the whole shebang baked
into the headset. And as you mentioned, hunters or Survivalist
or anyone else who would be interested in my vision
tech can get some comparable goggles online that you know,
(19:13):
maybe they don't have the virtual reality, but they certainly
have the White Boss for view um it's it's available
beyond the military. Dalvin Brown, Innovations reporter at the Washington Post.
Thank you very much for joining us. Yea, thank you
for that's it for today. Join us on social media
(19:38):
at Daily Dive Pod on both Twitter and Instagram. Leave
us a comment, give us a rating, and tell us
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Heart Radio or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. This
episode of The Daily Divers produced by Victor Wright and
engineered by Tony Sarentina, Hi Moscar Ramirez, and this is
your Daily Dive fa
It's Thursday, ma I'm Oscar Rameiras in Los Angeles and
this is the daily Dive. There's been a lot of
volatility with cryptocurrency lately, especially for bitcoin. China has been
one of the key factors in the ups and downs.
China recently took some actions that will likely ban all
(00:21):
bitcoin mining there soon. About all bitcoin mining currently happens
there in China. Tim Deshont, tech policy reporter at ours
Technica joins us for what is happening in the crypto market. Next.
The pandemic has changed the way we shop, and some
things like wider aisles and curbside pickup will be sticking around,
while companies that don't adapt may continue to close. Retailers
(00:45):
are expecting a spending boom, but businesses will have to
give consumers reasons to get out, like new concept stores
and in store experience. Hillary George Parkin, contributor to Vox,
joins us for what to expect from post pandemics office. Finally,
the Army is getting some upgrade. New night vision goggles
are being rolled out that looked like the stuff out
(01:06):
of video games. We all know the greenwashed look of
the traditional night vision equipment, but The new goggles offer
more contrast with soldiers, objects and locations outlined in white.
It also offers augmented reality capability. Dalvin Brown, innovations reporter
at the Washington Post, joins us for the new night
(01:27):
Vision tech. It's news without the noise. Let's dive in
and there. They said, basically, almost verbatim, that they were
going to crack down on bitcoin minding and trading. There
are a number of reasons for that, but the one
that Data lists first and foremost is financial stability. They
kind of view it as a commodity as opposed to
a currency, so they're worried about people gambling on that.
(01:50):
US now is Tim Deshant, tech policy reporter at Ours Technica.
Thanks for joining us, Tim, thanks for having me. I
wanted to talk a little bit more about Bitcoin in
the cryptocurrency market. You know, it's already been a very
volatile market to begin with, but in the past couple
of weeks we've seen some big swings. Bitcoin, the highest
(02:10):
value of cryptocurrency, just dropped tremendously and you know, has
effects on all the other cryptos out there as well.
China really seems to be a key figure in what's
going on with some of these swings, and it seems
like they will likely been all bitcoin mining pretty soon.
So Tim tell us a little bit about what we're
seeing from them. Yeah, it doesn't seem that way. The
(02:32):
latest news comes out of a statement that was put
forth by the Financial Stability and Developing Committee that's part
of the State Council there, which is kind of like
their cabinet, and there they said basically almost verbatim, that
they were going to crack down on bitcoin mining and trading.
There are a number of reasons for that, but the
one that Data lists first and foremost is financial stability.
(02:52):
They kind of view it as a commodity as opposed
to a currency, so they're worried about people gambling on that.
So how much actual coin mining is done out there
quite a bit. So the most recent ustment that I
saw exided about happening within the countries. So if all
that processing power comes offline, or even a portion of it,
(03:12):
that's going to have a significant impact. You know, you
mentioned kind of some of the concerns from the Chinese
government when it comes to uh, the volatility of it
and everything. They also have other concerns about money laundering, trafficking, smuggling,
and even the energy use that it takes to do this.
I've seen videos online of people, you know, kind of
showing off their bitcoin mining things, and some of them
(03:35):
are huge warehouses even and they get super loud because
they're just a bunch of computers constantly running. Tell me
a little bit about that those concerns. That's a big
probably a big part of what Chinese concerned about two.
