Crazy Mother's Day Gifts

Today on the High Tech Texan Show:

• Craziest tech Mother's Day gifts you've ever heard of
• What to buy NOW in anticipation of the higher tariffs
• REVIEW: Why the 2025 Subaru Forester may be the best buy right now

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Is Michael garfil Michael Garfield.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Michael Garfield's joining in the high Tech Texan. Michael Garfield
is here with a high Tech Texans.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
To make life easier.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Technology and Michael Garfield has something you might like.

Speaker 1 (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):
Why oh boy, do we have a show for you
this weekend? How are you? Michael is the name Michael Garfield?
To be exact, Why don't you follow along on all
social media? Issue? You be too shy to call in?
If it's you're too lazy to pick up the phone
and dial ten digits. I am at high Tech Texan
almost well not TikTok, almost everywhere else that you could

(01:10):
be found. H I G H T E C H
T E X A N. What do we have on
tap for you this weekend? Mother's Day? If I say
Mother Day, how many people just went don't Oh my goodness,
I forgot mom? Nip do not forget mom. Mother's Day
is Sunday. I have a few last minute gift ideas

(01:32):
for you in the tech world that you may enjoy.
For those of you in Austin who happened to see
my weekly tech segment on Fox seven, I was on
set showing off of a few beauty products. It's some
other interesting ideas. I can tell you where to go,
where to shop, and also how to really cheat in
terms of let's go online and give mom an e

(01:54):
gift card. We've got that. Also, I'm going to talk
about what the stock up on regarding potential price hikes
due to the tariff wars. Can we actually say that
there are tariff wars going on right now? There is tariffs,
there's the threat of tariffs, and I think the biggest
question that I am being halted with right now certainly

(02:16):
what's happening with computers and laptops, graduation, presidents at presidents, cars,
things that I all of these things. It will fit
into the consumer lifestyle category that I do review and
I do recommend. Yes, it seems that most everything is
and potentially can be raised. So there are things that

(02:37):
you may want to hoard or stock up on. I
will get to that. Also. Hope Francis may he rest
in peace. Just saw that he bequeathed his Popemobile. I
do review cars on a weekly basis. That is one
vehicle I never had the opportunity to drive. I'll tell
you a little bit about that. And also a question

(02:58):
that I like. We we're going to play a little game.
What if you were bequeathed any car, any vehicle that
is famous, what would it be? Would it be the popemobile?
Pretty cool? I think I heard the popemobil has There
were several popemcveils, one of which was an ev I've
got my answers. And also, we are mourning the death

(03:21):
of another technology service that over the years we just
have used and used and used. No one has seen
to have used it, and it actually went dark. We
say bye bye this past week. I will give you
the phone numbers should you do want to call in,
ask some questions, share with me some of your better
Mother's Day gifts, or is your insights or your dad jokes?

(03:43):
I am here for you. The number is three four
six twenty nine Texan three four six two nine t
e x A N So no matter where you are
listening terrestrially, be it in Houston on KPRC nine fifty,
San Antonio. What's up? San Antonio News Radio twelve hundred
WOAI and in Dallas Talk Radio eleven ninety that I

(04:06):
kind of hope my parents really aren't listening right now,
because my mom may be listening to some Mother's Day
gift that hasn't arrived yet. So you mad, you know,
if you're listening Susan Garfield up in Big d maybe
you want to turn this off because she actually I
was talking to her. Was it this week or last week?
I'm very proud of them because they generally well number

(04:27):
one for twenty plus years. My radio show is only
had only been aired on air in Houston on k
PERC nine to fifty am. And they live up in Dallas,
and so they would have to listen online, which they can.
They have to sit at their computer or they would
have to download the iHeartRadio app. She now tells me

(04:48):
that she talks to either Google or her Alexa and
just says, hey, wake up, ord whatever it is, listen
to Talk eleven ninety Dallas on iHeart Radio. You can
do that right now as you walk around the house.
So talk to your smart speaker, just say hey instead

(05:09):
of listening to the radio, or if you're driving right now,
listening to me. You can get home and instead of
downloading the iHeart Radio app, which we would like if
for you to do, you can just say hey, blank blank,
And I'm not saying it because I don't want to
wake up all your devices. Listen to KPRC nine to
fifty am on iHeart Radio, listen to news Radio twelve
hundred on iHeart Radio, and then it'll start playing amazing.

(05:32):
So technology has infiltrated every generation that I can think
of Mother's Day some of the things, one of which
is moms and females over the years when they come
up and ask me what's the cool device, or if
they see me using one particular advice that I have
used over the past few years, that they just seem

(05:53):
to be, oh, this is so cool, I want one
of these. They love flip phones. I like flip phone.
And to be sure, if you're an iPhone user, sucks
for you because iPhone does not make a flip phone.
And I don't even know if I even want to
use the word yet. Who knows what they're going to do.
I am an Android guy. Samsung is already on their

(06:15):
sixth generation of their Galaxy Z flip phone, Motorola makes
a flip phone. Yes, there's foldable phones too, but flip
phones are very compact. And if you close your eyes
and I am going to try to describe what a
flip phone is, ladies, do you know what a compact is? Right?

(06:35):
And I do this because I remember my grandmother every
time we went out to dinner. At the end to dinner,
she would always open her purse very proper wating, she
would take out her compact. And what it has on
the top of it. It's a clamshell device like the
old clamshell phones. And it's got the mirror on top.
So you think she could look at her blips and

(06:56):
redo her powder, lipstick or whatever. It's a cop that
that is the RM factor exactly what a flip phone is.
So they are small and they fold out to become
a full size regular six and a half inch diagonal
screen roughly of an actual phone that most people use,
the candy bar size phone. Why not make something small

(07:16):
that fits in a little, tiny black purse when the
girls are going out on a Friday night. Flip phones
are cool, they work well. I like them a lot.
I am a big form factor person. I don't have
the I don't carry my phone in a leather belt
holster like I think my father still does that. We
used to when we first got phones, and it's like

(07:37):
it looks like it's a pistol. You know, you're in
needed a license to carry a phone. I generally keep
it in my pocket and I wear jeans. I wear
all these you know at leisure type of you know pants,
stretchy pants from you know, built or fablet X that
you can they're kind of snug but they're stretchable. But

(07:58):
you could see where there's a phone in there. A
phone in your pocket? Are you happy to see me?
Sometimes like keep in the back pocket. It's much easier
when you have a smaller device, a smaller phone. They're
just they're lighter. So anyway, flip phones. That's one thing
that you potentially can get convinced mom to get into.
I also when I was on I did my Fox
seventh video in Austin. If you saw this, beauty in

(08:19):
cosmetic technology continues to impress me too. I was sent
a few different products from a company, a Chinese Chinese
based company called you like Oh you like E? Yes,
you do like E. But it's the letter you l
I K E dot com. They send me two devices,
one of which is a handheld hair removal device. Now

(08:40):
hold on standby. When I say hair, I'm not talking
really about the hair on your head, but the hair
on your arms, the hair ladies under your armpits, the
hair on your legs, you know, because people want rare,
so it zaps your hair. This is a nice one.
They sent me a unit, and this is not that cheap.
It's about three hundred and fifty four hundred bones and

(09:03):
it's an IPL and so it uses laser light flashes
of light that if you use it three times a
week or so over the first four weeks or month,
it is supposed to totally remove that you'll never hair
be gone. So you could do this at home. One
other one that I've actually been using myself, and I
haven't seen it, but it's an LED light therapy mask.

