Back from China!

Today on the High Tech Texan Show:

• Back from China visit; my thoughts and interviews on the tariff wars
• Mother's Day tech gifts to get NOW before prices escalate
• National Password Day raises questions of why we still use this antiquated process

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Is Michael Garfi Michael Garfield, Michael Garfields joining in the
high Tech Texan. Michael Garfield is here with a high
Tech Texans. I used to make life.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Easier new technology, and Michael garfild 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 you're high Tech Texan. Michael Garfield.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Now let's go back a few years. I used to
have a daily radio show, more than just this weekend
radio show, and the name of the daily show was
called The World a core to garf all right, you
have to be of age to understand the you know,
the inside joke over how that works. It wasn't so

(01:09):
much about technology. It was about well, what's going on
in my world? What's going on with the world. And
it was not politics, because you know me, I don't
do that. It's just you know, anecdotal funny things stories,
business stories, and you know, yes, I did review technology
and cars, talked a lot about sports, and that was
Monday through Friday show while I also still had the
weekend High Tech Texan show. And at some point I'm like,

(01:32):
you know what, it's this this Monday through Friday thing.
It's at the end of the day, the ROI it's
not worth it, so I stopped it. But the name
still resonates, and you know, I should do my own podcast,
a different one than this one called the World according
to Garf, and I bring it up is because this
indeed is the world. And over the years, I've done

(01:52):
this twenty three years in the radio, along with some
television and now social media, and thanks to iHeart, the
show is heard around the world, almost everywhere around the world.
I've done the show from so many places around the world.
I have been to four or five different spots in Mexico,
I have been to Amsterdam and Iceland, and I've done

(02:12):
the show in London and everywhere from California to Florida.
Just it goes on and on and on. And I
just returned from a place that I didn't think I
ever would be in my life. I am at the
point of my life where listen, the kids are grown,
they're out, I don't have any pets. I could just travel, travel, travel,

(02:35):
and it's kind of bye opening right now. And if
you've been following and listening, you know exactly where I
have been, and now it is time to do a
really in depth, deep dive recap, not only about my trip.
And this is not an old look at me. I
guess where I you know, I went. This was this
was a business trip people. I mean I didn't wear
a suit and tie, but this is a business trip
because I explored, I talk with companies, I discovered new products.

(02:59):
I've met some new friends and counterparts when I visited China.
That is right. I am back from a whirlwind worldwide
trip to China, and I've been, you know, kind of
counting it down here on the show, looking forward to it.

(03:21):
Maybe a little trepidation, you know, you hear about China.
I grew up in the era where China's like, we
don't know really what's what's going on over in China.
I mean, they allegedly blocked the Western world from media.
You can't get communication in or out. I mean I
didn't know what to expect. I didn't know it. You know,
it's it's is it overpopulated? Is what's the climate? Do they?

(03:44):
Like Americans right now? Didn't know? And so we will
give you the play by play over the next two
hours of of what happened. But one of the things
that one of the many things that we're going to
talk about today, we're going to talk about some of
the companies, the culture that I saw. Why is China
one of, if not the worldwide leader when it comes
to R and D creating and producing products, technology products, automobiles,

(04:14):
and so many other things that make them in some
ways so far ahead of every other country. I'm going
to stop right now, and I'm gonna give you an asterisk.
And before I get phone calls, before I get emails,
I'm gonna say this, hand to God, hand my mouth
microphone right now. MY name is Michael Garfield. I am

(04:37):
an American. I always will be an American. I bleed red, white, blue,
and burnt orange from my University of Texas. I don't
think there is a better country than the United States
of America. Okay, I'll say that up from I'm not
shilling for any other country ever, certainly during this show.

(04:57):
But what I am I am not afraid to actually
give you my thoughts that go right down the line,
all right, a bipartisan thing that listen, I am not
afraid to say this product is better than this, this
company is better than this, this team is better than this, whatsoever.
Sometimes I'm embarrassed about it. Sometimes I think competition only

(05:22):
drives up excellence, and so these are gonna be my thoughts.
So I don't want to hear the oh man, did
Chinese pay you to talk about this? Now? No, Sadly,
I didn't make one freaking penny. Sadly, I sat on
an airplane twenty two thousand miles. My nickname to the
other people, the other journalists who were on the trip

(05:44):
with me, was Magellan. Now I know my initials are MG,
but I also have an Imgella Magellan. I literally left
from Houston, stopped in San Francisco, San Francisco, directed a
Hong Kong, took a ferry right across to the southernmost
point of China. That was that's gonna be a that's

(06:05):
gonna be a ten minute segment alone stand by for
that was in Shinzhen, China, four and a half days
or so, A lot of great meetings, a lot of
introductions and the culture and everything. I then leave from China.
You think I would come back east, Oh no, no, no,
the way they booked me, I continue to go west
I went from China to Qatar in the Middle East.

(06:28):
It's only a nine hour flight, go to the Qatar
Doha Airport, one of the nicest airports in the world.
I then get on a sixteen hour flight west again
direct Doha, Qatar to Houston. The circumference of the Earth,
I believe is roughly around twenty four thousand miles. I
traveled twenty two thousand miles in freaking economy. That was

(06:54):
That was one of the low lights of the trip.
But I do think United and I mean maybe Katar.
I don't know. I'll give you thoughts to that. Listen
if you have questions, and I know you do, I'm
going to give you the number. It's three four to
six twenty nine texts and we're going to have really
interesting breakdown of play by play that does include tariffs.
I was able to sit down and speak with the

(07:17):
heads of Chinese based companies on their candid thoughts on
what they think in the short term and the long
term of the potential tariffs that keep on moving on
a regular basis. It seems of how it's going to
affect their company and how they ship will they ship
products to the United States based on the cost of

(07:40):
tariffs and how at the end of the day it
is going to affect you, my dear Lestern. We've got that.
We've got news that Amazon has now launched some satellites
that actually can help communication around the world. National Password
Day was this week. We're going to get some password
information and anything else that you want to hear. Michael

(08:00):
at high Tech textan dot Com. I've done it for
almost a quarter century right now. It's great to be able.
It's an honor to be able to talk to you
over the air Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, all across the
state of Texas, and I will tell you for you
for the length of my show. I've always said that
the this is a worldwide radio show, and I can't
maybe not. I may not be able to say worldwide

(08:23):
because from what I understood, China does not elect allow
Western media, including iHeartRadio, into their country. When we come back,
I will answer the question can my show be heard
in China? And the answer may shop get is Michael
Garfield the High Tech Texting Show. Only two thousand miles later,

(09:05):
I have returned to the United States after a long,
long trip, not actually a lot of time in China.
Is it still called the People's Republic of China? Canse
some we checked that it's every time they're in the Olympics,
they call themselves something it. So I was in shin Zin, China,
which and the reason I was there it was a

(09:27):
fact finding business trip that I went with probably about
fifteen other I'm gonna call myself a journalist that covered
the technology industry because shin Zen, which is the southernmost
point of China, I mean so southern. Then there's water,
and then there's Hong Kong. All right, it's the Silicon

(09:48):
Valley of China. It's I didn't know what to expect.
I did not know because I've I have gone to
South Korea. I went to South Korea two years ago,
which is the furthest I've ever been west. You say
that's in Asia, this is even further west. So I
flew into Hong Kong and then I popped over to
to China. And I think of China, and you think

(10:10):
of China. I don't know, maybe, and I'm not trying
to seriously, I'm not trying to do anything stereotypical, but
I've been to chinatowns in the United States, I've been
in San Francisco. I love Chinatown in San Francisco. I've
been in Chinatown in New York. There's a Chinatown in Houston,
where I'm based. There's a lot of China. When you go,
there may be a little bit kitchy. There's you know,

(10:34):
the umbrellas, there's the Chinese, the mand in writing and
the signs, and you look in the store windows and
the restaurants and there's hanging chickens and HIGs feed and
what facts. Man, I'm not making I'm not trying to
make fun. There's inexpensive items and chowshky's that you'll never need.
It's very narrow streets, and I'm thinking, that's what I'm

(10:57):
gonna see. Ay. Shenzen is one of the newer cities
in the country of China, so much so that has
really been built up over the past only and I say,
only sixty or seventy years now. You think about Beijing,
which has been around what ten thousand years, Shanghai that
which is up north, right, I was down south. If

(11:19):
you blindfolded me in this city and you put me
on a city street in Shenzen, you didn't tell me
where I was and I didn't happen to see the
Chinese street signs that are written to dead or that
hadre written a foreign language. I could have told Joe
was in Manhattan. I was in the heart of New York.
New York Hall buildings. Everybody lives in these high rise apartments,

(11:43):
big boulevards, cars, motorbike, scooters, parks, trees, people just walking.
It wasn't overcrowded and overpopulated like I thought China was,
at least not where I was in downtown or this
business district of Shen's in China. I thought I stayed

(12:04):
at a Western hotel. I stay at a Marriott hotel.
It's like forty The lobby was like on the forty
third floor, overlooking these massive buildings. I look south, I'm
looking directly at Hong Kong. I mean it was cool.
It was It was this Texas boy. It's like, man,
what am I doing over here? And then there's the culture.
But let me start with this. What did I miss?

