- Nextdoor, the popular social media platform that services neighborhoods, has just undergone a refresh, of sorts. I catch up with Sarah Leary, co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Nextdoor
- Can ‘Y-Brush’ clean your teeth in only 10 seconds instead of the recommended 2 minutes? In interview all the way from France, I replay a chat with Benjamin Cohen, Founder and CEO of the company
- Thank you to Visa and SanDisk for your support!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the ever changing world
of technology? Can check it out? Can help make some
sense of it all, Breaking down geeksbeak into street speak.
Technology columnist, author, and TV personality Mark Saltzman covers consumer
technology each week for every listener, Mark tackles the latest news, reviews,
and how toos to help you understand what's hot, what's
(00:21):
not and why.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hey everyone, welcome to Tech It Out episode four oh three.
Hope you're all having an awesome July so far. Personally,
I love the hot weather where I live, but I
also welcome the air conditioning when I'm back at home.
It's funny people ask me as a tech journalist, what's
the greatest invention of the twentieth century?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Like, is it TV?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
The Internet, GPS, mobile phones? But I gotta say air
conditioning is right up there. I believe it was invented
right at the turn of the twentieth century. Anyhow, I
mentioned it's the four hundred and third episode of the show.
So on the milestone four hundredth episode, we gave away
a great laptop and then we announced the winner on
(01:06):
the four hundred and first episode. Then ecovas the robotic
home cleaning company with all kinds of robot vacuums and mops,
lawn cutting bots, and even window washing robots. They said
to me, Hey, we'd love to give away a prize
to tech it out listeners if you'd like, and so
I said sure, and the value was over twenty three
hundred dollars. Last week on the four hundred and second episode,
(01:29):
we announced the winner. Her name is Kayla Solomon and
she was one of the almost seven hundred people who
reached out. It was on Instagram and her name was
randomly chosen. I used the website calculator dot net. They
have a random number generator and so I just shared
all that on social media this week. So if you've
been waiting to hear who want and you don't follow
me on social media, thank you for entering to win
(01:51):
and we'll have to arrange for other giveaways going forward.
Speaking of last week's show, we also had lg On
as a guest to talk about what's new in tea
and we got the four to one one on the
first smart safe to protect your valuables at home. And
if you missed it or would like to hear it again,
you can hear those interviews in last week's podcast episode
(02:11):
available on demand of course, from the likes of Spotify,
Apple Podcasts, Amazon, Audible, iHeartRadio, tune In, Spreaker, and so
on and so forth. Again, that's episode four oh two.
But we have a great show planned for you today
as well. In fact, we have three guests standing by.
We're going to start off with the app next Door
(02:33):
and what's new from them. This is the very popular
neighborhood centric social media app and website that has just
undergone a huge refresh of sorts. So we're going to
hear what's new from Nextdoor. After that, a toothbrush that
completely changes the game. Why is it on a show
about technology? Well, you've probably heard it should take two
(02:53):
minutes to brush your teeth properly if you grew up
learning that as I did. But how about doing so
in ten seconds? And it's allegedly and even better clean
than a traditional toothbrush. So we're going to get the
skinny on that with the company. They're called why Brush,
that's the letter Why Brush. And finally, Solas portable hotspots
are becoming a popular travel gadget. It's actually two products
(03:16):
in one. It's a mobile hotspot kind of looks like
a hockey puck that lets multiple devices get online in
tons of countries around the world without needing Wi Fi.
And it's also a power bank that can juice up
your phone and other gadgets that you may carry around
like a smartwatch or Bluetooth earbuds and so on. So
Solas will be on tech it Out today as well.
(03:36):
All of this and more on a brand new tech
it Out powered by Visa, which I'll tell you more
about shortly, but without further ado, let's officially kick off
the brand new show with our first interview. Because of
its immense popularity, chances are you've heard of the Nextdoor
app by now, or perhaps even use it in your community.
Even if you haven't, no worries, as the social media
(03:58):
platform that services neighborhoods has just undergone a rebranding of sorts,
and so we're going to learn all about what's new
with Nextdoor with Sarah Leary, co founder and chief marketing
officer of Nextdoor. Welcome to the show, Sarah, good to
chat with you.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Thanks for having me on Mark. It's a real pleasure.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Great.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Now, hey, before we talk about what's new, as I
just hinted that in my introduction for those who haven't
yet spent any time on Nextdoor, can you tell us
at a high level what it's all about.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
Sure, So, Nextdoor is the essential neighborhood network. Our mission
is simple but very powerful. It's to make every neighborhood
feel like home. And we do this by connecting neighbors,
not users or members, but verified neighbors to the people, places,
and information around them, whether that's borrowing a ladder, finding
a handyman, or staying updated during a wildfire. Nextdoor is
(04:48):
where real life connections can happen online and then in person.
And what we've seen is that over the course of
the last many years, people are increasingly spending more and
more time behind screens, and yet we think that technology
can be a meaningful way to help you connect to
the real world communities right outside your front door. And
(05:08):
that's what we're focused on with the new next Door.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
And I mentioned off the top, Sarah that it's very popular.
Can you quantify that?
Speaker 5 (05:14):
Sure?
Speaker 4 (05:15):
We have over one hundred million neighbors around the world
in eleven countries, with one in three US households using Nextdoor.
In Canada we have one in three households in the
Greater Toronto area and just excited to see that millions
of people around the globe are using Nextdoor as a
way to stay connected to their neighborhood.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Anecdotally, my brother in law and sister in law have
had unfortunately some break ins on their street, so they're
leveraging next Door for everybody to keep up to date
to talk about different alarm systems and other neighborhood watch
initiatives to address this concern. But that's one example of
how they're using Nextdoor. And I know there's now a
new redesign as of the spring. Can you tell us
(05:58):
about it. I think it focuses on three core neighborhood
needs alerts, news, and faves or favorites.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Yes, this is the biggest product overhaul that we've had
in our fourteen year history, and we've rebuilt Nextdoor around
three important areas that neighbors have told us is very
important and the whole goal of this is to help
neighbors stay informed with timely and relevant information. The first
one is around alerts, and this is where we will
(06:27):
be delivering for folks real time, verified updates on safety
issues that might be happening in their local area. So
this could be a time of a serious crisis like wildfire,
but also times when there's power outages or safety alerts
in the neighborhood. And the idea is that we can
send out this information as it's happening. Interestingly, we've partnered
(06:49):
with an Edmonton based company called Samdesk, as well as
weather dot Com to provide these alerts in a timely way.
And this is just a great example, the example that
you gave already with your family and wanting to stay involved.
What we've heard time and time again is that people
like to turn to next door to stay informed about
(07:09):
what's happening, to share information, and then to connect with
other neighbors to help be better prepared and keep their
neighborhood safe. And we believe with alerts, we'll be able
to share that information in a more timely way while
still allowing the neighbors to have conversations about what's happening.
Speaker 6 (07:26):
Great.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
The second area that I'll call out is around news,
and what we've heard from neighbors over the years is
that they want to stay informed about what's happening in
their local community. And one of the best ways to
do that is to tap into the great articles that
are being written in local news publications, and so we've
partnered with over thirty five hundred local publications across the US,
(07:50):
the UK, and Canada to bring daily articles that are
relevant to neighbors. We map those two specific neighborhoods based
on the content of those articles, so that neighbors can
read what is happening in their local area and then
discuss it with their neighbors. In areas of Canada, for example,
(08:11):
we have partnered with the Toronto Star. That's one example,
and we have several more like the Ottawa Business Journal,
the Green Line, and nar City, and those are just
an example of some of the early partners that we're
working with to bring hyper local news to neighbors in
their neighborhood.
Speaker 6 (08:28):
Great.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
I just wrote an article in the tron Star today,
so I'm happy to hear that. Yeah, that's fast, all right.
So we've covered alerts and news, let's cover faves and
then I have a couple of questions about alerts and
news too, But faves is the third pillar, if you will,
for this hyper local content.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Right, So we're very excited about neighborhood fhaves. As many
people know, folks have been turning to nextdoor for years
to share local recommendations amongst neighbors. In fact, over thirty
percent of all the posts are about people sharing their
recommendations for the hidden gems in a neighborhood. But in
this day and age, we want to be able to
(09:04):
really harness that in a smart way, So we're using
AI technology to summarize those recommendations. So a neighbor can
come in, they can ask a question what is the
best place to go for a hike, and within seconds
we'll be able to deliver to them a summary of
the best recommendations in their local neighborhood, using AI as
(09:24):
a summary, pulling from the recommendations from their actual neighbors.
