December 18, 2025 • 8 mins
#TechTalk, featuring standout gadget gift ideas and a preview of what to expect from CES — the Consumer Electronics Show. From practical upgrades to flashy innovations, Marc explains what’s worth paying attention to and what’s just hype
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
CES is upon us. What can we expect? We turned
to Mark Saltzman Tech Talk.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
The machines are getting smarter.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
This is tech Talk, brought to you by sky Netta.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Mark Saltzman joins us.
Speaker 4 (00:16):
So we talked with Mark Thursdays to talk about the
technology and the CES Consumer Electronics Show.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
What is going on, Mark, Well, it's still a couple
of weeks away. This is the annual Tech Palooza, if
you will, in Las Vegas, where first week of January,
about one hundred and eighty thousand nerds like yours truly
descends onto Sin City to see the latest tech that's
going to come out that year and following years, because
(00:43):
sometimes it does take a few more years.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
We just see some prototypes if that.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
And so just prepping, every tech journalist has been on
conference calls all day signing a bunch of NDA's embargoes
about what we're going to see.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Visit the hookers.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Oh you mean the technology, I.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Say, right, so, yeah, you could see.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
It's funny because the porn show used to be at
the same time as CEES.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I forgot what it's called, but yeah, you.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Can always tell who's there for which convention, and it's
pretty obvious, right.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I think there's probably a little bit of come on.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Right, but yeah, so yeah, so we're you know, we're
expecting again. I'm going to be purposely vague here AI
being still the biggest thing since the Internet. But because
it's a consumer electronics show, the tech part, the hardware,
it's going to be more AI infused TVs and laptops
(01:39):
and headphones and you know, tablets. It's going to be
AI everything, but really mixed with the hardware. And that's
the story, I guess, and it's not that unusual from
last year.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
And then there's also a big automotive element too.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
We see the latest in self driving cars that you know,
autonomous vehicles that are at cees. Sometimes concept for flying cars,
which obviously we're nowhere near seeing in the skies. But yeah,
jet packs and all this fun stuff. It's a great
show to cover. It's exhausting. It's like forty five football fields.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
We will chat.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
I think it's the eighth on a Thursday, So I
will chat with you if you'll have me, as we
do usually every Thursday from Vegas, and I can give
you a lot, you know, a big bit of a
deeper dive on really, what was the big deal?
Speaker 4 (02:27):
National Post is where you put together a good list
of some of the gadgets that are obviously still available
for Christmas and holiday shopping. Let me start with I
didn't realize that intent my kids are out of their age.
This is out of the age group for them. But
the Nintendo Switch costs six hundred bucks.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
That's Canadian pricing. Oh, National Post is it's four ninety
nine in the States. Oh okay, good, and that's with
a game that's like a bundle. Okay, So yeah, yeah,
Sticker Shock with the price. Hey listen, I'm a Canadian
who rights for mostly American magazines and newspapers, so I
don't mind the dollar exchange.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
That benefits little old me.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
So who's the Canadian Mark Saltzman?
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Well, I could talk with a little bit more boots,
and I just mean, like.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Is there a Mark Saltzman in Canada that writes for
Canadian publications?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, Mark Saltzman, that's me. Oh so you do both?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
You do both?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
That's me, Yes, I do both.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
I didn't know that.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
I know it's ironic that I write for USA Today
and I'm a Canadian. My best Games of the Year
articles coming out this uh today actually speaking of holiday
gift ideas. But yeah, no, I've been fortunate too.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Are you worried that you're going to get a call
from the President and he's going to say, you know what,
we need an American tech guy.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
That's true, that's true. That's true.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
There's no shortage of amazing tech journalists. You have on
your station, the very fine Rich DeMuro. Oh yeah, Rich
is great. Yeah, he's awesome. He's on KTLA as well.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah, I see him. I see him at all the
tech events.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
He seems like a nice guy.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
He really, you know, he genuinely is a really nice guy.