(09:27):
And the mask itselfs that you put it right and
it just smothers your face then smother you really, but
it looks like Iron Man and it has LED This
one has hundreds and hundreds of LED lights and you
wear this thing for six, seven, eight minutes at a time,
and these LED lights are supposed to help with blemishes
and your acne and tighten up your face. Those are

(09:49):
interesting too. They both come from this. You like things,
and so the point is, don't sleep with the fact
that there are cosmetic things that women love, moms live,
that they can use at home. And so go up
and take a look at some of those things. I'll
leave it at that. We have our first break right now.
Coming up phone numbers, I will get your questions and
calls three four, six, twenty nine texts and and up next,

(10:10):
what the stock up on If you're scared that prices
are going to escalate with these tariffs, I'll give you
a few of the low hanging friths that you maybe
you're run out by right now. It's Michael Garkoff, the
High Tech Texting Show. Not yet, people were not giving

(10:45):
away anything yet standby. Apparently I do appreciate everybody reading
MYMX dot com account, formerly noticed Twitter, my Instagram. I
kind of, you know, was teasing you guys, going, hey,
we got some few things to give away. Got a
fifty dollars our gift card to Red River Cantina, Happy
Laid by the Way, Cinco de Mayo. I went there
for Cinco de Mayo, the fifth of May, by the way. Well,

(11:07):
and I used to think Cinco de Mayo was a
made up, a made up holiday. Actually, I don't even
know if it was a holiday. I thought it was
the beer companies and the tequila companies that got together.
But it actually it did mean something. It celebrates the
Mexican Army's victory over the Second French Empire at the

(11:29):
Battle of Puebla back in eighteen sixty two May fifth,
eighteen sixty two. So in celebration of the wonderful I
bet that was that. What that was was that televised,
was that on ESPN two, the Mexican Army's victory over
that Second French Empire Battle of Peblo. I definitely had

(11:49):
a a sortvezza or two at the Red River Cantina
two locations, one down what on the in Richmond, Texas,
which is on the west side of Houston off of
the Grand Parkway ninety nine and Harlem Road. That's where
I was and went down in League City. Man, that's
a big outfit outdoor patios Red River Cantinas, So I

(12:11):
thank to Shane Swope has doing it. He's the general
manager at the one on the west side. I got
a fifty dollars red River Cantina, so stand by, we
will give that away here soon. Michael Garfield is the name,
and he didn't notice note that prices have yet to
be raised at red River or any of it. I
don't I don't eat at a ton of restaurants. Really

(12:35):
has anybody noticed the price going up? And are you
blaming the tariffs? Are you blaming the government for already
raising the price of I don't know, avocados, hot sauce, tortillas, lettuce,
toilet paper or whatever it is. I don't know, but
I do cover this industry. And the fact is I
just returned from a trip to China speak with a

(13:00):
meeting with Chinese based technology companies on their thoughts of
what they think the tariffs, at least in the short term,
but also sometimes in the long term. Can what's it
gonna do for their businesses? And they the sound bites
and I sat down. I mean, I got a really
really nice conversation at length with the CEO of Lexar.

(13:24):
Alexar is the company that makes a lot of the
internal storage drives, the little tiny storage cards that you
put in that there are in phones that you put
in cameras. Lexar nice gentlemen. Ryan Lee is his name,
and relatively young guy too, and he gave me some

(13:44):
lengthy conversations, very frank that in the short term he
believes that he could help business because people are stocking
up on things that they think they may need before
prices go up. The longer term, over the next six
months year that at the tariffs do continue the China
one hundred and forty five percent currently right now, how

(14:07):
that could hurt their business and hurt the economy, the
lifestyle everything. It's I don't know, are there any winners
in this right now? So trying to keep the politics
out of it, but it is politics, there's no matter
how you cut it down. And right now Trump has
paused reciprocal tariffs, but they're set to expire in July.

(14:29):
So businesses they've been scrambling to ensure that they have
enough product in stock before these double digit tariffs take effect.
And after that stock runs out, companies are going to
need to pay more for products made outside the US,
and those costs almost definitely going to get passed along
to us the consumers. Tariffs on goods from China they're

(14:52):
already hitting Chinese total tariff rate currently one hundred and
forty five percent, and price it's for some products they've
already risen as much as three hundred and seventy seven percent.
I saw that there is hitchen towels. If you get
him at how do you pronounce this? This online website

(15:14):
Timo is one, but the Shine Shi n I don't
shop on shot kitchen towels went from a buck twenty
eight to six dollars and ten cents. It's a three
hundred and seventy seven percent increase. A meat shredder rose
two hundred and nineteen percent. Timo, which is the Chinese
e commerce company, they raised their right duds. So we're

(15:34):
seeing a lot of prices already rise. But what imports
have companies already stocked up upon. Among the biggest hikes
in imports that companies are stocking up from number one
is pharmaceutical goods. There was an increase of about twenty
billion dollars in purchasing passenger cars, two billion dollars worth

(15:56):
of that in computer accessories another two billion dollars. Now
some companies have they've already making the strategic moves to
avoid the worst of the triple digit tariffs on Chinese goods.
In March, Apple shipped about two billion dollars a month
of iPhones from India because they had a temporary twenty

(16:17):
six percent reciprocal tariff. So point is, what should you
stock up on. It's unclear wind prices could rise. It's
unclear on how much prices will rise. But experts warn
and listen, I'm gonna I'm gonna call myself an expert.

(16:39):
Do not go out in what we call hannick. Buy,
don't handic, don't go out and panic. Buy a new
got it, a who car, a new PC, a new
something that you fear tariffs are gonna hit in order
to upgrade. Now, there is a difference between want in need.

(16:59):
I have taught my three sons this over the years.
Do you want something I want a lot of things
versus do you absolutely need this right now? If you
need something, you you have a car that is just
it's about to die because it's three hundred and fifty
thousand miles and you've got another kid coming and you

(17:21):
need more room and you need more safe Okay, gotcha?
Do you want a new car because oh this is cool?
Because it's got to know you know, a third you know,
a third row. Maybe it's got exit into the satellite radio.
Maybe it's got you know, it's it's a new technology
with the rear view camera. You just want it because
your current car is good. Think about that want versus need.

(17:43):
Don't panic by that's number one. But if you're already
planning to make a big purchase refrigerator, wash, your dryer, car,
you can make the purchase without going into debt. Now
in now, now could be a good time to buy things.

(18:04):
This trade deficit. Why does this trade deficit? And we
talked about this trade deficit. The trade deficit sword to
a record one hundred and forty billion dollars in March
because businesses tried to stock on these import shipments ahead
of these tariffs. Trade deficit means we're buying more goods
from other countries than we're selling abroad. It's not necessarily

(18:29):
a bad thing. If another country has the resources to
produce a product cheaper than we can produce it here,
we can save money by buying an imported good. But
these tariffs, these trade imbalances, I don't know, it's it
is tough. So if you want to call in. Are
you finding I antegochally? I'd love to hear from you.

(18:50):
Three four six twenty nine. Texted it for some reason,
we don't pick up. He goes to voicemail. Leave a voicemail.
We have the right day error it online. I want
to hear what you think. What have you seen that
prices have already gone up? And maybe food and maybe
clothing and maybe guards or whatever. Give me something specific.
Michael is the name Michael Garfield. It is the high
Tech textan show. When we come back. Oh my goodness,

(19:11):
another technology product and service has died. I can almost this.
I guarantee you've used this over the past twenty years.
But it is gonzo. How much are you going to missus?
We'll talk about that on the other side. Big shout

(19:50):
out to the folks up in the Woodlands, Texas, and
congratulations to everybody who competed in Saturday mornings Woodlands Triathlon.
Once again, Yes that was me. If you recognize the voice,
that was my real voice, not AI voice. I was
the race announcer mc gosh. I have done that for eight, fifteen, sixteen,

(20:13):
seventeen years. Great folks the Woodlands, it's spout. We got
about forty five minutes an hour north of Houston, but
it attracted man a number of runners and bikers and
swimmers from all over the country, mostly in Texas, but
all over the country there do such a nice job.
Weather was pretty good and I did not do it.
I'm not a triathlete. I am a runner, and that's

(20:36):
why they enjoy hiring me to be the race announcer,
because I understand the concept of races, the mentality of
the finish line, of hyping people up early in the
morning to get them started in whatever. But they know,
no way I am doing a triathlet will I have
run ten marathons. For half marathons, I run probably four day,

(20:56):
five days a week. I'm there, man, But Big Daddy
does not swim, No, sir, does not happen. And I
just recently about a year ago. I bike, but I
do a stationary bike. I have a peloton, just not
I don't have a road bike. So I the respect man,
Kudos men, women, and some of these kids. Man, these

