- Tech lifestyle experts Mario Armstrong and Carley Knobloch share some gadget gift ideas ahead of the holidays – including smartwatches, AI-powered laptops, smart home gear, and gaming accessories
- I also suggest some great gear gifts from Nintendo, Razer, Amazon, ASUS, ViewSonic, and remarkable/Staples
- Recorded at AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas, I sit down with Amazon’s Julia Souza to talk about the intersection of sports and tech
- Also at AWS re:Invent, Voxelis.AI’s Colin O'Neill discusses how the company mounts thermal imaging under helicopters to detect and analyze wildfires
- Thank you to Visa, Norton, and SANDISK for your incredible support. Get a huge discount on Norton anti-malware at norton.com/techitout
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? Check it Out can help make some sense
of it all. Breaking down geeks peak 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 (00:27):
Hey everyone, welcome to check it Out, Episode four twenty four.
Hope you're all doing great today and getting ready for Christmas?
Perhaps the holidays? All right? So Wham's Last Christmas may
not be a classic, you know, seasonal two, but hey,
I love it. George Michael so talented. Rest in peace, buddy.
And so with the holidays around the corner, maybe you're
(00:50):
still buying gifts for family and friends. You might need
a little bit of help. Well, we can give you
some assistance this hour, because a couple of our guests
later on in the program have some advice for you.
We've got tech experts Carly Noblock waiting in the wings,
as well as Mario Armstrong, a regular on this show.
They're on standby to share some gadget and game suggestions.
And I'll do the same as well at the tail
(01:11):
end of today's show, based on some TV interviews that
I've done this past week before that. If you tuned
in last week on Tech it Out, you know I
was in Las Vegas at the annual AWS Reinvent convention
with Amazon to learn how tech is changing every industry.
And last week we spoke with someone from the NFL
and we're going to continue learning about the intersection of
(01:33):
sports and technology today. So that's coming up. But before that,
also recorded at AWS Reinvent, I'm going to chat with
a company that helps fight wildfires with cameras and sensors
mounted underneath helicopters. So cool, all of this and more
on an all new tech it out powered by Norton
and Visa, two outstanding partners of mine, and interestingly both
(01:56):
companies aim to protect you in different ways. But elaborate
more on that in a few minutes from now. So
let's get going with a new tech it out with
our first interview. So I'm here at AWS Reinvent twenty
twenty five and I'm sitting with Colin O'Neil, founder and
CEO of a company called vox Sellis, and it's pretty impressive.
I must say, tell us what vox sellis is all about.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
I'm a second generation commercial helicopter pilot, so I come
from an aviation background, and Vouxella's was really founded to
try and bring some of the latest technology on edge
compute and AI and accelerate its introduction into the aviation space,
which is typically a fairly conservative industry and technical exactly.
So you know, we saw an opportunity to bring some
(02:39):
of this technology forward that involves certifying devices to put
on aircraft. So that's what we've been doing. We've been
focused on for our history so far. So I did
a bit of fire fighting while I was flying. I
have not done the ground firefighting, but you work pretty
closely in industry, Like in the helicopter industry is fairly
symbiotic with the fire suppression agency, so you work the
side by side and they start to understand each other's issues.
(03:02):
Most of the aircraft, and I'll say aircraft, we're focusing
on helicopters to begin with, but most of the aircraft
that are out there fighting wildfires are legacy airframes, let's
call them.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
They are not the newest models.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Often they might have an average fleet age of twenty
years plus they're very effective at what they do. But
in terms of assistance that they provide the crews that
are flying them to accomplish the mission, it's pretty minimal.
You're really relying on the pilot's experience and eyeballs and
things like that to actually identify the fire and put
it out. Now, the human eyeball doesn't see heat, so
(03:38):
when you're trying to put out a fire, you're really
looking for thermal vision. Almost none of the aircraft that
are out there, these older aircraft, have any kind of
ability to see the heat signature. So the pilots are
looking for smoke and things like that.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
But now to mention, how you're going to spot a
wildfire through a layer of smoke as.
Speaker 5 (03:55):
It's just it.
Speaker 6 (03:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
So really, what we're our system so we're starting the
company is sort of built on this flagship product called
vaux Vision, and that is, to put it simply, a
powerful computer pre paired with thermal cameras as well as
visual cameras. Think of it as taking some of the
lower cost sensors that have been unlocked because of the
proliferation of drones and ruggedizing them, pairing them with a
(04:20):
computer that's more powerful than you would usually be able
to put on a drone because of the power consumption.
So we have the luxury of more power available on
a large aircraft and then using that to help the crew,
the pilots or the initial attack crews, the firefighting crews
that may be on board the aircraft more effectively do
the job. So identify fires to drop on, map the
(04:40):
fire so we understand where it is at any given time,
send that data back to the analysts and agencies for
doing the planning on how to keep fighting.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
Fires to suppress it.
Speaker 7 (04:50):
Yeah, so this is more.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
For surveillance, for reporting and analyzing accurately where the fire
is and hopefully contained or at least to make efforts
to help it stay contained. But it's not for the
deployment of any kind of like you know, dropping any
kind of chemicals or anything to suppress it.
Speaker 7 (05:08):
That is usually done by aircraft, not helicopters, Is that right.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Yeah, So it's done by both, and it can be
used in that context as well. So we sort of
have a couple of different use cases. We have the
the onboard the aircraft use cases, so things like what
you're talking about, like a helicopter often the retardant.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
You see is dropped by fixed wings.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Okay, helicopters actually can mix foam and possibly retardants in
with the tankage.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
They're just it's not as common. They're more likely dropping water.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
They probably also have a larger payload, you know, fixed
wing aircraft, they could probably hold more of that retual.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Yeah exactly, So you see.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
You see, those like the retardant drops are often used
as like like breaks in the fire to like set
a line down, so they're fixing.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
The aircraft are really good at that.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
They can put a lot of a lot of retardant
down in the line and it's kind of put a
barrier to the fire, and the helicopters are often used
to sort of more put the fire out within those barriers.
Things like our system is designed to do is look
at where the helicopter has dropped, but also network each other.
So you know what, we will eventually do a fixed
thing version of an AI based system like this, and
(06:06):
we could then say, okay, the tanker dropped the retardant
line here, pass that information to the helicopter and say okay,
well here's where you need to like knock the fire.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Yeah, super cool, all right, so voxcellis there and correct
me if I'm wrong. Maybe not the first company to
use thermal vision to help identify things like wildfires. I
know Flear is another company just to mention one. So
what would be your secret sauce if you will.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Yeah, So, like we see ourselves as maybe a new
layer in the technology stack of sensors. So the companies
like Fleair, there's a few of them that make amazing sensors.
They can see really long distance. The way that they're
used right now is sort of low volume deployment. They're
quite expensive sensors. They're super capable, and they operate at
sort of like an incident level, so they'll fly in
(06:51):
an aircraft that's higher above the fire and sort of
look at at a bigger picture thing. But because they
cost so much, you typically have like a dedicated operator
in an aircraft. That aircraft can't be doing anything else
because it's the sensor aircraft and it has to move
around a state or a province to the different incidents.
So it's a shared resource because you can't afford to
have lots of them copy that. So we've basically taken
(07:13):
lower cost optics more similar to what you'd find in
drones and ruggedize them and certify them for installation on
the helicopters that are doing the other jobs so well,
in an aircraft is tanking or carrying a crew around
or doing observation, we have a lower cost sensor that
can ride along and automate some of the detection tasks.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
So yeah, really where we fit.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
In is at a price point that we can deploy
at a much broader scale and become like nodes and
an intelligence network.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Got that, and then on the back end, without getting
too technical, tell us about the AWS platform powering this?
Is it cloud? Is it AI? How are you leveraging it?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Yeah, so we like to deploy a system like this,
that is, you know, there's a lot of data being
collected and processed on the aircraft them that to be
useful in its broad use case, it has to be
able to be transmitted back at a at a manageable size,
and it has to be transmitted securely. This can be
sensitive data, so it has to come back to a
(08:14):
server and then it has to be delivered to whoever
is actually going to use it, so a wildfire analyst
or an agency. And where we've used AWS is really
to bridge that connection between the aircraft and delivering it
to the customers. So the tools that we have available
allow us to do things like AWS builds, tools that
let us remotely managed devices, push software updates to devices,
(08:37):
so we can make the system better in the field.
So it can be hundreds of miles away from anywhere.
We can push a software update to it, and it's
got new capabilities securely transmit the data back that is collected,
and then a customer can log into a portal and
consume the data and intelligence to make decisions from an
office somewhere.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Second, last question, is this being deployed now? I think
in parts of can it is, and I think somewhere overseas.