(12:25):
What did I miss? The last week of April? Well,
from what I gathered, Hope died, Shannon Sharp got canceled
or something shed where Sanders fell in the NFL draft
bill Belichick had a week, didn't he. You know what
else I missed? I missed me some text Max. Oh

(12:45):
my goodness. You know I'm not I am not a foodie,
you know, I'm I'm I'm a picky dude, I really
really am. I mean, I don't eat pork and I
don't eat a lot of red meat. I'm a fish
chicken guy. But there, it's funny there. There was there
was KFC outlets. There, there was a dairy queen there, Uh,
Starbucks everywhere. I don't drink coffee, but it's very There

(13:09):
was a lot of americanized type of food, which we
never ate at because I was the part of this
tour and they wanted to show us traditional you know,
Chinese meals and things. Chinese are big on food. They
have these massive round tables with lazy susan, you know,
those big kind of movable roundtables, and they just bring
out food and they just spin it and spin it

(13:30):
and then they bring out more food. And the problem is,
I have no clue what the hell is in the
in those dishes. And I had and and I needed
a translator, and luckily we had people who spoke, you know,
Chinese Mandarin and you know, obviously English. It's like at
some point and day three it's like garf, don't even ask,
don't even ask? Did those are worms on skewers? Not

(13:53):
a stereotype, I kid you not. I went to a
restaurant they served barbecued worms. I got a video. But
dude from London who I met eating one of these
things not happening. And I don't care if it tastes
like chicken, and I don't care how many grams of protein.
It's just not happened. I think I lost weight on

(14:14):
this trip. I think I lost weight on this trip.
So the culture was kind of crazy. The airline travel
listen United was a United Airlines. I went there on United.
Very cool, you know, coming into dinner. Continental Airport I
was there. I left so early that I've never done this.
I did not know that Bush Intercontinental Airport they're closed.
They don't open until four in the morning. I guess

(14:36):
assumed airports were open twenty four hours. I literally had
to wait till the gate and TSA were open to
let me in at four am. I had a five
a m flight, but I met a number of people
from the United communications team. I just wanted to say hi.
They showed me around. They could not have been nicer. Yeah,
I guess they could have. I guess they could have
upgraded me to a lay flat seat, which, by the way,

(14:59):
I love travel. I love traveling overseas, but in my
age and just there's no way I can travel that
far again without in those one of those beds is
just just not happening. So I got there. It was
a long flight, long layover in San Francisco. Luckily I
was in a United Club. United clubs fairy comfy, highly
recommend cocktails, relax a little, and then I was on

(15:23):
a very very long flight get there. I must say,
Sin's in in terms of the climate, very much like Houston.
It was starting to get a little humid. Wasn't too overpowering, overbearing.
The funny thing is, obviously I'm based in Houston. I
know what humidity is. There are a lot of people
from London. There was someone from Pakistan, there was some

(15:43):
dude from Carolina, someone from New York, and they warned me.
They were like, oh my god, the humidity is going
to be so bad. I'm like, bro, let me help
you out. I'm from Houston and I get there. It's like,
this is nothing. This is like winter to me. They
thought it was, Oh, it's so hard human, I'm like,
shut up. You know, may have been high seventies, low eighties. Yes,

(16:05):
there was a smidge of humid in the air, but
come on, yeah, my hair did get a little poofy
and humidity curly. But I could dig it. I could
dig it. But other than that that, people were very nice.
Massive shopping malls, galleria type of things in one section,
and I did, and I'll talk about this later in
the show. There are I was looking for some cheap

(16:26):
stuff because I also heard that China has got some
really inexpensive products. I mean, you can get some cheap watches,
some cheap clothing, some cheap technology. You can. However, buyer beware,
buyer beware, because a lot of this stuff you have
to look closely. They are knockoffs. It's Rolexes ninety dollars.

(16:47):
B I know. I work with US coins and jewelry
here in Uston. I know the price of a Rolex.
Ain't nobody selling a real Rolex for ninety dollars. I
saw a triple I sold. I saw I saw some
phones that are not sold the United States because technically
they can't be sold in the United States. Companies like
wah Wi Uhawei very controversial obviously because it's a Chinese

(17:10):
based company. I think the I think Trump in his
first term he had said no, no, no, no, Wahwei
products can be sold here in the United States because
they could have spyware or whatever. There's Huawei stores on
every street corner. And the technology is amazing, it really is.
They have You've seen foldable phones, flip phones, fold off phones.
They have a trifold phone. They have a phone that
I saw. I saw and I didn't get to touch it,

(17:32):
and I'll tell you what. That folds out one, two,
three times it becomes a tablet. Technology is amazing. I
say this because I went to a technology based I
went to a tech mall. We just were just exploring
where they were selling, you know, stuff like you know,
ten cents in the dollar. There was this trifold phone
sitting in a glass case and we asked how much

(17:55):
it was, and it was normally these things easily are
two thousand and three thousand dollars if you could find
them right, and I think there were some of these
things for six hundred dollars. I say, cool, can you
bring it out of the case. Let me touch it.
I just want to see it, hold it. They would
not even let me touch it. No, And I'm like,
you want people to buy this phone for six hundred

(18:18):
and seven hundred, maybe one thousand US dollars. I don't
know what it was selling for. You won't let people
touch it you want me. It's like sight unseen, touch unseen.
It's kind of a negative. It doesn't work that way.
But one of the other things that blew me away
are the cars, the cars, automobile situation. And now I'm
gonna talk extensively about that. You know, I do dig
the cars. I'm an auto reviewer. Some of the cars

(18:38):
over there unbelievable. A lot of electric vehicles, a lot
of brands and models I have never heard of, and
a lot cheaper than you could ever imagine. Certainly nothing
that you ever fight in the United States. Listen, I
got that so much more coming up, don't go anywhere
bottom in the first hour it is Michael Barfield high
Tech Dutch three are back at It. Michael is the

(19:18):
name Michael garfielding long running high tech text in show
Back in the USA, still haven't caught up on my
sleep from my around the world trip to China, which
we have been talking about. Without a doubt, it was
an eye opening experience for me to see another part
of the world, another culture. And I'll tell you what,
China is a different that's a different cat man, that

(19:39):
is a different country when it comes to everything that
we've been talking about, including the food, which I could
do an entire two hour segment on the food. But
you know, one of the things that I that I
noticed and I knew I was going to notice as
I was walking around and driving around the city, specifically
the city of Shinsen where I was was the car,
was the automobile situation in the vehicles. And I just

(20:03):
know that that Chinese they really really adore their evs
or electric vehicles, and that's that's a big part of
what's going on in the world right now in terms
of tariffs. You know, I know for a fact that
Chinese made cars. They can be made very very inexpensive.
As it is a compared her to the United States,
it's almost unheard of when you convert the price, and

(20:24):
some of the ones I actually went into a dealership
or two not my eyes. We're just we're bugging out,
freaking out. How can this be? And you know, why
can't they be shipped to the US If they can, well,
they're going to be just as expensive, if not more
than the cars we have in the US. And so
I wanted to kind of have a little discussion about that,
kind of comparing Chinese vehicles, American vehicles and everything else.

(20:45):
And with that I go to the experts. I'm the
semi experts, but that we have people who really know
the insight information. With that, I bring in Daniel Cohan.
Daniel is a professor of environmental engineering at Rece University.
I say, Rice Universe. You know he's brilliant. First off,
right there, he joins me. Daniel, you have been to
China and this is your bag. You study everything when

(21:07):
it comes to the environment, in electricity, not just in cars,
but in homes. The disparage between the countries. What goes
on in America and almost so many other countries around
the world. How do you read that and why are
we do? I say America is so far behind other countries?
Is that a fair as a statement? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (21:26):
I was blown away by the electric cars that I
was seeing in China. When I visited in October, I
had two weeks there, and it had been since two
thousand and eight when I was there last, and there
were hardly any electric cars. Back in two thousand and eight.
The air pollution was much worse, and they.

