- This ain’t yo daddy’s printer. Anna Kernus, product manager for the new EcoTank printer family at Epson, discusses the latest features of the new devices
- Swimmers, listen up! For a ‘deep dive’ on its new Smart Swim 2 Pro goggles and what they can do, we’re joined by Will Parry at FORM
- All the way from Barrow, Alaska, a 'Tech It Out' listener, Jeff Maupin, joins us to talk about simple refrigerator maintenance tips -- so you can avoid buying a new appliance
- 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 GeekSpeak 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 check it out. This is episode
four oh four. I hope you're all having a great
day so far and a solid summer at that. I
love this season and I know a lot of people
tend to take time off, especially in the media, but
I've been trying to produce a fresh show every week,
especially since we celebrated our four hundredth episode of Tack
(00:48):
It Out a month or so ago, and we had
some great giveaways too, an Asus laptop, and then a
week later we gave away a pair of cleaning robots
from Ecovas. I'll have to arrange first more giveaways soon. Alrighty,
for today's show, we have three guests for you. Off
the top of the program. In about two minutes from now,
(01:08):
we'll touch base with epsyn, which just released its brand
new Eco Tank printer family, you know those all in
one printers, scanners, and copiers, just in time for school season,
but this one has enough ink out of the box
to last up to three years crazy and so we're
going to get the details on that at the start
of the show. And here's a fun fact, by the way,
(01:31):
you can also print using your voice if you have
a smart speaker, so you can ask your ecotank printer
to print line paper, graph paper, coloring sheets for the kids,
and so on. After that, we're going to learn about
a pair of new swimming goggles with a high tech twist.
They capture everything from your strokes and distance to your
(01:52):
heart rate via your temples and shows you information inside
of the goggles while you swim. As well. There's also
newing gorilla glass in this latest model for added durability.
This product, by the way, is called the Form Swim
pro To Goggles, So we're going to get to that
on today's Tech It Out. And finally, if you're a
(02:12):
regular listener of this show, whether you hear it on
your favorite local talk radio station or in podcast form,
then you know I often ask listeners to reach out
over social media or buya email to say hi, or
to let me know where you're tuning in from which
I love hearing about, or if you have suggestions for
upcoming guests or topics, or even if you just have
(02:32):
a tech question for me. Well, one listener in a
remote part of Alaska contacted me, and as it turns out,
he's an expert in refrigerator maintenance, and so you know what,
I invited him onto the show to share his knowledge,
which could save you money and aggravation, as hey, we
all have fridges that could conk out right. This listener's
(02:53):
name is Jeff Mopin, and he's going to join us
on Tech it Out a little bit later on the program,
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
a new show with our first interview. Epsen's Ego Tank
is already the number one selling family of all in
(03:14):
one printers with a super tank to hold a ton
of ink, and now the company's making it even better
with the launch of its brand new ecotank products, including
one that I've been testing out. Joining us to share
the news just a head of Back to School season
is Anna Kurnis. She's product manager for the new Ecotank
printer family at epsin Welcome to the show, Anna, good
to chat with you.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Thanks for having me Mark.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
I think it's the seventh generation launch of ecotank. But
before we hear what's new with these all in one printers,
maybe we can first just acknowledge the biggest pain points
that I think a lot of our listeners have with
traditional printers, which is expensive inc and they always run
out at the worst times.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
That's exactly right. We've all had the experience of needing
to print something last minute, whether it was a ticket
or directions or a school assignment, and running out of
ink and not really knowing what to do. Ecotank solves
that problem. So Ecotank printers come with high capacity, refillable
ink tanks that last much longer than traditional ink cartridges.
(04:15):
They're also much more affordable over the life of the printer,
because we know that ink cartridges can get expensive over time,
so Eco tanks, refillable ink tanks offer significantly lower cost
per page.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
And that's true for both black as well as for
color ink that you may be using for photos or
school projects been a staple in my home office for
many years. I don't know if EPSOMCE still quantifies it,
but I think it's something like forty five hundred pages
that you can print out of the box, and then
when it is time to buy more ink, these are
bottles instead of cartridges that can last you another several
(04:47):
thousand pages. That's right.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
So our newest generation of eco tanks come with enough
ink to print for up to three years right out
of the box, and with each replacement inkst you can
print up to eighty five hundred color and sixty five
hundred pages black.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Oh wow, so even more amazing. Yeah, okay, thanks for that.
And it's also not just good for your wallet, it's
also good for the environment, right, because you're not dealing
with so many plastic cartridges that end up in a landfill.
You know, I think price is ultimately king, but after that,
I mean, I think there are a lot of people
who are eco conscious and I think this is a
great thing to consider as well.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah, ecotank users, Since we launched ecotank in North America
back in twenty fifteen, they've helped reduce the amount of
plastic that's ended up in landfills do ink cartridges by
millions of pounds, so it's been very impactful.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Awesome. So you've already told us a bit about the
new Eco Tank family, the yield, how much ink you
can get out of these bottles, but please tell us
a bit more. So I should tell you that I've
been trying out the Eco Tank ET forty nine to fifty.
There's usually a few products in the Eco Tank family.
What's changed for this year overall?
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Yeah, So, as I mentioned, we launched Ecotank in twenty fifteen,
and we've really been improving upon our design as well
as the functions that are most important to our users
since then. So all of our seventh generation Eco tanks
have significant improvements compared to prior generations. So with the
Eco Tank ET forty nine to fifty, which you've been
trying out, you still have a great all in one
(06:10):
printer with both facts and ADF but we have significantly
improved the print speed compared to its predecessor, the ET
forty eight to fifty, So you get eighteen black and
nine color pages per minute, and it also has a
duty cycle that's twice as robust as its predecessor. So
you can print even more throughout the life of the printer.
It also includes hassle free setup with autoprint head alignment
(06:31):
and auto duplex printing and scanning. In addition, the new
Ecotank models are more efficient than their predecessors. So, as
I mentioned before, you can print up to eighty five
hundred black and six five hundred color pages with every
replacement in bottle set.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
I know this is esthetic, but I love the little
illuminated blue light around the ink area.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Yeah, it lights up to tell you if you're printing
or if you have an issue with your printer that
you need to attend.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Oh. I didn't even know there was a practical use
for it. I thought it was just a design improvement.
That's great. Prior to Eco tank, I remember my daughter
printing so much color she didn't really need printing colors
for fun or whatever. And I'm like, uh, yeah, can
we change it to great scale? So that's a thing
of the past. And just quickly before we continue, I
just wanted to clarify a couple of terms. You said ADF.
(07:16):
So that's automatic document feeder.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Yes, autodocument feeder, so you can scan multiple pages at
once with the ecotank Et fourty nine fifty. The autodocument
feeder allows for auto duplex, so auto two sided copying
and scanning in addition to printing.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Thank you. I was going to clarify that too. Duplex
means two sided, so it saves on paper, all right.
And then you said it's an all in one, so
it's also a scanner and a copier, and it's wireless,
so you can print from a phone or a tablet
just as easy as you can from a laptop or
a desktop.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yeah, that's exactly right. So it's super easy to print
from an Android or an iPhone. You don't even need
to download any additional apps. You can just print directly
from the share or menu options. But you can also
download the UPS and smart Panel app to print, scan, copy,
edit documents in photos, and monitor your ecotank printer. The
seventh generation Eco tanks are qualified under the Wi Fi
Certified Agile Multiband standard with upgraded dual band Wi Fi
(08:07):
five for a seamless wireless experience.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Well that just.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Rolls off the tongue, yes, yhead, Well you did a
good job at that. We are chatting with Anna Anna Kernis.
She's product manager for the new Ecotank printer family at Epsen,
the seventh generation printer, such as the forty nine to fifty.