Speaker 7 (09:03):
What's your road map look like for twenty twenty six.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Yeah, so we're just deploying the first units now.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
So we've got a couple that have flown in Canada
on two different types of aircraft. So we've got a
few Canadian operators that are sort of waiting for units
that will be rolling out, So we hope to have
a decent number of them in Canada this year. And
we've also done our first installation in Australia, so we
you know, the two hemisphere sort of opposite fire season,
so we can we can focus on a fire season
(09:27):
anytime of the year by having some in Australia as well. So, yeah,
this will be our first year of like operational deployments.
We've been going through that sort of like testing and
certification phase to date and really you know, coming this
spring will be you know in Canada, our North America,
I guess, our first deployments.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yeah, amazing. And then finally, what's next. You did hint at.
Speaker 7 (09:50):
The fact that you could add your technology to a.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Fixed wing aircraft, but what about going beyond wildfires?
Speaker 7 (09:56):
Could this be used for.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Looking for someone for law enforcement purposes or for military purposes?
Speaker 4 (10:02):
No, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
So what we see is this wildfires really are It's
a very important use case for our customers. So the
helicopter operators, a lot of their businesses, especially in the summer,
is on wildfire, so we've focused our initial use case
on that. But what we really see this is it's
a low cost, very very powerful system that can be
part of every aircraft for almost any mission. You can
(10:24):
imagine where you might want to look at something or
so things like like pipeline patrol and power line patrol
or which.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Might be a big thing. Yeah, yere after in Canada,
at least with some of the pipeline working.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Absolutely so yeah, really, we think it can be applicable
across a broad range of missions.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
It could be a dual use technology.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
If you can imagine having thousands of aircraft with a
capability like this deployed, you now have sort of a
distributed network to collect things like aerial photos on demand
where you don't have to arrange a job and send
an aircraft out on a bespoke mission. So you enable
a lot of new data collection capabilities and stuffing.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
That search and rescue mining. I mean the applications are
probably a list for thermal technology exactly powered by AI
and the cloud. Thank you, Colin O'Neill, founder and CEO
of Vosellis dot AI.
Speaker 7 (11:15):
Very interesting technology.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Thanks so much for your time.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Yeah, thank you for having us.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
We talk about tech and sports with AWS when we
return on tech it Out.
Speaker 8 (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 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
(12:02):
ten billion dollars yes that's 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. Read more
about Visa and how securing the world's payments is priority
(12:23):
one at Visa dot Com slash Security. That's Visa dot
Com slash Security. Forgive the ambient noise. We are here
at AWS Reinvent twenty five in Las Vegas. I'm sitting
down with Julie Susa, AWS Global head of Sports. Julie,
nice to see you again.
Speaker 6 (12:40):
Thanks.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
I guess about six months ago we sat down in
Italy all places and talked f one and how AWS
empowers teams and drivers with like hundreds of censors on
each vehicle that can help them shave off milliseconds.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
And then in this show, I talked to the NFL
about how AWS is helping prevent injuries, and we've talked
about that in the past as well, concussions and things.
Why don't we explore some other ways that AWS is
helping leagues and sports of all kinds. I know that
in the I know that you're associated with golf with NBA.
(13:16):
I was at a Raptors thing in Toronto and shooting
some hoops about a month ago, which is really neat.
Tell us what's new.
Speaker 9 (13:21):
Yeah, I think what we're seeing are a lot of
agentic use cases starting to crop up in sports as
across all industries as well, but some of them are
really interesting. The NFL launched a Fantasy AI assistant, so
it allows fans to go in and ask questions like
who should I sit, who should I start, who should
I trade, you know, in the upcoming week, and the
(13:42):
AI assistant will go out and scour all and.
Speaker 10 (13:44):
The data and weather data and all these other things.
Speaker 9 (13:47):
That could impact a player performance and come up with recommendation.
So that's a really cool use of agentic AI from
a fan facing perspective.
Speaker 10 (13:53):
With the NFL, we mentioned PGA Tour.
Speaker 9 (13:56):
They're doing really interesting things capturing data off of the
course and turning into commentary.
Speaker 10 (14:01):
I think we've talked about this before too.
Speaker 9 (14:02):
Only about fifteen percent of shots that you see in
a golf tournament are actually televised, right, eighty five percent
go on televised, which means they go on you know,
commented upon as well. So what the tour is doing
is taking all of that data and through generative AI tools,
creating commentary for those shots so that you actually do
have context for every shot live in a tournament, which
(14:25):
is really exciting and I think it'll be interesting to
see where they take that next, because right now it's
text commentary, but you could very quickly see that transitioning
to voice.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Yeah, we talked about that second screen experience that AWS
doesn't just help the players and the teams and the coaches,
but also the fans. Yeah, you know, by enriching the experience,
such as having an app powered by AWS on the
back end on their lap while they're watching an F
one race or a PGA Tour tournament. Yeh's it's pretty wild.
Like that extra data that you get, you know, you
(14:53):
can't say shiate these fans. They want more and more
and anything with soccer, and you know, with FIFA World
Cup on the horizon, a lot of people are super
stoked about soccer, the world's most popular sport. Yeah, does
AWS have any partnerships there.
Speaker 10 (15:07):
Well, we work with Bundesliga.
Speaker 9 (15:09):
They're a great partner of the German soccer league and
they are fantastic, super innovative with them a.
Speaker 10 (15:14):
Lot around data a lot.
Speaker 9 (15:16):
They're a real super user of the generator of AI
tools and services here at AWS and out on the floor.
They are actually demoing how the data that they're collecting,
very similar to the PGA to our use case of
collecting data and then converting that into commentary.
Speaker 10 (15:30):
They're doing that.
Speaker 9 (15:31):
They're taking a step further and they're doing it in
multi language and multi persona, so you could choose your language,
and then layer of persona on top of that, which
is they've got one they called Jen Alpha, which formerly
I think called bro, which is a veryous We're like
casual chat persona for describing.
Speaker 10 (15:50):
A particular action in the game.
Speaker 9 (15:52):
So that's letting them meet fans where they are and
in the tone of voice they want to be spoken to.
They have, you know, a version that's very poetic, so
they're waxing on about you know, the flowery language about
a particular goal, which you know, in the Gen Alpha
version could just be like dude, sick go brow, you know.
Speaker 6 (16:09):
So it's only more personalization, additional language support, faster data
analysis and delivery, and enriched fan experience and performance improvements,
which is what players and teams want.
Speaker 10 (16:22):
So there's several.
Speaker 9 (16:24):
So just like there are also leagues like World Circle League,
for example, that had like fifty years of data.
Speaker 10 (16:30):
That was literally inn excel right and so working.
Speaker 9 (16:34):
You know, they have an all cloud partner that you know,
came and helped them migrate to the cloud and put
and now they're able to access their data and use
their data. They're broadcast prep time reduced by eighty percent
because they're able to have this data in the cloud, accessible, available, structured.
Speaker 10 (16:49):
In a way that they can use it.
Speaker 9 (16:50):
And then even like their post recaps and highlights that
the time to produce those is drop by forty percent.
Speaker 10 (16:55):
So you're just seeing people.
Speaker 9 (16:57):
At different stages in the sport's ecosystem adopting this techology.
Some are just coming on board and structuring their data
like World Surf League. Others are doing really advanced things,
whether it's redesigning an F one car or solving, you know,
trying to help so play your health and safety issues
in the NFL, or drive fan engagement.
Speaker 10 (17:11):
Leveraging these analytics in a lot of different creative ways.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yeah, awesome, Julie, Thank you so much. We've been chatting
with Julie Susa, AWS Global head of Sports. We're chatting
about the latest sports innovation powered by Amazon Web Services,
including the NFL's new Fantasy AI Assistant, which we led with.
Thank you so much again, Julie, good to see you again,
to see you, thank you. I know Julie mentioned AI
agents or agent tic AI. That's just when the technology
(17:35):
can go out and do something for you, so you're
not just interacting with a personal assistant, but it can
do things like book restaurant reservations for you, or tickets
on an airline, you know, with your consent of course,
and so the AWS agents on the sports end can
go out and pull data and work with other companies
and bring things back to a lot of people think
that's the future kind of cool, but I wanted to
(17:56):
explain that in case phrases like AGENTIICAI just make your
eyes gloss over, I don't blame you. All right, When
we return on Tech it Out, we are going to
talk with Carly Noblock. She's a tech expert who's going
to join us to share some of her favorite gadget
and game gift ideas for the holidays. Stick with us, We'll.
Speaker 5 (18:13):
Be right back.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
I want to follow Mark Google, Mark with a C
and Saltzman with a Z breaking down geeks peak into
street speak. This is check it Out. Check it Out
with technology columnist, author, and TV personality Mark Saltzman.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Welcome back everyone. You're listening to check it Out. If
you're out buying tech this holiday, well you're going to
want to pay attention to what my next guest suggestions are.
We have tech lifestyle expert Carly Noblock here with us
with her holiday gadget guide picks to help us out. Hey, Carly,
welcome back to the show. Always good to chat with you.
Speaker 11 (18:59):
Hi, I'm so glad to be here. Thanks so much
for having me, And as always, I've partnered with some
amazing brands for my must have list this season.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
All right, well, why don't we start off with a
hot category one of my favorites, smart home tech.
