Happy New Year!

• How to part ways with unwanted Christmas gifts
• My best and worst products of 2023
• What to look out for in tech and cars in 2024

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Tex Is Michael Garfild Michael Garfield.Michael Garfield's joining in the high Tech Texan.
Michael Garfield is here with a highTech Texans items to make life easier,
some new technology. So Michael Garfieldhas something you might want. Michael

(00:25):
Garfield is your high tech Texan,three decades helping you make magic with your
gadgets. I heard worldwide on theiHeartRadio add now your high tech Texan,
Michael Garfield. This is it people. You have waited all year for the

(00:46):
new year to turn and come.We are just hours away. This is
the final high Tech Texan show oftwenty twenty three. I don't know unless
my boss will say, you knowwhat, on New Year's Eve, we
may need to do a special ad. Sorry people, because I'm up to
New Orleans baby, because it issugar Bowl time from my Texas Longhorns.
Maybe we will ring in twenty twentyfour in the correct way. In the

(01:10):
meantime, Happy New Year, howards, your Christmas. We've got a full
two hour show. Should you belistening on KPRC nine fifty am in and
around Houston and Southeast Texas. Wethank you. I guess if you think
about it, well, actually Ihave thought about it. As the calendar
turns in, as we do theshow another thirty six hours or so,

(01:32):
we will start the twenty first year, twenty second year of the high tech
textan show. Dang people, Iam old, but do I sound like
it? Nope? Nope. Stillgot a little pep of my step and
I do think all the iced tyfor that. You may be on vacation,
you may be in this mountains,you may be on a beach earning

(01:52):
twenty percent. Wherever you are,thank you for downloading the iHeartRadio app.
You could take us wherever you aremost everywhere around the world. World.
We've got the phone number still working, and we're gonna be trying to do
a little interactive, nice little showfor you here because it is the post
Christmas show, which means you gotsomething for Chris, nah, and you
really weren't happy with it? Wereyou? You want to trade it in?

(02:14):
How do you get rid of?What do you do if you don't
like a gift? Hopefully you didsay thank you to whoever you gave it
to. Maybe you like the category. Maybe you've got a headphone, maybe
you've got a TV, maybe you'vegot something but maybe that wasn't the brand
you wanted. Well, this iswhat I do. I actually can talk
to you off the ledge and youtell me what you got. You could

(02:35):
say, hey, listen, isthe beats by dre earbuds generally about ninety
nine dollars in a bright red Isthis something I want? Are they active
in oil? Was counseling? MaybeI need something else, Michael. This
is where you come in phone numberseven one three two one two five,
nine to five. Oh, don'tbe shy, people, you have nothing

(02:57):
else to do. I know you'reyour blood. You're veins right now are
flowing with either a alcohol or Bcheese, and congratulations that they're flowing with
both because you probably don't even knowwhat day it is right now. This
is the weirdest week generally it isthroughout the year, especially because Christmas,
New Year's that they're coming to Cayman. They're coming on Mondays. You probably

(03:17):
got the whole week off. AndI posted on my Facebook last Wednesday a
few days ago. Obviously I'm ajoker, I have some fun and I
put public service announcement. Today isWednesday. You're welcome. That probably could
have been my most liked Facebook postof the entire year. People were laughing,
but it's true. You did notknow what day it was this past

(03:42):
week. Because you were traveling,you probably didn't go to work. And
just because the way that the holidayfalls. Either way, we are doing
this on Saturday, and as thecalendar turns on Monday nights, sadly we
have to go to work again.Maybe in a day or two. In
the meantime, Yes, sah,we'd love to hear from you. How
do you? I will tell youthis interactive people, I got a question

(04:03):
for you. What's your best andworst anything this year? Now? Yes,
it's called the High Tech Texan Show. Yes, twenty plus years ago.
I started out talking about computers,laptops that were incredibly expensive, incredibly
big. Nowadays they're small. Nowadays, they're like, uh, who cares,

(04:25):
doesn't matter what actually what kind ofcomputer I have because there's so many
Windows operating basis and maybe there's aChromebook maybe not. But what was your
best your worst of anything this year? Technology? Cars, food, drink,
travel spot, your favorite kid.I'd love to hear from you at

(04:46):
it. For some reason, youare too shot at all. You could
hit me up on some of mysocial media accounts, which is high tech
texting Hi g h T e hT e x A N. We'll start
with this though, how do youhow do you get rid of unwanted Christmas
gifts? There are several things thatyou could do, and let me count
them down in no particular order.But there was a survey. Who did

(05:10):
this survey? It was or someretail website called we thrift. There was
a survey that was revealed that sixtytwo percent of adults received at least one
unwanted gift at Christmas time. There'salso a survey in the Garfield Househole that
at least one adult did not receiveone gift at Christmas time. I'm not

(05:32):
huh, I'm looking in the mirror, but that's okay. Don't worry about
me. I'm here for I amhere for your enjoyment and entertainment. You
don't need to get me anything.So it doesn't matter if it's if it's
it's a cocktail, it's an alcohol, it's it's jewelry. You may not
what do you do with it?If you dealt well? Number one,
the best thing you could do withyour unwanted gifts, in my opinion,

(05:54):
is to donate them to a goodcause, I mean charity shop donations you
could apply for I don't know,maybe it could be a tax write off.
Maybe it's a tax relief. Charityshops, children's hospitals, bookstore,
schools, libraries, donate if youdon't want it, and then they're selling.
Now these days, you have alot of options, more than just

(06:15):
eBay back in the day. Ifyou want to sell your unwanted gifts online,
there's a ton of different websites here. There's Facebook Marketplace, which actually
has worked for me if I wantedto sell a few things. If you
decide to sell your unwanted Christmas presents, yeah, maybe some of these platforms.
It's important that your item description isas detailed as possible, be clear
about the condition of the items.If you're dealing with clothes, put the

(06:39):
right measurements, photos, photos,photos, take photos. You can put
almost as many photos as you asyou want. The more information you give
about your product, the more likelyit's going to sell. You can also
recycle, you can you know,maybe do your built and help save the
planet with your unwanted gifts. Alot of retailers they have programs where they'll

(06:59):
buy back your own want to close, maybe your unwanted shoes. Maybe you
want to recycle your electronics, yourgames, your CDs. Then there's the
wonderful tradition of regifting. There's anotherone. If you think the present would
be better suited for someone else,probably should have no shame in regifting an
item to a friend or maybe arelative or equaintance. It's gonna give it
a little better home, kind oflike the Island of misfit toys. Weird

(07:23):
on the island of miss fit toys. How about a water one it skirts
jolly or a cowboy that rides anostrich listen. Regifting guarantees that the gift
is not going to go to waste. Try that. Just rewrap the present,
put it in new wrapping paper,cute gift back. Make sure you

(07:45):
take the go in the bag,and make sure that there's no card that
says hey, hey, happy holidays, Michael. Yeah, you really don't
want to regift that, just soyou better hope that that person's name is
Michael too. There's returning and there'sexchanging, and this would how many have
you spent this past week returning orexchanging? I mean, as an age
old tradition. I think the ThreeWise Men they wanted to return there their

(08:07):
mrror. They try to go toWalmart on the twenty six, I think
it was closed. Listen, it'sreally smart and it's probably almost necessary.
You have to have a proof ofpurchase. This is different from years back.
Years back, you could go intoso many stores and just say,
hey, this was a gift.Can I get store credit? I mean
probably not cash, but I'm filewith store credit. Ooh no, no,

(08:28):
no no. Nowadays you got tohave a gift receipt. A proof
of purchase sucks. But there aresome rulers who retailers you don't do that.
Hopefully you can find one of those. And also one more before we
take a break. You can repurpose, hold on to the present, turn
into something news for yourself. Youknow, if it's I don't know,
maybe it's a set of towels orsomething. You know, maybe you can

(08:48):
use them to wipe up, todry your car off, or something.
Number of things that you could do. But listen, if you were lucky
enough to get a gift from someonewho loves you or cares about you,
good for you. That's really account. It's the that keeps on giving year
round. Clark. All right,when we come back, we will get
into a number of things, includinghow about the technology Fight of the year.
We're gonna do the end of theyear stuff, the technology Fight of

(09:11):
the year, how about the techpromotion of the year. I saw something
that is gonna come in very handythis coming New Year's eve. I love
this idea. There's a business storyof the year, and I will reveal
my tech product of the year alongwith some of my favorite cars of the
year. Because that's what I do. I test things so you don't have
to buy them until you get mythoughts. Michael Garfield, that's the name.