We'll talk about other models in a moment. And a
lot of people don't know this. Here's a fun fact
about Ecotank and I'm hoping it's still the same with
the new generation. Which I haven't tried yet, is the
(08:32):
ability to print with your voice. So if you have
a compatible smart speaker, you can actually say, print coloring sheets,
like something to do for the kids or the grandkids,
or you can print line paper, graph paper all by
just saying that out loud.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yeah, that's exactly right. So you can print with just
your voice directly from your smart speaker, and all you
have to do is create an ebs and Connect account
and find the absent printer skill within the skills menu.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Before I let you go. Are these new epstin Ecotank
printers ideal for people who work from home as well? Well,
we've been talking a lot about students. For someone like
me who works from a home office, it's just as
ideal for that too.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Right, Yeah, So we recommend the ecotank ET twenty nine
eighty for students and families and the eco tank et
thirty nine fifty and forty nine fifty for those who
work at home or in a small office space. All
of our egotanks provide fast, high quality printing, and incredible
value with three years of ink right out of the box.
And we have the broadest assortment of ecotanks on the market,
(09:27):
so all customers can find the perfect egotank for their needs.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Okay, So this forty nine to fifty that I have,
is it like a middle of the road one. There
might be a smaller one with a smaller input tray
or something, and then there's more robust ones for more
demanding users. Is that fair?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
That's exactly right?
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Okay? And where can we see the entire family aside
from retail? Is there a website that you can recommend?
And how much they start at? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:50):
So, our seventh generation of ego tanks start at three
twenty nine ninety nine in the US and three ninety
nine ninety nine inc Canada. But keep an eye out
for back to school and holiday promotions and customers can
find out more at upsn dot com slash ecotank.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
And just to remind listeners that it includes all the
ink in the Boxer's four bottles, a large black one
and then there's the Cyan, magenta and yellow up to
three years. Thank you so much, Anna, good to chat
with you once again. Epsen dot com slash Eco Tank,
congrats on the launch of the new ecotank family. Have
a great summer.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Thanks so much, Mark, you too.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
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 prevention over the past
five years, as much as ten billion dollars yes that's
(10:45):
billion with a B, 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 and other threats by well funded and
(11:08):
global criminal enterprises. Read more about Visa and how securing
the world's payments is priority one at Visa dot com
slash Security. When we return on tech it Out high
tech swimming goggles, you got to hear what they can do.
Stick with us. We'll be right back.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
Listen to Check it Out whenever you want to find
the Check it Out podcast, did I too, or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Welcome back to Tech it Out. We all know tech
has changed every industry and that includes sports. In fact,
we've had a couple of interviews on this program over
the past couple of months about AI and F one racing,
sensors and tennis rackets at the US Open, and real
time baseball data used in the mL BE the show
video game franchise. But what about competitive swimming? Joining us
(12:04):
to talk about the form smart swim to pro goggles
and what they can do. We're joined by Will Perry,
The's director of communications at FORM. Welcome to the show. Will,
good to chat with you.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Thanks, mag Yeah, pleasure to be here.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I can honestly say I haven't covered this topic before,
so I'm excited to chat with you. Before we talk
what's new, Will please tell us about the regular Smart
Swim two goggles. I believe they came out last year.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
That's right.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
Yeah, they came out last April, and they followed on
from the Smart Swim one, which was our flagship product
that launched when the whole brank On came out in
twenty nineteen. And yeah, the two was a big upgrade
from that one. We introduced heart rate sensing from your Temple.
First company to put heart rate censor on the temple
and have real time heart rate delivered to athletes while swimming.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (12:52):
Those goggles featured a fifteen percent size reduction, so we
increased hydrodynamics and made them less noticeable on the face,
which is which was great. We also redesigned the ice seals.
We created our own proprietary designed ice seals for increased comfort,
and also changed the anchor points to improve stability on
(13:12):
the face too.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
So from a hardware side, there.
Speaker 6 (13:14):
Was lots of changes from the one to the two,
and then on the software side too, that's some somewhere
always iterating and delivering new features, and our features can
be upgraded upon all of our goggles and swim platforms.
But we added a particular hits feature last year called
Swim Straight, which was for open water navigation, and it's
(13:34):
essentially a little compass in your eye, so as you
look up site a swim buoy, you know you're bearing
and basically what compass bearing you're aiming for to swim straight.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
So that was a real uh yeah, real win.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Wow, very cool. All right, forgive the pun but we'll
dive into some of those app features shortly, sorry dad joke,
but sticking with hardware. So these are swim goggles for
I would guess professional athletes or just those who take
swimming seriously they want to increase their times. So that's
a good segue into the form smart Swim too PRO.
I know there's one notable hardware change, and then we'll
(14:12):
get to that software as well.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (14:13):
Absolutely, So with the PRO building on the platform of
the two, we've been working with Corning, who are well
known for their chemically.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
Strength and glass products.
Speaker 6 (14:23):
They do lots of cool products, but particularly the Gorilla
Glass three glass which they made. I think it's been
around for over a decade now used in many of
our smart watches and cell phones.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
When you drop your cell phone.
Speaker 6 (14:37):
It's usually the Gorilla glass that's holding firm and keeping
your phone safe. When you've had a little accident there,
But that's what we've put on the pro both external
lenses and internal lenses to improve durability and also so
that we can create a new anti fog experience which
(14:58):
can be replicated from Swim one to Swim one thousand,
which I can talk.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
About more in a moment.
Speaker 6 (15:03):
But yeah, and we're the first use case of gorilla
glass in swimming goggles. I think that any goggles for
that fact. And yeah, it's been fantastic worker worth Corning
on this.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
I'm just curious because I get having Corning glass on
your phone is something that we hold easy to drop.
But if you've got these built into swim goggles which
are strapped onto your face around the back of your head,
do you need that kind of durability?
Speaker 6 (15:28):
Yeah, well, so pull decks are notoriously hard, whether it's
tiled or some other kind of concrete or whatever it
may be. We're doing a lot of summer swimming at
the moment, and I know those pool.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
Decks are pretty pretty tough.
Speaker 6 (15:40):
So at a more premium price point that our goggles
are compared to standard goggles, certainly, adding the gorilla glass
has been a nice addition to just mean that if
you are spending a bit more on our solution for
the innovation that we bring with the augmented reality and
real time metrics, then you can know that in the
(16:00):
pool we've got you covered with regards to them lasting
and being rugged and standing up to those environments. And
then equally of open water swimming. I mean, we're lucky
to be based in Vancouver. We're out in the lake
swimming where at the beaches and those environments are also
tough on your gear. So certainly, when we were looking
at kind of improvements we could make from the two,
(16:22):
adding the corning was certainly something that we were like thinking, yeah,
you know what, that would be a nice value add
to bring to our product.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Cool.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Well, not only does British Columbia have lakes, but the ocean.
Speaker 6 (16:32):
Absolutely sorry, And we recently had the T one hundred,
which is a new triathlon event in Vancouver and did
the sprint version with my goggles on, and the swim
straight feature certainly helped me get around the course.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
Without zigzagging and doing extra swimming.
Speaker 6 (16:47):
I'd enough to deal with with just all the bodies
around me and the chop that was coming from the waves.
So yeah, certainly was happy to have them on my face.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Then awesome. Before I ask you who it's for, and
I already suggested, it's those obviously who are really keen
on capturing their metrics. And I love the idea, by
the way of having a heart rate sensor in the temples.
But please tell us a bit more about what's new
in software, including the augmented reality part that you were
talking about. I guess you can see information layered on
(17:17):
top of the real world that you see while wearing
those goggles, and then the app obviously is for a
deeper dive sorry into the data.
Speaker 6 (17:25):
Absolutely so in the goggles you can see all your
swim metrics in real time and you can pick and
choose which ones you want to see on the dashboard,
so whether that's your stroke count or heart rate, as
we've talked about your pace. We also have the ability
to deliver guided workouts. Part of that is one of
our new features is head coach Plans, which is dynamic
swim plans based on your goals, the timeframe you want
(17:47):
to complete the goal, and then your swim history, and
then we build a plan around what you're looking to achieve.
To say, you miss a swim a week or are
injured for a couple of weeks, then the plan will
dynamically adapt with your ime frame in mind to then
create or recreate the plan so that it's realistic and
has a human element to it.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
So cool. More on these high tech swim goggles when
we return on tech it Out.