Speaker 11 (19:14):
What do you like this, yere okay, I got two
things to share with you. If you want to keep
tabs on your property no matter where you are, Blink
arc is like having an extra pair of eyes in
your yard. So with a Blink subscription, it stitches together
the feed from two Blink Mini two K plus cameras
into a one hundred and eighty degree panoramic view. So
(19:34):
now you'll be able to see everything from your kids
playing outside to those holiday packages on the front stoop,
or your dog chasing but never catching that squirrel. It's
very easy to install, and it's a great price at
just ninety nine ninety nine on Amazon. And then, whether
you're seeking a TV upgrade or a more versatile big screen,
Roku has you covered in both cases with their sixty
(19:57):
five inch Pro Series Roku TV. You get a sound
and razor sharp details and a nice big screen. And
if TV isn't quite right for your space, you'll want
to check out the r Zen Easy d one r
Roku TV Smart projector. It's a fantastic option when you
want a flexible big screen for movie night that's compatible
with whether you want to use Bluetooth headphones or wireless speakers,
(20:20):
and you can check out Roku dot com for all
of their holiday promotion.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Cool. I did not know Roku made a projector that's
really cool, amazing. And then for the blink Arc I
actually reviewed that product for Reviewed dot com. Love it.
Great picks to start off our chat, Carly, So why
don't we now pivot and talk about smartphone deals?
Speaker 11 (20:40):
Okay, well, for smartphones and plans this holiday, T Mobiles
switching made easy promotion. Let's new customers switch in just
fifteen minutes. So families you switch can get four smartphones
for free and four voice lines for twenty five dollars
per line, So that's just one hundred dollars a month
to connect your whole family, which is pretty cool. And
then with their T Life app, you can get same
(21:01):
day delivery on new smartphones and accessories in most major cities.
And you'll want to check out T mobile dot com
for all of their holiday offers.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
All right, wow for free phones. Got to love that.
For switching, we are chatting with Carle Noblock, tech lifestyle expert.
Always great having her on the program, especially this time
of year where you've got some great gift ideas, whether
you want to treat your loved ones or yourself taking
advantage of those pre holiday sales. Another hot category carly aipcs. Right, So,
these laptops that can do way more than you were
(21:32):
able to even just a couple of years ago. What
should shoppers look out for this season?
Speaker 11 (21:36):
Yeah, it's fascinating what's going on with the aipcs. And
if you want to be a next level gift giver,
definitely look into these. If you've got a STEM student
or a content creator or an aspiring app developer on
your list, you want to look for the rtxaipcs starting
under nine to ninety nine throughout December. They're powered by
Nvidia g Force rtxgpus with built in AI process, which
(22:00):
means they are the fastest laptops for both creative work
and gaming. And then if you want to even kick
it up even more, get the DGX Spark. It's a
compact AI supercomputer that sits right on your desk, and
it's like really small and compact and beautifully designed. I mean,
we're definitely living in the future. Mark, There's all kinds
of amazing things going on in these laptops, and.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
I'm a huge fan of Nvidia, So you're not recommending
a laptop brand in this case. It's more about the
specs that you would want to look for when you're
shopping for a new laptop. You want to look for
that RTX right and video, the GPUs that power gaming
and other applications AI performance. Is that fair?
Speaker 11 (22:39):
Yeah, with the exception of the DGX Spark, that little
supercomputer that's more of a desktop. But generally speaking, yes,
you're looking for the Nvidia g Force RTX GPUs that
are powering that laptop to give you that AI and
super fast processing for graphics and gaming and all the
things you're doing.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Awesome, All right, thinking up gaming? Why don't we end
off on that? Do you have a recommendation for us?
I sure do.
Speaker 11 (23:05):
Sonic the Hedgehog is iconic. We love him in every game,
but his newest from Sega takes things to a whole
other level. In Sonic Racing Crossworlds, players can race across land, sea, air,
and space and blast to new dimensions with the all
new Travel Rings feature. You can speak to victory solo
(23:26):
or as a team, and I love that you can
customize and build your ultimate racing machine. It's available on
all current generation consoles, PC and Nintendo Switch too, And
I think this is super fun. You know, if your
kids like video games, you've got time during the holidays.
You're all hanging out as a family. It's fun to
play with them. And you know, if you don't often
(23:46):
have time to sit down with your kids and let
them teach you about the games that they love and
get you involved. I promise it's super fun and a
great bonding experience to have over the holidays.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
I agree wholeheartedly about playing with your kids. It's important,
you know, don't just let the kids sit in front
of the TV or PC and have some fun on
their own. Pick up a controller, do it as a
family together. It's super fun and a game like this
is perfect because it is family friendly, easy to pick up,
hard to put down. And yeah, maybe you'll school the
kids for a change. And then, Carly, is there a
(24:18):
place where we can go to see these games and
PCs and smartphone deals and the smart home tech in action?
Speaker 10 (24:25):
Absolutely?
Speaker 11 (24:25):
You can always head to Inthanews dot tv for quick
shopping of all of these items that I mentioned and
great information there. And again, Mark, thanks for having me
on the show always, and I wish you a very
happy holiday.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Thank you, Carly, and to you Merry Christmas. Carly Noblock
has been our guest the website once again in thenews
dot tv. All the best. Looking forward to chatting with
you again soon, me too, Mark.
Speaker 7 (24:47):
Thanks.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Well, we've got two more gift guides. After a short break,
we're going to chat with Mario Armstrong, a regular on
this program. He's going to share some of his top picks,
and then I, if I may, will share some of
my favorite gad in game related picks, like the Nintendo
switch to a little bit later on in the show.
Before that, though, I wanted to give a shout out
to Norton, a brand new sponsor on this program. I'll
(25:09):
plug a website in a moment for you to get
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a deep discount in fact. All right, we're gonna chat
(26:16):
with tech expert Mario Armstrong when we return on Check it.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Out, breaking down GeekSpeak into street speak. Check it Out
hosted by Mark Saltzman.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Welcome back to check it out. As the Andy Williams
song says, it's the most wonderful time of the year,
but you might not feel that way if you're getting
elbowed at the mall while try to buy some top
tech gifts. Well, we can help you figure out what
to get as we're joined by digital lifestyle expert Mario Armstrong.
He's here to check the halls with his guide to
(26:58):
the season's best gifts. Mario, hey man, we're almost there.
Merry Christmas, buddy, Happy holidays. We are almost there.
Speaker 12 (27:05):
Happy Holidays, and I don't want anyone getting elbowed in the.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Mall, so let's help them out exactly. Well, maybe they
can take your advice and you're going to share with
us some cool gadget related ideas they could chop online
or at them all. At least they can just head
right to what they want instead of having a great
fight with someone. That's so true.
Speaker 12 (27:24):
I forget the name of the movie right now, where
they were fighting over the toy with.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Oh jingle all the way. Yeah, yeah, that's.
Speaker 12 (27:30):
One of our classics in our household.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
We love that. But yes, you're right.
Speaker 12 (27:33):
We partnered up with some great brands to really help
give everybody some good ideas for some holiday gift ideas.
Speaker 6 (27:38):
This year.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Okay, awesome, Well we need to start with entertainment. What
you've got for us gamers and entertainment lovers out there.
Speaker 12 (27:46):
Oh man, everything from driving to precision mice and headphones.
But let's start first with the Samsung Galaxy x R.
This is their first AI powered headset and it's really
built for that new Android XR ecosystem. It's lightweight, it's
really sleek looking.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
It's just so futuristic. I love how it looks.
Speaker 12 (28:05):
But it's also on the inside when when you're wearing it,
you see that immersive four K visuals that pop in,
so you really have that crystal clear experience with it,
is what I would say. And you can control it
without a controller. You can use the apps by using
your hands, eyes, or voice, and you can even do
things like stream YouTube or catch a football game on it,
or navigate Google Maps, all in rich interactive three D,
(28:27):
which really takes like looking at sites and places to
a whole other level. So yeah, it's great entertainment with
a futuristic design for sure.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
I really like that. All right, So this is like
a mixed reality headset. Yes, okay, got it. So that's
the Samsung Galaxy x R. Sorry to cut you off.
I think we're gonna now pivot and talk about accessories
for computer gamers. Yes, and we have so many great ones.
Speaker 12 (28:48):
I think we should start with the mouse, the Logitech
G They have a lot of this gear, so the
pro X super Light two C mouse, that's the name
of the mouse that delivers precision, but also up to
ninety five hours of wireless battery life, so that's a
big plus. And then the headset, which is super important
when you're playing games, the Astro A twenty x. It
(29:09):
really has great cris sound, long lasting comfort, which is
important when you're wearing it for a couple hours. And
then the keyboard is important, so the G five P
fifteen Rapid TKL keyboard. It's low profile, super thin, lightning
fast though, so it's built for speed, which is what
the all the gamers are looking for. And then speaking
of speed, if they're into racing games, then the RS
(29:30):
fifty racing wheel.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Now that's a whole system.