This is an area that we are in early testing.
We're actually in beta tests in select cities in the US,
and the plan is to roll out across the US
and in Canada in the months and days ahead.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
It's funny where my mind is at. I was going
to say, so, what's the best taco place nearby? You're
talking about hikes, So yeah, we're really not on the
same wavelength here, but it.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Will work for hikes and we'll work for Taco place.
It will work for recommendations about what should I grow
in my garden?
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Yeah fair, I'm just teasing. I'm going to ask Sarah Leary,
our guest, co founder and CMO of Nextdoor, more about
the alerts part of it, especially with the tragic events
of Texas the other week and wildfires that are raging
through western Canada and affecting the air quality considerably in
(10:16):
other parts of Canada and in the US as well,
especially in the Northwest as well as the Midwest the
Northern States there. I'd love to learn how specifically Nextdoor
can help. So we're going to get to that, and
then don't forget we have two other guests planned for
this hour as well.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
We're going to learn about the y brush.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
This is a new kind of electric toothbrush that claims
to clean your mouth as well as, if not better
than a regular toothbrush in just ten seconds. We'll hear
all about that, and also on the show Solis Solis.
This is a company that makes a very popular travel
gadget that has two purposes. Most importantly, it's a portable hotspot,
so it works in over one hundred countries where you
(10:57):
can get access to the Internet through cellular connectivity on
multiple devices for you and maybe your family or coworkers
without relying on public Wi Fi hotspots, which isn't safe.
And it's also a backup battery. It's a power bank
as well. So there's a lot more to get to
on the program. You are listening to Check it Out.
I'm your host, Mark Saltzman, continuing with next Door. When
(11:19):
we return after this short break.
Speaker 6 (11:22):
Stick with us.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Listen to Check it Out.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
Whenever you want to find the Check it Out podcast,
did I too, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Welcome back to Teck it Out.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
We cover cybersecurity a lot on this program and how
you can best protect yourself in the digital age, even
if you're not super tech savvy. One part of the
solution is securely shopping online. And so I'm thrilled about
my partnership with Visa on Tech it Out as they've
made some significant investments in fraud over the past five years,
as much as ten billion dollars, yes that's billion, with
(12:05):
the Bee to support Visa's brand promise to protect the
financial information of individuals and businesses, zero liability, means peace
of mind when you shop online using your Visa card.
There can be no half measures when it comes to cybersecurity,
which is why the company takes an aggressive and multi
layered approach to combating the rising threat of malicious software
(12:26):
and other threats by well funded and global criminal enterprises.
Read more about Visa and how securing the world's payments
is priority one at Visa dot com slash Security. That's
Visa dot Com slash Security. We are chatting with Sarah Leary.
She is co founder and CMO of Nextdoor, a very
popular app. It's free to use for your neighborhood. It's
(12:49):
hyper local with alerts. So as we recently saw in
Texas the very unfortunate natural disaster that took place there
in all the lives that were taken, as well as
in Western Canada with wildfire's, this could help with natural
disasters as well. I think you hinted at something earlier
in our chat, so the alerts can also tell you
and your neighbors about something they should know about that
could potentially save lives.
Speaker 6 (13:10):
You know.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
For years, next door has been a vital piece of
infrastructure that has helped neighbors stay informed about what's happening.
But what we're doing now in response to the so
many episodes that we see across the North America in
terms of wildfires or flooding, is that what we're doing
is we're partnering with Samdesk to provide immediate, timely alert,
(13:33):
so as something is happening, we'll send out an alert
to people to notify them that there's something critical happening.
This creates a centralized place where neighbors can come together
and stay informed as well as discuss how they're going
to respond to it. And we saw this with wildfires
in Canada. We saw wildfires down in southern California earlier
(13:54):
this year, of course, as well as flooding in Texas.
And our goal here is to really help neighbors stay
informed with the best possible information, as well as allow
local public services and agencies to be able to comment
and provide further information as a situation is unfolding. We
really look at this as a powerful way for people
(14:16):
to know what's happening in their neighborhood, especially when there's
critical issues that are unfolding real time.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
If someone's team, like let's say my daughter Maya wants
to be available as a babysitter.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
What section would that go under?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
How does that work when you want to post something
that may not fit one of those three categories.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
Sure, well, we allow people to use the platform to
share information as they see fit. That specific example of
someone who wanted to offer babysitting services would be great
for the classifieds where they could list their availability. And
the great thing about it is that that goes out
to your local neighborhood, so that you can be sure
(14:53):
that you're connecting with neighbors who are nearby and in
the local area. And that's something that I think all
parents will appreciate.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Would it also be classified for using next door to
buy and sell or trade items with others? I know
people have leverage next door for that, like if you
want to do some spring cleaning and make a couple
of bucks on the side, I love the whole circular
economy side of things.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
I'm so glad that you brought that up, Mark, It's
one of the most popular ways that people like to
use next Door, and so we have a whole section
for sale and free where neighbors can list items for
sale or oftentimes we see people listing things for free,
because obviously, given that it's your neighbors and these are
all people who live around you, the opportunity to just
(15:36):
drive over and maybe pick up that bookcase and use
it in a second bedroom is something that makes a
lot of sense. So we see that as a very
common use case where people are turning to nextdoor to
recycle and share that those items that they maybe aren't
using anymore.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
And again, I just want to remind our listeners that
next Door is very much your neighborhood. It's not like Facebook,
Marketplace or Craigslist or or Kijiji in Canada where you
can buy and sell or trade or donate with people
from other suburbs or other cities. This is directly tied
to where you live and that's one of the biggest
distinctions here. And then before I let you go, Sarah,
(16:13):
and of course ask how we can get going if
our listeners aren't on nextdoor yet. For those who like
to advertise to specific neighborhoods, what can you do there?
And what's new with this refresh, this rebranding.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
We've been offering for years the ability for advertisers to
be able to use the platform to be able to
target folks in their local neighborhoods. And we're just excited
about how the new next Door will bring more neighbors
and provide even more context for them to be able
to reach a broader audience. We know advertisers are excited
about seeing a platform continue to grow that's focus on
(16:49):
delivering daily audience and providing the type of information that
frankly is hard to find anywhere else on the web.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Great, So I open up a new pickleball place and
I want to advertise to a certain neighborhood, I can
leverage Nextdoor for that. So services or products of to store,
a restaurant, a cafe, a nail salon.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
The platform is designed for small businesses, medium sized businesses,
as well as national brands to be able to do
hyperlocal targeting at scale. The new Nextdoor is available today
and the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store, and
of course at nextdoor dot com. And so we encourage
everyone to update their apps today to ensure that they're
(17:28):
getting the latest version of Nextdoor.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
All right, Sarah, thank you so much for your time,
Sarah Leary from Nextdoor. Great to chat with you and
congrats on the relaunch or rebranding or refresh of Nextdoor.
Thanks again, Thanks Mark.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Really excited for people to check out the new Nextdoor.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
When we return on tech it out a new kind
of toothbrush that claims to clean your teeth in just
ten seconds and just as good, if not better, than
a regular toothbrush, so the company claims. So we're going
to learn all about Why Brush when we return. That's
the letter Why Brush, and then after that a great
(18:05):
gadget for travelers, perfect for summer. So we're going to
get to solace as well. This hour stick with us
more check it out coming right up after this short break.
Speaker 5 (18:15):
Want to follow Mark Google Up, Mark with a C
and Saltzman with a Z breaking down geeks peak into
street speak.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
This is check it Out to check it out with
technology columnist, author, and TV personality Mark Saltzman.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Welcome back everyone, you're listening to check it out.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Back in January of twenty nineteen, I was at the
Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and there was a
lot of buzz surrounding a product called Why Brush, builled
as a faster and smarter electronic toothbrush that could simultaneously
clean your teeth in just ten seconds. No less and
so I had the founder and CEO of the show
at the time, it is joining us once again to
(19:04):
give us a Y brush one O one and an
update on where the.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Company is at.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
We've got Benjamin Cohen on the line all the way
from France. Welcome back to the show. Benjamin, good to
chat with.
Speaker 7 (19:13):
You, Mike Good to talk with you.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
So why don't we start right from the top. What
is Y brush? And for our listeners it's spelled the
letter y dash brush exactly.
