A New TV or Projector?

Today on the High Tech Texan Show:

• March Madness may be the time for a new TV. A projector may be a better bet. My tips....
• Amazon is about to change a big privacy setting on your Echo devices. Time to switch to a new smart speaker?
• Car review: the all-electric Dodge Charger Daytona ScatPack. Is it still a muscle car if there is no sound?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Is Michael garfil Michael Garfield. Michael Garfield's joining in the
high Tech Texan. Michael Garfield is here with a high
Tech Texans.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
To make life easier.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Technology and Michael Garfield has something you might like.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Michael Garfield is your high Tech Texans. Three decades helping
you make magic with your gadgets. Heard worldwide on the iHeartRadio.
Add now your high Tech Texan, Michael Garfield.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
It is one shining moment time people, one of the
greatest weekends of the year, at least in terms of sports.
It is March Madness people, as we count down the
world watching our great state of Texas. At about three weeks,
that's right. Final four will be in sam Antonio, which,

(01:08):
by the way, you can hear me right now. Well,
if you're listening in San Antonio WOAI News Radio twelve hundred.
Does that mean I can get a press pass? You
think I can get a media credential? Since I am
broadcasting on iHeartRadio, which is actually the former home and
in place of Clear Channel, which was iHeart Radio, I
don't know, somebody. I am more than happy to report courtside.

(01:32):
I an eagle in case his voice gets a little
you know, a little dry. I'm more than happy to
take over, but we will talk a little bit about that. Yes,
it is a technologically oriented show, more of a consumer lifestyle.
But if you are a longtime listener twenty three, twenty
four or so years that I have been doing this,
it is all sports. I'm massive sports fans, so we

(01:53):
can talk about that. Five teams from our great state
of Texas are in arch Madness, including my don't know
how snuck in earlier this week, the University of Texas Longhards. Yes,
something tells me that they may not go relatively far,
but the University of Houston, where I'm also over the

(02:15):
air on KPRC nine fifty am. Odds are they have
a pretty good chance of reaching San Antonio, which is
another opportunity for me to get immedia credential. So we
will see lots to talk about today, including spring cleaning.
Last week I talked about what to do with some
of your old gadgets that are laying around, that are

(02:39):
gaining dust, that your spouse is yelling at you. Why
don't you do something about this thing? Don't throw them away.
You really never should throw away any phone or TV
or computer. A monitor because there's too much metal. And obviously,
if you haven't erased your data, absolutely never just throw
them away. And I gave you some websites which you
actually could turn old devices into money. If you've missed that,

(03:03):
shame on you. People. You should be listening to this
radio show every single week. You can go to our podcast,
go to iHeartRadio hop download it ryheartradio dot com and
you can type in my name Michael Garfield, and then
you can listen to last week's show. And I gave
you some really interesting websites. One was what declutter and
a few others that they will pay you relatively good

(03:26):
money if your devices are a good, good, you know,
type of condition. But there's other things to do. It
is spring cleaning, and I'm going to talk about recycling
old phones and appliances. Too old appliances, treadmills, dishwashers, refrigerators.
Some places can haul them away from you. So I

(03:48):
have a whole list of things to do. We've got that.
I was on Fox seven Austin, but look at me.
I'm name drop at every city that I'm in. Shout
out to Austin. I am a tech reporter, the tech
contribut on Fox seven Austin every Monday morning. I did
a segment earlier this week on projectors. I like projectors
right now. Projectors, to some extent are the new televisions

(04:12):
and TVs. You know, for years and years I get
asked the question, Hey, Michael, what's the best TV I
should get? Should I get a Should I get one
that hangs on the wash? Should I get one that
just sits on a stand? Do I get a forty
two inch? Do I get a fifty five inch class?
Do I get a seventy five inch class? How cheap
are they? How heavy are they? You know? Does it
need to be streaming? Does it need to be four K?

(04:34):
Does it need to be ak? Well, I'll tell you what.
There's other options right now that includes projectors. Projectors nowaday
are getting so simple to use, and in many cases
they're cheaper than televisions, but they give you a lot
of options because they can be portable. You could take these.
I mean I am playing with some projectors right now
that are probably certainly less than three pounds that can

(04:57):
go inside and project things on your wall or a screen,
but you can also take them outside, and so at
night you can have your little pool party and you can,
you know, just watch sports. And this is a perfect
time of year too, you know, watch games outside with
all your buddies on a one hundred and fifty inch screen.
That's right. Some projectors can project that wide four K
and ten eighty. I did a segment on Fox seven

(05:19):
and I'll go through some of the better projectors that
you can get right now. They're relatively easy to set up.
Along with your questions. That's right. It is a call
in radio show. I'm going to give you the number
three four six twenty nine Texan. See's that simple, three
four six two nine t e X A N. No

(05:40):
matter where you are listening to this show, because you
can listen to it terrestrially in Dallas on eleven ninety
talk radio, as I said, Houston, as I said, San Antonio,
and you can listen on iHeartRadio wherever you are. If
you miss it, you can listen it to it on
the replay, which we all call a podcast. A lot
of car news and car fun stuff. You know, I

(06:01):
drive cars and test drive cars every single week. And
I had I had a smile machine this week I had.
If you follow me on social I put some photos
of what I was driving, and listen. I drive sixty
plus vehicles a year. Every week, at least I get one.
Sometimes I get two per week from manufacturers. I don't
deal with dealerships people. These are manufacturers who do not

(06:24):
pay me. I am just I am an auto journalist,
and they want my honest thoughts and opinions. And I
think my audience over the years is really appreciated. I'm
not paid or influenced by anybody. I could tell you
when a vehicle is crap, some of the better points
of a vehicle. Who this one is for? Who you know?
Why you should not consider this, depending on what type
of lifestyle you're living right now.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
But a lot of them are.

Speaker 2 (06:47):
You know, they're Sedans and their SUVs and their cuvs.
And if you've driven one, you've driven another. Enclose your eyes.
But I was in one that made me smile, that
was very loud, that had a lot of surprises, and
it was a head turner wherever I drove it. It
was a twenty twenty four Dodge Charger Daytona scat pack

(07:10):
Stage two. That's a lot of words right there. But
what that means for those of you who are not
car Nerds. It's a muscle car, the Dodge Chargers, the
two door vehicle that is zoom zoom, big muscle car.
But stand by, there's a twist. You know, muscle cars,
if you think about it, they've been around since what
the nineteen fifties, nineteen sixties. We're going to go drag

(07:33):
race and we're going to take it on the track
and we're going to do grease lightning. And it's got
a hemi combustible engine that you fill up with gas
and it's just rumbling and bumbling. Not this one, people,
This is electric. That's right, electric blue people. It's the
Dodge Charger Daytona. It is loud, but how can it

(07:55):
be loud if it doesn't have a combustible engine. It's electric,
it's supposed to be dirt quiet. Well, there is a
way to turn on the sound. It's very interesting. I
love the technology. I spent an entire week on it.
Did a video. We'll put that on my YouTube here soon,
which you can find in Michael Garfield. But I will
talk about that. This is something that you may be
interested in, should you be in a lifestyle of getting

(08:15):
a muscle car that is electric, which is the new
way of doing things, folks. So this is what we
have in store for you. I'm just not here repairing
your computer because that is not sexy radio. No, no, no,
that's not how we do it on the high tech
text and show again, follow me all over social media,
high tech text and hi gh t e h T

(08:37):
e x A N. I will actually tell you where
I am right now, where I will be later this weekend.
I want to meet you one on one. A lot
of travel and a lot of sports, a lot of
fun three four six twenty nine texting. Just don't go
only with people. Too much stuff going on, My good
buddy's going on up high tech texts in check. A

(09:15):
few days into the March Madness tournament. Raise your hand.
How many brackets are busted after the first round of games.
So Thursday morning, I know my bracket is busted. Maybe
you have a second chance. How many brackets did you
fill out for March Madness. I generally fill out four

(09:35):
or five because I'm in different fools and I change
them up to I don't know, to give myself a
chance because nobody's perfect when it comes to these brackets.
We welcome you back, Michael Garfield. If we're tight, you
can call me Garf GA RF. You can get into
the conversation here three four, six, twenty nine. Texan do

(09:55):
you do you put your team your alma mater and
make it go all the way? I generally have my
home of mater, the University of Texas Longhorns, going relatively far.
Two years ago, I had them winning the entire thing
and they came there. They were half a game away

(10:15):
from the Final Four. That would have been if you
remember two years ago, the Final Four was in Houston
at NRG Stadium, Texas would have been I mean, it
would have been a home game. In the semi final
game they were playing Miami. University of Miami. Texas is
up at halftime. I mean, me and my boys were
already calling me asking me, hey, can I stay at
your place Garf in Houston. Man, this is gonna be crazy.