Speaker 12 (29:33):
Even though it's a racing wheel, it's got true to
life torque and there are some custom setups that they
can actually set up for themselves.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
All right, So some Logitech accessories for the computer Gamer
on your gift list. Why do we now pivot and
talk fitness and maybe something for outdoor enthusiasts.
Speaker 12 (29:49):
Yeah, I love both smart watch that can do everything
but still look great. I love the amase Fit Balance too.
I think it's great for the hybrid athlete. It's a
multi sport smart watch. They come in multi colors. It's
got up to twenty one days of battery.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Life, which is awesome. That's impressive. It's crazy, right, and
I have one of these.
Speaker 12 (30:06):
It's really really super useful, and I like how I
can use it for diving or swimming, but it's built
for everything, strength training, running, cycling. I mean it tracts
like over one hundred and seventy sports mark. It's great
like golf, and I don't know if you're familiar with
high rocks modes, but it also has exclusive high rocks.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Modes for athletes that are into that. And it's stylish,
you know me, I kind.
Speaker 12 (30:26):
Of like style, so I'm not going to wear something
that looks like a clunky smart wise.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Even high rocks support, which is really cool. My wife's
in tall that she's a fitness instructor and I don't
work out. She hates technology and I make a living
talking about it as you do. You guys, you know it.
We are chatting with digital lifestyle expert Mario Armstrong, or
as I like to call him, Mario dot Ai. He
is here with us to teck the halls with some
gadget gift ideas for loved ones or yourself. Why not?
(30:53):
Why don't we end off Mario on any ideas for
home cooks in our lives.
Speaker 12 (30:57):
And I think this can benefit every relationship, including yours,
Mone too.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Mark.
Speaker 12 (31:02):
Yeah, so this is the first time where we can
actually have good food and being using tech at the
same time. So maybe the wife of yours would really
love this.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
So she's a nutritionist too, So I'm all ears man.
Speaker 10 (31:12):
There you go, there you go.
Speaker 12 (31:13):
Well, I'm talking about taking the stress out of cooking
and being able to do it however you want to
do with one hundred thousand plus recipes. So I'm talking
about the Thermo Mix TM seven. Now, this is a
smart kitchen Soux chef. It goes in your kitchen. It
looks like I'm trying to describe it for radio. It
looks like it has a tablet on it's on the
front of it. And then it looks like it has
a picture that is kind of on a mount and
(31:36):
so think of a blender that's got like a tablet
screen that you could see.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
This thing does it all.
Speaker 12 (31:42):
It cooks, it chops, it blends and steams, and it
does it all in one stainless steel bowl. But you
can cook a full family meal and layer it like
you can have multiple items being cooked at the same
time in this And they have one hundred thousand guided
cookie Dow recipes on it with the built tablet, so
you just basically scroll the tablet, pick what you want,
(32:03):
what you want to make, and walk you right through it.
And I like the fact that since it's connected to
your home, you can get everything delivered, like and maybe
you're missing an ingredient, you can just hit Instacart or
pull up your local grocery store and just order that in.
And it's going to help me clearly become a much
better cook in the household in the Armstrong family.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Yeah, this thing looks so cool. Yeah, as you said,
it kind of looks like a high tech blender, like
a pitcher shaped mixer with a tablet mountain on the
front and they're showing recipes on the screen, and again
I would encourage our listeners to see these products. So
what's the best website then, Mario for everything you've chatted
about with us today?
Speaker 12 (32:40):
Yeah, great question. So because we have prices there as
well too, So go to in thenews dot tv. We
have these ideas and some others there as well in
thenews dot tv.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
All right, wishing you a very merry Christmas, Mario, Merry
Christmas to YouTube. Thanks budd, see you soon, all the best,
Thanks for your time.
Speaker 12 (32:54):
Thank here.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Actually we will talk with Mario again next weekend for
a few more last minut gadget gift ideas. But when
we return, I'm going to share a half dozen suggestions
based on some TV interviews I did this week, So
stay tuned more check it out coming right up after
this short break.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Follow Mark Saltzman on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram listen
to check it out whenever you want.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Alrighty, So, as I mentioned earlier in the program, I
started my annual gadget gift guide tour, and so I
wanted to share with you a half dozen gadget gift
ideas if you want to jot these down or make
a mental note. First up of course, the country's hottest
video game console. It's Nintendo Switch To. It lets you
play anywhere in any time, at home or on the go.
(33:50):
It has a bigger and better display, more power, magnetic
JOYCN two controllers, a new game chat feature, and support
for thousands of including those from the regular Nintendo Switch.
The newest game that I would recommend is Pokemon Legends ZA.
It has you return to Lumio City to explore and
(34:10):
compete as a trainer. The epic role playing game lets
you battle in thrilling real time, so no more turns
or waiting. Love it. There's also a Nintendo Switch to
and Pokemon's ZA Bundle that you can pick up as well,
so you get the game code with the system itself.
Very cool. So that's Nintendo Switch too. But if you're
shopping for more of a computer gamer, there's a sale
(34:33):
on the Razor Black Widow V three Special Edition keyboard.
So this is a comfortable, customizable, and gorgeous keyboard powered
by Razor Chroma RGB. Love the bright and colorful lighting
against the white keys in this version, the special Edition version,
and more importantly, it delivers precision and speed with its
mechanical switches. Love the way it feels and sounds, ultra
(34:55):
fast actuation and tactile feedback. It also has six program
macro keys, a multifunction roller, and media keys too to
control your music and other content right from the keyboard.
The Razor Black Widow V three special Edition keyboard is
on sale at best Buy. Next up if you are
looking to gift an AIPC or to treat yourself to
(35:16):
something that's on sale over the holidays. The Asus zen
book A fourteen laptop is the world's lightest copilot plus
PC at just nine hundred and eighty grams, so you
don't even feel it in your bag. But it doesn't
sacrifice durability, as it's made from this exclusive material called
Sarah Aluminum. It's a hybrid of ceramics and aerospace grade aluminum,
(35:38):
and it's said to be three times stronger than standard
analyzed aluminum. And it's smudge free too. I love the
gorgeous fourteen inch o lead screen and my favorite feature
up to thirty two hours of battery life between charges. Wow,
that's insane. You can leave the charger at home and
get more than a day's worth of continuous use. Not
(35:58):
that you'd be on it for twenty four hours. I
hope not, but you get the idea. Speaking of computing,
another pick this year from me would be the view
Sonic VX sixteen fifty five four K portable monitor. So
this is a premium fifteen point six inch portable monitor
that plugs into a laptop or a phone tablet and
you can use it wherever life takes you for work
(36:20):
or play. And it usually doesn't need power external power,
as it gets the power from whatever it's plugged into,
even video game consoles, so super cool. Don't need a
wall socket for most things. It's got stunning four K resolution.
There's an option for an O led model, a built
in kickstand and an included protective cover, and all the
cables are in the box as well. This is great.
(36:41):
You know you're going to Starbucks and you need a
dual monitor without taking up a lot of space or
adding a lot of extra weight in your laptop bag.
This is a great pick, and view Sonic has been
around forever. Love that company, all right. A couple more
picks for you. One is the remarkable Paper Pro Move
from Staples. So this is a paper tablet that lets
you write or sketch on the screen. With the Stylus pen,
(37:02):
you can check your to do list and manage your
tasks and even read ebooks anywhere. There's a color seven
point three inch display that really does feel like pen
on paper. It even sounds like it super cool, perfect
for mobile professionals and students who liked the feeling of handwriting,
and of course there is handwriting conversion on the back end.
I love that there are no distractions, no social media
(37:24):
or emails or text messages coming through. There's a convenient
front light, two week battery, and more. As I mentioned,
going to your local Staples location to try it yourself.
And finally, Alexa plus is now here. She's a lot
smarter and more conversational and more personalized. She can remember
things like your likes and dislikes, dietary preferences, and can
(37:46):
even make restaurant reservations for you. It can also remind
you to do things when she quote unquote sees you,
and much more so. What I'm referring to is one
device I've been showing on TV, the Amazon Echo Show
eleven smart display. It's an eleven inch screen that has
Alexa plus built in with great sounding audio as well
by the way, So not only can you ask for
recipes and also see them on the screen, make free
(38:08):
video calls, that kind of stuff, but when the camera
sees you, it can remind you. You could say, hey, Mark,
Kelly wants to remind you to take out the trash today.
That's my wife, Kelly. So Alexa plus works with most
Amazon Echo devices like smart speakers, smart displays and more.
And it is free for Prime members which is awesome.