(21:19):
kids are like thirteen years old. They were out there
and they can kick my butt running. Love it that
people are so just athletic and in shape, but just
getting any exercise, just any exercise. Just get out and
do it. Man, even just walk. And I'm happy that
I took up running thirty plus years ago. But you
get out there and do something. So anyway, thanks for

(21:40):
having me out there the woodlands. It's a really fun
seeing you. And now I still have a little voice left.
And it's my voice too, not my AI voice. Give
me about Give me about fifteen minutes. Next segment, I'm
going to talk about AI voices. There are some news
this week that it's very interesting because AI artificial and

(22:00):
tear intelligence. It can be a scary thing. It can
be useful. You see, I am of I am not
the dude behind the microphone that says, oh my god,
you gotta be scared of AI. It's gonna take away jobs.
It's going to ruin the world. There are some processes
that AI can greatly help you with. You may use

(22:24):
AI for a number of different things. Yes, AI can
and has been cutting into people's jobs. Not happy about
that whatsoever, especially when it comes to people in the
media and replicating voices and images. I'll have a story
about that in about fifteen minutes. In the meantime, we're

(22:45):
going to talk about something right now that's very sad,
something that has gone away this past week in the
world of technology. I'd like to take a few minutes
right now to give an obituary. Normally I would have
little background music. Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today. However,
we you are too cheap to actually pay the licensing
rights for any music, including friends. So dearly beloved, we

(23:10):
are indeed gathered here this day, this week to remember
our good friend, the service that kicked off the Jetsonian
age of being able to talk and see somebody from
around the world via your computer. We remember Skype. It

(23:36):
has been laid to rest, and it is indeed, with
mixed emotions and an ironic ring tone, that we announced
the passing of Skype. Aged twenty two, born in two
thousand and three, died twenty twenty five. Skype died peacefully

(23:58):
and a forgotten desktop folder under a pile of zoom icons.
Dipe was once the golden child of Internet communication. In
its youth, it was the way to yell can you
hear me now at loved ones across continents while staring

(24:19):
at pixelated foreheads. It brought families together, ruined job interviews,
and was the awkward third wheel in many long distance relationships,
and its prime Skype had a promising future. It introduced
us to the beauty of buffering mid sentence and the

(24:40):
thrill of accidental video calls when you definitely weren't camera ready.
Microsoft adopted Skype in twenty eleven, promising to raise it right,
but like many step parents with too many kids, the
love just wasn't the same. Skype was eventually overshadowed by sleeker, younger,

(25:05):
better dress competitors like Zoom, teams, FaceTime, Discord, and even
shouting through walls, and its final days, Skype spent most
of its time popping up uninvited, asking for updates no
one approved, and confusing boomers who just wanted to talk

(25:25):
to their grandkids. Skype has survived by vague nostalgia, a
few IT departments, and that one uncle who still insists
Skype is just as good now. Memorial service will be
held online on Zoom and lou of flowers. Mourners rassd
to mute themselves until called upon. Rest in pixels, Old friend,

(25:47):
Rest in pixels, My my, my ma. Who use Skype,
Raise your hand, put your hand down because you're driving
right now, is anybody really upset that Skype has gone?
Because who really used it? And it got me thinking,
guy was cool back in the day. And it started

(26:11):
in two thousand and three, a few years just after
I created and I started my brand of the High
Tech Texan, which I started in two thousand and one,
and I was, I was, I was on the Skype
pipe train. I was a skypepiper. Oh, this is the
coolest thing.

Speaker 1 (26:26):
Man.

Speaker 2 (26:26):
You gotta go out and you gotta get a two
thousand dollars desktop computer. But make sure it's got a microphone.
And if you can go out and also get one
of these add on you know, video cameras. And then
on the other end, if your parents are in another city,
your grandkids are another city, you too can actually pretend
like you're George Jetson and you know, call your wife
Jane from work and look at him. How cool is this.

(26:49):
I'm never gonna pick up the phone again because I
don't want to pay long distance charges. Who I'm dating
myself with that one right there? I don't have to
use MCI or eight No, no, I'm calling for free
over voiceover Internet Protocol. That's what it was. VoIP it
was Skype. Baby. It was awesome until it really wasn't

(27:11):
awesome until things got more impressed, And sadly, it took COVID.
It took one of the world's most deadly outbreaks of
a virus five years ago in twenty twenty for masses
to say, you know what, we can't meet face to face,

(27:33):
we can't travel. How can we see each other and
stay saying, well, you know what, my computer, my laptop
has a built in camera. Yes I know I can FaceTime,
and yes I know I can do Skype. Yes, but
Zoom proliferated. Zoom, to be sure, was invented, was around
before COVID, not too much longer, but it was. But

(27:56):
somehow someway Zoom not the TV show on PBS that
I grew up with in the nineteen seventies, but Zoom,
the teleconferencing for lack of a better term, service, proliferated.
It's the go to. Yes, Microsoft teams try to come along,
and it's still there. But now we can video chat

(28:16):
on our phones via WhatsApp. We could do it on Facebook,
we could do it so many different ways, but hey,
you want to zoom. Zoom has become the word, it's
a verb, it's an acronym. That's what it is right now,
But we do remember when I got about in a
minute before we take a break right now? What other

(28:37):
pieces of technology, what other products? What other services do
you remember that are no longer here? And maybe it's
not a specific service, but maybe it's a type of
media like VHS. Do you does? I mean, I know
my older folks, my older generation, if you are older
than listen, if you're older than thirty, you know it.

(28:59):
VHS is because when you were a kid and I'm
talking to my son justin right now, who I know,
he's not listening. In Los Angeles, when I used to
wake up with you and hold you in my arms
at three in the morning when you were crying so
we could let your mother sleep. I popped in a
VHS of Barney the Damn Purple Dinosaur because there was
no Barney on CDs or download or streams. It was VHS.

(29:25):
Who remembers pagers? Yes, I had my first pager back
in nineteen ninety one ninety two. That was cool. You
could pick up a phone, not a cell phone, but
a real phone, and you could call somebody's pager number.
And then you'd hear a beep and you'd type into
your ten digit return phone number, and then your little
pager would go beep, beep, beep op. I gotta find

(29:47):
a phone, maybe put a quarter in it so I
can call back this person. Casset tapes, Yes, I also
had vinyl records and eight track tapes, but cassette tapes
is when I was big man was high school. For me.
My first cassette tape, Journey Escape had to go out
and get Michael Jackson Thriller. Yes, because I could take

(30:09):
that and I could put it in my house with
my stereo cassette, or I could take that to my
car and I had just a thump and stereo system
where I was trying to impress my high school chicks,
which I had none of. Analog telephones, blackberries, overhead projectors,
google glass, Apple iPods. We mourn, We sit Shiva, and

(30:32):
we remember things that we in many cases grew up
with Skype or went out. It was glad to know
you what am I forgetting? People give me a shout
or you talk to me on X because I ain't
gonna tell you to skype me three four six twenty
nine texting Michael Garfield when we come back. What else
can we talk about? Oh?

Speaker 4 (30:52):
We got some millions came of a news over really
like the direction we was gonna like right here on
my Hi Tech Techi show, I.

Speaker 2 (31:24):
Teased this subject about fifteen minutes ago and I'm gonna
pay it off right now as welcome back. It's Michael Garfield.
It is called the High Tech Textan Show. You can
follow along online my website high Tech Textan dot Com
spelled the whole thing out h I G H T
e c h Texan High Tech Textan dot Com. No
matter how you're listening, be it terrestrially in Dallas, Houston,

(31:47):
San Antonio. Thank you, if you're listening on the iHeartRadio
app or anywhere else. I am here for you. This
is my real voice I am. I mean, you can't
hear me hitting the microphone right now.

Speaker 1 (31:57):
But this is me.

Speaker 2 (31:58):
At some point my voice may not be me, and
that's scary to me because that is what artificial intelligence
can be. There was a story a few weeks ago
that I saw and I don't think I talked about
it yet, but there was a popular Australian radio station
that had been using an AI generated DJ just Jackie

(32:23):
to host one of its segments, and no one noticed
there was a show. It was a four hour mix
of hip hop and R and B and pop, no
indication that the voice of its host was AI generated.
And I don't know how it came out or something,

(32:43):
but people didn't seem to be too happy about it
because maybe they didn't understand it. Now listen to be sure.
Other radio stations they've experimented with using AI. There was
an in Portland, Oregon radio station. I think something on
Serious XM happened, and there was a post station last year.

