- Congrats to Janelle Bautista from Orange County for winning the ASUS X15 Chromebook laptop! This was tied to last week’s 400th Tech It Out episode milestone..
- We have a huge prize for this week, too, courtesy of ECOVACS. Valued at $2300, it’s a DEEBOT X9 PRO OMNI, a powerful robot vacuum/mop hybrid and the WINBOT W2 PRO OMNI window-washing robot. Learn HOW to enter in the show – and it’s open to U.S. and Canadian residents (excluding Quebec)
- Speaking of ECOVACS, I’ll interview TC Chang from ECOVACS Americas, about their latest home robots
- The latest mobile game in the successful Angry Birds franchise just dropped this week – this time on Apple Arcade – and it’s called Angry Birds Bounce. I catch up with Bryan Cook, Game Lead at Rovio, for the deets.
- Melissa Mohr, Director of Smart Home at Amazon, also joins us to chat about “pet tech” for your furry friend
- Thank you to Visa and SanDisk for your support!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the ever changing world
of technology? Check it Out can help make some sense
of it all. Breaking down geek speak into street speak.
Technology columnist, author, and TV personality Mark Saltzman covers consumer
technology each week for every listener, Mark tackles the latest news, reviews,
and how toos to help you understand what's hot, what's
(00:21):
not and why.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hey, everyone, welcome to Teck it Out episode four oh one.
Thank you to all the awesome comments last week for
the four hundredth episode of the show, and I will
announce the winner of the asuslaptop shortly. To celebrate the milestone.
Lots of people entered to win, which was great to see.
And we have another huge giveaway for today's show, which
(00:48):
I'll tell you more about momentarily. But you are listening
to Tech it Out, I'm your host, Mark Saltzman, and
each week on this program, I break down geek speak
into street speak. This show is powered by Visa, which
I'll tell you more about shortly. On today's show, we
have three awesome guests. We're going to kick things off
with a new Angry Birds game that you can play
(01:10):
called Angry Birds Bounce. We'll interview the developers at Rovio
Toronto about that it's now available for download via Apple Arcade.
After that, on tech it Out, Ecovas will join us
to talk about robot lawnmowers, Robovax and mops and even
a window washing robot. Ecovax is providing the giveaway for
(01:31):
this week too again. I'll share details on that shortly.
Also on the show today, Amazon will join us to
talk about pet tech, what gadgets dog and cat owners
can pick up for their furry friend. Okay, a huge
thank you to a SEUs for providing last week's giveaway.
It's an Asus X fifteen Chromebook laptop to help commemorate
(01:54):
celebrate the four hundredth episode of this show. The winner
is Janelle Botis from Tustin, Orange County, Southern California. Congratulations.
Janelle used the hashtag tech it out on Instagram. One
of the requirements to be entered to win is to
use hashtag tech it out on any social media platform
(02:15):
or by sending me an email with that phrase tech
it out in the subject line. Janelle gave me her
permission to congratulate her on the air. Janelle Boutista is
once again the winner of the Asus Chromebook laptop. And
by the way, Janelle's name was randomly chosen by a
website called calculator dot net who was a random number
generator and she was number thirty two. And as I
(02:36):
mentioned earlier, we have another great contest for this week. Ecovas,
the company that creates helpful robots for the home, has
generously provided a huge giveaway for tech it Out listeners
both in the US and in Canada. We're giving away
two products, in fact, the award winning Debought X nine
pro Omni, which is both a powerful robot vacuum and
(02:59):
mop in one. I'll be asking our guest about that
in the interview a little bit later on in the show.
We're also going to pair that up with the Windbot
W two pro Omni window washing robot. Yes, it can
clean your windows and sliding glass doors, shower doors, all
of that with a combined value of this giveaway of
twenty three hundred dollars. To be eligible to win this
(03:20):
Ekovacs prize pack, you need to be at least eighteen
years old and a US or Canadian resident excluding Quebec. Unfortunately,
they have very strict prize rules, so I have to
exclude people in Quebec and just use the hashtag teck
it out on your favorite social media platform and include
my name as well. I'll spell it in a moment,
(03:41):
or you can send me an email from my website
with the words tech it out. A random name will
be chosen next week to win this awesome pair of robots.
A huge thank you to Ecovas for providing this huge prize.
This giveaway valued at twenty three hundred dollars. So along
with the hashtag tech it out, include my name. It's
Mark Altzman m r c s A l t z
(04:04):
m A N. Or if you prefer to send me
an email, just go to Mark Saltzman dot com. That's
m R c s A L t z m A N.
And again, the interview with Ecovax will be this hour
as well, but without further ado, let's get to our
first interview about a brand new Angry Birds game. The
latest mobile game in the successful Angry Birds franchise just
(04:26):
dropped this week, this time on Apple Arcade and it's
called Angry Birds Bounce. So to tell us all about
the new game, Angry Birds Bounce, we're joined by Brian Cook,
game lead at Rovio. Welcome to the show, Brian, good
to chat with you, Hy Thanks for having me Mark.
I was playing Angry Birds two on my iPad yesterday.
I'm a big fan of the franchise. With that in mind,
(04:48):
before we hear about Angry Birds, Bounce this brand new game,
tell us a bit about the history of Angry Birds.
I think listeners would be surprised how successful this Angry
Birds brand is.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Sure, you know it's I joined Rovio, makers of Angerbird
three and a half years.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Ago now, and when I joined, I was a little
bit surprised as well.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
But when you think about it, Angry Birds has been
around for fifteen years and it's really sort of everywhere.
It's amazing to me as I walk around in a
hoodie or just looking at what people are up to,
and it's so recognizable in so many different ways.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Over the fifteen years, it's.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Been downloaded five billion times. There are multiple games that
the anger Birds have been featured in, including Angerbirds two
that you mentioned. There's really something there for everybody because
certainly there's the games, but TV shows, there are toys,
and there are movies, including the third one that's coming
out in a couple of years.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Awesome. Yeah, huge pop culture phenomenon and wow, five billion downloads.
Holy smokes. All right, so now tell us about the
new game, Angry Birds Bounce.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Sure, Anger Birds Bounce is a brick breaker mixed with
a little bit of a rogue light. That's all video
game mumbo jumbo. That really means is the pigs are
come down the board from the top. It's your job
as the player to fling your flock or collection of
bird into the pigs and bounce around them to destroy
them before they get to the bottom.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
If you think about old.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
School games like Arecanoid and things like that, it's a
bit of a throwback to some of those.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
The cool part is after you remove enough pigs from.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
The board, you'll get to choose a new bird to
add to your flock, and each bird has sort of
its own unique abilities, and so the way that you
build your flock decides how good you are at clearing
the board.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
All right, So it harkens back to a bit of
breakout from Atari or Arcanoid, but it also has the
flinging and physics I'm sure of an angry Bird that's
one of the hallmarks of the game, where usually with
an Angry Bird's game. You pull back the bird in
a slink shot, and each bird, as you mentioned, has
its own capabilities, and you're supposed to break down the
(06:52):
pig's fortress. But this is a bit of a difference,
spin more vertical if you will. Right and Brian, this
game is playable on Apple Arcade. As I mentioned off
the top, So this is awesome because there are no
ads with this service and no in game purchases required.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
You're completely right, there are no ads. There are no
purchases in the game after the fact, and for us
that's super exciting because it means that we can just
focus on the gameplay. Those are extra layers that we
don't have to get bogged down him.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah, that's true from a game development standpoint as well.
You don't have to build in all that DLC or
downloadable content. We are chatting with Brian Cook. He is
game lead at Rovio. The development team behind the new
Angry Birds Bounce is Rovio Toronto. So if it's Apple Arcade,
then Brian, what devices do you need to play this on?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Sure, this game will work on iPhones, iPads, Max and
Apple TV and you can swap between.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
If you're playing on Apple TV and you need to
aim and fling. Do you need a game controller? Like,
how does the controls work on Apple TV.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
It'll work with either a controller on either Mac or
or TV. It also works with a remote on Apple
TV and on a Mac you can use a mouse
in a keyboard as well.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Oh very cool. So I have to ask you, as
the game lead on this new game, what's your favorite feature?