(10:38):
Forty minutes later, Miami comes back, they win, Texas's out
and that was not good. So that's probably the last
time I put that's definitely the last time I made
Texas go all the way. I did. In one of
my polls put uh Houston Cougar's hometown Houston Cougars. I
live in Houston at the present moment right now. But
if you, uh, let's say utsa San Antonio, which is
hosting one of the co the host of the Final four,

(11:01):
because hits in San Antonio, they're not going all the way.
Texas Tech is in there. We got five Texas teams,
and we talked about brackets. Can you win your bracket?
How much do you is it bragging rights? You know?
Do you do? You pay? You know, you send your
buddy ten bucks and so you can actually, you know,
potentially win some money. No one, I don't think in
the history of world has ever gotten a perfect bracket.

(11:21):
A perfect bracket. Because there are sixty three games total.
If you go over the three weeks, there is one
in nine point two quintillion chance of picking a perfect bracket.
That is one quintillion is one billion billions. Okay, there's
a little tech there's a little too much technological stuff

(11:43):
for you, but one in nine point two quintillion and
eight happening. Which is why companies and people can offer
prizes that, hey, if you've got a perfect bracket and
you enter our bracket, you're gonna win this. I remember
Warren Buffett. I think he used to offer was it
one million? He may have offered a billion dollars. I
mean matter, nobody's gonna get it. I saw this one too,

(12:03):
X and your boy Elon Musk. For all you Austinites
up there, X has a bracket challenge, and I don't
know if you inted night. It's too late to enter
right now. You had to do it by Thursday. If
you pick a perfect bracket, you will win, could win

(12:24):
a chance to go to space, a trip to Mars
on SpaceX's starship at a future date. A trip to Mars,
not trip just up in the atmosphere to space like
we've seen all these celebrities do, not to the moon. No,

(12:45):
you can win a trip to Mars on the surface.
It sounds cool, it sounds sexy, so much so that
I'm gonna give it here about three minutes of time
on my radio. But I want you to think about this.
You just kicked a winner that is virtually impossible, if
not the word literally impossible. One point nine point two quintillion.

(13:07):
You're probably going to be a superstar. You're doing the
Good Morning America Today's show. You'll be on my show.
Oh by the way, you also get a trip to
freaking Mars. May not be in your lifetime, depending on
how old you are, because I don't think we've had
manned spaceflight to Mars right now. But that's not the question.
My question when I read this and thought about it
for a minute, do you want to go to Mars?

(13:29):
I'm serious? Do you really want to go to Mars?
How long would that take? What are you going to
do there? And would you ever come back? Just because
you you did something very cool and picked a winner
perfect bracket. So I guess the X folks thought about this.
Because you have your choice. You could go to Mars

(13:49):
at some future date in your life, or you could
pick a two hundred and fifty thousand cash prize. Oh
in a free year of Starlink sir. Oh, you can
also train like an astronaut for a day. Let me
help you out, people. I'm just I'm an advice guy,
I really am. Take the freaking money. Take the freaking

(14:13):
money quarter million dollars. If you're so good at picking
basketball brackets, here's what you do next year. Pick your
bracket and find a pool where you could put two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars on picking your perfect bracket
because the winning payout of picking sixty three phenomenal games.
If you put a quarter of a million dollars there,

(14:34):
or however you want to divide it up, you actually can,
I don't know, buy out Eli Musk and Warren Buffett
and make your own way to Mars. All right, quick
poll here three four six twenty nine Texan, would you
rather go to Mars or take a quarter million dollars
three four six two nine to e x A N.

(14:55):
If we don't pick up the phone to put you
on the air, leave a voicemail. We do have the
right to put you on the air. Go to my
ex account high tech text and spelled the whole thing out.
Just put Quartermilsky garf or hell yeah, I'm going to Mars.
Maybe I'm jaded because I did have the opportunity years
ago to actually float in zero gravity. So although I

(15:20):
haven't been to space, I got to float in zero gravity.
It's it's cool. I mean, it's all that that's cracked
up to be. I mean, I have a lot of
If you don't know what I look like, I have
a lot of hair. It's all mine. It's and I'm
proud of it too. At my age, my hair floats
in space, and actually you float in space if you're
not buckled into a Seatbill too. I got the opportunity
to go to NASA and get on what. I don't

(15:43):
think they do this anymore. It was called the Vomit Comet.
It was what a Cacy one five military jet that
had all the seats removed and there was pads everywhere.
But this is how they train astronauts for weightlessness. They
take off from Ellington Air Force Space right down there
near NASA and Clear Lake, and they go over the

(16:03):
Gulf of Mexico and they fly these parabolas. They go up, up, up, up,
up up up, and right at the top they go
down and as it hits the top and goes down,
you experience weightlessness for like thirty seconds. And they keep
doing this. I spend the entire afternoon doing this, and
it was neat the first dozen times, and then it

(16:24):
got kind of monotonous. But I don't know, maybe neither
here nor there. I have some video of it. It
was pretty fun. I could say I did it, but
maybe I'm jaded. It's like, okay, well, I'm I got
bored after an hour of going up and down and
floating the hell of how long would it take to
get Can someone research this over here? Can someone use
chat GPT or somebody? How long would a trip from

(16:46):
Earth to Mars peak? And when I get back? Would
I be the same age? Would people?

Speaker 1 (16:51):
Would?

Speaker 2 (16:52):
Would my kids be younger than me? It's it's it's
the whole you know, movie scenario three four six twenty
nine Texans. Anyway, good luck on your march managics brackets.
Don't I hope you didn't pick the longhorns to go
all the way, you know, Gokoog's I gave you the
phone number right over here. Let me I'll start this
and I'll carry it over spring cleaning. Last week I

(17:12):
talked about a number of different websites where you can
take your old devices, your phones, some laptops, another thing,
and you could turn them into cash. You could, Yeah,
you could sell them on eBay. You could, but there
are other dedicated websites that will take them back, and
if it's in really good condition, they're going to pay
you money. Sometimes they'll pay you in gift cards or whatever.

(17:33):
But how about other types? People email me, well, that's cool, garth.
How about other types of devices? There's bigger things like
I have a dishwasher? Am I supposed to get this?
Or a washing machine or a refrigerator? Can I resell those?
Well spring is pretty much here And chances are you've
got a lot of e waste that you've gathered, and

(17:53):
you've got computers, You've got printers and probably means you
doesn't you don't need them. But what are you going
to do? Do you have a gadget graveyard inside your home?
A lot of people do. In my mind's called the garage.
So let me give you a few tips before recycling
your device recycling. There's a number of things you need

(18:15):
to do people. I mean certainly when it comes to
a smartphone, it has data. You need to wipe that
big time before you sell it or before you donate it.
You need to back up anything you want off the device,
which means to send the information up to the cloud
your iCloud, your one Drive, Google Drive, whatever it is, photos,
your videos, your songs, your contacts. At that point, it's

(18:37):
relatively easy do a factory reset. Go to settings about
phone factory reset. I do this on a regular basis
because companies send me phones to test. I upload all
my personal stuff. Thirty days or so later, they want
the phone back. I factory reset it, so all my
information is gone at that point. Then you decide where
do you want to recycle your phones and appliances. I

(19:00):
got all that information, but I'm gonna make you hang on.
It's called commercial break, It's called the teas. I've been
doing this twenty plus years. I'd like to think I've
got the hack on it. It is Michael Guardful, High
Tech Text and Show. We'll be right back for the
answer and more information to that topic in the hower.

(19:31):
I know why you've been hanging on because I tease
a little something a how to and where to recycle
your phones and ampliances. By the way, I told you,
it's a big weekend loights of stuff going on. This
is if you're a longtime lister of mine, you know
this is the first weekend of March madness, and you
probably know where I am. It's unbelievable radio right now
because you never really know where the host is because

(19:54):
with technology you could be pretty much anywhere.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
Now.

Speaker 2 (19:57):
When I started this gig twenty almost twenty five years ago,
we had to be in a studio, and what started
out as clear channel radio now iHeart radio in major
cities is certainly the ones that I'm in right now
with Houston, San Antonio in Dallas. We have several studios
that we can go into. We have engineers, and we

(20:18):
have people who we look across through the plate glass
and I could look at my man Callum Read and well, hey, guys,
how you doing. They're the one who's pushing the buttons
and keeping me right now on the air. Nowadays, you
really don't need to go into studio. There's good microphones.
You can have a home studio. You could do it
from your laptop. Technically, you could do it from your
phone if you've got a good quality microphone and everything.