Though they didn't state at the top in the statement
that they put out from the State Council, it's something
that they've floated time and again again because the mining
(03:55):
is done within the country, especially in coal heavy regions
like Mongolia, where power is cheap because it's on cheaply
mind coal. But as a result, you're seeing some bitcoin
facilities drawing down fifty megawatts, which is easily the amount
of production that you can see from a coal fired
power plant. So I'm sure that pollution concerns are high
(04:16):
on their list because China has one of the most
energy intensive economies right now, and if they're going to
reach their goal of hitting zero by having the world's
bitcoin processing happening within their borders, does not make that
look very likely. I always love the comparisons of this
takes as much energy to run the whole country basically,
(04:37):
and the bitcoin network demands so much energy that it
uses as much power as the Netherlands does to maintain
its normal operations. So when you hear things like that,
you think, man, that is an outstanding output of energy
that they're using. And Tesla figures into all of this
stuff with bitcoin as well. Earlier in the year they
said they were going to make a big investment in
(04:57):
bitcoin and allow purchases of Tesla's with it. Then they
took that back and cited the energy and carbon footprint
as concerns about this. And you mentioned in your article
to how the bitcoin cost of a Model three and
the carbon dioxide explained that to us a little bit.
So if we were to just look at the actual
production of Tesla Model three, it takes just under nine
(05:20):
tons of carbon dioxide to produce that and operated over
its lifetime assu when you're driving about a hundred thousand miles.
When Tesla announced that you could buy a Model three
with bitcoin, the amount of energy embodied within that bitcoin
purchase was about four hundred tons, and when they canceled it,
it was over five hundred tons, so you're looking at
carbon footprint that vastly more significant in the purchase of
(05:45):
using bitcoin than even just in the production of a car.
In fact, it's more than the lifetime carbon cost of
a fossil fuel powered vehicle. So from a marketing perspective,
it didn't seem to make a lot of sense for
Tesla to continue accepting bitcoin. So I should say they
still hold quite a bit of bitcoin as kind of
a reserve currency of their own. So what does all
(06:05):
of this do to Bitcoin? To the cryptocurrency market? As
we start seeing China try to back out of some
of this on multiple angles, regulations who knows of the
United States will try to put forward some type of
regulations in the future as well. I mean, what does
this do to the cryptocurrency market? As you said earlier,
you know, Bitcoin kind of foreshadows what happens in the
(06:27):
rest of the market. You may start to see some splits.
If Bitcoin gets a lot of attention paid to it,
maybe some of the others that split off and be
able to navigate the waters a little bit differently in
terms of regulation, You're starting to see that in the US,
the i R S announced that any transactions over ten
dollars need to be reported, and several government agencies, Department
(06:48):
of Justice, Community Futures Trading Commission, and i r S
are looking into suspect transactions that went through one bitcoin
exchange known as Finance. So you are starting to see
things turned that way in terms of like the mining
and stuff like that happening within China. If that were
to be shut down, chances are you're going to see
those computers pop up somewhere else. They might appear in
(07:10):
nearby countries like Mongolia or Kazakhs done or they might
be shipped out and sold elsewhere, possibly popping up in
the United States. The amount of money that these people
have been invested in the hardware, it's pretty significant. I'm
guessing they'd want to see some return on that. One
last question on China and all this because we had
also heard that they're trying to do some type of
digital currency for themselves with their own dollar that you on,
(07:33):
how does this figure into that, Well, it would certainly
give them a window into what's happening with that currency
in a way that they don't have right now. With bitcoin.
Bitcoin isn't necessarily of anonymous there are ways to track
flows between wallets, and then when people go to cash
at in for a currency like the dollar or the
lan that's when you can start to see who's holding
(07:54):
some of that. But they don't have nearly the access
to it that they would have with other payment processing
systems like Ali pay within their country. So them rolling
out the digital you on the idea there is that
not only are they gonna maybe limit some of the
volatility that they're seeing in bitcoin, but they're also going
to get an idea of what's happening with that money,
(08:16):
something they can't really see right now with bitcoin. Tim Deshont,
tech policy reporter at Ours Technica, thank you very much
for joining us. Thank you. Retailers, do you want to
have people back in stores? And shoppers also want to
(08:39):
be back in them, So having some reason that they're
going to be there beyond just the merchandise that's sitting
on the shelf is going to be really important. Joining
us now is Hillary George Parkin, contributor to Vox. Thanks
for joining us, Hillary, Thanks so much for having me.