If I had to press you on one thing that
you hope fans appreciate.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
Oh, I always get ask this, so.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I'm not the most original question, but you know, we'd
love to hear what excites you about a new game
because it may not be the same as what the
fans like.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Yeah, that's that's completely fair. I'm going to cheat and
give you two here. I love the facts personally as
a gamer, I really like the challenge of trying to
get the right shot, as you mentioned earlier, because it's
a sling shot. Unlike earlier brick Breakers, you actually have
the ability to aim. If the action stops, you have
the ability to aim. And I really love the sort
of the act of trying to thread the needle where
(08:48):
you get your birds to you know, bouncing the exact
right thing to you know, incite this sort of chaotic
bouncing mess that's really fun.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
It feels great when.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
It works, and when it doesn't work, you know, it's
sort of like you go get him next time, which
feels great.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
I also really like the fact that we were able
to dig into.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Sort of the history of Angry Birds and figure out
what does an Angry Birds game look like and all
the little decisions that were made along the way, what
exactly do they look like.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
I'm really happy.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
With where it ended up because, you know, as a developer,
I really identify with all the work it took and
all the little conversations that it took to get it
to where it ended up.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
And just before I let you go, I want to
geek out for a moment and ask you if the
different birds their features and nobilities are similar to previous games. So,
for example, does the yellow Angry Birds character split into three?
Does the black bird blow up? Do you know that
kind of thing?
Speaker 4 (09:42):
I sure do. That's a great question.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
It's a thing that we really had to work on
as we were going because, on the one hand, yes,
that was what we wanted, was that, you know, the
black guy explodes and the you know, and and Red
you know sort of goes into a chaotic theory, and
wherever possible, we kept that the same, but adapting it
(10:04):
to the new type of gameplay.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
But a good example is there were a couple where
we sort of were able to bring the essence of
what they did before.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
So there's a guy who goes really fast, but the
speed didn't make any it didn't really work for this game.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
So we had to modify it.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
So in that bird's case, we gave him lightning because
it felt like, okay, lightning often goes with speed, and
so that feels, you know, sort of in the same family,
even though the original.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
Thing didn't work.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Yeah, fair enough, that's great. And then finally, how do
we get going? Just sign up for Apple Arcade and
then download the game.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
Yep, that's all you gotta do, all right?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
And Apple Arcade is only six nine to nine a month,
a lot of bang for the buck with over two
hundred games with no ads, no in game purchases, you
can play across multiple Apple devices, and other benefits. Brian,
thank you so much for your time, good to chat
with you, and congrats on the launch of the new game.
Thanks for having me Mark and for our Canadian listeners,
there's a Canadian bird for the first time. The divilopers
(11:00):
are based in Toronto, so no choker there. It's a
blue jay named Gordon may be named after the late
Gord Downie from The Tragically Hip or Gordon Lightfoot. But
love it rovio dot com has more. When we return
on tech it Out, We're going to learn all about
robots for the home with Ecovax, and I'll remind you
about our huge giveaway this week. Stick with us more
(11:21):
check it Out coming right up after this Listen to check.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
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 check 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.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Now.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
While we don't quite have Rosy the robot yet from
the Jetsons cleaning our home if you're old enough to
understand that reference, we do love our robots today to
help out around the home, like robot vacuums and mops,
autonomous lawnmowers, and even window washing bots, which I recently
showed on TV and many viewers were blown away. If
my email as any indication, so joining us from the
(13:02):
company Ecovas to tell us what's new is TC Chang.
He's in product marketing for Ecovas Americas out of the
Bay Area. Welcome to the show. Thanks for your time, TC,
Thanks for having me. Mark and as I mentioned earlier
in the show, Ecovax has generously provided a huge giveaway
for tech it Out listeners. It's two products. In fact,
i'll tell you how to enter to be eligible to
(13:24):
win in a moment. But they're giving away the award
winning d bot X nine pro Omni that's both a
robot vacuum and mop in one, and along with that
will be the win Bot W two pro Omni, the
window washing robot that you're going to hear about in
this interview as well, both combined worth twenty three hundred dollars.
(13:44):
I'll tell you shortly how you can be eligible to win,
but without further ado, let's get to the interview now
before we talk about specific robots, and I did hint
at a couple of categories in my introduction. Please tell
us a bit about ecovas.
Speaker 6 (13:57):
Sure, the company's been around for a while. I founded
in nineteen ninety eight, so been around for over twenty
five years. And Mike, you mentioned broad offering in robotics
from floorcare to window cleaning into lawnmowing, so a lot
of automated solutions for customers.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Awesome, all right, So the company's Ecovacs it's usually spelled
all in caps Eco Vacs and what do you think
TC separates Egovacs from others in this space, other robot
vacuum companies and for the outdoors too.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (14:27):
So our origins are in floorcare and robotics, so have
been doing that since day one, so we have a
deep expertise and experience in those categories. Also, we're totally
integrated from R and D hardware software manufacturing all done
by us, so that gives us advantages in terms of
time to market and being able to be the first
(14:48):
to launch new features and products in the market.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Okay, great, And I know what you're hinting at is
that there are companies that do other things and then
all of a sudden it's like, oh, we also have
a robot vacuum. So please now tell us about the
Ecovax floor vacuums and mops and then we'll segue into
the outside of the home. But let's first talk about
what a lot of us don't want to be spending
our summers doing, which is cleaning our floors.
Speaker 6 (15:13):
Yeah, exactly like you said, I mean, ultimately, the goal
of these robots is to free you up, so you
can just do what you'd rather be doing instead of cleaning.
And so with all of our products, whether the floorcare,
windows or lawn lawn care products, that's the goals to
really free up your time. So our latest product line
(15:34):
is Launch was launched this year and these are all
robot vacuum and mops. Just to give you a little
bit of history on the robot vacuum mops, the first
generations were very simple mops, just with damp cloth that
would follow the robot. With each generation, with each iteration,
we've upgraded and updated the technology and now our latest
technology comes with a roller map. So the beauty of
(15:57):
these is that these robots have a clean and dirty
water tank built inside the robot, and so with every
roll the roller, the roller is actually squeezing out all
the dirty water and refreshing itself with fresh water. So
you're constantly cleaning the floor with fresh fresh water.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
It's amazing the evolution of the floor of vacuuming robots,
where they just said autonomously would yes, they would autonomously
drive around your home and suck up dirt and dust
and pet hair and all that, but now they are
more intelligent. They have like glidar and other sensors, cameras,
they more efficiently navigate your home. There's room mapping, so
(16:32):
on an app you can tap to only or say
with your voice if you have a smart speaker, what
room you want to get really granular, And then when
the text's running low on battery or it needs to
empty its bin, it drives itself to a base and
empties it into a larger dust bin if you will.
That only needs to be replaced every month or two.
So it's getting more and more intelligent over the years.
And I know the latest ecovas models have that. Let's
(16:52):
now hear about what's going on outside the home. So
you've already alluded to lawn cutting bots and window washing
which could be used in too, but tell us about
those categories.
Speaker 6 (17:01):
Sure, yeah, Like you said, with the window cleaners, I mean,
it's really something you have to kind of see to believe,
and a lot of people haven't seen these out in
the fields. They work by attaching to the window. It's
basically like a motor inside the robot that suctions that
allows it to suction to the window. Does a phenomenal
job cleaning windows both inside and out. Our latest version
comes with a docking station that has an integrated battery pack,
(17:25):
and so that takes away the pain point of having
to plug into an outlet or having to use extension cords.
You could really take it to any window and not
worry about having to be near an outlet.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
So that's the if I'm not mistaken, that's the ecovas
when bought W two pro omni.
Speaker 6 (17:41):
Right, W two pro Omnium.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
That's right, yes, And yeah, that little power station that
is connected to which you would keep sort of on
the ground if it's outside, or on the floor if
you're washing the inside of your windows or a shower
door or something that can last up to one hundred
and ten minutes between charges. If I'm not mistaken, Yeah,
that's right. Yeah, I know that TC because that's the
model that I showed on TV that got all these
viewers writing in going that is crazy.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
So that's the.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Windbot family, but the W two pro omni More with
Ecobas when we return, and I'll remind you about the
contest as well. Stick with us. We'll be right back
with more tech it out.
Speaker 5 (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.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Technology columnist, author, and TV personality Mark Saltzman.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Welcome back to tech it Out. We are chatting with
TC Chang. He's in product marketing for Ecovas America's in
northern California. We're chatting about its robot family of devices.
We just heard about the window washing robot. Before that,
we talked about floor vacuuming and mopping bots. And before
we continue on with the interview, I just wanted to
thank Ecoovas again for providing a huge giveaway for this week,
(19:03):
so take note of what the giveaway is and how
you can be eligible to win. The company is giving
away two products to a lucky tech it Out listener.