Speaker 7 (18:15):
I want to follow Mark Google 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 2 (18:39):
Welcome back to check it Out. We're chatting with Will
Perry from Form. This is a company that has just
released the smart Swim to pro swimming goggles. Before the break, Will,
you were chatting about some of the extra features found
in the new pair of goggles, so please continue your thought.
Speaker 6 (18:58):
Yeah, we've also introduced a feature called smart set and
so this is with the kind of group swimmer or
master's swimmer in mind and basically counts your intervals as
you swim them. So we found that these swimmers weren't
doing workouts because they already have a workout. So as
you're swimming your workout, that you've been prescribed by a
(19:18):
coach on the pool deck or whoever's at the pool.
You then swim and then say you're doing ten hundreds.
Then as you do the hundreds, it'll say one times
one hundred, two times one hundred, which is really great
when you get to five, six, seven times one hundred
and you're thinking, am I on five or six or seven?
So we're keeping you accountable with smart set and then
head coach Insights is another new feature with this release
(19:42):
that provides tangible feedback on your last swim, so it
gives you some pointers on what to look at and
what you did in that swim and where some focus
areas are as well as for your next swim, where
to look at for improvements and what to focus on
for that next swim with workouts to come both of those.
So yeah, some three really nice features that are coming
(20:04):
with this release on the software side too.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
And I'm assuming because it wirelessly talks to the smartphone
with the app in it, that your phone needs to
be somewhat nearby.
Speaker 6 (20:14):
So actually we store the workout once you've sunk your
phone with the goggle, we can then sync across the
workout and the workouts on your goggle, so you don't
actually need to be having a phone close by, Yeah,
when you're when you're at the pool or open water.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
What's the battery life like on him?
Speaker 4 (20:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Fourteen hours With one hour of charging, you get fourteen
hours of swim time battery life, so really a decent
amount of swim.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
Time before you have to think about charging them.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
I'm going to ask you in a moment about subscription
because it sounds like there's a lot of data here
that's ongoing that you can access. But what core functionality
is included for the price of the Smart Swim two
pro goggles, not the subscription.
Speaker 6 (20:51):
As we've talked about, you always have access to your
real time metrics as core functionality. There's now no additional
cost for seeing any of your data in real time
as you swim, inclusive of the augmented reality waveguide display
that's patented, and also the motion sensors and precise swim
tracking all included. You can customize the display. If you
(21:13):
have the two or two pro, you'll always have access
to your heart rate data, automatic stroke detection so we
can track all the main strokes, all your swim strokes.
That's included post swim analysis. On the app, you will
have access to all of the data that you've captured
during your swims you can then review afterwards. You can
also push your swim data to other platforms including Strata Training, Peaks,
(21:36):
Apple Health, and then you'll also have access to all
the open water swim tracking features as well. So there's
still lots to benefit from the core functionality, and then
with the option to jump in on the subscription features
optionally after the first month free trial.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Okay, and we'll talk about that pricing in a moment. Finally,
I guess this is really for competitive athletes or could
it be used like in an educational way, like someone's
learning to swim and the facility that they're taking lessons
from allows the students to wear these goggles and then
you know, try to beat their time and improve their
strokes things like that.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (22:13):
Absolutely, we say that the goggles are for all swimmers.
We've found that since introducing them that tray athletes are
big fans of ours because they're already familiar with using
a lot of data when biking and running. But really
all swimmers can benefit. Whether you're at the elite level
and you're really honing in on certain metrics or you
want to know certain pieces of information at critical points
(22:34):
of time. On the flip of that is, we can
take you from the start of your swim journey if
you can swim, you know, a couple of one hundred
meters of freestyle, then we can take you from a
training plan to work on just general fitness or your
technique all the way up to ultramouth and swimming head
coach plans is a great example of a feature that
can you can tailor that plan to what you want
(22:56):
to achieve, and then we you know, really you just
have to show up up to the pool or to
the lake or the ocean and then start swimming and
we recover you of all the rest.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
We can take you there, all right, and then finally,
how much does it cost and where can we learn more?
Speaker 6 (23:10):
Yeah, for smartswin two pro comes in at three two nine.
The smarts one two is two seven nine, and then
premium subscription monthly is nine ninety nine US dollars and
you can learn more at formswim dot com.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
All right, formswim dot com. That's f O R M
swim dot com. And you also have your retail support there.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
That's right.
Speaker 6 (23:30):
Absolutely everything's available at our website there.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Thank you so much. Will great to chat with you
and congrats on the launch of the smart Swim two
pro swimming goggles.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
All the best cheers, Mark, thank you.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
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drives and capacity for those who need a lot of stores,
as you can have it all now with drives that
can store several terabytes of data. More info is at
sanddisk dot com slash creator. That's SanDisk dot com slash creator. Actually,
(25:12):
I shared one of the videos of these sanddisk drives
for content creators last week on x and threads and
Instagram and LinkedIn, and I got some cool comments from
those who use it, who swear by them. Don't forget
coming up next on tech it Out. As I mentioned
earlier in the show, I always ask people to reach
out on social media to say hi, give me suggestions
(25:33):
for guests or topics. And this is a listener of
tech it Out who I invited on to be a
guest because he is an expert in fridge maintenance tips.
So his name is Jeff Moppin. He's based in Alaska,
and I love how this just happened organically. He reached
out to say he's a fan of the show, and
just a bit of chit chat back and forth, and
I invited him on and so yeah, if you want
(25:54):
to say hi on social media, I'll spell my name
in a moment. But I love hearing from tech it
Out listeners where you're tuning in to the show, from
how you're listening to the show, like in podcast form
or favorite talk radio station. It's Mark Saltzman, M A
R C S A L T Z M A N.
You'll find me on all the big platforms, all right.
When we return how to save money on your refrigerator,
(26:15):
stick with us. We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Breaking down GeekSpeak into street speak.
Speaker 8 (26:20):
Check it Out closted by Mark Saltzman.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Welcome back everyone you're listening to Check it Out. Almost
every show I ask listeners to reach out online, whether
it's on social media or to send me an email
with feedback about the program or suggestions for upcoming guests
or topics, or if you have a tech support question
as well.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
Well.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
This week I've heard from listeners as far as Joe
Berg Johannesburg, South Africa, as well as Barrow, Alaska. The
Alaskan listener I'm referring to Jeff mappin had a great
idea for a segment, and he himself is the perfect
guest for it, so I invited him onto the program.
It's about extending the life of your appliances, and we'll
talk fridges primarily today, little things you can do to
(27:14):
make a big impact. Jeff, thank you so much for
your time today. Appreciate it.
Speaker 9 (27:18):
Yes, good morning.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Before we dive into the topic about appliances and refrigerator maintenance,
please tell us a bit about yourself.
Speaker 9 (27:26):
Well, I've been running a vending business here at the
very top of Alaska and Barrow now called Utavic for
over thirty years, and one thing I've grown to appreciate
is an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Keeping things cleaned, such as the kitchen floor, refrigerator condenser
and the dryer vent pipe have many benefits such as
minimizing the electric bill, maximizing appliance life, and even reducing
(27:51):
the risk of fires.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
This is great and this is why I wanted to
have you on the program. A refrigerator is an appliance
most of us have. We take it for granted that it'll,
you know, just work forever until it doesn't. And so
you've got some tips to extending the life of your refrigerator.
And again, as you said, it's not just because you
may be able to save money on your monthly electric bill,
(28:13):
but also to reduce the odds of an issue and
getting more life out of the fridge. Instead of at
lasting say ten years, you may be able to squeeze
that to twenty and also reducing the risk of any
issues like a fire. Why don't we dive right in?
Do we need to be handy though to do all
this stuff?
Speaker 9 (28:29):
Well, say, some of us are more handy at cleaning
than others, but no special skills are needed. Most don't
realize that they can reduce their electric bill and maximize
the refrigerator's life by keeping the kitchen floor clean and
clean the refrigerator condenser. Usually the black condenser coils and
fins are located on the back or bottom. Some models
(28:52):
do not have exposed condensers, and the condenser tubes are
built into a sidewall of the refrigerator. Older refrigerators that
you and I grew up with have the condenser tubes
and fins mounted on the back. If yours is like this,
they are easily cleaned with a damp rig right.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
You can see them, right, you can see them sticking
out of the back, and just run the rag over
them and just do that once in a while.