(33:04):
I don't know, but as far as I know, this
is me as far as I know the radio station
that I'm on, the stations that I'm on right now, iHeartRadio.
I don't think they use AI. They haven't told me yet.
But when you hear stories like this, it's like, right, row,
what's happening? Because it's not hard to train AI artificial

(33:29):
intelligence on a computer, almost a regular PC laptop to
mimic your voice, speak with the same cadence, maybe you
have an accent, maybe you have a Texas drawl, y'all.
You know, it can imitate you and for some people,
they may not care for some people who make a

(33:50):
living off it, like me, Hello, nice to meet you.
It may pick up. Listen, my longtime listeners know that
I use fun verbiage. You know, I use the word
ova and eva and let me help you out and
if you know what I'm saying and p y P

(34:12):
play by play. All of this is on it's it's
not on tape, but it's online. It's on my podcast
You Tell an AI bought to just discour the Michael
Garfield High Tech Texting podcast over the past year. It's
going to pick up the way I speak, the cadence,
my accent if I actually actually have an accent depending
on where you're from, but also the words it's it is.

(34:36):
It is scary. And I bring it to this story
which happened this week, which I found fascinating because as
scary it is that people can you know, rip off
my voice, my face or whatever it is. It's interesting news,
but it's also semi good news, and I can I
appreciate this. So NBC, if you're an NBA, you're excited

(35:01):
because next year the NBA awarded part of its TV
contract to NBA. The NBA will be back on NBC.
And for those of you of age, you know, certainly
over thirty five years old, you may remember back in
the late eighties and the nineties the NBA was on NBC.
This was the Michael Jordan Hayday and everything that you need,
and this is where they had John Tesh's theme song.

(35:23):
That's right. John Tesh wrote a theme song called round
Ball Rock and it went something like Dun da dun
da dun Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun
da dunda dunda da da d That's been gone for
years and years and years because I think NBC owned
the rights to it. Well, they're bringing it back. I
love it. There was I saw commercial this past week
John Tsh man looking good. We're gonna be hearing this,

(35:45):
I think on Sunday nights or Monday nights. Dun dan
Dun dun d and dun dun dun dua da Not
the point. Here's the point where AI comes in. Not
only is NBC bringing back and paying John Tesh for
the rights to use that opening, NBA is bringing back
the original announcer, his voice for the NBA broadcast Next system.

(36:08):
So if you go back to nineteen ninety or something.
There is a voice, and I I remember the song.
Watching NBA on NBC, Marv Albert during the play by
play with us Zar this tellus straitor Mike Frittello, I
remember it all. I don't really remember the voice, but
his name was Jim Fagan. Jim Fagan did the voice.

(36:30):
It's the NBA on NBC tonight, the Chicago Bills take
on the New York Next. You know that stuff ool nostalgia?
What it'sy bitsy little caveat with Jim Fagan's voice. Jim
Fagan died in twenty seventeen. NBC is using a I

(36:51):
to generate his voice for the title sequences the show
opens in the promos for its upcoming NBA covering, is
that freaky dekey? They're recreating his voice? But they are,
and they have gotten approval with the consent of his family.

(37:16):
That is how you're supposed to do it. You ask
his family, maybe you pay his family, whoever has his estate.
They're doing it the right way. It softens the blow
when you hear that AI voice is taking over a
job that could have gone to me. I'll come in

(37:38):
be see couldn't hire me. Tonight the NBA on NBC.
You are Euston Rockets versus the Dallas Mavericks and it
was host matchup seen only right here tonight a PM, Eastern,
seventh Central NBA on NBC.

Speaker 3 (37:58):
See that.

Speaker 2 (38:00):
It would have been a gig. I gotta retired on
that money. Nope, they're using a guy who died eight
years ago. I don't appreciate that, but they did get
the rights. But the point I have this is what
is happening in the world of artificial intelligence. Funny thing
is this isn't the first time it's happened. This isn't
the first time that NBC has done it in the

(38:21):
Olympics last year I think it was last year, twenty
twenty four Olympics in Paris on its Peacock streaming service.
If you go to Peacock. NBC used in the AI
version of Al Michaels to offer personalized recaps of the Olympics.
And al Michaels is still alive. Yes, they got permission
from Al because al is under contract with I actually

(38:43):
used to be with NBC, but Al now works for
Amazon when it comes to football. But using the voice
of a dead Man as a prominent feature of its
return to NBA broadcasting. It's an aggressive move. AI continues
to be a hot button issue a number of different industries,
and this is just one because this is one that
is in my wheelhouse thoughts on this. As we get

(39:05):
to our number two, and I will reassure you this
is the High Tech tex Show and it really is
the raspy voice of Michael Garkle the High Tech Texans.
When we come back on the other side, we're going
to talk cars. What's Michael been driving this week? Also,
Pope Francis rest in peace. He bequeathed his Pope mob.
I guess every time a pope dies his popemobiles they

(39:28):
go into a museum. He actually bequeathed his Pope m'bile.
I'll tell you to who. But also, if anybody bequeathed
a famous vehicle to you, what would it be? Me Batmobile?
It's in the running. We can have this discussion along
with some giveaways.

Speaker 4 (39:42):
Next hour.

Speaker 2 (39:42):
Michael garfel the High Tech Textion Show.

Speaker 4 (39:57):
If Michael GARTHI Michael Garfield, Michael Garth Fils joining you
in the.

Speaker 3 (40:01):
High Tech Texan. Michael Garfield is here. With a high
tech textis to make life easier.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
Technology, and Michael Garfield has something you might like.

Speaker 1 (40:17):
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 Textan Michael Garfield.

Speaker 2 (40:38):
Halfway to half hour on the High Tech Textian Show,
which means we are halfway through the end of the show.
I'll give you the phone number because it's interactive and
I know you're scrambling to find some last minute Mother's
Day technology or actually any type of gifts I want
to get mama car. Hey, maybe a good time to
get somebody a car before the tariffs continue to escalate.

(41:00):
I know this firsthand. Is I about a week and
a half ago, just got back from China? China? Is
how is that how somebody pronounces that we gotta di Jina,
I ate dinner off of fine China. Yeah, I just
give me a paper plate. That's all I care about.
It's three four six twenty nine text and that is
the phone number. Callum Reid. He's on the other side

(41:22):
of that glass. He Callum. You feel on my picking
the phone up? Maybe he's nodding, is that he may
put you through to me three four six two nine
t e x A N if you get if it
goes to voicemail, leave a voicemail people, and then we
have a right to Eric and I will answer your
questions or get your comments. We've been doing this for
well over twenty three years. By the way, a special

(41:43):
Happy birthday, Happy anniversary to kp RC Radio KPRC nine
fifty am, my flagship in Houston, where I have been
on the air for twenty three years. The longest run
show in the history of KPRC, Folks, this radio station.

(42:04):
If you're listening to Houston one hundred years old, how
about that came on early May of nineteen twenty five,
nineteen twenty five. Of course, my grandmother who passed away recently,
one hundred and five, she's like, oh my beer. Congrats
to KPRC and everybody who is involved in that. And
I thank you for keeping me on almost a quarter

(42:27):
of that time. Woo whoo? Am I old or I
just started young? I don't know, but maybe you like me,
you really really like me. Maybe you do. Maybe you
like my two hours of BS, which of course stands
for Bachelor of Science, which I got from the University
of Texas. But I do spout two hours of what

(42:49):
I'd like to think is good information, very good news,
wreck tips if you do want to figure out, Hey,
what car to drive? What should I buy? What should
I test? I want this phone? Do I want this
piece of clothing. I'm kind of a jack of all trades.
I talk about everything that I play with and test
and companies send me and and I am not shy

(43:11):
to tell you this sucks. I am not shy to say,
you know what, you need to stay away from this whatsoever?
Like mayna stay away from free, stay away from pork,
not healthy. See, I am the guy who's going to
tell you the truth. Tell you the truth. I saw this.
But also we would like to extend congratulations to the
new pope. We have a new pope in town. We

(43:34):
have Pope Leo, Leo the fourteenth, I dig that name.
He is the first American pope ever from Chicago on
the South Side, So we have to assume he's a
white Sox fan, not a Cubbies fan. He is taking
the reins of what one one point four billion Catholics
around the world. That's pretty strong, pretty impressive. That's good.