(09:33):
This is the High Tech Text andShow. Happy New Year, Happy
holiday, into the year, bestof, worst of waiting for your phone
calls. Here's seven one three twoone two five nine five zero, big
booming voice. Just told you myname. It is Michael Garfield. This

(09:54):
is called the High Tech textan Show. Calum reid Man, am I looking
at you across the window here?Hey listen, Boddy, appreciate everything you
do year round. How long wework together? We got we got three
four years. How long you've beenhere? You pretty much run this station
KPRC. Don't you you run allof our am stations. You're the program
manager. Really, could you putin a a media credential request for the

(10:16):
Natty coming up here in Houston inabout a week, especially if my Longhorns
make it. Thank you for allyou do year round, buddy, he
answers the phones. If you wantto get in and ask me question,
tell me your best or worst.You could try to get in if Callum,
if you I don't know, youmay be just kind of maybe you
have a hangover and you don't wantto pick up the phone, but go
ahead and give them a try.Seven to one three two one two five

(10:37):
nine five zero. Number hasn't changedin well over two decades that we have
done this show. Hey, speakingof hangovers, Callum, you're gonna love
this story. This is this ismy technology promotion of the year, and
it took almost to the last dayof the year. It's it's from Burger
King. When is the last timeanybody's been to Burger King. I used

(10:58):
to love King, like when Iwas. I mean, I'm going to
go back while I was thirteen,fourteen, fifteen, I back. You
know, this is before Hamburgers workoh they were hamburgers. I mean these
were fast food. The double cheeseburger, not the whopper, but the double
cheeseburger at Burger king Man that wasthe It still may be great. I
don't need it. I can't.I can't tell you the last time I've

(11:18):
been the Burger King. But ifI was in Brazil over the next few
days, I actually may want togo. I would have probably walked into
a Burger King and tried this,folks. The technology promotion of the year.
And it's a promotion and it worked. It got an idiot like me
to give it, probably give BurgerKing two or three minutes worth of airtime
here in Brazil, the Brazilian partpart of Burger Gig. They just announced

(11:43):
a surveillance technology marketing stunt and it'sa stunt. It's this week. It's
called you in for This. Ilove this. It's called the it's called
the Hangover Whopper, the Hangover Whopper, and it celebrates this week, which
is between Christmas and New Year's withfacial recognition. Now, if you think
this is scary, hold on,this is what you have to do.

(12:05):
You walk into a Burger King andall you have to do is hold your
bleary eyed gaze up to a camera. Burger King says, it's face scanning
software. We'll judge how hungover youlook, and they will give you a
goopod for a whopper. Welcome tothe future. People that you thought this

(12:28):
was nightmarish technology, Now it's acute little promotional tool. I love it.
Ever ever at the end of there, every year, man, this
is hangover week. It kicks inwalk in, but it's facial recognition.
I have no clue, but theygo facial rection. I don't know.
Maybe you don't shait guys, Maybeyou don't shave for two or three days.

(12:48):
You your hair's messed up. Atechnology is going to scan your hangover
level and offer a discount. Youknow how. It runs through January.
Second, Brazil. If you're listeningonline, if you are listening to your
favorite alto techna Trano, I takeTexan. Do they speak Spanish and Brazil?

(13:09):
I don't even know. I apologizefor that. If you're listening in
Brazil and you've tried this, you'vegot somebody Scott to give me a report.
How many of you have woken upin a post Christmas haze after one
too many glasses of a little veno. I mean, I'd be pissed if
I walk I'd be pissed if Iwalk into Burger King, whether I was

(13:30):
drunk or not. And I'm readyfor a coupon. Oh boy, by
the way, the coupon. It'ssixty two cents off in American dollars.
How much is a double whopper?Jr? Kid? Someone, here's what
they should do, little lislie cutepromotion. I'm a marketing guy. I'm
gonna massage this number one depending onyour level of hung overness. And I

(13:54):
just gave up with that word.Maybe you a breathalyzer test. Maybe the
the higher you blow that breathalyze yourtest, the more discount you get.
What's what's the uh the breathalyze?What's what's the max? You can drive?
Here? A point eight point one? I don't even know. Don't
try drunk, don't even try it. The more you blow you get it,

(14:15):
you get a free whopper? Allright? See, maybe you blow
like a point oh one, maybea point five? Yeah, okay,
there's your sixty two cents off.How mad would I be? Where I
really am hungover? It's like Iwas on a binge a last night with
some good brown water, and Iwalk into Burger Gane. I'm expecting a
coupon and this technology doesn't work.It's like, man, Garf, you

(14:37):
are totally sober man. I wouldjust I do nuts. People ask me
why I covered this industry. Idon't. I really don't do gardening,
and I did. I don't doa lot of No. No, I
do technology, among many other things. Oh, by the way, here's
the thing about facial recognition. Thisis my little asterisk. It doesn't work
that well. It's a It doesa passable job. It is not one

(15:01):
hundred percent accurate with faces of certainpeople, certain of different backgrounds, of
different colors, of races, orno. It's really useless when it looks
when it's trying to measure your emotionsor your political affiliations, or finding you

(15:22):
a date. It is probably nogood for detecting hangovers. Congratulations, Burger
King. I've now given you threeand a half four minutes of the high
tech texting Show. What else wegot? Seven? One, three,
two, one five. I doactually like this. Did anybody get an
Apple Watch? The new Apple Watch? Nine? I'm trying to eat.
If you haven't heard the news.I updated you this last week. Apple

(15:45):
watched the latest version of the AppleWatch nine. It was banned through a
lawsuit with the International Trade Commission.This was the latest one because there's a
technology on the Apple Watch series nineof the blood oxygen measurements that a company
who actually came up with that didn'tgive Apple, or Apple didn't pay them

(16:07):
enough money. And I'm really tryingto break this thing down. They stopped
sales I think December twenty fourth,and this was known for about two weeks,
so there was a rush. Ohmy goodness, before they stopped selling
and pull it off the shelves.We've got to go buy one of these
things. Well, guess what itis back on sale. There was a
temporary court ruling. It's now givingthe International Trade Commission until January tenth to

(16:33):
respond to Apple's motion for a longerterm pause in the ban. While all
this is appealing, give me abreak, man. This could have been
the best promotion of the year.Apple biggest company in the world. They
saying listen, we're going to stopselling our product on midnight and December twenty
fourth, which I really think itdid. I think that was the we

(16:53):
gotta rush, we gotta get thisthing. We get this thing, then
all of a sudden, we're gonnagive it another few more weeks. Don't
laugh. Does Apple need more businessfrom its watch business? Well as a
business, yes. You know howmuch Apple business generates from the watch side

(17:15):
of the company, About seventeen billiondollars a year. That's, according to
Bloomberg, seventeen billion just for thewatches man who actually, okay, who
got watches, who got fitness watches, who got any type of watches.
As you know, if you longterm listener, I'm not an Apple guy.
I'm not gonna say I'm not anApple fan. I do not have

(17:37):
one product that's Apple. I'm anAndroid guy. I'm a Windows guy because
the majority of the world uses thoseus, those operating systems, and I
do want to talk to the majorityof my people out there. However,
when other fellow non Apple people findeach other, it's like the world unite.
I am at a store two nightsago and I'm returning something shocking and

(17:59):
I did not have a receipt andit worked and I got my I got
credit in the store, and therewas this girl. I don't know how
she wish. She was probably youngto mid twenties, and we were waiting
for a manager to come over topunching some code or something like that.
And I'm wearing my Samsung Watch.I have a Samsung Watch six Classic.
I've had love Samsung watches. Theywork very well. She has the exact

(18:21):
same watch. I'm the exact samecolor, the exact same model. She
gets so excited because you don't seea ton of these things in the wild.
And she holds up her watch.She goes, hey, look at
you, and I'm like, whatare you talking about? And she goes
to watch. I'm like and Iactually was shocked because I don't see a
lot of them, Like, hey, pretty cool. We're holding We're holding
up our watches together like we're thefreaking Wonder twins like form of a mountain,

(18:44):
shape of an icicle, Wonder TwinBower Activate. We both got Samsung
watches. If you got to watch, talk to me here as we take
a break. Seven one three,two one two five nine five. Oh,
do you want to switch it?Do you want to switch it?
Do you want to go from Appleto Android? Do you want to go
from Andred? There's a fit bitthing there's the garment. Garment makes great

(19:06):
ones. If you're a runner,some have worked better for you. You
tell me what you got, I'lltell you. If it's good, I'll
give you the thumbs up. Oryou know what, you maybe want to
consider this one seven one three fiveoh. It's the bottom of the hour,
hour number one. Halfway through thefirst hour of the last show of
twenty twenty three. Michael Darkfield highTech textan shizette going through the best in

(19:29):
the worst of pretty much anything thatyou want here on the year end wrap
up of the High Tech Textan show. A happy twenty twenty three being over
a good year, bad year foryou people? This was let's say,
how about did you do? God? Do you rank years? Was it
a happy year? Was it asad year? Was it a prosperous year
financially? Was it a crap year? Financially? Did something big happen?