So as you can see no shortage of great gadget
gift ideas and you can always hit me up on
(38:30):
social media if you've got questions at Mark Saltzman and
it's Mark with the C would love to hear from you. Well,
that wraps up another episode of Tack It Out. Hope
you enjoyed it. A huge thank you to both Visa
and Norton amazing partners on this program as well as
sand Disc. All three of those brands aimed to protect
you and your data all in different ways, which is
(38:51):
really cool, so thank you to them. Thanks for tuning
into the program, to all the radio stations that erin
and the podcast platforms all the best. Everyone will chat
with you next week for another brand new episode of
tack it out, but bye for now.
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the ever changing world
of technology? Check it Out can help make some sense
of it all. Breaking down geeks peak 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 (00:27):
Hey everyone, welcome to check it Out, Episode four twenty four.
Hope you're all doing great today and getting ready for Christmas?
Perhaps the holidays? All right? So Wham's Last Christmas may
not be a classic, you know, seasonal two, but hey,
I love it. George Michael so talented. Rest in peace, buddy.
And so with the holidays around the corner, maybe you're
(00:50):
still buying gifts for family and friends. You might need
a little bit of help. Well, we can give you
some assistance this hour, because a couple of our guests
later on in the program have some advice for you.
We've got tech experts Carly Noblock waiting in the wings,
as well as Mario Armstrong, a regular on this show.
They're on standby to share some gadget and game suggestions.
And I'll do the same as well at the tail
(01:11):
end of today's show, based on some TV interviews that
I've done this past week before that. If you tuned
in last week on Tech it Out, you know I
was in Las Vegas at the annual AWS Reinvent convention
with Amazon to learn how tech is changing every industry.
And last week we spoke with someone from the NFL
and we're going to continue learning about the intersection of
(01:33):
sports and technology today. So that's coming up. But before that,
also recorded at AWS Reinvent, I'm going to chat with
a company that helps fight wildfires with cameras and sensors
mounted underneath helicopters. So cool, all of this and more
on an all new tech it out powered by Norton
and Visa, two outstanding partners of mine, and interestingly both
(01:56):
companies aim to protect you in different ways. But elaborate
more on that in a few minutes from now. So
let's get going with a new tech it out with
our first interview. So I'm here at AWS Reinvent twenty
twenty five and I'm sitting with Colin O'Neil, founder and
CEO of a company called vox Sellis, and it's pretty impressive.
I must say, tell us what vox sellis is all about.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
I'm a second generation commercial helicopter pilot, so I come
from an aviation background, and Vouxella's was really founded to
try and bring some of the latest technology on edge
compute and AI and accelerate its introduction into the aviation space,
which is typically a fairly conservative industry and technical exactly.
So you know, we saw an opportunity to bring some
(02:39):
of this technology forward that involves certifying devices to put
on aircraft. So that's what we've been doing. We've been
focused on for our history so far. So I did
a bit of fire fighting while I was flying. I
have not done the ground firefighting, but you work pretty
closely in industry, Like in the helicopter industry is fairly
symbiotic with the fire suppression agency, so you work the
side by side and they start to understand each other's issues.
(03:02):
Most of the aircraft, and I'll say aircraft, we're focusing
on helicopters to begin with, but most of the aircraft
that are out there fighting wildfires are legacy airframes, let's
call them.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
They are not the newest models.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Often they might have an average fleet age of twenty
years plus they're very effective at what they do. But
in terms of assistance that they provide the crews that
are flying them to accomplish the mission, it's pretty minimal.
You're really relying on the pilot's experience and eyeballs and
things like that to actually identify the fire and put
it out. Now, the human eyeball doesn't see heat, so
(03:38):
when you're trying to put out a fire, you're really
looking for thermal vision. Almost none of the aircraft that
are out there, these older aircraft, have any kind of
ability to see the heat signature. So the pilots are
looking for smoke and things like that.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
But now to mention, how you're going to spot a
wildfire through a layer of smoke as.
Speaker 5 (03:55):
It's just it.
Speaker 6 (03:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
So really, what we're our system so we're starting the
company is sort of built on this flagship product called
vaux Vision, and that is, to put it simply, a
powerful computer pre paired with thermal cameras as well as
visual cameras. Think of it as taking some of the
lower cost sensors that have been unlocked because of the
proliferation of drones and ruggedizing them, pairing them with a
(04:20):
computer that's more powerful than you would usually be able
to put on a drone because of the power consumption.
So we have the luxury of more power available on
a large aircraft and then using that to help the crew,
the pilots or the initial attack crews, the firefighting crews
that may be on board the aircraft more effectively do
the job. So identify fires to drop on, map the
(04:40):
fire so we understand where it is at any given time,
send that data back to the analysts and agencies for
doing the planning on how to keep fighting.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
Fires to suppress it.
Speaker 7 (04:50):
Yeah, so this is more.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
For surveillance, for reporting and analyzing accurately where the fire
is and hopefully contained or at least to make efforts
to help it stay contained. But it's not for the
deployment of any kind of like you know, dropping any
kind of chemicals or anything to suppress it.
Speaker 7 (05:08):
That is usually done by aircraft, not helicopters, Is that right.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Yeah, So it's done by both, and it can be
used in that context as well. So we sort of
have a couple of different use cases. We have the
the onboard the aircraft use cases, so things like what
you're talking about, like a helicopter often the retardant.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
You see is dropped by fixed wings.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Okay, helicopters actually can mix foam and possibly retardants in
with the tankage.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
They're just it's not as common. They're more likely dropping water.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
They probably also have a larger payload, you know, fixed
wing aircraft, they could probably hold more of that retual.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Yeah exactly, So you see.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
You see, those like the retardant drops are often used
as like like breaks in the fire to like set
a line down, so they're fixing.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
The aircraft are really good at that.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
They can put a lot of a lot of retardant
down in the line and it's kind of put a
barrier to the fire, and the helicopters are often used
to sort of more put the fire out within those barriers.
Things like our system is designed to do is look
at where the helicopter has dropped, but also network each other.
So you know what, we will eventually do a fixed
thing version of an AI based system like this, and
(06:06):
we could then say, okay, the tanker dropped the retardant
line here, pass that information to the helicopter and say okay,
well here's where you need to like knock the fire.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Yeah, super cool, all right, so voxcellis there and correct
me if I'm wrong. Maybe not the first company to
use thermal vision to help identify things like wildfires. I
know Flear is another company just to mention one. So
what would be your secret sauce if you will.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Yeah, So, like we see ourselves as maybe a new
layer in the technology stack of sensors. So the companies
like Fleair, there's a few of them that make amazing sensors.
They can see really long distance. The way that they're
used right now is sort of low volume deployment. They're
quite expensive sensors. They're super capable, and they operate at
sort of like an incident level, so they'll fly in
(06:51):
an aircraft that's higher above the fire and sort of
look at at a bigger picture thing. But because they
cost so much, you typically have like a dedicated operator
in an aircraft. That aircraft can't be doing anything else
because it's the sensor aircraft and it has to move
around a state or a province to the different incidents.
So it's a shared resource because you can't afford to
have lots of them copy that. So we've basically taken
(07:13):
lower cost optics more similar to what you'd find in
drones and ruggedize them and certify them for installation on
the helicopters that are doing the other jobs so well,
in an aircraft is tanking or carrying a crew around
or doing observation, we have a lower cost sensor that
can ride along and automate some of the detection tasks.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
So yeah, really where we fit.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
In is at a price point that we can deploy
at a much broader scale and become like nodes and
an intelligence network.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Got that, and then on the back end, without getting
too technical, tell us about the AWS platform powering this?
Is it cloud? Is it AI? How are you leveraging it?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Yeah, so we like to deploy a system like this,
that is, you know, there's a lot of data being
collected and processed on the aircraft them that to be
useful in its broad use case, it has to be
able to be transmitted back at a at a manageable size,
and it has to be transmitted securely. This can be
sensitive data, so it has to come back to a
(08:14):
server and then it has to be delivered to whoever
is actually going to use it, so a wildfire analyst
or an agency. And where we've used AWS is really
to bridge that connection between the aircraft and delivering it
to the customers. So the tools that we have available
allow us to do things like AWS builds, tools that
let us remotely managed devices, push software updates to devices,
(08:37):
so we can make the system better in the field.
So it can be hundreds of miles away from anywhere.
We can push a software update to it, and it's
got new capabilities securely transmit the data back that is collected,
and then a customer can log into a portal and
consume the data and intelligence to make decisions from an
office somewhere.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Second, last question, is this being deployed now? I think
in parts of can it is, and I think somewhere overseas.
Speaker 7 (09:03):
What's your road map look like for twenty twenty six.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Yeah, so we're just deploying the first units now.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
So we've got a couple that have flown in Canada
on two different types of aircraft. So we've got a
few Canadian operators that are sort of waiting for units
that will be rolling out, So we hope to have
a decent number of them in Canada this year. And
we've also done our first installation in Australia, so we
you know, the two hemisphere sort of opposite fire season,
so we can we can focus on a fire season
(09:27):
anytime of the year by having some in Australia as well. So, yeah,
this will be our first year of like operational deployments.