Speaker 7 (19:23):
So ybrush is a sonic toothbrush which is able to
brush your tea simultaneously in ten seconds instead of the
two minutes recommended by the dentists. In fact, it's like
a tonic toothbrush, like an NX bit tooth brush. It's
composed with an hunder which is able to generate sonic
arbutions and with a brush head which is very flexible,
(19:45):
with a Y shaped Y shaped brush head which is
very flexible, which is lined with Certis fivesand of nine
on reselves able to brush all the teas, all the
size of on your teas at once.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Okay, so again I just want my make sure my
listen get this that instead of the recommended two minutes
with a manual or electric toothbrush that we may have
in our bathrooms today. Why brush is in the shape
of a y, but you put it in your mouth
and it'll clean all your teeth, top, bottoms, and sides
all at the same time, so that you're getting a
(20:18):
comparable clean in ten seconds? Or is it as good?
Can you talk to us about how well it works.
Speaker 7 (20:24):
It's as good as as a two minute to brushing.
And the fact is usually people don't brush that just
for two minutes the brush. The average brushing is more
around one minute, so in fact we do at least
the same. But you really it's more effectives as a
standout to the brushing.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Okay, because we're not doing the recommended two minutes, is
what you're saying most of us.
Speaker 7 (20:46):
It depends, of course, but some people do the two minutes,
but as the main part of the population do an
average of one minutes.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
And have you had dentists agree?
Speaker 2 (20:56):
I don't think you're dentist yourself, Benjamin, Please correct me
if I'm wrong, But have you studies that prove it's
as effective as a manual or electric toothbrush that we
use today?
Speaker 7 (21:06):
So we have worked with the many dentists. On my part,
I have a background as a resencher. I did some
studies in Harvard in the US. Even if I was
I was based in France. We did many clinical studies
and the main part of the studies shows that we
have that webrush has exactly the same effectiveness as a
(21:28):
good two minute manual to the brushing.
Speaker 6 (21:31):
And we just.
Speaker 7 (21:32):
Unveiled a few days ago a study which showed that
with weibrush you get two times more efficient brushings as
leading sonic to the brush. Oh wow, so yeah, it's this.
This study is very very powerful since this is the
main study we have which compares to the to THET frequents.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
And you did call it a sonic brush, so press,
but I presume and you put it in your mouth
and it does its thing.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (22:02):
When it's some mouse, you only have to do two
very simple gesture. You have to chew like a showing
gum and to move from left to right to brother back.
If you have with some TIF you have baptist, it's
important to do this gesture. And in fact, when you
get the product, you have a cure code to scam
and then you get an interactive video which explains you
(22:24):
step by step how to use the product. If you
have any questions, just click on the button and then
you get the you know, the customer service. So because
it's very important to get used to the product, to
get used to the filling, to get used to the gesture.
But with this cure code, you get everything to start.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Okay, we are chatting with Benjamin Cohen. He is founder
and CEO of the company, which is the same name
as the product. It's y Brush hy dash brush, and
this is a electric or sonic toothbrush that is not
with the plassic head, hale and bristles at the top
that you're probably used to.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
It is in the shape of a y.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
You put it in your mouth and the company claims
that within ten seconds you're going to get as good as,
if not a better clean than the alternative methods. So, Benji,
obviously we met five years ago. What have you been
working on? Is this patent pending? Have you been improving it?
Give us an update from the last time that we talked.
Speaker 7 (23:21):
Yeah, so we have many patents, many patents, and when
we spoke a few years ago, I think, yeah, the
patents were repunding, but no, they were released. Since since
five years ago we launched a new generation of the technology.
So no, because in twenty nineteen when we chat, we
(23:44):
just finished in twenty eighteen a Kickstarter right to ship
the product the beginning of twenty twenty. So no, we
have the third generation of the product on the market
since in the last months we mainly focused in the
US market. So now in the issue are in the US.
You can buy on Amazon dot Com. You can buy
(24:07):
you can buy on our website, which is the widest
brush dot co directly in the US from our US inventory.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Before we talk pricing, Benjamin, does y brush need to
be replaced or adit? Those parts like the heads need
to be replaced over time.
Speaker 7 (24:21):
No, you only have to replace the head every four months.
The battery is builting, so it's inside and you only
have to charge for two hours and you get three
months of charge.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
But that's it. How much does it cost in the US.
Speaker 7 (24:35):
So in the US, it depends why you buy the product.
It's an Amazon it starts at seventy nine and in
our website we have plans starting at twenty nine.
Speaker 6 (24:44):
Oh big different.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Okay, we have one.
Speaker 7 (24:46):
Motherl for the kids too, because We spoke many for
the addults to the brush, but we have one one
for the kids because you really parents try to usually
to find a solution for the two brushing problems.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Okay, and that's the one that's twenty nine because it's smaller,
you know.
Speaker 7 (25:04):
The one at twenty nine is the plants is a
plan where you get where you buy the product at
twenty nine, but you get quarterly refills with a one
year membership. If you don't want to get one year membership,
it starts with a due brush at seventy nine.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Before we wrap up, have you ever heard from some
of the big toothbrush makers like rob and Phillips. Have
you heard from them over the last five years?
Speaker 7 (25:30):
Yes, of course, of course we I think we met
the c s right, yeah, this yea five years got's see. Yes,
it was directly on the booth. So usually for this
kind of shoe we get many people from Colligate, from LB, Phillips, etc.
Speaker 6 (25:48):
So we used to discuss with them.
Speaker 7 (25:50):
Yeah okay, but I always they're still working on a
traditional brush heads.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Fair enough, all right, and so the best website again
is why dash brush Dot. And that's the letter Why
dash Brush Dot COO that's the US website. Benjamin Cohen,
great to chat with you, Glad to hear that you're
still going strong.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
Thank you again, Thank you mach for me from teeh
to Travel.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
We're going to learn all about the soulas portable hotspot
when we return on tech it Out.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
Stay with us breaking down GeekSpeak into street speak Check
it Out, hosted by Mark Saltzman.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Welcome back to check it Out. It's travel season and instead.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Of paying through the nose to roam with your existing
mobile carrier, many opt for renting an e SIM for
their smartphone. But there's another solution as well, especially for
those who want to use a tablet or laptop to
get on the internet while in another country. So to
tell us all about the Soulas Go, that's the name
of the product, Soli is Eric Plam, president of the
(27:02):
company behind the product called Cimo.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Welcome to the show. Eric, good to chat with you.
Speaker 6 (27:06):
Thank you. Mark. Nice to be here.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
So why don't we dive right in at a high level.
What is soulas Go?
Speaker 6 (27:12):
Right, and we have a couple different models. Solas Go
is a Wi Fi mobile hotspot. It's a portable device,
battery powered device sort of like you can think about
like a smartphone but no screen. And what it does
is it provides you with Wi Fi access all around
the world in over one hundred and forty countries, all right.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
So it's like joining your wireless router at home for example,
where you want to get on the internet on various
devices a phone, a tablet, a laptop, at desktop. But
this is portable, so you're using Wi Fi to connect
to the solas go. But then it uses cellular connectivity.
Speaker 6 (27:48):
Is that right? That's right, Mark, And so in real
rough terms, here's how this works. It's our device connects
to the local four G or five G networks around
the world. So a lot of people have heard four
G is LTE, same thing, So our device connects to
that network. Here's what makes our product different than other ones.
We have a multi carrier capability, and so our device
(28:10):
can actually find the strongest signal regardless of what the
underlying carrier is. And then what we do is we
take that signal and we turn it into a Wi
Fi signal for any of your devices, whether it be
your smartphone, your tablet, or your laptop. We can power
multiple devices off of the same Wi Fi hotspot using
that same connection to the carrier's for ge or five
(28:31):
G network.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Got it.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
I know a lot of people who have a summer home,
you know, like on a lake kind of thing, a
cabin to a cottage. They also like these devices because
they don't have year round Wi Fi in those secondary
homes in many instances. Right, So very practical solution.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
But you're right.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Usually you would buy or rent one of these portable
hotspots from your carrier, so from a T Mobile and
AT and T of Orizon, and so it can be
used both locally like if you need a hotspot, but
as well overseas.
Speaker 6 (29:00):
Yeah, and in most of those countries, we provide multiple
carrier support, so not just one carrier like a normal
phone would be where you'd be tied to your one carrier,
but in those one hundred and forty countries we support one, two, three,
or even four different carriers.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
All right, So I mentioned esim's off the top, which
is becoming more and more popular. Modern phones don't require
a little white SIM card. It's done digitally, and that
is becoming popular for world travelers because it's cheaper than
using your mobile phone number to roam overseas. So can
you clarify that with the soulas go, it does not
require a SIM card. It is like an eSIM or
(29:40):
a virtual SIM solution.