(19:52):
You got married, you got engaged, you had a kid, you had
grand kids, you travel someplace thatyou wanted to go. Talk to me
here with love to hear Yes.Seven one three, two, one two,
five nine five oh. Doesn't haveto be technology whatsoever. This is
how this show works. Your favoritetech. Your favorite car would you drive?
And actually, I'm going to ranksome of my favorite, if not
the favorite cars that I've driven.One of the things that I do,

(20:12):
should you listen. I am amember of the Texas Auto Writers Association for
many, many, many years.I get to drive brand new cars directly
from the manufacturer. I don't dealwith dealerships. There's like, I don't
recommend dealerships. I'm not These aren'tpaid. I just get to drive a
car from pickup trucks to evs,to SUV's, tow cuvs to sports cars

(20:33):
to all the stuff, the good, the bad, the nasty, the
slow stuff, the fast stuff,the sexy stuff, and the big gas
hog stuff. I would give yousome of my favorites in each of these
categories. If you have some loveto hear from you. What are your
favorite travel spots? What are yourfavorite drinks? Your food? What's the
favorite restaurant? Best restaurants that you'vebeen to? Doesn't have to be in
the Houston area, could be aroundTexas, Dallas, Austin, anywhere in

(20:56):
the world. Who's your favorite kid? I've got three. All depends what
day of the week, what they'vedone, or what they haven't done to
me. You know, you're allowedto re rank everything, including your kids.
I really think they're and I cando it all I want to,
because my kids don't listen to myshow. My kids are smarter than I.
Then. One of my favorite thingsis I've learned to drink rum more.

(21:21):
And that's just because I've found avery good rum. If you listen
to the show. I've been talkingabout it a lot. It's called Papa's
PLR p A p A Papa asin Papa Ernest Hemmingway, which is actually
his the Hemmingweight. That's his family. This is their rum made in Key
West. It's called Papa's PLR keyI l A R. I did visit
a number of different bars, restaurants, and liquor stores this past week.

(21:47):
Is what else is there to do? And they are all over the shelf.
This is not just your Hey,let's just take a shot a rum.
I probably wouldn't recommend this rum ofputting some cocaine there. This is
really I'm not going to call ithigh end, but it's certainly higher end
and phenomenal. Big you know whatit is? Higher end. They've got
a blonde rum. It's not awhite run. It's called a blonde rum

(22:08):
that's actually good sipping. Then they'vegot a sherry cask this oak oh phenomenal,
great price. I was at whereasthat they serve it at Capitol Grill.
Shout out to Steve jos j oees T. I think just Steve,
your parents are in town. Ifthey're listening right now, a happy
New Year to them. They're atwest On West Timber near the Gallery in

(22:29):
Houston. Walk in and ask forsome Papa's PLR rum. I think I
actually put a bottle in my winelocker, which is not wine, but Papa's
PLR rum. It's a great giftfor New Year's if you're going to somebody's
house to watch the Horns game orsomething today Saturday, if you're listening live
pretty much the last day of theyear, you could go get liquor,

(22:49):
which, by the way, here'sa public service announcement. Because we're in
Texas, you cannot go liquor storesare closed on Sunday, which we could
talk about at another day and time. Because that blue law is never going
to change. You better get ittoday because they're also not over to Monday.
Because it's January first, So yougot two days of being shut down.
This is the bad thing about NewYear's and even Christmas falling on Mondays.

(23:14):
It's two days of them being closed. What are you gonna do?
Actually, your car dealerships they alsoclose on Sundays. Now they also get
a mondayut. Maybe I should havebeen in the car business because nothing stops
media. I am still here eventhough it is a holiday weekend. So
papas pla rum. Actually go checkthat out. The wrap up of things
happening around the world. How aboutthis so the biggest technology fight of the

(23:38):
year, because there's always fights.I just talked about how the Apple Watched
nine was getting sued by a company, and then the government is stepping it.
I think the biggest fight that wesaw, and it may never be
resolved. It comes down to Appleand Android, but specifically Apples. I

(24:00):
message, now, we're gonna smilethis thing because I'm gonna raise my hand
and I'm gonna say people, I'ma green bubbler, I'm a green bubble
baby. I'm Android guy. Okay, I'm proud of it. I really
don't care. I don't care.But there was a number of things this
year that pointed to the fact thatwill iPhone and Android ever come together to

(24:22):
bring texting and chatting as simple asone I think there's good news and bad
news. Apple is probably never goingto bring eye message to Android, but
it may not actually need to listen. I No one can speak in absolute
terms of Apple's plans in the future. Apple may not even know. Everything's

(24:45):
a rumor. But what Apple hasdone over the years, their products,
their strategy, their attention to privacy, and the fact that I think I
Message is probably one of the bigreasons that some Android owners say screw it,
I'm dumping Android and I'm switching tothe iPhone. I think the chances
of Apple expanding I Message to itsmain competitor are slim to numb. Now

(25:11):
there is some hope of some sortof a white flag truce when it comes
to a few things, one ofwhich is next year will in the next
day and a half, it's goingto be this year. In twenty twenty
four, Apple has confirmed that it'sgoing to support something called Rich Communication Standard
for Texting RCS Rich Communication Standard,and that means some of the biggest issues

(25:33):
with cross platform texting or they're goingto improve. So number one inches the
videos. Is anybody ever texted Idon't know. There's a lot of people
who have iPhones out there. Ifsomeone on an Android text an iPhone or
a video, does it seem grainyand small? It does. On the
way back. A lot of people, including my kids, they text me

(25:56):
their little iPhone videos to my Android. It's like, what is it?
I can I hardly see it.That's going to go away. This rich
communication standard that means the videos willnot be distorted. I like that a
lot. There was an app thatcame out less than a month ago that
I talked about here. It's calledDeeper Mani NI. Well, there's a

(26:18):
deeper app, but there's a DeeperMANI little different version of it. It
was a workaround that you could installon your Android phones to make it seem
like you actually have an iPhone withmy message and begin getting blue tech blue
bubbles or whatever you do. Backand forth, Apple cracked down on it.
Apple said nope, and they wentback and forth and they changed everything.

(26:40):
It was going to take these thingsto me showed this inbred fighting.
Is it the war in the MiddleEast, which obviously is that that's probably
the worst news of the year horriblestill going on? So am I bitching
or gry? Think about? No? You know we can't text between an

(27:02):
iPhone and Android. No, andthis scheme of things is not a big
deal. But again, this isthe stuff that I cover. It's an
understatement to say chatting with an Androiduser through the iPhone's default messaging app it's
kind of a bad experience. Iget crap all the time. I am.
You know, I have a nineperson eight I think it's an eight
person chat group for my high schoolbuddies. I'm the only Android you know

(27:25):
here. It comes once every monthor so. Hey, gorf man,
you're screwing up everything. I'm tryingto send a video to you guys,
and it's not working. I mean, it's just it's it's it's like the
scarlet letter. We should actually callthe scarlet color of green with these bubbles.
It's twenty twenty three. These featuresshould be universal. Rather, the

(27:48):
position is platform specific, don't youthink? So? What could you do?
Well? You could turn to thirdparty chat apps. You can go
to What's App, you can goto Google Chat, you go to Facebook.
We have chats. But I message, which I've really never used,
is supposed to be phenomenal. Applehas. They've opened up their little walled

(28:11):
garden in recent years. It actuallybrought FaceTime to Android with iOS fifteen.
So let's go back about three yearsago. Almost you could get FaceTime to
Android, which allows non iPhone usersto join a video call. But yet
the iphoners have to send that personon Android a link, the shared link.