Speaker 5 (21:41):
Decided to go all in on electric cars.

Speaker 4 (21:43):
They decided to do a Made in China twenty twenty
five initiative where they were going to try to make
certain products more in China than had ever been made before,
and electric cars was one of those. And they got
to the point last year where electric car sales topped
gos Lean car sales for the first time, and that's
something that no other country besides Norway had gotten to

(22:07):
and it means that they've just got the dominant electric.

Speaker 5 (22:09):
Car market in the world.

Speaker 4 (22:10):
They are far more electric cars being sold in China
than the rest of the world combine. And like you
were seeing on the roads, there are so many more
choices that we have here, about one hundred companies making
electric cars in China, many.

Speaker 5 (22:23):
Of them that.

Speaker 4 (22:26):
Aren't available at all in US and some other countries.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
As a walker, und I was looking at these nameplates.
I mean, I'm US and for fifteen years. I'm really
into cars and trucks, and I thought, I know a
lot of the brands around the world. I'm turning my
head and I'm taking pictures of all of them. Never
heard of it, never heard of it, never heard of it.
I mean, I mean, these are crazy. They're beautiful looking
cars from the outside. I walked into some dealerships and
I actually got to sit into some. They are absolutely

(22:51):
futuristic and everything from the accrupiments that the large infotainment
screens and how nice and the leather seats are. And
they recline and then I ask how much they are
and they tell me the price in you know, yin
or no. I'm sitting in there converting at my calculator
and I'm like, no, way, yes, yes, yes way. I'm like,

(23:11):
can I get this in my suitcase and bring it
back to America? And they sit here laughing at me,
going there's no way, that way possible. Daniel. How is
it that you could make all these electric vehicles. There's
a lot of electric vehicles that are made and trying
to be sold in America. Americas just start buying them
at the rate that the Chinese are. Is there a

(23:32):
mandate in China is why are the Chinese just so Yep,
we're gonna make them and we're gonna buy them too.
I mean, what is the incentive?

Speaker 4 (23:41):
Yeah, the government had a lot of incentives there that
push this forward, but they're actually at a point where
this industry is self sustaining, and they've actually ramped back
a lot of their incentives, not the ones that they
had for the previous ten years, and they have a
lot of smart policies that get the market to move
towards electric car without necessarily costing the government a lot

(24:02):
of money. For example, as you're on the roads in China,
you might have noticed that there are some blue license
plates and green license plates.

Speaker 5 (24:08):
The blue ones are what you have to buy.

Speaker 4 (24:11):
If you have a gasoline or diesel car, and the
biggest cities where they're really trying to control the air pollution,
those will set you back about fifteen thousand dollars. Once
you get a chance to buy one. You might need
to wait a year or two in a waiting list
or in a lottery to be able to pay fifteen
thousand dollars for a license plate just for the privilege
of buying a polluting car. If you want a green

(24:32):
license plate for an electric car that's going to be
free or just a negligible cost, and so the government
is net making money and yet pushing the market towards
electric cars. They do exempt electric car buyers from some taxes,
but they don't give anywhere near the subsidies that the
US gives to our electric car buyers, and it's just
become a self sustaining industry. The other thing that's really

(24:56):
been key is on the technology side. They've gone all
in and on automation. I went to Byde's headquarters when
I was in Tenshin and they had a mock up
of their factories, and nearly all of their processes are automated.
You have robots lifting up the battery to drill it in,
and then robots lifting up the car to bring it
through to be spray painted. And so there's far more efficient,

(25:21):
far more automated, far more robotics oriented manufacturing processes, and
that means that they can produce cars more cheaply than
almost anywhere else in the world.

Speaker 2 (25:31):
Take away, Daniel Cohan, he's a professor Rice University of
Environmental Engineering. I'm going to go back you talk about
this license plate thing. You talk about an incentive or
a decentive. You're saying that these blue license plates, which
are gas powered cars, a you have to buy the car,
then you have to wait to get the right to

(25:54):
buy a blue license plate, which alone the license plate,
as you said, is roughly fifteen thousand dollars versus the
green electric plate is free. I mean, that's the biggest
decent of incentive I've ever heard. I'm no wonder the
eed sales took off. That's actually a very very intelligent
way to do things right.

Speaker 5 (26:14):
Enormous difference.

Speaker 4 (26:16):
And the electric cars have gotten so cheap there that
you can buy a very decent electric car for cheaper
than the blue license plate that you need for a
gasoline car.

Speaker 2 (26:26):
You're right, no, I mean I saw some cars and
I was doing some research. There are cars that are
cheaper than fifteen thousand dollars. Now, there are nicer luxury
ones that were sitting in but I think the most
in terms of American dollars. You know, I saw one
for twenty five thousand, maybe twenty eight thirty thousand dollars,
and it was unbelievable. I mean, this is considered incredibly

(26:46):
luxury here in the United States, which I think the
equivalent would be anywhere between eighty ninety thousand dollars US
American if they were American made cars. I mean, they've
got this system. I want to go to the battery
infrastructure because to me, this is the hindrance that we
have here. I think in the United States or it's
a big issue, but I think China has slowly figured

(27:08):
this thing out. I don't have anything against electric cars,
and my longtime listeners know I like electric cars. I
test drive one probably once a month. They are super speedy,
they are super fast, They indeed are sexy. The problem
is the infrastructure of charging batteries here in the United States. Daniel,
you've known me all my life. I have adhd like

(27:28):
waiting for anything, all right, And if I get in
the car to go from Dallas, it's to go from
Houston up to Dallas and I forty five. At some
point I'm gonna have to stop somewhere and find a
battery charger. I'm gonna have to cross my fingers maybe
somewhere in Centerville that there is a level three battery charger.
I'm gonna have to cross my fingers that of the
four different charging pods. All four of them are working

(27:51):
at their proper level of level three. I'm gonna have
to cross my fingers that none of those pods are
currently in use by another car. If so, I have
to wait, I then have to put my car in
that stall and wait forty five minutes to an hour
to charge it up, hopefully to one hundred percent. There
is an hour and a half two hours of my time.
We don't do that in the United States, I mean,
and that's my issue right now. But I think China,

(28:14):
and specifically byd which is that major major manufacturer there,
they're coming up with it with processes or technology to
speed up that battery charging process. Is that right?

Speaker 6 (28:25):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (28:25):
I mean I face that same range anxiety, that same
concern about the charging system in the US.

Speaker 5 (28:31):
I drive a plug in hybrid car.

Speaker 4 (28:33):
I have a Honda Clarity because that means I can
be all electric when I'm in town and I can
use the solar on my roof to charge.

Speaker 5 (28:40):
Up my car.

Speaker 4 (28:42):
But my wife drives an all electric car, and when
we take it to Austin, Yeah, we have to plan
everything out just right. We have to make sure that
the charging station halfway there has its chargers working. If not,
we have to go a different route. It's a mess.
It's not nearly as convenient is driving a gasoline car

(29:03):
in the US. But that's because the United States we
only have two hundred thousand public chargers scattered across the
entire country.

Speaker 5 (29:11):
In China they have fifteen times that number.

Speaker 4 (29:14):
They have over three million public car chargers, many of
them that are actually the DC fast chargers where you
can charge up your car very quickly.

Speaker 5 (29:24):
Ten million chargers in China overall.

Speaker 4 (29:27):
When I was giving a talk at one of the universities,
the professor took me to her parking lot. Every single
spot in that parking garage had a level two charger
in it, so it was far easier to charge up
a car than it is to find a gas station
for a gasoline one. So they don't have range anxiety
issues at all. The one hurdle there is that Traditionally

(29:49):
it's taken a bit of time to charge in a car.
It might take fifteen minutes, might take thirty minutes. Now
they're introducing new technologies that a couple of the car
models can charge upmpletely in five minutes time, something that
you just can't do in the United States for most
of the rest of the world. So they're designing cars
for all purposes. They're designing plug in hybrids for people

(30:10):
who still want that gasoline for certain purposes. They're designing
very very long range cars, cars that go over four
hundred miles to a charge, and they're designing a few
that get very very quickly charging. So there's something for
everybody in the electric car market there because they have
a couple hundred different models of cars available for sale.

Speaker 2 (30:30):
Minutes and that there's a magic number. I don't know
there's a magic minute. But you tell me that I
can recharge my electric vehicle in five minutes, now you've
got my attention. And I am a very consumer friendly.
My job over twenty plus years has been a look
at products and decide are they good or bad for consumers?