Speaker 6 (29:42):
That's right. So what you're describing as eSIM and SIM
is a a very good technology. It's very popular and
for certain circumstances, eSIM makes sense. For example, if you
want to switch from one carrier to another carrier and
stay there for a while, it can make sense. And
it works on one divine. So for example, your smartphone
or your tablet, if you have multiple devices, you're going
(30:03):
to need multiple SIMS. And the other thing to remember too,
is that if you're traveling with coworkers or friends or family,
you're going to need an e SIM for each of
those devices. So imagine if you're traveling with a family
of five, each having a smartphone and a tablet, you
might need ten different sims. But it is a good technology. However,
(30:25):
here's where we're different is we have one product, one device,
and yes you do carry the device, but it'll handle
between depending on which model device you buy from US,
between ten to twenty different connections. So you could have
an array of smartphones and tablets and laptops all connected
to the same Wi Fi hotspot device.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
And because it's battery powered, you're not limited to just
doing this in say a hotel room, where it's plugged
into the wall. You can bring this to the beach
and everybody on a different device, an eReader, a smart watch,
a laptop, a smartphone, a tablet, everybody can get on
it at at one time.
Speaker 6 (31:01):
That's exactly right. Yeah, there's another difference too. A lot
of people ask us the difference between eSIM and our
technology is called VSIM by the way, as in virtual SIM,
and a couple of differences, and one of those is
with our product, you're always on a local network. We're
actually not a roaming product. It's not a roaming service.
So roaming is actually very inefficient. Let's say, just as
(31:22):
an example, you go and travel to Paris, but your
home is, let's say Los Angeles. The data path goes
all the way back to Los Angeles where your home
network is in order to provide you that service in Paris,
and so it slows down the service. That makes it clunky,
high latency, and also it gets to be very expensive
to do roaming. So what we do is we help
our customers to avoid roaming by always delivering a behind
(31:45):
the scenes, we're always delivering a local SIM card.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
If you are using the SOLAS go to get online
without paying your provider for roaming.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
Do you still have your phone number? Do you have
to activate Wi Fi calling?
Speaker 6 (31:59):
Yeah? Yeah, there's some really creative things, and I can
explain it probably in a way that makes sense. This
is how I travel is. I personally use T Mobile,
but just about any of the other carriers in US
or Canada could be the same concept. And I have
a really good roaming package on T Mobile and it's
included in my plan. But it's very slow. It's deliberately
(32:21):
throttled down to below two hundred and fifty six kilobits
per second. So it's really great for just getting email,
not very good for web surfing or even using applications
like maps. But the good thing is people can call
you on your phone and you can receive those phone calls,
and you can also receive the text messages. You layer
in a soulless Wi Fi hotspot, and now you get
(32:42):
the really fast, snappy broadband for very inexpensive. In my mind,
that's the best combination. One of the problems with eSIM
is that When you put an eSIM in, you very
likely won't have access to your home phone number and texting.
So if somebody texts you there's some kind of emergency
at home or something somebody wants to share by text,
(33:03):
you may not get that when you're traveling overseas and
use the ane.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Sim fair more with Eric from SOLAS when we return
on check it out.
Speaker 5 (33:11):
Follow Mark Saltzman on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram. Listen
to check it out whenever you want.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
We are chatting with Eric Plan.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
He is president of Cimo talking to us about the
Solace family of devices. We should also tell our listeners
there are a couple of products, so we've been talking
about the Solace Go, which has a.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Very cool feature.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
It not only has a built in battery that you
can charge up your phone or your earbuds or what
have you, but it even has.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
The cables built in, a lightning cable.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
For legacy iPhones and AirPods, as well as USB c
for modern iPhones and iPads and Android devices. And there's
also the Soulas Hero hotspot, which kind of looks like
an orange hockey puck if I may, that also has
a huge power bank inside a backup battery for charging
up your devices, but it doesn't have the cables built in.
(34:14):
That's basically the difference. So those are just two in
the Soulas hotspot family, but there are others as well.
And how long approximately would the battery last? Obviously it's
going to take away some of the battery life if
you use it to charge up your phone, but if
you don't, roughly how many hours of internet access can
you get?
Speaker 6 (34:32):
Yeah, you can get up to forty eight hours of
battery life if using it as a Wi Fi hotspot,
And of course it depends on how much you're using
and if you're really drawing down lots of data, it
becomes more battery intensive too, but up to forty eight hours.
And now if you use it as a power bank,
it's definitely going to shorten the battery life.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
That's fair.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
And just to be clear, that's for the Soulless Go
that's the one that lasts up to forty eight hours.
The Solace Hero is up to eighteen hours. Still impressive.
And then before I let you go, Eric, not only
would our listeners of course like to know how much
the Solace products costs. And I know you've already mentioned
there's a couple of different ones. But how the data
charges work? So if it's jumping around between potentially different
(35:15):
mobile phone carriers when you're overseas, how does that pricing work?
Because I know when I buy an e SIM it's
relatively cheap. It'll be like, all right, it's five bucks
for three gigs of data, but you're usually locked to
one provider. But the pricing is all known upfront. How
does it work with your solution since it can leverage
different mobile networks?
Speaker 6 (35:35):
Right? Well, first of all, we make it really easy.
A lot of times when people buy a Wi Fi hotspot,
they also have to go and procure SIM cards to
put in it. But I just wanted to reiterate that
that's not necessary with our product. So our product has
built in service and in fact, for any customer who
buys our product, they get what we call lifetime data.
That means for the life of the device, as long
(35:56):
as you have it, you get one free gigabyte per
month that can be used anywhere in the world. And
then when you need additional data, you come to our store.
It's a very easy store to get to, an online
online shop either accessible through our app, or through the web,
and you can buy any sort of data package you want.
For example, you could get a day pass. If you're
just going somewhere you want a local cafe even and
(36:18):
you want to use it there, you can get a
day pass with no obligation to buy anything else beyond that.
Or you could get a what we call go data.
You could get five or ten or twenty five gigabytes
and get at auto renews to make sure you're never
out of data. That's another option, and one of our
most popular options is something called UMS Unlimited Monthly service.
(36:39):
And so we have a couple of unlimited services available
depending on what geography you want them in, but we
make it super simple to choose and pick the one
that you want and sign up for it.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
For the Solas Hero product, what would be the starting costs.
Speaker 6 (36:53):
So mark for the Solas Hero product, it's one hundred
and sixty nine dollars to buy the device, and it
comes with ten gigabytes of data bundled together with it.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
And that's separate from the one gig you can use
per month.
Speaker 6 (37:07):
That's exactly right. In addition, you get the Lifetime Data
which gives you one gig per month. For free for
the lifetime of the device.
Speaker 3 (37:13):
And can you use it domestically too.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Again, I painted the scenario of like a summer home
where you don't want to pay for internet all year round.
Speaker 6 (37:20):
Absolutely, this product is perfect for summer travel, whether you're
actually just going down the street to your local cafe
or let's say you're taking a camping trip going somewhere
rural where multi carrier coverage would be useful. It's a
perfect solution. And it's also great for road trips, whether
you're going in a car and an RV and the
kids have their tablets out and the parents have their
(37:42):
laptops out. It powers all those devices for your road trip.
The way you can learn more about us is from
Solace WiFi dot Co. That's so l i s WiFi
dot Co.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
All right, Eric plamspinner guest. Great to chat with you, Eric,
Thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (37:59):
Thank you, Mark, it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Before we wrap up another episode of Tech It Out,
I just wanted to give a quick shout out to
sand Disc. Thank you for your support on this program.
If you're an iPhone user, you know that you have
to commit to a certain amount of storage upfront, and
it's not expandable, and that's the case with many Android
devices today too, But with sand Disk's flash memory, like
their USB C based flash memory their I expand devices,
(38:24):
they can snap underneath the iPhone and not only can
you back up files to free up more storage on
your phone because as we know, photos and videos can
take up a lot of space, but it's fast enough
to run off the drive as well. You can play
movies on your phone that are off the drive. It's
super smooth, so really great stuff from sand Disk. I
also wanted to thank Visa one last time.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
For your support.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
Securing the world's payments is priority one. Head on over
to visa dot com slash security to learn more and
I hope to have an interview for the next episode
of tech it Out with someone from Visa.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
And hey, that's a wrap. All the best.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Everyone, Looking forward to catching up with you next time
for another brand new episode of Check it Out.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Chow for now,
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the ever changing world
of technology? Can check it out? Can help make some
sense of it all, Breaking down geeksbeak into street speak.
