December 19, 2025 • 39 mins
- Learn all about Rubick’s WOWCube with Max Filin, Co-Founder and CEO of Cubios
- Tech lifestyle expert Mario Armstrong shares some gadget gift ideas (and games) ahead of the holidays
- Spines, a popular platform for publishing your own books, is also helping authors create and sell audiobooks, too -- leveraging AI. I catch up with Yehuda Niv, CEO of Spines
- General Motors and the North Pole team up again! More than just a “Santa Tracker” on Christmas Eve, with NORAD, learn about new audiobook adventures you can access with the touch of a button
- 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 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 to's to help you understand what's hot, what's not
(00:22):
and why.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hey everyone, welcome to Teck it Out. This is episode four.
Hope you're all doing fantastic leading up to the holidays.
Love this time of year, the hustle and bustle, you know,
planning visits with family, maybe some travel, gift buying. Love it.
Speaking of gifts, on today's Teck it Out, We're going
to start off with a high tech twist on Rubik's Cube,
(00:47):
something that kids and kids at heart no doubt would
love to unwrap under the tree this year. Then tech
expert Mario Armstrong we'll share some other gadget gift ideas.
Also on the show today, we're going to learn about
audio books, how you can use your own voice with
the help of AI to read your books. And then
we're going to chat about Santa and GM, general motors
(01:09):
and Norad all partnering this year on a fun initiative
tied to Christmas. All of this and more on an
all new tech it out powered by Norton and Visa,
two outstanding partners of mine, both companies aiming to protect
you in slightly different ways. Interestingly enough, I'll elaborate more
on that a little bit later on, but let's officially
kick off a brand new show with our first interview.
(01:33):
How do you take one of the most iconic handheld
puzzle games from the twentieth century and bring it into
the digital age. Well, the answer is Rubik's Woucube, a
twist on the iconic cube puzzler, and to learn all
about it, we're joined by Max Fillen, he's co founder
and CEO of QBOS, the folks behind Rubik's Woucube. Welcome
to the show, Max, good to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Hello, Thank you so.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I know you usually live in Florida, but you're talking
to us in China. I know it's like midnight for you.
Thank you so much for staying up late to talk
with us about this. I guess new partnership between Woucube,
which has been around for a couple of years now,
with Rubix so that's I guess the spinmaster. Folks. We'll
get to that in a moment kind of the business side,
but I think for our listeners, I'd love to start
(02:17):
with simply, what is Rubik's Woucube?
Speaker 3 (02:21):
All right?
Speaker 4 (02:21):
So in simple words, yeah, Now I'm here in China
in chan Jen and our office and lab, and we're
at a very crucial moment right now manufacturing the first
ten thousand pieces to be shipped within days to the customers.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Congrats.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Yes, I just finished the quality control for the first batch.
So in simple words, what is the rubiks Wacube. It's
the new type of the gaming console in shape of
the cube, which consists of eight autonomous separate modules and
crowd with twenty four screens. So the whole surface you
mentioned the cube with the whole surface as a screen,
(02:57):
and you change the screen geometry by twisting it the
way you twist the Rubik's Cube by twisting four in
a layer. So it's the you interact with a digital
world as if it's a real object, and then design
to hold it with your both hands on your arms,
distance far from the ice, thinking in three dimension. And
not only for games only, you can also use it
(03:19):
as a digital photo frame on your table or like
digital aquarium.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
It's not necessarily you should.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Be rightings, Yeah, we'll get to that. I know there's
a screen saver and some other things you can do.
All right, So it kind of looks like a Rubik's Cube,
but it's got four cubes on each of the six sides,
So it's twenty four little screens that depending on the
mode you're playing or the games that you're playing, it
couldn't show the same thing or different objects on each screen.
So I love that modern take on the classic Again,
(03:46):
I called it an iconic puzzle game Rubik's Cube, So
wow cube is you call it a console and you
hold it in your hands. And it also fuses the
classic cube puzzle mechanic that we're familiar with, you know,
having to align the same colors and all that, but
also with video games, right, can you tell us about
the tie in with mobile games like Cut the Rope.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Absolutely, that's the that's the most important part here. It's
not just the cube with the screens which shows the pictures.
We create the operation system that allows those modules to communicate. Yet,
of course we use the characters from different well known games,
but it's not possible just to pour the game to
(04:27):
the wall cube, so you need to rethink, re imagine
the gameplay completely to play it on their on the
whole surface.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
And I'll give you an example.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Imagine the pac Man for example, and where you way
with the Packman, you need to run away from the ghosts.
But in our version, if it could be on a cube,
you can go through the device. You can change the
shape of the maze of this game with your real hands,
So even a simple arcade, increase your special reasoning and
(04:58):
add the puzzle element to right. Pretty much any game,
for example, Cut the Rope game you just mentioned in
our verse, you need to literally cut the rope. We
have a license for the Cut Rope, so you can
play the Cut Rope on the roots, So you need
to literally cut the rope by twisting the queue and
cutting the rope.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Love it. You've explained it really well verbally because this
is radio or a podcast, so I know our listeners
can envision what it looks like. We'll get to a
website where they can actually see it in a moment.
So you do have official partnerships with games like Cut
the Rope and Space Invaders. If I remember correctly. Because
there are no buttons macs, how do you navigate between
the games?
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Yeah, it doesn't have buttons, and that's what makes it
absolutely unique and interesting.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
You can control the device in a most.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Natural way by shaking, tilting, tapping, twisting, so you physically
control the digital space.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
That's what makes it cool.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Say, if you're a menu, you need to move the
highlighter by slightly tilting the cube.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
It's like a bubble all on top.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
And then you start if you want to start, they
gave you just stop it twice to launch fee.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah, so you rotate the cube, it moves the cursor
if you will, it highlights a different cube, and then
when it's on the game or other application which we'll
get to, when you land on where you want to access,
you just tap it once you rotate it, like you said,
like a bubble that moves around.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Yes, it's a piece of technology inside accelerometergy sensors and
it understands all this physical input. Yeah, it not necessarily
should be a button.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Got it. We are chatting with Max Fillen, co founder
and CEO of QBOS. These are the folks behind the
game Wow Cube. It's a game system in fact a
console that looks like a Rubik's Cube. And then you
recently partnered officially with the company's Spinmaster based in Toronto, Canada,
that actually owns the IP for Rubik's Cube. How's that going?
(06:51):
And this is obviously breathing new life into your product lineup.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
The rubiks Cube is one of the most app to
way on a planet, right and our device looks like
the rublic Scube, like beta version of the rubik Scube.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
So it's a win win collaboration.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Of course, because it's a console max it supports multiple
games that you can choose to install on there, so
I think it works with a companion app. Right, tell
us about some of the games that are accessible. We
already talked about Cut the Rope and Space Invaders, but
there are others, many others.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Right.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
Yeah, we have more than seventh available right now. But
what is most important We create the software development git
sdky so anyone can download this as decay and make
their own games for the the Woldcube.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Upload to our website, to our app store.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Even though if you don't know how to code, how
to develop the games, we have the wild Cube Studio.
It's a very simple drug and drop in their face
where you can make simple games Like I mean, you
can use your phone to make a photo and then
upload it to the Cube using our app Companion Right
to make a simple game out of it. Also, the
(08:05):
cube is a of course, the cube is a standalone device.
It's independent standardone device, so you can just give it
to your child on the back seat of your car.
But to unlock the full potential, you can download our
app which is available for iOS and Android, and you
can control the digits. For example, if it stands near
your PC, you can show your bitcoin, weight or weather,
(08:28):
or you can you can even pick the place on
the Google Panaramia Google Maps and it shows you three
sixty degrees photo on the surface of the cube. We
also have what we call the mind Hub or a
parental portal, where you can see the progress, what skills
you develop. Then you play it like it is your memory,
(08:48):
especially reasoning. You can participate in export competition like we
just mentioned the rubiks Cube we have. You can play
the speed Cuban type of the games even though you're
not in the same room, but you can compete with
your friends no matter where they are.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
That's great, and you mentioned it can also show you
your photos. You may want to keep this on your
office desk and it'll rotate photos like a digital photo frame.
Absolutely yeah, and also I think calendar appointments as well.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
You're absolutely right.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
And basically it's twenty four screens in the shape of
the cube on your desk. What to show there, it's
you to choose messages from what'sapp please go ahead, or
bitcoin rate, or your calendar or your meetance, your stock exchange,
pretty much anything. So it's an open platform for your creativity.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
All right. So let's wrap up with how much the
Rubert's Volcube costs and where we can learn more.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
I want to highlight here this is a very complex
electromechinic device with twenty four screens and eight professors eight cps.