(20:38):
Right now, ladies and gentlemen, you are listening live from
you know it, Las Vegas. Thirty six year I have
been here, and there's a tradition unlike any other. Thirty
six or so years ago, me and a number of
college buddies, eight other college buddies, by the way, we
got together and we decided, hey man, we're just out
of school, and you know, we don't have a ton

(20:58):
of money. Let's all eight of us are nine of us.
We stay in one room in Vegas and go watch
all the basketball games and bet two bucks on them. Well,
that tradition has now carried on well over three decades,
and it's something special. It's something I share about. It's
something I tell a lot of people, a lot of
my other buddies, and they're like, oh, man, I wish
I would have started something like that. That's cool. Well,
there's no reason you can't start it right now. But

(21:20):
I don't know if you're ever going to get well
over thirty years, forty years or whatever. But it is fine.
So we always come out this very first weekend of
March Madness. Been out here for a few days and
pretty much we have just kind of posted up in
front of TV screens or betting cages, even though now
you can bet on your phone wherever you are in
the state of Nevada. Had a few beer skis, and

(21:43):
we're just telling old stories. Hey, do you remember when
we didn't have kids? Do you remember when we weren't married.
Do you remember when life was so simple?

Speaker 1 (21:52):
Ah?

Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yes, those were the days. Yesterday Friday shout out, we
were at Happy Camper, Happy Camp right on the Las
Vegas Strip's that's a good place. Ryan Richardson, he kind
of oversees all of the let us Entertain You restaurants,
which is like Mona, Mika Beee, and so many others.
A Happy Camper, great pizza place, Tons of Fun Cocktails,

(22:15):
is kind of an indoor outdoor place. Every year we
just kind of find a new place to post up.
And so if you're some reason listening right now you're
in Vegas, you know, come by Happy Camper. We're one
more time we're here before we fly out, because I
have to fly out because Sunday, well, I'll say this
as I do the show live tomorrow on Sunday in Houston.

(22:36):
I'd love to see you. Should. I even have clothes
in my back still in money left. I am going
to be at the Syfair Home and Outdoor Show. That's
right sy Chris, Texas. It's just the northwest heart of Houston.
It is the Syfair Home and Outdoor Show there. It's
going on Saturday, so you don't need to wait. But

(22:57):
Sunday I will be there. I will be in a
big booth. I will be doing my podcast and so
you can see how sexy it is to talk into
a microphone, but come up and see me and say hi.
I will also be showing off some neat smart home
gadgets in my booth, specifically robotic vacuum cleaners. That's right,
roboock has partnered with me, and I will be there

(23:20):
with no less than three or four different types of
vacuum and mop. We're calling vacuum mop. We're gonna call
it wet and dry vacuums. They'll do the same thing.
It's an all in one. We're gonna throw some dirt
and some ketchup and some milk and some oatmeal on
the floor, and we're gonna give you a chance to
see how easy it is to vacuum and then mop

(23:41):
this stuff up. That is this coming Sunday, eleven in
the morning to five in the afternoon. Again, if you're
listening all around the state of Texas, hey feel free
to drive in, but certainly Ustonians sci Fair Home and
Outdoor Show. It's at eighty eight seventy seven Barker Cypress Road.
It's in Cypress, Texas at the Barry br R Why Center.

(24:01):
Free admittance to get in and free parking. So this
is where you can go in and you can look
at spas and saunas and hot tubs and roofing and
get some snacks and see people like slicing and dicing
with knives and whatever. But I will be there with
the robo rock vacuums and come say hi. I take
some pictures and we can have some fun with you.
Without a doubt you're gonna you'll probably buy something, probably

(24:22):
see something that's gonna make your home smart. It's perfect
time of year because it's spring cleaning. So go online.
It's x Wood Shows t E x wood shows dot com.
You can just get more information. But free admitting, free
parking on a Sunday afternoon. What are you gonna do?
What else you gonna do? People? Come say hi to
me and help me mop and vacuum some things side
far Home and Garden show Berry Center. We will see

(24:45):
you there. I will give you my phone number. Nah,
hold on, I don't want to confuse anything. Let me
let me, let me continue talking. I've already made you
wait five minutes. I was on the subject of recycling
your phones, appliants and gadgets. You got a lot of
old stuff. You're doing some spring cleaning right now. Number one,
if you're ever going to recycle or sell a phone

(25:05):
or a laptop, would you do me a favor Just
wipe your device, clear it, factory reset it. If for
some reason you just want to donate it and you're
not sure, don't laugh. I've seen this happen. Take your
laptop or take your phone and go find someone if
you don't have the gear and get an actual drill,

(25:27):
get a drill bit and drill through the hard drive
of that laptop or so, because that will disable it too.
I mean, I'll recommend it. That's probably step two or
step three that I would say. But there's a way
to factory reset everything. Certainly in your phone is very easy.
But at that point, what do you do? There are

(25:49):
places that will recycle and repurpose and potentially gives the
new life to your old technology. There's stores that you
can walk into best Buy and Staples. I think best
Buy takes a wide range of tech products, and you
know they will. I think they offer a whole away
option for even larger appliances. So if you have a dishwasher,

(26:11):
a freezer, a big TV, maybe a treadmill or exercise bike.
I believe they do. I don't think it's free. I
think it may and I'm just researching over here. It
may cost two hundred dollars or so. I know. I
know that's a lot. But what you can recycle best
Buy does take TVs and cables and chargers, projectors, laptops,

(26:33):
hard drives, and I'm reading right now, headsets, vacuums, speaker systems,
alarm clocks if you still have an alarm clock. Staples,
let's move to the Staple actually has free recycling options
for old technology. I think they do have haul away
options that may cost but Staples accept up to seven
items per customer per day. I don't know why they

(26:53):
put a limit of this thing. But you could take
in digital cameras, mobile phones, cordless own computers, tablets, webcams,
home depot. I'm on their website right now. They'll show
you how to dispose of like batteries and old paint man.
I have some old pay man. I need to read that.
Let's see US Environmental Protection Agency. They don't handle recycling

(27:19):
or drops off drop offs. Go figure you know why,
because I don't know the government has probably fired everybody
who works for the EPA. Oh look at me getting political. Uh,
But they're smart. There's smart. Let's see. Here's a website
smartphone recycling. You can print a free FedEx shipping label,
a request a recycling kit. Okay, that's pretty cool. Recycling

(27:42):
for charities is that a website? That is a website?
Go to Recycling for Charities dot com. They accept tech
donation and they give a percentage of the device's value
to the charity of your choice. I guess you can
write that thing off too. Here's one called call to
recycle with a number two Call to Recycle? What am
I missing? Give me a shout? Three four six twenty

(28:03):
nine Texan. What what do you have hanging around just
top of mind? What do you have hanging around your
house that is just ready to go? I know my
parents right now, who probably are not listening. They are
in Dallas. They sometimes do listen, but they have a
refrigerator that has been dead for five months, and they
have been trying to work with Best Buy, who has

(28:24):
been screwing them around. They are living, they have lived
for five months. I gave them a plug in schooler
slash freezer, and it's just it's it's like one of
those portable things you take to a soccer game. That
is where because best buys jack them around some muchs.
They couldn't replace it. All these warranties. They have a

(28:46):
warranty too. Somebody put a haul off this refrigerator my parents.
But you have something like this. Listen, it's spring twenty
twenty five. Do something, man, do something. I mean, wash
your dryers, treadmills, the least of which wipe it clean.
Put it on sell it like you've got an old treadmill.

(29:08):
You've got an old exercise bike. Put it on Facebook marketplace,
for example. You know something that you don't, someone locally
could pick it up. Don't laugh. It was about a
one year ago this week. It was the end of
March last year. I wanted a Peloton bike and the
hell if I'm going to spend what fifteen eighteen hundred
dollars in those things. I went to Facebook Marketplace. Somebody

(29:28):
was selling their Peloton bike that they used for no
list than I think five times, and I got it
at a fraction of the cost. And they were about
five miles away from me. It's amazing. Which you can
make some money people, And by the way, if you
do make some money, consider me your source of you
know information, feel free to drop me a commission. I'm
more than happy to give you my VENMO Michael Garf.

(29:50):
Garfield is the last name. Bottom of Actually, what we
got about with ten more minutes left to go in
this top what do we want to talk about? You
want to talk about these projectors? Hey, if you're giving
away a TV, do you buy a new TV? Well,
I'm gonna give you an option. You may not ever
need to buy a TV. Projectors may be the way
to go. I talked about this two months ago when
I came back from CEES because I see these new projectors.

(30:13):
Just earlier this week I was on Fox seven and
Austin I did my segment on how to pick a projector?
What are some of the best projectors out there? Because
they are relatively inexpensive and they are portable. You can
go inside, you can go outside. All you need is
just a big Blend Walt projector.