Technology columnist, author, and TV personality Mark Saltzman covers consumer
technology each week for every listener, Mark tackles the latest news, reviews,
and how toos to help you understand what's hot, what's
(00:21):
not and why.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hey everyone, welcome to Tech It Out episode four oh three.
Hope you're all having an awesome July so far. Personally,
I love the hot weather where I live, but I
also welcome the air conditioning when I'm back at home.
It's funny people ask me as a tech journalist, what's
the greatest invention of the twentieth century?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Like, is it TV?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
The Internet, GPS, mobile phones? But I gotta say air
conditioning is right up there. I believe it was invented
right at the turn of the twentieth century. Anyhow, I
mentioned it's the four hundred and third episode of the show.
So on the milestone four hundredth episode, we gave away
a great laptop and then we announced the winner on
(01:06):
the four hundred and first episode. Then ecovas the robotic
home cleaning company with all kinds of robot vacuums and mops,
lawn cutting bots, and even window washing robots. They said
to me, Hey, we'd love to give away a prize
to tech it out listeners if you'd like, and so
I said sure, and the value was over twenty three
hundred dollars. Last week on the four hundred and second episode,
(01:29):
we announced the winner. Her name is Kayla Solomon and
she was one of the almost seven hundred people who
reached out. It was on Instagram and her name was
randomly chosen. I used the website calculator dot net. They
have a random number generator and so I just shared
all that on social media this week. So if you've
been waiting to hear who want and you don't follow
me on social media, thank you for entering to win
(01:51):
and we'll have to arrange for other giveaways going forward.
Speaking of last week's show, we also had lg On
as a guest to talk about what's new in tea
and we got the four to one one on the
first smart safe to protect your valuables at home. And
if you missed it or would like to hear it again,
you can hear those interviews in last week's podcast episode
(02:11):
available on demand of course, from the likes of Spotify,
Apple Podcasts, Amazon, Audible, iHeartRadio, tune In, Spreaker, and so
on and so forth. Again, that's episode four oh two.
But we have a great show planned for you today
as well. In fact, we have three guests standing by.
We're going to start off with the app next Door
(02:33):
and what's new from them. This is the very popular
neighborhood centric social media app and website that has just
undergone a huge refresh of sorts. So we're going to
hear what's new from Nextdoor. After that, a toothbrush that
completely changes the game. Why is it on a show
about technology? Well, you've probably heard it should take two
(02:53):
minutes to brush your teeth properly if you grew up
learning that as I did. But how about doing so
in ten seconds? And it's allegedly and even better clean
than a traditional toothbrush. So we're going to get the
skinny on that with the company. They're called why Brush,
that's the letter Why Brush. And finally, Solas portable hotspots
are becoming a popular travel gadget. It's actually two products
(03:16):
in one. It's a mobile hotspot kind of looks like
a hockey puck that lets multiple devices get online in
tons of countries around the world without needing Wi Fi.
And it's also a power bank that can juice up
your phone and other gadgets that you may carry around
like a smartwatch or Bluetooth earbuds and so on. So
Solas will be on tech it Out today as well.
(03:36):
All of this and more on a brand new tech
it Out powered by Visa, which I'll tell you more
about shortly, but without further ado, let's officially kick off
the brand new show with our first interview. Because of
its immense popularity, chances are you've heard of the Nextdoor
app by now, or perhaps even use it in your community.
Even if you haven't, no worries, as the social media
(03:58):
platform that services neighborhoods has just undergone a rebranding of sorts,
and so we're going to learn all about what's new
with Nextdoor with Sarah Leary, co founder and chief marketing
officer of Nextdoor. Welcome to the show, Sarah, good to
chat with you.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Thanks for having me on Mark. It's a real pleasure.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Great.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Now, hey, before we talk about what's new, as I
just hinted that in my introduction for those who haven't
yet spent any time on Nextdoor, can you tell us
at a high level what it's all about.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
Sure, So, Nextdoor is the essential neighborhood network. Our mission
is simple but very powerful. It's to make every neighborhood
feel like home. And we do this by connecting neighbors,
not users or members, but verified neighbors to the people, places,
and information around them, whether that's borrowing a ladder, finding
a handyman, or staying updated during a wildfire. Nextdoor is
(04:48):
where real life connections can happen online and then in person.
And what we've seen is that over the course of
the last many years, people are increasingly spending more and
more time behind screens, and yet we think that technology
can be a meaningful way to help you connect to
the real world communities right outside your front door. And
(05:08):
that's what we're focused on with the new next Door.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
And I mentioned off the top, Sarah that it's very popular.
Can you quantify that?
Speaker 5 (05:14):
Sure?
Speaker 4 (05:15):
We have over one hundred million neighbors around the world
in eleven countries, with one in three US households using Nextdoor.
In Canada we have one in three households in the
Greater Toronto area and just excited to see that millions
of people around the globe are using Nextdoor as a
way to stay connected to their neighborhood.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Anecdotally, my brother in law and sister in law have
had unfortunately some break ins on their street, so they're
leveraging next Door for everybody to keep up to date
to talk about different alarm systems and other neighborhood watch
initiatives to address this concern. But that's one example of
how they're using Nextdoor. And I know there's now a
new redesign as of the spring. Can you tell us
(05:58):
about it. I think it focuses on three core neighborhood
needs alerts, news, and faves or favorites.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Yes, this is the biggest product overhaul that we've had
in our fourteen year history, and we've rebuilt Nextdoor around
three important areas that neighbors have told us is very
important and the whole goal of this is to help
neighbors stay informed with timely and relevant information. The first
one is around alerts, and this is where we will
(06:27):
be delivering for folks real time, verified updates on safety
issues that might be happening in their local area. So
this could be a time of a serious crisis like wildfire,
but also times when there's power outages or safety alerts
in the neighborhood. And the idea is that we can
send out this information as it's happening. Interestingly, we've partnered
(06:49):
with an Edmonton based company called Samdesk, as well as
weather dot Com to provide these alerts in a timely way.
And this is just a great example, the example that
you gave already with your family and wanting to stay involved.
What we've heard time and time again is that people
like to turn to next door to stay informed about
(07:09):
what's happening, to share information, and then to connect with
other neighbors to help be better prepared and keep their
neighborhood safe. And we believe with alerts, we'll be able
to share that information in a more timely way while
still allowing the neighbors to have conversations about what's happening.
Speaker 6 (07:26):
Great.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
The second area that I'll call out is around news,
and what we've heard from neighbors over the years is
that they want to stay informed about what's happening in
their local community. And one of the best ways to
do that is to tap into the great articles that
are being written in local news publications, and so we've
partnered with over thirty five hundred local publications across the US,
(07:50):
the UK, and Canada to bring daily articles that are
relevant to neighbors. We map those two specific neighborhoods based
on the content of those articles, so that neighbors can
read what is happening in their local area and then
discuss it with their neighbors. In areas of Canada, for example,
(08:11):
we have partnered with the Toronto Star. That's one example,
and we have several more like the Ottawa Business Journal,
the Green Line, and nar City, and those are just
an example of some of the early partners that we're
working with to bring hyper local news to neighbors in
their neighborhood.
Speaker 6 (08:28):
Great.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
I just wrote an article in the tron Star today,
so I'm happy to hear that. Yeah, that's fast, all right.
So we've covered alerts and news, let's cover faves and
then I have a couple of questions about alerts and
news too, But faves is the third pillar, if you will,
for this hyper local content.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Right, So we're very excited about neighborhood fhaves. As many
people know, folks have been turning to nextdoor for years
to share local recommendations amongst neighbors. In fact, over thirty
percent of all the posts are about people sharing their
recommendations for the hidden gems in a neighborhood. But in
this day and age, we want to be able to
(09:04):
really harness that in a smart way, So we're using
AI technology to summarize those recommendations. So a neighbor can
come in, they can ask a question what is the
best place to go for a hike, and within seconds
we'll be able to deliver to them a summary of
the best recommendations in their local neighborhood, using AI as
(09:24):
a summary, pulling from the recommendations from their actual neighbors.
This is an area that we are in early testing.
