Tech News Weekly 285 Transcript

Please be advised this transcript is AI-generated and may not be word for word. Time codes refer to the approximate times in the ad-supported version of the show.

Mikah Sargent (00:00:00):
Coming up on Tech News Weekly, I Mikah Sargent and my co-host Jason Howell, have a great show planned. First we talk to Barry Schwartz of Search Engine Land about Google adding generative AI to its search. That's right. Google search is still important and it's even more so with those AI sprinkles. Then a bra alti of CNET stops by to talk about Waymo and its autonomous vehicles. Yes, a bra takes a ride and one of Waymo's vehicles and talks about a new feature called Safe Exit. So you can leave that vehicle without hitting someone as you get out. Then we round things out with our stories of the week. Jason Howell was at Google io. He talks all about that experience and I talk about paradox, the latest AR game from Niantic. Stay tuned. It's gonna be a great show.

V.O. (00:00:55):
Podcasts you love. From people you trust. This is TWiT.

Jason Howell (00:01:04):
This is Tech News Weekly episode 285, recorded Thursday, May 11th, 2023. This episode of Tech News Weekly is brought to you by ACI Learning IT Skills are outdated in about 18 months, so stay ahead of the curve and strengthen your IT expertise with affordable certification based learning that will launch or advance your career individuals. Use Code TWIT 30 for 30% off a standard or premium individual IT pro membership@go.acilearning.com slash twit.

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Mikah Sargent (00:02:21):
Hello and welcome to Tech News Weekly, the show where every week we talk to and about the people making and breaking the tech news. I am a Sargent coming in from my home office.

Jason Howell (00:02:33):
Oh, doesn't this sound feel so familiar yet distant at the same time. I'm Jason Howell coming in from my home office, not the corner. This is the downstairs office cuz I, I disassembled the corner studio up at our bedroom, so I don't have that anymore. So you have to look at my guitars instead, which is a knock. They're cool.

Mikah Sargent (00:02:51):
Yeah, they're fine.

Jason Howell (00:02:53):
Okay, so I spent yesterday down in Mountain View Shoreline Amphitheater and the Google Campus for Google io. That's Google's developer conference. Had a ton of fun, which I'm gonna actually talk about my experience a little bit later in the show. But if there was any question, what was gonna come up and if you had it on your Bingo card that Google was gonna say ai not once, not twice, but perhaps a thousand times, then you win the prize because that was top of mind Artificial intelligence, how it's integrating into Google's products and services primarily. I think that was a really big story from IO yesterday. And when we think of Google as we were discussing prior to the show, usually we think of search, but AI's eclipsed search these days and now it's integrating. So I thought we would bring on Barry Schwartz welcome back to the show, CEO of Rusty Brick, contributing editor at Search Engine Land. And Barry, you wrote extensively about these announcements from a few different angles. So first of all, thank you for joining us. It's great to have you back.

Barry Schwartz (00:03:57):
It's great to be back. Thank you for having me.

Jason Howell (00:03:59):
I know you're really busy talking to a lot of people about these announcements, so we appreciate your time. So let's get right to the meat of it. First of all, when it comes to Google's search product and artificial intelligence, like what are the top line kind of things to know as far as how this generative AI is gonna start influencing Google search project product?

Barry Schwartz (00:04:23):
Yeah, I mean, so Google announced this as I guess their, you know, opt-in labs experiment, so it's not something that's live now. You can't really do anything with it. They just demoed it. So first of all, it's gonna be in a separate domain name. It's not gonna be in google.com. It's gonna incorporate, people are saying it's gonna incorporate Google Bard. It's not, it's a Bard was kind of, its isolated answer for like chat pt. This is gonna incorporate some other L L M L and using Mom and Palm two similar to to Bar, but it's gonna be a generative AI answer in the search results kind of at the top of the search results. Those answers will include I guess like publisher websites, which is great. And it's a kind of like a new user interface for search. Something that Google said would be more, I guess early reports more youthful and generated for a more youthful audience. So Google now has a bunch of things yesterday and it's, it's kind of like their answer to what maybe Bing has been doing with Bing Chat, but this is really, it's really exciting to see this type of what, what Google came up with in this answer. It was a big Google bar, was somewhat of a disappointment. But this is definitely something that I think, you know, kind of showed off Google's muscles and AI at search.

Jason Howell (00:05:35):
Yeah, like, like I said, just a few minutes ago and, and from being there, the temperature that I got is that IO was really about, yes, I mean it was largely about AI and not just artificial intelligence, you know, with its services, but also, you know, if you checked out the developer portion of the event, like, you know, there's AI chat bots in the Android development tools, like they're bringing a AI in, you know, left, right and center, but how it's integrating with the services that we already use. So I don't have to go to a separate destination in order to use these things. I it's already there in Docs or it's already in this case in there in search. How does that, I mean I guess, I guess Microsoft is doing this with Bing and the, and the chat bot too. Like if you had to compare the two based on what we know from what Google has revealed about this, like are they pretty similar products or is Google doing something that's kind of pushing the boundary by comparison?

Barry Schwartz (00:06:25):
So conceptually it's very similar. Although it, Bing Chat is kind of its own interface where you go to Bing, you have to click on Bing Chat to actually activate it. And then Bing Chat will incorporate like search results including local news and other information, including links to publishers as well. Whereas the Google interface, at least how they demoed it, it's not like you initiate it and Google will automatically show the generative answer through AI directly on top of the search results if it meets certain types of requirements. And it's not an area that might be more cautious about Google showing any type of answer there. So it, it seems like the difference between Google and Big right now is that Google's, at least, at least in their demo, it's gonna be incorporated directly in the search results. Although again, it's very important to point out, it's not in google.com, it's not gonna launch@google.com, you have to go to like labs.google.com/search to actually access and sign up. So it's kind of separate and and incorporated. So it's a a little bit of a different approach than what, what Microsoft's doing with Big Chat.

Jason Howell (00:07:26):
So you are in a sense, opting in, you have to go to that separate place and say, yes, I'm open to this, I'm, I I wanna see this sort of stuff. Once you've opt in, opted in, do you know if, if then these things just kind of start appearing in the traditional Google search experience, maybe with like a little labs button or something to like kick off the experience? Is that how it works or will work? It

Barry Schwartz (00:07:49):
Seems like you're gonna have to like toggle on this labs button at the top right of the page to actually activate it. I'm not sure if it's gonna be active forever once you do that or if you're able to toggle it on and off. I dunno if you have to go specific URL always, but we'll see. Google's gonna start rolling it out slowly. But right now there's just a wait list for certain countries I believe.