(30:51):
Are is this going to help your life? Improve your life?
That's why I've never given the green light going, oh,
you've got to get an electric vehicle. It's the charging
infrastruct You tell me five minutes, that's almost a green light.
And is that something? And it's great to hear there's
technology like that. Do you ever see this coming? If
and when to America.

Speaker 4 (31:13):
For now, we've set up this great wall of tariffs
that keep it out. We've put more than one hundred
percent tariffs on Chinese electric cars, and so these cars
that you and I were seeing over in Shenzen, we.

Speaker 5 (31:26):
Can't buy them here.

Speaker 4 (31:27):
I would have loved to bring back the fifteen thousand
dollars SUV, beautiful leather seats, everything else. It would cost
me over forty thousand dollars in the United States. With
these technologies being developed, I don't think even a great
wall of tariffs can keep them out forever. Eventually, those
technologies are going to be shared with other countries. A

(31:49):
lot of these Chinese companies are setting up joint ventures
with American companies, with European companies, and so you're going
to start seeing them in other parts of the world
byd is exporting a lot of their cars and setting
up factories in other countries.

Speaker 5 (32:04):
Most other countries are doing one of two things.

Speaker 4 (32:06):
They're either countries that don't have big automotive manufacturing industries
and so they're just allowing these cars into their markets,
or they're having their companies partner and get these technologies
where they can be built in their countries. The US
is one of the few countries that's doing neither of those,
and so we don't have the quality of electric car

(32:27):
choices that the China and soon most of the rest of.

Speaker 5 (32:31):
The world will be able to enjoy it.

Speaker 2 (32:32):
It's a question before I get you out of here,
Professor Daniel Cohen, Wrice University, with Environmental Engineering. You did
mention the word tariffs without a doubt. I did have
a number of different discussions with the heads of Chinese
companies what is going on or getting their current take,
even though no one knows what the future is about
the tariffs, the Chinese America tariff trade war for lack

(32:54):
of a better term, when many other countries obviously what
that can do to affect cars and so many other
pieces of technology that I saw. What are your general
thoughts of how this is going to shake out in
the short term and in the long term.

Speaker 4 (33:08):
Yeah, in the short end, medium term at least, there
are certain parts of the electric car supply chain that
you can virtually only get from China, certain rare earth metals,
certain magnets, certain of the cathodes and anodes that are
needed for the batteries that even if you wanted to
make most of the car in the United States, you

(33:30):
would need to be importing those parts if those are
coming with one hundred and forty five percent tariff on it.
Even made in the USA cars or cars rolling off
of American assembly lines aren't going to be competitive on
the global stage if they're paying huge tariffs on these parts.
No country is completely self sufficient. Every country needs to

(33:52):
import and export some of its parts, and our manufacturers
or a disadvantage if they can't access or pay huge
tariffs on on parts that they need for their operations.

Speaker 2 (34:02):
The magic word of the day, folks, if you're thinking
about transportation, is this one word. Bicycle only way to
get around. That's my only thought. His name is Daniel
Cohan and he is a professor at Rice University, a
professor of environmental engineering. Without a doubt, in the twenty
three plus year history of this show, the smartest person
who has ever appeared on my show, Daniel, I do
thank you for your time and for your expertise.

Speaker 4 (34:25):
Thanks Michael gre you talking about you got it all.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
Right, folks. We do have some open phone lines here.
We'd love to hear from you about continuing this discussion. Hey,
and I'll say it one more time. There's nobody who's
more red, white and blue than me. I am pro America.
But again, after troving the world to seeing the world,
it is interesting to get another concept of how sometimes
some countries are a little head some countries are a
little behind others, and how I wish we could all

(34:47):
get along. It is Michael Garfield and you're listening to
the High Tech Texans Show. Appreciate Professor Daniel Cohan from

(35:11):
a Rice University joining me for a few minutes. It
just it just adds a little air of omph, like
you know, we've got some stuff going on in this show.
It's not just idiot me talking. Man. I get I
get Rice University professors talking about smart things. I appreciate
that phone number here is seven one three two one
two five nine five oh up against the top of

(35:33):
the hour. Here in a few minutes, uh next hour,
I want to talk about the tariffs of what I
discovered by talking to a lot of heads of Chinese
companies while I visited in China, of what they thought
of what the US is doing potentially doing backtracking, how
are they looking at things in the short term and

(35:56):
the long term. And it's also I just had some
anecdotal conversations with people who who found out I'm from Texas,
and it's really fun. They find out I'm from Texas
and the first and they find out her from I
live in Houston right now. And the first thing. A
lot of these Chinese people think I'm not kidding. I
say Houston. They go, Yao Ming, unbelievable. How Yao Ming

(36:20):
who has not played in the NBA or for the
Houston Rockets in ten years? Maybe how Yao Ming is
associated with Houston and the Houston Rockets, which is great.
I mean the NBA, I mean sports are the American
sports are That's one export that we are the kings
of in the NBA is going to continued a good job.
But China and the Houston Rockets are so all attached.

(36:42):
I'm like, oh, yeah, we're tight, you know whatever. I
thought that was fun. More Sports World. One of the
things I missed is the NFL draft. The I know
cam Ward went number one, which was not the story.
The interesting and the sad part of the story was
Shudoor Sanders, who was allegedly supposed to be drafted relatively high.

(37:04):
He fell all the way to day three and the
fifth round, and then that that's not the biggest story
is that the Shudoor Sanders that this is not even
funny that he got cranked called. If you haven't heard
about this, the Atlanta Falcons coach, the defensive coordinator, his
son got a hold of Shador Sanders. Frank called him.

Speaker 5 (37:22):
And the stupidest thing it.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
Was, they put it on the internet. Somebody recorded it.
If they never done that, and he would have been invested.
But the NFL just fined the Falcons two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars for this breach of security. But they
also find this defensive coordinator one hundred girl just because
his son found this number. And I'm thinking, remember, I

(37:47):
have three boys, what would happen if one of my
boys did something that caused me and my boss to
find me one hundred thousand dollars. It's been eating me
up for a few days and I wanted to get
into the bottom of this. Joining me right now is
the youngest of my three sons, Adam Garfield, joining me,

(38:08):
What is what is the worst thing that you ever did?
And what punishment did I give you? Can you think
of anything like that.

Speaker 7 (38:15):
I don't think I ever did anything wrong.

Speaker 4 (38:18):
I love it.

Speaker 2 (38:18):
Say this is my kid, this is it cock hockey pumpident?
All right? Of all the boys, your two brothers. Did
anybody do anything just stupid that out of your mom?

Speaker 5 (38:28):
And I just did to do it?

Speaker 2 (38:29):
Remember punishing you for doing anything? Did anything stick up?

Speaker 7 (38:33):
I remember justin threw a rock at Josh and I's
bedroom and it made put a hole in the wall.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
Did did what was ramifications?

Speaker 7 (38:42):
Probably nothing I said. Don't you probably said don't throw
a rock at your brothers?

Speaker 5 (38:46):
What do you think?

Speaker 2 (38:47):
I mean? You never, I know, any of you guys
never would have done this. If you did something like
this with this kid? Did and all of a sudden
I got busted for one hundred thousand dollars? What do
you know?

Speaker 1 (38:57):
Me?

Speaker 2 (38:58):
What do you think I would have done to you?

Speaker 7 (39:00):
Probably would have sent me to like a boarding school,
maybe military, you know, troubled teen camp or something.

Speaker 2 (39:06):
It depends, because I would have no money left. Are
those free schools? I'm not sure? Probably not a hundred.
I mean you, I don't think we ever gave you
an allowance?

Speaker 7 (39:16):
Did we maybe like ten dollars once or twice? Like
do the I don't know, not one hundred thousand dollars.

Speaker 2 (39:23):
Yes, So it's like I couldn't even take it out
of your allowance. I mean I would have had to
take out of a bank loan. I mean, you know
the story because obviously you're, you know, in the sports
marketing world like that, he's in college right now? Then
you go to old miss what's the stitch?

Speaker 7 (39:35):
Yeah, I think he goes a old miss or he
plays football at some smaller school.

Speaker 2 (39:40):
I mean, I don't think this kid he goes to
Barry College. Oh okay, so you don't think he's got
nil money to cover the one hundred girls? Yeah? No,
I mean I would have to take out a loan
or call my boss in this case, Arthur Blank, who
owns the Atlanta Falcons, say hey, you know, could you
have like a twenty year payment plan? And then it's
coming out of your money? Heard this? Did you at

(40:03):
least think it was initially just a joke or did you?
Could you believe that some kid did this? I believe it.