(43:57):
He among the other perks gets a pope mobile or two.
And I test drive cars, and I've never seen the
popemobile in person, certainly never ridden it or driven. It
could be a goal. I have a I would love
one day to fly in Air Force one. That's kind
of a dream. I would like to kind of roll

(44:19):
around in the popemobile. And I think over the past
several popes, each of them has had a few different potmobiles.
I think one of Pope Francis's was even an electric popemobile. Anyway,
it's you think these popemobiles would get handed down from
pope to pope to pope. Maybe they do. I'm guessing

(44:39):
the new Pope Leo, does he want an American made
popemobile since he's from America. I don't know. It's not
up to me, but I saw this the one of Pope.
Pope Francis says, you know, passed away about what three
weeks ago or so, he bequeathed one of his popemobiles.
He was a good dude. We were tight, you know,
we talk about you know, you know, football odds or whatever.

(45:03):
He passed away, he bequeathed one of his popemobiles to
a health clinic for children in the Gaza Strip. He
was fulfilled one of his final wishes and they're transforming
it into a mobile health clinic. So it was a popemobile,
which is pretty cool when you look as I'm looking
at it right. Here's this allows the Pope to stand

(45:25):
up or sit down in an open air vehicle. But
it's got this canopy, a glass I'm guessing bulletproof canopy
that he could stand in and wave to everybody. It's
it's pretty cool. And it's got a bar you know
he can hold onto. And it went not not a
bar bar you know with cocktails, but it's got this
bar he can hold on too when he's standing up.

(45:45):
And he donated it, and I'm thinking, how cool is that?
I mean, I guess the Vatican could put it up,
could have put it on eBay. How much do you
think a popemobile would have gone for on eBay? I mean,
listen this rhetorical wee can you know I mean several
hundred thousand a million dollar me if the Pope signed it.
Maybe you know, if you Millski could have donated that

(46:09):
to health clinics around the world. That's not mean for
me to say, but I was thinking if if I
was to bid on a famous vehicle, a famous car,
famous truck, and then again, I'm opening it up. I'm
opening this up to you, my dear listeners. If you
could get mom one of the greatest Mother's Day of
her the coolest car you've ever seen on TV or

(46:30):
a movie, or maybe it's a Popemobile, or maybe it's
the beast as we say that the President of the
United States drives around in in a Cadillac, what would
it be. I would have to go number one seed
for me Batmobile, and only I would pick the Batmobile
because the Batmobile is actually a real vehicle. It was

(46:53):
it was you know, starting in the nineteen sixties went
Adam West was Batman. And you know now in the
movies they're way cool with all the Batmobile movies. So
it's it's real. Whether they actually go one hundred and
fifty miles an hour or whatever it is batteries to power,
turbines to speed, I don't know. The only reason is
because the greatest vehicle ever designed, schematic created conceptually in

(47:24):
TV or movies. In my opinion, speed racers mock five.
There is no better vehicle. Now it's not. I have
seen a mock up or a version of the mock five.
It looks like it, but ain't no way. It works
like the cartoon, the greatest cartoon known to man. Exactly
what at least known to Michael Garfield. Go look up

(47:46):
mock five and if you are of age, you know
what I'm talking about. It's got the steering wheel with
the letters A, B, C, D, E, F and G.
Trivia question, There actually is a letter H somewhere on
the mack five. Actually we should do a trivia question.
First person who calls in at seven one three, two

(48:07):
one two five nine five? Oh, where was the H?
At the letter H? There was a button, don't I'll
tell you what it's not on the steering wheel because
it was ABC, D, E, F and G and they
each you press up speed racer pressed the button, they
did something you pressed A and and I had these
automatically jumpers and so he could drive and all of

(48:29):
a sudden he would jump over you know something in
the rogue dunt dun dun, dum dunk dum. It was
also a jack that you know, So Sparky can work
under the car. Uh, and then there was a there
was a cockpit underwater with the oxygen there. I mean,
I can go on and on. There was cutters that
actually came out of the car so he could actually
cut through the forest. It was beautiful. Okay again it's
car Tim. You tell me first person, you're gonna get
a fifty dollars gift card to Red River Cantena in Houston.

(48:52):
All right, great Mexican food seven one three, two, one
two five nine five. Oh we got a few lies.
Where was the letter h J and what did it
do on the mack five? You see, this is what
a loser I am. I live vicariously through sports and cartoons.
We're gonna take a break and went listen. Other cars
I would like listen Scooby Doo's Mystering Machine, the Lory,

(49:18):
the Ghostbusters, Ecto one, the trans Am, and you know
the Bandit. Burt Reynolds Action Duke Savazers had a heck
of a car Zebra one. Uh. You know for star
Skin Hudge, James Bond had the Aston, Martin Herbie the
love Bug. There's some famous vehicles, but the Pope Bill's
pretty iconic. Pe My Bill is pretty kind by the

(49:39):
end of the show. I actually I am going to
tell you what vehicle I testro of this week, and
I'll tell you if it was good or work it
was bad. Coming up more looks like a stop calling.
We got a winner. Stop calling. And on the other side,
I will give you the answer to where the H
button was on speed Lacer. I'll tell you right here.
I'm a high tech tex Mother's Day weekend thinking about

(50:18):
getting Mom a new phone, maybe a cheaper data plan.
I suggest Total Wireless. They got a lot of pretty
cool promos going on right now. Switch to Total Wireless
and you can get two unlimited lines. That means Mom
can yap yap, yap, yap yap and talk talk talk
all she wants. Sixty five dollars a month period. That's it.

(50:42):
That's it. Oh by the way, plus two free five
G phones with activation on the Total five G unlimited
plan and two eligible poured its new customers. Only think
about that. What does mom really need two phones? Mom
may need two phones. Mom's got two different kids, three kids,

(51:03):
four kids. We love you mothers out there, and oh,
by the way, you don't have to be a mother
to get this deal. Total Wireless great deals. Also bring
your own phone. That means you don't need to buy
a phone from them. You could bring your own phone.
Fifty percent off savings when you bring your own phone
and you switch to a Total Wireless unlimited plan, and

(51:24):
that is fifty percent off compared to standard rates like
Metro in cricket, Okay, you have to bring in your
unlocked device walk in. If you're listening to anywhere in Houston,
San Antonio, Austin interrestrially, we love you to visit to
one of the Victor owned stores that you can easily
go to Victory dot Total Wireless dot com. But they
got some really good specials, a lot of need phones.

(51:45):
Free phone but do we dig free absolutely dig free
phones over here. So Motorola rasor Samsung Galaxy A sixteen
five G DCL fifty x E five G. This is
five G people, means you're gonna get some great clarity
and a good spee. I have used Total Whiles for
gosh almost a year right now. Very happy with it.

(52:06):
I like the fact that I know exactly what I'm
gonna pay, and I could talk all I want and
I don't have to like you know, Hike up or
put extra credit in my thing. I am set to
go Total Worlds. Happy Mother's Day to you. As we
continue the hi tech textan show got a Triviu trivia
answered the trivia question and we were talking about Vehicle's
the most famous vehicle that you've ever seen on TV

(52:28):
or movies that you would want. I mean, I've never
really seen the inside of the Beast, which is the
Cadillact that the President of the United States drives, and
it looks pretty cool. The Popemobile, which is obviously in
the news now, the prope Francis. He bequeathed one of
his potmobiles to become a health clinic in the Gaza strip.
You could choose from the Batmobile. You could choose from

(52:50):
Dukes of Hazards, Starski and hut Zebra one. You could
use your kits Car and Kaga the Dolorian doc he
made a time machine out of. I mean an I
would pick. I don't know. Scooby Do's Mystery Machine is
pretty cool. Actually that this very rudimentary. There was nothing
in the back, I mean they I mean, I don't
even think they had seats in the back. I mean,

(53:11):
you see, you would you would see you know, kind
of Daphne in the pass in your seat and Fredo
was driving, and then you know Screw and Shaggy and Velma.
They were just kind of standing behind them that it's
cool to speed racers. Mock five period case closed. Coolest
vehicle ever scene, Absolutely love that stuff. Trivia question that

(53:32):
was just answered. Who won this? This was Ray Ray
in just outside of Dallas. He called in here's the winner.
If you remember the cartoon speed Racer Tricksy Sparky Pops
Spridle Chim Chim the whole game, speed Racer had his
most powerful, most sophisticated car ever invented by Pop's Racer.