I want to talk a little bit about the future
of shopping post pandemic. You know a lot of places
are opening back up. Some are already full the open,
(09:00):
but as we kind of get more vaccines out there,
the public is starting to venture out more. You start
your story off with someone excited to go to the
mall and how the experience was a little different. I
personally have not gone out to them all yet, but
this is kind of what we're back in for. Everybody's
going to get back to normal. We're seeing things like
wider aisles and grocery stores. Curbside pickup was such a
(09:22):
huge thing throughout the pandemic, and a lot of those
things are gonna stick. A lot of things are gonna
be involved in the future of of shopping. So Hillary
tell us what we can expect to see. Definitely, a
lot of these habits that we have picked up during
the pandemic and retailers have worked so quickly to adjust
to and to help us shop with, are definitely gonna
(09:45):
stick around post pandemic as well. So something like curbside
pick up, now that Americans have gotten used to being
able to go drive up to their local store and
have their groceries or order delivered to their trunks, they
want to stick around. So definitely they're going to be
stores that are going to continue to offer that stores
(10:06):
that are catering to something like ordering online and going
to the store to pick it up, or having the
item ship directly from the store rather than from a warehouse.
Wider aisles is one thing that stores have now realized
are an amenity that customers actually like having a bit
of room to walk around and look at merchandise and
not feel crowded. And you know, that's something that historically
(10:29):
has been kind of pushed to the side in favor
of having more and more merchandise on display that now
I think we'll have seen that. One of the interesting
things about this also is we heard a lot about
store closures. You know, malls themselves are kind of already
in decline pre pandemic, but there's been a lot of
store closures. There's forecasts for more. You just kind of
retail locations that just can't make it through all of this.
(10:52):
So what a lot of stores are also gonna have
to do is give you that reason to go shopping,
give you that reason to get in store. So there's
a lot of new con steps that a lot of
stores are working on. Michael's has craft corners, maker spaces,
They call them. The exporting goods is going to have
a bunch of interactive things, batting cages, climbing walls. So
this is kind of another thing that stores are really
(11:14):
gonna have to revamp what they do to draw those
people in as well. Experiential retail is something that the
industry talked a lot about even prior to the pandemic,
and for a while it seemed like, oh, maybe that's
going to go away in the conversation because people are
just looking for convenience now they want to go, you know,
be in and out quick from the store. But it
really is something that now that we are in the
(11:36):
recovery mode and more people are getting vaccinated and comfortable
in indoor spaces, retailers do want to have people back
in stores, and shoppers also want to be back in them.
So having some reason that they're going to be there
beyond just the merchandise that's sitting on the shelf is
going to be really important. You mentioned Nike in your article.
Tell me about what they're doing with some of their stores,
because this is part of that thing, you know, giving
(11:57):
people more reasons to come, but it's also creating things
for the community. Nike is interesting because they have so
much data on their customers based on their membership program,
so they are able to really tailor the individual stores
to the customer demographics in that area. So they have
these Nike Live stores, which basically take data about customers
(12:20):
buying patterns and engagement and provide a very localized brick
and mortar experience. So location in Tokyo would be very
different from one in Tampa or one in Atlanta, one
in New York City, and each one is going to
really reflect the community around it. Yeah, the fashion is different,
the buying trends are different, so that that's a that's
(12:41):
a great idea on their behalf. Finally, on all of this,
what's not gonna last? We've been talking about how things
are changing, wider aisles, all that stuff, more detailed experiences.
What's not going to last in all of this one
thing that was going away prior to the pandemic, and
I think the past year it's really expudited at UM
some of the less successful department stores and less successful
(13:04):
malls that they were anchoring. So there's statistics that say
that only based department stores remain in the US, and
half of them are expected to be shuttered by the
end of so you know, it's not that all department
stores are going to close, or that all malls are dying.
It's that only the best of the best are going
(13:24):
to survive because those are really the kinds of shopping
experiences that can in some cases be easily replicated online.
So it's really going to just be the ones that
really serve a purpose that will kind of outlast this
major shift in consumer spending patterns. Hillary George Parkin, contributor
to Vox, thank you very much for joining us. Thanks
(13:47):
so much. Have a good day. For what's happening there
is Typically there's a green boss for material that's baked
into the goggles, and that's why it has that greenish shoe.
But they're using white prosper um in the goggles now,
(14:08):
which creates I guess greater depth and clarity, is what
some of the officers are telling me. Joining us now
is Dalvin Brown, innovations reporter at the Washington Post. Thanks
for joining us, Dalvin, Thanks for having me. The Army
is going to be getting some night vision upgrades pretty soon.
They're already rolling them out and training with them. You know,
everybody's familiar with the old fashioned night vision goggles has
(14:31):
that green tint obviously, uh, you've seen them in movies
and video games and everything. But now they're having taken
on a new look and it looks a lot more
like a video game. In one version, there's like an
outline mode where people are outlined with a white aura.