Speaker 7 (40:08):
I think it's not entirely fair that Jeff Oulbrick is
getting the blame for it, because he really didn't do anything.
He so apparently got the phone number off of his iPad.
But in terms of the NFL, they said that he
didn't predict confidential information, which is which is true. But
I think he's handled it really well. He took all

(40:29):
the blame, he didn't deflect any of it, and he
accepted the consequences.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
Yeah, he did. But I mean, I'm gonna put myself
or us in this situation because you know, I I'm
on my desktop and all the time it's in my
office and home.

Speaker 5 (40:43):
You have access.

Speaker 2 (40:44):
All you guys have access. You know, obviously all the
three of you guys have moved out, but you know,
if you're in the house, I'm not hiding anything from you.
I mean I don't have any really, you know, you
know if my screen is on, his screen is on.
I mean, it's like, trust you. I totally put the
blame on this kid. But I mean, this dude had
some onions to actually pick up that phone and call
Shador Sanders. I mean, and he fell for this thing too.

(41:06):
I don't know, I don't even know how to do
a Mickey Loomis impersonation like he did.

Speaker 7 (41:11):
I don't even think it needed to be a good impression.
It's just the fact that nobody has those phone numbers,
because most of them will have like a second phone
or something just for the GMS.

Speaker 2 (41:19):
I don't know. I'm open up some phone lines right now.
Seven one three, two, one two five nine five. Oho.
If you're a parent and your kid did say they
may have actually, feel free to disguise your name, because
I want to hear how crazy that your kids have been,
because I have been blessed three wonderful boys. What did
the ramifications? I mean, have they been kicked out of school?

Speaker 6 (41:40):
Did you take.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
Away there r for a week? Did you I mean,
I don't know what it is? I mean, did you
disown This may be a disowning from the family. This
may have been ripping the name Garfield off of your
last name. If you did something like this to me,
all right, kind of thank you very much for your time,
and just to prove I have one, two, three and
wonderful boys who would you never call is made any

(42:01):
harm or monetary harm? And they better be taken care
of him one day, I fighter if I ever can retire.
Michael garfiel howerd Number one is OVA. On the other side,
we will talk about how these traps could affect you.
Amazon Prime Day coming up by that time. What's gonna
happen with prices? Amazon also launching satellites, National Password Day,

(42:22):
your calls and everything else. This is how we do
it on the Old Law high Tech Texting.

Speaker 1 (42:28):
Ship is Michael Garfield. Michael Garfield, Michael Garfield's joining and
the high Tech Texan. Michael Garfield is here with a

(42:48):
high tech text Michael Garfield has something you might like.

Speaker 3 (43:01):
Michael Garfield is your high Tech Texans three decades helping
you make magic with your gadgets, heard worldwide on the
iHeart Radio Act. Now you're high Tech Texan. Michael Garfield.

Speaker 2 (43:24):
Y just starting our number two. We are halfway through
the show. Hour one done. We have one more, which
means we are halfway to a happy hour. And what
a happy hour it is. If you are listening Saturday,
We've got the Kentucky Derby coming up pre Sinco de Mayo.
This is absolutely a happy hour weekend and I do

(43:47):
thank you for tuning in to the worldwide audience of
the High Tech Textan Show. I just returned. If you
missed our one, I was recapping my trip to Shins
in China. That's what I wasn't a good will. I
was on a peaceful mission. My first time to China.
It was an interesting ship. It was a business trip

(44:08):
without a doubt, and a bunch of journalists went over
there to talk to Chinese company, meet with Chinese companies,
find out how how can China and other countries for
that matter, produce goods some of them high quality, some
may not, some up but it's so inexpensive compared to
America in other countries, and what's going to happen with

(44:30):
the volatile marketplace, with the tariffs that are going up
and down and up and down. And you can see
some of the photos on my silver and social media
social media accounts. Check it out, high tech text and
hi gh t e h T e x a N.
That is how you're going to get to me. The
talk about the food. I lost some weight over there.

(44:52):
The food in China was I mean it's certainly it's edible.
I mean they've got more people over there than I
think the other country per capita or whatever it is, Uh,
just maybe not for me. First of all, I'm a
picky dude. I'm a very picky eater. If you know me,
you know how interesting before I put something in my

(45:12):
pie hole. I don't eat pork. Just because I don't
eat pork. I'm not a big red meat guy. I
love fish and chicken. Uh, there's rice and noodles over
there the U. I saw some stuff. I saw worms.
We were at a dinner and they served I guess
they were barbecued worms and a skewer. Everything was served there.

(45:33):
On one meal. We were at this Chinese barbecue family place.
It was skewer screw. They had skewed corn kernels. They
hate somebody, I guess at a restaurant to take and
peel corn kernels off a cob and then put them
on a skewer and then they they grill them. I
am not kidding you. And then there's chicken legs and duck.

(45:57):
There's duck tongue. What is duck tongue? I'll making fun
of anything. I am giving you fact facts, man, just
don't do it. At least I stayed at a nice hotel.
I stayed at a Marriott hotel where they had a
nice Western style, Oh you can eat breakfast, and even then,
you know, they had eggs and whatever. But they I

(46:18):
mean they still had like dim sum hot pot some bread.
It was. It was okay, but I every time I
travel I certainly internationally, I think I'd lose weight, to
which I should I actually should do that more. Phone
number here seven one three two one two five nine five. Oh,
I am not taking prank calls. Just if you just

(46:40):
listened to the last segment last hour, uh story that
one of the Atlanta Falcons coaches sons did a very
infamous now prank call to Shader Sanders, who was finally
drafted in the NFL. But he frank called him, pretending
to be another team saying he would is going to

(47:00):
be drafted, and that was just that's very bad to do,
very bad to do. But anyway, the dad, the assistant coach,
was fined one hundred thousand dollars. I dialed up my
son about ten minutes ago. You can go listen to
that on the podcast. When we're done, Callum Reid. He's
gonna put this on our podcast at iHeart Radio. Listen
to it and you can hear my son's thoughts of

(47:21):
what I would have done to him if he cost
me one hundred thousand dollars for doing something stupid. The
speaking of Worldwide, I found it interesting. Let me give
you a little play by play of how China works. China,
I think notoriously they of all the countries I traveled to.
I mean last year, I went to Berlin, I went
to London, and I'm not country dropping. I'm just telling

(47:42):
you again facts, facts of where I travel around the world.
You travel in the world, and I give you tips
on how to stay connected. Do you light up your
international calling plan? Do you just find Wi Fi? Do
you go out and find a Do you get a
SIM card or an e SIM card for the country
tree you're in, you get a hot spot that works

(48:03):
in the country. There's a lot of different ways to
do it. It's a little bit more difficult than China they are.
I did download an e simcard before I went, and
it wasn't that much. I didn't get a lot of gigs.
I knew I was going to be in Wi Fi,
so when I got over there, I turned my you know,
my cell data plan off and I used my e

(48:26):
simcard for China. I was in Wi Fi a lot.
But also it's not just okay good. I'm on Wi
Fi in China, which means I could go to some
websites China really don't like out of country or American
websites like ESPN dot com blocked, NBC news dot com block,

(48:49):
high tech text in dot com block. They don't like things,
and so what's the way around it, Ladies and gentlemen,
I present to you the Great Firewall of China. That
is right. I was told smartly so that you need
to download a VPN virtual Private network. It's software that
you can put generally on your desktop computer, your laptop computer,

(49:13):
your tablet. And oh, by the way, yes, you could
download a VPN on your phone. And what a VPN
is at the highest rudimentary level that I'm gonna explain
because this is how I do it. It disguises where
you physically are, because where you physically are on the Internet,
it goes out and it connects to a server, usually

(49:34):
a very nearby server physically of where you are. If
you're in Houston, if you're in Dallas, here, in Austin,
wherever you are, it's going to go find a server
generally near that city. So if I'm in China and
I don't have a VPN, it's going to assume it's
going to know that I'm in China and China blocks
all these other countries out of there. So you put
a VPN, and if you pay for a nice VPN,

(49:56):
which you probably should, they're freebe VPNs. I do recommend
paying for a VPN because you're guaranteed now I'm not
well almost guaranteed, not to get a lot of spiderware.
You can actually say I want a server in the
United States, I want a server in Canada. I want
a server in Switzerland. It disguises where you actually are,
pretends that you're in the United States, which means you're