(53:56):
They had. He has a steering wheel and it has
letters on the steer will A, B, C, D, E,
F and G. G was the middle big one, and
each button when you pushed it did something special. I
mean you could go under water. Cockpit would come on,
oxygen cutters would come out the front and he would
cut down trees. It would the A button has jumpers
that you know, he's driving in the middle of the

(54:17):
road and all of a sudden he's a boulder and
he junk dunk dunk, dunk dunk, yeah, A B, C, D, E, F,
and G G was the homing pigeon. That was the
big one in the center, so he could record a message.
Hit G OR and there's a little remote control would
pop up in the center between the driver's seat and

(54:37):
the passenger seat and he can actually, I don't know,
defend himself or this little it's like it was like
a drone. It's electronic homing pigeon. Okay, when a real pigeon,
but it was electronic hoomit pagion. There was another letter
H and very few people ever remember this. Congratulations to
Ray You're you're just an idiot cartoon watcher. Leg me.

(55:00):
When you hit it was a sub button. When you
hit the letter G for the homing pigeon that he
can control with a remote control that popped out you
know where the kind of gearshift was. You also saw
a letter H and by hitting the letter H, the
homing pigeon. Homing pigeon would go home to speed racers family,

(55:21):
good job, fifty dollars to red River canteena in Houston,
great tex mex food, thanks to you. Okay, anything else
we could think of this? This is why why have
I've been on the air twenty three years. You know
why because I am nothing but a trivia fun guy
who just kind of keeps you entertained. No no need
to call anymore. I mean you can call it. Asked

(55:43):
me a question three four six twenty nine textan. You
can also go to x Twitter and whatever you want
to call it. You can go to my Instagram high
tech text and spell the whole thing out. H I
G h T e h T e x A N.
It is Mother's Day weekend if you're thinking about Also,
don't forget man, dads and grads are coming up. We
love you, mom, and I'm not trying to blow off

(56:04):
mom yet. But we got graduations that are happening. Like
right now, kids are graduating high school and they're going
to college. College kids are graduating. They're hope they're moving
home with their parents, or they're going to work. I
hope the latter. What can you get them? How about
a gaming PC a lot of game Well, first of all,

(56:25):
you can get them a PC. If high school kids
are going to college, they may need a new computer.
They may need a new tablet. I can recommend those
and some of them. If you want a very powerful computer,
you can get a gaming pc. I don't talk a
ton about gaming PCs. I know, of my three boys,
my middle son's a big gamer. He and I built

(56:47):
his gaming PC four or five years ago, and it
was it was fun. It was a great dad sun
spend time, learning experience together. Even though at the end
of the day we could have bought one and it
would have saved time. It would have at the end

(57:08):
of the day may have Actually I don't know if
it's saved money, because you know, you could build one
for you know, relatively expensive. I talk about this because
coming up there's a new gaming pc. I saw that
as man. The specs are unbelievable, spectrumable. It's from r
OG Republic of Gamers. It's their new G seven hundred
gaming pc. I'm going to dial up and I'm going
to get someone from r OG slash as US to

(57:32):
call in. What have we got to You gotta give me,
give me about five or six minutes, and we're gonna
talk about some of these specs and why these gaming
PCs are just massively fast, and how they can heat
up really quickly and this new air cooling system that
they've got. So just some topics I thought I would
bring up, which I think is pretty cool. Anybody and
everybody have their real ID. Yet, as if flying wasn't

(57:55):
already cray cray in America, if Newark Airport this past
week wasn't already jacked up because of delayed flights, this
was the week that we've been waiting for for How
How long have we known we should be getting these
real ideas? Was it two thousand and five or something?
We have known this for a long time. The deadline

(58:17):
has come. It was last Tuesday. US travelers, they are
required by law to have a real ID, because God
forbid you have a fake ID if you want to
even fly domestically. So if you're traveling, if you've forgot
to get your real ID, you're actually still going to
be able to fly, but you may be screwed at security.

(58:38):
It may take a little bit longer. Give yourself some
extra time of the airport. I have I have a
real idea, and you know you have a real idea.
Look at your driver's license, and on the top right
hand corner. If you're in Texas or actually almost anywhere
except California, there is a star. There is a star
in California. There's actually a bear, a golden bearing, because

(58:58):
that's that's on the flag. It's the logo of California.
That's how you got a real ID. I didn't even
know about this real idea. I've had a real ID
for years and years and years because the last time
I got my driver's license, I guess on my birthday
when it expired a few years ago, went in, took
a picture, had tod you know, put the makeup and
the hair on the whole thing, and then they mailed
me my driver's license and it had the real ID start,

(59:20):
so I didn't have to worry about it. So, if
you've gotten your driver's license renewed over the past four
or five six years or so, odds are you have
a real ID? I just this has gotten a lot
of publicity over the past four or five six months,
certainly over the past ten years. How does anybody not
have this yet? And what it is? It's an enhanced

(59:43):
version of your standard state driver's license. I don't know
how it's enhanced, but it's intended to help authorities crack
down on terrorism and identity fraud. I don't know. And
here's the thing. Did anybody when they were underage before
they could drink or drive. Who had a fake ID?

(01:00:06):
And I'm raising my hand. Listen, I was a d
nice gol. Yes, me and all my buddies had fake ideas.
If you could fake an ID, can't you fake a
real ID? Star. I'm just throwing it out there. I'm
not telling you to do that. I'm not telling you
that whatsoever. All right, coming up, we're gonna talk about
gaming PCs before and then when we come back, I
will tell you what I was driving this week. Got
a really really cool card that I had. It is

(01:00:27):
not the mock five, but that's what I do every week.
I actually test draft card, tell you my thoughts right
here on the High Tech text and chew black at it.

(01:00:53):
The long running high Tech text and show. Michael Greifeld
is the name Open phone lines if you want to
ask questions. Count down to Mother's Day, big mod man.
We got Mother's Day. We've got graduations that are happening too,
which actually is segueing, and I can segue because I
am a professional media personality. People, I'm gonna segue into

(01:01:13):
potential gifts for mom, yes, you better hurry up, but
also for grads. They're gonna like this next thing we're
gonna talk about. And also dads too. I am a dad.
I got into gaming and computing because of my three sons,
and I remember helping them. At least my middle son,
big gamer, and he always wanted a big, powerful gaming

(01:01:33):
PC every few years. And you know, one of the
things when it comes to gaming PCs, you can build
these things. You can speck them out, and you can
go get the motherboard and the components, and you know,
I know how to do that without a doubt. But
then again, as I got older, I got lazy. I'm like,
you know what, let's just buy one that's pre built,
which is exactly well we're gonna talk about right now.
A big name when it comes to gaming PCs is

(01:01:55):
OROG stands for a Republic of Gamers, kind of a
part to the Asus computers. ROG big name, and you know, listen,
they make phones and a number of other things. But
if you want to spect out just out of this
world big gaming PC. I just saw that they have
a relatively new one, and I wanted to talk about that,
just give everybody some ideas that this is out here.

(01:02:17):
And with that, I go to the source and that
source when I need ROG information is wits and Gordon.
He is the head of content marketing with ROG. Happy
early Mother's Day, witson just kidding.

Speaker 3 (01:02:30):
Oh my gosh. First of all, completely seamless segue, brilliantly done.
You are indeed a professional, So I do exactly. I
guess I kind of screwed up on the Mother's Day thing?

Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
Did you get your mom? Are you getting your mom
an ROG gaming computer?

Speaker 3 (01:02:44):
I'm not, but Mother's Day is set around here. I've
already got my shopping done.

Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
We're good.