We're actually in beta tests in select cities in the US,
and the plan is to roll out across the US
and in Canada in the months and days ahead.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
It's funny where my mind is at. I was going
to say, so, what's the best taco place nearby? You're
talking about hikes, So yeah, we're really not on the
same wavelength here, but it.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Will work for hikes and we'll work for Taco place.
It will work for recommendations about what should I grow
in my garden?
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Yeah fair, I'm just teasing. I'm going to ask Sarah Leary,
our guest, co founder and CMO of Nextdoor, more about
the alerts part of it, especially with the tragic events
of Texas the other week and wildfires that are raging
through western Canada and affecting the air quality considerably in
(10:16):
other parts of Canada and in the US as well,
especially in the Northwest as well as the Midwest the
Northern States there. I'd love to learn how specifically Nextdoor
can help. So we're going to get to that, and
then don't forget we have two other guests planned for
this hour as well.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
We're going to learn about the y brush.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
This is a new kind of electric toothbrush that claims
to clean your mouth as well as, if not better
than a regular toothbrush in just ten seconds. We'll hear
all about that, and also on the show Solis Solis.
This is a company that makes a very popular travel
gadget that has two purposes. Most importantly, it's a portable hotspot,
so it works in over one hundred countries where you
(10:57):
can get access to the Internet through cellular connectivity on
multiple devices for you and maybe your family or coworkers
without relying on public Wi Fi hotspots, which isn't safe.
And it's also a backup battery. It's a power bank
as well. So there's a lot more to get to
on the program. You are listening to Check it Out.
I'm your host, Mark Saltzman, continuing with next Door. When
(11:19):
we return after this short break.
Speaker 6 (11:22):
Stick with us.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Listen to Check it Out.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
Whenever you want to find the Check it Out podcast,
did I too, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Welcome back to Teck it Out.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
We cover cybersecurity a lot on this program and how
you can best protect yourself in the digital age, even
if you're not super tech savvy. One part of the
solution is securely shopping online. And so I'm thrilled about
my partnership with Visa on Tech it Out as they've
made some significant investments in fraud over the past five years,
as much as ten billion dollars, yes that's billion, with
(12:05):
the Bee to support Visa's brand promise to protect the
financial information of individuals and businesses, zero liability, means peace
of mind when you shop online using your Visa card.
There can be no half measures when it comes to cybersecurity,
which is why the company takes an aggressive and multi
layered approach to combating the rising threat of malicious software
(12:26):
and other threats by well funded and global criminal enterprises.
Read more about Visa and how securing the world's payments
is priority one at Visa dot com slash Security. That's
Visa dot Com slash Security. We are chatting with Sarah Leary.
She is co founder and CMO of Nextdoor, a very
popular app. It's free to use for your neighborhood. It's
(12:49):
hyper local with alerts. So as we recently saw in
Texas the very unfortunate natural disaster that took place there
in all the lives that were taken, as well as
in Western Canada with wildfire's, this could help with natural
disasters as well. I think you hinted at something earlier
in our chat, so the alerts can also tell you
and your neighbors about something they should know about that
could potentially save lives.
Speaker 6 (13:10):
You know.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
For years, next door has been a vital piece of
infrastructure that has helped neighbors stay informed about what's happening.
But what we're doing now in response to the so
many episodes that we see across the North America in
terms of wildfires or flooding, is that what we're doing
is we're partnering with Samdesk to provide immediate, timely alert,
(13:33):
so as something is happening, we'll send out an alert
to people to notify them that there's something critical happening.
This creates a centralized place where neighbors can come together
and stay informed as well as discuss how they're going
to respond to it. And we saw this with wildfires
in Canada. We saw wildfires down in southern California earlier
(13:54):
this year, of course, as well as flooding in Texas.
And our goal here is to really help neighbors stay
informed with the best possible information, as well as allow
local public services and agencies to be able to comment
and provide further information as a situation is unfolding. We
really look at this as a powerful way for people
(14:16):
to know what's happening in their neighborhood, especially when there's
critical issues that are unfolding real time.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
If someone's team, like let's say my daughter Maya wants
to be available as a babysitter.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
What section would that go under?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
How does that work when you want to post something
that may not fit one of those three categories.
Speaker 4 (14:33):
Sure, well, we allow people to use the platform to
share information as they see fit. That specific example of
someone who wanted to offer babysitting services would be great
for the classifieds where they could list their availability. And
the great thing about it is that that goes out
to your local neighborhood, so that you can be sure
(14:53):
that you're connecting with neighbors who are nearby and in
the local area. And that's something that I think all
parents will appreciate.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Would it also be classified for using next door to
buy and sell or trade items with others? I know
people have leverage next door for that, like if you
want to do some spring cleaning and make a couple
of bucks on the side, I love the whole circular
economy side of things.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
I'm so glad that you brought that up, Mark, It's
one of the most popular ways that people like to
use next Door, and so we have a whole section
for sale and free where neighbors can list items for
sale or oftentimes we see people listing things for free,
because obviously, given that it's your neighbors and these are
all people who live around you, the opportunity to just
(15:36):
drive over and maybe pick up that bookcase and use
it in a second bedroom is something that makes a
lot of sense. So we see that as a very
common use case where people are turning to nextdoor to
recycle and share that those items that they maybe aren't
using anymore.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
And again, I just want to remind our listeners that
next Door is very much your neighborhood. It's not like Facebook,
Marketplace or Craigslist or or Kijiji in Canada where you
can buy and sell or trade or donate with people
from other suburbs or other cities. This is directly tied
to where you live and that's one of the biggest
distinctions here. And then before I let you go, Sarah,
(16:13):
and of course ask how we can get going if
our listeners aren't on nextdoor yet. For those who like
to advertise to specific neighborhoods, what can you do there?
And what's new with this refresh, this rebranding.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
We've been offering for years the ability for advertisers to
be able to use the platform to be able to
target folks in their local neighborhoods. And we're just excited
about how the new next Door will bring more neighbors
and provide even more context for them to be able
to reach a broader audience. We know advertisers are excited
about seeing a platform continue to grow that's focus on
(16:49):
delivering daily audience and providing the type of information that
frankly is hard to find anywhere else on the web.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Great, So I open up a new pickleball place and
I want to advertise to a certain neighborhood, I can
leverage Nextdoor for that. So services or products of to store,
a restaurant, a cafe, a nail salon.
Speaker 4 (17:07):
The platform is designed for small businesses, medium sized businesses,
as well as national brands to be able to do
hyperlocal targeting at scale. The new Nextdoor is available today
and the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store, and
of course at nextdoor dot com. And so we encourage
everyone to update their apps today to ensure that they're
(17:28):
getting the latest version of Nextdoor.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
All right, Sarah, thank you so much for your time,
Sarah Leary from Nextdoor. Great to chat with you and
congrats on the relaunch or rebranding or refresh of Nextdoor.
Thanks again, Thanks Mark.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Really excited for people to check out the new Nextdoor.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
When we return on tech it out a new kind
of toothbrush that claims to clean your teeth in just
ten seconds and just as good, if not better, than
a regular toothbrush, so the company claims. So we're going
to learn all about Why Brush when we return. That's
the letter Why Brush, and then after that a great
(18:05):
gadget for travelers, perfect for summer. So we're going to
get to solace as well. This hour stick with us
more check it out coming right up after this short break.
Speaker 5 (18:15):
Want to follow Mark Google Up, Mark with a C
and Saltzman with a Z breaking down geeks peak into
street speak.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
This is check it Out to check it out with
technology columnist, author, and TV personality Mark Saltzman.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Welcome back everyone, you're listening to check it out.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Back in January of twenty nineteen, I was at the
Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and there was a
lot of buzz surrounding a product called Why Brush, builled
as a faster and smarter electronic toothbrush that could simultaneously
clean your teeth in just ten seconds. No less and
so I had the founder and CEO of the show
at the time, it is joining us once again to
(19:04):
give us a Y brush one O one and an
update on where the.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Company is at.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
We've got Benjamin Cohen on the line all the way
from France. Welcome back to the show. Benjamin, good to
chat with.
Speaker 7 (19:13):
You, Mike Good to talk with you.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
So why don't we start right from the top. What
is Y brush? And for our listeners it's spelled the
letter y dash brush exactly.