That's why we're now at what I call a Tesla
roster stage. The price is three nineion nine with access
to all seventy plus games, and this number constantly increasing.
(10:09):
Having this, it is right now, is one of the
first on the planet and you can be unique and
always be in the center.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Of attention having this. Yes, the price is three ninionine
right now.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Alrighty, and it's at wowcube dot com just as it
sounds wow cube dot com.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
Yes correct, Yes, all the information you can you can
find there, including SDK and links to the score channel
and everything.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yeah, and some really great videos at the website too.
Thank you so much, Max fill In, CEO of QBOS.
Really exciting time as you're relaunching Wowcube as Rubik's Wowcube
with seventy plus games plus Again, I want to remind
our listeners you can use it like a Rubik's Cube
with the solid colors on each side, just as you
may remember growing up as I do.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
The virus of this game. Yeah, when they in Blair
call change the colors.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
No answer.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
You play amazing. Thanks for that, all right, Thank you
so much, Max, all the best and thanks for staying
up so late to talk with us today.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Ane of them, thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
You are listening to check it out. Huge. Thank you
to Norton, a new partner of ours on the program.
Super excited to have them on board when we return
on the program. More gadget gift ideas with tech expert
Mario Armstrong. Stick with us, We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (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.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Podcasts, 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
(11:48):
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 prevent over the past five years, as
much as ten billion dollars Yes that's billion with a
bee to support Visa's brand promise to protect the financial
information of individuals and businesses. Zero liability means peace of
(12:13):
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 global criminal enterprises.
Read more about Visa and how securing the world's payments
is priority one at Visa dot com slash security. That's
(12:36):
Visa dot Com slash security. Oh you know this one.
Come on now, that's right. Jingle bells are ringing because
it is time for some ho ho holiday gift ideas.
And good thing that Santa is sitting in a slave
beside digital lifestyle expert Mario Armstrong, who's pulling him into
(12:57):
this show to chat with us about some top picks
for the season. And hey, Mario, Merry Christmas. That's an
entrance for you. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
Thanks so much for having me on.
Speaker 6 (13:06):
Merry Christmas to you and all the listeners out there
and everybody that's a classic like how can you not
rock out to that? So and yes, I've been busy
in the North Poles, so parents, caregivers, everybody that's looking
thinking about giving a gift to someone.
Speaker 5 (13:19):
I parted up with some great brands.
Speaker 6 (13:20):
I got a good list of some fun ideas that
can help you complete that gift list this year.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Well, speaking of the kids, why don't we start off
with something fun for the little ones?
Speaker 5 (13:28):
Oh and interactive?
Speaker 6 (13:30):
Like That's what I'm seeing is a great trend of
like not just fun, but how can they be interactive
with that fun? And so Epic is the world's leading
digital reading platform for kids, and they launched their first
ever Cat Ninja toy line. So now this brings the
hero from the page to playtime. So they actually now
have these figures that are available to them. It's all
(13:50):
inspired by the hit graphic novel series. And if you
haven't heard about it, don't worry because over three hundred
million times by kids around the world.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
Everybody else has heard about this. It's amazing.
Speaker 6 (14:00):
And they have the first two collectible figures that are
available now, and they capture Cat Ninja in these action
pac scenes, which is a lot of fun.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
If you buy both of them, by the way, you
get at fifteen percent discount. So it's a great holiday
get awesome.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
So epic is an app with access to over In fact,
I just looked it up, forty thousand books and audio
books and now with collectible figures, figurines. All right, before
we talk about a few more gift ideas, what about
staying connected with friends and family this season? How can
tech help there?
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Oh, tech can help in such a big way.
Speaker 6 (14:30):
So I really want everyone to pay attention to this
because this is something that everyone can use and it
benefits a lot of people. So it's called text Now,
and text Now gives you unlimited calling and texting over
Wi Fi for free. Just download the app I've done
it myself and then you're set and ready to go.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
If you want to use it without Wi Fi, you can.
You can get a low cost SIM card.
Speaker 6 (14:51):
Maybe you're going on travel and you don't want to
take your main phone, or you need a separate phone.
You can use this as your main phone and get
a phone plan if you wanted to as well with that,
but it's perfect to save money.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
Use it as a second number.
Speaker 6 (15:03):
You can use this as your main phone, as I said,
or it could be a side number for your side hustles, work,
or travel. Best of all, no contracts, no credit checks.
It's really that flexible. I really just like that. You
can go to the app start using it over Wi
Fi right away.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
I saw the text Now name on your list, and
I was happy to see that because I've been using
it for many years. It's truly a money saver because
you get a free number. If you sell things on Craigslist,
you may not want to give out your real phone number.
I know people who are on dating apps and they
don't want to give out the real number. They want
some privacy before they get to really know the person.
Then they'll give them the real number. So text now
(15:37):
is great for that, and you get to choose, by
the way, what city you want the number to be
associated with, you know, like Dallas, Texas and Miami, Florida.
They'll give you a number that's available. Also, text now
has a zero dollars a month wireless phone plan for
the country. For the US, it's called the Free Flex
Plan zero dollars for unlimited talk and text and then
even data. If you use it for email, maps and
(16:00):
ride share services like Lift or Uber, then it's also
free and only if you need data that you can
add on to it. It's only a couple bucks. So
really love that. I use that when I'm traveling. So
great stuff from texts Now, and that's an AD supported
plan by the way. But let's now turn back our
attention to gift giving. Mario.
Speaker 6 (16:18):
Yeah, I'm sitting one set and I kind of have
all these items in front of me. The WWE brings
back like nostalgia for me. It's called WWE Money in
the Bank Cash in Ring playset. So this is a
playset that's really for fans in kids ages six and up,
where you can slam the bell launcher and starts creating
chaos and you can unlock over forty different sounds and phrases.
(16:42):
It's really kind of like the ultimate WWE Showdown experience
with the figures and everything.
Speaker 5 (16:47):
And then kids will also love to.
Speaker 6 (16:48):
See under the tree something that Crayola is doing which
is really awesome because they're bringing spray art magic to life.
Speaker 5 (16:54):
And it's called the Crayola.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
Marker Airbrush Kit, and the airbrush works with most Creola
markers and as a hands one way for kids to
experiment with color, artistic expression, and creative effects. And when
it's time to tap into that creativity for holiday crafts
or school projects that they're going to have, kids can
use the included five stencils. And then lastly for the
whole family. You know, I'm a gamer and I love Sega.
(17:17):
Who doesn't, And so you can race across land, sea, air,
even space in the newest game, the Newest One Sonic
Racing Cross Worlds. And then there's also two Point Museum.
I love this game because you get to manage and
curate and design your own museum. They're both available in
current gen consoles, Nintendo Switch to and on on PC.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
You talked about being on set for TV interviews and
having a nice table. I wanted our listeners to know
how they can see that, so Inthnews dot tv to
see a video of Mario Armstrong, digital lifestyle expert, showcasing
this really cool technology, amazing stuff. Mario, all the best,
Merry Christmas, happy and healthy holidays to you and your family,
and I look forward to seeing you early next year
(17:58):
in Las Vegas at the Big Tech.
Speaker 6 (17:59):
Showly Man the same to you and your family, and
super excited about seeing you in the new year, and
wishing everyone really be safe and have a happy.
Speaker 5 (18:07):
Holiday this season.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
We'll be right back when we talk audio books and
using your own voice to narrate them, We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Want to follow Mark Google Mark with a C and
Saltzman with a Z breaking down geeks peak into street speak.
Speaker 7 (18:33):
This is check it out.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
To check it out with.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Technology columnist, author, and TV personality Mark Saltzman.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Welcome back everyone you're listening to check it out. It's
no secret that AI is changing every industry, and audiobooks
are no exception. Spines, a platform to publish your own
books professionally, is also helping authors create and sell audio books,
leveraging AI to facilitate this. Joining us on the line
to explain how it works. Is Youhuda Neve, CEO of Spines.
(19:04):
Thanks for your time, Yhuda, good to talk.
Speaker 7 (19:06):
To you, Thank you, thank you. You're great to be here.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Before we talk about Spines and what you're doing in
the audiobook space. Why do you think audiobooks are so
popular today.
Speaker 8 (19:14):
I believe it's a matter of time management. You know,
people are busier than ever nowadays. Being able to listen
to a book, Like where you sit and read a book,
that's something you do active, but listening to a book,
you know, it's it's a passive process. You don't have
to actually allocate a lot of time to do that.