We've been going through that sort of like testing and
certification phase to date and really you know, coming this
spring will be you know in Canada, our North America,
I guess, our first deployments.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yeah, amazing. And then finally, what's next. You did hint at.
Speaker 7 (09:50):
The fact that you could add your technology to a.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Fixed wing aircraft, but what about going beyond wildfires?
Speaker 7 (09:56):
Could this be used for.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Looking for someone for law enforcement purposes or for military purposes?
Speaker 4 (10:02):
No, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
So what we see is this wildfires really are It's
a very important use case for our customers. So the
helicopter operators, a lot of their businesses, especially in the summer,
is on wildfire, so we've focused our initial use case
on that. But what we really see this is it's
a low cost, very very powerful system that can be
part of every aircraft for almost any mission. You can
(10:24):
imagine where you might want to look at something or
so things like like pipeline patrol and power line patrol
or which.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Might be a big thing. Yeah, yere after in Canada,
at least with some of the pipeline working.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Absolutely so yeah, really, we think it can be applicable
across a broad range of missions.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
It could be a dual use technology.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
If you can imagine having thousands of aircraft with a
capability like this deployed, you now have sort of a
distributed network to collect things like aerial photos on demand
where you don't have to arrange a job and send
an aircraft out on a bespoke mission. So you enable
a lot of new data collection capabilities and stuffing.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
That search and rescue mining. I mean the applications are
probably a list for thermal technology exactly powered by AI
and the cloud. Thank you, Colin O'Neill, founder and CEO
of Vosellis dot AI.
Speaker 7 (11:15):
Very interesting technology.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Thanks so much for your time.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Yeah, thank you for having us.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
We talk about tech and sports with AWS when we
return on tech it Out.
Speaker 8 (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 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
(12:02):
ten billion dollars yes that's 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. Read more
about Visa and how securing the world's payments is priority
(12:23):
one at Visa dot Com slash Security. That's Visa dot
Com slash Security. Forgive the ambient noise. We are here
at AWS Reinvent twenty five in Las Vegas. I'm sitting
down with Julie Susa, AWS Global head of Sports. Julie,
nice to see you again.
Speaker 6 (12:40):
Thanks.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
I guess about six months ago we sat down in
Italy all places and talked f one and how AWS
empowers teams and drivers with like hundreds of censors on
each vehicle that can help them shave off milliseconds.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
And then in this show, I talked to the NFL
about how AWS is helping prevent injuries, and we've talked
about that in the past as well, concussions and things.
Why don't we explore some other ways that AWS is
helping leagues and sports of all kinds. I know that
in the I know that you're associated with golf with NBA.
(13:16):
I was at a Raptors thing in Toronto and shooting
some hoops about a month ago, which is really neat.
Tell us what's new.
Speaker 9 (13:21):
Yeah, I think what we're seeing are a lot of
agentic use cases starting to crop up in sports as
across all industries as well, but some of them are
really interesting. The NFL launched a Fantasy AI assistant, so
it allows fans to go in and ask questions like
who should I sit, who should I start, who should
I trade, you know, in the upcoming week, and the
(13:42):
AI assistant will go out and scour all and.
Speaker 10 (13:44):
The data and weather data and all these other things.
Speaker 9 (13:47):
That could impact a player performance and come up with recommendation.
So that's a really cool use of agentic AI from
a fan facing perspective.
Speaker 10 (13:53):
With the NFL, we mentioned PGA Tour.
Speaker 9 (13:56):
They're doing really interesting things capturing data off of the
course and turning into commentary.
Speaker 10 (14:01):
I think we've talked about this before too.
Speaker 9 (14:02):
Only about fifteen percent of shots that you see in
a golf tournament are actually televised, right, eighty five percent
go on televised, which means they go on you know,
commented upon as well. So what the tour is doing
is taking all of that data and through generative AI tools,
creating commentary for those shots so that you actually do
have context for every shot live in a tournament, which
(14:25):
is really exciting and I think it'll be interesting to
see where they take that next, because right now it's
text commentary, but you could very quickly see that transitioning
to voice.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Yeah, we talked about that second screen experience that AWS
doesn't just help the players and the teams and the coaches,
but also the fans. Yeah, you know, by enriching the experience,
such as having an app powered by AWS on the
back end on their lap while they're watching an F
one race or a PGA Tour tournament. Yeh's it's pretty wild.
Like that extra data that you get, you know, you
(14:53):
can't say shiate these fans. They want more and more
and anything with soccer, and you know, with FIFA World
Cup on the horizon, a lot of people are super
stoked about soccer, the world's most popular sport. Yeah, does
AWS have any partnerships there.
Speaker 10 (15:07):
Well, we work with Bundesliga.
Speaker 9 (15:09):
They're a great partner of the German soccer league and
they are fantastic, super innovative with them a.
Speaker 10 (15:14):
Lot around data a lot.
Speaker 9 (15:16):
They're a real super user of the generator of AI
tools and services here at AWS and out on the floor.
They are actually demoing how the data that they're collecting,
very similar to the PGA to our use case of
collecting data and then converting that into commentary.
Speaker 10 (15:30):
They're doing that.
Speaker 9 (15:31):
They're taking a step further and they're doing it in
multi language and multi persona, so you could choose your language,
and then layer of persona on top of that, which
is they've got one they called Jen Alpha, which formerly
I think called bro, which is a veryous We're like
casual chat persona for describing.
Speaker 10 (15:50):
A particular action in the game.
Speaker 9 (15:52):
So that's letting them meet fans where they are and
in the tone of voice they want to be spoken to.
They have, you know, a version that's very poetic, so
they're waxing on about you know, the flowery language about
a particular goal, which you know, in the Gen Alpha
version could just be like dude, sick go brow, you know.
Speaker 6 (16:09):
So it's only more personalization, additional language support, faster data
analysis and delivery, and enriched fan experience and performance improvements,
which is what players and teams want.
Speaker 10 (16:22):
So there's several.
Speaker 9 (16:24):
So just like there are also leagues like World Circle League,
for example, that had like fifty years of data.
Speaker 10 (16:30):
That was literally inn excel right and so working.
Speaker 9 (16:34):
You know, they have an all cloud partner that you know,
came and helped them migrate to the cloud and put
and now they're able to access their data and use
their data. They're broadcast prep time reduced by eighty percent
because they're able to have this data in the cloud, accessible, available, structured.
Speaker 10 (16:49):
In a way that they can use it.
Speaker 9 (16:50):
And then even like their post recaps and highlights that
the time to produce those is drop by forty percent.
Speaker 10 (16:55):
So you're just seeing people.
Speaker 9 (16:57):
At different stages in the sport's ecosystem adopting this techology.
Some are just coming on board and structuring their data
like World Surf League. Others are doing really advanced things,
whether it's redesigning an F one car or solving, you know,
trying to help so play your health and safety issues
in the NFL, or drive fan engagement.
Speaker 10 (17:11):
Leveraging these analytics in a lot of different creative ways.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yeah, awesome, Julie, Thank you so much. We've been chatting
with Julie Susa, AWS Global head of Sports. We're chatting
about the latest sports innovation powered by Amazon Web Services,
including the NFL's new Fantasy AI Assistant, which we led with.
Thank you so much again, Julie, good to see you again,
to see you, thank you. I know Julie mentioned AI
agents or agent tic AI. That's just when the technology
(17:35):
can go out and do something for you, so you're
not just interacting with a personal assistant, but it can
do things like book restaurant reservations for you, or tickets
on an airline, you know, with your consent of course,
and so the AWS agents on the sports end can
go out and pull data and work with other companies
and bring things back to a lot of people think
that's the future kind of cool, but I wanted to
(17:56):
explain that in case phrases like AGENTIICAI just make your
eyes gloss over, I don't blame you. All right, When
we return on Tech it Out, we are going to
talk with Carly Noblock. She's a tech expert who's going
to join us to share some of her favorite gadget
and game gift ideas for the holidays. Stick with us, We'll.
Speaker 5 (18:13):
Be right back.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
I want to follow Mark Google, Mark with a C
and Saltzman with a Z breaking down geeks peak into
street speak. This is check it Out. Check it Out
with technology columnist, author, and TV personality Mark Saltzman.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Welcome back everyone. You're listening to check it Out. If
you're out buying tech this holiday, well you're going to
want to pay attention to what my next guest suggestions are.
We have tech lifestyle expert Carly Noblock here with us
with her holiday gadget guide picks to help us out. Hey, Carly,
welcome back to the show. Always good to chat with you.
Speaker 11 (18:59):
Hi, I'm so glad to be here. Thanks so much
for having me, And as always, I've partnered with some
amazing brands for my must have list this season.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
All right, well, why don't we start off with a
hot category one of my favorites, smart home tech.
