By Marlo Anderson – The Tech Ranch



At CES 2025, innovation was everywhere — but some of the coolest tech didn’t shout. It hovered. Quietly. Smoothly. And totally hands-free.









One of the most jaw-dropping demos this year came from HOVER, with their palm-sized HOVERAir X1, a flying camera that feels more like a sci-fi sidekick than a piece of gear. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Ken Huang, the CEO and Co-Founder of HOVER, to talk about this little marvel and what it means for the future of content creation.



🎯 No Controller. No Hassle. Just Flight.



The HOVERAir X1 doesn’t need a joystick. Or an app. Or even you looking at your phone. You just launch it — and it follows you.



Seriously. Facial recognition, body tracking, obstacle avoidance… all built-in. It’s like giving your selfie stick wings and a PhD in cinematography.



From hikers to vloggers, parents to pet lovers — anyone who wants smooth, cinematic video without hiring a drone pilot — this thing delivers.



🎤 My Interview with Ken Huang



Ken shared the journey behind the HOVERAir X1, how their team designed it with simplicity and safety in mind, and what makes it different from every other drone on the market. He also hinted at future features coming down the pipeline — and let’s just say: you’ll want to keep your eye on HOVER.



We filmed this right on the CES floor, and the X1 just quietly hovered around, tracking everything with the kind of calm confidence that makes you wonder how long until this becomes the new normal.



✈️ The Big Takeaway



We’re moving into a world where your tech adapts to you — not the other way around. The HOVERAir X1 is the kind of product that redefines expectations. You don’t need to be tech-savvy to use it. You just need to press a button and smile.



📺 Watch the Full Interview🔔 Subscribe to The Tech Ranch on YouTube for more interviews, innovations, and insights from CES 2025.



#CES2025 #HOVERAirX1 #HoverCamera #KenHuang #TechRanch #FlyingSelfie #PocketDrone #HandsFreeTech #SmartTech #HandsFreeContent

By Marlo Anderson – The Tech Ranch



At CES 2025, there was no shortage of dazzling displays and loud pitches vying for attention. But one of the coolest moments? A robotic lawnmower doing its thing — completely hands-free — while I chatted with Eric Uballez from Mammotion.



We didn’t unbox it. We didn’t demo it. We didn’t need to.The machine spoke for itself — by staying completely silent and incredibly precise in the background while we talked tech.



🤖 Meet Mammotion: The Future of Yard Work



Mammotion’s autonomous lawnmower is more than just a smart gadget. It’s part of a bigger movement to automate the mundane and amplify the memorable (sound familiar?). Imagine GPS-guided lawn care that requires zero supervision — no tangled cords, no gas, no sweat.



During the interview, Eric shared the vision behind Mammotion’s lineup of outdoor robotics: smarter, cleaner, quieter — all while giving you your Saturday mornings back. And trust me, after watching this machine glide across the floor like it was built for a dance routine, I’m sold.



🎤 What We Talked About:




* The mission behind Mammotion and its autonomous systems



* How their robotic mowers use advanced navigation and sensors



* Why outdoor automation is one of the most exciting frontiers in tech



* What consumers can expect from Mammotion in the near future




You can catch the full video interview on The Tech Ranch YouTube channel — and see for yourself why this mower had a quiet crowd gathering around it all day.



👀 Final Thoughts



Sometimes the best tech at CES isn’t the loudest or flashiest — it’s the one doing its job quietly in the background while the rest of the world is talking. Mammotion gets that.



Watch the interview. Watch the mower. And then tell me you don’t want one.



—



📺 Watch the Interview 🔔 Subscribe to The Tech Ranch on YouTube for more interviews, tech demos, and behind-the-scenes access from CES 2025 and beyond.



#CES2025 #Mammotion #TechRanch #RobotMower #AutonomousTech #FutureOfYardCare #SmartHomeTech

Summary:In this podcast episode, hosts Steve and Marlo and guest Kevin Burkhart discuss a variety of topics, ranging from the progress being made in the electric airplane industry to the potential benefits of flying cars for transportation efficiency in large cities. They also touch on the possibility of using a catapult system for electric-powered aircraft takeoff to conserve energy and discuss the implications of the recent failure of Silicon Valley Bank, which impacted many tech companies. The conversation also delves into the current state of autonomous vehicles and the potential for increased efficiency as technology advances.Transcript:



Did you know today is National Pie?



Kevin Burkhart in with us this morning as well.



and National Potato Chip Day. I mean, yes. And potato chip. We got both food groups represented. Well, I, yeah, well see I did that too. I, I, I fell into that trap also, , and then I remembered, wait a minute, we just had a national pie day and then I looked closer and went, oh, pie day as in math 3 1 4.



You know, this is actually the, the bigger, bigger national day of the two though. Well, I know it is, but I like pie. Well, yeah, so you have the, you have that reason to go on half pie. People across the country will be eating pie day to celebrate pie day. That, that’s what I fell back into. It’s like, you know what, I’m gonna have another pie day.