Speaker 7 (19:31):
Let's make that more easy.
Speaker 8 (19:33):
And I believe it's a different media of books that
is emerged as something which is more consumer favorable because
it's just easier and you can control the speed and
sometimes you are getting few emotions of the of the
one who was doing the audiobook.
Speaker 7 (19:55):
Version, and it's a nice experience, you know, to listen
took instead of reading.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Agreed, Yeah, it's easier to multitask. I travel a lot
as a journalist, and so I like listening while I'm
walking through airports. Not to mention think of all the
people listening right now who are commuting to and from
work every day. A lot of people aren't called back
to the office post pandemic, and they're fighting traffic in
their cities and there they want to remain entertained both ways.
(20:21):
And I agree with you, there's also the emotion of
the narrator in some cases. All right, So would it
be fair then to say, yahuda that Audible, which is
an Amazon brand, they're probably the biggest platform for audiobooks.
Is it true they're putting up roadblocks when it comes
to publishing audiobooks.
Speaker 7 (20:37):
It's a funny story.
Speaker 8 (20:38):
One of our lead investors or in zeev he led
our Series A. It was sixty million dollars in funding.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Oh wow, and congrats, And.
Speaker 8 (20:49):
He was one of the first investors in Audible and
also it was one of the of the early investors
in CHEG So so he is actually a venture capitalist
who has the major success in the publishing space. And
it told me that I believe spines will be the
third and what audiobill used to be and what it
is right now, it's a very different approach to audiobooks. However,
(21:11):
I do believe they have an amazing catalog. On the
user end of the reader, it's an amazing platform. However,
for publishers or authors, we in Spines we created a
process that we can help anyone to create an audiobook
version for themselves, because up to date, creating an audiobook
(21:32):
used to be something which is very either labor intensive
because you will have to go to forty hours into
a studio and create your own audiobooks, or you will
have to get a studio to create it for you,
which is very expensive. So most of the books don't
have an audiobook version because it's quite a big.
Speaker 7 (21:50):
Of a project.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Yeah, like you said, it's labor intensive or cost prohibitive.
Speaker 8 (21:54):
Yes, So what we did with Spines we created a
process which we can model the author's on voice. We
can creates a model and instead of him going forty
hours into a studio, we only need three minutes and
then we create an audiobook version based on his voice.
Speaker 7 (22:08):
Or if he doesn't want to use his.
Speaker 8 (22:10):
Voice because he has an Israeli excellently like I have
for example, he can use one of our three hundred
synthetic voices for generating his audiobook. And what we can
do also is to assign different voices for different characters,
and so if you want to create an audiobook with
few voice actors, that should be very expensive, but with
(22:32):
our tools it's very simple. However, those books, the voice
part of those books was AI generated. Sometimes it's very
hard to get them uploaded two platforms like audioboo because
they still block them. So on one hand, of course
they want to have a bigger catalog with more books. However,
they are still not opening the gates completely to these
(22:54):
kinds of AI generated audiobooks. But by the way, the
book was completely written by real human just the audiobook.
Speaker 7 (23:01):
Version was created by the help of it, but they
do allow it.
Speaker 8 (23:04):
When it was created with their AI tool, which is
not yet available for everyone.
Speaker 7 (23:11):
But I think all of those.
Speaker 8 (23:12):
Challenges are only a matter of time until let's say,
the conviction in the quality of the technology will be
good enough.
Speaker 7 (23:19):
And those roadblocks.
Speaker 8 (23:21):
Will be removed and it will be more streamlined than
what it is right now.
Speaker 7 (23:25):
So I think it's a mother of year two years
top and all of this nonsense.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Will be ironed out.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
Yeah, but it will take a while.
Speaker 8 (23:35):
But also what we do we allow those books to
be distributed in other channels because in Spines.
Speaker 7 (23:40):
We can least the books in more channels, and.
Speaker 8 (23:43):
Audiobook is an amazing channel, but it's only one of them,
and we have much more than that.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
This is how we solve it right now, Yes, sounds fascinating.
In a couple of minutes from now, I'm going to
play you a sample of what one of the AI
voices sounds like. It's going to blow you away, so
stay tuned for that. The author he or she can
go into the studio, just record a couple of minutes
worth of their voice, and your AI takes it from there. Alternatively,
you can choose one from a couple of one hundred
(24:09):
different voices you already have in your database. And by
the way, some of them may like an Israeli accent.
By the way, they may be a fan of the
show Fouda or something. So don't sell yourself, short y, Huda, No,
but I got the idea is that you can choose
somebody else's voice if you like. So is this limited
right now to authors who are already on the Spines platform,
or what if, for example, a guy have books that
(24:31):
I've written, but I'm not the publisher, so I don't
own the rights to the audiobook version. I don't know
if there's ever been an audiobook version of my books,
by the way, because they're technical and it's not you know,
a bit of a different animal. Obviously you have to
have the rights or do they have to be a
SPINES based author.
Speaker 8 (24:45):
Yes, so that's a great question because in Spines we
focus on the author, so we will only help authors
who wrote their book by themselves. We do not publish
AI generated books or something like that, sure like only
books that was origined in real human beings and in space.
We have a few packages, so there are packages or
our A to Z solution for the editing, proof reading, formating,
(25:07):
cover design and of course AI narrated audiobook and distribution
across one hundred channels and worldy management and distribution, so
all of that is included in a few of our packages.
And also publishing the book in multiple languages in both
audiobook and print on demand and ebook versions as well
multiple languages, so we have a lot of solutions. We
also have a package for those who has already published
(25:31):
a book not with Spines, but now they just want
to translate it to Spanish for example, or they want
to have an audiobook version for the book because you know,
forty percent of the book conception nowadays is voice is audiobooks.
And however, most of the authors don't have an audiobook
version for themselves, so in order for them to work
with Spines, they will only have to make sure they
(25:52):
actually own the copyright. So if they self published it
or hybrid publish it, probably they're supposed to have the
rights on the audiobook version.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Got it.
Speaker 8 (26:05):
Then they can use Spines tools to create their own
audibook version and use our distribution tool to distribute it.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Thanks for the clarification. A few more minutes with Huda
Neve from Spines, the book and audiobook platform when we
return on check it out and stay with.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Us breaking down geek speaking into street speak. Check it Out,
hosted by Mark Saltzman.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Welcome back to check it out everyone. We are chatting
with you Huda Neive, he's CEO of Spines. This is
a popular platform to publish your own books professionally. They've
already got six thousand books published and they're also helping
authors create and sell audiobooks as well leveraging AI. So Youhud,
I'd love to just play a clip for our listeners
to hear what the AI based voice sounds like. What
(27:00):
it sounds like for an author to choose one of
the existing AI voices, not his own. His name is Vilaniir,
and he chose to use one of the existing AI
voices you already have. This is from his book called
Thinking Like a Fox. So let's have a listen.
Speaker 9 (27:13):
There are many concepts that reflect different aspects of our world.
The list of these concepts is something I've put together
a few years ago while preparing a lecturer on the
question what kind of world do we live in? On
the surface the topic of the lecture, it seems like
an odd question.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Wow, so that's a synthetic voice. Again, this is not
a human coming in, but it sounds pretty real, you know. Again,
I think a lot of people would be hard pressed
to hear the difference between a synthetic voice and a
real human voice. That is one you can choose or
you can read your own if you prefer, yes.
Speaker 7 (27:47):
And I can share a funny story.
Speaker 8 (27:49):
One of our investors, Michael Eisenberg, is the founder of
Olive is one of the top tier of his season
Israel in early stage, and a few weeks ago he
asked me if we could create an audiobook version for
one of his books, because he is a nine time
published author.
Speaker 7 (28:01):
He sent us a sample of his voice. We created
a ten.
Speaker 8 (28:05):
Minute sample, send it back to him and he shared
it with his friends and he told him, what do
you think about when you recording? And no one could
tell the difference that this was an AI model and
not him. And then he told me that even his
wife couldn't tell the difference.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Now, all right, that's a testament to how good the
AI is getting. Yeah, AI is freaking me out all
across the board. But yeah, that's an example of it. Yes,
do you think this is a trend that will only
become more and more popular, whether it's spines or other
audiobook platforms?
Speaker 8 (28:36):
For sure, because nowadays there are those books you would
love to listen to them in audiobook version, but the
audiobook version is not available yet because it wasn't created.
What with AI gooes could be created in a matter
of days instead of months, and in the fraction of
the costs, and it will only get easier and better.