Speaker 7 (19:23):
So ybrush is a sonic toothbrush which is able to
brush your tea simultaneously in ten seconds instead of the
two minutes recommended by the dentists. In fact, it's like
a tonic toothbrush, like an NX bit tooth brush. It's
composed with an hunder which is able to generate sonic
arbutions and with a brush head which is very flexible,
(19:45):
with a Y shaped Y shaped brush head which is
very flexible, which is lined with Certis fivesand of nine
on reselves able to brush all the teas, all the
size of on your teas at once.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Okay, so again I just want my make sure my
listen get this that instead of the recommended two minutes
with a manual or electric toothbrush that we may have
in our bathrooms today. Why brush is in the shape
of a y, but you put it in your mouth
and it'll clean all your teeth, top, bottoms, and sides
all at the same time, so that you're getting a
(20:18):
comparable clean in ten seconds? Or is it as good?
Can you talk to us about how well it works.
Speaker 7 (20:24):
It's as good as as a two minute to brushing.
And the fact is usually people don't brush that just
for two minutes the brush. The average brushing is more
around one minute, so in fact we do at least
the same. But you really it's more effectives as a
standout to the brushing.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Okay, because we're not doing the recommended two minutes, is
what you're saying most of us.
Speaker 7 (20:46):
It depends, of course, but some people do the two minutes,
but as the main part of the population do an
average of one minutes.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
And have you had dentists agree?
Speaker 2 (20:56):
I don't think you're dentist yourself, Benjamin, Please correct me
if I'm wrong, But have you studies that prove it's
as effective as a manual or electric toothbrush that we
use today?
Speaker 7 (21:06):
So we have worked with the many dentists. On my part,
I have a background as a resencher. I did some
studies in Harvard in the US. Even if I was
I was based in France. We did many clinical studies
and the main part of the studies shows that we
have that webrush has exactly the same effectiveness as a
(21:28):
good two minute manual to the brushing.
Speaker 6 (21:31):
And we just.
Speaker 7 (21:32):
Unveiled a few days ago a study which showed that
with weibrush you get two times more efficient brushings as
leading sonic to the brush. Oh wow, so yeah, it's this.
This study is very very powerful since this is the
main study we have which compares to the to THET frequents.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
And you did call it a sonic brush, so press,
but I presume and you put it in your mouth
and it does its thing.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (22:02):
When it's some mouse, you only have to do two
very simple gesture. You have to chew like a showing
gum and to move from left to right to brother back.
If you have with some TIF you have baptist, it's
important to do this gesture. And in fact, when you
get the product, you have a cure code to scam
and then you get an interactive video which explains you
(22:24):
step by step how to use the product. If you
have any questions, just click on the button and then
you get the you know, the customer service. So because
it's very important to get used to the product, to
get used to the filling, to get used to the gesture.
But with this cure code, you get everything to start.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Okay, we are chatting with Benjamin Cohen. He is founder
and CEO of the company, which is the same name
as the product. It's y Brush hy dash brush, and
this is a electric or sonic toothbrush that is not
with the plassic head, hale and bristles at the top
that you're probably used to.
Speaker 3 (23:02):
It is in the shape of a y.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
You put it in your mouth and the company claims
that within ten seconds you're going to get as good as,
if not a better clean than the alternative methods. So, Benji,
obviously we met five years ago. What have you been
working on? Is this patent pending? Have you been improving it?
Give us an update from the last time that we talked.
Speaker 7 (23:21):
Yeah, so we have many patents, many patents, and when
we spoke a few years ago, I think, yeah, the
patents were repunding, but no, they were released. Since since
five years ago we launched a new generation of the technology.
So no, because in twenty nineteen when we chat, we
(23:44):
just finished in twenty eighteen a Kickstarter right to ship
the product the beginning of twenty twenty. So no, we
have the third generation of the product on the market
since in the last months we mainly focused in the
US market. So now in the issue are in the US.
You can buy on Amazon dot Com. You can buy
(24:07):
you can buy on our website, which is the widest
brush dot co directly in the US from our US inventory.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Before we talk pricing, Benjamin, does y brush need to
be replaced or adit? Those parts like the heads need
to be replaced over time.
Speaker 7 (24:21):
No, you only have to replace the head every four months.
The battery is builting, so it's inside and you only
have to charge for two hours and you get three
months of charge.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
But that's it. How much does it cost in the US.
Speaker 7 (24:35):
So in the US, it depends why you buy the product.
It's an Amazon it starts at seventy nine and in
our website we have plans starting at twenty nine.
Speaker 6 (24:44):
Oh big different.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Okay, we have one.
Speaker 7 (24:46):
Motherl for the kids too, because We spoke many for
the addults to the brush, but we have one one
for the kids because you really parents try to usually
to find a solution for the two brushing problems.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Okay, and that's the one that's twenty nine because it's smaller,
you know.
Speaker 7 (25:04):
The one at twenty nine is the plants is a
plan where you get where you buy the product at
twenty nine, but you get quarterly refills with a one
year membership. If you don't want to get one year membership,
it starts with a due brush at seventy nine.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Before we wrap up, have you ever heard from some
of the big toothbrush makers like rob and Phillips. Have
you heard from them over the last five years?
Speaker 7 (25:30):
Yes, of course, of course we I think we met
the c s right, yeah, this yea five years got's see. Yes,
it was directly on the booth. So usually for this
kind of shoe we get many people from Colligate, from LB, Phillips, etc.
Speaker 6 (25:48):
So we used to discuss with them.
Speaker 7 (25:50):
Yeah okay, but I always they're still working on a
traditional brush heads.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Fair enough, all right, and so the best website again
is why dash brush Dot. And that's the letter Why
dash Brush Dot COO that's the US website. Benjamin Cohen,
great to chat with you, Glad to hear that you're
still going strong.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
Thank you again, Thank you mach for me from teeh
to Travel.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
We're going to learn all about the soulas portable hotspot
when we return on tech it Out.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
Stay with us breaking down GeekSpeak into street speak Check
it Out, hosted by Mark Saltzman.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
Welcome back to check it Out. It's travel season and instead.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Of paying through the nose to roam with your existing
mobile carrier, many opt for renting an e SIM for
their smartphone. But there's another solution as well, especially for
those who want to use a tablet or laptop to
get on the internet while in another country. So to
tell us all about the Soulas Go, that's the name
of the product, Soli is Eric Plam, president of the
(27:02):
company behind the product called Cimo.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Welcome to the show. Eric, good to chat with you.
Speaker 6 (27:06):
Thank you. Mark. Nice to be here.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
So why don't we dive right in at a high level.
What is soulas Go?
Speaker 6 (27:12):
Right, and we have a couple different models. Solas Go
is a Wi Fi mobile hotspot. It's a portable device,
battery powered device sort of like you can think about
like a smartphone but no screen. And what it does
is it provides you with Wi Fi access all around
the world in over one hundred and forty countries, all right.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
So it's like joining your wireless router at home for example,
where you want to get on the internet on various
devices a phone, a tablet, a laptop, at desktop. But
this is portable, so you're using Wi Fi to connect
to the solas go. But then it uses cellular connectivity.
Speaker 6 (27:48):
Is that right? That's right, Mark, And so in real
rough terms, here's how this works. It's our device connects
to the local four G or five G networks around
the world. So a lot of people have heard four
G is LTE, same thing, So our device connects to
that network. Here's what makes our product different than other ones.
We have a multi carrier capability, and so our device
(28:10):
can actually find the strongest signal regardless of what the
underlying carrier is. And then what we do is we
take that signal and we turn it into a Wi
Fi signal for any of your devices, whether it be
your smartphone, your tablet, or your laptop. We can power
multiple devices off of the same Wi Fi hotspot using
that same connection to the carrier's for ge or five
(28:31):
G network.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Got it.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
I know a lot of people who have a summer home,
you know, like on a lake kind of thing, a
cabin to a cottage. They also like these devices because
they don't have year round Wi Fi in those secondary
homes in many instances. Right, So very practical solution.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
But you're right.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
Usually you would buy or rent one of these portable
hotspots from your carrier, so from a T Mobile and
AT and T of Orizon, and so it can be
used both locally like if you need a hotspot, but
as well overseas.
Speaker 6 (29:00):
Yeah, and in most of those countries, we provide multiple
carrier support, so not just one carrier like a normal
phone would be where you'd be tied to your one carrier,
but in those one hundred and forty countries we support one, two, three,
or even four different carriers.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
All right, So I mentioned esim's off the top, which
is becoming more and more popular. Modern phones don't require
a little white SIM card. It's done digitally, and that
is becoming popular for world travelers because it's cheaper than
using your mobile phone number to roam overseas. So can
you clarify that with the soulas go, it does not
require a SIM card. It is like an eSIM or
(29:40):
a virtual SIM solution.