Yeah, I’m, I’m going to go to half pie. Just put 3.14 on the pie and whipped cream or something like that and then Oh yeah. Okay. Great marketing piece. Any restaurants out there listing? You should sell a slice of pie for $3 and 14 cents a day. That’s a good idea. Yes. See, you can double dip on pie day. See, I think there’s all kinds of ways to utilize this.



Yeah. Yeah. Hey, as long as they got a piece of pie, I’m happy. Banana cream, coconut cream. That reminds me, I, I was at Perkins just the other day ordering a, a whole pie. And the lady said, do you want it sliced? I said, sure. She says, do you want to cut into four slices or six? I said, you better make it four. I don’t think I could eat six



man, after my own heart. There we go. Okay. I wanted to talk a little bit about the time change. Of course. Uh, it’s weird this year. Normally I don’t, uh, have to deal with this, but um, cause I’m a morning person anyway. But the time change this year, kind of, kind of, I don’t know if it’s snuck up on me, caught me a little off guard.



Um, just a little outta sorts with the time change this here. First of all, because there’s eight feet of snow on the ground, it doesn’t feel like it should be time to set the clocks forward. I don’t think. Maybe that’s part of it. I think it is because I, Sunday night I was ready to go to Ben went, wait a minute.



It’s still way too light out. And yeah. And then Monday morning it was like, oh. Do I have to get outta bed now? I mean, it really is, you know, uh, according to, I forget what they call it for the weather service for the seasons, you know, we have the, the seasons that fall on the dates, right? So we’re almost to, we’re almost to spring, but there’s like the calendar spring or whatever they call it, which is actually, actually the first one.



Yeah. That comes up on the 20th is actual Spring. Spring. But they have, uh, you know, March 1st is actually supposed to be the whatever spring is, whatever it is. But anyway, uh, it’s like pie day. There’s more than one. That’s right. That’s right. . There’s more of everything now , I,

Summary:Hosted by Steve Bakken and Marlo Anderson, this technology podcast episode covers a range of topics related to technology, equipment and the film industry. The hosts discuss the potential of advanced technologies, such as prosthetic limbs that can restore communication between different parts of the body. The conversation also looks at the use of 3D printing to create medical devices, building materials and even houses. In addition, they discuss the potential for a film industry in North Dakota and the need for lawmakers to create tax credits to attract more films to the state.







Transcript:Hello. You haven’t been here for a while. I know. Tech stuff. Did you miss me? Yes, he did. Yes. I hope so. A lot. Not, not only is Randy, the, the operations manager for this station, but he’s also our engineer. And one of the things that you’re tasked to do is move some of the snow around here because we’ve got a tower out back.



Well, no, no, hold on. Second you transmitter site. But what, but you have to move snow quite often to do your work. To do your job. I, I have in the past moved snow. Yes. Okay. So, so have you ever wondered how they measure snow? I figure just take a yard stick. Go out in the yard and measure the, that’s the unscientific way.



Measure the, the snow, right? Well, it depends if the wind’s warm, I just kind of if’s a drift. I look at how much is built up on my truck hood. Well, yeah, that’s kind of the easy way I do it too, which I, I look at my patio do. Yeah. Yeah. Your, what’s your grill or your table or, yeah, a little of all of it, I guess.



And, and if there’s, if there’s stuff that’s stacking up, I know I got a little bit, the grill’s a good indicator. Yeah. Grill’s a good indicator. Yeah. Unless it’s on, yeah, that’s slightly less accurate at that point. It’s not as accurate. That way the grills on, if you’re cuddle on the ground, then if you were grilling, not accurate at all.



So it’s interesting. I was just digging up this information. So of course there’s a difference between snowfall and snow depth. . So a lot of people don’t realize this, but snow is compressible. So if you have two 10 and a half inch snowfalls, it may only accumulate to 17 inches. Well, and you see that because they run  on the weather, right?



They run the snow depths. Right. And, you know, typically, you know, good snow depth and Bismark  on, on average, cuz they average it out  is eight to 12 inches. Cuz that’s good for the spring. Well we’ve got way more snow than that, but that’s the actual snow cover. Right. So I think this is where it really gets difficult too, because I’m thinking to myself, like right now, what, what have we had this year?



75 inches last I saw, we were on number nine. We were in the number nine position of all time snowfalls over a winter. Okay. Oh, for the entire winter. Yeah. I think we’re gonna get. Cracking the top five. Well, you know, with day, just a day and tomorrow and Thursday every day there’s an two or three or four snow in the forecast.



So, and, and now they’re talking depending on where it tracks the Colorado Lo for Friday into the weekend. I mean this is, this is crazy, but you know what it reminds me of? So I was in Grand Forks in 97. Yes. Except every weekend. We had a blizzard in 97. And actually here it was like every day we were pushing like one or two inches of snow.