Jason Howell (00:08:07):
I have to, I mean, yeah, it's, it's all speculation right, on a lot of this stuff. But I just have to imagine, you know, Google is hoping this goes incredibly well and it's no longer this experimental thing, which then, you know, who knows how long that's gonna take. What Google loves to have their products in beta in some cases for decades was the case with Gmail. But is, do you see, because we don't, we don't really see a whole lot of, I I'm gonna throw it in air quotes, innovation when it comes to Google search, at least user facing, like easy to point at and say that's a change that doesn't really happen a whole lot when it, when it comes to Google search. If this is the direction of Google search after so long being used to Google search remaining pretty stable and pretty close to what we come to expect in, you know, over decades of using it. Like what, what is the risk or is there a risk to that Google faces in bringing a product like this to their tent pole thing? Search.

Barry Schwartz (00:09:06):
Yeah, so of course there's a risk. I wouldn't kind of debate that Google hasn't been innovative in terms of changing things there, there honestly, I, every single week I probably cover like five 20 different things that Google's testing in terms of really drastic changes to the search drill interface. Sometimes they launches, sometimes they don't. And we've seen lots of these changes over the, over the years. The biggest thing obviously was like in 2006, I think Universal search was probably the biggest change we've had, but there been changes since then. Yeah. But of course this is a huge risk. I think that's why they're launching it on a separate like labs experiment because the vast majority of the revenue that Google brings in are from those search adss that you click on. Changing that interface could drastically impact how much revenue they're making and drastically have major impacts on their, on the company's profitability going forward.

(00:09:52):
So Google is, I assume, afraid to change that on google.com, but they're gonna obviously test us in a lab environment which they can actually see. Are people clicking on the ads? Are people clicking on the search results? Are people coming back to, to generate more answers or do more searches or are they doing less? So Google's being very, very careful on how they roll this out. But it just, you know, shows that, you know, the rankings it, the ads themselves are, are above the actual generative answers in their demo. I dunno if you could see it in the screenshots. There should be another screenshot there that shows like a sponsor listing on top. But yeah, somewhere there if these feature search for ads as a whole new article just on ads but basically Google's basically placing those ads right above the generator answers. And I think Google's really cautious about how they're releasing this because they don't wanna, like, I guess like they used to tarnish their, their search results, meaning their, their ads. I mean, that's the main thing they make their money on. They don't make much money on, on the other stuff that they talk about. They make some, but 90% of their income is from their search ads.

Jason Howell (00:10:48):
Yeah, yeah. No, I, I appreciate your, your pushing back on on innovation. I did. I didn't mean like blanket, you know, blanket wide that the search product doesn't innovate. I know that it does, but you know, it's kind of like in a certain sense, and I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing, but I think of Google search similar to the way I think of the Craigslist experience, right? It was re relatively simple at launch and that was kind of the differentiator for Google search all along is, yeah, you go here, you get your search results. Like there's not a whole lot of other things getting in the way. And I think more or less over time that's, that's stayed true. You know, there's, there's little value adds and this is a pretty large value add. So it's gonna be really interesting to see, you know, if this be, if this eventually becomes like a major, you know, product that is just kind of part of the experience how that does for Google.

(00:11:39):
Because I mean, you know, at, at this point, this is another discussion that I, that I heard a lot of people at the conference talking about, you know, Google as a, like a pioneer in the, in the tech industry, like that reputation's kind of, kind of tapering off a little bit right now they, you know, <laugh>, they're a little less hot now than they were and so they do need to innovate. They, there needs to be some sort of thing that pr that puts them kind of in that spot again, at least a according to Google. Do you think that's a fair assessment? Do you think that what Google is working on right now has the potential to kind of bring back that spark based on what you've seen?

Barry Schwartz (00:12:17):
I think so. I mean, I think they're very cautious about what they were releasing and I think they were kinda pushed into this from Microsoft and open AI and I think what they demonstrated yesterday really did that. So I do think you're right. I think you're or you're dead out of that, that answer.

Jason Howell (00:12:31):
So so we know kind of roughly how this is gonna be found. You know, someone who is interested, like I know I signed up for on onto a wait list for a number of things yesterday. In order to get onto to this what are the steps that people have to take in order to kind of get in the ring, so to speak, and check this out for themselves? When are they gonna be able to be brought on board? Do we have any information about the kind of timetable of things?

Barry Schwartz (00:12:59):
Yeah, so right now I believe it's only for US English where you go to, you can sign up for a wait list. I think it's at labs.google.com/search. You sign up there, you can't sign up under your Google workspace account. It has to be a Gmail account. Then I think in the coming weeks, Google listed like two, three weeks, Google will start inviting some of those users. The first batch of those users. Hopefully you and me cuz we're some press to be the first people to actually try it out. And I, some, I do believe, I'm not sure you know, if how Google will expand it to other places. I assume it'll be similar to Bard where they just announced that Bard has no longer a wait list and they opened up to 180 regions. The question is which regions weren't opened up And I think I think one of the reports out there was that your European regions don't have access to Bard because of a lot of legal issues. So we'll be interesting to see cause all this generative AI stuff and answers, there's all these copyrighted legal issues around it. But right at first it's gonna be at labs.google.com/search, sign up for the wait list and it's for us English users right now and has to be a Gmail account that sign up.

Jason Howell (00:13:59):
Right on. Well, Barry, it's always a great, like a pleasure to bring you on the show and it's been a little while, so I appreciate you hopping on taking a few minutes and I know you've got probably other people to talk to today. Barry Schwartz writes for Search Engine Land, go there, search engine land.com. Actually two very comprehensive articles that Barry posted yesterday that we're talking about today. So you can read even more detail if you go check it out. Barry, thank you, appreciate talking with you.

Barry Schwartz (00:14:25):
Thanks Kathy

Jason Howell (00:14:26):
To you soon. All right, coming up kind of an expansion happening with Waymo and so we're gonna dive into that with bra Alti from cnet, who by the way, I saw Google io. She says hello. But first this episode of Tech News Weekly is brought to you by ACI Learning. IT Pro has provided our listeners with engaging and entertaining IT training for the last decade. You know, you're, you're a fan of the network. You've heard it pro all over our network over that time as part of ACI learning IT Pro and ACI Learning are elevating their highly entertaining bingeable short format content with more than 7,000 hours to choose from new episodes added daily ACI Learning provides world-class service from assisting you in choosing which learning path suits you best, all the way through helping you find the right career opportunities so you can fortify your expertise with access to self-paced IT training videos, do it on your own time.