Speaker 11 (19:14):
What do you like this, yere okay, I got two
things to share with you. If you want to keep
tabs on your property no matter where you are, Blink
arc is like having an extra pair of eyes in
your yard. So with a Blink subscription, it stitches together
the feed from two Blink Mini two K plus cameras
into a one hundred and eighty degree panoramic view. So
(19:34):
now you'll be able to see everything from your kids
playing outside to those holiday packages on the front stoop,
or your dog chasing but never catching that squirrel. It's
very easy to install, and it's a great price at
just ninety nine ninety nine on Amazon. And then, whether
you're seeking a TV upgrade or a more versatile big screen,
Roku has you covered in both cases with their sixty
(19:57):
five inch Pro Series Roku TV. You get a sound
and razor sharp details and a nice big screen. And
if TV isn't quite right for your space, you'll want
to check out the r Zen Easy d one r
Roku TV Smart projector. It's a fantastic option when you
want a flexible big screen for movie night that's compatible
with whether you want to use Bluetooth headphones or wireless speakers,
(20:20):
and you can check out Roku dot com for all
of their holiday promotion.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Cool. I did not know Roku made a projector that's
really cool, amazing. And then for the blink Arc I
actually reviewed that product for Reviewed dot com. Love it.
Great picks to start off our chat, Carly, So why
don't we now pivot and talk about smartphone deals?
Speaker 11 (20:40):
Okay, well, for smartphones and plans this holiday, T Mobiles
switching made easy promotion. Let's new customers switch in just
fifteen minutes. So families you switch can get four smartphones
for free and four voice lines for twenty five dollars
per line, So that's just one hundred dollars a month
to connect your whole family, which is pretty cool. And
then with their T Life app, you can get same
(21:01):
day delivery on new smartphones and accessories in most major cities.
And you'll want to check out T mobile dot com
for all of their holiday offers.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
All right, wow for free phones. Got to love that.
For switching, we are chatting with Carle Noblock, tech lifestyle expert.
Always great having her on the program, especially this time
of year where you've got some great gift ideas, whether
you want to treat your loved ones or yourself taking
advantage of those pre holiday sales. Another hot category carly aipcs. Right, So,
these laptops that can do way more than you were
(21:32):
able to even just a couple of years ago. What
should shoppers look out for this season?
Speaker 11 (21:36):
Yeah, it's fascinating what's going on with the aipcs. And
if you want to be a next level gift giver,
definitely look into these. If you've got a STEM student
or a content creator or an aspiring app developer on
your list, you want to look for the rtxaipcs starting
under nine to ninety nine throughout December. They're powered by
Nvidia g Force rtxgpus with built in AI process, which
(22:00):
means they are the fastest laptops for both creative work
and gaming. And then if you want to even kick
it up even more, get the DGX Spark. It's a
compact AI supercomputer that sits right on your desk, and
it's like really small and compact and beautifully designed. I mean,
we're definitely living in the future. Mark, There's all kinds
of amazing things going on in these laptops, and.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
I'm a huge fan of Nvidia, So you're not recommending
a laptop brand in this case. It's more about the
specs that you would want to look for when you're
shopping for a new laptop. You want to look for
that RTX right and video, the GPUs that power gaming
and other applications AI performance. Is that fair?
Speaker 11 (22:39):
Yeah, with the exception of the DGX Spark, that little
supercomputer that's more of a desktop. But generally speaking, yes,
you're looking for the Nvidia g Force RTX GPUs that
are powering that laptop to give you that AI and
super fast processing for graphics and gaming and all the
things you're doing.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Awesome, All right, thinking up gaming? Why don't we end
off on that? Do you have a recommendation for us?
I sure do.
Speaker 11 (23:05):
Sonic the Hedgehog is iconic. We love him in every game,
but his newest from Sega takes things to a whole
other level. In Sonic Racing Crossworlds, players can race across land, sea, air,
and space and blast to new dimensions with the all
new Travel Rings feature. You can speak to victory solo
(23:26):
or as a team, and I love that you can
customize and build your ultimate racing machine. It's available on
all current generation consoles, PC and Nintendo Switch too, And
I think this is super fun. You know, if your
kids like video games, you've got time during the holidays.
You're all hanging out as a family. It's fun to
play with them. And you know, if you don't often
(23:46):
have time to sit down with your kids and let
them teach you about the games that they love and
get you involved. I promise it's super fun and a
great bonding experience to have over the holidays.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
I agree wholeheartedly about playing with your kids. It's important,
you know, don't just let the kids sit in front
of the TV or PC and have some fun on
their own. Pick up a controller, do it as a
family together. It's super fun and a game like this
is perfect because it is family friendly, easy to pick up,
hard to put down. And yeah, maybe you'll school the
kids for a change. And then, Carly, is there a
(24:18):
place where we can go to see these games and
PCs and smartphone deals and the smart home tech in action?
Speaker 10 (24:25):
Absolutely?
Speaker 11 (24:25):
You can always head to Inthanews dot tv for quick
shopping of all of these items that I mentioned and
great information there. And again, Mark, thanks for having me
on the show always, and I wish you a very
happy holiday.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Thank you, Carly, and to you Merry Christmas. Carly Noblock
has been our guest the website once again in thenews
dot tv. All the best. Looking forward to chatting with
you again soon, me too, Mark.
Speaker 7 (24:47):
Thanks.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Well, we've got two more gift guides. After a short break,
we're going to chat with Mario Armstrong, a regular on
this program. He's going to share some of his top picks,
and then I, if I may, will share some of
my favorite gad in game related picks, like the Nintendo
switch to a little bit later on in the show.
Before that, though, I wanted to give a shout out
to Norton, a brand new sponsor on this program. I'll
(25:09):
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a deep discount in fact. All right, we're gonna chat
(26:16):
with tech expert Mario Armstrong when we return on Check it.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Out, breaking down GeekSpeak into street speak. Check it Out
hosted by Mark Saltzman.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Welcome back to check it out. As the Andy Williams
song says, it's the most wonderful time of the year,
but you might not feel that way if you're getting
elbowed at the mall while try to buy some top
tech gifts. Well, we can help you figure out what
to get as we're joined by digital lifestyle expert Mario Armstrong.
He's here to check the halls with his guide to
(26:58):
the season's best gifts. Mario, hey man, we're almost there.
Merry Christmas, buddy, Happy holidays. We are almost there.
Speaker 12 (27:05):
Happy Holidays, and I don't want anyone getting elbowed in the.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Mall, so let's help them out exactly. Well, maybe they
can take your advice and you're going to share with
us some cool gadget related ideas they could chop online
or at them all. At least they can just head
right to what they want instead of having a great
fight with someone. That's so true.
Speaker 12 (27:24):
I forget the name of the movie right now, where
they were fighting over the toy with.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
Oh jingle all the way. Yeah, yeah, that's.
Speaker 12 (27:30):
One of our classics in our household.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
We love that. But yes, you're right.
Speaker 12 (27:33):
We partnered up with some great brands to really help
give everybody some good ideas for some holiday gift ideas.
Speaker 6 (27:38):
This year.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Okay, awesome, Well we need to start with entertainment. What
you've got for us gamers and entertainment lovers out there.
Speaker 12 (27:46):
Oh man, everything from driving to precision mice and headphones.
But let's start first with the Samsung Galaxy x R.
This is their first AI powered headset and it's really
built for that new Android XR ecosystem. It's lightweight, it's
really sleek looking.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
It's just so futuristic. I love how it looks.
Speaker 12 (28:05):
But it's also on the inside when when you're wearing it,
you see that immersive four K visuals that pop in,
so you really have that crystal clear experience with it,
is what I would say. And you can control it
without a controller. You can use the apps by using
your hands, eyes, or voice, and you can even do
things like stream YouTube or catch a football game on it,
or navigate Google Maps, all in rich interactive three D,
(28:27):
which really takes like looking at sites and places to
a whole other level. So yeah, it's great entertainment with
a futuristic design for sure.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
I really like that. All right, So this is like
a mixed reality headset. Yes, okay, got it. So that's
the Samsung Galaxy x R. Sorry to cut you off.
I think we're gonna now pivot and talk about accessories
for computer gamers. Yes, and we have so many great ones.
Speaker 12 (28:48):
I think we should start with the mouse, the Logitech
G They have a lot of this gear, so the
pro X super Light two C mouse, that's the name
of the mouse that delivers precision, but also up to
ninety five hours of wireless battery life, so that's a
big plus. And then the headset, which is super important
when you're playing games, the Astro A twenty x. It
(29:09):
really has great cris sound, long lasting comfort, which is
important when you're wearing it for a couple hours. And
then the keyboard is important, so the G five P
fifteen Rapid TKL keyboard. It's low profile, super thin, lightning
fast though, so it's built for speed, which is what
the all the gamers are looking for. And then speaking
of speed, if they're into racing games, then the RS
(29:30):
fifty racing wheel.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Now that's a whole system.
Speaker 12 (29:33):
Even though it's a racing wheel, it's got true to
life torque and there are some custom setups that they
can actually set up for themselves.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
All right, So some Logitech accessories for the computer Gamer
on your gift list. Why do we now pivot and
talk fitness and maybe something for outdoor enthusiasts.