(28:57):
And you know, Spines, we might be the first ones,
but we probably won't be the last. I believe in
the future. What could happen. Let's say in five years time,
you could listen to any book in any voice, in
any language, and this will just increase the book consumption
(29:18):
and will help authors to double a quadruple their audiences
because their books will now be available in more formats,
in more languages, and everything will be seamless.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
This is the future.
Speaker 8 (29:28):
How I will help authors and publishers and distributors to
actually get more content available to more readers or listener.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Just to play Devil's advocate, What would you say, though,
Yahuda to those listening thinking, well, what if that's your job?
You're an audiobook narrator, and then you hear AI coming
in that could replace you. This is happening in every
industry right. Instead of hiring a photographer to take a
picture of someone for your website, you may use AI
to do it and it looks lifelike. So I mean,
(29:57):
it's not just in the audiobook space. What would you
say to those who are concerned about this. I know
it can help you save money as an author, but
what would you say to those whose livelihood depends on
authors hiring them to read their books?
Speaker 8 (30:10):
You know, so it's the same thing that you would
say to all those Uber drivers that are now being
replaced with automated cars. And this is the progress. I've
always said, I didn't invent this technology. I'm only using
it and leveraging it to help my customers, which are authors.
I think the AI revolution is something that will affect
(30:33):
every aspect of our lives for sure, and we need
to be responsible. And if your earnings are coming from
something that it will be much easier to be replaced
with AI, you need to start to think, how can
you start navigate your career two more safer places. Yeah,
and because the change is happening, Okay, maybe it will
(30:55):
happen fast, maybe it will happen slow, but it will
happen in every working space.
Speaker 7 (31:01):
AI will affect and.
Speaker 8 (31:03):
Will people that can use AI will probably replacing people
who do you not use AI?
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Yeah, that's fair, And I've heard similar quotes from C
level executives at very big companies. It's the same thing.
Hire people who know how to use AI, not those
who are afraid of it. For better or for worse,
It's definitely here and only can become much much bigger,
changing everything, just like the Internet did. Thank you so much.
Huda Neve has been our guest CEO of Spines. Is
(31:28):
it simply spines dot com to learn more?
Speaker 7 (31:31):
Yes, it is.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
It is great name. By the way.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
As an avid book reader, I like the name, even
though I am more of a digital reader these days
on my iPad or ebook reader, but I love the name.
Thank you so much for your time. Youhu to all
the best.
Speaker 7 (31:43):
Thank you bye.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Mark.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Do you listen to audiobooks?
Speaker 5 (31:47):
Let me know.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Hit me up on social media let me know if
you prefer reading regular books, ebooks or audiobooks or all
of the above. You can find me on x, Facebook, Instagram,
Blue Sky, Threads, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, and a couple of
others probably missed. It's Mark Saltzman, mar C sa l
t z M an Mark with a C, Saltsman with
(32:10):
a Z. I wanted to give another shout out to Norton,
a new partner of mine on the program. I've been
using Norton three sixty with LifeLock as well, so not
only does it have all the anti malware protection that
you want. Malware, of course is short for malicious software
including viruses, and will flag anything suspicious, but with LifeLock,
it also gives you identity theft protection as well with
(32:32):
a slew of benefits, which I've talked about a lot
on the show over the past couple of weeks. If
you want to hear a previous episode of Tech it Out,
by the way, simply go to your favorite podcast platform
like Spotify or Apple, Amazon, Audible, iHeartRadio, Speaker and tune
in and all that, and just do a search for
tech it Out and maybe add my name Mark with
a C and you'll find it. There's probably another podcast
(32:54):
somewhere in the world with the millions of podcasts available,
also called tech it Out, not that I'm aware of,
but wouldn't be too shocked if that was the case.
All right, So, because of the holiday season coming up,
I wanted to tell you something that General Motors is
doing with Norrad and the North Pole when we return
on Check it Out. So stay with us, we'll be
right back.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Follow Mark Saltzman on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, listen
to Check it Out whenever you want.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
You probably know that over the past few years on
Star from General Motors and Norrad have partnered on a
Santa tracker so you can find out where Santa and
his reindeer are on Christmas Eve as Saint Nick is
flying around the world and delivering toys and other gifts
on time. If you're not familiar with that, I'll tell
(33:49):
you more about that shortly. But what's new this year
from on Star and I think this is awesome for
members Again on Star members who are in a Chevrolet
or Cadillac Buick GMC, you can use your in vehicle
on Star blue button or tap inside the Guardian app
to unlock a brand new seven part audio adventure called
(34:10):
Santa in Space. It's written by best selling children's author
Adam Rubin, so listeners can follow Santa and his sidekick
Reindeer three thousand on a sound rich journey across the galaxy,
with a new adventure every day leading into the main
event on Christmas Eve, where you can also track Santa's
whereabouts as you have in the past. But I love
(34:31):
this new audio adventure being a fan of audiobooks and
old radio shows and all that, this is wonderful. So
how do you listen? From now till December twenty third,
on Star members can access Santa in Space by pressing
that blue on Star button inside their vehicle or through
the Guardian app and each episode drops listeners right into
the heart of Santa's interstellar mission, building anticipation and delight
(34:53):
as Christmas Eve approaches. Then, on Christmas Eve and continuing
through five am Eastern on the twenty fifth of December,
on Star will offer live Santa tracking in partnership with NORAD,
the North American Aerospace Defense Command, so families can find
out exactly where Santa is and how close he may
be to making his stop at your home. And here's
(35:14):
perhaps the best part. For every blue button push on
Christmas Eve, on Star donates one dollar to the American
Red Cross up to thirty thousand dollars, so it's a
win win folks. Take advantage of that if you're an
on Star customer, and if you're not, by the way,
you can go to OnStar dot com and also hear
the audio series Santa in Space, which is great for
(35:35):
kids and kids at heart. Again, go to OnStar dot com,
then scroll down on the web page where it says
create magic together, keep up with Santa this holiday season,
and when you tap or click that, you'll see the
cover of Santa in Space and illustration that you can
listen to, which is great even if you're not an
on star customer. Once again, wanted to give another shout
(35:56):
out to Visa and Norton outstanding partners of mine on
the program, as well as sand Disc, which is funny
because all three of those brands, sand Disc, Norton, and
Visa all aim to protect you in different ways. Sand
Disc with reliable backup storage of course, external solid state
drives and USB thumb drives and memory cards to protect
(36:18):
your data just in case something happens to your laptop
or desktop, or they even have solutions for iPhone and
Android smartphones and tablets as well that plug in underneath USBC,
Whereas Visa protects your purchases of course, especially in the
digital age, and Norton with a suite of cybersecurity related
products and protecting you against identity theft and whatnot. So
(36:38):
very cool. Thank you to all of our amazing partners.
And as we start winding down the year calendar Year
twenty twenty five, a huge thank you to listeners. They're
the best. I love hearing from them. If and when
you do reach out and you've got suggestions for upcoming
guests or topics or maybe just tech support questions, be
sure to let me know where you're tuning into the
show from. I love hearing what city or town you're in,
(37:01):
and also how you're tuning in. Is it your favorite
local talk radio station or is it in podcast form.
I often get messages from people overseas as well tuning
in digitally, like on a website or the podcast, so
that's always a kick for me as well. If you
want to find me on social media, where I link
to the articles that I write and of course this
radio show and podcast videos as well, including TV appearances.
(37:23):
My handle is simply Mark Saltzman, Mark with the C
s A L t z M an so Mark with
the C Saltsman with the Z. For my fellow Canadians,
it's Saltsman with a Z. Doesn't quite rhyme, but there
you go. S A L t Z M A N
and I look forward to hearing from you. I'm on
x formerly, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, threads, blue sky, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok.
(37:48):
Pick your poison right, and if you're not into social media,
you can just head over to my website Mark Saltsman
dot com and send me a note from there as well.
Oh and by the way, sand disc isn't just about
backup but they also have drives fast enough like solid
state drives for gaming systems and for your PC that
you can work off the drive in real time. It's
not like a slow hard drive with the spinning platter
(38:10):
that you need to wait to boot up and all that.
So also great for content creators toiling away on a
computer editing some videos that they want to post to
social or gamers who are playing in real time against
others competitively online in first person action games and role
playing games and strategy and simulations and all that. Fast
enough you can play off the drives themselves. Great stuff.
(38:31):
SanDisk dot com has more on that, including support for
PS five, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. Oh and yeah, I
wrote a best Games of the year article for USA Today.
If you want to check that out, just google USA Today.
Mark Saltzman Best Games twenty twenty five. Hey, I'm wishing
you all a fantastic rest of your day. Thank you
for making tech it out a small part of it.