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Mikah Sargent (00:18:18):
<Laugh>. Yes. So I was scrolling through I think Instagram the other day and up popped this video of someone getting into a Waymo a autonomous driving vehicle. And I realized it was Abrar Al-Heeti of cnet who had a chance to take one of these vehicles for a ride and test out a new feature. So I emailed and said, Hey, you got, will you please join us Thursday? Not realizing that a bra had just had this whole day of Google io so a bra, thank you for being here after what was surely a long day yesterday. I really appreciate it. Oh

Abrar Al-Heeti (00:19:03):
My God, it's my pleasure. And it was so nice to meet Jason. It was, it's it's, I was telling him it's weird cause I feel like I'd know both of you, and then I realized it was my first time seeing him in person. So hopefully I'll get to meet you in person very soon. But it's my pleasure to be here,

Mikah Sargent (00:19:15):
<Laugh>. Yes, I I hope so too. So before we get into the details about this specific feature, I was hoping you could tell our listeners a little bit about Waymo, the company.

Abrar Al-Heeti (00:19:27):
Absolutely. So Waymo is part of Google's parent company, alphabet. So this started out as Google's self-driving car project all the way back in 2009, and it's now, you know, it's own self-driving company with an alphabet. And their goal is basically to make a, and they've done this really is, is making a ride hailing app that, you know, it works the way that you would use Uber Lyft, except when the car pulls up, there is no driver in the seat. So you get in this car, you tell it where you need to go, and it takes you there and there's, there's just nobody there. It's a fully autonomous vehicle. And this is something that they're kind of slowly rolling out in more cities, but it's here in San Francisco and that's how I got the chance to hop in one.

Mikah Sargent (00:20:05):
Wow. Do you know of any other cities that they're currently testing in?

Abrar Al-Heeti (00:20:10):
They're also in Phoenix and they are going to be rolling out in la So right now in Phoenix, it's actually open to the public. People can just, oh wow. Anyone can download the app and, and hop in. And then in LA they're kind of slowly rolling out, they haven't opened it up to writers yet, but in San Francisco there's kind of this transition period where if, if you're in San Francisco, you'll see these cars riding around and most often there is a driver in the seat still to make sure that everything goes you know, as, as planned. And then now they're kind of slowly taking out the drivers. So if you, you can join a wait list and, and get in one, get in one of those cars without a driver in it.

Mikah Sargent (00:20:45):
Very cool. Now I have seen these vehicles driving around for some time and of course have read about them before that. So bef like, I know there's a new feature, but I do wanna just talk about the experience in general. Before we get into that what my, like first question is what was it like getting into the vehicle and what was it like getting out of the vehicle? Again, without talking yet about the new feature, just in general, because you know, typically I, I think about somebody getting into an Uber and you have the moment of, am I, do I sit in the front if I'm just by myself, or do I get in the back seat? Do I say something to the driver? Are we gonna talk about the weather? There's all this sort of stuff that goes into it, but I noticed in your video there were chimes and things that would happen at times that kind of made you go, oh maybe I should be reading what it's saying next, or what, what is it prompting me to do? So can you just tell us about kind of this, this initial experience, which of course could change over time as Waymo dials things in?

Abrar Al-Heeti (00:21:49):
Absolutely. So this was my first time getting in one of these cars and I'd been wanting to for a very long time, but it's very interesting because, you know, you have a designated pickup drop off point. It's not like when you're Uber is pulling up and they're kind of in the wrong spot, or you're in the wrong spot and you communicate, it's like the car's in charge here, you need to go where the car is going. So you go where the car is going, you get in the car and you're right, there's, there's nobody there, and it, it waits you, you look at the screen once you're ready to go, you push the start button and then you start driving and then it feels like a normal ride. I think that's the thing that was so interesting to me was it didn't, I mean, it's not like it's going to feel any different, but it, I think just experiencing it and realizing it felt like a smooth drive.

(00:22:25):
The car knew where it was going, where it needed to be, where to turn, and then you look over and there's nobody in the driver's seat and it's really hard to kind of rewire your brain and think it's doing what it needs to do without a human doing it. That it's very bizarre. But it was, it was very smooth. I felt very safe, even though it was my first time I felt very safe. There was no point where I felt like, oh, this was a bad idea. So I'm very glad about that <laugh>. And then it gets to your drop off point and you, you exit the vehicle and it's, it's very just a very smooth, straightforward process.

Mikah Sargent (00:22:57):
Nice. Now you did talk about one moment where another driver on the road kind of did something unpredictable. Can you tell us about that experience and how the Wemo vehicle responded to that moment?

Abrar Al-Heeti (00:23:11):
The true test for me was the intersection. So you get to a four-way stop sign and, you know, people can sometimes miss their cue. It might be their time to go, but they didn't, but they didn't go. And so the car, you know, we were at the stop sign and, and the car door left, it was their turn to go and they didn't go and the car waited like, it, it, it was so amazing to me that it can kind of, you know, tell who's supposed to be going and if they didn't go, I should wait and I'm gonna wait until they do what they need to do. And that was really, I think that was really a true test for me of like, okay, I I can breathe <laugh>, we know what we're doing. <Laugh>.

Mikah Sargent (00:23:44):
Yeah, you get into this vehicle and again, you know, you don't have that person in the front. And, and so I was kind of curious about how you felt about that and you, you told us a little bit about it, but there's maybe in the moment of feeling like you have less control even though there, you know, you don't necessarily have more control if there's a human being in the front. Can you talk about what controls you actually did have in the vehicle? For example, if you get in and the, the Waymo vehicle starts making it super hot and you're sweating and then the windows roll up and you're like, oh no, what's going on here? What, what did you have control over in the vehicle?

Abrar Al-Heeti (00:24:25):
I was really curious about that too, because it's not like you can tell the driver, Hey, I'm feeling a little warm. Can we turn up the ac? There's actually a screen in the back and in the front, whereas the writer, you can, you know, do, do the temperature controls, you can change his temperature as needed. I think a really important button that was there that also made me feel better was, there's an option to ask the car to pull over. So if you need to just stop, if you need to just pull over for a second, you can tap that button and it'll pull over for you. Because again, who are you gonna tell? It's not like you're gonna, you know, tell anyone or climb in the front seat and do it yourself. So <laugh> so that was very helpful to know that that button exists <laugh>, and there's also if you run into issues, you can also tap for writer support.

Mikah Sargent (00:25:02):
Got it. And when you do that, is this, are you, is it suddenly a little chat, there's a keyboard, or do you know, is it voice in the car?

Abrar Al-Heeti (00:25:09):
Yeah, so when you tap for writer support, someone immediately calls in and is like, Hey, this is, you know, so-and-so with Waymo, just making sure everything's okay and you just talk to them.

Mikah Sargent (00:25:18):
Very cool. Very cool. And then it makes me wonder going into San Francisco regularly, I can never find flights to park. Does this vehicle know how to parallel park

Abrar Al-Heeti (00:25:33):
It? Okay. So I did not have the opportunity to put it to the true test of parallel parking between cars. The, the, the drop off points that I ended up being dropped off at and picked up at were just like the curb. So it just pull over to a curb and empty spot there. But I'm very curious about that because I've seen a lot of videos online, especially with like Cruise. Cuz Cruise is another autonomous car company that's ramping up in San Francisco where it just like doesn't, it's, it's still figuring it out, you know, it could be a busy street and it's like, I'm gonna pull over here, but then the cars are with humans are confused. So that's gonna be another really true test is with parallel parking, when, when you do have to go in a tighter spot, what it's gonna do then.