Speaker 4 (30:26):
Off We talked about that. On the other side, I
TechEd out some show.

Speaker 2 (30:45):
Final a few minutes of our first hour of what
we call the High Tech Texting Show. But as you know,
if you listen for the first fifty minutes or so
of this hour, I think we've talked about technology at
ten percent of the time, we've talked March Badness. A
next hour to talk about recipes. What have you been doing?
Are you sitting on your couch right now, one ear
listening to the show, but two eyes watching March Madness

(31:08):
basketball in the second and third rounds? Actually what the
third and fourth rounds?

Speaker 1 (31:14):
Give me?

Speaker 2 (31:14):
If you have time to call talk to me people,
it's an interactive show three four to six twenty nine Texan.
Or send me a photo of what you're looking at
right now, or your favorite snack. Next actually the start
of the next step when we hit halfway to happy
hour at about ten twelve minutes, I'm going to talk
about your favorite snack for March Madness and how so
many people are hopping on the bandwagon of using a

(31:39):
pun of sports and basketball this time of year. Brackets,
undefeated dip recipes, shoot for a winning menu. Okay, we
get it, we get it. But speaking of undefeated dip recipes,
I mean literally buffalo chicken dip. I mean, is there
any other standby? We'll get to that. I talked about

(32:00):
projectors right now. If you're watching on a TV, how
big is your TV? Right now. You got buddies over,
you got some friends, you get your family. You really
don't want to gather around to forty two inch maybe
a fifty five inch TV. If that's all you got,
that's all you can afford. Cool. I appreciate that nowadays
flat screen TVs seventy five inches, eighty five inches, Yes,
they're flat screen TVs that are over one hundred I

(32:20):
thinky are about one hundred and ten hundred and twenty inches.
Saw those a few months ago at the Consumer Electronics Show.
Very expensive, pretty heavy, But I have a dang big
space to hang that thing, probably about four people to
hang it and hope it doesn't fall off the wall. Well,
there's another option. And I talk about this every few months,
but it reminded me because last Monday, if you're listening,
if you happen to be in Austin, if you're listening,

(32:42):
I was on Fox seven in Austin seven to forty
five in the morning. That's where I do my segment
as the Tech contributor. I showed out some projectors. They're
projectors because home projectors it's an inexpensive way to get
a massive image that's potentially bigger than any TV and

(33:03):
these projectors they can create a bright, colorful image. And
nowadays most of them have built in streaming services Netflex,
something like that Prime. You can watch movies, you can
watch TV shows pretty much anywhere your living room, or
you can move it outside, backyard, movie night with friends

(33:24):
and families. Most of these models they have speakers inside.
I mean, can they get easier to set up? I
don't think so. Remember, I mean I had a projector
once had to have a company come mounted on the ceiling,
and a lot of home theaters do this too. If
you have a theater in your home and you want
to watch movies, there's one that you can mount on

(33:46):
the ceiling and then you have to wire speakers to
it and it throws out about what one hundred and
twenty inch hundred and fifty inch which is what twelve
thirteen fourteen fifteen foot screen. That's pretty cool. They're expensive too,
you have to have professional installation. No more people. I
have two or three right now that I continue to
play with, and I'm like, I should actually hire myself

(34:11):
out to go to people's houses and throw indoor outdoor
sports watching parties or movie night with the kids. First
time I ever did this. When my kids were young,
we had it. We had a pool previous house and
the garage, our white garage outdoor wall was right next
to where our pool was. And at nights I would

(34:31):
set up a old school projector and they were pretty big,
pretty bulky, and then I have to get another speaker,
and then I would set up on a DVD to it,
and then I would you sit there and we would
watch Disney movies for the kids. But it was pretty
cool because the kids were in the pool and they
were watching the movie. It's fun. It's a great family outings.
But you don't need to slip all that gear nowadays.
Nowadays you just need a projector. So point is. I

(34:54):
showed off a few on Fox seven, two of which, well,
I'll give you some. I'll give you some brand new
right now. Specifically, not that I recommend one over the other,
but I'll just throw them out there. When was a
company called the Yabe or why ABR. I picked this
one up a few months ago. Actually they let me
play with it about two months ago. This thing, I
think is three hundred dollars, that is it. It is Boom

(35:15):
ten eighty T speaker built in all you need to
do is just give it a source. Now, if you
have YouTube TV, because these things are Wi Fi and able,
you could plug a HDMI, Google TV or a fire
stick in there. You're set to go. It receives it.
It throws out a really really good picture. And depending

(35:38):
on how close or how far you place that projector
to the wall or to the screen, it makes the
projection larger or smaller. And some of these, now, if
you get it to the perfection was I mean, you
can get these things till one hundred and twenty one
hundred and fifty inches again, that's fifteen feet. That's how

(35:59):
you celebrate and watch march madness. Am I right? Am?
I right? People, one shining moment. That's what you need
to do. Now, there's a lot of them out there.
There are LCD projectors, there's d LP, there's HD there's
four K. There's a lot of them out there. Another
one that I've been testing it is from a company
called x Genie and I'm gonna spell it. It's x Gimi.

(36:24):
Now I've had this one for several months and I
like this one because this is incredibly portable. It looks
like a can of pringles, a little larger and fatter
than a can of pringles. But it's got a carrying
case in there. It's got a remote control. All you
do is plug it in, but it pops up and
and again. Go to Austin Fox seven. Actually I put
it on my here you go, go to my website

(36:45):
Hi tech Texin dot com Hi g h T e
h T e x a M scroll down to the video.
The latest video I uploaded was my Fox seven segment
this past week where I showed off these projectors and
you can see it. You just kind of twisted open.
It's a bright light. It's really it shines well. It
weighs less than three pounds. It's got a speaker inside,

(37:06):
and you're set to go. Number you can there's a
number of them you can choose from. What do you
look for? Do you want ten ADP? I would suggest
ten EIGHTYP at least now ten ADP is not four K.
There's a difference, all right. You want to look for
something that has you know, good color accuracy, lend shifting.

(37:27):
You may want one that has what's called a very
short throw and these are pretty cool. These are more expensive.
If you plan to use a projector that you do.
You don't want to move it. You want to make
it in your home theater. Let's just say you want
to make it as your main TV screen, or if
you will, but I'm not gonna call it a TV.

(37:47):
Or if you have a very small room. If you
have a small room and you can't move a projector
ten fifteen feet back, you want to get what's called
a short throw, meaning you place this projector incredibly close
to the wall you're projecting it of. Some of them
can get as close as eight to nine inches away.
But what it does, It throws the foe. It throws

(38:10):
the video almost straight up, and and it just it
so it doesn't look skewered in anything to make it
look like a real video. It's phenomenal. Now these things
run more. These things maybe eight hundred. You can get
one for fifteen hundred dollars or so. They've got good speakers.
There's one another. There's another company called ben Q be
in the letter Q. They have one called the X

(38:32):
five hundred. I that's not cheap. But these are short
throws and the s and it looks great. Last point,
the darker the room, the better, without a doubt, because
obviously all this is is light projecting on a wall.
So yes, if you can get away from windows, if
you can have curtain darkening curtains, things like that. If

(38:56):
you want to do something out at night by the pool,
do that. I may a little tough to show it
in the plight of days seeking outside with the boys
watching it from bears. But a number of things to
choose from. So check out my website, my tech text
in dot com. Look at my latest video. Give me
some tips and you can see at least two of
them that I have at on set Box seven hospitting
the settle is what I can look like. That is

(39:18):
mind actu. Our number one is over when we come back.
Underrated snacks for March Madness watching. Also unexpected uses for
your home smart speaker. If you got a smart speaker,
all the Amazon echoes, all the Google nests or things
like that, what are you using for? You give these

(39:38):
ideas of what to use im for. What's gonna row
your mind? If you have no cluel in making news?

Speaker 1 (39:42):
This is what you expect.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
No, that'sen to my show Michael Garfield, my tech text
and show We're gonna be back after the break.

Speaker 1 (40:01):
Is Michael garfil Michael Garfield. Michael Garfield's joining in the
high Tech Texan. Michael garfil is here with a high
Tech Texas.

Speaker 2 (40:10):
Its to make life easier.

Speaker 1 (40:11):
New technology, and Michael Garfield has something you might like.

Speaker 3 (40:20):
Michael Garfield is your high Tech Texans. Three decades helping
you make magic with your gadgets. Heard worldwide on the
iHeartRadio Act. Now you're high Tech Texan, Michael Garfield.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
Our number two of the show begins right now. Say
it with me.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
People.