That’s why we broke a record here. Cause it wasn’t like it was, we had some big storms,

Summary:



During this episode, hosts Marlo Anderson and Steve Baker covered a range of topics, starting with a weather update about a winter storm warning in Bismarck and the use of heads-up displays to enhance driving during storms. They then discussed the potential control the Chinese government may have over the social media platform TikTok, as well as the dangers of deep fakes and cybersecurity breaches. The hosts also talked about The Boring Company’s tunneling technology, specifically its potential to alleviate traffic congestion using electric and potentially autonomous vehicles. The conversation also touched on advancements in prosthetics, including artificial limbs that can provide sensation and the possibility of grafting skin over them in the future.Transcript:



Other breaking news, the actual one, of course, blizzard warning, starting at 11 o’clock this morning. As of right now, it’s scheduled, that system that was supposed to stay south along the north and South Dakota border is kind of slid to the north.



And now Bismarck is right on the edge of the six to 10 inches possible of snowfall and Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah. Yeah. It was just a winter weather advisory. The last I heard. Then I noticed the winter storm warning. Now we’re at a blizzard warning. It’s supposed to kick in at 11 o’clock this morning.



We’ll talk to the National Weather Service later in the program. Find out. But you don’t even seriously snowblower. It’s a blizzard warning. Now, we’re now making this up. No. Oh, cuz we make up a lot of stuff on this show. We, we do, but no, this is an accident. For real. For real. Yeah. Okay. I was shit about that.



I just find it amazing that in today’s world that we can be surprised by weather sometimes, especially they missed with this one. Blizzards. Yeah. This one was kind of a big miss. I can understand like the occasional thunderstorm that pops up and surprises people or tornado or whatever. But it seems with surprise tornado.



Yeah, but surprise blizzard. What? And the worst part is you don’t even have your snowblower. No, I don’t have a snowblower. So you lent it to somebody. Yeah. You know, so my question is, contractually, if you lend a piece of equipment like that to somebody, isn’t it an incumbent upon them to, when they return it to snowblower your driveway?



I actually think I should have first dibs on it. So before they even do their own, they should bring it to my house and do mine so that when I leave tomorrow morning that my lawn or my, driveway will be sparkling clean of no snow. You know What else to get your driveway sparkling clean of no snow.



What’s that? He had a yabo. That’s true. There’s yabo again. Plug for an endorsement there. We need to get ahold of those people. Yeah. It, you know, I, it’s just a cool machine. It is. I do have, the, oh my goodness. The badger, they sent me a lawnmower, you know? Right. Yes. So we have to install that one of these days.



I actually think that, okay. You get the badge, get the arvo. I’m putting, I’m putting Jim with the city on, on the spot here, but I think he told me the other day that I could have part of Dykes Sean Park Really? And put the, to put the badger in. I’m just saying. That’d be, it’d be fun. It’d be a fun place to experiment with it.



Right. Say Mandan Parks and Rec a little money, or, I think so, yeah. At least around the bandshell area there. Right? Well, it would always be nice and groomed and yeah. Do you think somebody would steal it though? Mm I think there,

Traveling is a passion that many people enjoy, but as we age, it can become more challenging to explore the world. Beeyonder is a virtual tour company that offers live and interactive virtual tours around the world with local qualified tour guides. In an interview with the Guru of Geek, Marlo Anderson, Camille Scannell from Beeyonder explained that they primarily target seniors aged 55 and above, providing them with equal access to travel opportunities.



Beeyonder currently offers 430 virtual experiences in over 60 countries, with local guides on the ground giving walking tours as if the tourists were there in person. Participants can ask questions and interact with the guides, making it a more engaging experience. Beeyonder’s focus on accessibility has made them a popular choice among seniors, especially those who are not able to travel in person due to health or mobility issues.







Camille shared a story of a client who was an avid traveler but had to stop due to age-related health issues. Taking virtual tours with Beeyonder allowed her to revisit destinations she had traveled to in the past and explore new ones she was never able to visit. The tour guides’ engaging personalities and highly trained skills in keeping participants engaged make the tours a worthwhile experience.



Beeyonder’s founder, Brittany Palmer, was inspired to create the company due to her own experience as a bilateral amputee with other disabilities that limit her travel options. Her mission with Beeyonder is to provide equal access to travel opportunities for everyone, regardless of their physical limitations.



If you’re interested in taking a virtual tour with Beeyonder, you can check out their experiences and book a tour with a local tour guide on their website. Beeyonder’s commitment to accessibility and equal access to travel opportunities makes them an excellent choice for seniors and anyone who loves to explore the world.



As Camille Scannell from Beeyonder said in the interview with Marlo Anderson, “We are all about accessibility, bringing equal access to travel opportunities.”