Speaker 12 (29:49):
Yeah, I love both smart watch that can do everything
but still look great. I love the amase Fit Balance too.
I think it's great for the hybrid athlete. It's a
multi sport smart watch. They come in multi colors. It's
got up to twenty one days of battery.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Life, which is awesome. That's impressive. It's crazy, right, and
I have one of these.
Speaker 12 (30:06):
It's really really super useful, and I like how I
can use it for diving or swimming, but it's built
for everything, strength training, running, cycling. I mean it tracts
like over one hundred and seventy sports mark. It's great
like golf, and I don't know if you're familiar with
high rocks modes, but it also has exclusive high rocks.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Modes for athletes that are into that. And it's stylish,
you know me, I kind.
Speaker 12 (30:26):
Of like style, so I'm not going to wear something
that looks like a clunky smart wise.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Even high rocks support, which is really cool. My wife's
in tall that she's a fitness instructor and I don't
work out. She hates technology and I make a living
talking about it as you do. You guys, you know it.
We are chatting with digital lifestyle expert Mario Armstrong, or
as I like to call him, Mario dot Ai. He
is here with us to teck the halls with some
gadget gift ideas for loved ones or yourself. Why not?
(30:53):
Why don't we end off Mario on any ideas for
home cooks in our lives.
Speaker 12 (30:57):
And I think this can benefit every relationship, including yours,
Mone too.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Mark.
Speaker 12 (31:02):
Yeah, so this is the first time where we can
actually have good food and being using tech at the
same time. So maybe the wife of yours would really
love this.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
So she's a nutritionist too, So I'm all ears man.
Speaker 10 (31:12):
There you go, there you go.
Speaker 12 (31:13):
Well, I'm talking about taking the stress out of cooking
and being able to do it however you want to
do with one hundred thousand plus recipes. So I'm talking
about the Thermo Mix TM seven. Now, this is a
smart kitchen Soux chef. It goes in your kitchen. It
looks like I'm trying to describe it for radio. It
looks like it has a tablet on it's on the
front of it. And then it looks like it has
a picture that is kind of on a mount and
(31:36):
so think of a blender that's got like a tablet
screen that you could see.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
This thing does it all.
Speaker 12 (31:42):
It cooks, it chops, it blends and steams, and it
does it all in one stainless steel bowl. But you
can cook a full family meal and layer it like
you can have multiple items being cooked at the same
time in this And they have one hundred thousand guided
cookie Dow recipes on it with the built tablet, so
you just basically scroll the tablet, pick what you want,
(32:03):
what you want to make, and walk you right through it.
And I like the fact that since it's connected to
your home, you can get everything delivered, like and maybe
you're missing an ingredient, you can just hit Instacart or
pull up your local grocery store and just order that in.
And it's going to help me clearly become a much
better cook in the household in the Armstrong family.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Yeah, this thing looks so cool. Yeah, as you said,
it kind of looks like a high tech blender, like
a pitcher shaped mixer with a tablet mountain on the
front and they're showing recipes on the screen, and again
I would encourage our listeners to see these products. So
what's the best website then, Mario for everything you've chatted
about with us today?
Speaker 12 (32:40):
Yeah, great question. So because we have prices there as
well too, So go to in thenews dot tv. We
have these ideas and some others there as well in
thenews dot tv.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
All right, wishing you a very merry Christmas, Mario, Merry
Christmas to YouTube. Thanks budd, see you soon, all the best,
Thanks for your time.
Speaker 12 (32:54):
Thank here.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Actually we will talk with Mario again next weekend for
a few more last minut gadget gift ideas. But when
we return, I'm going to share a half dozen suggestions
based on some TV interviews I did this week, So
stay tuned more check it out coming right up after
this short break.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Follow Mark Saltzman on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram listen
to check it out whenever you want.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Alrighty, So, as I mentioned earlier in the program, I
started my annual gadget gift guide tour, and so I
wanted to share with you a half dozen gadget gift
ideas if you want to jot these down or make
a mental note. First up of course, the country's hottest
video game console. It's Nintendo Switch To. It lets you
play anywhere in any time, at home or on the go.
(33:50):
It has a bigger and better display, more power, magnetic
JOYCN two controllers, a new game chat feature, and support
for thousands of including those from the regular Nintendo Switch.
The newest game that I would recommend is Pokemon Legends ZA.
It has you return to Lumio City to explore and
(34:10):
compete as a trainer. The epic role playing game lets
you battle in thrilling real time, so no more turns
or waiting. Love it. There's also a Nintendo Switch to
and Pokemon's ZA Bundle that you can pick up as well,
so you get the game code with the system itself.
Very cool. So that's Nintendo Switch too. But if you're
shopping for more of a computer gamer, there's a sale
(34:33):
on the Razor Black Widow V three Special Edition keyboard.
So this is a comfortable, customizable, and gorgeous keyboard powered
by Razor Chroma RGB. Love the bright and colorful lighting
against the white keys in this version, the special Edition version,
and more importantly, it delivers precision and speed with its
mechanical switches. Love the way it feels and sounds, ultra
(34:55):
fast actuation and tactile feedback. It also has six program
macro keys, a multifunction roller, and media keys too to
control your music and other content right from the keyboard.
The Razor Black Widow V three special Edition keyboard is
on sale at best Buy. Next up if you are
looking to gift an AIPC or to treat yourself to
(35:16):
something that's on sale over the holidays. The Asus zen
book A fourteen laptop is the world's lightest copilot plus
PC at just nine hundred and eighty grams, so you
don't even feel it in your bag. But it doesn't
sacrifice durability, as it's made from this exclusive material called
Sarah Aluminum. It's a hybrid of ceramics and aerospace grade aluminum,
(35:38):
and it's said to be three times stronger than standard
analyzed aluminum. And it's smudge free too. I love the
gorgeous fourteen inch o lead screen and my favorite feature
up to thirty two hours of battery life between charges. Wow,
that's insane. You can leave the charger at home and
get more than a day's worth of continuous use. Not
(35:58):
that you'd be on it for twenty four hours. I
hope not, but you get the idea. Speaking of computing,
another pick this year from me would be the view
Sonic VX sixteen fifty five four K portable monitor. So
this is a premium fifteen point six inch portable monitor
that plugs into a laptop or a phone tablet and
you can use it wherever life takes you for work
(36:20):
or play. And it usually doesn't need power external power,
as it gets the power from whatever it's plugged into,
even video game consoles, so super cool. Don't need a
wall socket for most things. It's got stunning four K resolution.
There's an option for an O led model, a built
in kickstand and an included protective cover, and all the
cables are in the box as well. This is great.
(36:41):
You know you're going to Starbucks and you need a
dual monitor without taking up a lot of space or
adding a lot of extra weight in your laptop bag.
This is a great pick, and view Sonic has been
around forever. Love that company, all right. A couple more
picks for you. One is the remarkable Paper Pro Move
from Staples. So this is a paper tablet that lets
you write or sketch on the screen. With the Stylus pen,
(37:02):
you can check your to do list and manage your
tasks and even read ebooks anywhere. There's a color seven
point three inch display that really does feel like pen
on paper. It even sounds like it super cool, perfect
for mobile professionals and students who liked the feeling of handwriting,
and of course there is handwriting conversion on the back end.
I love that there are no distractions, no social media
(37:24):
or emails or text messages coming through. There's a convenient
front light, two week battery, and more. As I mentioned,
going to your local Staples location to try it yourself.
And finally, Alexa plus is now here. She's a lot
smarter and more conversational and more personalized. She can remember
things like your likes and dislikes, dietary preferences, and can
(37:46):
even make restaurant reservations for you. It can also remind
you to do things when she quote unquote sees you,
and much more so. What I'm referring to is one
device I've been showing on TV, the Amazon Echo Show
eleven smart display. It's an eleven inch screen that has
Alexa plus built in with great sounding audio as well
by the way, So not only can you ask for
recipes and also see them on the screen, make free
(38:08):
video calls, that kind of stuff, but when the camera
sees you, it can remind you. You could say, hey, Mark,
Kelly wants to remind you to take out the trash today.
That's my wife, Kelly. So Alexa plus works with most
Amazon Echo devices like smart speakers, smart displays and more.
And it is free for Prime members which is awesome.
So as you can see no shortage of great gadget
gift ideas and you can always hit me up on
(38:30):
social media if you've got questions at Mark Saltzman and
it's Mark with the C would love to hear from you. Well,
that wraps up another episode of Tack It Out. Hope
you enjoyed it. A huge thank you to both Visa
and Norton amazing partners on this program as well as
sand Disc. All three of those brands aimed to protect
you and your data all in different ways, which is
(38:51):
really cool, so thank you to them. Thanks for tuning
into the program, to all the radio stations that erin
and the podcast platforms all the best. Everyone will chat
with you next week for another brand new episode of
tack it out, but bye for now.
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