What you see is what you get.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Who's a monster? Is there a monster in the tech world?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
No, I can't say there is. There's some introverts.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Again I'm playing up the stereotype, but there are some
very let's just say they are journalists because they're more
comfortable behind a monitor than in front of people. But
Rich is not like that. He's very personable. Most people
get We all get along. There's enough work for all
of us. It's not cutthroat or anything like that. There's
lots of publications out there. Some are more in the
(04:29):
social media influencer side. Some are more pure you know reporters.
Some do like broadcast only TV radio, what have you.
So it's all good. Yeah, Rich is on KFI and
I'm on the sister station, the Patriot, and other stations
across the country. We all get along really well, and
we were often guests on each other's shows too.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
So yeah, so look national posts. Of course.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
I called out Nintendo Switch hottest game system. Of course,
not just for kids. I know you said, Gary little
out of the age of your kids, but there are
adults that play this as well. There are some emirated games.
In fact, yeah, a kid can't buy that unless they Yeah,
our companies they lie to their parents.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I was gonna say, there's always ways.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Around it, but yeah, I threw in a laptop that
has thirty two hours of battery life. I thought that
was a great gift. If you're looking for a new
computer for the family. That's an Asus laptop called the
zen Book A fourteen. I've never seen battery life like that.
Thirty two hours AirPods, of course, that was a big
hit this year.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
More ideal for iPhone users.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
It will work with Android, but you won't get all
the bells and whistles like all this series support.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
In the real time language translation.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
We talk about the stand by Me.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Yeah, so this is a cool TV. I'm always looking
for something a bit unique. So LG is best known
for their big screen O led televisions, which have gorgeous
picture quality, but stand by Me is unique in a
couple of respects.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
One is it's a smaller TV.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
It's a touchscreen twenty seven inch TV on a stand that.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
You can wheel around your home.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
So you're barbecuing, you're out on your porch and you're grilling,
you can you know, keep your eye on the baseball
game kind of thing. And then bring it into a
kid's room they may have a sleepover and you want
them to watch a Disney movie a room that they
may not have a TV on in all the time.
And then you can actually tilt the TV between vertical
and horizontal view. So if you're watching TikTok videos while
(06:25):
you're making dinner in the kitchen, that's sounds dangerous.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Or if you want to follow along with.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Exercises on your living room floor, you can rotate it
for you know, Instagram, TikTok and all that. So it's
it's vertical, it's portrait instead of landscape. And then finally
you can detach the TV and use it like a
tablet if you like a giant twenty seven inch TV.
So that's kind of neat. That's called the LG stand
by me too. It's about eight ninety nine.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I want to say to me, that would replace.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
I'll take my MacBook into a different room with me
if I want to continue watching TV. I can you
know my cable company.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
I can wheel it. You can just wheel it in.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Good because carrying the MacBook was really difficult for me.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
There you go. I'm not judging. Are some people where
it would be uncomfortable?
Speaker 1 (07:14):
No?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah, So there's no shortage of great gadgets.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
I picked some for as low as twenty five bucks,
like one of those coffee mugs that heat up if.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
You work from home and you want something like that.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
All the way up to that TV was probably the
most expensive in my article some smart displays.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
If you want to read it, just google my name.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Mark Saltsman, Mark with a C, Saltsman with the Z
and just type give the gift of gadgets and you'll
see the list there.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Mark, Thank you so much y'all do Christmas up there?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yeah, yeah, we do.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Well, you have a merry Christmas.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Well, thank you, Shannon, Thank to you. And box out
your snow. Without your snow, it's not the same. Oh good,
nice shout out for Boxing Day.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Welcome. What is that? What's going to.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Denver's eighty four degrees today?
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Mark that he was making a Jaronish like, we don't
have snow. I know there is snow in other parts
of America.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
In California too. Yeah, if you go up in the skills, it's.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Not real snow though. Yeah, it's like Child's Place snow.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Well, if we're going to chat next week, I'll talk
to your producers.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
But always a pleasure guy with Christmas, I think. But
I see what's happen on.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Yeah, all right, sounds good.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Best Merry Christmas, Mark, you two
CES is upon us. What can we expect? We turned
to Mark Saltzman Tech Talk.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
The machines are getting smarter.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
This is tech Talk, brought to you by sky Netta.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Mark Saltzman joins us.