Summary



In this podcast episode, the speakers discuss the potential of AI technology to create unique works without plagiarism by learning an individual’s writing style. They talk about the recent case where a Bing AI got angry at a user and insulted him, and conclude that the AI can detect a person’s tone of voice and is likely to respond accordingly. They also talked about how businesses and authors can use this technology to reduce costs, and the use of AI in scanning financial information. Their conversation also shifted to the case of Gonzalez versus Google, which questions the liability of online platforms for the content posted by their users. The potential outcome of the case may affect free online posting and lead to more censorship. Also, listen closely for an exciting announcement!



Transcript



Marlo.



You’re sitting over there giggling for some reason. I, I don’t know why. . I don’t know either. You, you got this cat that ate the canary look about you this morning, Tuesday. Well, you, I, uh, I hate to admit this, but I like snow. I do too. I don’t like the 30 below windchill we’re gonna get later this year. That, that I don’t like either.



But I snow all you want. As long as it’s, you know. Yeah. That 27 degrees and snowing. 24 to 20. Perfect. Yep. I’ll take that all the time. Yeah. And not too windy. The issue right now of course is, you know, if we’re actually getting 10 inches snow, I didn’t even know all this until I walked in here. We got snow, globe snow going right now.



That’s cool. Yeah. But, uh, yeah. 10 inches of snow. I need, I need to hurry up. I have an invention. I’m working. I need to hurry and get that done. I know you do. We gotta work on that. So, uh, I wanna talk about, uh, your ev story, your charging story, because apparently that won’t go away, . And, and we’re gonna get an update on that cuz you know that 10 minute story that we turned into an hour last week, over an hour, actually over an hour and, and it’s still going folks.



Yeah. Uh, we’ll find out about that, uh, in just a little bit. But I wanna give you an opportunity to rant a little bit this morning. You’re not ranting kind of mood. I am in a ranting kind. You get that ranting look about you. Well, you know, I love technology as you know, but there are some times that maybe not so much.



So are you getting angry? Like the ai? I’m just not, no. Okay, just checking. We’ll talk about that. Yeah. A little bit too. Um, rule two 30 s on the, on the thing today. Robo calls. We’re gonna be talking about those because I just had another one of those. I bet you’d like to make money off of those. My Google listing is apparently needs to be verified.



Yeah, obviously you should probably get that verified you money off of that. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We’ll talk about that too. Yeah, we’ll talk about that too. So, yeah, so my rant, you know, um, This has been going on for a little bit already, I guess, but I love the sensors in my car, but one particular set of sensors this time of year, I do not like.



And that is the tires, the air pressure tires. Yeah, I knew it. I knew it. And I’m like, why did they not assume that the tire pressure or the temperature outside would go up and down? And maybe, maybe they do, but I’m tired of filling my tires up so the sensors go off and then when it gets warm outside then, then it’s like, you know, I think my ultimate is 2.4 for tire pressure.



And of course then it gets up to 2.83 and then you’re like, yeah,

Today’s episode begins by discussing electric vehicles. Marlo mentions the potential dangers of e-vehicles in accidents, including fires, and the need for better training and equipment for emergency responders to deal with such incidents. They also address the problem that electric scooters and bicycles often catch fire in urban areas and that firefighters need different protocols for these types of incidents.



The issue of electronic devices, such as cell phones and golf carts, catching fire due to faulty chargers is also mentioned. They advise that people should be careful when purchasing chargers, especially when buying from convenience stores, and to go for brand-specific chargers rather than the cheapest ones. A European standard has been passed which requires all devices to have USB-C and USB-E, which will force even American devices to adopt the standard, reducing the occurrence of fires. Marlo also mentions that the USB cubes used for charging devices are disappearing and being replaced by USB-C. They predict that by 2024, most devices will have USB-C, which will be a great thing for consumers, and advises people to get a USB-C cord now if they have the option.



Steve and Marlo also speak about Microsoft and Google are both pushing AI technology with the integration of AI into their search tools. While Microsoft is only now investing billions of dollars in AI, while Google has been doing so for years. AI technology is a fast-changing industry and its potential implications of it are unknown. While the technology is exciting, it is uncertain how companies will adapt, especially since there are still inaccuracies with AI and it is unclear how and if they will be fixed.



__Transcript:



And uh, Marlow, are you a little bit sore this morning? I, I, I have you fully recovered from, uh, the flag football game at the Pro Bowl on Saturday or Sunday? , were you, were you playing in that, uh, You were a goalpost, right?



Oh, yeah. I could , I could have, right? I mean, , I got, I got patted down once or twice. That’s it. Oh, there you go. Well, busy weekend in Las Vegas with the Pro Bowl being there. Uh, a lot of festivities going on. Uh, did you catch any of those? So I haven’t been, I’m actually done here for work, you know. Oh, it’s a boy crap existence.