(28:33):
But apparently as I read it's whattwelve years ago, that's when I
Message was launched. It's more thana messaging can app. It's like a
miniature operating system because I think youcould send cash to other iPhone users.
Right, there's location sharing tools,there's a number of other things. I
mean, they do give iPhone personality, they give it some flare. So

(28:56):
if I was Apple, why shouldApple bring that to Android rcs. I'm
looking forward to that. Don't knowwhen it's gonna happen at twenty twenty four,
but for all you Android users,it's going to be a little user
to communicate with you iphoners. Thereyou go. I'll tell you what.
That's my tech fight of the year, something that we're going to keep our
finger on. The pulse on astwenty twenty four comes around final break for

(29:18):
this hour, don't go anywhere.I'd love to talk to you. I
do see some people holding on calls. Apparently some people do do have some
questions over Hey, they got agift, Should I return it? Or
is there a better product like this? In the category. A lot of
people are getting headphones and earbuds,thinking do I want a headphone? Do
I switch it to any earbud activenoise canceling vice versa. Let's see if
we could take care of that whenwe come back after the break. About

(29:40):
ten more minutes to go until thetop of the hour. Tell you what,
people just to count down a waynot close to very close to twenty
twenty four. I do thank youfor tuning in this year and every year
since. We have been doing thisfor well over two decades here on kp
RC nine fifty a M thank youso much. If you're on hold and
stand by, Do have some stuffI want to get through before I maybe

(30:02):
pick up Callum's what's the temperature ofthe colors? Are they nice? They're
being sweet? Are they oh?They are so okay? What questions do
they have returning gifts? Act?A lot of them want to know about
active noise canceling on your ear budsact a n C active noise canceling the
uh if you really want to wearfind something for your to listen to music

(30:22):
but also cancel out crying babies onairplanes or whatever. Yes, you want
something with a n C active noisecanceling and if you really want to make
sure that it works, I wouldget the over the ear headphones versus the
ear buds. The ear buds theydo have active noise canceling. They drain

(30:42):
a little bit more of the batterythat obviously have to charge you a little
bit more. But you know,to really drown out something, you want
something it's fully over your ears,kind of like we have here in radio
studios, as we call them cans. That's the name of these big in
ear studio. It's tough to actuallyhave, and I think it's almost impossible.

(31:04):
Well it's not impossible, you cando it. I would love to
have right now in the studio.I've got headphones on the cover my ears,
not that they need to because Iactually have I can use wired earbuds
using a Bluetooth earbud in studio andI tried this. Man I tried this

(31:25):
ten twelve to fifteen years ago,Bluetooth was coming out. I'm like,
oh, this is cool. Ican use these as my monitor. And
the reason we wear headphones here instudio, it's because I can hear Callum
here on the other side. Ifhe wants to talk to me, I
have to get it. And Pluswhen I pick up the phone calls.
Should I pick up a phone call, I have to hear you. And

(31:48):
if I didn't have a headphone andI picked up a phone call, there
would be a reverberation. You wouldhear yourself back and forth and back and
forth, and you can't do that. So that's why we wear headphones over
here. Bluetoth doesn't work because Bluetoothis generally a delay. It's a very
very short delay. And so thefirst time I try to wear a Bluetooth
and it's funny because we have toplug our studios. You know, it's

(32:13):
still old school. We have toplug these things in. We've got these
you know, three quarterjack or exlR plugs or whatever. So I had
to find a Bluetooth device that wouldnumber one have a separate receiver and transmitter,
so we'd plug the transmitter here intothe console at the radio underneath,
you know, in our radio studiohere at radio booth, that would transmit

(32:35):
it to my Bluetooth ears. Butthere was like a half a second delay.
Do you know how frustrating it isto hear yourself a half a second
delay, to hear colors half asecond delay. It's very tough. So
the point is, we wear wiredheadphones for the most part, and I
use them over the years, sonobody else can hear anything that's going on.
So if you do want to haveactive noise canceling that really really work,

(32:59):
gets something that's over the ear.Beats by Dre Sony makes a good
one. You don't even have tohave a name brand. Some company sent
me some. Again, if I'mwearing on a plane, these are good
for Bluetooth. I'm not not recommendingBluetooth. I'm only saying Bluetooth really doesn't
work if you're hosting a radio show, Bluetooth headphones are great. Make sure

(33:19):
that they, you know, havea decent enough battery, so you maybe
want to look for review. Youcan also can call me and run the
name or the brand by me.I've got several of them over here,
but the active noise canceling they dodrain a little bit of batteries and so
if that is important to you,return what you got and go get some
with a n C. Those aregoing to be a little bit more costly,
but that's what's out there too.When you were delivered or when your

(33:44):
parents or whoever, if you're deliveringsomething and Ups or Amazon FedEx, whoever
it is, left it on yourporch, how confident do you feel that
that package is not going to bestolen? Because we talk about porch pirates
all the time. Porch pirates,this is this is these are bad,
bad navarious people. They will stealpackages that are sitting on your front door

(34:07):
and you'll never see them again.Yes, we have these new ring video
cameras that will help do it,but it's a it's a multi multi million
dollar, you know, sad opportunitythat we're losing a lot of packages.
I say this is because there isnow a new theft for us to worry

(34:28):
about, similar or a kin toporch pirates. Are you ready for this?
And this is especially in Texas.If you have a pickup truck with
an open cargo bed, people,there's it is cargo. It's cargo theft.

(34:49):
Has this ever happened to you?There are listen my job. One
of my jobs is I test drivecars and trucks. There are more trucks
one about every six trucks in theUnited States, I believe. I think
that's the status sold in the stateof Texas. Of our trucks. We
have pickup trucks and a lot ofit. Yes you can, you can
get covers, but a lot ofthem have open. Has anything ever been
stolen out of your pickup truck?I could see hands being raised everywhere across

(35:10):
the listening audience. Call me ifyou've if something's ever been stolen out of
your pickup truck? Seven one,three, all right, Well guess what.
There's a new method to prevent cargotheft. Ford has worked with security
company A d T and they haveinvested in something called the Canopy pickup Cam.

(35:35):
Folks, this may be the lastminute, late holiday gift for you.
Canopy pickup Cams a device that hastwo main parts. One it's a
high def camera and it mounts toyour rear window and it keeps watch over
your truck bed. And there's ahub unit that tucks under the rear seat
to power it up. Very simpleto use, right out of the box.

(36:01):
And the camera uses a combination ofget this artificial intelligence, radar,
accelerometers and cameras to monitor and recordrecord anything sneaky deep going on, like
someone reaching into your truck to stealtools or something. If it happens,

(36:21):
it sends you an alert through anapp on your smartphone. But it doesn't
bug you if people are walking rightoutside of your truck, next door next
to it, maybe if you're ina parking lot. See that's the magic
of artificial television or AI in itself. Now, the hub powers up and

(36:42):
it keeps itself charged through your car, your pickup trucks OBD two port and
that's the little port that's under yourEvery vehicle has it. It's underneath your
steering wheels, or it's underneath thedashboard. You pair it up your smartphone.
It sends alerts and footage to youover in a cloud. So if
you've got your car broken into,especially if you have pickup trucks, what

(37:02):
do you do. Hey, I'mgonna park something, I'm gonna have to
schlep all, I'm gonna have totake my golf clubs out, I'm gonna
have to put them in the backseat and lock it up. I still
might be would would do it,But the fact is, maybe you get
a little sense of peace with thisCA Cannoby pickup cam. It's two hundred
ninety nine dollars and then there's afifteen dollars a month subscription. Cargo theft