Speaker 2 (40:45):
We are halfway to Happio or technically Happy Hour started
earlier this week, Big week there week Saint Patrick's Day
on Monday. People, Still you're still recovering from that, right
March madness tipped off a few a few days ago.
We're in the first full weekend. You're probably watching the
game right now. Why you're listening to me. I appreciate

(41:05):
that I also have ADHD. You could do that too.
Hopefully your bracket is not busted yet. We talked about
that in the first hour. A few things coming up.
Amazon getting ready to make some changes. If you have
an Echo device, one of those smart speakers, you got
about a week and a half or so before your
information everything that you think Amazon may be listening to, Well,

(41:27):
they change things and it ain't for the best because
they're going to take all the stuff that has listened to.
They're gonna put it up in the Amazon cloud. I'll
tell you how to prepare and what's up with that?
Leave you this hour. I can't wait for this interview
in Houston, actually Houston and San Antonio. Over the next
few weeks, there is a big national whiskey festival coming

(41:48):
to town. And you know I'm a brownwater guy people
without a doubt. I'll tell you how to get tickets
into how many over under? What do you think guys
over under? Number of different wiss that they're going to
be tasting. They send me a press release. I glanced
at it. I think it's in the three digits. There's

(42:08):
a lot of whiskey to be tasted, so we'll give
you information about that. Speaking of cocktails, and speaking of
watching March Madness, what are you snacking on right now?
What are you snacking on? I'm getting all these recipes
and these ads are popping up, and everybody's using the
huns euphemisms of March madness or basketball. I'm looking at

(42:30):
a few right now. Shoot for a winning menu. Ballin' Bites.
I'm not kidding you. It's it's called ballin Do you Kroger,
I'm looking at you. Do you really need a headline?
This says score full court Press flavor with snacks and
SIPs for your party. Try these Ballin' bites, big taste

(42:51):
for turning times and then I'm looking. I'm looking at
this one. Undefeated dip recipes, just like Martin Geort's character
on Only Murders in the Building. I like dips. I
love dips, big into dips. I make my own hummus,
and I just like saying hummus. No, I make it's

(43:12):
It's actually very easy to make hummus. Just go google
a recipe you I need some chickpeas and spice it
up and whatever. Where do you rank these? Okay, let's
real quickly callum reading. Well, you know the guys help
them out behind the glass of the show over here.
We can't we can't put it. Could we put an
online X poll together? Or should we just let's just
do it on air real quickly? Where does this rank

(43:33):
in your bracket? You could talk in my ears bracket?
Best dips, baked spinach and artichoke, buffalo chicken dip, quacom
only it's dip, Hummus dip, buffalo wing dip, mushrooms, Swiss dip,

(44:03):
aving corn dip, jalapinia popper dip, beer cheese dip, pmento
cheese dip, loaded potato dip, hey so, artichoke and spinach
black beans. All right, oh of those? Okay, talk to
me in my ear. All right, hands listen. We live

(44:27):
in Texas. KSO always always top notch, speaking of KSO
best KSO in town, Chips in town. Shout out Cabo Bobs.
I'm in Vegas as we speak this moment. Returning later tonight.
Cobo Bob is not open on Sunday. I will be
having Cobo Bob's Dip for the remainder of the March Madness.
Phenomenal stuff. Four locations in Houston, There's one in San Antonio,

(44:47):
seven in Austin. Go to Cabo Bob's. Actually, that is
the perfect game day snack. Go get massive burritos, Go
get nachos, Go get the casadillas. It can't be Babo
Bobs Cobo Bob's, but the best chips in the world
in phenomenal Depp. Okay, so is that the all time
hearty dip? It's easy to make. You go get a
block of cheese, you put a little halopenias, put a

(45:09):
little pecante in there. Okay, Yeah, we're not going for
I'm not giving style points for how easy or simple
it is. Just what's the best dip? Because for me
and I don't have this all too often, and I
made it a few times. I love buffalo chicken dip,
absolutely love bluff. Do you guys know what that is?
Buffalo chicken dip? I'm talking to the guys here behind

(45:29):
the screen. It's it's cream cheese, and it's shredded chicken,
and it's regular cheese like uh, you know, it's cheddar
or something like that. And you put some halopenias in
there if you really wanted, and you sit there. It

(45:51):
takes like fifteen minutes. What else am I missing?

Speaker 1 (45:55):
Up? You?

Speaker 2 (45:56):
He Coby, you take Kobe block cheese, and I got
recipes coming in over here Michael at high tech tex
dot com, and people are it's very simple to make.
My trick not a secret. Someone thought to tell you.
I have a outdoor smoker barbecue grill. But it's a
smoker smoked buffalo chicken dip. Forget about it, drop the

(46:17):
mic game over smoked buffalo chicken dip recipe. You know what,
let's see. I can't do it this weekend, so I'm
hopping a plane a little later today coming back from Vegas. Tomorrow,
I wanted to be at the Scifair Home and Outdoor Show.
I'll tell you more about that, and I hope you
do come see me. By the way, someone wants to
see me tomorrow at the Scyfair Home an Outdoor Show

(46:38):
and you want to bring me a taste of your
favorite dip. I'm not going to be mad. I am
not going to be mad whatsoever. But anyway, next weekend,
maybe I'll hold a little Sweet sixteen watch party. I
got it. Smoked buffalo chicken dep recipe. That's easily top
of my bracket, top of my bracket. Guys, what else

(46:58):
you got.

Speaker 1 (47:00):
You like?

Speaker 2 (47:01):
Oh? Crab dep okay, Callum likes crab dip and we'll
spinach and our show dep Okay, okay, there's nothing wrong
with that. Nothing wrong with that too. We haven't gotten
to wings too, But what is the what is the
best food for watching? We've already we've already I think
with Thursday. I don't know how many wings we killed.
I don't even know where we ate at Vegas for
the late after the late morning early afternoon games on Thursday,

(47:24):
but we we we killed us some wings. I mean,
you can get sliders. I'm not a big Hamburger meeting.
I'm not a big red meat guy. Sliders to pizza,
you know, Okay them, come, I get get more. We're
creative people. Three four six nine Texan best food snack

(47:45):
to watch sporting events overall. You gotta have dips, gotta
have some sort of a chip. Wings are always up there.
Pizza easy to do. Oh look what's coming in? Strong people?
Got the charcuterie board very I'll give you bonus points
for actually spelling it correctly. Got the cheeseboard. Other things

(48:08):
get crazy. So I say this because we're hungry. I
say this. I just this is what we do on
the show. Yes, I am going to give you some
hard hitting stuff as we take a break over here.
When we come back, I am going to talk about
home smart speakers. Two things. Number one, if you have
an Amazon Echo recorder, you got about two weeks before
something big time is going to change and you may

(48:28):
not like it. That's one and what all you can
do with your home smart speaker. You should be listening
to this radio show right now over your home smart speaker.
I'll tell you how to do that, but there's a
number of different other things that you can do. I
am here to open your eyes and your ears when
it comes to technology, dips, wings, brown water, and I
don't know anything else I can kill time to get

(48:49):
to the top of the hour. It is Michael Karkiel
on the High Tech Text Show. All right, I'm sure

(49:16):
I got some few people hungry as we just finished
a kind of little tutorial, a little over the air
question and answer poll. The brack of course, this time
of the year, we have a bracket. What dip or
snack is at the top of your bracket for watching
any sports, especially right now we have around rounds three

(49:37):
and four of the March Madness. Whoever you got, hope,
your hope, your team wins, Hope your bracket wins. Michael
Garfield is the name and talk about smart speakers right now.
You know I do a lot of smart home talk
and smart speakers. That's an easy gateway. It's a nice
simple entry way into making your home relatively smart. You

(50:00):
can go buy one of these things. They some of
them cost as little as twenty five dollars. Some of them,
you know, have video screens that you can place in
your kitchen, dishto it to watch TV, where you talk
to it, it answers it back. And there's there's everything
from and I hate using these keywords, and I hope
I really don't set off a lot of your smart speakers,
but everything from Google to Alexa, to Siri to it whatever,

(50:22):
there's there's a number of them. And this is where
they had that wake up word. And Amazon was the
pretty much the first to market with those in the
home category, and they had the Amazon Echo devices where
they said Alexa, what time is it, what's the weather
or whatever? And a lot of people you probably forgot
about it. Maybe you ask it for some recipes, maybe

(50:44):
you ask it to play games. There's there's a number
of different things, just almost too many to count. But
I was going through a list and cause somebody asked me,
you know what do I use my smarts? I have
several different smart speakers. I have some from Amazon. I
have several from Google because I in I have. They're
on different levels of my home, in different rooms, and
so I can I can test, I can compare, so

(51:06):
I know some of the features that are better than others,
and so I can review and give the nice information
to you. But there are some things that Number one,
let me suggest that you could do. I mean, you
could say timers, you just talk to it. These are
voice controlled. You could tell it to play your favorite podcast.
And by the way, right now, right now, here's something
you should do. You should tell your smart speaker to

(51:32):
listen to me right now over your smart speaker, because
right now you may be listening through your phone through
the iHeartRadio app, which is which is great. We love that.
But how about this. Try this go to in and
I don't want to use the wake up boards, so
I'm gonna use hey blank, which could mean the A
word for Amazon or the G word for that other

(51:53):
big company like that. Okay, so I want you to say,
hey blank. Listen to KPRC nine radio on iHeartRadio. That's
in Houston. If you're in San Antonio, hey blank. Listen
to news radio twelve hundred WOAI on iHeartRadio. If you're

(52:14):
in Dallas, listen to talk Radio eleven ninety on iHeartRadio.
Do it right now. It will start streaming. This way,
you can blast it all over your house, all over
your room. That's one of the things. They try it
right now again, Hey blank, listen to whatever local station
you're on on iHeartRadio and it'll start playing. That's that's cool.