You missed the flag football game. Oh, well, yeah, I know, I know. You know, I don’t even, wasn’t even well attended there. I got here yesterday. There’s nobody here. It’s just, I don’t know. I it’s really quiet right now. I, I didn’t even turn it on. I, I have no idea. I, I, if, if there were fans or anything, it was like, really flag football.



No, uh, not going there. Yeah. But, um, okay, so you’re in Vegas this week, of course. Uh, maybe doing a little filming for the new television show. Yes. But, uh, uh, you know, I gotta throw the little tech stuff in and, and of course you got a little excited when I told you I’m, I’m in the brand new Pole Star Yeah.



Volkswagen by Volkswagen. And I’m actually driving right now in the streets of Vegas talking to you from this. So the car is very quiet. I mean, it’s like an EV where it’s very quiet like most of the time. I don’t know if it’s even on . Um, I mean that is, that, that’s, that’s probably what’s weird about it.



You, you’re, you know, you stop. I don’t even know if I have it turned off when I park it in a parking garage. It’s just kind of weird in that regard. You walk away and go, did I shut my car off? I don’t remember. I, I don’t know.

In this podcast episode, the speakers discuss various topics related to electric vehicles, artificial intelligence, and education. They start by talking about the challenges of using electric vehicles, such as setting up charging stations and the cost of charging. They also compare hybrid and electric cars and discuss the government’s subsidization of electric vehicles. In addition, they talk about the design and features of specific electric vehicles, including the Polestar, which has unique challenges with fueling up.



The conversation then shifts to artificial intelligence, with the speakers discussing its capabilities and limitations. They specifically talk about ChatGPT, and how it can learn and imitate a person’s writing style. They also discuss the potential uses of ChatGPT in content creation, such as writing articles for websites and blogs.



Finally, the speakers discuss the potential impact of AI on education. They debate the use of AI as a tool and the possibility of it replacing traditional teaching methods in rural areas. They also mention the potential benefits of AI in education, such as the ability to learn another language through virtual reality and using YouTube for learning. Overall, the conversation covers a range of topics related to the challenges and potential benefits of electric vehicles, the capabilities and limitations of artificial intelligence, and the potential impact of AI on education.







____







Transcript:



And, we’re gonna get into some tech stuff. Okay. But I, I, I want to go from the tech side of the Super Bowl commercials. I, I didn’t talk about Super Bowl commercials once yesterday. Wow. Um, The biggest takeaway and ear ears, it was 7 million for an ad this year. . And the best one, I need to raise my prices.



You do? Oh my goodness. The best one I saw was the dog one where it went through the, and, and I can’t even tell you what the product was. I mean, there’s a lot of that. Yeah. People spend all this money for these you to talk about the dog commercial. Well, but you walk up to somebody on the street and go, okay, hey, what was your favorite Superbowl commercial?



And they’ll go, um, you know, kinda like the, the thing Leno used to do jaywalking. Oh, right. And it’s like, Hey, what was your favorite Super Bowl? Um, uh, the Clyde’s Dales or the Pepsi or the Doritos. It’s like, okay, there were no Clydesdale. Right. I people don’t remember the products. They don’t, they don’t. So I, I think it was a dog food farmer’s dog or something, or something like that for, uh, the dog one.



But that was, that was the best commercial I thought it was. Touching. It was just, it was, I just puppy and this girl as crazy as, as this is, and people don’t throw tomatoes at me. I did not see the game this year. You didn’t miss much. I, I watched the la I act, I will say I watched the last two minutes. Hey, if you saw the holding penalty, you saw the whole game.



All right. I did see the holding penalty. That was it. Which wasn’t that Phantom and it, but karma. It wasn’t a, and I, I, I couldn’t even hear it. I’m, I was, I was walking through a casino and and they had this, the screens on and I’m, I’m watching this and then I’m You’re in Vegas? Yes. During the Super Bowl.



Yes. Which is betting central for the the game. The game. I was in a cafeteria afterwards. Well, a little food court thing and the bets that people were talking about that they made, I’m like, you gotta be kidding me.

The episode discussed various topics related to agriculture, starting with the potential lawsuits against Roundup for being a carcinogen and the increasing role of technology in agriculture, particularly in precision agriculture. They also talked about the use of genetically modified crops and the controversy surrounding non-GMO foods, as well as the emergence of new crops in North Dakota. The development of new technology for agriculture, such as robots that use lasers to kill weeds and pests, was also discussed, along with the potential for the development of autonomous farms in the future. The impact of technology on the family farm and the small-town banking system was mentioned, along with the early adoption of technology by family farmers. The episode concluded with a conversation on autonomous farming and lawn maintenance and the benefits of having autonomous lawnmowers.



__



Transcript:



It’s funny, they just mentioned Alexa. Yes. Today is of course Tech Tuesday.



I’m Steve B along with Marlow Anderson, my guru of Geek Co-host national day calendar.com. Don’t forget to celebrate every day. We’re gonna talk about National Day Calendar coming up in just a minute cuz you had a really good idea. And I, I think businesses and everybody should look at National Day Calendar a little closer and follow it.