(38:53):
Good luck shopping if you're hitting the malls and fighting
traffic and other shoppers trying to elbow you to get
the gifts that you want. Looking forward to chatting with
you next time for another brand new episode of Check
it Out. Goodbye 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 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 to's to help you understand what's hot, what's not
(00:22):
and why.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hey everyone, welcome to Teck it Out. This is episode four.
Hope you're all doing fantastic leading up to the holidays.
Love this time of year, the hustle and bustle, you know,
planning visits with family, maybe some travel, gift buying. Love it.
Speaking of gifts, on today's Teck it Out, We're going
to start off with a high tech twist on Rubik's Cube,
(00:47):
something that kids and kids at heart no doubt would
love to unwrap under the tree this year. Then tech
expert Mario Armstrong we'll share some other gadget gift ideas.
Also on the show today, we're going to learn about
audio books, how you can use your own voice with
the help of AI to read your books. And then
we're going to chat about Santa and GM, general motors
(01:09):
and Norad all partnering this year on a fun initiative
tied to Christmas. All of this and more on an
all new tech it out powered by Norton and Visa,
two outstanding partners of mine, both companies aiming to protect
you in slightly different ways. Interestingly enough, I'll elaborate more
on that a little bit later on, but let's officially
kick off a brand new show with our first interview.
(01:33):
How do you take one of the most iconic handheld
puzzle games from the twentieth century and bring it into
the digital age. Well, the answer is Rubik's Woucube, a
twist on the iconic cube puzzler, and to learn all
about it, we're joined by Max Fillen, he's co founder
and CEO of QBOS, the folks behind Rubik's Woucube. Welcome
to the show, Max, good to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Hello, Thank you so.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I know you usually live in Florida, but you're talking
to us in China. I know it's like midnight for you.
Thank you so much for staying up late to talk
with us about this. I guess new partnership between Woucube,
which has been around for a couple of years now,
with Rubix so that's I guess the spinmaster. Folks. We'll
get to that in a moment kind of the business side,
but I think for our listeners, I'd love to start
(02:17):
with simply, what is Rubik's Woucube?
Speaker 3 (02:21):
All right?
Speaker 4 (02:21):
So in simple words, yeah, Now I'm here in China
in chan Jen and our office and lab, and we're
at a very crucial moment right now manufacturing the first
ten thousand pieces to be shipped within days to the customers.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Congrats.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Yes, I just finished the quality control for the first batch.
So in simple words, what is the rubiks Wacube. It's
the new type of the gaming console in shape of
the cube, which consists of eight autonomous separate modules and
crowd with twenty four screens. So the whole surface you
mentioned the cube with the whole surface as a screen,
(02:57):
and you change the screen geometry by twisting it the
way you twist the Rubik's Cube by twisting four in
a layer. So it's the you interact with a digital
world as if it's a real object, and then design
to hold it with your both hands on your arms,
distance far from the ice, thinking in three dimension. And
not only for games only, you can also use it
(03:19):
as a digital photo frame on your table or like
digital aquarium.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
It's not necessarily you should.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Be rightings, Yeah, we'll get to that. I know there's
a screen saver and some other things you can do.
All right, So it kind of looks like a Rubik's Cube,
but it's got four cubes on each of the six sides,
So it's twenty four little screens that depending on the
mode you're playing or the games that you're playing, it
couldn't show the same thing or different objects on each screen.
So I love that modern take on the classic Again,
(03:46):
I called it an iconic puzzle game Rubik's Cube, So
wow cube is you call it a console and you
hold it in your hands. And it also fuses the
classic cube puzzle mechanic that we're familiar with, you know,
having to align the same colors and all that, but
also with video games, right, can you tell us about
the tie in with mobile games like Cut the Rope.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
Absolutely, that's the that's the most important part here. It's
not just the cube with the screens which shows the pictures.
We create the operation system that allows those modules to communicate. Yet,
of course we use the characters from different well known games,
but it's not possible just to pour the game to
(04:27):
the wall cube, so you need to rethink, re imagine
the gameplay completely to play it on their on the
whole surface.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
And I'll give you an example.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Imagine the pac Man for example, and where you way
with the Packman, you need to run away from the ghosts.
But in our version, if it could be on a cube,
you can go through the device. You can change the
shape of the maze of this game with your real hands,
So even a simple arcade, increase your special reasoning and
(04:58):
add the puzzle element to right. Pretty much any game,
for example, Cut the Rope game you just mentioned in
our verse, you need to literally cut the rope. We
have a license for the Cut Rope, so you can
play the Cut Rope on the roots, So you need
to literally cut the rope by twisting the queue and
cutting the rope.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Love it. You've explained it really well verbally because this
is radio or a podcast, so I know our listeners
can envision what it looks like. We'll get to a
website where they can actually see it in a moment.
So you do have official partnerships with games like Cut
the Rope and Space Invaders. If I remember correctly. Because
there are no buttons macs, how do you navigate between
the games?
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Yeah, it doesn't have buttons, and that's what makes it
absolutely unique and interesting.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
You can control the device in a most.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Natural way by shaking, tilting, tapping, twisting, so you physically
control the digital space.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
That's what makes it cool.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Say, if you're a menu, you need to move the
highlighter by slightly tilting the cube.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
It's like a bubble all on top.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
And then you start if you want to start, they
gave you just stop it twice to launch fee.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah, so you rotate the cube, it moves the cursor
if you will, it highlights a different cube, and then
when it's on the game or other application which we'll
get to, when you land on where you want to access,
you just tap it once you rotate it, like you said,
like a bubble that moves around.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Yes, it's a piece of technology inside accelerometergy sensors and
it understands all this physical input. Yeah, it not necessarily
should be a button.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Got it. We are chatting with Max Fillen, co founder
and CEO of QBOS. These are the folks behind the
game Wow Cube. It's a game system in fact a
console that looks like a Rubik's Cube. And then you
recently partnered officially with the company's Spinmaster based in Toronto, Canada,
that actually owns the IP for Rubik's Cube. How's that going?
(06:51):
And this is obviously breathing new life into your product lineup.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
The rubiks Cube is one of the most app to
way on a planet, right and our device looks like
the rublic Scube, like beta version of the rubik Scube.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
So it's a win win collaboration.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Of course, because it's a console max it supports multiple
games that you can choose to install on there, so
I think it works with a companion app. Right, tell
us about some of the games that are accessible. We
already talked about Cut the Rope and Space Invaders, but
there are others, many others.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Right.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
Yeah, we have more than seventh available right now. But
what is most important We create the software development git
sdky so anyone can download this as decay and make
their own games for the the Woldcube.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Upload to our website, to our app store.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Even though if you don't know how to code, how
to develop the games, we have the wild Cube Studio.
It's a very simple drug and drop in their face
where you can make simple games Like I mean, you
can use your phone to make a photo and then
upload it to the Cube using our app Companion Right
to make a simple game out of it. Also, the
(08:05):
cube is a of course, the cube is a standalone device.
It's independent standardone device, so you can just give it
to your child on the back seat of your car.
But to unlock the full potential, you can download our
app which is available for iOS and Android, and you
can control the digits. For example, if it stands near
your PC, you can show your bitcoin, weight or weather,
(08:28):
or you can you can even pick the place on
the Google Panaramia Google Maps and it shows you three
sixty degrees photo on the surface of the cube. We
also have what we call the mind Hub or a
parental portal, where you can see the progress, what skills
you develop. Then you play it like it is your memory,
(08:48):
especially reasoning. You can participate in export competition like we
just mentioned the rubiks Cube we have. You can play
the speed Cuban type of the games even though you're
not in the same room, but you can compete with
your friends no matter where they are.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
That's great, and you mentioned it can also show you
your photos. You may want to keep this on your
office desk and it'll rotate photos like a digital photo frame.
Absolutely yeah, and also I think calendar appointments as well.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
You're absolutely right.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
And basically it's twenty four screens in the shape of
the cube on your desk. What to show there, it's
you to choose messages from what'sapp please go ahead, or
bitcoin rate, or your calendar or your meetance, your stock exchange,
pretty much anything. So it's an open platform for your creativity.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
All right. So let's wrap up with how much the
Rubert's Volcube costs and where we can learn more.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
I want to highlight here this is a very complex
electromechinic device with twenty four screens and eight professors eight cps.
That's why we're now at what I call a Tesla
roster stage. The price is three nineion nine with access
to all seventy plus games, and this number constantly increasing.