Mikah Sargent (00:26:10):
Interesting. Now your video did specifically cover a new feature called Safe Exit. So let's talk about Safe Exit.

Abrar Al-Heeti (00:26:21):
Right? So Safe Exit. So if you think about it, you're in a car and you know, sometimes when you're in somebody else's car and you're about to get out from the backseat, they'll tell you, oh, watch out, there's a biker coming, or watch out. There's a car coming when there's no driver who's gonna tell you that. So what Safe Exit does is it basically does that work for you? So using the same sensors that are built into the car to help it navigate the streets, it uses those, the lidar radar and cameras to detect if there's a car coming, if there's a pedestrian coming or if there's a cyclist coming. So if there is, then you'll get a little alert. There'll be an audio alert as well as a visual alert that'll tell you car approaching cyclist, approaching pedestrian approaching. And so that way before you get outta the car, before you open the door and door somebody or get hurt yourself, it'll ding and then you'll know to just wait before you exit the vehicle.

Mikah Sargent (00:27:08):
Got it. So this is not only protection for you, but also for these presumably expensive vehicles that Waymo itself has. I remember reading about different autonomous vehicles and in their sort of releases about the data regarding their safety on the road. Any of the accidents within the past however many years it's been running have all had to do with either incredibly minor things where it was a door ding or it was the error of another vehicle that either ran into the, the vehicle itself or, so I'm not surprised to see this technology being used in a way that is a helpful to the person that's inside that's riding. But also I, I can't imagine how incredibly awkward I would feel if I started open the Door and then it got taken off by a car, and then you're just like, well, now what do I do? Do I call that number? What? Oh, this is gonna be so awkward. Oh, this is a nightmare. Oh, absolutely. Good <laugh>. Yeah, it just, it it's kind sad. No,

Abrar Al-Heeti (00:28:16):
Absolutely. And I think hears

Mikah Sargent (00:28:17):
Me.

Abrar Al-Heeti (00:28:17):
Yeah, yeah. No, and I think the other part of that is like, as a writer and you're like already feeling anxious about getting in a car without a driver in it. And I think knowing that, like, at least that's one piece of it that hopefully you won't have to worry about is, is during somebody or breaking the car. So maybe that'll make people feel a little bit at ease. <Laugh>.

Mikah Sargent (00:28:36):
Yeah. Now with this technology, you mentioned in the video that there are other vehicles that do that do something similar, but these, the vehicles that have some sort of warning features, the little even just a little light on the rear view mirror, they don't have all of the giant contraptions that are all over the, the Waymo vehicle. What is, what, what's the d I guess, what is the difference between something that's built into a car that a person is, is meant to drive versus all of those contraptions that are all over the Wemo vehicle? For folks who are going, why does the, why does Wemo need to have all of these devices spinning around on the outside of it?

Abrar Al-Heeti (00:29:26):
<Laugh>, right. And the devices spinning around. Look, look a little goofy. I totally, I totally feel that. So with cars, so Kia has something called the Safe Exit safe exit feature as well. And basically what that does is it, you know, will ding on your dashboard, it'll show that there's a car coming or, or a cyclist, and, and you'll also know not to open the doors. Then the thing about Waymo is it has a, a wider scope. So we can tell you much earlier what's coming, it'll show it on the screen. And also there's, at the top of the car, there's a little screen at the top where if people are on the outside, if there's a cyclist approaching or there's a pedestrian approaching, they'll see a little icon there that has an, an image of somebody getting out of the car. And I don't know if people will notice that, because people don't know to look there yet. I think, you know, people wouldn't know that that's where they should be looking, but I guess as these cars continue to roll out and become, you know, a bit more widespread, people might know like, okay, let me, I notice that light. I notice that somebody's come about to get outta the car. So like, heads up for me as well.

Mikah Sargent (00:30:21):
Honestly, I'm really glad that you explained that just now, because I have to say that I was watching, you know, watching the video and then it got to the end and you're like, and see, and it shows you right there. And I looked at it and I'm like, what is it showing me though? <Laugh> <laugh>? So

Abrar Al-Heeti (00:30:34):
You explaining now

Mikah Sargent (00:30:35):
It was a person getting out of a car, like with the car door. Oh, okay, I get it now.

Abrar Al-Heeti (00:30:39):
Yeah, it's not that intuitive, I guess. Yeah,

Mikah Sargent (00:30:41):
<Laugh>. Yeah. Now I'll know in the future, wow, I will drop things in my hand. Now I will know in the future to look up at that thing to see, okay, I should not try to drive my bicycle past. Yes. the way Waymo at this time. I guess to to round things out, anything else you wanna share about your experience and do you, do you foresee yourself maybe if, if Waymo comes to your city nearby, do you foresee yourself hailing a driverless car over a, I guess driver car, <laugh>

Abrar Al-Heeti (00:31:16):
<Laugh>? I think I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable it was. I am kind of eager to keep trying to, to, you know, use this in other services that continue to roll out. I think it's really great that it's, you know, in San Francisco and, and I have access to it. But I think it's also great because San Francisco is such a busy and diversity when it comes to the ways that people get around. And so if it works in San Francisco and it can navigate these absolutely wild streets, then I feel better that other cities, you know, it'll, it won't be as difficult to, for this to roll out there as well. But I am, I mean, I, I think there's, there are times where a human is beneficial. And I think, you know, and that's the other part of it is, you know, jobs, right?

(00:31:57):
That's the conversation that's ongoing. Pe what are drivers going to do if these cars continue to roll out? That's definitely something to explore and to consider. But there are times where you're like, I don't necessarily feel like having a conversation right now, and I would love to just get in a car and get from point A to point B. And so to have that option as, as a ride hailing choice, I think that that will open a lot of doors and I am curious to, to keep trying and see where this technology goes.

Mikah Sargent (00:32:20):
Yeah, absolutely. I will definitely continue watching that spot and hopefully get the opportunity to ride in one myself. Abra Alti, thank you again for joining us today. If folks want to follow you online and check out all your great work, where should they go to do so?

Abrar Al-Heeti (00:32:39):
You can follow me on Twitter at alheeti three, or on Instagram, it's just my full name, Abrar Al-heeti. And thank you so much for having me. Always a pleasure to talk to you.