(52:34):
Here's another thing you could do. You know, you can
find your phone. If you can't find where you're placed
your phone, you can ask it. Try try the one
with Google. Hey blank, starts with the g find my
phone and what it's gonna do. It's gonna cause your
device to ring for about thirty seconds. And if you
have several devices lengked, you do need to specify which

(52:57):
one you want to locate. So this does work with iPhones, androids, tablets,
and some accessories too. Pretty cool. You could use it
as an intercom. I like this one. See I have
three I have three floors in my home, and if
I'm on the top floor, and I guess I haven't
used this in a while until you know, one of
my kids moved out. But if I was on the

(53:17):
bottom floor of my office or the off one, and
I have several different devices all over the house to
relay a message, and instead of yelling like you know,
my parents dead, Hey Mike, oh dead, n you don't
need to do that anymore, so you say, hey blank,

(53:38):
announce it's time to leave right now. You can also
even even if it's the A word, I actually did this,
if someone can give you permission to do this to
another one. Like my parents are in Dallas and I'm
in Houston, and we each have the Amazon Echo device,
which starts with the A word. You know what I'm saying,
you actually can. It's called drop in, So I can say,

(53:59):
hey blank, drop in on parents, and that's why I
call it, and I then all of a sudden, you
in their house. Their speaker goes boop, so they can
know someone's listening in, and then I can start talking.
You don't even need a phone, So these speakers actually
were speakers work well. Also, they can help you go
to sleep if you like a sound machine or a

(54:21):
wave machine, which is interesting because you can buy those individually.
If you have one in your in your bedroom or
wherever you're gonna go take a nap or something, you
can say, hey blank, play white noise, play sounds of rain.
I mean it's a number of different things that you
could do. All right, So that's Oh, by the way,
a little fun tip from Michael. We got some not

(54:44):
so good news. Let's go back to Amazon. Amazon just
announced this. They're getting ready to launch and Alexa Plus service. Okay,
that's what it's called. And before we do that, Amazon
is requiring owners to send all of their voice data
to Amazon and put it up in the Amazon Cloud. Okay,

(55:07):
now there's an issue with that in my opinion. Here
we go. It starts on March twenty eighth, and if
you own an Echo smart speaker or some of those
Echoes show smart displays, you will no longer have the
option to block voice command recordings from being sent to
Amazon now keeping voice recordings local, which means right on

(55:30):
your machine. To me, it's an important privacy feature for
any voice assistant. I'm not sure what Amazon's doing by
removing it. See removing it to me raises serious questions
about what Amazon is listening to. I'm not accusing Amazon anything.
I'm trying to use this as more of a news
thing than throwing my own thoughts in over here. But
take it for what it's worth. If you didn't even

(55:51):
know about these privacy settings before. You've probably been a
little worried about voice assistant privacy overall. There's a lot
of the majority amount of people have privacy concerns adding
all of these more AI features to these home voice assistants.
So what do all these Alexa voice recording settings do?

(56:12):
Amazon's new concern this news concerns two specific privacy options
for its Echoes and Echo shows there is a feature
here called do not send voice recordings, and there's another
one do not save voice recordings. They can be found,
but it's not easy to be found. Go deep inside
the settings of your Alexa app or Echo device settings.

(56:34):
They're there for now, but on March twenty eighth they're gonzo.
Amazon's going to be removing they do not send voice
recordings option, which means all recorded voice commands are automatically
going to be sent to Amazon for processing and analysis.
So Amazon, is it going to be able to listen

(56:56):
to whatever that you tell Alexa? Everything Alexa records when
it or is it's weight word, Yes, it's automatically sent
to Amazon Cloud for processing. And Amazon's messaging to all
these owners now you know, says that it's going to
use this data to train to train Alexa Plus. It's
new service, so it can hold better conversations, understand why

(57:18):
people you know do things you know, and give them
more accurate, you know, answers as of March twenty eight
day and giving people a choice. Nope, some we just
tied email. Our other Alexa privacy setting is going to
be effective well right now only they do not send

(57:38):
voice recordings and they do not say voice recordings option
appears to change on March twenty eighth. Other Alexa privacy settings,
like their skill permissions. I didn't read anything about that,
so they should be intact after this deadline. And why
are they doing it? Really, it's mostly about Alexa Plus.
They're launching this new AI up grade which is going

(58:00):
to be twenty dollars per month, or if you're an
Amazon Prime it's free. Man, that's brilliant. Amazon really really
needs Alexa Plus to bring in more revenue hopefully more customers,
and so they're pulling out all the stops to prepare
for this big release that's coming out soon. In one
of those stops I believe was the were the privacy

(58:20):
settings They need it to learn quickly and be and
do well. Amazon says that encrypts voice data in transit
between your local machine and the cloud. We hope it is.
So what do you do? I don't know. Can you
stop your echo from saving voice recordings? Well, you're gonna

(58:41):
have access to your privacy settings. However, Amazon made it
clear that it's turning this setting on means voice ID
settings will not work. So at the end of the day,
is their workaround? I can't think of it. The only
workaround I can think of is getting rid of Alexa
going to Google. Now do I know that Google doesn't
do the same thing or will they do the same thing?
I do not know. This is an issue that we

(59:02):
have that I grapple with. But I tell you to
see if we could talk through this. But again, I'll
say it, some of the tech, a lot of the
technology we use it is great. It helps everything. People
don't like giving away their GPS, their information on their phone.
Well guess what if you don't turn on some settings
of your phone, your phone is nothing but a brick.
It does nothing. I use my map feature all the

(59:25):
time just to check out traffic, so I have to
let my phone know where I am. Am. I worried
that somebody from Google or maybe Zuckerberg is gonna, you know,
creep up behind me. It's some traffic light on you
know Loop six' ten Your West timor road In. Houston,
no there's too many people who do who do, That
but you have to give some information to get back

(59:45):
information that you. Want that's the way of the, world
that's the way we live right. Now you suck it,
up people now speak it of suck it. Up we're
getting rented sucked down some really good stuff Because i'm
gonna have an interview with somebody involved with an event
coming To houston And San antonio real soon when it
comes To. Whiskey and so if you're a, fan ah,
yeah don't go.

Speaker 1 (01:00:02):
Anywhere we are back at.

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
It just under thirty minutes to go in The Michael
Garfield High Tech Texan. Show and as you, know we
usually start the second hour WHERE i say it's halfway
through the. Show it's halfway to happy, hour. Folks if
it ain't happy, hour Then i'm telling you right now
it is happy hour because we're going to spend a
few minutes talking about my favorite liquor and, spirits which
is Brown. Water a big event coming up at the

(01:00:53):
end of this month Of, march certainly In, houston SOMETHING
i attended last year AND i will be there this
year because if you are You're spirits, fan a whiskey,
fan brown water, fan you gotta go to. This this
is the the Annual National Whiskey, festival and it is
a fest and there is a lot to drink and
see AND i want to give you the inside, info
tell you what's gonna be, there and also how to get.

(01:01:14):
Tickets but to do, That i'm gonna have to go
to the. Expert i'm going to bring In. Alexi. Oh,
sure she's the director of operations With Whiskey, riot that
is the event company that puts this. ON, lexi please
tell me you are not yet, schnoggered because you've got
to be sober and put this thing. On, okay naw,
yet one more.

Speaker 5 (01:01:32):
Week but Thanks, michael thanks for having. ME i appreciate
it AND i look forward to having you next. Weekend
And Whiskey.

Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
Riot, WELL i was this is the third year In,
Houston is that, Correct?

Speaker 5 (01:01:42):
Lexi, yeah, yes this will be our.