Speaker 9 (29:15):
There you go, that would be a great idea. They
do collect dust. We have refrigerators that are primarily built
with the condenser at the very bottom of the refrigerator
and there's a fan located behind it. The fan is
designed to draw cold air across the condenser tubes and
fins to cool it off. The condenser is the way
(29:37):
the refrigerator gives away the heat into the room, just
like a radiator on a car. So it's important to
keep those condenser tubes and fins clean. This will help
reduce the electric bill and it will extend the life
of the appliance.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
If you look under your fridge, there's probably some dust,
pet hair maybe that's often sucked into the bottom area
of the refrigerator, so that could clog the condenser tubes
and fins right.
Speaker 9 (30:05):
Oh yeah, especially those with children and pets, condenser will
quickly get clogged with dust. So at a minimum, tubes
and fins should be inspected and cleaned once a year,
but some may want to do that even monthly to
ensure that there's nothing blocking the proper airflow through that
(30:25):
bottom portion of the refrigerator.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
So I was going to ask you what we can do, Jeff,
if we're not that tech savvy or handy around the home,
let's say, what are some simple things we can do?
If that is on the bottom, the condenser tubes and
fins are on the bottom of the refrigerator, is it
safe for us to go in there? Do we need
to turn off the fridge first?
Speaker 9 (30:45):
It's a great idea to unplug the refrigerator. Inspecting the
condenser tubes at the bottom is an easy thing to do. Usually,
the plastic grill bottom front of the refrigerator snaps on
and off, so you can snap that off, take flashlight
and look under there. Most of the time you will
see it just clogged with dust pet hair if you
(31:06):
have a pet. If you do see clogged with dust
and hair, you'll want to get some simple items to
remove that dust and hair. Those include a vacuum cleaner
with a hose and a crevice tool. You'll want to
get a coil brush from a hardware store. It's a
cheap item. It's a long, skinny brush that will help
you reach all the way to the back of that
(31:28):
condenser and scrape and claw out the dust that you
find underneath there.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
This means your fridge isn't going to work so hard, right.
This is where you're saying it's extending the life and
also reducing your electric bill. Is that it can do
its thing without as much effort if it was clogged
and dirty and dusty, where it may need to work
a little bit harder. Yes, And if you're not sure
where to put the brush or what to clean with
a rag or with other tools that you may need,
(31:54):
YouTube is probably a great idea. Is there a particular channel,
like if you're a visual learner as I am, often,
you know, instead of reading a manual, seeing someone do
it on YouTube or another platform could really help. I
don't know if you're a fan of that. If you do,
recommend going to YouTube. Is there folks you think we
should look to.
Speaker 9 (32:14):
Yes, YouTube's a great resource, but I would recommend starting
with your refrigerator manual. Look under the maintenance tips. It'll
be described there what to do on a regular basis
to keep your refrigerator running in a proper manner. If
you don't have your manual, do an Internet search based
on your model, make a model of your refrigerator, download
(32:36):
your manual, read through it based on your refrigerator, make
and model. You can do internet searches, including on YouTube
for cleaning and maintenance. YouTube has a variety of videos
you can watch. If you enter the search terms refrigerator, cleaning,
coil or.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
If you want to add the name of your refrigerator,
the name and model, You may even find some thing
that it exactly matches what's in front of you. More
about fridge maintenance to save you money and aggravation when
we return on Check it Out with Jeff Moppin, stick with.
Speaker 5 (33:11):
Us, Follow Mark Saltzman on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram,
Listen to check it out whenever you want.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
We are chatting with Jeff Moppin. He's from Northern Alaska.
He's a listener of this program. I was thrilled when
he reached out. I asked listeners every week to reach
out if they want to say hi, let me know
where they're tuning into the show from, if it's from
a local talk radio station or in podcast form. Jeff
and I chat it over email about appliance maintenance and
(33:47):
in particular, we wanted to chat about extending the life
of your fridge and reducing your electric bill, perhaps which
I'm sure many listeners would appreciate. If you do need
to hire a technician, If Jeff, people are listening thinking, oh,
there's no way I would know how to do this,
or maybe you've got some mobility or dexterity challenges you
can't get below the refrigerator to do all this. Do
you have any advice on how not to be taken
(34:09):
advantage of if you need a repair technician? Is there
anything that we should know before we hire somebody?
Speaker 9 (34:15):
There's a few useful ideas. You will save money by
following all the maintenance steps in your manual, such as
cleaning the condenser and compressor. You may find in your
manual or online with an online search, common issues and
suggested fixes based on the age of your refrigerator, ask
yourself if it is worth fixing. The average life is
(34:39):
ten to fourteen years and may last up to twenty
years with proper maintenance. With anything, the more people you
can talk to to get advice from, the better. Even
ask your local grocery store who provides their refrigeration repairs
and call that repair firm to ask if they do
refrigeration repair, usually and supermarkets, higher reputable firms other places.
(35:04):
You can get advice from a local homeowners association or
property management firm that regularly deals with this kind of issue,
and they may have a favorite firm or two that
they turn to to provide their refrigeration repair. Forbes dot
com offers advice about hire refrigeration repair. Discuss the issue
(35:27):
with two or more local appliance repair shops, ask about
their experience, hourly rate, if they offer a warranty, and
discuss licenses, certifications, and insurance with this repair shop, can
they provide a written estimate? Look at online reviews of
the business's website, Google the Better Business Bureau and Yelp
(35:50):
to see what other customers have experienced. If possible, choose
a vendor with at least a four star rating. And lastly,
you can ask for reference is from the repair shop
and contact these previous customers to discuss and if possible,
don't hire help before you meet them.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Great advice, Jeff. And then finally before we let you go,
I understand you also have some advice about another appliance
that we own, and that's a closed dryer. This is
more about safety.
Speaker 4 (36:20):
Right.
Speaker 9 (36:21):
Yes, this is some advice that I helped prevent a
fire in your home. Consumer Reports dot org reports every year,
firefighters across the nation respond to around thirteen thousand, eight
hundred and twenty home fires caused by clothes dryers. According
to the latest figures from the National Fire Protection Association,
(36:43):
about twenty seven percent of these fires are caused by
an accumulation of lint, which can constrict the duckwork that
expels hot air outside from the dryer. A clogged dryer
vent will restrict the moist air from being vented, causing
you to run your dryer longer and increasing your utility bill.
(37:04):
Dryer filters should be cleaned before each use, as you
probably know, and for cleaning lint from the ductose, start
by unplugging the dryer. If you have a gas dryer,
turn off the gas valve while carefully moving the dryer
away from the wall. Be careful not to damage the
gas supply line. Remove the duct and vacuum both the
dryer and duct. And if you have a cheap foil
(37:26):
accordion style DUC tose, this should be changed annually. The
ridges in that Cordian style foil DUC they trap lint
quite readily, and so experts do recommend using rigid four
inch straight pipe if at all possible. For the rigid
vent pipe in your wall, I recommend a dryer vent
(37:47):
brush kit that has flexible two foot rods that screw together.
These kits range twenty to forty dollars. This may be
used with or without a cordless drill. Use the dryer
vent brush from both inside and outside. If you have
a leaf floor, complete by blowing from inside to get
all the loose link blown out.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Jeff, this is really helpful advice. I want to thank
you so much for your time for sharing these tips
with us. Again, if anybody wants to hear this interview
all over again, they can go to their favorite podcast
platform and type in Jeff Moppin and his last name
is spelled mau pi n and the word tech as well.
You'll find a link to this episode. Jeff, Thank you
(38:29):
so much again, have a great summer. Yes, thank you,
nice guy. Hey, thank you so much for tuning in
to tech it Out everyone. Powered by Visa. Head on
over to Visa dot com slash security to see how
they're protecting you and your purchases both at retail and online.
Thank you to our three guests today, epsom Form with
their swim goggles, and Jeff Moppin on appliance maintenance. Be
(38:52):
sure to reach out on social media to say Hi.