(37:27):
is relatively common. I've seen somestats over here that unlessen the more places
that you have pickup trucks, Likeyou're Texans, You're your stories like this.
It's like a dash cam too.Who has dash cam? Dash cams
are very popular. I get alot of people, Michael, to use
a dash can. Well, Imean I switched cars every week. I'm
test driving one, so I don'tuse a dash cam. But these are

(37:51):
little cameras. I mean, youcan get these things for fifty seventy five,
maybe one hundred and fifty dollars,depending on what how you want to
use them. You put them inand maybe your front window, and it
records everything as you're driving, andsome of them have a two way wood.
Not only does it record as you'redriving, it records what's going on
inside the cabin. You see alot of these in ubers too. I
mean you can catch everything from rainbowsto tornadoes touching down to drivers, but

(38:16):
some plate in some points for insurancepurposes. It actually works well. Car
technology right now, hey, listenas we in the first hour, next
hour, we're going to go oversome of my favorite cars and trucks that
I've driven this year, maybe thebest one of the year. Your phone
calls and other news as we windup the year. In the High Tech
Texan Show is Michael Garfier Michael Garfield. Michael Garfield's joining us and the high

(38:51):
Tech Texan. Michael Garfield is herewith a high Tech Texans its to make
life easier. Those are some newtechnology. So Michael Garfield has something you
might why. Michael Garfield is yourhigh Tech Texan. Three decades helping you

(39:13):
make magic with your gadgets. Occurredworldwide on the iHeartRadio after now You're high
Tech Texan. Michael Garfield. Halfwaythere, people, we are halfway through
the final High Tech Textan Show oftwenty twenty three. I hope your Christmas
was fun. I see all thephone calls here this past hour. Maybe

(39:35):
I'll pick what up you love yourpresent, because I'm asking for your best
and your worst. We are halfwayto happy hour, as we say,
half the hour brought to you byPapa's p lar Rum. Do you like
rum? Don't sleep on rum?People. There's a many many things.
Did you ever try to rum?Old fashioned? Actually? Go try one?
Are the four vertells. Papa's plarum. You can get that everywhere

(39:55):
from Total Wine Specs, Goody Goodieand some of your free great restaurants too.
I was over at the Capitol,grew up Blue Lagoon restaurant down in
Texas City, Big Lagoon down there, they got Papa's peel out rum.
So wherever they serve this fine rum, more than happy to actually let you
know where it is so you cantry it. I'll give you the phone
number. Callum. You've been answeringthe phones, my buddy. I appreciate

(40:17):
it. It's seven one three twoone two five nine to five. Oho
number has not changed in the twentyone twenty two as the calendar changes.
Here the next day or two,we're getting into another year that we have
been doing this. I've been doingit well, not half my life,
but I don't want to give awaymy too much of my government and my
age. But I do thank youfor spending all this time I was at

(40:39):
it. It was really nice.I was in a cademy. I love
the guy. I said this beforeI was an Academy. This is not
a commercial for Academy. I loveAcademy. If somebody would give me a
gift card to anywhere, I wouldjust generically, let me just say a
sporting good store. And I'm nota Dick sporting goods fan, so I
guess we got Academy as the defacto Texas based supported it. I've at
Academy after a few days ago becausethey were having their after Christmas sales,

(41:04):
picked up some new running gear andstuff. It's really nice. I'm standing
in line and I guess it wasa father and his son son. I
don't know, maybe he was tentwelve years old. And he's looking at
it, and I'm looking like aschlep pound man. I have shaved.
I have it shaved three days andI'm just like, you know whatever,
it's minding my own business. Andhe says, are you Michael, are
you? Are you hey? Hightech texting? Is that you? And
I'm very very nice. He's beenlistening for a long time. I think

(41:28):
his name was Greg introduced me tohis son and it's it's neat. I'm
like, okay, it's amazing howpeople know what you look like on radio.
Hey Michael, look you sound fatteron radio. Well, thank you.
I appreciate that. I guess that'sa compliment because I'm not as fat
as I sound on radio. Whyam I talking about this? I'm not
sure. Uh. Streaming very bignews, very big stories. In twenty

(41:52):
twenty three, how many stream servicesdo you have? You have too many?
I know you have too many.You really need to think about how
do we save money? HBO HBOMax renamed itself to Max. That was
a big one. Prices went upacross the board, a lot of them.
And I see this. This isanother PSA for you. Amazon Prime

(42:14):
Video. I actually do have thatone, but I may not have it
for long. I don't use Amazonthat much. I really don't. I
actually I got Amazon Prime the serviceyears ago because I wanted to watch one
TV show. I wanted to watchThe Marvelous Missus Masel which actually was worth
it. That went off the air. They stopped making I think after season

(42:35):
five it was and I've kept it, and I mean, if I buy
a few things a year, that'sabout it. I just I don't go
nuts. But anyway, but withPrime Amazon Prime, which is what maybe
one hundred and what does it comeout to one hundred and forty hundred and
fifty bucks or more per year?You do get Prime Video, you get
Prime Music, you get some othercrap. What do I Starting on January
twenty ninth, just about a monthfrom right now, guess what's gonna happen.

(43:00):
If you're watching Prime Video, You'regonna start to see some ads.
Amazon They're they're going to incorporate advertisinginto movies, in TV shows on the
Prime Video service. And it isJanuary twenty ninth, and I'm going to
give you a quote from Amazon.Quote, this will allow us to continue
investing in compelling content and keep increasingthat investment over a long period of time.

(43:24):
Unquote. If you don't like ads, guess what? Feel free to
pay an additional three dollars per monthto avoid the advertisement. You may have
got an email. I actually gotan email a few days ago. Amazon
Prime currently costs what about fifteen bucksa month? One hundred and thirty nine
dollars annually. All right, nowyou can do Prime Video alone for nine

(43:45):
bucks a month. But there's newcharge for ad free streaming. It's gonna
bring Prime to about eighteen bucks amonth, and then we push the standalone
Prime Video to about twelve bucks amonth. They're doing this because competing streaming
services, they continue to raise subscriptionrates across the board, and they're pushing

(44:07):
ads on customers do with their cheapestmonthly pants Disney Plus, Hulu Max,
Netflix Paramount Plus, they include adson there. I guess the most affordable
I mean that were the most affordabletears. Now, the monthly cost of
Amazon Prime is not changing, butyou may want to decide whether you want
to have ads or not. Bythe way, this portion of the show
we're brought to you by US Coinsand Jewelry. US Coins and Jewelry.

(44:29):
They've been around for two generations.My good friends the Duncans, Skiddy and
Matt Duncan. They are on KatieFreeway just outside of Voss. What a
great way to start your year off. They can you could purchase gold,
you can. They could buy yourgold for you too. They've got rolexes.
They've been around and they are themost trustworthy people sell your coins in
case you want to, you know, some extra cash hanging around, or

(44:52):
you can buy a lot of things. They have sports card collectors and things.
You see what I did, Folks, listen for that forty five seconds?
I just read you an ad.You know what it did? It
kept this radio show free for you. What's the trade off there? Are
you cool with looking ads or listeningto ads without paying extra for your prime
membership or any of these other ones? You see, that's what you have

(45:15):
to do. We now return youto Raguar programming, but we do thank
you us. Quaintine Jewelry. Ah. You know what's happening now with movies.
Movies now are getting released in theatersand within one to two weeks they're
coming to streaming services. Does thisspell the in for movie theaters? I

(45:36):
don't think so. Did anybody godriving on Christmas Day? Did you just
drive? Did anybody drive by atheater, a cinema? The parking lots
were packed. I love saying that, I really do. And it's a
tradition unlike any other other than Chinesefood on Christmas Day, going to a
movie on Christmas Day, I don'tthink movie theaters are really going anywhere.

(46:05):
It looked like it during COVID TomCruise Maverick brought everybody back. But it's
good to know that at least thatindustry is still kicking because experiences. Listen,
we love the ease of going toNetflix or a Prime or any of
this stuff. It's so great justto dial it up your land in bed,
just sit in front of your fireat home. You canna have twenty

(46:25):
people watching. You can watch italone. But unless you have a home
theater with a massive screen, Dolbysurround sound, hap to feedback chairs and
fattening nasty popcorn that people love,it's an experience. There are so many
experiences. And again I'm an oldguy. I get off my lunch.
There are so many experiences now thatat some point probably will be lost.