Speaker 2 (01:01:44):
Thirty this may be three for three for. Me and,
LISTEN i attend a lot of these events where they're
sampling for all sorts of. Liquor i'm not the biggest wine,
guy BUT i go to tequila. Events but this and
again this is an unpaid endorsement AND LEXI i do you,
KNOW i do a lot of. These this is one
of not my favorite because there are so many people
and there are so many things to try for those

(01:02:05):
unfamiliar with. It which happens next Week, Saturday march twenty,
ninth and H down give us the play by. Play
what's the event?

Speaker 5 (01:02:12):
About, sure, So Whiskey. Riot it's an awesome, event as
you have experienced. Yourself attendees will get to immerse themselves
in the world Of Whiskey riot right here In. Houston
whether you're a whiskey enthusiast or just trying to find
your you, know what's you're interested, in or starting, out
it's an incredible opportunity to discover cool new, brands try

(01:02:32):
some of those spirits that maybe you've been on, it
you've been looking at and it's on your tasting. List
maybe they're a little out of, budget or you just
aren't sure if you want to buy the full, bottle
this is the perfect event for. You you'll be able
to connect with brands and try tons of, whiskeys Both
american and.

Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
International you, know one of the reasons THAT i love
this is BECAUSE i ACTUALLY i collect. BOURBON i collect,
whiskey and my longtime listeners know. THIS i have a bourbon,
bar a specifically bourbon. Bar now it's. It i've made
my own barrels and. Sing i'm a. GEEKY i, KNOW i,
KNOW i know it's going, on BUT i don't know
every time one is, released because they're releasing them on
a daily. Basis and that's the fun part for. Me

(01:03:12):
it's the, hunt and it's the discussion have you tried
this and? This AND i don't want to go buy
a bottle BEFORE i taste the whole. Thing and this
is WHAT i love BECAUSE i can go up and
down all of your bruce and try, things especially ones
That i've never heard.

Speaker 5 (01:03:25):
Of, yeah we love. THAT i, mean not only when
you come to our events do you get like a
couple Of texas. Brands you might be familiar with the
eighteen forty five Distilling Mylemon, green but not Only texas.
Brands you get national Brands, Penelope, Widow Jane, bardstown and
then international BRANDS i mean a lot of people haven't

(01:03:45):
tried or are unsure of Like canadian whiskey Or. Scotch
they know they they know they like their, bourbon but
they're starting to branch. Out this is perfect lot forty
From canada is going to be, There Glen, Fiddick, belvaney Both.
Scotches we've got a bunch For virush brands as. Well
so it's a really incredible opportunity because very, rarely like you,
said do you get access to two hundred plus whiskeys

(01:04:08):
all under one, roof not to mention the opportunity to
connect to the people behind the brands for essentially the
same cost it would it would be if you were
to buy one bottle at the liquor.

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
Store you're talking AND i think you answered you you
kind of knew WHAT i was going to ask, you
what's the value of this? Ticket because what's? Included you
JUST i mean two hundred bottles and the fact that,
LISTEN i Don't i'm Not i'm not A scotch, guy
and that's just. ME i mean there's a, Yeah i've
a bember brown water. Guy but as you, said this is,
whiskey and, again not all, whiskeys bourbon Or bourbon's. Whiskey you,
know we had a whole thing of. It but you

(01:04:39):
do have scotch, coming you do have the bourbon, Coming
so it's a wide. Variety so no matter what your taste,
ARE i think you're going to be very surprised and. Happy.

Speaker 5 (01:04:47):
YEAH i, Mean i'm not A i don't like scotches,
either But i've had a, couple especially at our, events
that it's it's a no. Brainer i'm, There i've been,
INTERESTED i want to try. It maybe my tastes of,
change who. Knows so it's it's a perfect opportunity to
see and just you, know test the. Waters but, yeah
so for ninety, dollars you get an awesome whiskey rye
glass to taste during the, event and then you get

(01:05:09):
to take that home with. You it's three hours to,
try LIKE i, said two hundred, whiskies as well as
access to unique whiskey cocktails from some specific, brands and
then you, know it's the perfect weekend date. Idea my
husband AND i like to go to these, ourselves but
if you've got a group of, friends you can also
snag four packs online for seventy five dollars a.

Speaker 2 (01:05:31):
Ticket that's a great idea of speaking With. Lexi she
is With Whiskey. Riot they are coming To uston people
one week from. Today it is A, Saturday march twenty,
ninth and it's going to be At Post Houston, downtown
which is the old post office BUT i think that's
where you have held it the past few. Years that's
a great, venue lex you get you picked that really
great with very open white space and. Everything, yeah it's.

Speaker 5 (01:05:51):
Perfect you can come and get lunch beforehand and then
head right on. Up it's a cool.

Speaker 2 (01:05:55):
Venue definitely give us give me a little inside. Information
i'm gonna call, this you, know once in a blue.
Mood what are you going to have there THAT i
maybe have never going to have the chance to try
again Or i've never tried.

Speaker 5 (01:06:07):
Yet, Sure so we've got A Starlight, distillery which is
a new brand this year for Us, pinhook which you
know they actually haven't been to a lot of, events
SO i know a lot of people have Tasted, pinhook you,
know maybe at, home but that's a newer brand people
are really getting. Behind wider has some really cool products
coming as, well just a couple to name to name

(01:06:29):
some really more unique brands that have not been there
in the. Past but we've got actually thirty thirty new
brands this year coming To Houston Whiskey, Riots so you'll
have a very large lineup that will not look like
last year's event.

Speaker 2 (01:06:43):
Either you, KNOW i am a very hard hitting journalist
AND i think people can see you WHEN i said
that over. Here so we got two hundred, Whiskeys, yes
and it's three, hours AND i want to ask you,
This it's going to be on the record just. Generally
has Anybody has anybody ever drink a sample of all
two hundred whiskeys in three?

Speaker 5 (01:07:03):
Hours, no that's that's not. Possible you know WHAT i
always like to say, is, uh this is my two.
Cents go, around take a peek at what what brands are,
there take a peek at which bottles you might want to,
try and then pick a bunch that you know you
one you have to try. Them go right to those.
Tables then later on in the, event go back and

(01:07:25):
maybe pick a handful that you really really, liked and
talk to those brands and get some more. Information try
try that product, again because you, know as you, know
the first stip is always, uh you, know a nice warm,
hug the second, sip the third, sip they taste a little.
Different SO i always recommend finding the ones that you

(01:07:45):
are really interested in and hitting those those tables.

Speaker 2 (01:07:48):
Up in, particular Since i've been so many years AND
i am a, PRO i would recommend rides. Here that's
All i'm.

Speaker 5 (01:07:53):
Saying, yes, yes one hundred percent uber. Lift you, know
do not drink and.

Speaker 2 (01:07:58):
Drive last question BEFORE i let you go. Up looking
all the website here which is whiskeyriot dot, com AND
i know you can get tickets over. There there's also
there's a there's A vip. Experience what's opportunity is that
going to give?

Speaker 5 (01:08:09):
Us SO vip is pretty much sold. Out it's probably
going to be selling out within the next. Hour but
it includes put on your list for next year because
these ones sell out. Fast it includes a buffe from
two guys one. Pit it's a barbecue restaurant here In,
houston full, buffet and then early access you get an

(01:08:29):
additional hour and you actually get to taste a little
bit more high end premium whiskeys as. Well so definitely add.
It add yourself to the list for notifications next year
because you'll want to get on. That they sell out.

Speaker 2 (01:08:43):
Fast OH i ROLL, VIP i know again the details
one week from, Today March, Saturday march twenty. Ninth it
starts four O'CLOCK i think is the regular when the door's.
Open is that?

Speaker 1 (01:08:56):
Right?

Speaker 5 (01:08:56):
Yep four o'clock to seven. O'clock tickets definitely sell out,
beforehand SO i recommend not. Waiting and like you, said
whiskeyriote dot com is where you can buy.

Speaker 2 (01:09:05):
Those i'm looking at right, now whiskey. Right and for
those of my listeners In San, antonio you got The
San antonio one coming up THAT i think A lexi
That's may, seventeenth, right, Yeah may. Seventeenth where's that going
to be In San? Antonio Freeman.

Speaker 5 (01:09:17):
Coliseum it's over by all the arenas to the, east
just east of the downtown.

Speaker 2 (01:09:23):
Area gotch, Out San. Antonio i'll see you in two months, too,
BABY i. Can.

Speaker 5 (01:09:26):
Yeah i'm just that's a great event. Too that is
a really popular one for brands and attendees.

Speaker 2 (01:09:31):
Alike so that is. Great we go congrats and the.
Success you really do put on a very very unique
and fun, show especially for people who are whiskey lovers
or the curious or the enthusiast or the ficionado or
even just a. ROOKIE i, mean everybody's. Welcome it is Called,
Whiskeyriot Whiskey riot dot. Com. Folks if you see me out,
there talk to me early SO i can make sure
THAT i can smile in photos if you ask for, ONE, Lexi,

(01:09:53):
hey continue to SEE i will see you next week AND
i appreciate your. Time, yeah looking forward to.