It's Mark Saltzman, Mark with the C, Saltsman with the
Z All the best, everyone, looking forward to chat with
you next weekend for another brand new episode of Check
It Out.
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 GeekSpeak 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 check it out. This is episode
four oh four. I hope you're all having a great
day so far and a solid summer at that. I
love this season and I know a lot of people
tend to take time off, especially in the media, but
I've been trying to produce a fresh show every week,
especially since we celebrated our four hundredth episode of Tack
(00:48):
It Out a month or so ago, and we had
some great giveaways too, an Asus laptop, and then a
week later we gave away a pair of cleaning robots
from Ecovas. I'll have to arrange first more giveaways soon. Alrighty,
for today's show, we have three guests for you. Off
the top of the program. In about two minutes from now,
(01:08):
we'll touch base with epsyn, which just released its brand
new Eco Tank printer family, you know those all in
one printers, scanners, and copiers, just in time for school season,
but this one has enough ink out of the box
to last up to three years crazy and so we're
going to get the details on that at the start
of the show. And here's a fun fact, by the way,
(01:31):
you can also print using your voice if you have
a smart speaker, so you can ask your ecotank printer
to print line paper, graph paper, coloring sheets for the kids,
and so on. After that, we're going to learn about
a pair of new swimming goggles with a high tech twist.
They capture everything from your strokes and distance to your
(01:52):
heart rate via your temples and shows you information inside
of the goggles while you swim. As well. There's also
newing gorilla glass in this latest model for added durability.
This product, by the way, is called the Form Swim
pro To Goggles, So we're going to get to that
on today's Tech It Out. And finally, if you're a
(02:12):
regular listener of this show, whether you hear it on
your favorite local talk radio station or in podcast form,
then you know I often ask listeners to reach out
over social media or buya email to say hi, or
to let me know where you're tuning in from which
I love hearing about, or if you have suggestions for
upcoming guests or topics, or even if you just have
(02:32):
a tech question for me. Well, one listener in a
remote part of Alaska contacted me, and as it turns out,
he's an expert in refrigerator maintenance, and so you know what,
I invited him onto the show to share his knowledge,
which could save you money and aggravation, as hey, we
all have fridges that could conk out right. This listener's
(02:53):
name is Jeff Mopin, and he's going to join us
on Tech it Out a little bit later on the program,
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
a new show with our first interview. Epsen's Ego Tank
is already the number one selling family of all in
(03:14):
one printers with a super tank to hold a ton
of ink, and now the company's making it even better
with the launch of its brand new ecotank products, including
one that I've been testing out. Joining us to share
the news just a head of Back to School season
is Anna Kurnis. She's product manager for the new Ecotank
printer family at epsin Welcome to the show, Anna, good
to chat with you.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
Thanks for having me Mark.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
I think it's the seventh generation launch of ecotank. But
before we hear what's new with these all in one printers,
maybe we can first just acknowledge the biggest pain points
that I think a lot of our listeners have with
traditional printers, which is expensive inc and they always run
out at the worst times.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
That's exactly right. We've all had the experience of needing
to print something last minute, whether it was a ticket
or directions or a school assignment, and running out of
ink and not really knowing what to do. Ecotank solves
that problem. So Ecotank printers come with high capacity, refillable
ink tanks that last much longer than traditional ink cartridges.
(04:15):
They're also much more affordable over the life of the printer,
because we know that ink cartridges can get expensive over time,
so Eco tanks, refillable ink tanks offer significantly lower cost
per page.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
And that's true for both black as well as for
color ink that you may be using for photos or
school projects been a staple in my home office for
many years. I don't know if EPSOMCE still quantifies it,
but I think it's something like forty five hundred pages
that you can print out of the box, and then
when it is time to buy more ink, these are
bottles instead of cartridges that can last you another several
(04:47):
thousand pages. That's right.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
So our newest generation of eco tanks come with enough
ink to print for up to three years right out
of the box, and with each replacement inkst you can
print up to eighty five hundred color and sixty five
hundred pages black.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Oh wow, so even more amazing. Yeah, okay, thanks for that.
And it's also not just good for your wallet, it's
also good for the environment, right, because you're not dealing
with so many plastic cartridges that end up in a landfill.
You know, I think price is ultimately king, but after that,
I mean, I think there are a lot of people
who are eco conscious and I think this is a
great thing to consider as well.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah, ecotank users, Since we launched ecotank in North America
back in twenty fifteen, they've helped reduce the amount of
plastic that's ended up in landfills do ink cartridges by
millions of pounds, so it's been very impactful.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Awesome. So you've already told us a bit about the
new Eco Tank family, the yield, how much ink you
can get out of these bottles, but please tell us
a bit more. So I should tell you that I've
been trying out the Eco Tank ET forty nine to fifty.
There's usually a few products in the Eco Tank family.
What's changed for this year overall?
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Yeah, So, as I mentioned, we launched Ecotank in twenty fifteen,
and we've really been improving upon our design as well
as the functions that are most important to our users
since then. So all of our seventh generation Eco tanks
have significant improvements compared to prior generations. So with the
Eco Tank ET forty nine to fifty, which you've been
trying out, you still have a great all in one
(06:10):
printer with both facts and ADF but we have significantly
improved the print speed compared to its predecessor, the ET
forty eight to fifty, So you get eighteen black and
nine color pages per minute, and it also has a
duty cycle that's twice as robust as its predecessor. So
you can print even more throughout the life of the printer.
It also includes hassle free setup with autoprint head alignment
(06:31):
and auto duplex printing and scanning. In addition, the new
Ecotank models are more efficient than their predecessors. So, as
I mentioned before, you can print up to eighty five
hundred black and six five hundred color pages with every
replacement in bottle set.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
I know this is esthetic, but I love the little
illuminated blue light around the ink area.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Yeah, it lights up to tell you if you're printing
or if you have an issue with your printer that
you need to attend.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Oh. I didn't even know there was a practical use
for it. I thought it was just a design improvement.
That's great. Prior to Eco tank, I remember my daughter
printing so much color she didn't really need printing colors
for fun or whatever. And I'm like, uh, yeah, can
we change it to great scale? So that's a thing
of the past. And just quickly before we continue, I
just wanted to clarify a couple of terms. You said ADF.
(07:16):
So that's automatic document feeder.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Yes, autodocument feeder, so you can scan multiple pages at
once with the ecotank Et fourty nine fifty. The autodocument
feeder allows for auto duplex, so auto two sided copying
and scanning in addition to printing.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Thank you. I was going to clarify that too. Duplex
means two sided, so it saves on paper, all right.
And then you said it's an all in one, so
it's also a scanner and a copier, and it's wireless,
so you can print from a phone or a tablet
just as easy as you can from a laptop or
a desktop.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yeah, that's exactly right. So it's super easy to print
from an Android or an iPhone. You don't even need
to download any additional apps. You can just print directly
from the share or menu options. But you can also
download the UPS and smart Panel app to print, scan, copy,
edit documents in photos, and monitor your ecotank printer. The
seventh generation Eco tanks are qualified under the Wi Fi
Certified Agile Multiband standard with upgraded dual band Wi Fi
(08:07):
five for a seamless wireless experience.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Well that just.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Rolls off the tongue, yes, yhead, Well you did a
good job at that. We are chatting with Anna Anna Kernis.
She's product manager for the new Ecotank printer family at Epsen,
the seventh generation printer, such as the forty nine to fifty.
We'll talk about other models in a moment. And a
lot of people don't know this. Here's a fun fact
about Ecotank and I'm hoping it's still the same with
the new generation. Which I haven't tried yet, is the
(08:32):
ability to print with your voice. So if you have
a compatible smart speaker, you can actually say, print coloring sheets,
like something to do for the kids or the grandkids,
or you can print line paper, graph paper all by
just saying that out loud.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yeah, that's exactly right. So you can print with just
your voice directly from your smart speaker, and all you
have to do is create an ebs and Connect account
and find the absent printer skill within the skills menu.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Before I let you go. Are these new epstin Ecotank
printers ideal for people who work from home as well? Well,
we've been talking a lot about students. For someone like
me who works from a home office, it's just as
ideal for that too.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Right, Yeah, So we recommend the ecotank ET twenty nine
eighty for students and families and the eco tank et
thirty nine fifty and forty nine fifty for those who
work at home or in a small office space. All
of our egotanks provide fast, high quality printing, and incredible
value with three years of ink right out of the box.