Mikah Sargent (00:32:49):
And yes, thank you so much for being here today. We appreciate it. All righty. Up next. Jason attended Google io in person this week. He's gonna talk about his experience. I'm really looking forward to hearing about that. But first, this episode of Tech News Weekly is brought to you by Z Dock. There's nothing worse than having to go to a doctor appointment expecting that you are going to be the center of attention. You know, you've booked this appointment, the person on the other end has agreed to this appointment, and you expect, you walk in, you talk about the issues that you're experiencing, you hear from what the doc, it's a back and forth, but there's nothing worse than your doctor seeming like they have better things to do and better places to be. And they're sort of looking at their watch and looking at the door and wondering when you're gonna get over whatever it is you're talking about, get through with it.

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Jason Howell (00:35:36):
Time. Talk about Google io. All right, I'm happy to do it too, cuz this was a, this was a whirlwind 24 hours I have to say. You know, Tuesday we had our regular episode of all about Android tweet tv slash a a a and you wanna check it out because it was me, my host, ra co-host, Ron Richards, WWI Dow and Michelle Ramon all in studio. They all made the drive up to Petaluma. And so we did an awesome e you know, episode from the studio together, which rarely, I mean, we, it's, there's never been win in the studio or Michelle and all four, you know, and Ron Rare, you know, rarely comes to the Bay Area anymore. Maybe he'll come more now that he's being invited to Google IO again. But anyways, it was a heck of a lot of fun.

(00:36:22):
It was Ron's birthday, so we celebrated that as well as Florence Ion's birthday. But anyways, that was just the beginning and then the next day, you know, so that evening drove down to mountain View, checked in the hotel, wo woke up very early the next morning and, and made my way to shoreline for the event. Now Google io in years past prior to Covid, was a multi-day event. It, you know, you, I would go down there Tuesday evening and I'd come back like Friday night, like it was just like three days. It was a long time to be there, but it was a lot of fun. But it was also, you know, could be very tiring and everything. And then of course, as with everything covid happened, it forced companies to to figure something out. And so of course, Google IO ended up being an online thing, online only.

(00:37:10):
And now this is the second year where they've opened it up to a single day event. And I just have to say from the, the ex from my experience, many years going to a multi-day event and then now going to a single day event, I kind of like it, like, it's actually really nice because it really kind of kept things focused. You still got the benefit of the experience being there going, oh, hey, I haven't seen you in a really long time. You got that social element got a little bit of that excitement, but then what it gives Google the ability to do, and I actually talked to a couple of Googlers while I was down there who are planning these iOS, and they basically said like, you know, we always saw IO as this, like, you gotta be here to get the full effect sort of thing.

(00:37:55):
But then IO forced us to kind of reimagine it as here's everything online for everyone completely accessible. And they just said, our engagement with all of this has got, has skyrocketed as a result. And they're like, at the end of the day, we want everybody to know what we know and what we want to communicate. So this seems like the most effective way. So that tells me this is likely, I don't have any certainty on this, but this is likely the way it's gonna be with Google io going forward. But I know that everybody at the, you know, at the studio, Leo and, and Jeff Jarvis did some live coverage of the event. We had the keynote as we talked about earlier with Barry Schwartz, artificial intelligence probably spoken a thousand times. I was joking with Ron that, you know, we should get a transcript of the keynote, run it through Google Bard and ask Bard to tell us how many times was the phrase was the term I AI used and, and see, you know, what, what number it gives us.

(00:38:53):
But you know, it like I said earlier, it really seemed like the big, big story here was yes, artificial intelligence, which we all kind of expected to be the case, but not just that, but artificial intelligence as it integrates into the products and services that you're already using. And I think that's the potential power that Google has, right? Where so many of us use and rely on Google services, their products. Gmail, it had one what was it called? Write for me or I, I can't remember. It was something along those lines where essentially you kind of type in a little short brief thing. Like, I wanna write an email to so-and-so about this, blah, blah, blah. I wanna be sure to mention the blah blah, blah. And then it, you know, it will generate your email for you. And if it's too short, if it's too brief, you can have it expand and it'll broaden it out and add more detail and everything.

(00:39:43):
It's just like I'm, I hate to say it, but I'm probably gonna use that for at least some of correspondence cuz why the heck not, you know, check it out and try it. I don't know, you know, some of the integrations with, with Google Sheets and being able to very easily, you know, tell it, you know, create a, I want a spreadsheet that that itemizes, you know, all the, the many dog sitter options in the area and the ones that are able of taking two or more dogs and love chihuahuas and, and create a spreadsheet out of it and with pricing and sort it and, you know, you tell it these things and boop, you end up with it without having to do the hard work. I don't, I find that compelling. I think a lot of people absolutely most fun of it though. What do you think, Mikah?

Mikah Sargent (00:40:27):
So I find that part compelling. The only, well, I can't say this for sure because I didn't watch every minute of it, but the, the one thing that stood out to me that had me not ha happy or excited was talking about AI and its inclusion in text messages. I don't like the idea of having, of two people just having false conversations, basically letting Yeah, AI just have a conversation with another AI instead of you both getting to just talk to each other. That really was kind of a, a problem for me. And then I, I've talked about this in the past. The same thing I feel applies to instances where in many cases, not in every case, but in many cases where they showed like a manager formatting an email saying, write up a congratulations to my team. Yeah.

(00:41:23):
Authentic. Is that in your heart? Wow. Yeah. You, if you can't build that in your heart, then don't congratulate your team. Yeah. That, that just feels inauthentic. And so the chance for, I don't care, it doesn't have to be Google's ai, it could be any ai, the chance for AI to sort of cheapen communication with others. I'm not fond of that idea. And yeah. But at the same time, what I am fond of is what Google, we're seeing Google do here, which is get ai and by AI mean generative AI closer to our operating systems, having it built into Android or built into workspace os essentially is what I want to see from artificial intelligence because from generative artificial intelligence, because there's a lot of heavy lifting that I do right now to get the generative AI I'm using to do things that I'm asking it to do.

(00:42:29):
So I have to do a lot of explaining and context and that kind of thing to actually get the response I'm looking for. But if it already has that context by being built in closer to the system, that's gonna be, I think very helpful. So yeah, I think they're, there are many ways this can be taken and it seems like they're doing a lot of spaghetti projects. They're trying a bunch of different stuff to see, and that's fine to see what people use. I just really hate the idea of, instead of me texting someone happy birthday I have my, you know, my AI system oh. For the rest of the year, send out all my happy birthday messages. That's sad. Yeah.

Jason Howell (00:43:05):
I mean, it's really what, what you're talking about is there is the lessening of the hu human element of the ways we communicate. And and I think that's a, that's a big, big picture criticism of AI in general is wait a minute, it's, it's removing the elements, has the potential of room, removing the elements of life of our everyday life that are based around our humanity and putting it in the hands of the robot or the computer or whatever you wanna wanna call it. And what, you know, what does that do to us just as humans, like on, on this planet with other humans? I mean, it, it lessens, it cheapened, it has a potential to cheapen that experience and make things a whole lot less authentic as a result.