(46:47):
And I don't know when and ifthe movie theater experience is gonna be lost.
But the more that these companies,of these streaming companies are trying to
get you to subscribe, really dohave some quote unquote compelling content unquote.
As Amazon said, we may actuallysee that the demise of things like theaters,

(47:13):
which I miss. Sneaking into adoubleheader also forty five more minutes coming
back. We're going to talk aboutsome of the favorite cars that I've driven,
some of my and anything with uhthat you want to ask seven one
three two one two five nine fiveoh. Including I'm going to give you
my technology product of the year.What was your favorite tech product of the
year. I'll give you hint.It's a it's a product, but it's

(47:36):
also a service and it came outright around July fourth, and it came
out like gang Busters, totally free. Do you use it? All?
That? Coming up next to thehigh tech text and Joe, I'll give
out the phone number depending on ifI'm an answer not seven one three two
one two five nine five. Oh. Happy New Year people, Baby new

(47:58):
Year about to come and about aday and a half here as we do
the show last Saturday here of twentytwenty three, but doing it for twenty
plus years. I do thank youfor everybody listening come up and saying,
hey man, you give me somegood advice. I'm trying to give you
some good advice. Would you getfor Christmas? You want to return it?
I am or exchange it. I'mhere for you. Let me know
you can go to all my socialmedia sites, high tech texts and high

(48:21):
te c ht e x A N. I drive a lot of cars for
a living. You listen, andfor fifteen years, I will tell you
what's kind of a game, what'sMichael driving this week? And that pretty
much is well, well, it'sbecause I'm a member of the Texas Auto
Writers Association and I happen to beone of how many maybe there's twenty thirty,

(48:45):
maybe there's thirty of us forty inthe state where we review cars and
I've done it for a while.We get these directly from the manufacturer.
There's two car services in state ofTexas and they're kind of holding companies and
it is out a dealership. Wego straight from tier one. So the
dealerships the manufacturers, they will shipthese vehicles kind of into a holding place

(49:08):
here in Texas. And every weekI get a car that is delivered to
my house and I get to driveit. It is brand new, and
they want my thoughts, good orbad. It is not paid for.
There's no endorsements. So I cantell you some crappy ones. I can
tell you some gorgeous ones. Ihave driven in twenty twenty three, probably
fifty two weeks a year sometimes ago. I have probably driven seventy to seventy

(49:29):
five different new vehicles, from pickuptrucks to sedan's to sports cars to fast
cars smart. So it's they areand I started doing this because they are
based on technology. I realized manyyears ago that cars that they're all they
are, it's technology on four wheels. They are getting smarter, they are

(49:52):
getting cool, they're getting more electricfied. And you know my thoughts on
electricity, which we can get to. I will give you one of the
one of her two of my favoriteelectric cars. Not that I recommend electric
cars to people, but I willgive you my thoughts. And so I
don't know where to where do Ieven start. I've got a kind of
a list of all the cars thatwere really, really impressive, one of

(50:15):
which is I think my brand ofthe year, if you will, it
may be Genesis, and again notan endorsement. I've driven three or four
different Genesis vehicles and I am very, very impressed of how far they have
come. One of the better,one of the I guess top of mind

(50:36):
ones that I drove is the GenesisElectrified G eighty. That's what it's called.
The electrified G eighty. It's asedan, and you don't see a
lot of sedans now because now it'sthe CUV, the SUV, maybe it's
it's whatever, but it's this.It's the typical thing. It's a four

(50:57):
door, low to the ground.It's not a pickup truck. You know,
generally fits two people in the front, three people in the back,
and you go from there. Butwhat Genesis has done with the inside and
certainly outside, the smooth ride,it's pretty good. It is an incredibly
smooth ride. I love the interior. There is an electrified GV. There's

(51:21):
actually, let me give you afew there's an electrified GV seventy, but
there's also the electrified as what theycall it, G eighty. It's got
a cool interior. It's really stylish. I love the grill and it kind
of won me over. It's asmooth ride. It's fun to sit in,
and very rarely do I sit insomething other than the driver's seat.

(51:45):
I don't sit in the passenger seata lot, and I certainly really don't
sit in the back seat a lotother than just to get in and out
to see is it comfortable enough.The electrified G eighty is something that I
would love to be chauffeured round in. It reminds me and it probably is.
This is a type of car whereyou can be chauffe did if you've

(52:07):
got the means to be driven aroundby somebody. You don't need to step
in into an suv. Sitting inthe back seat of an electrified G eighty
is unbelievable. The back seats reclined. They have a console in between the
two seats that you can control somany things, the massage chairs in the

(52:27):
back, and the shades that goup in the back, and the air
conditioning. It's good, very highquality to the touch. I think you
can compare these two Cadillac Lexus ofall a really really high end stuff.
Congratulations, Genesis did a very verygood job. The electric cars. I've
been in a number of different I'veprobably had ten electric cars this year.

(52:51):
Electric cars are a pain in thebutt. They're a pain in my butt.
I don't have a charger at home, so when I go or approach
the mileage ran, I have what'scalled range anxiety. I already have anxiety,
and so I don't want range anxiety, meaning uh oh, I'm down
to fifty miles, forty miles,thirty miles. I better find me a
charger to plug this thing in.Generally, I just want to snap my

(53:15):
figures and say, hey, listen, I need to drive to Austin.
I'm gonna go up to a UTgame. I'm gonna go see my son
who lives in Austin. But well, that's Austin's what, two hundred plus
miles away from Houston, and inmany cases I'd have to plan out.
Okay, if I take an electriccar from my house on the southwest side,
I'm probably gonna make it three quartersof the way to bas Drop.
Let's find out where a bas drop. I mean, it's like triple a

(53:37):
trip tick, which if you're notover forty to forty five years old,
you have no clue what I'm doing. I don't want to have to plan
my trip. Electric cars are goodfor a secondary car. Electric cars are
good for someone who doesn't drive morethan thirty forty to fifty miles commute on
a daily basis. Maybe you justwant to take your kids to school,
take them to soccer, and youdo have a charger at home, and

(53:58):
you do have one at work,So that's my thought of electric cars because
charging in America right now, youknow, my thoughts not the greatest.
But in terms of cars, veryimpressed with the Kiya Kiva. Kia has
something called the EV nine. Alwaysbeen impressed with this. I've driven two
or three different versions of these things. The Kia EV nine one of the
nice ones. It's an suv.It is it's the twenty twenty four to

(54:21):
one. It's got three rows,it's got two hundred and forty ish miles
of range, It's a relatively decentprice for an EV of this size,
and it was one of the Iguess neater if there's a ward of cars
that I drove this year. It'sgot a lot of interior space, relatively
attractive, neat little dashboard and keyhas been kind of on a roll Kia.

(54:44):
And again funny I mentioned Kiya inGenesis, so we've got, you
know, you know, things fromwhat South Korea are something they're really doing
a good job in terms of anelectric car. I certainly like that too.
So take a look at the EVsix or actually the EV nine awesome.
I don't know if I said EVC, but it's the EV nine,
it's the new one. I didn'thave not driven a Rivian. I have

(55:05):
driven the pickup truck. I havedriven and electrified a Ford F one to
fifty lightning. It's good. Ilook forward to Chevy Blazer has an electric
vehicle coming out soon. I'm gonnatry. In terms of trucks, there's
mid size and there's full size.I like mid size trucks because I don't
need to schlep a lot of things. I don't need a bales of hay
or anything. But here in Texas, it's fun look at a mid size.
One. One of my favorite midsized vehicles I d driven this year.

(55:29):
Driven this year the Chevy Colorado.The Chevy Colorado, or if you
want a little upgrade, we tooka look at the Sisters company, the
GMC Canyon. Actually, I thinkthe Colorado took the It won't a lot
of awards. It was a MotorTrains twenty twenty four Truck of the Year
award. But it's it's it's aquiet, it's easy to park. You

(55:52):
don't have to have a half tonF one fifty dodd you know Ram fifteen
hundred. You don't have that stop. It's got good suspension. It is
a mid size so you can stillhaul things in back if you really want
to upgrade it. I know theChevy. I think I had the z
R two model, which is kindof the outdoor off road type of thing.
Not that I do a lot ofoff roads, but take a look.