Speaker 5 (01:09:57):
It, Thanks. MICHAEL i have a good, one and, everybody don't.
Wait tickets will sell out.

Speaker 2 (01:10:02):
Now, people whiskey ryot dot. Com all, right people don't go.
Anywhere we got one more segment before it really is
happy hour right here on The Michael, GARFIELD i take taxis.
Channel that's pretty, thirsty DIDN'T i good, conversation, man, MAN

(01:10:41):
i love. Me i'm going to the least The houston
show of The National Whiskey festival coming up here at
the end of the, Month San, Antonio europe. NEXT i
APPRECIATE lexi for letting us know some of that information
we got ABOUT i don't, know six seven minutes before
we hang, up BEFORE i hang up the, microphone BEFORE
i actually can have a zip some of that good
whiskey BEFORE i hop on a. PLANE i will be

(01:11:02):
back In houston and Then, sunday my, Friends, sunday although
you'll be listening to this, SHOW i will be at
the Sy Fair home And Outdoor show on the northwest
side Of. Houston i'll be there from eleven in the
morning till about five in the. AFTERNOON i will be
doing a. Podcast you can see how cool and sexy
it is for me to talk it through a. Microphone

(01:11:23):
but come meet, me say, HI i take pictures and
answer ask. Questions But i'm also doing it at a
big booth in a partnership with Robo. Rock if you've
ever been interested in getting one of them smart vacuum
cleaners that also, Mop we'll be having at least, three
if not, four wet and dry. Vacuums we'll be tossing
ketchup and oatmeal and fun. Stuff we'll let you see

(01:11:46):
how light some of these devices. Are we'll show off
on some of these robotic. Vacuums just give you some
ideas when you're shopping for home in garden or smart
home in garden. Things it is at eighty eight seventy
Seven Barker. Cypress it's in The Big berry enter. Ry
it's like a convention. Center it's In, Cyprus. Texas check it.
Out Texts wood shows that is This. Sunday it Is

(01:12:07):
march twenty. Third with the robo. Rock you're going to
be having some fun and be impressed with all these
robotic vacuum. Cleaners texts t Ex wood Text wood shows
absolute free, admittance free parking two and you don't see
a lot of that word a lot. FREE i love.
It i'm going to get there via one of my
vehicles That i'm test. Driving let me close out for

(01:12:28):
the next few, minutes what is going on in the
world of cars and, trucks auto movie, heels because that
is one of the things THAT i test on a
very very regular, Basis and any given WEEK i am testing,
one maybe two new, cars and this past WEEK i
was in a fun. One i'm not the biggest electric vehicle,
guy not BECAUSE i don't think they're, sexy not BECAUSE

(01:12:49):
i don't think they're super fast and very quiet and
potentially green and. Whatever but the way our the infrastructure
of charging and battery charging is in The United, states
it's just not for me WHERE i am in my
life at this, point BECAUSE i just like get up and.
GOING i like going To austin To San antonio To
houston To, dallas back and. FORTH i really don't want

(01:13:10):
to stop halfway between those cities and wait for an,
hour hour and a half or more to charge the car.
Up but if you do drive on a local basis
and you've got a charger at, home you've got a
charger at, work and all you do, is you, know
schlept the kids to basketball practice or ballerina ballet. Stuff,
yeah electric cars could be for. You but WHAT i
was driving in was. Fun it was, fun AND i

(01:13:33):
don't say that about a lot of cars THAT i drive.
IN i was in A Dodge Charger, daytona and those
generally are muscle. Cars but this the twenty twenty four
version of The Dodge Charger. Daytona it was, electric that's.
Right and it was the Scat Pack Track Package stage.
Two for all you car nerds out, there six hundred

(01:13:55):
and seventy horsepower zero to sixty three point three seconds
does a quarter mile and eleven and a half seconds
ESTIMATED ev range on this one just about two hundred
and Forty, good not, great so we'll call it. Decent Dodge,
actually calls this the next era Of dodge muscle, cars

(01:14:16):
and they say it's the world's quickest muscle. Car AND
i gotta tell. You WHEN i hit that launch, button
and there is a button that says the word, LAUNCH i.
WENT i didn't time at zero sixteen three point. Three
but ALL i know Is i'm on the freeway AND
i was smushed back into that driver's seat and my

(01:14:37):
hair almost was flown back. In the windows weren't even.
Open that's how fast it. Goes no less than nine
cameras curb side, everything several different drive. Views the pickup
is absolutely. Incredible the fact is there's no. Sound it's.
Electric but What dodge has done they created something very

(01:14:58):
unique and it's. Patented it is what's called a frat
sonic and they made up this word decades. Ago Frat
sonic chambered. Exhaust so in the bottom the back of
the car where the exhaust, is there's actually no exhaust
because it's an electric. Vehicle think about. It there's nothing
to exhaust, out and there's no airtake that needs to
come in because it's. Electric but it makes a, sound

(01:15:21):
and it makes a rumbling, sound and it makes a
muscle car, sound and when you're inside it actually rumbles
and vibrates the vehicle and all of. This It's. Hollywood
it's not a speaker. System it's an patented. Chamber and
if you think about, it it's like a pipe organ
because pipe organ's worked with chambers and so as you

(01:15:42):
hit the, accelerator what it does it just makes it
can create this sound that you can hear from the
outside and people behind you can my NEIGHBORS i certainly
woke up one, morning but on the inside they've got
speakers so you can also. Hear and it, also oh
rattles the. Car it is a muscle car. Feeling it's

(01:16:03):
a muscle car drive if you want it that, way
because it also drives quiet as a. Bird that's one
of the neat. Things and that's what it. Is FAT
i got a lot of head. Turns. Now it's a
two door. Car so do you want this for? You,
WELL i don't, Know, ah do you have car seats
kind of tough to get in the. Back do you
always carry a lot of, people two or three extra
people who are maybe more than you, know five and

(01:16:25):
a half six feet. Tall it's relatively easy for me
to get In i'm a six foot tall, guy but
you know you may not want to, open you, know
those back doors and crawl. IN i will say the.
Uh And i'm not going to call it a. Trunk
it doesn't have a, trunk but it's a. Hatchback but
it's got that cargo, space which is not bad for
a two door. Car and when you open up that
hood and you expect to see that, shiny silvery engine

(01:16:48):
and it ain't. There it's an electric. Vehicle it's got
batteries underneath the. Car so it's got what's called a,
frunk a front. Trunk it's got a one and a
half cubic kind of bin that you can ice. Down
and let's just put it this. Way nice sodas in,
water or carry maybe like a small briefcaseit. There if
you really wanted to price base price for the twenty

(01:17:09):
twenty four, dits charge your daytona scat pack at about
sixty five thousand dollars the WAY i tested, it because
it had a lot of, upgrades eighty two thousand. Dollars
it's quite a bit of. Money they don't make a
lot of. Them do you like? Electric you have to
ask yourself some, Questions but, DANG i had. Fun you
want to see what it looked. Like check it out
On facebook With Michael. Garfield if you're not my, friend

(01:17:30):
free BUT i did post some things on My instagram
and My twitter or my ex by the, way follow
it high tech texts and high tech t e X
A n one of the more fun. Vehicles WHAT i
get this probably. Not this is Not LISTEN i look
at WHERE i am or my Kid my kids are.
GONE i am a certain. Age AM i having a midlight?

(01:17:51):
Crisis this is a fun one to. Drive don't know
if this would be my everyday, car but it. Is
it's gonna get you from POINT a to POINT b
very very, fast just LIKE i did these last two,
hours which means the show is ALMOST. OPA i gotta shut.
UP i gotta now go watching little. BASKETBALL i got a.
PACK i got to get a get out Of, vegas
Which i've had. Fun thank You Las, vegas And i'm
coming back. TOMORROW i do Tomorrow. SUNDAY i really hope

(01:18:13):
to see if you're used to spend a few hours with.
Me it's The Side Fair home And Outdoors show at
The Barry center In, Cyprus. Texas free to get in free.
Parking come see me showing off some robo, rock smart
home vacuum, robots answering your questions and it's gonna be.
Fun listen for everybody's part of this. One thank You
callum And will And Brian, Erickson Mark, Sherman Paul lambert

(01:18:36):
and the big big big guy over The state Of.
Texas iHeart and dead Is Eddie. Martini thank you for
giving Me mark for next. Year my name Is garth
and right now say it with me. People my show is.

Speaker 1 (01:18:48):
Over