And we have the broadest assortment of ecotanks on the market,
(09:27):
so all customers can find the perfect egotank for their needs.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Okay, So this forty nine to fifty that I have,
is it like a middle of the road one. There
might be a smaller one with a smaller input tray
or something, and then there's more robust ones for more
demanding users. Is that fair?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
That's exactly right?
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Okay? And where can we see the entire family aside
from retail? Is there a website that you can recommend?
And how much they start at? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:50):
So, our seventh generation of ego tanks start at three
twenty nine ninety nine in the US and three ninety
nine ninety nine inc Canada. But keep an eye out
for back to school and holiday promotions and customers can
find out more at upsn dot com slash ecotank.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
And just to remind listeners that it includes all the
ink in the Boxer's four bottles, a large black one
and then there's the Cyan, magenta and yellow up to
three years. Thank you so much, Anna, good to chat
with you once again. Epsen dot com slash Eco Tank,
congrats on the launch of the new ecotank family. Have
a great summer.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Thanks so much, Mark, you too.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
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 prevention over the past
five years, as much as ten billion dollars yes that's
(10:45):
billion with a B, 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 and other threats by well funded and
(11:08):
global criminal enterprises. Read more about Visa and how securing
the world's payments is priority one at Visa dot com
slash Security. When we return on tech it Out high
tech swimming goggles, you got to hear what they can do.
Stick with us. We'll be right back.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
Listen to Check it Out whenever you want to find
the Check it Out podcast, did I too, or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Welcome back to Tech it Out. We all know tech
has changed every industry and that includes sports. In fact,
we've had a couple of interviews on this program over
the past couple of months about AI and F one racing,
sensors and tennis rackets at the US Open, and real
time baseball data used in the mL BE the show
video game franchise. But what about competitive swimming? Joining us
(12:04):
to talk about the form smart swim to pro goggles
and what they can do. We're joined by Will Perry,
The's director of communications at FORM. Welcome to the show. Will,
good to chat with you.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Thanks, mag Yeah, pleasure to be here.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I can honestly say I haven't covered this topic before,
so I'm excited to chat with you. Before we talk
what's new, Will please tell us about the regular Smart
Swim two goggles. I believe they came out last year.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
That's right.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
Yeah, they came out last April, and they followed on
from the Smart Swim one, which was our flagship product
that launched when the whole brank On came out in
twenty nineteen. And yeah, the two was a big upgrade
from that one. We introduced heart rate sensing from your Temple.
First company to put heart rate censor on the temple
and have real time heart rate delivered to athletes while swimming.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (12:52):
Those goggles featured a fifteen percent size reduction, so we
increased hydrodynamics and made them less noticeable on the face,
which is which was great. We also redesigned the ice seals.
We created our own proprietary designed ice seals for increased comfort,
and also changed the anchor points to improve stability on
(13:12):
the face too.
Speaker 4 (13:13):
So from a hardware side, there.
Speaker 6 (13:14):
Was lots of changes from the one to the two,
and then on the software side too, that's some somewhere
always iterating and delivering new features, and our features can
be upgraded upon all of our goggles and swim platforms.
But we added a particular hits feature last year called
Swim Straight, which was for open water navigation, and it's
(13:34):
essentially a little compass in your eye, so as you
look up site a swim buoy, you know you're bearing
and basically what compass bearing you're aiming for to swim straight.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
So that was a real uh yeah, real win.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Wow, very cool. All right, forgive the pun but we'll
dive into some of those app features shortly, sorry dad joke,
but sticking with hardware. So these are swim goggles for
I would guess professional athletes or just those who take
swimming seriously they want to increase their times. So that's
a good segue into the form smart Swim too PRO.
I know there's one notable hardware change, and then we'll
(14:12):
get to that software as well.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (14:13):
Absolutely, So with the PRO building on the platform of
the two, we've been working with Corning, who are well
known for their chemically.
Speaker 4 (14:22):
Strength and glass products.
Speaker 6 (14:23):
They do lots of cool products, but particularly the Gorilla
Glass three glass which they made. I think it's been
around for over a decade now used in many of
our smart watches and cell phones.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
When you drop your cell phone.
Speaker 6 (14:37):
It's usually the Gorilla glass that's holding firm and keeping
your phone safe. When you've had a little accident there,
But that's what we've put on the pro both external
lenses and internal lenses to improve durability and also so
that we can create a new anti fog experience which
(14:58):
can be replicated from Swim one to Swim one thousand,
which I can talk.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
About more in a moment.
Speaker 6 (15:03):
But yeah, and we're the first use case of gorilla
glass in swimming goggles. I think that any goggles for
that fact. And yeah, it's been fantastic worker worth Corning
on this.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
I'm just curious because I get having Corning glass on
your phone is something that we hold easy to drop.
But if you've got these built into swim goggles which
are strapped onto your face around the back of your head,
do you need that kind of durability?
Speaker 6 (15:28):
Yeah, well, so pull decks are notoriously hard, whether it's
tiled or some other kind of concrete or whatever it
may be. We're doing a lot of summer swimming at
the moment, and I know those pool.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
Decks are pretty pretty tough.
Speaker 6 (15:40):
So at a more premium price point that our goggles
are compared to standard goggles, certainly, adding the gorilla glass
has been a nice addition to just mean that if
you are spending a bit more on our solution for
the innovation that we bring with the augmented reality and
real time metrics, then you can know that in the
(16:00):
pool we've got you covered with regards to them lasting
and being rugged and standing up to those environments. And
then equally of open water swimming. I mean, we're lucky
to be based in Vancouver. We're out in the lake
swimming where at the beaches and those environments are also
tough on your gear. So certainly, when we were looking
at kind of improvements we could make from the two,
(16:22):
adding the corning was certainly something that we were like thinking, yeah,
you know what, that would be a nice value add
to bring to our product.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Cool.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Well, not only does British Columbia have lakes, but the ocean.
Speaker 6 (16:32):
Absolutely sorry, And we recently had the T one hundred,
which is a new triathlon event in Vancouver and did
the sprint version with my goggles on, and the swim
straight feature certainly helped me get around the course.
Speaker 4 (16:45):
Without zigzagging and doing extra swimming.
Speaker 6 (16:47):
I'd enough to deal with with just all the bodies
around me and the chop that was coming from the waves.
So yeah, certainly was happy to have them on my face.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Then awesome. Before I ask you who it's for, and
I already suggested, it's those obviously who are really keen
on capturing their metrics. And I love the idea, by
the way of having a heart rate sensor in the temples.
But please tell us a bit more about what's new
in software, including the augmented reality part that you were
talking about. I guess you can see information layered on
(17:17):
top of the real world that you see while wearing
those goggles, and then the app obviously is for a
deeper dive sorry into the data.
Speaker 6 (17:25):
Absolutely so in the goggles you can see all your
swim metrics in real time and you can pick and
choose which ones you want to see on the dashboard,
so whether that's your stroke count or heart rate, as
we've talked about your pace. We also have the ability
to deliver guided workouts. Part of that is one of
our new features is head coach Plans, which is dynamic
swim plans based on your goals, the timeframe you want
(17:47):
to complete the goal, and then your swim history, and
then we build a plan around what you're looking to achieve.
To say, you miss a swim a week or are
injured for a couple of weeks, then the plan will
dynamically adapt with your ime frame in mind to then
create or recreate the plan so that it's realistic and
has a human element to it.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
So cool. More on these high tech swim goggles when
we return on tech it Out.
Speaker 7 (18:15):
I want to follow Mark Google 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 2 (18:39):
Welcome back to check it Out. We're chatting with Will
Perry from Form. This is a company that has just
released the smart Swim to pro swimming goggles. Before the break, Will,
you were chatting about some of the extra features found
in the new pair of goggles, so please continue your thought.