One is the award winning DBot x nine pro Omni,
which is both a powerful robot vacuum and mop in
one unit, and this will be paired up with the
Winbot W two pro Omni, a window washing robot that
(19:27):
can clean your windows and glass doors inside and outside
your home together. This is a combined value of twenty
three hundred dollars. So to be eligible to win this
Ecovas prize pack, you need to be eighteen or older
and a US or Canadian resident excluding Quebec, and you
just have to do one of two things. Use the
hashtag tech it out on your favorite social media platform
(19:49):
and tag me to be eligible to win. Or you
can send me an email from my website if you prefer,
with the words tech it out, and a random name
will be chosen next week to win this awesome pair
of robots from Ecovax. It's Mark Saltzman, M A R
C S A L T Z M A N good luck,
thanks TC. Because it's summer prime lawn cutting season, but
(20:13):
not a lot of people love hearing their neighbors gas
based motors all day. Tell us about some of these
lawn cutting bots.
Speaker 6 (20:19):
Sure, yeah, And it's similar to robot vacuums in that
there's been lots of different technologies and with lawnmower lawnmowers,
the original technology was using boundary wires and position itself
and so the technology has been evolving. Our latest generation
of robots uses a new newer technology. There's two that
(20:42):
we're using. One uses what's called RTK, which is basically
satellite technology to position itself. So it's relying on a
network of satellites to get precise positioning information. And then
the other model is using what's called light are so
it's similar to the technology found on the robot, so
it's able to use lasers to scan the environment and
(21:03):
get a precise map of where it is on your lawn.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
So not only can you use it day and night
because it's quiet, it's electric, but it'll autonomously cut your
lawn and stay on your property, so no more requiring
a boundary wire which is often laid around the perimeter
of your property or under the grass often would require
professional installation, so it knows to stay on it. Or
if you don't want it to go into a particular
area of your lawn, like let's say you've got a
(21:27):
garden bed somewhere or something like that, then have it
avoid those areas. So yeah, getting more and more intelligent.
With that in mind, what are some of the features
that our listeners should look for when shopping for a
robot for inside or outside your home, including the AI
that no doubt powering a lot of these features.
Speaker 6 (21:44):
Sure, so yeah, with starting with the robot, vacuums in
the home right off the bat, I would say finding
something that can both vacuum and mop really covers all
types of floors floors at the home. The second one,
as we mentioned earlier, was just how it navigates and
finds its way around the home. The facto standard now
(22:05):
has been laser mapping. There are different types of obstacle
avoidance technologies. I'd say that the two most common would
be camera based and then the second one would be
laser based to really identify and avoid obstacles. The third
one i'd really mention is, you know, all these robots
(22:25):
strive to have efficient cleaning. The second part of that though,
is really how well it cleans itself, how well it
maintains itself, so you really don't have to spend any
time maintaining it. So our latest models all include a
self cleaning station, and so when the robot comes back,
not only will the dustbag be emptied, but the mops
(22:49):
will be cleaned, the mops will be dried, so it's
ready to go for your next cleaning.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Super cool. And what's the brand name for the Ecovac's
floorvac and mop hybrid.
Speaker 6 (22:58):
Yeah, the line is called Debot and the latest flagship
models called the X nine pro Omni.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
And I'll ask you to plug a website in a
moment where our listeners can learn more. But last question
is what do you think the future looks like when
it comes to home robots.
Speaker 6 (23:12):
Yeah, so definitely. Like like you mentioned earlier, AI has
been in the industry and in the category for a
few years. We were actually the first to launch AI
robot back in twenty twenty two, and the primary application
has been around obstacle avoidance, and the first versions were
there to identify common household objects and avoid them. But
(23:36):
over the years it's become more and more intelligent, so
it's been able to not just only recognize a few objects,
but also just understand the environment in a more broader way,
so to understand and customize the cleaning depending on the
type of room it's in, depending on the type of
stains it's able to detect and sy So really, the
(23:56):
cleaning is becoming smarter, and I can just imagine future
iterations will be even more customized and even more smarter
with the cleaning.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
And hey, maybe one day we will have Rosie the
robot after all, petering around our homes and helping us
get the kids ready for school and cooking breakfast and
cleaning up after ourselves. But I think we're still a
little ways away from that. In the meantime, there are
companies like Ecovas. What's the best website to learn more?
Speaker 6 (24:22):
Yeah, that'd be our main website, ecovax dot com.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
All right, Ecovas dot com, eco Vacs dot com. And
I know that you're sold on many places like Amazon.
So thank you so much for your time. TC, great
to chat with you have a fantastic summer. Thanks Mark
and TC. I wanted to thank you for the generous
giveaway for our listeners, which includes a couple of members
from your robot cleaning family. So thank you so much again, TC,
(24:46):
very generous of you.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
Yeah, sure great, Thanks Mark, and.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Once again good luck to those who enter the draw
for this week's huge giveaway courtesy of Ecovax. Hey, before
we take a short break and chat with Amazon about
pet tech. This is always a popular topic. By the way,
I write articles a couple times a year with great
gadgets for dog and cat owners, I wanted to just
give a quick shout out to sand Disk, thank you
(25:10):
for your support on tech it out. Sand Disc, of course,
creates amazing flash storage solutions for your gear, whether it's USB,
thumb drives, solid state drives, micro SD and SD cards.
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(25:33):
go who need additional, reliable external storage can use these devices.
Also great for gamers when you run out of storage
when you're downloading games to your Xbox or PlayStation or Nintendo,
you can also pop in some sand disk storage and
play the games right off the drive. Don't try that
with a hard drive. Only solid state and other solutions
from sand disc. All right, So SanDisk dot com has more,
(25:55):
and they've got some great sales as well. SanDisk dot Com.
When we return on Check it Out, Amazon joins us
to chat about pet tech for your furry friend. You're
not going to want to miss that, and I'll remind
you one more time about the giveaway towards the end
of the show courtesy of ecobacks. It's both the robot
vacuum in mop hybrid as well as a window washing bot.
(26:16):
All right, stick with us more Check it out coming
right up after this.
Speaker 7 (26:20):
Breaking down geek speak into street speak. Check it out.
Closted by Mark Saltzman.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Welcome back everyone. You're listening to check it out. People
who love their pets love their pets, am I right,
sometimes even more than their human family. And so when
I write articles about pet tech like the latest trackers
built into callers, automatic feeders, kitty litter cleaning bots, and
tech toys for your furry friend, I tend to get
(26:57):
a ton of messages after the fact. And one place
so you can score a lot of pet stuff is Amazon,
not just the storefront at Amazon dot Com, but also
with pet friendly features baked into Amazon devices. Joining us
on the line to share the deats is Melissa Moore,
Director of Smart Home at Amazon. Hi Melissa, good to
chat with you.
Speaker 8 (27:16):
Hi Mark, great to chat with you today.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Before we talk about how pet owners can leverage Alexa,
Ring and other Amazon products and services, tell us first
about the popularity of Amazon's smart speakers and smart displays.
Speaker 8 (27:30):
Yeah, happy to.
Speaker 9 (27:31):
We continue to be really excited about how customers are
using Alexa and really using Alexa as the center of
their smart home. Just to give you an idea, today,
customers have over four hundred million smart home devices connected
to their Alexa that they're using every day for all
sorts of tasks, but we definitely see a ton of
pet lovers using Alexa for different routines and things for
(27:52):
their pets as well. We also see that our smart
home customers are super engaged in quect In the last year,
their engagement increased over twenty percent, So really using those
devices for the convenience of their day to day living
and their home with their family, inclusive of their pet.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Great So not a gimmick if you bought maybe an
Alexa smart speaker over the pandemic or something. The stats
are showing that we're still using it and even more
so than ever. That's the case over at our place here.
And just to make the distinction before we continue, Melissa,
an Alexa powered smart speaker would be where it's just audio,
like an Echo Dot for example. But then there's this
(28:27):
smart displays that I alluded to as well, where you
not only hear Alexa giving you the information that you requested,
but you see information visually on a screen as well. YEP.