Mikah Sargent (00:43:55):
So yeah. And then I'm looking at messages and being suspicious of them, did this person actually say this to me or was it generated by a machine? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And yeah,

Jason Howell (00:44:04):
I, I will also say though, like I even in my text messages now, and we've had this for a few years, if my wife sends me a message like, Hey, can you, can you be sure to pick up some milk on the way home? It gives me that little prompt to say yes, and I do tap it. Yeah. As opposed to just typing. Yes. You know what I mean? So there are ways in which we are okay with it. Yeah.

Mikah Sargent (00:44:25):
But I don't think that's helpful.

Jason Howell (00:44:26):
But this is like generating a whole thread versus like a, a couple of words, you know? So where are the differences? I think we're figuring that out. Yeah,

Mikah Sargent (00:44:34):
Yeah,

Jason Howell (00:44:35):
Yeah. So that's, that's one thread of course of of Google io. While I was there, I did get a chance to to play around a little bit with the pixel fold, which is Google's new foldable device. So I got, you know, spent probably like five minutes with that in the press area and very nicely built device. Feels really nice, you know, it is a Gen one product, no matter how you slice it, it just is I didn't see anything other than the, this is a little weird when you flatten it l the way you're seeing right now, and I didn't get a picture of it. It doesn't, it's not completely flat. It's not 100% flat. Oh, it's got a really tiny little bit of a bend in the in the hinge. Not quite like that. That was, that was done for artistic purposes, but but yes,

Mikah Sargent (00:45:23):
V but just ave it's a very obtuse angle, right? I mean, no way.

Jason Howell (00:45:28):
Yeah. I mean it, you know, and it's hardly

Mikah Sargent (00:45:30):
Acceptable,

Jason Howell (00:45:30):
But if you lay it on the table, you see that it's not laying flat completely, it's just slightly domed.

Mikah Sargent (00:45:37):
Interesting. That's a little

Jason Howell (00:45:38):
Weird because I don't feel like the other foldables do that. And it's like, okay, well, you know, I had heard all this pre pre-release news and rumors about how great the hinge system is, but why not that like, you want this to be a tablet experiment experience when it's open. Most tablets don't have a slight kind of curvature to it that's, you know, down the middle. So anyways, maybe that's nitpicking, but that does feel very first gen. And for an $1,800 device, like, would I spend $1,800 on a phone? I don't think I would. Would you? I mean, we're in a weird

Mikah Sargent (00:46:11):
No,

Jason Howell (00:46:12):
You get devices no cause of work, but I would not spend

Mikah Sargent (00:46:15):
18. Right, right, right. Yeah, no, I that I, I don't believe in, in foldable phones. And by that, by that I mean, I know they exist. I believe in their existence. <Laugh>, I don't believe in the need for foldable phones. I don't think that they are. And I will happily eat my hat you know, 10 years from now if foldables are what we're using. But I just don't find it compelling as a technology. And I don't see a whole lot of people everyday people finding it compelling as a technology, which I understand part of that is the price that that definitely makes a, a difference. Yeah. But I remember so, so, so many people getting the first iPhone, and that was very expensive at the time, but people still in swarms got the first iPhone. So to consider this sort of like the next evolution in smartphones, I don't think it's caught on that way. You don't see people scrambling to get, and in fact, I see so many people who do choose to be early adopters as quick as they can returning these things, realizing they don't need them or want them.

Jason Howell (00:47:27):
Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> trying to figure out like why, I mean, I, you know, in the times that I've had for review any of these foldables Yeah. I am like, I am trying hard to find the situations where I want to open it up, you know, and, and th those moments do happen, but th but do they happen in enough that I'm willing to spend $1,800 on it? I personally, not the, not true for me, but I am curious to get my hands on the pixel fold. I hope that I can get one for review here Prairie Soon. Also, the Pixel tablet, they had that there that I felt like was actually a pretty positive announcement. $500 I feel like is fair considering you get that dock. If the dock was extra, if it, that that snapping like magnetic speaker dock was another $150, I'd be really hesitant on it.

(00:48:16):
But I think as a total package for $500 and, and the build quality was really nice you know, and turning it, when you snap it on, it's really satisfying when it snaps onto the base, it's like got this little magnetic pull that just like, there's no misaligning it with the pogo pins on the back. It knows exactly where to go. It's just, it's a cool product. I do, I think that the Pixel tablet is gonna reinvigorate the Android tablet ecosystem. I don't necessarily know that I, that I trust that that's exactly what's going to happen, but I understand why Google wants to do this. You know, Google really wants to create devices that demonstrate the stuff that they're doing with the software and the os and so this gives them kind of a, their own playing field to do that and to be the, the signal, the beacon for other hardware manufacturers to do similar things. So I'm, I'm very curious about the Pixel tablet and gimme my hands on that, but I

Mikah Sargent (00:49:08):
Think so. Cool.

Jason Howell (00:49:10):
Did you like that or, because

Mikah Sargent (00:49:12):
I mean, I thought it was amazing. I think the

Jason Howell (00:49:13):
Tablet, I think of iPad, I just think that, you know what iPad won the game and, you know,

Mikah Sargent (00:49:17):
Yeah. I, you're not wrong in that. But when I think of when I think of Smart Home speaker, I think of either or Amazon or Google. I think they both have a good, in fact, let me see, I'm always moving my shoulder the wrong way. That is a Nest hub right behind me. Oh, okay. Yeah. And it's a great digital picture frame and this idea of like, I wish that I could just grab that and take it off and do things with it and put it back when that, it's just, it's a very smart idea. I think that even though, yeah, I, I'm not obviously a regular Android user and don't have any interest in like, making that switch. I do think that the idea is very sound and their execution is really spot on. I think they did a great job with the execution, so I'm really impressed with it, even if it doesn't become, you know, if it doesn't reinvigorate the tablet market or anything like that. It's just, I think for people who like Nest hubs then they kind of get that benefit of, oh, and at any time I could take this and then, you know, show somebody that video that I thought was funny that I was talking about, or Yeah. I just think it's very smart.

Jason Howell (00:50:33):
Yeah. Yeah. So looking forward to that. I think the highlight of my time though was something that I did not expect to be there, but I actually had on my short, short list of I, you know, if they had these things here, I would love for this to be there. And that was Project starline. Starline, if you remember a couple of years ago was announced, and this is the booth back then a couple of years ago, it was like a whole booth system where they demonstrated, it's essentially, it's, it's video conferencing where you really feel when you're looking in the screen, like it's, it's large enough and the way it's presented and, you know, it's all done in three dimensional view. You really feel like that person is right there and you know, it's full eye contact and everything. And I got five minutes in there with one of the co-founders the co-creators of this technology, and it was like, it gives me goosebumps talking about it because it, like, do I think that we're gonna see these things everywhere?