Speaker 6 (18:58):
Yeah, we've also introduced a feature called smart set and
so this is with the kind of group swimmer or
master's swimmer in mind and basically counts your intervals as
you swim them. So we found that these swimmers weren't
doing workouts because they already have a workout. So as
you're swimming your workout, that you've been prescribed by a
(19:18):
coach on the pool deck or whoever's at the pool.
You then swim and then say you're doing ten hundreds.
Then as you do the hundreds, it'll say one times
one hundred, two times one hundred, which is really great
when you get to five, six, seven times one hundred
and you're thinking, am I on five or six or seven?
So we're keeping you accountable with smart set and then
head coach Insights is another new feature with this release
(19:42):
that provides tangible feedback on your last swim, so it
gives you some pointers on what to look at and
what you did in that swim and where some focus
areas are as well as for your next swim, where
to look at for improvements and what to focus on
for that next swim with workouts to come both of those.
So yeah, some three really nice features that are coming
(20:04):
with this release on the software side too.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
And I'm assuming because it wirelessly talks to the smartphone
with the app in it, that your phone needs to
be somewhat nearby.
Speaker 6 (20:14):
So actually we store the workout once you've sunk your
phone with the goggle, we can then sync across the
workout and the workouts on your goggle, so you don't
actually need to be having a phone close by, Yeah,
when you're when you're at the pool or open water.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
What's the battery life like on him?
Speaker 4 (20:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Fourteen hours With one hour of charging, you get fourteen
hours of swim time battery life, so really a decent
amount of swim.
Speaker 4 (20:36):
Time before you have to think about charging them.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
I'm going to ask you in a moment about subscription
because it sounds like there's a lot of data here
that's ongoing that you can access. But what core functionality
is included for the price of the Smart Swim two
pro goggles, not the subscription.
Speaker 6 (20:51):
As we've talked about, you always have access to your
real time metrics as core functionality. There's now no additional
cost for seeing any of your data in real time
as you swim, inclusive of the augmented reality waveguide display
that's patented, and also the motion sensors and precise swim
tracking all included. You can customize the display. If you
(21:13):
have the two or two pro, you'll always have access
to your heart rate data, automatic stroke detection so we
can track all the main strokes, all your swim strokes.
That's included post swim analysis. On the app, you will
have access to all of the data that you've captured
during your swims you can then review afterwards. You can
also push your swim data to other platforms including Strata Training, Peaks,
(21:36):
Apple Health, and then you'll also have access to all
the open water swim tracking features as well. So there's
still lots to benefit from the core functionality, and then
with the option to jump in on the subscription features
optionally after the first month free trial.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Okay, and we'll talk about that pricing in a moment. Finally,
I guess this is really for competitive athletes or could
it be used like in an educational way, like someone's
learning to swim and the facility that they're taking lessons
from allows the students to wear these goggles and then
you know, try to beat their time and improve their
strokes things like that.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (22:13):
Absolutely, we say that the goggles are for all swimmers.
We've found that since introducing them that tray athletes are
big fans of ours because they're already familiar with using
a lot of data when biking and running. But really
all swimmers can benefit. Whether you're at the elite level
and you're really honing in on certain metrics or you
want to know certain pieces of information at critical points
(22:34):
of time. On the flip of that is, we can
take you from the start of your swim journey if
you can swim, you know, a couple of one hundred
meters of freestyle, then we can take you from a
training plan to work on just general fitness or your
technique all the way up to ultramouth and swimming head
coach plans is a great example of a feature that
can you can tailor that plan to what you want
(22:56):
to achieve, and then we you know, really you just
have to show up up to the pool or to
the lake or the ocean and then start swimming and
we recover you of all the rest.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
We can take you there, all right, and then finally,
how much does it cost and where can we learn more?
Speaker 6 (23:10):
Yeah, for smartswin two pro comes in at three two nine.
The smarts one two is two seven nine, and then
premium subscription monthly is nine ninety nine US dollars and
you can learn more at formswim dot com.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
All right, formswim dot com. That's f O R M
swim dot com. And you also have your retail support there.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
That's right.
Speaker 6 (23:30):
Absolutely everything's available at our website there.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Thank you so much. Will great to chat with you
and congrats on the launch of the smart Swim two
pro swimming goggles.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
All the best cheers, Mark, thank you.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
I wanted to give a quick shout out to sand Disc,
a key partner on this program. The new sand Disc
Creator series is a line of storage solutions designed specifically
for content creators, the driving force behind the content that
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(24:05):
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(24:50):
cameras and more, and number five high capacity. There's no
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(25:12):
I shared one of the videos of these sanddisk drives
for content creators last week on x and threads and
Instagram and LinkedIn, and I got some cool comments from
those who use it, who swear by them. Don't forget
coming up next on tech it Out. As I mentioned
earlier in the show, I always ask people to reach
out on social media to say hi, give me suggestions
(25:33):
for guests or topics. And this is a listener of
tech it Out who I invited on to be a
guest because he is an expert in fridge maintenance tips.
So his name is Jeff Moppin. He's based in Alaska,
and I love how this just happened organically. He reached
out to say he's a fan of the show, and
just a bit of chit chat back and forth, and
I invited him on and so yeah, if you want
(25:54):
to say hi on social media, I'll spell my name
in a moment. But I love hearing from tech it
Out listeners where you're tuning in to the show, from
how you're listening to the show, like in podcast form
or favorite talk radio station. It's Mark Saltzman, M A
R C S A L T Z M A N.
You'll find me on all the big platforms, all right.
When we return how to save money on your refrigerator,
(26:15):
stick with us. We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Breaking down GeekSpeak into street speak.
Speaker 8 (26:20):
Check it Out closted by Mark Saltzman.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Welcome back everyone you're listening to Check it Out. Almost
every show I ask listeners to reach out online, whether
it's on social media or to send me an email
with feedback about the program or suggestions for upcoming guests
or topics, or if you have a tech support question
as well.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
Well.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
This week I've heard from listeners as far as Joe
Berg Johannesburg, South Africa, as well as Barrow, Alaska. The
Alaskan listener I'm referring to Jeff mappin had a great
idea for a segment, and he himself is the perfect
guest for it, so I invited him onto the program.
It's about extending the life of your appliances, and we'll
talk fridges primarily today, little things you can do to
(27:14):
make a big impact. Jeff, thank you so much for
your time today. Appreciate it.
Speaker 9 (27:18):
Yes, good morning.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Before we dive into the topic about appliances and refrigerator maintenance,
please tell us a bit about yourself.
Speaker 9 (27:26):
Well, I've been running a vending business here at the
very top of Alaska and Barrow now called Utavic for
over thirty years, and one thing I've grown to appreciate
is an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Keeping things cleaned, such as the kitchen floor, refrigerator condenser
and the dryer vent pipe have many benefits such as
minimizing the electric bill, maximizing appliance life, and even reducing
(27:51):
the risk of fires.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
This is great and this is why I wanted to
have you on the program. A refrigerator is an appliance
most of us have. We take it for granted that it'll,
you know, just work forever until it doesn't. And so
you've got some tips to extending the life of your refrigerator.
And again, as you said, it's not just because you
may be able to save money on your monthly electric bill,
(28:13):
but also to reduce the odds of an issue and
getting more life out of the fridge. Instead of at
lasting say ten years, you may be able to squeeze
that to twenty and also reducing the risk of any
issues like a fire. Why don't we dive right in?
Do we need to be handy though to do all
this stuff?
Speaker 9 (28:29):
Well, say, some of us are more handy at cleaning
than others, but no special skills are needed. Most don't
realize that they can reduce their electric bill and maximize
the refrigerator's life by keeping the kitchen floor clean and
clean the refrigerator condenser. Usually the black condenser coils and
fins are located on the back or bottom. Some models
(28:52):
do not have exposed condensers, and the condenser tubes are
built into a sidewall of the refrigerator. Older refrigerators that
you and I grew up with have the condenser tubes
and fins mounted on the back. If yours is like this,
they are easily cleaned with a damp rig right.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
You can see them, right, you can see them sticking
out of the back, and just run the rag over
them and just do that once in a while.