Speaker 9 (28:36):
With the Alexa devices that are just the speakers, you
can talk to Alexa, she can do things. You can
connect smart home devices and you can use them to
tell them to turn on our lights or things. With
the multimodal devices that have the screens. With those, there's
a little bit added functionality, especially when we think about
things like a camera and so where Alexa can actually
show you things. She can show you your outdoor camera
(28:57):
for example. She can also you song lyrics things like
that or videos. You can play YouTube and things like
that on it.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Yeah, perfect, right, so you can watch videos. If you
ask for a recipe, not only will Alexa say it
to you verbally, but you'll also see the step by
step instructions on the screen. Similarly, if you ask for weather,
not only will Alexa tell you what the weather is
where you are or whatever city you asked about, but
it may show you a seven day forecast visually. So
(29:24):
there's lots of benefits to the displays as well. So
let's now cover a few of the fun and practical
things pet owners can do with Alexa. Maybe we could
start with what a routine is and something called calm
my dog.
Speaker 8 (29:38):
Yes, just for background.
Speaker 9 (29:39):
Your routine is really a way that Alexa can make
your day easier and more productive. So you can take
a bunch of actions and you can group them together.
For example, customers will set up a routine to say,
start my day, and Alexa will turn on your lights,
start your coffee machine, and maybe read you a news
briefing of what's happening that day.
Speaker 8 (29:58):
Yeah, when we see.
Speaker 9 (29:59):
Our pet owners, we have a routine that's called calm
your pet today. And what happens with that is if
you set up that routine, if Alexa hears your dog
barking in your home, she'll actually start playing calming music
for your pet to use. And so I use it.
I have two Border Collies at home, and one of
them is aptly named Echo, and so I use that
because he does bark when I leave the house. And
(30:22):
so if Echo starts barking, Alexa turns on calming music
to help him and let him know sort of somebody's
in the home.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Oh that's great. So usually with an Alexa smart speaker
or display, the human has to initiate it by first
saying your wakeword, which is her name, followed by a
question or a command like set my alarm or whatever.
But here in this case, it's listening for the dog barking,
and then it'll play the calming music for the dog.
Speaker 9 (30:47):
Yes, that's exactly right, and you can figure it, and
so you allow that sort of if she hears.
Speaker 8 (30:52):
If it hears that, then you can do that.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
You slept and said, she I love it. Yeah, for sure,
I know it. I know she's not real well, but
she is to me.
Speaker 8 (31:01):
I know exactly.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
And how can we use ring doorbells for our pets?
Speaker 9 (31:06):
Ring doorbells I find to be really helpful. And so
the ring doorbell obviously has a camera, and lots of
our customers have the ring doorbell and let their dogs
out to their front yard. And so with a ring
doorbell and a multi modal screen device, you can just say, Alexa,
show me my front door, and that camera on the
ring will show you actually what's happening in the front yard,
(31:26):
and so you could.
Speaker 8 (31:27):
Watch your dog.
Speaker 9 (31:28):
If your dog was to sort of run away from
the yard or things, you can see it. But you
can also use two way to talk on the doorbell,
and so I can actually say if my dog is
outside and is starting to creep out of the front yard,
I can say echo, you know, stay in the yard
through the two way talk and he knows then to
listen to me and he hears that. So it's a
great way to just have added ability to monitor and
(31:49):
check in on your dog if they're outside without you.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
That's great. Joining us on the line is Melissa Moore,
director of Smart Home at Amazon, tell us about the
Ring pet tag.
Speaker 9 (32:00):
Pet tag is a really way to just give you
some added security for your pet. It's a small tag
that just attaches to the dog's color and has a
QR code. You then in the Ring app can set
up a pet profile with your pet's name, image, age,
information about your pet, including health information if there's anything
in particular you'd want somebody to know. And if your
(32:20):
dog was to leave your yard and you notice they
escaped or got loose, you can actually in the Ring
app they toggle to let them know that your dog
is out in the loose, and that way it updates
the Neighbors app to let people in your area know
that there's a dog loose. And if somebody were to
find your dog, they can just scan the QR code
and then get in contact with you, and it actually
keeps your identification and information private, but they can see
(32:43):
the dog's name in information and they get a little
thing that says contact owner. So just a really nice
way to give you added security because every once in
a while your dogs.
Speaker 8 (32:51):
Do get loose on the leash or figure out a
way to escape the yard.
Speaker 9 (32:54):
So a great opportunity for customers to utilize that neighbor ability.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
All right, So that's the ring pet tag and that
works with the Neighbors.
Speaker 8 (33:02):
App and it worked right in the app for you.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
More about pet tech with Amazon when we return on
check it out.
Speaker 5 (33:11):
Follow Mark Saltzman on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, Listen
to check it out whenever you want.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
We're chatting with Melissa More, director of Smart Home at Amazon.
We're talking specifically today about pet owners who have Amazon
devices and what features are baked in to help you
and your furry friends. Before we wrap up, Melissa, are
there any other Alexa related things we can do as
pet owners.
Speaker 9 (33:46):
There's a lot of just fun routines that we really
encourage and we see our customers doing with their pets
and pets of all kinds. As an example, I not
only have dogs, but I have courses and so I
actually use blink cameras in my barn with the sort
of long satterly life and I put them up on
the ceiling and it allows me to at night, I
can check in and just ask to show me the
barn and I can check in on my horses and
(34:07):
make sure they're calm. You can also do where you
have outdoor cameras and multiple areas and so you can
see your dogs running around. We also hear from customers though,
kind of cool and fun things like they'll set up
an outdoor camera that's on a bird's nest where maybe
there's some birds and their babies hatching, and then they
can check in on the cameras on their screen devices
with echoes and look at the babies hatching or the
moms feeding the babies. So I really think with cameras
(34:30):
and things, there's a ton of things you can do
as well as some like routines around in the evening
where you can set lights as well, and so you
can ensure that if you're coming home late at night,
maybe at six pm, you can turn on lights for
your dog so the lights are on. You can even
have making sure the temperature is okay for them. So
just a lot of ways to give you. I think,
as all of us have gone back to work a
little bit more and being out of the house more,
(34:51):
just great ways that you can check in on your
home and make sure your home is best for your
pet as well as check in on your pet. The
best place to go is just Amazon dot com slash
smart Home, and that'll give you a page that'll show
you a bunch of great smart home devices that you
can add to your Alexa home. It also gives you
information on routines and other things to do, and so
just kind of basic information where you can learn more
(35:13):
about it, and then links out to some other sites
that I provide even more information on different things you
can do with your Alexa.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
All right, Melissa Moore has been our guest, a director
of smart Home at Amazon. Thanks so much for your time, Melissa,
great to chat with you love your dog's name Echo,
and you also have another one named Cash as well
as horses, so you've got no doubt a busy household
in Barnes. Thank you so much for carving out some
time to chat with us. Melissa.
Speaker 8 (35:36):
Thank you, Mark. Great talking to you today.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
One final reminder of our huge giveaway for this four
hundred and first episode of tech it out basically Ecovax,
the company that I interviewed earlier today they found out
that last week's show was four hundred. Then we gave
away an Asus laptop a chromebook. They said, oh, we
could provide a giveaway for next week's show, even though
(35:58):
it's not a milestone, and I thank them. I said,
that would be very generous of you. I don't think
anybody minds that it's not tied to a round number
like that. So anyhow, again, ecovas the company that creates
helpful robots for the home. As you heard earlier this hour,
they have generously provided a huge giveaway for tech it
Out listeners both in the US and in Canada. I'll
(36:20):
explain how to enter to win, but it's two products,
the award winning d Bot X nine pro Omni, which
is a robotic vacuum and mop in one with the
base station that empties everything and charges it up and
all that very convenient. And it's paired up with a
wind Bot W two pro Omni window washing robot that
can clean your windows and glass doors for you, shower doors,
(36:43):
so both for inside and outside your home, a combined
value of twenty three hundred dollars for both of them.
To be eligible to win this Ecovax prize pack, you
need to be at least eighteen years of age and
a US or Canadian resident excluding Quebec and use the
check it out one word check it out on your
favorite social media platform and be sure to tag me
(37:05):
as well. It's Mark Saltzman Marc sal Tzma n if
you prefer If you're not much of a social media person,
you can send me an email from my website with
the words tech it Out in the subject line. A
random name will be chosen in a week to win
this awesome prize pack from Ecovas. Before we wrap up
(37:26):
another episode of tech it Out, did you know that
shoppers are three times more likely to enter an unfamiliar
store if it displays a Visa logo, and customers are
five times more likely to think a merchant is reputable.