Speaker 3 (01:02:48):
Otherwise I would have had a panic attack just now.
So thanks for that. No, but but no matter who
you are getting gift for. Maybe you've got a mom
who's a gamer. You got yeah, like you said, a
grat who needs a computer for college. This is a
great option.

Speaker 2 (01:03:01):
Well let's let's start with this. You heard me in
my opening talk about you know, I have three boys
and they're big in the gaming. But when it comes
to gaming PCs A lot of back in the day,
it's I need something powerful. I mean, I want a
graphics card, I need everything. So I want to spec
this out and I want to build it myself. It's
it's a great parent kid project. What would you say

(01:03:22):
are the advantages of a pre built versus a custom
gaming PC?

Speaker 3 (01:03:28):
Well, look, both options are great, right, Like, I've been
building PC for years, and Asus, i mean made its
name on PC components like motherboards and graphics cards decades
over decades, right Like, that's that's how we became who
we are today. But by the same token, like, we
offer those products if you want to build your own.

(01:03:49):
But that's also what makes us so adept at building
a PC, a pre built PC for you to just
go and buy. Right, Building a PC is fun, but
it's not something that everyone's into. Some people just want
to game, right, they're gamers first. They want to come home,
plug it in and get up and running. They don't
want to put it together themselves, and that's totally fine.

(01:04:10):
Some people want one all inclusive warranty so if something
is a little wonky with the PC, they have one
single place they can go to for support. They don't
have to kind of piece out each individual part, figure
out all of that stuff, totally get all of that.
But really the advantage is you know that we have
pieced this thing, that we built it from the ground up,

(01:04:31):
rigorously tested it, for rock solid stability, reliability.

Speaker 2 (01:04:34):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:04:35):
We tuned all of the fans and the graphics card
and all of that to run perfectly right out of
the box, so you don't have to That's really the
big benefit.

Speaker 2 (01:04:44):
Here's I'm gonna say this, and I'll because I did
it myself later in life when the kids got older.
It's the lazy way to actually get a good gaming
PC instead of having to build it and well, wait
a minute, I forgot to hook this cord up and
this cord up. But it's nice having a solid brand
behind it, you know, something like ro And with that,
we're gonna start leading into this this new I'm gonna
call it a monster. You call it that. It's just

(01:05:05):
a monster of a gaming PC. It's the Rogg seven hundred.
And I'm looking online. I'm looking at the specs of
this thing, and you can speck it out a few
different ways. But oh my goodness, I mean, I never
thought years and years ago, you know, you can get
into the numbers of how many terabides and how many
what I mean it is just fast and super speedy.
What makes this new Rogg seven hundred stand out from

(01:05:26):
other pre built gaming PCs?

Speaker 3 (01:05:28):
Good question. So, I mean everything that I just mentioned, right,
We've got kind of our reputation behind this. We know
how to build a good PC, but really we kind
of started from scratch with this run, right. We took
a much more modern approach to the case design. This
is not a case that we just got off of
one of our shelves. We designed this case from the
ground for this PC. It's got a really modern look

(01:05:51):
with tempered glass on the front and side so you
can see the inside of your PC. That's really nice.
I know a lot of gamers love that. But it's
also still got enough ventilation from the front. It's got
these events on the side that draw air in from
the front and then out the top with our again
a custom water cooler that we built for the CPU
in this machine, got a radiator on the top, so
you get really cool performance, quieter performance because water cooling

(01:06:15):
is so efficient, and it's got just an absolute monster
graphics card in it, depending again on how you spec
it out, but it's using the latest fifty serious cards
from Nvidia with the special rog sauce that we put
on you know, our heat sinks and all that. So
this thing is quiet and performs like you said, a monster.
There's only one way to put it.

Speaker 2 (01:06:33):
Look at the pictures online and by the way, Wits
and Gordon joining me, the head of content marketing for
Republic of Gamers, are og issues the pictures are I'm
going it looks like a disco tech man. I mean
there's ic led lights. I mean it's dumb. This is
not your typical PC thing. I mean, this is a
and I'm gonna I'm gonna use this term. It's a

(01:06:55):
conversation piece and it's a piece of art. Also when
you see it walking in, when sitting on your desk.

Speaker 3 (01:07:00):
Absolutely, we're a long way from the beige boxes of
old you know, twenty thirty years ago. But what's cool
about this? I mean, you know something that is hard
to do justice with this is you can look at
pictures of it online. But once you get it, you
can still customize it yourself. Right, You can change the
colors of all those lights to match whatever the rest
of your setup is, whatever your favorite color scheme is.

(01:07:23):
Like you mentioned, you can speck it out online. You
don't have to build it from scratch, but you can choose. Hey,
these are the kind of the specs that I want
that match my budget and the kind of games that
I play, so you can still really make it yours,
which is cool. You get a lot of that fun
part of PC gaming, even if you don't want to
kind of build it from scratch.

Speaker 2 (01:07:40):
It talked about cooling and the fan system, and I
don't want anybody just to kind of gloss over this
because this is one of, if not the most important
thing of what makes a gaming PC a gaming PC,
because this thing can heat up for long gaming sessions
and you do need some advanced cooling feet. You talked

(01:08:00):
about the fan system, the liquid cooler. Why is that
so important for long game resessions?

Speaker 3 (01:08:05):
Well, look, you know, when you have a gaming PC,
especially you're really specking it out to the nines. The
most powerful components generate heat, right, There's no way around
that particular law of physics, and one of the things
that separates a great gaining PC from a mediocre gaining PC.
You can have two PCs with the exact same you know,
parts of them, the same Nvidia GPU and Intel CPU

(01:08:28):
or a MDCPU, but the cooling can make a big
difference in how it operates day to day and how
it you know, feels and sounds when you're playing it
the right fans in the right places, can mean that
it's quieter, can mean that it keeps that performance stably
for a longer period of time. Right, All of that
stuff does make a difference. So that's why you know,
we kind of put all of our expertise in designing

(01:08:51):
the cooling system to work this way. Whereas you know,
if you're building yourself and it's your first time, you
might not get that completely optimal airflow path and things
like that.

Speaker 2 (01:08:59):
Right, we'll compare gaming systems like this computer, but also
how about the gaming system that we could plug into
the TV, the Xbox and the PlayStation type of things,
and the difference in terms of the actual games, the graphics.
How would you compare that to the layperson.

Speaker 3 (01:09:20):
So then the great thing about PC gaming is that
if you want to kind of fiddle with things right
and kind of make it your own, you can. You
can fiddle with graphic settings on your computer and dial
in that exact balance of performance and graphical fidelity that
you want. Because people's tastes are different. If you want
higher frame rates, you can do that. If you'd rather
look really beautiful like a movie and you're willing to

(01:09:41):
sacrifice a little performance for that, you can. But you know,
the other advantage is that just with a PC, depending
on how you speck it out, you could be way
more powerful than a lot of those consoles. You can
get much better performance with crazy fidelity, super high resolutions,
all of this realistic lighting, that kind of stuff. But
the other thing that a lot of people don't realize

(01:10:04):
is that games are often pound for pound cheaper on PC.
This is one of my favorite things is that because
everything's digital and you have multiple stores competing with each
other on PC, you can get games on sale for
really inexpensive and there are all kinds of free game
giveaways and stuff like that, so you end up amassing
this giant library of games where you could play anything

(01:10:27):
you want, anytime you want, which is one of the
things that I really like about the platform. Is kind
of unique.

Speaker 2 (01:10:32):
I like it. No, you're getting on the inside info
like that, And I know my middle son who's mister
gamer right now, you know going, Hey, guarantee, I'm gonna
hang offs, I'm gonna get a text. Hey can you
get me one of those rogs? I'm like nope, No,
this is what you work for he works now, and
so now he can go, but I will tell him
to get one of these instead of building it, because
it's much easier. His name is whits And Gordon, the

(01:10:55):
head of content marketing with ROG, which is Republic of Gamers.
I know the website. I'm looking at it right now,
r OG dot as USA SEUs dot com. If people
are interested in getting these things, how about are they
in stores? You got a few stores where people can go.