(56:13):
It's a relatively good price point too, versus some of those bigger trucks.
And I think overall, I haveto have my favorite car of the
year. And if you're a longtimelister of my show, you know my
favorite car ever made is a Corvette, and it was last October I got
to ride in the brand new seventyfifth anniversary edition of the Corvette. It

(56:34):
was the C eight version, whichis the mid engine, and it was
that Stingray version in it was thesexiest car I've driven this year, and
it is probably the sexiest car onthe road. It is a head turner
if you look at it, justfrom them Maroni and if you get fined
one on the shelves, it's it'sa fine one of the dealership. Yet
it only lists somewhere between seventy toeighty thousand dollars. Good luck finding it

(56:58):
at that price of it. I'ma sports car guy. I'm in the
stage of my life where I donot need an SUV. I'm not dropping
off my little kids at the socceryou know, we're the basketball games.
You could take one button touch ofthe automatic roof goes up and down about
what twelve to nineteen seconds. Itis fast, it is loud, and
it is a head turner, andit is sex a y. It is

(57:19):
called sex a. My car ofthe Year Corvette taking a break out of
the hour, What was your favoritething that you drove? Did you buy
a new car? They're getting easyto find during COVID, A lot of
issues with supply chain. Let's gofind your new car. Let's plan for
one in twenty twenty four. Oneof the things that I'm here for thirty
more minutes ago. Final show thisyear twenty twenty three at the High Tech
Textan show, Michael carb what's everybody'stravel plans for this year? Got anything

(57:49):
planned already for twenty twenty four?I am off I will beat in starting
the new year off right. Goingto New Orleans this coming Monday. And
a little football game that's happening.Betrayed your University of Texas Longhorns and should
that happen? They will be herein Houston for the NATTY National Championship,
and then after that I am offfor Vegas. Longtime listeners, you know

(58:10):
what I do. The first weekor two of Vegas, I go for
the Consumer Electronics Show actually used tobe called Consumer Electronics Show now that it's
called CEES CeX is. It kindof functioned as of a highly reliable crystal
ball. So if you're wondering what'sgoing to empower consumers in twelve months,

(58:32):
you can look at this year's technologyofferings. If you want to know what
consumers are going to be buying ineighteen months, you know, I pay
attention to the products that are goingto ship in the third quarter of next
year. If you want to knowwhat's in the horizon, you spend time
with big manufacturers to see what's ontheir drawing boards. And if you wand
you know, hey, man,if you're wondering about potential investments or business
opportunities, to me, CES isa great place to formulate tester technology based

(58:58):
ideas. It's I'm not gonna callit a secret weapon, but it actually
it's pretty fun. Twenty at leastthe twentieth year I've done this, and
I will be out there. Iwill be back. See it's not on
a Saturday, it's Tuesday through Thursdayor Friday. So on Saturday, January
thirteenth, I will do my followup what did I see at CES?

(59:22):
Better than that, it's what didMichael bring back from CES? A lot
of companies they give me toys andfun stuff to give away on the show.
It's Christmas in January, so youwant to tune in for that.
My guess is I think AI artificialintelligence. I think it's going to be
incorporated into almost every technology I'm likelyto see at the show. I think

(59:45):
there's going to be innovations in media, financial technology, I think the mobile,
the wireless, and it's definitely theautomotive industry. I think the sports
industry. There's always there's an entirewing of the convention center. It's about
sports technology to sustainability. There's alot of stuff going on, so stand

(01:00:06):
by for that. One of mybig first things that will be doing it
is Vegas Paopball party time. Iwant to come up with my tech product
of the year. What was yourfavorite product of the year. Now,
listen, I'm I told you,I'm going over the best and worst of
everything in terms of travel, kids, restaurants, drinks. But it is

(01:00:28):
called the High Tech textan show,and I'm the tech guy that does not
get too techy. Very rarely doyou hear me talk about gigabytes and megabytes
and things that blow your mind thatI just you don't need to hear about
it. It's it's a consumer technologyshow. But I cover a lot of
stuff. But people ask me,what was the one product that stood out
this year twenty twenty three? Didit change your life? No? I

(01:00:52):
don't think it is. It's toughto find technology nowadays that actually change lives.
I mean, I'm again for me, I'm very when it comes to
technology again. Two decades I've beengoing to the Consumer Electronics show. How
many flat screen high definition TVs?Could I see? How many new phones
and new computers? You don't evensee a ton of computers or laptops out

(01:01:14):
there, you know now it isit's almost a de facto auto show.
Then sports, financial, tech andmedia. Just like I said, what
was the one product this year?Though? That it took note and it
took people around the country, ifnot around the world by storm. And
to me, the news came onJuly third of twenty twenty three. It

(01:01:37):
was right before July fourth, whereveryou were. I remember, I was
in Los Angeles. I was insouthern California visiting my son. Out of
blue middle of the night, anew product or service, web based app,
whatever you want to call it,was released. That to me,

(01:01:59):
it swept the technology news world mediacycle for weeks. Ladies and gentlemen tech
product of the year, threads.Do you use Threads? I spent a
lot of time in July and Augusttalking about threads. Threads was launched by

(01:02:21):
Meta Mark Zuckerberg. Meta owns Facebook, that owns Instagram, what it owns?
What's thatpp? That owns a lotof things. But they launched what
they hope would be the Twitter Killer. It may have killed Twitter because not
long after that, Elon Musk,who owns Twitter, changed the name to

(01:02:42):
X. Did they do it becauseof Threads? I don't think so.
Did it kill Twitter? No,X, We're gonna call it X from
now on, but X does exist. I still have an X account.
Go to high Tech Texan, goto x dot com slash high tech Tech.
You'll see my and I hate callthem tweets, but that's what we're

(01:03:04):
gonna call them. But Threads wasa place that was anti Elon Musk.
Whether you like him or don't likehim. I think a lot of people
realize that back in the day whatit was called Twitter and X was is
it fake news? Eli Musk wascertainly in the news by really ticking off

(01:03:27):
advertisers by using a four letter Fbomb that I can't say here, but
he sure did. Hey, ifyou don't want advertise, not a good
way to run a company. Itdid lose a lot of market share,
it lost a ton of advertising onit, and it lost a lot of
people. And they decided to goto Threads. I use Threads. I

(01:03:50):
use Threads. It is free.It is almost relatively but relatively similar to
use like X. You could putcharacters one hundred twenty two hundred forty characters.
There's links, you could put photosthis, you could put what you
had for lunch, you could putyour thoughts, you could put the external
links. You could do whatever.But when it came out, they didn't

(01:04:12):
make an announcement. It was justpop and it was viral. Within a
day, they had one hundred million, I believe or something subscribers. Because
it was simple, the ease factorof downloading it, using your Instagram account
to create your Threads account and populateeverything it needs to know. Didn't need
to really sign up. It waslike, hey, Instagram owns. It's

(01:04:34):
the same company as Threads. Let'sgo ahead and use it. It has
progressed in the past six months.There was things that you could use hashtags
and sort, but now they're certainlyfigure that out. Seems like they're going
to improve so much so that Iactually the person I think is what's his
name, Adam of Seri. Hereports I believe in Zuckerberg. He's always

(01:04:57):
on Threads. I follow him andthen here's the feed very you know,
hey, how can we approve thisthing? What's going on? It seems
like a decent guy. It doesn'tseem to me to have the vitriol again
that X does. Again, Idon't follow politics, I don't follow lot
of the world news. I'm prettymuch a sports guy and I follow maybe
what's going on in the auto world, some friends, some actors, But

(01:05:21):
Threads to me, it took offlike freaking wildfar and without an advertisement.
There was no marketing. There waspeople like me going, hey, you
should try this thing. And thenI spent the next you know, probably
a good amount in late July going, you know, doing all my media
rounds on the radio stations and TVstations I work with. Michael, Is

(01:05:42):
this the Twitter killer? And dareI said, I said, you know
what, this is about as closeto anything so far we have seen as
a Twitter killer, because there wasa number of other companies that people were
flocking to for the past year ortwo, Blue Sky and all these other
ones that I do when we don'tknow of don't even want to use because
they were difficult. You had tolog onto a server. You don't want