(50:16):
allowed to actually get United States websites. So for the
longest time, I was told that I Heart Radio, the
app and everything doesn't work in China. So every time
I say, hey, my show is worldwide because you can
listen to iHeartRadio anywhere, well you really can't, legally, as

(50:37):
the Chinese defined, legally listen to it in China. Aha, mister, workaround.
I was able to get iHeartRadio in China. I could
say this now that I'm back in the United States,
right am I okay? And no one's listened to this
show anyway. I downloaded a VPN on my phone. It

(50:57):
thought I was in Texas and I was able to
listen to iHeartRadio, iway was listened to a number of
my favorite other radio stations in podcasts and I just
to confirm I was listening to my radio show. Actually
I was. I was doing my radio show when you
go to China, and again, not listen anybody. Every government
can have their own rules, be whatever you are, but

(51:19):
thanks to technology, there are generally ways around things. I
would recommend getting a VPN everywhere you travel, even when
you don't travel. If you are here in America and
you are in a public Wi Fi space and you're
in a grocery store, you're in a library, you're in
a coffee shop, and you think you're going to do

(51:39):
some banking, and if you think you're going to send
a private information baby doll, just download a VPN, a
virtual private network, and your set. The one I use
was Express VPN. I mean, this is not an endorsement.
I can't. I mean, I guess if you use my
name to sign up, I think you can get thirty
three days. If you want me to send you that link, Hey,

(51:59):
send me an email Michael at high Tech textan dot com.
Not a big deal, but there's a lot of them
on the market out there. Use a VPN. Be careful.
I was able to get out of China where no
one confiscated my phone, and as of right now, the
only issue that I have is my time lag that
I'm still trying to catch up on time. When we
come back, we're going to take a break right now
here on the Michael Garfield Show. I am going to

(52:21):
talk about tariffs and taxes and what a lot of
the Chinese companies said their thoughts, what they were doing,
and you may want to hear this, especially if you're
about ready to hoard some products because you don't.

Speaker 8 (52:31):
Know the price and what is going to happen to
see that they were about, is right? Michael is the name.

(53:01):
We continued the High Tech Texan Show. Happy first weekend
of May. Who's your horse in the Kentucky Derby? All
I know is get your mint Julibs ready.

Speaker 2 (53:11):
To roll people because it's official? Is it official? Unofficial?
Bourbon Day? I don't know, did not have haven't had
bourbon in a while. Bourbon is does not seem to
be a big thing in the country of China. A
lot of beer, A lot of beer, some whiskey. Uh,
that's all some scotch there, but I just I stuck

(53:34):
with beer. I go to the duty Free Chops over
in China and I see Jack Daniels. I'm like, why
in the why would I who lives in the greatest
country in the world of America, where in this case
Jack Daniels has made buy a bottle of Jack Daniels,
which obviously had to be shipped from the United States

(53:57):
all the way to China for me a the bottle, which,
as I converted the dollars, was no cheaper than I
can get it at total line here and then slep
it back to the United States. The point is, it's
said a lot of Singh Tao and whatever. Just what's
over there? I did not see any carbock either. When
you need to talk to my buddy Blake robertson they

(54:18):
getting carbok over in China, I don't know. I'm sure
they tear if that thing too, be like, I don't know,
twenty dollars for a pint. As we continued the Guard Show,
I did talk about tariffs and taxes a lot on
a very serious note. One of the reasons that I
went over there with a number of other knowledgy being

(54:39):
journalists who covered the tech industry is what these companies
thoughts were when it comes to their companies. I mean,
are they going to have to charge more to make more?
Are they going to make as much money? Or are
they going to halt all of these products that they're
not going to be able to ship over here? I mean,
if you think about it, Amazon Prime Day, it's coming

(55:01):
in a few months again, it's in July, the twenty
twenty five edition of the big two to three day
summer shopping event. The looming price hikes due to tariffs,
it could impact of how much of a saving shoppers
can't expect and prices on everything electronics they're expected to

(55:23):
rise as a result of Trump's sweeping tariffs that originally
announced on April second. Now, he did quickly follow up
with a ninety day pause for most of the tariffs,
but he did leave triple digit tariffs in place for
China and a ten percent baseline tariff for goods imported
from other countries. They're trying to make deals and figure

(55:43):
it out, but if the ninety day tariff pause is
lifted before agreements can be reached, they would take effect
in July. Oh by the way the same month as
Amazon's Prime Day event. But if retailers passed along the
full cost of the tariffs would mean will be paying
double or more for products that are manufactured in other countries.
I mean, you look at bargain sites right now, like

(56:05):
Timu and Shine, they've already seen prices skyrocket as much
as three hundred and seventy five percent or so ahead
of the tariffs. It's a tough situation, so I try
to get to the bottom of it. We were able
to visit with a number of different companies, in one
of which we took a tour about an hour north
of Shinzen, which is the Silicon Valley of China, to Lexar.

(56:28):
Lexar is a company that makes the memory and storage
devices and SSD cards and all that for so many
products that are found in almost every electronic product around
the world, cameras, phones, computers, and laptops. And it was
just amazing to see the production facility and it was

(56:51):
a great access and kudos to the folks at the
Global Connect conference who who put this thing together that
we got to spend time with a CEO himself of Lexar.
His name is Ryan Lee Li. Relatively young man, gentleman,
very well spoken, and I sat down here. He took

(57:13):
all of this. I don't know, fifteen or so journalists
got to have lunch in his executive dining room and
just one on one and asked him questions, and I
put a microphone in his face, and he was very agreeable.
You know that you didn't have pr people around him.
And I quite simply asked him, Ryan Lee, the president
of Lexar Worldwide Company, what his thoughts were on the

(57:35):
short range and long term ramifications of the potential tariffs
that are coming down with the United States.

Speaker 6 (57:44):
Actually, I think it's challenge is a big challenge, but
also a very great opportunity because we know that Alexa
we have like the global supply chain and also the
global sales. Now the US market definitely it's the most
important market for Lexa. So right now the trade war

(58:05):
will increase more challenge for Lixa. But I think in
the short term, as we just discuss, it may be
a benefit. It may be an opportunity for Lexa because
more demand is coming coming up because we know that
some consumer they maybe they afraid of cannot buy or

(58:28):
have to pay higher price in in the in the
in next month or in the next three months.

Speaker 5 (58:34):
So people are more.

Speaker 6 (58:35):
Willing to to to purchase goods right now. So we
can see that the buying power or like the consumer
demand is increasing during these two months. So it's good
for the short term sales. But in a let's say,

(58:55):
long term, uh, maybe it will increase some uncertainty because
we don't know that the new policy terraft policy, we
cannot predict. Maybe trumpetwell changes his mind again. So what
we can do is how to satisfy the requirement the

(59:18):
demand right now and how we can keep more inventory
for the future of sales in the States.

Speaker 2 (59:25):
That was Ryan Lee, the CEO of Lexar Media. And
you know again as he stated, America their number one
country that is most important to their business. That these
the memory and the storage and these little tiny microchips
that they put in laptops and desktops and cameras and

(59:48):
phones and so many things they are produced in China.
But the uncertainty is there. He was. It was very
willing and fourth right when I asked him that question
point blank and listen, he took two solid minutes, look
at me right in the eye, said that that was
an unaltered clip and he said all the right things,

(01:00:11):
not trying to upset or incent any more trade war.
But at the end of the day, he doesn't know.
He assumes that in the short term it could actually
benefit the company because right now, before prices skyrocket, he
thinks there's going to be demand of companies that are
gonna want his his products. But in three months, who

(01:00:33):
knows what's going on. And this, in the sense, is
what I got from all these other companies that I
met with, and I met no less than a dozen
other companies that are based in shins In or near
sins in China. They're fueling the same way. It's interesting
because they didn't they didn't seem mad. And again this
is they know I'm based in America, and they know

(01:00:55):
I have a big microphone. And this is I'm also
using that clip the video for the TV segments that
I do on Channel eleven in Houston and Fox and
Austin too. They're not gonna, you know, kick me off,
which obviously is gonna you know, that could go viral.
It was a well thought out answer, but it's looming

(01:01:16):
that on his mind and to his company and to
his workers. And I don't know if it's a public company,
his shareholders. I don't know if the government owns it.
But this is what we're going through right now. It is.
It is weird in odd times, but there seems to
be a calm. And as I said before, not one
time during my entire six day visit in China did

(01:01:37):
people look at me and point fingers, going on matter again,
we don't like you get out of our country. Didn't
say that at all. I never once heard the word Trump.
I never No one talks about politics over there, which
is one of the reasons I kind of dig China.
I like it. I don't. I rarely talk politics. I
don't want to talk politics, but politics right now, it's

(01:02:00):
there is an intersection of what I do and politics
because I talk about electronics and devices in cars, which
are directly affected. So more discussions. If you've got questions, thoughts, answers,
or you know, even want some of my other you know, opinions,
you know what I anecdotally saw. I am here for
you the phone number seven one three two one two
five nine five os. We continue to the high tech

(01:02:22):
text and show host. One of our partners here, the

(01:02:52):
radio network US Coins and Jewelry based in Houston. You
do not need to be in h town to uh
take advantage of everything they have when it comes to coins.
I mean for two generations, Kenny and Matthew Duncan started,
their father started, who still is a part of the company.
But they continue just to uh just kick it. I
mean they just if if you're into coin collecting, a

(01:03:13):
new mismatist, if you collect sportspremmbilia, this is the place
to be. It is on the Katie Freeway just outside
of Loop six to ten in Houston, but also online.
And you absolutely can trust this family and trust this
company that's been around for two generations. US Coins and
Jewelry dot com. It's it's funny. I hang out at
US Coins and Jelry, and this is in all honesty.