Let's say there's augmented reality that goes into these new goggles.
(14:51):
A lot of cool stuff. So Dalvin walk us through
some of the improvements that are being made on these. Well.
I think the big difference, the sweeping difference is certainly
the color. So we're we're accustomed to seeing that sort
of green washed night vision imagery, right, that's been around
for centuries. But what the Army is rolling out is
(15:12):
a pair of night vision binoculars that's more black and white,
if you will, so it offers greater contrast. So what's
happening there is typically there's a green fosper material that's
baked into the goggles and that's why it has that
greenish hue. But they're using white fosper um in the
goggles now, which creates I guess greater depth and clarity.
(15:35):
Is what some of the officers are telling me. Apparently
the green night vision looks really cool, but it can
make your eyes hurt and the head hurt over time.
So yeah, that's one of the big changes. But also,
like you said, it's it's a it's a more gamified experience.
So they're adding a virtual reality elements so that you
can overlay a map perhaps into the goggles. There's also
(15:57):
some connectivity that's being added, so you can perhaps communicate
with others, or show video or point out objects in
your goggles that other soldiers could also see. So yeah,
some pretty cool, some pretty cool stuff. You mentioned the
gamifying of all of this, and you spoke to the
maker of these new goggles too, and he he mentioned
that specifically that you know, a lot of the people
(16:20):
growing up right now playing these video games, they have
a lot of information in their field of vision when
they're playing these games and whatnot, and they're kind of
expecting that when they go into the battlefield of the future,
let's say, so they're kind of using that in a
sense when they're developing these things. As you mentioned, all
those things that you mentioned, you know, map overlays and
all that stuff. They can do that now and and
(16:41):
you're right. That contrast makes it really clear, so hopefully
there is no friendly fire things like that. You can
really identify targets and whatnot. But that was a big
thing is making it seem like familiar to our soldiers
of today when you know they were playing those games
as kids. That's certainly something that the company behind these
things that A Bit System said And one of the
(17:02):
things that they also noted, which you had mentioned earlier,
were the addition of modes, right, these different sort of
visual modes, and one of those is thermal imaging, and
so you know, traditionally, you know, it might be hard
to see an implement whether or you know, if there's
smoke ahead of you with night vision tech. But with
the thermal imaging, right, you're seeing anything that's giving off heat.
(17:25):
So soldiers can now see more clearly sometime in obstructed scenarios,
and as you mentioned, the outline mode that really makes
it look like a video game. That kind of also
helps people see and understand with greater clarity what they're
looking at. You know, if you're looking through these night
vision goggles all night, from what I've heard, the perception
(17:46):
isn't always as clear as you'd like it. To be,
so this new tech is supposed to help with that.
This is all part of modernization effort for the tools
that the military uses. This is always an important question
to ask, how much do they cost me? The goggles
from elbe It. While the company didn't break them down
by specific costs, but the Army specifically has a deal
worth four two million dollars to produce these things on
(18:08):
a rolling basis, so presumably that's a lot of goggles.
Elbt I looked at some costs online for comparable night
vision tech and these run from seven thousand dollars up
to twelve thousand dollars per headset. But again that's a
one off of someone's ordering one online, whereas the military
is getting them involved. But that's the cool thing. You know,
(18:30):
Civilians can play with these two It's probably not the
exact same models or setups and all that, but at
least some of this night vision technology is available to people.
As you mentioned, it's gonna cost you seven thousand, eleven
thousand dollars or a little bit more. Even it's not
just the Army. Also, the Marines are also getting to
improve their night vision tech too. Yeah, they are, and
(18:51):
the difference with the Marines is that they have to
add a clip on to unlock the thermal imaging, whereas
the Army is sort of getting the whole shebang baked
into the headset. And as you mentioned, hunters or Survivalist
or anyone else who would be interested in my vision
tech can get some comparable goggles online that you know,
(19:13):
maybe they don't have the virtual reality, but they certainly
have the White Boss for view um it's it's available
beyond the military. Dalvin Brown, Innovations reporter at the Washington Post.
Thank you very much for joining us. Yea, thank you
for that's it for today. Join us on social media
(19:38):
at Daily Dive Pod on both Twitter and Instagram. Leave
us a comment, give us a rating, and tell us
the stories that you're interested in. Follow us and I
Heart Radio or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. This
episode of The Daily Divers produced by Victor Wright and
engineered by Tony Sarentina, Hi Moscar Ramirez, and this is
your Daily Dive fa
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