(10:09):
Having this, it is right now, is one of the
first on the planet and you can be unique and
always be in the center.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Of attention having this. Yes, the price is three ninionine
right now.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Alrighty, and it's at wowcube dot com just as it
sounds wow cube dot com.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
Yes correct, Yes, all the information you can you can
find there, including SDK and links to the score channel
and everything.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yeah, and some really great videos at the website too.
Thank you so much, Max fill In, CEO of QBOS.
Really exciting time as you're relaunching Wowcube as Rubik's Wowcube
with seventy plus games plus Again, I want to remind
our listeners you can use it like a Rubik's Cube
with the solid colors on each side, just as you
may remember growing up as I do.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
The virus of this game. Yeah, when they in Blair
call change the colors.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
No answer.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
You play amazing. Thanks for that, all right, Thank you
so much, Max, all the best and thanks for staying
up so late to talk with us today.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Ane of them, thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
You are listening to check it out. Huge. Thank you
to Norton, a new partner of ours on the program.
Super excited to have them on board when we return
on the program. More gadget gift ideas with tech expert
Mario Armstrong. Stick with us, We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (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.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Podcasts, 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
(11:48):
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 prevent over the past five years, as
much as ten billion dollars Yes that's billion with a
bee to support Visa's brand promise to protect the financial
information of individuals and businesses. Zero liability means peace of
(12:13):
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 global criminal enterprises.
Read more about Visa and how securing the world's payments
is priority one at Visa dot com slash security. That's
(12:36):
Visa dot Com slash security. Oh you know this one.
Come on now, that's right. Jingle bells are ringing because
it is time for some ho ho holiday gift ideas.
And good thing that Santa is sitting in a slave
beside digital lifestyle expert Mario Armstrong, who's pulling him into
(12:57):
this show to chat with us about some top picks
for the season. And hey, Mario, Merry Christmas. That's an
entrance for you. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
Thanks so much for having me on.
Speaker 6 (13:06):
Merry Christmas to you and all the listeners out there
and everybody that's a classic like how can you not
rock out to that? So and yes, I've been busy
in the North Poles, so parents, caregivers, everybody that's looking
thinking about giving a gift to someone.
Speaker 5 (13:19):
I parted up with some great brands.
Speaker 6 (13:20):
I got a good list of some fun ideas that
can help you complete that gift list this year.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Well, speaking of the kids, why don't we start off
with something fun for the little ones?
Speaker 5 (13:28):
Oh and interactive?
Speaker 6 (13:30):
Like That's what I'm seeing is a great trend of
like not just fun, but how can they be interactive
with that fun? And so Epic is the world's leading
digital reading platform for kids, and they launched their first
ever Cat Ninja toy line. So now this brings the
hero from the page to playtime. So they actually now
have these figures that are available to them. It's all
(13:50):
inspired by the hit graphic novel series. And if you
haven't heard about it, don't worry because over three hundred
million times by kids around the world.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
Everybody else has heard about this. It's amazing.
Speaker 6 (14:00):
And they have the first two collectible figures that are
available now, and they capture Cat Ninja in these action
pac scenes, which is a lot of fun.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
If you buy both of them, by the way, you
get at fifteen percent discount. So it's a great holiday
get awesome.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
So epic is an app with access to over In fact,
I just looked it up, forty thousand books and audio
books and now with collectible figures, figurines. All right, before
we talk about a few more gift ideas, what about
staying connected with friends and family this season? How can
tech help there?
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Oh, tech can help in such a big way.
Speaker 6 (14:30):
So I really want everyone to pay attention to this
because this is something that everyone can use and it
benefits a lot of people. So it's called text Now,
and text Now gives you unlimited calling and texting over
Wi Fi for free. Just download the app I've done
it myself and then you're set and ready to go.
Speaker 5 (14:47):
If you want to use it without Wi Fi, you can.
You can get a low cost SIM card.
Speaker 6 (14:51):
Maybe you're going on travel and you don't want to
take your main phone, or you need a separate phone.
You can use this as your main phone and get
a phone plan if you wanted to as well with that,
but it's perfect to save money.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
Use it as a second number.
Speaker 6 (15:03):
You can use this as your main phone, as I said,
or it could be a side number for your side hustles, work,
or travel. Best of all, no contracts, no credit checks.
It's really that flexible. I really just like that. You
can go to the app start using it over Wi
Fi right away.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
I saw the text Now name on your list, and
I was happy to see that because I've been using
it for many years. It's truly a money saver because
you get a free number. If you sell things on Craigslist,
you may not want to give out your real phone number.
I know people who are on dating apps and they
don't want to give out the real number. They want
some privacy before they get to really know the person.
Then they'll give them the real number. So text now
(15:37):
is great for that, and you get to choose, by
the way, what city you want the number to be
associated with, you know, like Dallas, Texas and Miami, Florida.
They'll give you a number that's available. Also, text now
has a zero dollars a month wireless phone plan for
the country. For the US, it's called the Free Flex
Plan zero dollars for unlimited talk and text and then
even data. If you use it for email, maps and
(16:00):
ride share services like Lift or Uber, then it's also
free and only if you need data that you can
add on to it. It's only a couple bucks. So
really love that. I use that when I'm traveling. So
great stuff from texts Now, and that's an AD supported
plan by the way. But let's now turn back our
attention to gift giving. Mario.
Speaker 6 (16:18):
Yeah, I'm sitting one set and I kind of have
all these items in front of me. The WWE brings
back like nostalgia for me. It's called WWE Money in
the Bank Cash in Ring playset. So this is a
playset that's really for fans in kids ages six and up,
where you can slam the bell launcher and starts creating
chaos and you can unlock over forty different sounds and phrases.
(16:42):
It's really kind of like the ultimate WWE Showdown experience
with the figures and everything.
Speaker 5 (16:47):
And then kids will also love to.
Speaker 6 (16:48):
See under the tree something that Crayola is doing which
is really awesome because they're bringing spray art magic to life.
Speaker 5 (16:54):
And it's called the Crayola.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
Marker Airbrush Kit, and the airbrush works with most Creola
markers and as a hands one way for kids to
experiment with color, artistic expression, and creative effects. And when
it's time to tap into that creativity for holiday crafts
or school projects that they're going to have, kids can
use the included five stencils. And then lastly for the
whole family. You know, I'm a gamer and I love Sega.
(17:17):
Who doesn't, And so you can race across land, sea, air,
even space in the newest game, the Newest One Sonic
Racing Cross Worlds. And then there's also two Point Museum.
I love this game because you get to manage and
curate and design your own museum. They're both available in
current gen consoles, Nintendo Switch to and on on PC.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
You talked about being on set for TV interviews and
having a nice table. I wanted our listeners to know
how they can see that, so Inthnews dot tv to
see a video of Mario Armstrong, digital lifestyle expert, showcasing
this really cool technology, amazing stuff. Mario, all the best,
Merry Christmas, happy and healthy holidays to you and your family,
and I look forward to seeing you early next year
(17:58):
in Las Vegas at the Big Tech.
Speaker 6 (17:59):
Showly Man the same to you and your family, and
super excited about seeing you in the new year, and
wishing everyone really be safe and have a happy.
Speaker 5 (18:07):
Holiday this season.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
We'll be right back when we talk audio books and
using your own voice to narrate them, We'll be right back.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Want to follow Mark Google Mark with a C and
Saltzman with a Z breaking down geeks peak into street speak.
Speaker 7 (18:33):
This is check it out.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
To check it out with.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Technology columnist, author, and TV personality Mark Saltzman.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Welcome back everyone you're listening to check it out. It's
no secret that AI is changing every industry, and audiobooks
are no exception. Spines, a platform to publish your own
books professionally, is also helping authors create and sell audio books,
leveraging AI to facilitate this. Joining us on the line
to explain how it works. Is Youhuda Neve, CEO of Spines.
(19:04):
Thanks for your time, Yhuda, good to talk.
Speaker 7 (19:06):
To you, Thank you, thank you. You're great to be here.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Before we talk about Spines and what you're doing in
the audiobook space. Why do you think audiobooks are so
popular today.
Speaker 8 (19:14):
I believe it's a matter of time management. You know,
people are busier than ever nowadays. Being able to listen
to a book, Like where you sit and read a book,
that's something you do active, but listening to a book,
you know, it's it's a passive process. You don't have
to actually allocate a lot of time to do that.
Speaker 7 (19:31):
Let's make that more easy.
Speaker 8 (19:33):
And I believe it's a different media of books that
is emerged as something which is more consumer favorable because
it's just easier and you can control the speed and
sometimes you are getting few emotions of the of the
one who was doing the audiobook.