Really follow it because it makes a difference in your business model. It does, but we’re gonna get to that. So did you catch the promo about. You can follow us on Alexa? Yes. And so did you catch Alexa’s prediction for the Super Bowl? No. For what? World War iii? No. Yeah, like 1223 at 6:05 PM It, it’s video of asking Alexa, when’s the world gonna end?



And World War iii. Wow. 1220. That’s Alexa’s artificial intelligence prediction. Yes. Wow. Then it, you think of Skynet is real and they already have a date. And little bit actually it came out, the video was on TikTok. What does that tell you? Yeah. It, somebody staged it. So the world’s not going to end.



Despite all the reports out there that you might be reading or hearing about, that Alexa has predicted that the world is, world War II is gonna take place. Which you can actually, yeah, you can tell, you can have Alexa repeat whatever you want it to repeat. It is actually a setting for that.



Really. Yes. So you can go in and say whatever, and it’ll come back in Alexa’s voice and repeat what you said. So it would be pretty easy to stage something like that. I was gonna ask you about this cause my wife Wendy, she’s got a fitness watch , she’s got an Apple watch on her wrist and.



over the last week or two. We’ve been having conversation. All of a sudden it’ll start chiming in. Cause no, we’re not talking to you . But it’s listening to you. But it’s listening That’s right to everything you say. Everything you say. I’m like wait a minute. Did they change some settings or, I’m like, it’s not done that before, but maybe so it just listened and kept its mouth shut now that Yeah.



Yeah. Maybe there was a update or is it actually trying to coach you in your conversation? Yeah. Say Steve, say, I love you. It’s keying in. Maybe it’s ahead of Valentine’s Way. All right. Or your watches are talking to each other and Wendy’s watch realizes I don’t have one.



No, I got dumb watch. Oh, okay. No. I thought about it. That would be the thing. Your watches would talk to each other and it would say same. We don’t have to. Your significant other is upset with you right now.

STEVE



 I’m sure you saw some amazing stuff at ces.



MARLO



Yeah. 



STEVE



We’re talking about that a little bit. But one of the things that you were also famous for, and I just mentioned it, NationalDayCalendar.com. Check it out. You were on CBS Sunday morning and that finally aired, I gotta cut ’em a little slack. You were bumped for the Pope and Barbara Walters.  But you aired and a little bit of buzz is going on with the calendar now. 



MARLO



Yeah, it’s been crazy since Sunday morning. I don’t want to say that we weren’t prepared, but I guess we weren’t prepared. I thought we’d see a little bump in traffic and, I get a couple media mentions or whatever, which is typical for the National Day Calendar. 



STEVE



It’s been a nice platform and a little bit of national media attention and, holy crap. 



MARLO



On a national level, telling the story of how we came to be and all of that, was really cool. And, I think, the cool thing around that story too is coming from a small town, in Mandan and Mandan was highlighted nicely in the piece. And I just think that there’s just something about that. I’ve always said that National Day Calendar is a grassroots thing. And I think, having CBS’s Sunday Morning come here and actually show that grassroots is Americana. I think just really, that National Day calendar and this whole movement of Celebrate Every Day comes to the heartland of America. And I don’t know, I just think that there’s something all about that, and I think that’s why. It’s just, I can’t even tell you the craziness that it – I can tell you some things, but the craziness that’s happened in the last 48 hours because of that piece, it’s just unbelievable.



I already have a little bit of a following in Switzerland. I have no idea how this happens. I feel I’m the Jerry Lewis of Switzerland because I walk in there and everybody’s, Hey Marlo’s here. Hey, will you interview me? And I – it’s the Tech Ranch. And they’re like, what? What is this?  I only got a couple of interviews done on Saturday in there and I told them I’d be back tomorrow morning to finish up with everybody I walk in there of course, and they’re just like, “Hey, we see you this morning on the show.” And it just was a whole nother level of buzz around that. And I was walking down the street and people would come up to me cuz they watched it that morning and, so it was a little different.



STEVE



Yeah. I’m trying to figure out why Switzerland?



MARLO



I don’t know. I did some interviews with them last year and they got some play nationally. 



STEVE



So I think that’s probably why. And then people from Switzerland will listen to the you and me, it’s not because you’re your own autonomous neutral country, 



MARLO



Maybe, I don’t know.



STEVE



So the question I’ve got is, explain the booth part because a lot of people may not know. So you say you walked into the Swiss booth. What’s a Swiss booth entail? What’s that look like? 



MARLO



So, they’re called pavilions actually. So the French have one. The Ukraine has one. No Russia this year, by the way that I’ve seen anyway.