Speaker 6 (29:42):
That's right. So what you're describing as eSIM and SIM
is a a very good technology. It's very popular and
for certain circumstances, eSIM makes sense. For example, if you
want to switch from one carrier to another carrier and
stay there for a while, it can make sense. And
it works on one divine. So for example, your smartphone
or your tablet, if you have multiple devices, you're going
(30:03):
to need multiple SIMS. And the other thing to remember too,
is that if you're traveling with coworkers or friends or family,
you're going to need an e SIM for each of
those devices. So imagine if you're traveling with a family
of five, each having a smartphone and a tablet, you
might need ten different sims. But it is a good technology. However,
(30:25):
here's where we're different is we have one product, one device,
and yes you do carry the device, but it'll handle
between depending on which model device you buy from US,
between ten to twenty different connections. So you could have
an array of smartphones and tablets and laptops all connected
to the same Wi Fi hotspot device.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
And because it's battery powered, you're not limited to just
doing this in say a hotel room, where it's plugged
into the wall. You can bring this to the beach
and everybody on a different device, an eReader, a smart watch,
a laptop, a smartphone, a tablet, everybody can get on
it at at one time.
Speaker 6 (31:01):
That's exactly right. Yeah, there's another difference too. A lot
of people ask us the difference between eSIM and our
technology is called VSIM by the way, as in virtual SIM,
and a couple of differences, and one of those is
with our product, you're always on a local network. We're
actually not a roaming product. It's not a roaming service.
So roaming is actually very inefficient. Let's say, just as
(31:22):
an example, you go and travel to Paris, but your
home is, let's say Los Angeles. The data path goes
all the way back to Los Angeles where your home
network is in order to provide you that service in Paris,
and so it slows down the service. That makes it clunky,
high latency, and also it gets to be very expensive
to do roaming. So what we do is we help
our customers to avoid roaming by always delivering a behind
(31:45):
the scenes, we're always delivering a local SIM card.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
If you are using the SOLAS go to get online
without paying your provider for roaming.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
Do you still have your phone number? Do you have
to activate Wi Fi calling?
Speaker 6 (31:59):
Yeah? Yeah, there's some really creative things, and I can
explain it probably in a way that makes sense. This
is how I travel is. I personally use T Mobile,
but just about any of the other carriers in US
or Canada could be the same concept. And I have
a really good roaming package on T Mobile and it's
included in my plan. But it's very slow. It's deliberately
(32:21):
throttled down to below two hundred and fifty six kilobits
per second. So it's really great for just getting email,
not very good for web surfing or even using applications
like maps. But the good thing is people can call
you on your phone and you can receive those phone calls,
and you can also receive the text messages. You layer
in a soulless Wi Fi hotspot, and now you get
(32:42):
the really fast, snappy broadband for very inexpensive. In my mind,
that's the best combination. One of the problems with eSIM
is that When you put an eSIM in, you very
likely won't have access to your home phone number and texting.
So if somebody texts you there's some kind of emergency
at home or something somebody wants to share by text,
(33:03):
you may not get that when you're traveling overseas and
use the ane.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Sim fair more with Eric from SOLAS when we return
on check it out.
Speaker 5 (33:11):
Follow Mark Saltzman on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram. Listen
to check it out whenever you want.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
We are chatting with Eric Plan.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
He is president of Cimo talking to us about the
Solace family of devices. We should also tell our listeners
there are a couple of products, so we've been talking
about the Solace Go, which has a.
Speaker 3 (33:40):
Very cool feature.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
It not only has a built in battery that you
can charge up your phone or your earbuds or what
have you, but it even has.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
The cables built in, a lightning cable.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
For legacy iPhones and AirPods, as well as USB c
for modern iPhones and iPads and Android devices. And there's
also the Soulas Hero hotspot, which kind of looks like
an orange hockey puck if I may, that also has
a huge power bank inside a backup battery for charging
up your devices, but it doesn't have the cables built in.
(34:14):
That's basically the difference. So those are just two in
the Soulas hotspot family, but there are others as well.
And how long approximately would the battery last? Obviously it's
going to take away some of the battery life if
you use it to charge up your phone, but if
you don't, roughly how many hours of internet access can
you get?
Speaker 6 (34:32):
Yeah, you can get up to forty eight hours of
battery life if using it as a Wi Fi hotspot,
And of course it depends on how much you're using
and if you're really drawing down lots of data, it
becomes more battery intensive too, but up to forty eight hours.
And now if you use it as a power bank,
it's definitely going to shorten the battery life.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
That's fair.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
And just to be clear, that's for the Soulless Go
that's the one that lasts up to forty eight hours.
The Solace Hero is up to eighteen hours. Still impressive.
And then before I let you go, Eric, not only
would our listeners of course like to know how much
the Solace products costs. And I know you've already mentioned
there's a couple of different ones. But how the data
charges work? So if it's jumping around between potentially different
(35:15):
mobile phone carriers when you're overseas, how does that pricing work?
Because I know when I buy an e SIM it's
relatively cheap. It'll be like, all right, it's five bucks
for three gigs of data, but you're usually locked to
one provider. But the pricing is all known upfront. How
does it work with your solution since it can leverage
different mobile networks?
Speaker 6 (35:35):
Right? Well, first of all, we make it really easy.
A lot of times when people buy a Wi Fi hotspot,
they also have to go and procure SIM cards to
put in it. But I just wanted to reiterate that
that's not necessary with our product. So our product has
built in service and in fact, for any customer who
buys our product, they get what we call lifetime data.
That means for the life of the device, as long
(35:56):
as you have it, you get one free gigabyte per
month that can be used anywhere in the world. And
then when you need additional data, you come to our store.
It's a very easy store to get to, an online
online shop either accessible through our app, or through the web,
and you can buy any sort of data package you want.
For example, you could get a day pass. If you're
just going somewhere you want a local cafe even and
(36:18):
you want to use it there, you can get a
day pass with no obligation to buy anything else beyond that.
Or you could get a what we call go data.
You could get five or ten or twenty five gigabytes
and get at auto renews to make sure you're never
out of data. That's another option, and one of our
most popular options is something called UMS Unlimited Monthly service.
(36:39):
And so we have a couple of unlimited services available
depending on what geography you want them in, but we
make it super simple to choose and pick the one
that you want and sign up for it.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
For the Solas Hero product, what would be the starting costs.
Speaker 6 (36:53):
So mark for the Solas Hero product, it's one hundred
and sixty nine dollars to buy the device, and it
comes with ten gigabytes of data bundled together with it.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
And that's separate from the one gig you can use
per month.
Speaker 6 (37:07):
That's exactly right. In addition, you get the Lifetime Data
which gives you one gig per month. For free for
the lifetime of the device.
Speaker 3 (37:13):
And can you use it domestically too.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Again, I painted the scenario of like a summer home
where you don't want to pay for internet all year round.
Speaker 6 (37:20):
Absolutely, this product is perfect for summer travel, whether you're
actually just going down the street to your local cafe
or let's say you're taking a camping trip going somewhere
rural where multi carrier coverage would be useful. It's a
perfect solution. And it's also great for road trips, whether
you're going in a car and an RV and the
kids have their tablets out and the parents have their
(37:42):
laptops out. It powers all those devices for your road trip.
The way you can learn more about us is from
Solace WiFi dot Co. That's so l i s WiFi
dot Co.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
All right, Eric plamspinner guest. Great to chat with you, Eric,
Thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (37:59):
Thank you, Mark, it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Before we wrap up another episode of Tech It Out,
I just wanted to give a quick shout out to
sand Disc. Thank you for your support on this program.
If you're an iPhone user, you know that you have
to commit to a certain amount of storage upfront, and
it's not expandable, and that's the case with many Android
devices today too, But with sand Disk's flash memory, like
their USB C based flash memory their I expand devices,
(38:24):
they can snap underneath the iPhone and not only can
you back up files to free up more storage on
your phone because as we know, photos and videos can
take up a lot of space, but it's fast enough
to run off the drive as well. You can play
movies on your phone that are off the drive. It's
super smooth, so really great stuff from sand Disk. I
also wanted to thank Visa one last time.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
For your support.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
Securing the world's payments is priority one. Head on over
to visa dot com slash security to learn more and
I hope to have an interview for the next episode
of tech it Out with someone from Visa.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
And hey, that's a wrap. All the best.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Everyone, Looking forward to catching up with you next time
for another brand new episode of Check it Out.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Chow for now,
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