This is because Visa has invested billions over the years
in fraud prevention, so you don't need to think twice
about shopping at retail or online with your Visa card,
(37:49):
nor should businesses be concerned about secure payments. Visa is
deploying advanced technology to ensure customer data is not vulnerable
no matter where transactions take place. This includes tokenization pioneered
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(38:11):
merchant never sees your actual card number yet ensures a
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slash Security. That's Visa dot Com slash Security.
Speaker 4 (38:25):
Well.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
I hope you enjoyed this brand new episode of Tech
it Out Episode four oh one. We learned about the
new Angry Birds game called Angry Birds Bounce. We chatted
with Ecobas about its floor vacuuming robots and mops, lawn
cutting bots and window washing robots. And finally Amazon joined
us to talk pet tech some great gadget ideas for
(38:46):
your furry friend. I look forward to chatting with you online.
Hit me up on social media to say hi. It's
Mark Saltsman, Mark with the C, Saltsman with the Z.
Have a great rest of your day, everyone, and I
look forward to catching up with you next weekend 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 geek speak into street speak.
Technology columnist, author, and TV personality Mark Saltzman covers consumer
technology each week for every listener, Mark tackles the latest news, reviews,
and how toos to help you understand what's hot, what's
(00:21):
not and why.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hey, everyone, welcome to Teck it Out episode four oh one.
Thank you to all the awesome comments last week for
the four hundredth episode of the show, and I will
announce the winner of the asuslaptop shortly. To celebrate the milestone.
Lots of people entered to win, which was great to see.
And we have another huge giveaway for today's show, which
(00:48):
I'll tell you more about momentarily. But you are listening
to Tech it Out, I'm your host, Mark Saltzman, and
each week on this program, I break down geek speak
into street speak. This show is powered by Visa, which
I'll tell you more about shortly. On today's show, we
have three awesome guests. We're going to kick things off
with a new Angry Birds game that you can play
(01:10):
called Angry Birds Bounce. We'll interview the developers at Rovio
Toronto about that it's now available for download via Apple Arcade.
After that, on tech it Out, Ecovas will join us
to talk about robot lawnmowers, Robovax and mops and even
a window washing robot. Ecovax is providing the giveaway for
(01:31):
this week too again. I'll share details on that shortly.
Also on the show today, Amazon will join us to
talk about pet tech, what gadgets dog and cat owners
can pick up for their furry friend. Okay, a huge
thank you to a SEUs for providing last week's giveaway.
It's an Asus X fifteen Chromebook laptop to help commemorate
(01:54):
celebrate the four hundredth episode of this show. The winner
is Janelle Botis from Tustin, Orange County, Southern California. Congratulations.
Janelle used the hashtag tech it out on Instagram. One
of the requirements to be entered to win is to
use hashtag tech it out on any social media platform
(02:15):
or by sending me an email with that phrase tech
it out in the subject line. Janelle gave me her
permission to congratulate her on the air. Janelle Boutista is
once again the winner of the Asus Chromebook laptop. And
by the way, Janelle's name was randomly chosen by a
website called calculator dot net who was a random number
generator and she was number thirty two. And as I
(02:36):
mentioned earlier, we have another great contest for this week. Ecovas,
the company that creates helpful robots for the home, has
generously provided a huge giveaway for tech it Out listeners
both in the US and in Canada. We're giving away
two products, in fact, the award winning Debought X nine
pro Omni, which is both a powerful robot vacuum and
(02:59):
mop in one. I'll be asking our guest about that
in the interview a little bit later on in the show.
We're also going to pair that up with the Windbot
W two pro Omni window washing robot. Yes, it can
clean your windows and sliding glass doors, shower doors, all
of that with a combined value of this giveaway of
twenty three hundred dollars. To be eligible to win this
(03:20):
Ekovacs prize pack, you need to be at least eighteen
years old and a US or Canadian resident excluding Quebec. Unfortunately,
they have very strict prize rules, so I have to
exclude people in Quebec and just use the hashtag teck
it out on your favorite social media platform and include
my name as well. I'll spell it in a moment,
(03:41):
or you can send me an email from my website
with the words tech it out. A random name will
be chosen next week to win this awesome pair of robots.
A huge thank you to Ecovas for providing this huge prize.
This giveaway valued at twenty three hundred dollars. So along
with the hashtag tech it out, include my name. It's
Mark Altzman m r c s A l t z
(04:04):
m A N. Or if you prefer to send me
an email, just go to Mark Saltzman dot com. That's
m R c s A L t z m A N.
And again, the interview with Ecovax will be this hour
as well, but without further ado, let's get to our
first interview about a brand new Angry Birds game. The
latest mobile game in the successful Angry Birds franchise just
(04:26):
dropped this week, this time on Apple Arcade and it's
called Angry Birds Bounce. So to tell us all about
the new game, Angry Birds Bounce, we're joined by Brian Cook,
game lead at Rovio. Welcome to the show, Brian, good
to chat with you, Hy Thanks for having me Mark.
I was playing Angry Birds two on my iPad yesterday.
I'm a big fan of the franchise. With that in mind,
(04:48):
before we hear about Angry Birds, Bounce this brand new game,
tell us a bit about the history of Angry Birds.
I think listeners would be surprised how successful this Angry
Birds brand is.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Sure, you know it's I joined Rovio, makers of Angerbird
three and a half years.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Ago now, and when I joined, I was a little
bit surprised as well.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
But when you think about it, Angry Birds has been
around for fifteen years and it's really sort of everywhere.
It's amazing to me as I walk around in a
hoodie or just looking at what people are up to,
and it's so recognizable in so many different ways.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Over the fifteen years, it's.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Been downloaded five billion times. There are multiple games that
the anger Birds have been featured in, including Angerbirds two
that you mentioned. There's really something there for everybody because
certainly there's the games, but TV shows, there are toys,
and there are movies, including the third one that's coming
out in a couple of years.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
Awesome. Yeah, huge pop culture phenomenon and wow, five billion downloads.
Holy smokes. All right, so now tell us about the
new game, Angry Birds Bounce.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Sure, Anger Birds Bounce is a brick breaker mixed with
a little bit of a rogue light. That's all video
game mumbo jumbo. That really means is the pigs are
come down the board from the top. It's your job
as the player to fling your flock or collection of
bird into the pigs and bounce around them to destroy
them before they get to the bottom.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
If you think about old.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
School games like Arecanoid and things like that, it's a
bit of a throwback to some of those.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
The cool part is after you remove enough pigs from.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
The board, you'll get to choose a new bird to
add to your flock, and each bird has sort of
its own unique abilities, and so the way that you
build your flock decides how good you are at clearing
the board.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
All right, So it harkens back to a bit of
breakout from Atari or Arcanoid, but it also has the
flinging and physics I'm sure of an angry Bird that's
one of the hallmarks of the game, where usually with
an Angry Bird's game. You pull back the bird in
a slink shot, and each bird, as you mentioned, has
its own capabilities, and you're supposed to break down the
(06:52):
pig's fortress. But this is a bit of a difference,
spin more vertical if you will. Right and Brian, this
game is playable on Apple Arcade. As I mentioned off
the top, So this is awesome because there are no
ads with this service and no in game purchases required.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
You're completely right, there are no ads. There are no
purchases in the game after the fact, and for us
that's super exciting because it means that we can just
focus on the gameplay. Those are extra layers that we
don't have to get bogged down him.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
Yeah, that's true from a game development standpoint as well.
You don't have to build in all that DLC or
downloadable content. We are chatting with Brian Cook. He is
game lead at Rovio. The development team behind the new
Angry Birds Bounce is Rovio Toronto. So if it's Apple Arcade,
then Brian, what devices do you need to play this on?
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Sure, this game will work on iPhones, iPads, Max and
Apple TV and you can swap between.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
If you're playing on Apple TV and you need to
aim and fling. Do you need a game controller? Like,
how does the controls work on Apple TV.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
It'll work with either a controller on either Mac or
or TV. It also works with a remote on Apple
TV and on a Mac you can use a mouse
in a keyboard as well.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Oh very cool. So I have to ask you, as
the game lead on this new game, what's your favorite feature?