Speaker 7 (19:55):
Version, and it's a nice experience, you know, to listen
took instead of reading.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Agreed, Yeah, it's easier to multitask. I travel a lot
as a journalist, and so I like listening while I'm
walking through airports. Not to mention think of all the
people listening right now who are commuting to and from
work every day. A lot of people aren't called back
to the office post pandemic, and they're fighting traffic in
their cities and there they want to remain entertained both ways.
(20:21):
And I agree with you, there's also the emotion of
the narrator in some cases. All right, So would it
be fair then to say, yahuda that Audible, which is
an Amazon brand, they're probably the biggest platform for audiobooks.
Is it true they're putting up roadblocks when it comes
to publishing audiobooks.
Speaker 7 (20:37):
It's a funny story.
Speaker 8 (20:38):
One of our lead investors or in zeev he led
our Series A. It was sixty million dollars in funding.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Oh wow, and congrats, And.
Speaker 8 (20:49):
He was one of the first investors in Audible and
also it was one of the of the early investors
in CHEG So so he is actually a venture capitalist
who has the major success in the publishing space. And
it told me that I believe spines will be the
third and what audiobill used to be and what it
is right now, it's a very different approach to audiobooks. However,
(21:11):
I do believe they have an amazing catalog. On the
user end of the reader, it's an amazing platform. However,
for publishers or authors, we in Spines we created a
process that we can help anyone to create an audiobook
version for themselves, because up to date, creating an audiobook
(21:32):
used to be something which is very either labor intensive
because you will have to go to forty hours into
a studio and create your own audiobooks, or you will
have to get a studio to create it for you,
which is very expensive. So most of the books don't
have an audiobook version because it's quite a big.
Speaker 7 (21:50):
Of a project.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Yeah, like you said, it's labor intensive or cost prohibitive.
Speaker 8 (21:54):
Yes, So what we did with Spines we created a
process which we can model the author's on voice. We
can creates a model and instead of him going forty
hours into a studio, we only need three minutes and
then we create an audiobook version based on his voice.
Speaker 7 (22:08):
Or if he doesn't want to use his.
Speaker 8 (22:10):
Voice because he has an Israeli excellently like I have
for example, he can use one of our three hundred
synthetic voices for generating his audiobook. And what we can
do also is to assign different voices for different characters,
and so if you want to create an audiobook with
few voice actors, that should be very expensive, but with
(22:32):
our tools it's very simple. However, those books, the voice
part of those books was AI generated. Sometimes it's very
hard to get them uploaded two platforms like audioboo because
they still block them. So on one hand, of course
they want to have a bigger catalog with more books. However,
they are still not opening the gates completely to these
(22:54):
kinds of AI generated audiobooks. But by the way, the
book was completely written by real human just the audiobook.
Speaker 7 (23:01):
Version was created by the help of it, but they
do allow it.
Speaker 8 (23:04):
When it was created with their AI tool, which is
not yet available for everyone.
Speaker 7 (23:11):
But I think all of those.
Speaker 8 (23:12):
Challenges are only a matter of time until let's say,
the conviction in the quality of the technology will be
good enough.
Speaker 7 (23:19):
And those roadblocks.
Speaker 8 (23:21):
Will be removed and it will be more streamlined than
what it is right now.
Speaker 7 (23:25):
So I think it's a mother of year two years
top and all of this nonsense.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Will be ironed out.
Speaker 5 (23:33):
Yeah, but it will take a while.
Speaker 8 (23:35):
But also what we do we allow those books to
be distributed in other channels because in Spines.
Speaker 7 (23:40):
We can least the books in more channels, and.
Speaker 8 (23:43):
Audiobook is an amazing channel, but it's only one of them,
and we have much more than that.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
This is how we solve it right now, Yes, sounds fascinating.
In a couple of minutes from now, I'm going to
play you a sample of what one of the AI
voices sounds like. It's going to blow you away, so
stay tuned for that. The author he or she can
go into the studio, just record a couple of minutes
worth of their voice, and your AI takes it from there. Alternatively,
you can choose one from a couple of one hundred
(24:09):
different voices you already have in your database. And by
the way, some of them may like an Israeli accent.
By the way, they may be a fan of the
show Fouda or something. So don't sell yourself, short y, Huda, No,
but I got the idea is that you can choose
somebody else's voice if you like. So is this limited
right now to authors who are already on the Spines platform,
or what if, for example, a guy have books that
(24:31):
I've written, but I'm not the publisher, so I don't
own the rights to the audiobook version. I don't know
if there's ever been an audiobook version of my books,
by the way, because they're technical and it's not you know,
a bit of a different animal. Obviously you have to
have the rights or do they have to be a
SPINES based author.
Speaker 8 (24:45):
Yes, so that's a great question because in Spines we
focus on the author, so we will only help authors
who wrote their book by themselves. We do not publish
AI generated books or something like that, sure like only
books that was origined in real human beings and in space.
We have a few packages, so there are packages or
our A to Z solution for the editing, proof reading, formating,
(25:07):
cover design and of course AI narrated audiobook and distribution
across one hundred channels and worldy management and distribution, so
all of that is included in a few of our packages.
And also publishing the book in multiple languages in both
audiobook and print on demand and ebook versions as well
multiple languages, so we have a lot of solutions. We
also have a package for those who has already published
(25:31):
a book not with Spines, but now they just want
to translate it to Spanish for example, or they want
to have an audiobook version for the book because you know,
forty percent of the book conception nowadays is voice is audiobooks.
And however, most of the authors don't have an audiobook
version for themselves, so in order for them to work
with Spines, they will only have to make sure they
(25:52):
actually own the copyright. So if they self published it
or hybrid publish it, probably they're supposed to have the
rights on the audiobook version.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Got it.
Speaker 8 (26:05):
Then they can use Spines tools to create their own
audibook version and use our distribution tool to distribute it.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Thanks for the clarification. A few more minutes with Huda
Neve from Spines, the book and audiobook platform when we
return on check it out and stay with.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Us breaking down geek speaking into street speak. Check it Out,
hosted by Mark Saltzman.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Welcome back to check it out everyone. We are chatting
with you Huda Neive, he's CEO of Spines. This is
a popular platform to publish your own books professionally. They've
already got six thousand books published and they're also helping
authors create and sell audiobooks as well leveraging AI. So Youhud,
I'd love to just play a clip for our listeners
to hear what the AI based voice sounds like. What
(27:00):
it sounds like for an author to choose one of
the existing AI voices, not his own. His name is Vilaniir,
and he chose to use one of the existing AI
voices you already have. This is from his book called
Thinking Like a Fox. So let's have a listen.
Speaker 9 (27:13):
There are many concepts that reflect different aspects of our world.
The list of these concepts is something I've put together
a few years ago while preparing a lecturer on the
question what kind of world do we live in? On
the surface the topic of the lecture, it seems like
an odd question.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Wow, so that's a synthetic voice. Again, this is not
a human coming in, but it sounds pretty real, you know. Again,
I think a lot of people would be hard pressed
to hear the difference between a synthetic voice and a
real human voice. That is one you can choose or
you can read your own if you prefer, yes.
Speaker 7 (27:47):
And I can share a funny story.
Speaker 8 (27:49):
One of our investors, Michael Eisenberg, is the founder of
Olive is one of the top tier of his season
Israel in early stage, and a few weeks ago he
asked me if we could create an audiobook version for
one of his books, because he is a nine time
published author.
Speaker 7 (28:01):
He sent us a sample of his voice. We created
a ten.
Speaker 8 (28:05):
Minute sample, send it back to him and he shared
it with his friends and he told him, what do
you think about when you recording? And no one could
tell the difference that this was an AI model and
not him. And then he told me that even his
wife couldn't tell the difference.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Now, all right, that's a testament to how good the
AI is getting. Yeah, AI is freaking me out all
across the board. But yeah, that's an example of it. Yes,
do you think this is a trend that will only
become more and more popular, whether it's spines or other
audiobook platforms?
Speaker 8 (28:36):
For sure, because nowadays there are those books you would
love to listen to them in audiobook version, but the
audiobook version is not available yet because it wasn't created.
What with AI gooes could be created in a matter
of days instead of months, and in the fraction of
the costs, and it will only get easier and better.
(28:57):
And you know, Spines, we might be the first ones,
but we probably won't be the last. I believe in
the future. What could happen. Let's say in five years time,
you could listen to any book in any voice, in
any language, and this will just increase the book consumption
(29:18):
and will help authors to double a quadruple their audiences
because their books will now be available in more formats,
in more languages, and everything will be seamless.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
This is the future.