Speaker 3 (01:11:09):
Yes, absolutely, these are going to be a multiple retailers
across to us. I know we've got them at best Buy,
a New Egg. If you have a microcenter near you,
you can drive over there and you can pick one
up in store there as well. We have them for
sale on our site, and you know, check check your
local retailers see what squs are available, because at different
configurations might be available at different stores. You can find

(01:11:30):
that perfect one that matches your budget and your needs.

Speaker 2 (01:11:32):
Yeah, because they starting at fifteen hundred dollars, I mean
I would listen, that's a heck of a deal to
also and nothing because these things can get very very expensive,
and you know you can still spec this one up
pretty ten tense. But that's a great starting point and
it's a great brand. And I do appreciate you always
here every a couple times a year, of you coming
on the show and just giving us the update with
this thing. So I wish you and your family whoever,

(01:11:53):
happy Mother's Day. All the grads out there, take my advice,
take witch AND's advice, and go get a gaming PC.
But I appreciate your time, my man.

Speaker 3 (01:12:00):
Hey, I appreciate you. Thanks, Michael.

Speaker 2 (01:12:01):
All Right, high Tech tex and show people, we will
talk about I got three or four people on hold
right now asking me about some of these Mother's Day
gifts that were showing off on my last TV segment. Yes, people,
there's a hair removal device which I think I'm just
gonna keep for myself and not giving it to my mom.
Seven one three, two one two, five nine five. It
is the long run in high tech text and chift.

(01:12:23):
I'm going thank you too. I'm missed out Whitsony Gordon
from r OG All you PC gamers out there, maybe

(01:12:46):
you've uh you liked that chat that I had with him. Uh,
I don't talk about I'm not the biggest gamer, you know,
I I totally you know, listen, it's my kids. I
had three boys and back in the day man one
of them had the Xbox. When of them at the
Sony place, one head Nintendo, and I would get all
of the games and I would have them on when
they were young, and they would come on the ear

(01:13:06):
and talk about it. They still I think. I know
my middle son, he's a big Nintendo switch, you know.
I think my youngest still has the Xbox. But I
leave that stuff up to them. But I know my
middle son is really big in the PC gaming. And
I was, as I was talking to as you just
heard with the Republic of Gamers, the rog G seven
hundred gaming PC that just came out for fifteen hundred dollars,

(01:13:30):
and it is a piece. It is fast, the graphic
card is just unbelievable. I mean, sometimes it pays off
just just get it instead of building one. Because my
son and I built his, which was a good you know,
it's a nice bonding experience, but I don't know, it's
probably just as fun to play games with him on
that PC rather than building the thing. I mean, I

(01:13:51):
could do it. It's okay, But if you're you're lazy,
if you want to get somebody to get for the graduation. Again,
it's Dad's and grads and Mom's day and all this
stuff coming up. So there you go with that if
you want to final segment over here. And usually at
some point during the show, I talk about what's Michael
driving this week? And we still don't have a SoundBite

(01:14:12):
for that? Do we call um? We need it? What's
my No? No, we need to here? He comes, here
comes Michael gar Field. He's a demon on wheels. What's
Michael driving this week? Because every week I do get
to test drive a car, not from a dealership, directly
from a manufacturer. They do not pay me, sadly, which

(01:14:33):
means I can rag on it, love on it, tell
you the good, the bad, the things to stay away from.
This week, Michael was driving in a new twenty twenty
five super Ru Forester Hybrid super super Ru. I hear
the word super Ru. It to me, it's the official
car of Idaho, maybe Montana, maybe Colorado. You go, I

(01:14:57):
mean it's There's I'm never actually Idaho, have I but
I just know so many people who live out there.
They love their super Roots because it's not pretentious, it's
not ostentatious. It gets you there from a to z
wherever you want to drive. It could go, you know,
if it gets snowy, if it gets hilly, if it

(01:15:18):
gets a little rocky. These superos are strong man. The
Forester we're gonna call this a We're gonna call it
an suv, a very small suv, maybe a Cuvia compact
utility vehicle. But it's hot. This particular one. It's the
Forester Premium Hybrid, five passengers, so it's got four doors,

(01:15:38):
it's got the hatchback. I was able to fit a
lot of stuff in that hatchback. Certainly when you fold
down that second row. It easy to steer, easy to drive.
One hundred and ninety four horse power. It's good because
it's not a heavy car. It's a relatively like carts.
So one hundred and ninety four horse power is gonna
get you where you're gonna go. What I found is

(01:16:00):
got very good gas milage fuel economy thirty five in
the city, thirty four in the highway, so we got
about thirty five miles combined. It's also hybrid too, which
kind of regenerates the breaking too, so it's got forty
percent better fuel economy than non hybrids. In this same model,
so I like it a lot. Inside twelve inch full

(01:16:24):
instrument cluster, digital cluster. That's when you look through this
steering will, you could see the odometer, the speed dometer.
You can configure it however you want. It's got the
eleven and a half inch touchscreens, got good navinations, not
the best SUPERU doesn't have, not my favorite infotainment multimedia center.
It does its job it certainly. It's got Bluetooth, it's

(01:16:44):
got Apple CarPlay, Android auDA, the whole stuff. It's just
I don't know. The graphics are just maybe a little
bit more rudimentary or just non defined sexiness than a
lot of the other infotaments that I've seen. Absolutely certainly
capable with whatsoever. It's available. Just came out spring of
this year. It's got some really nice standard features, the

(01:17:06):
typical auto start and stop, and the auto powered door locks,
and the dual automatic climate control, rear seat reminder. I
can go on and on. I don't want to sit
here and read the MONRONI here for you, but the
EV drive mode. Hit a button and you're set to go.
I was. I took this thing from Houston to Austin

(01:17:28):
and back, and I didn't have to put gas in
it until I was back, and that's that's pretty good.
That's pretty good. The other thing as we wind up
the price Listen, no one is locking down a price,
especially because the uncertain that we have in the market,
whether it's tariffs or whatsoever. But the Forester Premium Hybrid,

(01:17:51):
as I drew as I drove it, everything packed on there,
including the destination delivery, right about thirty six thousand dollars.
That is not bad car as I toss drive on
the weekly basis that I've done for fifteen years. I mean,
I was in one that was one hundred and twenty
five thousand dollars a few weeks ago. Yes, it was
a range Rover. But I get some expensive cars. It's

(01:18:11):
tough to find a vehicle that is under forty thousand
without a doubt, certainly underd fifty thousands a but for
thirty six thousand dollars strong. Absolutely if you're looking for
a car, which you know, if you got kids and
you slap them around them with the soccer gear or
the ballerina gear, and you know, hatchback and you want

(01:18:31):
to go a little it's a little off roading. Super
U has always been strong, and I do like it.
It's the twenty twenty five SUPERU Forster Premium Hybrid. I'm
not going to tell you a dealership because I don't
even know where a superwo dealership is. Just to prove
the fact that I'm not selling these things. I wish
I was sponsored by Superode, but I'm not. So absolutely
like a sixteen point six gallon fuel tank, so you're

(01:18:52):
gonna get about five hundred and eighty one mile range. Woo,
that's far. That's like halfway across Texas or something, depending
on how you slice it. With that, you're going to
start winding this down. I do think are good friends
at Cowbo Bob's the greatest chips to statle chips in
the world. Happy Cinco de Mayo to those folks. For
locations in Houston also United States Coins and Jewelry, which

(01:19:15):
actually we call Uscnjay Last Minute. If you are in
Houston and it is Saturday, you're listening to this. They
are open today, the day before Mother's Day. They have
watches and rolexes and jewelry and a lot of great things.
If you're a coin collector, this is the place to
go because you're ready to expand it with another new building.
It's on My Boss Exit right on Katie Freelik Katie

(01:19:38):
just outside of Youth sixteen. Tell Michael Garfield, Garfield, Garfield.
There's a number of Michael's attempt for him and the
film Garfield Hold you get in there. Thanks also to
Total Wireless and everybody else who've been a part of
this show. Happy Mother's Day, and for my mom, Susan Garfield,
who may be listening live or on podcast after we

(01:20:01):
put it up. Thank you very much, Callum Happy Mothers
two years once you do year round. Thank you moms
for cooking it, for doing the thing with Alchi. I
appreciate everybody being a part of the show. My name
is Michael Garfielder. Right now, my show is over.