(00:51:27):
Not necessarily, but two years ago it was huge technology that was incredibly expensive. And now what they were kind of showing off is that, you know, two years of development, they've created a single screen with cameras that kind of flanked the screen and it's just become a lot more doable, a lot more miniaturized. And the effect was really impressive. The screen was very large. It looked like, you know, I was sitting there talking to the co-founder, I wish I could remember his name, I should have written that down before this, this show. But talking to him through it, at one point he holds up an apple and he is like, so what does this, what does this, you know, look like to you? And I swear I could have reached out and grabbed that apple. Oh, and instead he put out his fist and he was like, gimme a fist bump. And I did. And I was, and my brain was like weirded out about the fact that I wasn't feeling a fist when I did that. Like it looked that like the dimensionality of it was really crazy. And so is it a

Mikah Sargent (00:52:24):
Hologram?

Jason Howell (00:52:26):
No, it's just like a 3d, it's, it's just what it is is a giant screen. I mean it's, you know, a giant screen that's having some sort of Pax 3D view technology. You have to be right in the right sweet spot in order to get the effect. The other thing that I thought was interesting, another detail is yes, it's a screen, but the bottom third of the screen, there's this like, this like border that kind of curves out towards you. And from my position, what it meant is I didn't see the bottom of the screen. I saw this like curved border that seemed to be a border that that the 3D image resided inside of. So instead of me looking at this and going, oh, this is a screen that's 3d, it just kind of seemed like I was looking through a window cuz it kind of cut off that bomb the screen.

(00:53:16):
And it was a really cool illusion. Like if that wasn't there, I'm sure it would've been neat too. But because it was there, it made it less like, I'm looking at a screen. I will say it was very strange because it forces like, it basically, when you're looking straight ahead, the there is no camera that's looking right at you. And so the fact that you are making eye contact with the other person that's generated, that's generated because of these different cameras at different angles, processing the eyeball forward and doing that, like, having that experience with a screen where we were just like connecting eyes and everything like that was on one hand really cool, but on another hand I wanted to look away. I was like kind of uncomfortable by it. It was like, and I can look at, I can, I can do eye contact, you know, in conversation. I have no problems with that. But there, it was just different to have eye contact with a screen. It was just really strange. But, but very cool. I was super floored actually by that demonstration and so happy they had it there so that I could check it out.

Mikah Sargent (00:54:16):
Wow. That's what I wanted to hear about the most. So it is cool to hear about it for sure. Yeah. Just super neat experience. Yeah,

Jason Howell (00:54:23):
It was fun. And I, and I felt lucky because they were booked up and they, they were able to kind of fit me in and I wasn't thinking that it was gonna happen and that they did. So thank you to the starline team. Do not miss, we did an interview, sit down, interview with Dave Burke, VP of engineering at Google, and Samir Samat, VP of Product Management. That was me, Ron and Wyn, the all about Android team, talking with them about a lot of the Android related announcements. Yes, some of the artificial intelligence stuff, the devices and everything. Twit.Tv/News 3 91, if you want to check out that interview. And yeah, that was my time at Google io.

Mikah Sargent (00:55:01):
Very cool. That sounds very exciting. It was fun. Alright, my, my story of the week is about Niantic or Niantic or the company that made or that makes Pokemon Go has released a brand new game called Para. And in Parat you are the owner of a virtual pet. It's like tomagotchi, but augmented reality. And on your phone it is a cute little game where you hatch your own little creature and you can move around with it in the world, have it sort of dig for food and little games that it can play. And you can customize the look and feel of your paradox. And as you interact with it and it gets to know you and you get to know it, then it will sort of change its behavior. You can pet your little para by moving your finger across the screen for anyone who's ever played Nintendo on the Nintendo DS.

(00:56:12):
You may be familiar with some of the mechanisms because they remind me a lot of that where you would take the stylus and move it across the dog's head, and then it would sort of make sounds and then do some little barks and spin around and whatnot. It is like Niantic has just figured out a a sort of mechanism of game and then applies it across different properties. And so it's gonna be pretty similar if you've ever played Pokemon Go or the, that Harry Potter game that once existed in the sense that you you know, it's tied to g p s coordinates. And so there are different areas that are going to have, they call them surfaces that are going to have different objects that your paradox can dig up. Your paradox will ask to go on walks, and so you can actually have your phone out and walk your para along with you.

(00:57:04):
You, I can't remember if I said you can have it fetch it, it does a whole bunch of different stuff. And this was a game that the company had announced quite a while ago that it would eventually be coming out and then in the lead up to that lets you sort of pre-order it. And so I did get the game on the first day that it came out and tried it out, you know, made my little paradox. These games have really never been for me, the games where you have to check in or else you know, bad things happen, or not necessarily bad things happen, but you, you, there's a meter and it's tied to real life time. And so if you don't check back in, then your meter drops all the way to the bottom and you've gotten, you know, work to do.

(00:57:53):
So that's just not my style of game. But if that is your style of game, you may like like Parat it is available on multiple platforms. You know, I think they really do want to try to make this successful in the, in, in the sense that, you know, get it out to as many people as possible so that everybody can, can try it out and get hooked on it. And the, oh, I, I forgot to mention the technology that Niantic uses, it's called Lights Light Ship. And so this technology is what they use to figure out the different types of surfaces in the different areas whenever you're using it. And it is on the, it's on the App store. It's on the Google Play Store. So you can get it in both places and you can take a little photos of your creature out in the world and yeah.

(00:58:58):
Well worth checking out. It's available for free, at least I know in the app store. And then there are in-app purchases that will give you the ability to buy, you know, item packs that you can add special hats and colors and whatnot to your per, but you don't need to buy the packs to be able to play the game. It is not sort of a, it's not entirely a free-to-play mechanism or anything like that. But a secondary story to this is one that was fascinating to me because I think of how we are rumored to be seeing the next take on augmented and virtual reality with Apple. And so I'm not surprised to see companies really trying to make their stake, you know, stake their claim rather in the ar vr mixed reality area in different ways.

(00:59:58):
And one of those companies is Amazon. So Amazon has announced a new feature called Amazon anywhere. And what Amazon anywhere is, it's, it's kind of hard to to sort of describe because the idea is it's specific to kind of ar vr, virtual worlds, video games, mobile apps in those experiences you can tie your Amazon account to that app or that game and then buy things that you get in the real world. Okay? So think about playing I don't know, we'll go with Assassin's Creed and while you're playing you get a new you get a new shield, and on the shield there's a crest, and then it's the potential that Amazon, you could, while you're playing the game, order a notebook that has that crest on it or a shirt that has that crest on it. In paradox this game, if you tie your Amazon account to it, then you can order merchandise that has your per and also just sort of para g general para merchandise while you're in the game.