(01:03:36):
You know, if I represent and I speak for a company,
I know the company top to bottom. I know the owners,
and so I hang out there probably at least once
every other week or so, and I you know, and
I'm learning a lot about coins, but also about Jewelry too,
about Rolexes, for example, because they have just an unbelievable
uh just it's just a collection of rolexes, which, by

(01:03:56):
the way, we are just days away from Mother's Day.
Mom a gift us goings and jewelry. They got Rolexes,
they got a lot of great joy of how to
spot reeal jewelry, Rolexes, watches, whatever, But how to do
the fake ones. That I say this is because when
I was in China last week and I was in Shinzen,
I went to a market in a kind of the

(01:04:19):
outskirts of town, the hustle bustle, you know, kind of marketing.
And this thing must have been four or five, six,
seven floors of just little tiny booths, ten foot twelve
foot boosts of people selling everything from and again I'm
using I'm gonna use brand names. I saw iPhones, I

(01:04:39):
saw air pods, I saw Rolexes, I saw Samsungs, I
saw you name it, and they were just everywhere, by
the thousands and thousands of thousands. And I'm looking at
the prices, I'm like, how can this iPhone be two
hundred dollars US? How can this role ninety one hundred

(01:05:01):
dollars US? But then I learned what my guys at
US coins and Julie taught me of what to look
at and how the movement of the second hand goes
and I'm like, ah, not so fast, not so fast,
So buyer beware wherever you are in the world. I mean,
I listen, I'm not ragging on China. Listen. I remember
going to Turkey. I was on a cruise fifty seven
seventeen years ago. We went to Turkey and we and

(01:05:25):
we were on a cruise. We got off the ship
and I saw this beautiful Panorai, which is a one
of my favorite watch brands. And I've always wanted a Panorai.
And I know how panori is cost as much as
a car. I mean, if you find a really nice
you know, legit. One found a beautiful Panorai, brown leather
wrist a strap. I got him down to one hundred dollars,

(01:05:50):
and I'm just saying to myself, I know this ain't real.
So you know what I did. You know what I did,
A man who stands on principles whipped out one hundred
dollars as fast as I can. And to this day,
seventeen year later, I still have this fake Panorai and
not one person knows the difference because I don't let
people take a close look at it. But from a
par from afar. People look at my wrist going garf

(01:06:13):
nice PANORAI. Well, thank you, I appreciate it. You know
I worked hard, I built my brand. I would never
do that again. Only shop at the best, Only go
to US coins and Jewelry dot com. And you tell
Michael Garfield sent you a happy Mother's Day too. If
you act UHA have any Mother's Day questions about what
you should get mom, I am here for you. Let
me give you even an updated phone number three four

(01:06:35):
six twenty nine. Text in three four six two nine
t e x A N. If we don't answer the
phone and you go to voicemail, leave a voicemail. Be sweet.
We have the right to replay this on the radio
and we can answer questions. Hey, speaking of taking callers
and questions, we have got one over here. This is Brian. Brian,

(01:06:57):
how you doing to Michael Garfield? You are on the
High Tech Texan Shit. Hey, Michael, it's Brian love your show.
Without dropping my phone in the toilet, how can I
tell what the waterproof rating is? I see IPX, I
don't really understand what that means. I yes, the old
IP rating that you see on so many products. Brian,

(01:07:18):
I appreciate that call. If anybody has ever spilled a
little beer, a little water, or in Brian's case, maybe
drop your phone into the toilet. You know the importance
of water resistance. I mean it can mean the difference
between a quick wipe with a cloth or a very
expensive trip to buy a brand new phone or a product.
Waterproofing used to be something found only on big, rubber

(01:07:43):
sealed phones designed for construction workers or mountain bikers, but
water resistance has become pretty much the norm in everything,
including phones iPhone sixteen, the Pro, the Pixels, the Galaxy
S twenty five's, whatever it is. I will say this,
not all phones can withstand and a dunk in water,
and they shouldn't be near liquids at all. Almost no

(01:08:05):
phone should be taken in a swimming pool, ocean swimming,
no sir, salt water, unless you're using a water tight
case of some kind. But if you shop for a
phone recently, you've probably come across the terms like water resistant.
But also you're going to see some ratings in some
numbers in letters. IP sixty seven, IP sixty eight, IP

(01:08:27):
x eight. What does it mean? IP stands for ingress protection.
It's an International Protection rating ingress protection and it's their
standard set by the International Electro Technical Commission. Look at
that all right. So the first number in the rating
code represents the amount that protection provided against entry of

(01:08:50):
foreign solid objects like sand or dust, and that protection
level it ranges from a low of zero to a
high of six. So when you see something that says
IP sixty eight, well six first number, that's the highest
it does prevent sand and dust from getting in there.

(01:09:12):
The second number represents the degree of production against moisture
or liquids, with a range from a low of zero
to a high of eight. Again, let's go back to
IP sixty eight. Now we have topped out at both
the sand and the dust with the number six, and
we have topped it out at the eight rating, the
highest level number for moisture and liquid. Now, sometimes you're

(01:09:35):
going to see an IP rating with a number replaced
by an X the letter X, such as ip X eight. Well,
this instance, a company hasn't provided testing details, so the
rating number is replaced by racer X. The masked racer
unknown to speed it's his older brother. So an ip
X eight rated device it can survive being submerged in water,

(01:09:59):
but it really hasn't been rated for any other protection
from dust and other particles. Let me throw you out
some good examples. The iPhone sixteen Pro IP sixty eight, right,
Galaxy S twenty five Ultra iPhone that I use IP
sixty eight. They're water resistant. Maybe maybe not, And that's

(01:10:19):
where it gets confusing. For an eight on the IP
rating this IEC council, they demand the device with stand
being submerged in at least one meter of water for
thirty minutes, and beyond that, well, it's up to the manufacturer.
So the S twenty five Ultra it could be submerged

(01:10:41):
in about three feet of water for thirty minutes, while
Apple says the iPhone sixteen Pro is safe and about
twelve feet of water fro up to thirty minutes. So
while any phone with an IP six' eight rating well
had to have that one meter or three feet thirty minute,

(01:11:03):
threshold it is important to check the fine print to
see exactly what your phone. Offers bottom, Line brian and everybody,
else don't go swimming with your. Phone just just don't put.
IT i don't even. Care. LISTEN ip tests are done
using fresh water your pool generally does not have fresh,
Water your pool has, chemicals, chlorine, salt. Whatever and if

(01:11:25):
your phone doesn't have AN ip, rating can't it get?
Wet sure can get. Wet can't guarantee it's gonna. Work
use a case for people who are around the water a.
Lot if you live, here for my listeners who lived Near.
Galveston if you're on a boat a. Lot summertime is coming,
up you're going to go to the, beach your watch

(01:11:46):
is you can get a cover of, protection a little
rubber cover for your. Watch, absolutely get a cover for your.
Phone you've seen these cases that Will it's kind of
like a zip block bag that hang around your. Neck
if you're going on a cruise or. Something it in.
There it's worth. It So, brian thank you very much
for that. Call if anybody wants to get in phone
number here three four six two NINE T E X A.

(01:12:10):
N when we come, back it Was national Password. Day,
Password Alan, Ludden, OH i just dated myself right. There
no one has a clue hardly What i'm talking About
national Password. Day why haven't we ditched this crackable technology
that we call? PASSWORDS i may have some answers about,
that and also a few More Mother's day gifts for

(01:12:31):
the last minute things that you need to Get Yo.
Mama right here on the High Ta textant.