If I had to press you on one thing that
you hope fans appreciate.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
Oh, I always get ask this, so.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I'm not the most original question, but you know, we'd
love to hear what excites you about a new game
because it may not be the same as what the
fans like.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Yeah, that's that's completely fair. I'm going to cheat and
give you two here. I love the facts personally as
a gamer, I really like the challenge of trying to
get the right shot, as you mentioned earlier, because it's
a sling shot. Unlike earlier brick Breakers, you actually have
the ability to aim. If the action stops, you have
the ability to aim. And I really love the sort
of the act of trying to thread the needle where
(08:48):
you get your birds to you know, bouncing the exact
right thing to you know, incite this sort of chaotic
bouncing mess that's really fun.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
It feels great when.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
It works, and when it doesn't work, you know, it's
sort of like you go get him next time, which
feels great.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
I also really like the fact that we were able
to dig into.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Sort of the history of Angry Birds and figure out
what does an Angry Birds game look like and all
the little decisions that were made along the way, what
exactly do they look like.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
I'm really happy.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
With where it ended up because, you know, as a developer,
I really identify with all the work it took and
all the little conversations that it took to get it
to where it ended up.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
And just before I let you go, I want to
geek out for a moment and ask you if the
different birds their features and nobilities are similar to previous games. So,
for example, does the yellow Angry Birds character split into three?
Does the black bird blow up? Do you know that
kind of thing?
Speaker 4 (09:42):
I sure do. That's a great question.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
It's a thing that we really had to work on
as we were going because, on the one hand, yes,
that was what we wanted, was that, you know, the
black guy explodes and the you know, and and Red
you know sort of goes into a chaotic theory, and
wherever possible, we kept that the same, but adapting it
(10:04):
to the new type of gameplay.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
But a good example is there were a couple where
we sort of were able to bring the essence of
what they did before.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
So there's a guy who goes really fast, but the
speed didn't make any it didn't really work for this game.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
So we had to modify it.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
So in that bird's case, we gave him lightning because
it felt like, okay, lightning often goes with speed, and
so that feels, you know, sort of in the same family,
even though the original.
Speaker 4 (10:28):
Thing didn't work.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Yeah, fair enough, that's great. And then finally, how do
we get going? Just sign up for Apple Arcade and
then download the game.
Speaker 4 (10:36):
Yep, that's all you gotta do, all right?
Speaker 2 (10:38):
And Apple Arcade is only six nine to nine a month,
a lot of bang for the buck with over two
hundred games with no ads, no in game purchases, you
can play across multiple Apple devices, and other benefits. Brian,
thank you so much for your time, good to chat
with you, and congrats on the launch of the new game.
Thanks for having me Mark and for our Canadian listeners,
there's a Canadian bird for the first time. The divilopers
(11:00):
are based in Toronto, so no choker there. It's a
blue jay named Gordon may be named after the late
Gord Downie from The Tragically Hip or Gordon Lightfoot. But
love it rovio dot com has more. When we return
on tech it Out, We're going to learn all about
robots for the home with Ecovax, and I'll remind you
about our huge giveaway this week. Stick with us more
(11:21):
check it Out coming right up after this Listen to check.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
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 check 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
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Visa dot Com slash Security.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Now.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
While we don't quite have Rosy the robot yet from
the Jetsons cleaning our home if you're old enough to
understand that reference, we do love our robots today to
help out around the home, like robot vacuums and mops,
autonomous lawnmowers, and even window washing bots, which I recently
showed on TV and many viewers were blown away. If
my email as any indication, so joining us from the
(13:02):
company Ecovas to tell us what's new is TC Chang.
He's in product marketing for Ecovas Americas out of the
Bay Area. Welcome to the show. Thanks for your time, TC,
Thanks for having me. Mark and as I mentioned earlier
in the show, Ecovax has generously provided a huge giveaway
for tech it Out listeners. It's two products. In fact,
i'll tell you how to enter to be eligible to
(13:24):
win in a moment. But they're giving away the award
winning d bot X nine pro Omni that's both a
robot vacuum and mop in one, and along with that
will be the win Bot W two pro Omni, the
window washing robot that you're going to hear about in
this interview as well, both combined worth twenty three hundred dollars.
(13:44):
I'll tell you shortly how you can be eligible to win,
but without further ado, let's get to the interview now
before we talk about specific robots, and I did hint
at a couple of categories in my introduction. Please tell
us a bit about ecovas.
Speaker 6 (13:57):
Sure, the company's been around for a while. I founded
in nineteen ninety eight, so been around for over twenty
five years. And Mike, you mentioned broad offering in robotics
from floorcare to window cleaning into lawnmowing, so a lot
of automated solutions for customers.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Awesome, all right, So the company's Ecovacs it's usually spelled
all in caps Eco Vacs and what do you think
TC separates Egovacs from others in this space, other robot
vacuum companies and for the outdoors too.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (14:27):
So our origins are in floorcare and robotics, so have
been doing that since day one, so we have a
deep expertise and experience in those categories. Also, we're totally
integrated from R and D hardware software manufacturing all done
by us, so that gives us advantages in terms of
time to market and being able to be the first
(14:48):
to launch new features and products in the market.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Okay, great, And I know what you're hinting at is
that there are companies that do other things and then
all of a sudden it's like, oh, we also have
a robot vacuum. So please now tell us about the
Ecovax floor vacuums and mops and then we'll segue into
the outside of the home. But let's first talk about
what a lot of us don't want to be spending
our summers doing, which is cleaning our floors.
Speaker 6 (15:13):
Yeah, exactly like you said, I mean, ultimately, the goal
of these robots is to free you up, so you
can just do what you'd rather be doing instead of cleaning.
And so with all of our products, whether the floorcare,
windows or lawn lawn care products, that's the goals to
really free up your time. So our latest product line
(15:34):
is Launch was launched this year and these are all
robot vacuum and mops. Just to give you a little
bit of history on the robot vacuum mops, the first
generations were very simple mops, just with damp cloth that
would follow the robot. With each generation, with each iteration,
we've upgraded and updated the technology and now our latest
technology comes with a roller map. So the beauty of
(15:57):
these is that these robots have a clean and dirty
water tank built inside the robot, and so with every
roll the roller, the roller is actually squeezing out all
the dirty water and refreshing itself with fresh water. So
you're constantly cleaning the floor with fresh fresh water.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
It's amazing the evolution of the floor of vacuuming robots,
where they just said autonomously would yes, they would autonomously
drive around your home and suck up dirt and dust
and pet hair and all that, but now they are
more intelligent. They have like glidar and other sensors, cameras,
they more efficiently navigate your home. There's room mapping, so
(16:32):
on an app you can tap to only or say
with your voice if you have a smart speaker, what
room you want to get really granular, And then when
the text's running low on battery or it needs to
empty its bin, it drives itself to a base and
empties it into a larger dust bin if you will.
That only needs to be replaced every month or two.
So it's getting more and more intelligent over the years.
And I know the latest ecovas models have that. Let's
(16:52):
now hear about what's going on outside the home. So
you've already alluded to lawn cutting bots and window washing
which could be used in too, but tell us about
those categories.
Speaker 6 (17:01):
Sure, yeah, Like you said, with the window cleaners, I mean,
it's really something you have to kind of see to believe,
and a lot of people haven't seen these out in
the fields. They work by attaching to the window. It's
basically like a motor inside the robot that suctions that
allows it to suction to the window. Does a phenomenal
job cleaning windows both inside and out. Our latest version
comes with a docking station that has an integrated battery pack,
(17:25):
and so that takes away the pain point of having
to plug into an outlet or having to use extension cords.
You could really take it to any window and not
worry about having to be near an outlet.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
So that's the if I'm not mistaken, that's the ecovas
when bought W two pro omni.
Speaker 6 (17:41):
Right, W two pro Omnium.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
That's right, yes, And yeah, that little power station that
is connected to which you would keep sort of on
the ground if it's outside, or on the floor if
you're washing the inside of your windows or a shower
door or something that can last up to one hundred
and ten minutes between charges. If I'm not mistaken, Yeah,
that's right. Yeah, I know that TC because that's the
model that I showed on TV that got all these
viewers writing in going that is crazy.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
So that's the.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Windbot family, but the W two pro omni More with
Ecobas when we return, and I'll remind you about the
contest as well. Stick with us. We'll be right back
with more tech it out.
Speaker 5 (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.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Technology columnist, author, and TV personality Mark Saltzman.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Welcome back to tech it Out. We are chatting with
TC Chang. He's in product marketing for Ecovas America's in
northern California. We're chatting about its robot family of devices.
We just heard about the window washing robot. Before that,
we talked about floor vacuuming and mopping bots. And before
we continue on with the interview, I just wanted to
thank Ecoovas again for providing a huge giveaway for this week,
(19:03):
so take note of what the giveaway is and how
you can be eligible to win. The company is giving
away two products to a lucky tech it Out listener.