Speaker 4 (00:16):
So we talked with Mark Thursdays to talk about the
technology and the CES Consumer Electronics Show.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
What is going on, Mark, Well, it's still a couple
of weeks away. This is the annual Tech Palooza, if
you will, in Las Vegas, where first week of January,
about one hundred and eighty thousand nerds like yours truly
descends onto Sin City to see the latest tech that's
going to come out that year and following years, because
(00:43):
sometimes it does take a few more years.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
We just see some prototypes if that.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
And so just prepping, every tech journalist has been on
conference calls all day signing a bunch of NDA's embargoes
about what we're going to see.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Visit the hookers.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Oh you mean the technology, I.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Say, right, so, yeah, you could see.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
It's funny because the porn show used to be at
the same time as CEES.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I forgot what it's called, but yeah, you.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Can always tell who's there for which convention, and it's
pretty obvious, right.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I think there's probably a little bit of come on.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Right, but yeah, so yeah, so we're you know, we're
expecting again. I'm going to be purposely vague here AI
being still the biggest thing since the Internet. But because
it's a consumer electronics show, the tech part, the hardware,
it's going to be more AI infused TVs and laptops
(01:39):
and headphones and you know, tablets. It's going to be
AI everything, but really mixed with the hardware. And that's
the story, I guess, and it's not that unusual from
last year.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
And then there's also a big automotive element too.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
We see the latest in self driving cars that you know,
autonomous vehicles that are at cees. Sometimes concept for flying cars,
which obviously we're nowhere near seeing in the skies. But yeah,
jet packs and all this fun stuff. It's a great
show to cover. It's exhausting. It's like forty five football fields.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
We will chat.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
I think it's the eighth on a Thursday, So I
will chat with you if you'll have me, as we
do usually every Thursday from Vegas, and I can give
you a lot, you know, a big bit of a
deeper dive on really, what was the big deal?
Speaker 4 (02:27):
National Post is where you put together a good list
of some of the gadgets that are obviously still available
for Christmas and holiday shopping. Let me start with I
didn't realize that intent my kids are out of their age.
This is out of the age group for them. But
the Nintendo Switch costs six hundred bucks.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
That's Canadian pricing. Oh, National Post is it's four ninety
nine in the States. Oh okay, good, and that's with
a game that's like a bundle. Okay, So yeah, yeah,
Sticker Shock with the price. Hey listen, I'm a Canadian
who rights for mostly American magazines and newspapers, so I
don't mind the dollar exchange.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
That benefits little old me.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
So who's the Canadian Mark Saltzman?
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Well, I could talk with a little bit more boots,
and I just mean, like.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Is there a Mark Saltzman in Canada that writes for
Canadian publications?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, Mark Saltzman, that's me. Oh so you do both?
Speaker 1 (03:20):
You do both?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
That's me, Yes, I do both.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
I didn't know that.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
I know it's ironic that I write for USA Today
and I'm a Canadian. My best Games of the Year
articles coming out this uh today actually speaking of holiday
gift ideas. But yeah, no, I've been fortunate too.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Are you worried that you're going to get a call
from the President and he's going to say, you know what,
we need an American tech guy.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
That's true, that's true. That's true.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
There's no shortage of amazing tech journalists. You have on
your station, the very fine Rich DeMuro. Oh yeah, Rich
is great. Yeah, he's awesome. He's on KTLA as well.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah, I see him. I see him at all the
tech events.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
He seems like a nice guy.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
He really, you know, he genuinely is a really nice guy.