Speaker 9 (01:12:36):
Show final segment of this week's, show we thank you

(01:13:06):
for welcoming back To america with open arms after a
twenty two thousand mile around the world journey To.

Speaker 2 (01:13:12):
CHINA i will continue to talk about my. Trap i'm
going to continue to talk about this trip for a long. Time,
listen WHEN i take really unique trips to different countries
in the, WORLD i remember. THEM i, Mean i'm still
telling stories about my first trip To berlin last. YEAR
i went To london for last. Year it was probably
my fifth time. There. China i'm certainly going to remember this.
One the, culture the, crazy with all due, respect food

(01:13:35):
and the companies THAT i, met and the information THAT i,
received the rammications about the tariffs and the tax. Is
who knows how that is going to play. Out i'm
not going to give out the phone number because we're almost.
DONE i will talk ABOUT i want one more. Time
Thank Howbo bob's for being a longtime partner of this.
SHOW a true. STORY i get back From, china AND

(01:13:58):
i got back on A saturday, afternoon and My son
picked me up at the. Airport he Bushed Intercontinental. AIRPORT
i get off the. PLANE i, WAS i traveled AND
i am not. Lying from the TIME i left the
hotel In shin's In, china two flights stopping In, qatar

(01:14:19):
he get To Intercontinental houston to get to. Home hotel
to home was fifty hours five. Zero now, LISTEN i
got to The china airport five hours early to make
SURE i can get out of the. Country there was
a layover In, qatar but a nine hour, flight then
a sixteen hour. Flight the whole. Thing it was freaking.

(01:14:41):
Crazy point IS i get. Back son picks me. Up
we're almost. Home first PLACE i Stopped Albo bob's missed
me some text mix people damn straight, man AND i
didn't you KNOW i didn't need a ton In china
got me absolutely Chips kso you got Ak. CITY i
don't even go for The casey is the best go.

(01:15:02):
Check it has four locations In. Houston Arnold, LAURIE i told,
you AND i TOLD i Told Bob don you need to.
Open i'm more than happy to help franchise some of
Those Cobbo bobs In. CHINA i think they'd go over.
WELL i think it would go over pretty well In.
China there was some KFC's and there was some dairy
queens And. Starbucks but they need To Cobo bob's over In.

(01:15:23):
China SO i think for them for their, partnership thanks
also To Total. WIRELESS i come back AND i See Total.
Wireless they signed a deal with who was it? Wrestling
M m A. Ufc look at. This of Course i'm
the spokesperson here For Total, wireless and now they do
a deal With Dana white and IN. Ufc don't leave me,

(01:15:44):
Here Total. Wireless check out all The Victor Total wireless,
stores not only in my home audience here In, houston
but also all my listening areas Of, Dallas San, antonio
it's all across the state Of. Texas just go in
because it. Is it's gonna save you a lot of.
Money AND i do talk about saving money when it
comes to your cell, bill your data. Bill there's no
reason to pay these exorbitant. Prices you can get all

(01:16:05):
you can eat monthly fees potentially as low as twenty five.
Dollars put them on family. Plans they've got to bring
your own. Device just walk into a, store go To
Total wireless dot com and you've got it. Down SO
i do appreciate all my hot news over. There and
one of the things THAT i was back, home but
the Last wednesday or, so it Was National Password, Day

(01:16:29):
World Password. Day i've done this show twenty three. YEARS
i remember my first TIME i ever was doing. THIS
i was actually on a channel to THE nbc affiliate In,
houston AND i was on an early morning show right
before they go to The today's, show and it was
going nothing but. Nets Michael garfield AND i was talking
about everything internet and. Whatever AND i think one of
the first thing, is, oh how to create a good.

(01:16:50):
Password let me give you a tip on how to
get a good. Password and this is two thousand and,
one all, right and actually was two, THOUSAND i think
twenty five years. Ago create a long. Password make sure
it's maybe sixteen. Characters use random. Characters don't just use
letters in. Numbers use an asterisk or parentheses or hyphens

(01:17:12):
or dashes or THE at. Symbol change it on a regular.
Basis log out of your shared, device you know. DEVICES
i mean this is before social. Media, NOW i say
keep your details off social. Media don't tell people what
your favorite what your first concert, was or any of

(01:17:33):
your other privates becau odds are that's in your. Password
there was no such thing as two factor authentication back. Then,
nowadays always use two factor. Authentication that's the second layer of.
Protection call it multi factor, authentication whatever it. IS i
know it can be a little, pain but the fact
is do. It which means when you log into something,

(01:17:54):
once it's going to text you or email you something that, says,
hey was this really you trying to get into your? Account,
WELL i want you to enter this six digit code
or click this link just to make sure it's. USED
i know it's an extra, step but you know what
It's it is generally. Worse but how about a password

(01:18:15):
manager or pass? KEYS i just want to, know we've
been doing this for so. Long it's. Crackable we can
actually steal. Passwords there are new and better technology out,
there but passwords they're just not going. Away there's sometimes
a pain to remember every time you log into one

(01:18:38):
to connected devices and, accounts they could be. Cracked but
there are password, managers it's software pass. KEYS i, mean
they can go a long way towards reducing the need
for passwords in your daily. Life BUT i just don't
think they've caught on with a lot of companies or.
Consumers AND i think it's a comfort. Level so many
people have grown up with. Passwords they're easy to. Implement

(01:19:01):
so it Was may, ONE i guess it was this The,
THURSDAY i guess.

Speaker 6 (01:19:08):
It was.

Speaker 2 (01:19:08):
There it was kind of like A. Psa it's a
public service. Announcement, hey there's other ways to do. It
get a password, manager and what's the password. Manager there's
things go one, password the number one, password and again not,
recommending feel free to try. These Bit, warden b it, T,

(01:19:29):
bitwarden Nord, pass a r d P a S. S
Dash lane has long been a good, one d as
a ChIL ay Anny Keeper, security and some of them are,
free some may cost. MONEY i think Bit warden they've
got a free plan which is good for your. BUDGET

(01:19:52):
i actually haven't used, Bitwardens so don't take my. ADVICE
i mean you. COULD i want you to take my,
advice but you could take that. Suggestion they offer premium
plans To but this is a good, time especially when you're,
traveling especially it's summer's coming up and you're logging. In
i've already talked about VPNs when your travel certainly international
e sim cards a way to connect or hotspots or.

(01:20:13):
Whatever and AND i think have passwords and using password
managers may be the thing to, do because your password
the least of which the least of which do not
use these same password on every single one of your.
Accounts change at least a. Letter say you're using, something
say you're using your the combination of your kids' names

(01:20:34):
for everything will do me a. Favor if you're Using Wells,
fargo use all your kids' names and then at the
INPUT Wf Wells. Fargo and if you're using another, bank
A Chase, bank use your kids' names in the LETTER
c or just type In. Chase if you're logging onto your,

(01:20:57):
school use or you, know if you're a Good Hears
county's Or Lamar Lamar High, school use all your kids'
Names Lamar High. School at least use something that's that
you're gonna, remember and then when you're on that particular,
site use the. SITE i, mean just use a trick like,
that and hopefully you're gonna be. SAFE i know you're

(01:21:19):
safe with me because you have been for a quarter of. Century,
hey it's time to wind.

Speaker 4 (01:21:23):
Up the.

Speaker 2 (01:21:23):
MICROPHONE i do thank you for. TUNING i thank you
for following me around the. WORLD i thank you for
making the nice comments that you, see and the fun
pictures and just the fun THAT i tried. Out don't
take anything too too. Seriously AND i think maybe that's
one of the Reasons i've been allowed for quarter century
that in my, hair IF i was, BALD i don't
take that Would dame is certainly not on A vi
high tech. Texting you can find it on the High

(01:21:45):
Tech texting Dot, com high Tech texting On, instagram On. Facebook,
Nice i've blocked, you just go check it. OUT i
do think you following me for everybody who's been a
part of the, show because everybody From Callum read And
will And Brian, ericson Mark, Erman Paul, Lamberg Keddie linkennythiol
From iHeartRadio, network thank you for keeping around for this

(01:22:06):
lawn Happy Mother's. Day we'll talk about that next. Week
Go Kentucky, derby go easy on the bourbon happy sink a.
Demayo just make sure you get a responsible it doesn't.
Move my name Is garth and right now my shown
is Oh bah