(01:06:03):
to do that. You get yournews? People? Wake up? What
do you do? How do youget your news? A lot of people
they've grabbed their phones and they've lookedat their Twitter account. They look at
their ex account. Right now,they look at threads account. This is
not an endorsement for Threads. Ilike it. There are a lot of
people right now who's still to thisminute, after a four minute discussion,
they have no clue what I'm freakingtalking about with Threads. To me,

(01:06:25):
my tech product, my tech launchof the year, Threads brought you by
Meta. There you go, agree, disagree. There you go. Coming
up the final segment of the yeartwenty twenty three, the Business Story of
the Year, Any and all ofyour last questions and a fun kissoff farewell
of what I will missing this yearand what I'm looking forward to in twenty

(01:06:45):
twenty fours High Tech Textans Show missedMige Garfield shuit all to quinsoms me for
good? What is old Auld?Can someone explain it to me? We
got about eight more minutes left ofthe final show of twenty twenty three here
on the High Tech Texting Show.It is Michael Garfield. Actually, what

(01:07:09):
is the quintessential New Year's song?We have so many Christmas songs? Is
there a New Year's song? Tome? There is. There's only one
New Year's song that you want tohear. It is Barry Manilow. Another
old lang zign. Google it anotherold langs It is Auld. I still
don't know what it means. Butagain I'm a very Maneloe fan, and

(01:07:30):
that's the one I don't need tohear. Bring in you know the old
Actually, uh, Dan Fogelberg,which is also another I believe that's also
another old lang sign. I liketo Dan remember Dan Fogelberg. Of course,
I mean, I am going soyacht rock right now. It's not

(01:07:51):
even it's not even funny. Actually, Dan Fogelberg has one called the same
old lang sign. Barry Manilow hasanother old lnsign. Those are the only
songs I'm actually going to listen tofor New Year's Eve, and then I'm
listening to the Ice of Texas forthe rest of the next day. On

(01:08:12):
January first, I'm not going togive out the phone number because we are
finishing up and we were winding downthe year here of the high tech tection.
I do thank you so much.I don't take you guys for granted.
You Gallas for granted for listening allthese years, and hopefully all my
bosses and the people who actually keepme on the radio, the people who
sit in the carpeted offices down hereat iHeartMedia, Eddie Martini, Mark Sherman,

(01:08:35):
Ryan Erickson. Yes, I'm lookingat you too, Callum you too.
You kind of run KPRC. Thankyou for keeping the entertainment here.
Saturday is eleven to one. BothAM and PM went through some of my
favorite cars, the year, worstcars, the year, best food,
best travel spots, my favorite kids, which the ranking always shifts depending on

(01:08:58):
what mood I'm in, what moodare in. My technology product of the
Year, I just did that.You're gonna have to podcast this to hear
it. The business story of theyear, and I thought about this as
the business story of the year becauseit's also a technology based story, and
that business story is AI, ArtificialArtificial intelligence AI. AI is everywhere.

(01:09:21):
AI is eating everything every company.Every person running some sort of a company
probably was wondering in twenty twenty threeabout how to use AI to make their
business more efficient. It was ayear ago, almost exactly that chat gpt
was launched. That was big disruptivetech, but it became a corporate obsession.

(01:09:48):
There's a lot of people who worryabout AI that could bring about armageddon.
But I think the consistence is thatthe new AI defined technological A just
here and big tech technology they're they'rein where they're in a rush right now
to dominate the space to make AIexperts the hot hot the year's hottest hires

(01:10:13):
for all these industries. But ifyou think about it, this is where
the money's at. I mean,the company behind chat gpt it was one
of the most valuable startups with evaluationof something like eighty six billion dollars.
And then you look at what Google'sdoing in meta and Amazon they spent the
last year making big sophisticated updates totheir AI models and new AI powered tools,

(01:10:36):
and they're putting a ton of cashinto startups to help their in house
innovation. I mean it's unavoidable.I mean companies have been infusing their offerings
with AI features left and right.Can listen. They're gonna help users learn
languages and in type messages and summarizeyour meetings. I mean, if you

(01:10:58):
can think of its someone's you AIto do it. To me, that
was probably the business story of theyear. I mean, listen, we
can look. We can look atthe Federal you know, the fed is
hiked their interest rates to the twentytwo year high. I don't like to
look at that one. There wasthere was everybody went. It was on
strike. Apparently this year this summer, the Hollywood actors, the Hollywood writers,

(01:11:21):
the Detroit's you know Big three,I think ups workers they threaten to
walk off the job. There wasa lot of strikes. But to me,
obviously I have to tie it alittle of the little technology, and
I think it's the artificial intelligence,and to me that was the big stuff
for you. I don't know.I'm not going to pick up the photo
anymore because we're about four minutes awayfrom ending the last show of the year.

(01:11:44):
You could tell me on all ofmy social media, including Threads,
which was my tech product of theyear, you find me at high Tech
texts and spell the whole thing ath I g h T E c h
t e x A N. Andwith that, what am I thinking of?
I mean, I can start wrappingup the you know, the show
in the year. Next week wewill certainly know who is in the Natty,
the National Championship, which is goingto be held in Houston, Texas.

(01:12:06):
People in ourg Stadium. It iseither gonna be one of four teams.
For a lot of our sake,certainly mine, the University of Texas
Longhorns would be nice if they wouldbe there. After that becomes CEES and
who knows what twenty twenty four isgoing to bring, hopefully the conflict what's
going on in Gaza and Israel.It's going to be done. It shouldn't

(01:12:27):
have started. It was horrible tome. That was the worst story of
the year. Should never have happened. Not infusing a lot of politics or
world politics or geopolitics in my showsever, but I do know when things
are right and things are good,and when things are bad, and things
are very bad health wise. Ihope you were fine. I'd certainly look
forward to coming back from CES witha lot more health and wellness apps and

(01:12:51):
things to play with. We're goingto be able to look at our watch
not only tell our blood oxygen levels. We're going to talk about our blood
pleasure monitors, but there you know, be nine to one one calls if
we're falling down or going too fastor in a collision. This is the
neat stuff that I do. Youknow, it's been one year exactly since

(01:13:13):
our good friend Randy Lemon has passedaway. He was the Garden Goober and
it was an unexpected thing. Diedat sixty one years old and affected me,
affected our radio station, affected somany listeners here in the Houston area
because you know, Randy was onthe radio a few years longer than I
am currently, well over twenty years. And to give you a lot of

(01:13:35):
advice, I say this it's becauselife is fragile. Enjoy life, life
is short, have fun. It'sactually you talk about a motto. I
literally have a piece of art thathas a number of different sayings of what
I say, one of which isovap, but also it's life is short,
have fun. I think about him, and I think about every people

(01:13:55):
that everybody we've lost this year.But all the potentially good news. Twenty
three was it the greatest year forMOI? It was better than twenty twenty
two. I did not like mytwenty twenty two for various reasons. Had
a few little health things here andthere. For twenty twenty three without giving
you my hippa or too much government. But whatever happened to you, you
know what, Be energetic, Tryto be positive as much as you can.

(01:14:19):
That's what I try to instill.The stories that I talk about,
the products that I talk about,review, I try to have fun my
social media, my post, thethings I get to do. I'm very
lucky. I worked hard and Istill work hard of doing it because I
could turn my job into fun things. And if that's something that that's a
goal of yours in twenty twenty four, you do that yourself. If you're

(01:14:41):
sick of your mundane job, youhave a boss, you have an old
boss who is about to retire.He or she is mean or is it?
Get off your button, do something, don't puts around. Maybe that's
your twenty twenty four motto. Gofor it, because we're not going to
be here for a long time.The relative I say long time. If
you look at the universe and sofreaking enjoy the time. And I do

(01:15:03):
enjoy this time, these two hoursevery weekend with you Callum Reid. I
do. Thank you. Happy NewYear to you everybody else here at iHeartMedia.
I talked about my bosses. Thankyou so much. But most importantly,
if you don't listen to people,I probably don't have a show.
Thank you, thank you, thankyou, Happy New Year. Next time
you hear from me, hopefully wellbe twenty twenty four on behalf of everybody
who's been a part of the HighTech Texting Show. Thanks for tuning in,

(01:15:26):
See you in twenty twenty four,because right now the last show of
twenty twenty three is over.