One is the award winning DBot x nine pro Omni,
which is both a powerful robot vacuum and mop in
one unit, and this will be paired up with the
Winbot W two pro Omni, a window washing robot that
(19:27):
can clean your windows and glass doors inside and outside
your home together. This is a combined value of twenty
three hundred dollars. So to be eligible to win this
Ecovas prize pack, you need to be eighteen or older
and a US or Canadian resident excluding Quebec, and you
just have to do one of two things. Use the
hashtag tech it out on your favorite social media platform
(19:49):
and tag me to be eligible to win. Or you
can send me an email from my website if you prefer,
with the words tech it out, and a random name
will be chosen next week to win this awesome pair
of robots from Ecovax. It's Mark Saltzman, M A R
C S A L T Z M A N good luck,
thanks TC. Because it's summer prime lawn cutting season, but
(20:13):
not a lot of people love hearing their neighbors gas
based motors all day. Tell us about some of these
lawn cutting bots.
Speaker 6 (20:19):
Sure, yeah, And it's similar to robot vacuums in that
there's been lots of different technologies and with lawnmower lawnmowers,
the original technology was using boundary wires and position itself
and so the technology has been evolving. Our latest generation
of robots uses a new newer technology. There's two that
(20:42):
we're using. One uses what's called RTK, which is basically
satellite technology to position itself. So it's relying on a
network of satellites to get precise positioning information. And then
the other model is using what's called light are so
it's similar to the technology found on the robot, so
it's able to use lasers to scan the environment and
(21:03):
get a precise map of where it is on your lawn.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
So not only can you use it day and night
because it's quiet, it's electric, but it'll autonomously cut your
lawn and stay on your property, so no more requiring
a boundary wire which is often laid around the perimeter
of your property or under the grass often would require
professional installation, so it knows to stay on it. Or
if you don't want it to go into a particular
area of your lawn, like let's say you've got a
(21:27):
garden bed somewhere or something like that, then have it
avoid those areas. So yeah, getting more and more intelligent.
With that in mind, what are some of the features
that our listeners should look for when shopping for a
robot for inside or outside your home, including the AI
that no doubt powering a lot of these features.
Speaker 6 (21:44):
Sure, so yeah, with starting with the robot, vacuums in
the home right off the bat, I would say finding
something that can both vacuum and mop really covers all
types of floors floors at the home. The second one,
as we mentioned earlier, was just how it navigates and
finds its way around the home. The facto standard now
(22:05):
has been laser mapping. There are different types of obstacle
avoidance technologies. I'd say that the two most common would
be camera based and then the second one would be
laser based to really identify and avoid obstacles. The third
one i'd really mention is, you know, all these robots
(22:25):
strive to have efficient cleaning. The second part of that though,
is really how well it cleans itself, how well it
maintains itself, so you really don't have to spend any
time maintaining it. So our latest models all include a
self cleaning station, and so when the robot comes back,
not only will the dustbag be emptied, but the mops
(22:49):
will be cleaned, the mops will be dried, so it's
ready to go for your next cleaning.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
Super cool. And what's the brand name for the Ecovac's
floorvac and mop hybrid.
Speaker 6 (22:58):
Yeah, the line is called Debot and the latest flagship
models called the X nine pro Omni.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
And I'll ask you to plug a website in a
moment where our listeners can learn more. But last question
is what do you think the future looks like when
it comes to home robots.
Speaker 6 (23:12):
Yeah, so definitely. Like like you mentioned earlier, AI has
been in the industry and in the category for a
few years. We were actually the first to launch AI
robot back in twenty twenty two, and the primary application
has been around obstacle avoidance, and the first versions were
there to identify common household objects and avoid them. But
(23:36):
over the years it's become more and more intelligent, so
it's been able to not just only recognize a few objects,
but also just understand the environment in a more broader way,
so to understand and customize the cleaning depending on the
type of room it's in, depending on the type of
stains it's able to detect and sy So really, the
(23:56):
cleaning is becoming smarter, and I can just imagine future
iterations will be even more customized and even more smarter
with the cleaning.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
And hey, maybe one day we will have Rosie the
robot after all, petering around our homes and helping us
get the kids ready for school and cooking breakfast and
cleaning up after ourselves. But I think we're still a
little ways away from that. In the meantime, there are
companies like Ecovas. What's the best website to learn more?
Speaker 6 (24:22):
Yeah, that'd be our main website, ecovax dot com.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
All right, Ecovas dot com, eco Vacs dot com. And
I know that you're sold on many places like Amazon.
So thank you so much for your time. TC, great
to chat with you have a fantastic summer. Thanks Mark
and TC. I wanted to thank you for the generous
giveaway for our listeners, which includes a couple of members
from your robot cleaning family. So thank you so much again, TC,
(24:46):
very generous of you.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
Yeah, sure great, Thanks Mark, and.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Once again good luck to those who enter the draw
for this week's huge giveaway courtesy of Ecovax. Hey, before
we take a short break and chat with Amazon about
pet tech. This is always a popular topic. By the way,
I write articles a couple times a year with great
gadgets for dog and cat owners, I wanted to just
give a quick shout out to sand Disk, thank you
(25:10):
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(25:55):
and they've got some great sales as well. SanDisk dot Com.
When we return on Check it Out, Amazon joins us
to chat about pet tech for your furry friend. You're
not going to want to miss that, and I'll remind
you one more time about the giveaway towards the end
of the show courtesy of ecobacks. It's both the robot
vacuum in mop hybrid as well as a window washing bot.
(26:16):
All right, stick with us more Check it out coming
right up after this.
Speaker 7 (26:20):
Breaking down geek speak into street speak. Check it out.
Closted by Mark Saltzman.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Welcome back everyone. You're listening to check it out. People
who love their pets love their pets, am I right,
sometimes even more than their human family. And so when
I write articles about pet tech like the latest trackers
built into callers, automatic feeders, kitty litter cleaning bots, and
tech toys for your furry friend, I tend to get
(26:57):
a ton of messages after the fact. And one place
so you can score a lot of pet stuff is Amazon,
not just the storefront at Amazon dot Com, but also
with pet friendly features baked into Amazon devices. Joining us
on the line to share the deats is Melissa Moore,
Director of Smart Home at Amazon. Hi Melissa, good to
chat with you.
Speaker 8 (27:16):
Hi Mark, great to chat with you today.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Before we talk about how pet owners can leverage Alexa,
Ring and other Amazon products and services, tell us first
about the popularity of Amazon's smart speakers and smart displays.
Speaker 8 (27:30):
Yeah, happy to.
Speaker 9 (27:31):
We continue to be really excited about how customers are
using Alexa and really using Alexa as the center of
their smart home. Just to give you an idea, today,
customers have over four hundred million smart home devices connected
to their Alexa that they're using every day for all
sorts of tasks, but we definitely see a ton of
pet lovers using Alexa for different routines and things for
(27:52):
their pets as well. We also see that our smart
home customers are super engaged in quect In the last year,
their engagement increased over twenty percent, So really using those
devices for the convenience of their day to day living
and their home with their family, inclusive of their pet.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Great So not a gimmick if you bought maybe an
Alexa smart speaker over the pandemic or something. The stats
are showing that we're still using it and even more
so than ever. That's the case over at our place here.
And just to make the distinction before we continue, Melissa,
an Alexa powered smart speaker would be where it's just audio,
like an Echo Dot for example. But then there's this
(28:27):
smart displays that I alluded to as well, where you
not only hear Alexa giving you the information that you requested,
but you see information visually on a screen as well. YEP.
Speaker 9 (28:36):
With the Alexa devices that are just the speakers, you
can talk to Alexa, she can do things. You can
connect smart home devices and you can use them to
tell them to turn on our lights or things. With
the multimodal devices that have the screens. With those, there's
a little bit added functionality, especially when we think about
things like a camera and so where Alexa can actually
show you things. She can show you your outdoor camera
(28:57):
for example. She can also you song lyrics things like
that or videos. You can play YouTube and things like
that on it.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Yeah, perfect, right, so you can watch videos. If you
ask for a recipe, not only will Alexa say it
to you verbally, but you'll also see the step by
step instructions on the screen. Similarly, if you ask for weather,
not only will Alexa tell you what the weather is
where you are or whatever city you asked about, but
it may show you a seven day forecast visually. So
(29:24):
there's lots of benefits to the displays as well. So
let's now cover a few of the fun and practical
things pet owners can do with Alexa. Maybe we could
start with what a routine is and something called calm
my dog.