What you see is what you get.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Who's a monster? Is there a monster in the tech world?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
No, I can't say there is. There's some introverts.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Again I'm playing up the stereotype, but there are some
very let's just say they are journalists because they're more
comfortable behind a monitor than in front of people. But
Rich is not like that. He's very personable. Most people
get We all get along. There's enough work for all
of us. It's not cutthroat or anything like that. There's
lots of publications out there. Some are more in the
(04:29):
social media influencer side. Some are more pure you know reporters.
Some do like broadcast only TV radio, what have you.
So it's all good. Yeah, Rich is on KFI and
I'm on the sister station, the Patriot, and other stations
across the country. We all get along really well, and
we were often guests on each other's shows too.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
So yeah, so look national posts. Of course.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
I called out Nintendo Switch hottest game system. Of course,
not just for kids. I know you said, Gary little
out of the age of your kids, but there are
adults that play this as well. There are some emirated games.
In fact, yeah, a kid can't buy that unless they Yeah,
our companies they lie to their parents.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I was gonna say, there's always ways.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Around it, but yeah, I threw in a laptop that
has thirty two hours of battery life. I thought that
was a great gift. If you're looking for a new
computer for the family. That's an Asus laptop called the
zen Book A fourteen. I've never seen battery life like that.
Thirty two hours AirPods, of course, that was a big
hit this year.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
More ideal for iPhone users.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
It will work with Android, but you won't get all
the bells and whistles like all this series support.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
In the real time language translation.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
We talk about the stand by Me.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Yeah, so this is a cool TV. I'm always looking
for something a bit unique. So LG is best known
for their big screen O led televisions, which have gorgeous
picture quality, but stand by Me is unique in a
couple of respects.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
One is it's a smaller TV.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
It's a touchscreen twenty seven inch TV on a stand that.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
You can wheel around your home.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
So you're barbecuing, you're out on your porch and you're grilling,
you can you know, keep your eye on the baseball
game kind of thing. And then bring it into a
kid's room they may have a sleepover and you want
them to watch a Disney movie a room that they
may not have a TV on in all the time.
And then you can actually tilt the TV between vertical
and horizontal view. So if you're watching TikTok videos while
(06:25):
you're making dinner in the kitchen, that's sounds dangerous.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Or if you want to follow along with.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Exercises on your living room floor, you can rotate it
for you know, Instagram, TikTok and all that. So it's
it's vertical, it's portrait instead of landscape. And then finally
you can detach the TV and use it like a
tablet if you like a giant twenty seven inch TV.
So that's kind of neat. That's called the LG stand
by me too. It's about eight ninety nine.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I want to say to me, that would replace.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
I'll take my MacBook into a different room with me
if I want to continue watching TV. I can you
know my cable company.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
I can wheel it. You can just wheel it in.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Good because carrying the MacBook was really difficult for me.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
There you go. I'm not judging. Are some people where
it would be uncomfortable?
Speaker 1 (07:14):
No?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah, So there's no shortage of great gadgets.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
I picked some for as low as twenty five bucks,
like one of those coffee mugs that heat up if.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
You work from home and you want something like that.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
All the way up to that TV was probably the
most expensive in my article some smart displays.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
If you want to read it, just google my name.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Mark Saltsman, Mark with a C, Saltsman with the Z
and just type give the gift of gadgets and you'll
see the list there.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Mark, Thank you so much y'all do Christmas up there?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yeah, yeah, we do.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Well, you have a merry Christmas.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Well, thank you, Shannon, Thank to you. And box out
your snow. Without your snow, it's not the same. Oh good,
nice shout out for Boxing Day.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Welcome. What is that? What's going to.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
Denver's eighty four degrees today?
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Mark that he was making a Jaronish like, we don't
have snow. I know there is snow in other parts
of America.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
In California too. Yeah, if you go up in the skills, it's.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Not real snow though. Yeah, it's like Child's Place snow.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Well, if we're going to chat next week, I'll talk
to your producers.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
But always a pleasure guy with Christmas, I think. But
I see what's happen on.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Yeah, all right, sounds good.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Best Merry Christmas, Mark, you two
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