JASON



We gotta talk about the world of innovation. And Marlo, I want your take on this because in my opinion, this has gotta be. At least in my world as a wordsmith, one of the most disruptive technologies that has entered into the American workplace in a long time, and it’s the rise of artificial intelligence. People might be thinking, wait a minute, are you talking about Terminator type artificial intelligence? No, folks, I’m talking about customer service, artificial intelligence. Marlo, you’re familiar with that? Aren’t you?. 



MARLO



It’s amazing what’s going on, and I think it’s a good time to talk about this because people are, just like you and I making plans for 2023, what technologies are we gonna invest in? All of that stuff. And yeah, the rise, not the rise of Terminator here, but the rise of artificial intelligence and how we’re gonna be using it in 2023 is astonishing. That is, it’s just unbelievable what has gone on that the public has access to now over the last two months. And with CES just around the corner. I’ll be there next week. 



JASON



And now what’s c ces? Sorry, what’s c? . 



MARLO



So the consumer electronic show. A show that’s been going on in Vegas. It’s the world’s largest technology show. There’ll be a few hundred thousand people that will be in attendance. I think they introduce 200,000 new products at this show every year. And I was doing the math on this a couple years ago, not to get sidetracked, but I know you and I are gonna be all over the place today with this stuff. But there’s 10,000 media that attend this event as well, which is one of the largest media events in the world as well.



And 200,000 new products. , if you do the math on that, that means that every person there that’s in media would have to report on what, 20 different new products just to cover all of them. And of course there are –  I’ll do 200 stories out a year in the next couple weeks. It’s a lot of new stuff and it’s just, it’s boggling how much you think everything has been invented. We haven’t even got started yet. I’m telling you right now. We haven’t even got started yet. 



JASON



Incredible. Where is CES and when is it again? 



MARLO



So it’s in Las Vegas. It’ll run January 5th through the eighth. So it’ll be next week. But actually there’s a lot of events that start in front of that, especially since it’s a Thursday through Sunday this year.



So starting on Monday already, I’ll be in a lot of different type of smaller events that are going on. There’ll be a lot of press-only type of things to introduce new products and get interviews and that type of thing. Expect a lot of stuff from me coming out in the next couple weeks.



JASON



So when we’re talking about, talk radio and the different types of programming and our target audience and demographics and all. That’s actually one type of artificial intelligence, and we can certainly get into the geo-artificial intelligence, if you are the geo-tracking, the eye in the sky, and you know that, that way you know exactly where to get the best cup of coffee, right?



That’s the whole idea. The other side of it that I want your take on before we take our first commercial break here coming up is in my world, the wordsmithing world, because the article that I was reading the other day from MIT ...

MARLO



So anyway, they got in this conversation about television and my mom was complaining about. how expensive it is to have cable, and my daughter-



STEVE



We all do that. Yes. 



MARLO



Yeah. My daughter Kayla goes, well, I don’t pay for cable. My mom was like, well, how does that work? And she starts talking about streaming and the next thing you know, I’m putting the internet out at my mom and stepdad’s place.



STEVE



Wow. 



MARLO



Not for computer usage, but so that she can have Netflix and Hulu! So I thought, well-



STEVE



Why don’t you just get her a Roku stick or-? 



MARLO



Well, I decided on a TV that’s connected. You know, smart TV. So at the same time, I got her a little Chromebook. And she started finding out about Facebook and she loved that part of it. And my stepdad was very ill at the time. I put in a couple of Amazon Alexas and under the guise that you guys can just talk to this. And my stepdad fell in love with it immediately because he’s an old Western movies guy, loves the old music from that era of the fifties and the sixties, the Cowboys and whatever and he could just say, play Gene Autry and this thing would actually play Gene Autry. He was just like, you know-



STEVE



Now, now, now, you got me thinking. It’s like, huh. Christmas gift for my father-in-law this year.



MARLO



Yes. Well, so this gets to that. But my hidden agenda here was that they would have a way to communicate. My mom’s a little stubborn. Like I said, my stepdad was ill. He passed away a couple years ago and when I was setting this up, I set it up to their phone system as well. There was an adapter that you could get, that you could adapt a landline phone. Because she actually still has a rotary phone.The rotary phone that I grew up with, Uh, well it broke down a couple years ago. They came out and replaced it with a rotary phone. 



STEVE



Nice. 



MARLO



She pays a lease on this thing and they actually, they must laugh about this. $8. It’s still on her wall. It’s so great. And anyway, so I bought this device, it was like a hundred bucks to attach it to her Alexa. I get this weird phone call at seven o’clock in the morning and I’m like, I’m looking at this and I don’t answer because I think it’s a spam call then there’s a message that was left and it, and my phone transcribed it and it said, my name – Marlo. And then call 9 1 1. And I’m like, what in the world? What kind of message is this? And I start thinking about it and I’m like, did my mom fall or something? And then just at the same time, the phone rings again and I pick it up this time and it is my mother and she has fallen and- 



STEVE



Okay, now you think of the life alerts? Alexa, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up. 