(01:01:23):
So there are shirts there are pop sockets, there are throw pillows, there are hoodies, all sorts of different clothing and merchandise that you can order while you're playing the game. And this is just the, the kind of, the first example of Amazon using Amazon anywhere. But this just launched, let's see, it's it launched earlier this week. Amazon anywhere did, and as I mentioned, although, you know, Niantic seems to be the first kind of example of this I'm not surprised to see Amazon staking its claim in what they call immersive shopping. So they have people with, with VR headsets on who are tapping a VR button to add stuff to their cart integrated shopping directly in apps realtime pricing and shipping all built in. And then they show an app at the top of the screen that has your, maybe it's your favorite yoga app. And so you go to start your yoga class and then it says, oh, for this yoga class, you need some yoga blocks to complete it. You can buy these with Amazon. So, yeah. Mm-Hmm. Amazon is really making sure that our Yeah, yeah. And then they're really making sure that the virtual space that, you know, we're all talking about getting into and the ar space are all slapped with <laugh> Amazon advertisements. It seems if Amazon

Jason Howell (01:03:05):
Wasn't already everywhere, now it is <laugh>

Mikah Sargent (01:03:08):
Yeah. If it's, if it's not everywhere, it's anywhere <laugh>.

Jason Howell (01:03:12):
Yeah. Right, right. Wow, that's interesting. I'm

Mikah Sargent (01:03:16):
Not, but see, I can imagine you, you right, you make your personal connection to this pet and then you want to get, mom, I wanna, I want to get my pet on my shirt. I wanna get a hat with my, with my pet on it. You know, or circus.

Jason Howell (01:03:30):
Yeah. Gamers have, have an affinity, you know, have shown to have an affinity for the general kind of the, the games that they're playing anyways for characters and everything. It probably takes it even further when that's like ta when that's specific to your own characters, not just Zelda, but it's your pet that you've, you know, been working on mm-hmm. <Affirmative> growing and cultivating for five months now. And it's like, well, yeah, it's cute and it's very tailored to me. No one else has this thing I want to get. That's, I'm actually really smart. That

Mikah Sargent (01:04:06):
Makes, it's very smart. Yeah, it's very smart.

Jason Howell (01:04:09):
Yeah. Oh, speaking of Zelda, by the way, the new Zelda game is coming out. I don't know if you're a Zelda fan. I I haven't played many of the previous Zeldas, but I keep hearing that the legend of Zelda, tears of the Kingdom, which I think comes out this weekend is no pun intended, a game changer

Mikah Sargent (01:04:26):
This Friday.

Jason Howell (01:04:27):
This Friday. So that's tomorrow

John Ashley (01:04:29):
Is gonna be two tears of the kingdom and it's gonna be glory. Yeah, it's gonna be great. I'm gonna be gone. No one can contact me.

Mikah Sargent (01:04:36):
<Laugh> <laugh>. Well, there's somebody who's excited about it

Jason Howell (01:04:39):
Off the grid, off off the grid and on into the Zelda. Yeah, you're not alone, John. I spoke to a few people yesterday that they were like, yeah, it's all I'm doing this weekend is playing Zelda. So Big Game weekend, whether you're playing Zelda or whether you're playing Parat <laugh>

Mikah Sargent (01:04:55):
Playing with your little para now is

Jason Howell (01:04:57):
Is it out? No, it's,

Mikah Sargent (01:04:58):
It's, it's out. Yeah. Yeah. It's, I've, I had, I hatched my para on Tuesday and I haven't opened since <laugh> <laugh>. That's why I said these

Jason Howell (01:05:09):
Names are before you grow your affinity for your per enough to get a shirt. Yeah, exactly. But when you do that shirt on an episode of Tek News Weekly,

Mikah Sargent (01:05:18):
I will have to do that. It'll have an unhappy face cuz I haven't fed it in three weeks, unfortunately. <Laugh>, this is why I can't play these games. They just make me feel bad and then I just get ready

Jason Howell (01:05:27):
<Laugh>. Totally. I'm done the same way, same way. Well everybody, it's been a lot of fun. We've reached the end of this episode of Tech News Weekly. We do record this show every Thursday. So every week TWiT TV slash tnw go there, subscribe. And that's really that's, that's all you need to know as far as the instructions on how to keep this show going and how to keep yourself entertained by the stuff we do.

Mikah Sargent (01:05:52):
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(01:06:37):
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(01:07:22):
It is a short format show that talks about windows tips and tricks. There's my show Hands on Mac, which covers all things Apple. Also a short format show, meaning that, you know, it's about a specific topic. You dig into that specific topic and you have learned something new. And the newly relaunched Home Theater Geeks featuring Scott Wilkinson. Yes, the show is back, it's part of the club and folks are loving it. So please consider joining the club, getting all of those great shows as part of your subscription and of course that warm fuzzy feeling you get for being a subscriber. Thank you supporters, we appreciate you. I should mention that if you want to follow me online, you can find me at Mikah Sargent on many a social media network or you can head to chihuahua.coffee, that's c hhi, h u a h hua.coffee where I've got links to many of the places I'm most active online. Check me out later today, if you are a Club TWiT for Hands on Mac as that show publishes later today on Sundays, you can call in and ask the tech guys Leo LaPorte and I take your questions and answer them live on air and do a bunch of other stuff too. It's a pretty great variety show. And then on Tuesdays you can check out iOS today, which I co-host with Rosemary Orchard, where we talk all things iOS and Apple's other platforms. Jason Howell, what about you?

Jason Howell (01:08:43):
Well you can find me at twit social slash Jason Howell on Mastadon at Jason Howell on Twitter. I'm on Blue Sky, just, I can't remember the name of that, but search for my name and you'll probably find me all about Android twi tv slash a a a every Tuesday. And like I already said earlier, definitely check out this week's episode. It was a lot of fun. Don't miss the the IO interview, twit tv slash news. And then, yeah, not a whole lot else to report there, but big thanks to everyone at the studio for helping out. I know John Ashley's there, Anthony's behind the scenes. I think aunt was helping out today.

Mikah Sargent (01:09:22):
Yeah. Thank you aunt.

Jason Howell (01:09:24):
So thank you everyone for helping out. We couldn't do this show without you and we couldn't do it without you. Dear listener and watcher of this fine podcast, thank you so much for watching. We'll see you next time on Tech News Weekly. Bye everybody. Bye-Bye.

Scott Wilkinson (01:09:39):
Hey there. Scott Wilkinson here In Case you hadn't heard, home Theater Geeks is Back. Each week I bring you the latest audio, video news, tips and tricks to get the most out of your AV system product reviews and more you can enjoy home Theater Geeks only if you're a member of Club TWiT which costs seven bucks a month. Or you can subscribe to Home Theater Geeks by itself for only 2 99 a month. I hope you'll join me for a weekly dose of home theater Geek.