Speaker 8 (29:38):
Yes, just for background.
Speaker 9 (29:39):
Your routine is really a way that Alexa can make
your day easier and more productive. So you can take
a bunch of actions and you can group them together.
For example, customers will set up a routine to say,
start my day, and Alexa will turn on your lights,
start your coffee machine, and maybe read you a news
briefing of what's happening that day.
Speaker 8 (29:58):
Yeah, when we see.
Speaker 9 (29:59):
Our pet owners, we have a routine that's called calm
your pet today. And what happens with that is if
you set up that routine, if Alexa hears your dog
barking in your home, she'll actually start playing calming music
for your pet to use. And so I use it.
I have two Border Collies at home, and one of
them is aptly named Echo, and so I use that
because he does bark when I leave the house. And
(30:22):
so if Echo starts barking, Alexa turns on calming music
to help him and let him know sort of somebody's
in the home.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Oh that's great. So usually with an Alexa smart speaker
or display, the human has to initiate it by first
saying your wakeword, which is her name, followed by a
question or a command like set my alarm or whatever.
But here in this case, it's listening for the dog barking,
and then it'll play the calming music for the dog.
Speaker 9 (30:47):
Yes, that's exactly right, and you can figure it, and
so you allow that sort of if she hears.
Speaker 8 (30:52):
If it hears that, then you can do that.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
You slept and said, she I love it. Yeah, for sure,
I know it. I know she's not real well, but
she is to me.
Speaker 8 (31:01):
I know exactly.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
And how can we use ring doorbells for our pets?
Speaker 9 (31:06):
Ring doorbells I find to be really helpful. And so
the ring doorbell obviously has a camera, and lots of
our customers have the ring doorbell and let their dogs
out to their front yard. And so with a ring
doorbell and a multi modal screen device, you can just say, Alexa,
show me my front door, and that camera on the
ring will show you actually what's happening in the front yard,
(31:26):
and so you could.
Speaker 8 (31:27):
Watch your dog.
Speaker 9 (31:28):
If your dog was to sort of run away from
the yard or things, you can see it. But you
can also use two way to talk on the doorbell,
and so I can actually say if my dog is
outside and is starting to creep out of the front yard,
I can say echo, you know, stay in the yard
through the two way talk and he knows then to
listen to me and he hears that. So it's a
great way to just have added ability to monitor and
(31:49):
check in on your dog if they're outside without you.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
That's great. Joining us on the line is Melissa Moore,
director of Smart Home at Amazon, tell us about the
Ring pet tag.
Speaker 9 (32:00):
Pet tag is a really way to just give you
some added security for your pet. It's a small tag
that just attaches to the dog's color and has a
QR code. You then in the Ring app can set
up a pet profile with your pet's name, image, age,
information about your pet, including health information if there's anything
in particular you'd want somebody to know. And if your
(32:20):
dog was to leave your yard and you notice they
escaped or got loose, you can actually in the Ring
app they toggle to let them know that your dog
is out in the loose, and that way it updates
the Neighbors app to let people in your area know
that there's a dog loose. And if somebody were to
find your dog, they can just scan the QR code
and then get in contact with you, and it actually
keeps your identification and information private, but they can see
(32:43):
the dog's name in information and they get a little
thing that says contact owner. So just a really nice
way to give you added security because every once in
a while your dogs.
Speaker 8 (32:51):
Do get loose on the leash or figure out a
way to escape the yard.
Speaker 9 (32:54):
So a great opportunity for customers to utilize that neighbor ability.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
All right, So that's the ring pet tag and that
works with the Neighbors.
Speaker 8 (33:02):
App and it worked right in the app for you.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
More about pet tech with Amazon when we return on
check it out.
Speaker 5 (33:11):
Follow Mark Saltzman on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, Listen
to check it out whenever you want.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
We're chatting with Melissa More, director of Smart Home at Amazon.
We're talking specifically today about pet owners who have Amazon
devices and what features are baked in to help you
and your furry friends. Before we wrap up, Melissa, are
there any other Alexa related things we can do as
pet owners.
Speaker 9 (33:46):
There's a lot of just fun routines that we really
encourage and we see our customers doing with their pets
and pets of all kinds. As an example, I not
only have dogs, but I have courses and so I
actually use blink cameras in my barn with the sort
of long satterly life and I put them up on
the ceiling and it allows me to at night, I
can check in and just ask to show me the
barn and I can check in on my horses and
(34:07):
make sure they're calm. You can also do where you
have outdoor cameras and multiple areas and so you can
see your dogs running around. We also hear from customers though,
kind of cool and fun things like they'll set up
an outdoor camera that's on a bird's nest where maybe
there's some birds and their babies hatching, and then they
can check in on the cameras on their screen devices
with echoes and look at the babies hatching or the
moms feeding the babies. So I really think with cameras
(34:30):
and things, there's a ton of things you can do
as well as some like routines around in the evening
where you can set lights as well, and so you
can ensure that if you're coming home late at night,
maybe at six pm, you can turn on lights for
your dog so the lights are on. You can even
have making sure the temperature is okay for them. So
just a lot of ways to give you. I think,
as all of us have gone back to work a
little bit more and being out of the house more,
(34:51):
just great ways that you can check in on your
home and make sure your home is best for your
pet as well as check in on your pet. The
best place to go is just Amazon dot com slash
smart Home, and that'll give you a page that'll show
you a bunch of great smart home devices that you
can add to your Alexa home. It also gives you
information on routines and other things to do, and so
just kind of basic information where you can learn more
(35:13):
about it, and then links out to some other sites
that I provide even more information on different things you
can do with your Alexa.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
All right, Melissa Moore has been our guest, a director
of smart Home at Amazon. Thanks so much for your time, Melissa,
great to chat with you love your dog's name Echo,
and you also have another one named Cash as well
as horses, so you've got no doubt a busy household
in Barnes. Thank you so much for carving out some
time to chat with us. Melissa.
Speaker 8 (35:36):
Thank you, Mark. Great talking to you today.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
One final reminder of our huge giveaway for this four
hundred and first episode of tech it out basically Ecovax,
the company that I interviewed earlier today they found out
that last week's show was four hundred. Then we gave
away an Asus laptop a chromebook. They said, oh, we
could provide a giveaway for next week's show, even though
(35:58):
it's not a milestone, and I thank them. I said,
that would be very generous of you. I don't think
anybody minds that it's not tied to a round number
like that. So anyhow, again, ecovas the company that creates
helpful robots for the home. As you heard earlier this hour,
they have generously provided a huge giveaway for tech it
Out listeners both in the US and in Canada. I'll
(36:20):
explain how to enter to win, but it's two products,
the award winning d Bot X nine pro Omni, which
is a robotic vacuum and mop in one with the
base station that empties everything and charges it up and
all that very convenient. And it's paired up with a
wind Bot W two pro Omni window washing robot that
can clean your windows and glass doors for you, shower doors,
(36:43):
so both for inside and outside your home, a combined
value of twenty three hundred dollars for both of them.
To be eligible to win this Ecovax prize pack, you
need to be at least eighteen years of age and
a US or Canadian resident excluding Quebec and use the
check it out one word check it out on your
favorite social media platform and be sure to tag me
(37:05):
as well. It's Mark Saltzman Marc sal Tzma n if
you prefer If you're not much of a social media person,
you can send me an email from my website with
the words tech it Out in the subject line. A
random name will be chosen in a week to win
this awesome prize pack from Ecovas. Before we wrap up
(37:26):
another episode of tech it Out, did you know that
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merchant never sees your actual card number yet ensures a
fast transaction as well. To learn more about Visa's work
and protecting you and your purchases, visit Visa dot com
slash Security. That's Visa dot Com slash Security.
Speaker 4 (38:25):
Well.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
I hope you enjoyed this brand new episode of Tech
it Out Episode four oh one. We learned about the
new Angry Birds game called Angry Birds Bounce. We chatted
with Ecobas about its floor vacuuming robots and mops, lawn
cutting bots and window washing robots. And finally Amazon joined
us to talk pet tech some great gadget ideas for
(38:46):
your furry friend. I look forward to chatting with you online.
Hit me up on social media to say hi. It's
Mark Saltsman, Mark with the C, Saltsman with the Z.
Have a great rest of your day, everyone, and I
look forward to catching up with you next weekend for
another brand new episode of Tack it Out. But bye
for now.
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