Speaker 8 (29:28):
How I will help authors and publishers and distributors to
actually get more content available to more readers or listener.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Just to play Devil's advocate, What would you say, though,
Yahuda to those listening thinking, well, what if that's your job?
You're an audiobook narrator, and then you hear AI coming
in that could replace you. This is happening in every
industry right. Instead of hiring a photographer to take a
picture of someone for your website, you may use AI
to do it and it looks lifelike. So I mean,
(29:57):
it's not just in the audiobook space. What would you
say to those who are concerned about this. I know
it can help you save money as an author, but
what would you say to those whose livelihood depends on
authors hiring them to read their books?
Speaker 8 (30:10):
You know, so it's the same thing that you would
say to all those Uber drivers that are now being
replaced with automated cars. And this is the progress. I've
always said, I didn't invent this technology. I'm only using
it and leveraging it to help my customers, which are authors.
I think the AI revolution is something that will affect
(30:33):
every aspect of our lives for sure, and we need
to be responsible. And if your earnings are coming from
something that it will be much easier to be replaced
with AI, you need to start to think, how can
you start navigate your career two more safer places. Yeah,
and because the change is happening, Okay, maybe it will
(30:55):
happen fast, maybe it will happen slow, but it will
happen in every working space.
Speaker 7 (31:01):
AI will affect and.
Speaker 8 (31:03):
Will people that can use AI will probably replacing people
who do you not use AI?
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Yeah, that's fair, And I've heard similar quotes from C
level executives at very big companies. It's the same thing.
Hire people who know how to use AI, not those
who are afraid of it. For better or for worse,
It's definitely here and only can become much much bigger,
changing everything, just like the Internet did. Thank you so much.
Huda Neve has been our guest CEO of Spines. Is
(31:28):
it simply spines dot com to learn more?
Speaker 7 (31:31):
Yes, it is.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
It is great name. By the way.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
As an avid book reader, I like the name, even
though I am more of a digital reader these days
on my iPad or ebook reader, but I love the name.
Thank you so much for your time. Youhu to all
the best.
Speaker 7 (31:43):
Thank you bye.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Mark.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Do you listen to audiobooks?
Speaker 5 (31:47):
Let me know.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Hit me up on social media let me know if
you prefer reading regular books, ebooks or audiobooks or all
of the above. You can find me on x, Facebook, Instagram,
Blue Sky, Threads, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, and a couple of
others probably missed. It's Mark Saltzman, mar C sa l
t z M an Mark with a C, Saltsman with
(32:10):
a Z. I wanted to give another shout out to Norton,
a new partner of mine on the program. I've been
using Norton three sixty with LifeLock as well, so not
only does it have all the anti malware protection that
you want. Malware, of course is short for malicious software
including viruses, and will flag anything suspicious, but with LifeLock,
it also gives you identity theft protection as well with
(32:32):
a slew of benefits, which I've talked about a lot
on the show over the past couple of weeks. If
you want to hear a previous episode of Tech it Out,
by the way, simply go to your favorite podcast platform
like Spotify or Apple, Amazon, Audible, iHeartRadio, Speaker and tune
in and all that, and just do a search for
tech it Out and maybe add my name Mark with
a C and you'll find it. There's probably another podcast
(32:54):
somewhere in the world with the millions of podcasts available,
also called tech it Out, not that I'm aware of,
but wouldn't be too shocked if that was the case.
All right, So, because of the holiday season coming up,
I wanted to tell you something that General Motors is
doing with Norrad and the North Pole when we return
on Check it Out. So stay with us, we'll be
right back.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
Follow Mark Saltzman on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, listen
to Check it Out whenever you want.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
You probably know that over the past few years on
Star from General Motors and Norrad have partnered on a
Santa tracker so you can find out where Santa and
his reindeer are on Christmas Eve as Saint Nick is
flying around the world and delivering toys and other gifts
on time. If you're not familiar with that, I'll tell
(33:49):
you more about that shortly. But what's new this year
from on Star and I think this is awesome for
members Again on Star members who are in a Chevrolet
or Cadillac Buick GMC, you can use your in vehicle
on Star blue button or tap inside the Guardian app
to unlock a brand new seven part audio adventure called
(34:10):
Santa in Space. It's written by best selling children's author
Adam Rubin, so listeners can follow Santa and his sidekick
Reindeer three thousand on a sound rich journey across the galaxy,
with a new adventure every day leading into the main
event on Christmas Eve, where you can also track Santa's
whereabouts as you have in the past. But I love
(34:31):
this new audio adventure being a fan of audiobooks and
old radio shows and all that, this is wonderful. So
how do you listen? From now till December twenty third,
on Star members can access Santa in Space by pressing
that blue on Star button inside their vehicle or through
the Guardian app and each episode drops listeners right into
the heart of Santa's interstellar mission, building anticipation and delight
(34:53):
as Christmas Eve approaches. Then, on Christmas Eve and continuing
through five am Eastern on the twenty fifth of December,
on Star will offer live Santa tracking in partnership with NORAD,
the North American Aerospace Defense Command, so families can find
out exactly where Santa is and how close he may
be to making his stop at your home. And here's
(35:14):
perhaps the best part. For every blue button push on
Christmas Eve, on Star donates one dollar to the American
Red Cross up to thirty thousand dollars, so it's a
win win folks. Take advantage of that if you're an
on Star customer, and if you're not, by the way,
you can go to OnStar dot com and also hear
the audio series Santa in Space, which is great for
(35:35):
kids and kids at heart. Again, go to OnStar dot com,
then scroll down on the web page where it says
create magic together, keep up with Santa this holiday season,
and when you tap or click that, you'll see the
cover of Santa in Space and illustration that you can
listen to, which is great even if you're not an
on star customer. Once again, wanted to give another shout
(35:56):
out to Visa and Norton outstanding partners of mine on
the program, as well as sand Disc, which is funny
because all three of those brands, sand Disc, Norton, and
Visa all aim to protect you in different ways. Sand
Disc with reliable backup storage of course, external solid state
drives and USB thumb drives and memory cards to protect
(36:18):
your data just in case something happens to your laptop
or desktop, or they even have solutions for iPhone and
Android smartphones and tablets as well that plug in underneath USBC,
Whereas Visa protects your purchases of course, especially in the
digital age, and Norton with a suite of cybersecurity related
products and protecting you against identity theft and whatnot. So
(36:38):
very cool. Thank you to all of our amazing partners.
And as we start winding down the year calendar Year
twenty twenty five, a huge thank you to listeners. They're
the best. I love hearing from them. If and when
you do reach out and you've got suggestions for upcoming
guests or topics or maybe just tech support questions, be
sure to let me know where you're tuning into the
show from. I love hearing what city or town you're in,
(37:01):
and also how you're tuning in. Is it your favorite
local talk radio station or is it in podcast form.
I often get messages from people overseas as well tuning
in digitally, like on a website or the podcast, so
that's always a kick for me as well. If you
want to find me on social media, where I link
to the articles that I write and of course this
radio show and podcast videos as well, including TV appearances.
(37:23):
My handle is simply Mark Saltzman, Mark with the C
s A L t z M an so Mark with
the C Saltsman with the Z. For my fellow Canadians,
it's Saltsman with a Z. Doesn't quite rhyme, but there
you go. S A L t Z M A N
and I look forward to hearing from you. I'm on
x formerly, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, threads, blue sky, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok.
(37:48):
Pick your poison right, and if you're not into social media,
you can just head over to my website Mark Saltsman
dot com and send me a note from there as well.
Oh and by the way, sand disc isn't just about
backup but they also have drives fast enough like solid
state drives for gaming systems and for your PC that
you can work off the drive in real time. It's
not like a slow hard drive with the spinning platter
(38:10):
that you need to wait to boot up and all that.
So also great for content creators toiling away on a
computer editing some videos that they want to post to
social or gamers who are playing in real time against
others competitively online in first person action games and role
playing games and strategy and simulations and all that. Fast
enough you can play off the drives themselves. Great stuff.
(38:31):
SanDisk dot com has more on that, including support for
PS five, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. Oh and yeah, I
wrote a best Games of the year article for USA Today.
If you want to check that out, just google USA Today.
Mark Saltzman Best Games twenty twenty five. Hey, I'm wishing
you all a fantastic rest of your day. Thank you
for making tech it out a small part of it.
(38:53):
Good luck shopping if you're hitting the malls and fighting
traffic and other shoppers trying to elbow you to get
the gifts that you want. Looking forward to chatting with
you next time for another brand new episode of Check
it Out. Goodbye for Now,
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