Speaker 9 (29:15):
There you go, that would be a great idea. They
do collect dust. We have refrigerators that are primarily built
with the condenser at the very bottom of the refrigerator
and there's a fan located behind it. The fan is
designed to draw cold air across the condenser tubes and
fins to cool it off. The condenser is the way
(29:37):
the refrigerator gives away the heat into the room, just
like a radiator on a car. So it's important to
keep those condenser tubes and fins clean. This will help
reduce the electric bill and it will extend the life
of the appliance.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
If you look under your fridge, there's probably some dust,
pet hair maybe that's often sucked into the bottom area
of the refrigerator, so that could clog the condenser tubes
and fins right.
Speaker 9 (30:05):
Oh yeah, especially those with children and pets, condenser will
quickly get clogged with dust. So at a minimum, tubes
and fins should be inspected and cleaned once a year,
but some may want to do that even monthly to
ensure that there's nothing blocking the proper airflow through that
(30:25):
bottom portion of the refrigerator.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
So I was going to ask you what we can do, Jeff,
if we're not that tech savvy or handy around the home,
let's say, what are some simple things we can do?
If that is on the bottom, the condenser tubes and
fins are on the bottom of the refrigerator, is it
safe for us to go in there? Do we need
to turn off the fridge first?
Speaker 9 (30:45):
It's a great idea to unplug the refrigerator. Inspecting the
condenser tubes at the bottom is an easy thing to do. Usually,
the plastic grill bottom front of the refrigerator snaps on
and off, so you can snap that off, take flashlight
and look under there. Most of the time you will
see it just clogged with dust pet hair if you
(31:06):
have a pet. If you do see clogged with dust
and hair, you'll want to get some simple items to
remove that dust and hair. Those include a vacuum cleaner
with a hose and a crevice tool. You'll want to
get a coil brush from a hardware store. It's a
cheap item. It's a long, skinny brush that will help
you reach all the way to the back of that
(31:28):
condenser and scrape and claw out the dust that you
find underneath there.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
This means your fridge isn't going to work so hard, right.
This is where you're saying it's extending the life and
also reducing your electric bill. Is that it can do
its thing without as much effort if it was clogged
and dirty and dusty, where it may need to work
a little bit harder. Yes, And if you're not sure
where to put the brush or what to clean with
a rag or with other tools that you may need,
(31:54):
YouTube is probably a great idea. Is there a particular channel,
like if you're a visual learner as I am, often,
you know, instead of reading a manual, seeing someone do
it on YouTube or another platform could really help. I
don't know if you're a fan of that. If you do,
recommend going to YouTube. Is there folks you think we
should look to.
Speaker 9 (32:14):
Yes, YouTube's a great resource, but I would recommend starting
with your refrigerator manual. Look under the maintenance tips. It'll
be described there what to do on a regular basis
to keep your refrigerator running in a proper manner. If
you don't have your manual, do an Internet search based
on your model, make a model of your refrigerator, download
(32:36):
your manual, read through it based on your refrigerator, make
and model. You can do internet searches, including on YouTube
for cleaning and maintenance. YouTube has a variety of videos
you can watch. If you enter the search terms refrigerator, cleaning,
coil or.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
If you want to add the name of your refrigerator,
the name and model, You may even find some thing
that it exactly matches what's in front of you. More
about fridge maintenance to save you money and aggravation when
we return on Check it Out with Jeff Moppin, stick with.
Speaker 5 (33:11):
Us, Follow Mark Saltzman on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram,
Listen to check it out whenever you want.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
We are chatting with Jeff Moppin. He's from Northern Alaska.
He's a listener of this program. I was thrilled when
he reached out. I asked listeners every week to reach
out if they want to say hi, let me know
where they're tuning into the show from, if it's from
a local talk radio station or in podcast form. Jeff
and I chat it over email about appliance maintenance and
(33:47):
in particular, we wanted to chat about extending the life
of your fridge and reducing your electric bill, perhaps which
I'm sure many listeners would appreciate. If you do need
to hire a technician, If Jeff, people are listening thinking, oh,
there's no way I would know how to do this,
or maybe you've got some mobility or dexterity challenges you
can't get below the refrigerator to do all this. Do
you have any advice on how not to be taken
(34:09):
advantage of if you need a repair technician? Is there
anything that we should know before we hire somebody?
Speaker 9 (34:15):
There's a few useful ideas. You will save money by
following all the maintenance steps in your manual, such as
cleaning the condenser and compressor. You may find in your
manual or online with an online search, common issues and
suggested fixes based on the age of your refrigerator, ask
yourself if it is worth fixing. The average life is
(34:39):
ten to fourteen years and may last up to twenty
years with proper maintenance. With anything, the more people you
can talk to to get advice from, the better. Even
ask your local grocery store who provides their refrigeration repairs
and call that repair firm to ask if they do
refrigeration repair, usually and supermarkets, higher reputable firms other places.
(35:04):
You can get advice from a local homeowners association or
property management firm that regularly deals with this kind of issue,
and they may have a favorite firm or two that
they turn to to provide their refrigeration repair. Forbes dot
com offers advice about hire refrigeration repair. Discuss the issue
(35:27):
with two or more local appliance repair shops, ask about
their experience, hourly rate, if they offer a warranty, and
discuss licenses, certifications, and insurance with this repair shop, can
they provide a written estimate? Look at online reviews of
the business's website, Google the Better Business Bureau and Yelp
(35:50):
to see what other customers have experienced. If possible, choose
a vendor with at least a four star rating. And lastly,
you can ask for reference is from the repair shop
and contact these previous customers to discuss and if possible,
don't hire help before you meet them.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
Great advice, Jeff. And then finally before we let you go,
I understand you also have some advice about another appliance
that we own, and that's a closed dryer. This is
more about safety.
Speaker 4 (36:20):
Right.
Speaker 9 (36:21):
Yes, this is some advice that I helped prevent a
fire in your home. Consumer Reports dot org reports every year,
firefighters across the nation respond to around thirteen thousand, eight
hundred and twenty home fires caused by clothes dryers. According
to the latest figures from the National Fire Protection Association,
(36:43):
about twenty seven percent of these fires are caused by
an accumulation of lint, which can constrict the duckwork that
expels hot air outside from the dryer. A clogged dryer
vent will restrict the moist air from being vented, causing
you to run your dryer longer and increasing your utility bill.
(37:04):
Dryer filters should be cleaned before each use, as you
probably know, and for cleaning lint from the ductose, start
by unplugging the dryer. If you have a gas dryer,
turn off the gas valve while carefully moving the dryer
away from the wall. Be careful not to damage the
gas supply line. Remove the duct and vacuum both the
dryer and duct. And if you have a cheap foil
(37:26):
accordion style DUC tose, this should be changed annually. The
ridges in that Cordian style foil DUC they trap lint
quite readily, and so experts do recommend using rigid four
inch straight pipe if at all possible. For the rigid
vent pipe in your wall, I recommend a dryer vent
(37:47):
brush kit that has flexible two foot rods that screw together.
These kits range twenty to forty dollars. This may be
used with or without a cordless drill. Use the dryer
vent brush from both inside and outside. If you have
a leaf floor, complete by blowing from inside to get
all the loose link blown out.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
Jeff, this is really helpful advice. I want to thank
you so much for your time for sharing these tips
with us. Again, if anybody wants to hear this interview
all over again, they can go to their favorite podcast
platform and type in Jeff Moppin and his last name
is spelled mau pi n and the word tech as well.
You'll find a link to this episode. Jeff, Thank you
(38:29):
so much again, have a great summer. Yes, thank you,
nice guy. Hey, thank you so much for tuning in
to tech it Out everyone. Powered by Visa. Head on
over to Visa dot com slash security to see how
they're protecting you and your purchases both at retail and online.
Thank you to our three guests today, epsom Form with
their swim goggles, and Jeff Moppin on appliance maintenance. Be
(38:52):
sure to reach out on social media to say Hi.
It's Mark Saltzman, Mark with the C, Saltsman with the
Z All the best, everyone, looking forward to chat with
you next weekend for another brand new episode of Check
It Out.
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