MARLO



Yes. But she doesn’t have a life alert again. She’s got Alexa. She, she’s a little stubborn this way. But I put these Alexas in her house for this reason, just in case something were to ever happen-



STEVE



You are a good son 



MARLO



-and she actually used it and it worked.

MARLO



So anyway, they got in this conversation about television and my mom was complaining about. how expensive it is to have cable, and my daughter-



STEVE



We all do that. Yes. 



MARLO



Yeah. My daughter Kayla goes, well, I don’t pay for cable. My mom was like, well, how does that work? And she starts talking about streaming and the next thing you know, I’m putting the internet out at my mom and stepdad’s place.



STEVE



Wow. 



MARLO



Not for computer usage, but so that she can have Netflix and Hulu! So I thought, well-



STEVE



Why don’t you just get her a Roku stick or-? 



MARLO



Well, I decided on a TV that’s connected. You know, smart TV. So at the same time, I got her a little Chromebook. And she started finding out about Facebook and she loved that part of it. And my stepdad was very ill at the time. I put in a couple of Amazon Alexas and under the guise that you guys can just talk to this. And my stepdad fell in love with it immediately because he’s an old Western movies guy, loves the old music from that era of the fifties and the sixties, the Cowboys and whatever and he could just say, play Gene Autry and this thing would actually play Gene Autry. He was just like, you know-



STEVE



Now, now, now, you got me thinking. It’s like, huh. Christmas gift for my father-in-law this year.



MARLO



Yes. Well, so this gets to that. But my hidden agenda here was that they would have a way to communicate. My mom’s a little stubborn. Like I said, my stepdad was ill. He passed away a couple years ago and when I was setting this up, I set it up to their phone system as well. There was an adapter that you could get, that you could adapt a landline phone. Because she actually still has a rotary phone.The rotary phone that I grew up with, Uh, well it broke down a couple years ago. They came out and replaced it with a rotary phone. 



STEVE



Nice. 



MARLO



She pays a lease on this thing and they actually, they must laugh about this. $8. It’s still on her wall. It’s so great. And anyway, so I bought this device, it was like a hundred bucks to attach it to her Alexa. I get this weird phone call at seven o’clock in the morning and I’m like, I’m looking at this and I don’t answer because I think it’s a spam call then there’s a message that was left and it, and my phone transcribed it and it said, my name – Marlo. And then call 9 1 1. And I’m like, what in the world? What kind of message is this? And I start thinking about it and I’m like, did my mom fall or something? And then just at the same time, the phone rings again and I pick it up this time and it is my mother and she has fallen and- 



STEVE



Okay, now you think of the life alerts? Alexa, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up. 



MARLO



Yes. But she doesn’t have a life alert again. She’s got Alexa. She, she’s a little stubborn this way. But I put these Alexas in her house for this reason, just in case something were to ever happen-



STEVE



You are a good son 



MARLO



-and she actually used it and it worked.

MARLO



A lot of things have really ramped up in the last week about flying cars. So, a little bit later on the show we’re really looking–



STEVE 



So we are really that close to the Jetsons?



MARLO 



We’re getting there. It’s actually amazing what’s going on right now. 



STEVE 



Actually, it was funny, during the break. Again, during the break, you were showing me some pictures of NASA. I’m like, wow, that’s really cool. There’s the moon and what’s the celestial body over there? I’m like, and I’m trying to – it’s not round. It’s like an asteroid. I was just, this tiny little speck off in the distance. I’m like, oh, wait a minute. Scratch the screen. What’d you have for breakfast this morning?



MARLO



A bagel.  



STEVE



Okay. I’m thinking it might have been the bagel 



MARLO 



With a little cream cheese next to it, right? 



STEVE



That would’ve been the milky way



MARLO 



Yes, we are now around the moon. Orion is there. This is, I love this. Last night they were interviewing people from NASA. One of the NASA directors said the team is giddy about how well Artemis One is performing. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard the word giddy ever come out of anybody from NASA before. 



STEVE



It’s like watching an episode of the Big Bang Theory except grown-up. 



MARLO 



They said the imagery coming back from the dark side of the moon is stunning.



STEVE So were there Decepticons? 



MARLO



No Decepticons 



STEVE



Chinese?



MARLO



No Chinese. 



STEVE



Yet. 



MARLO 



Yet. So the closest they’ve been, maybe they’ve been 80 miles away from the lunar surface. So you never know.  So the next time it goes up, it will actually have astronauts, but they will also not land on the moon. And then later this decade we’ll be putting people back on the moon to start building a moon base. 



STEVE 



They were doing a story on what they were gonna deploy from the next moonshot.. And they started talking about base, how some of that technology was based off of some old technology because the old technology had worked so well. And I forget the name of the rover, but they brought up a rover that was supposed to do a 60 day mission on Mars and it’s still chugging along. 11 years later. It’s still fully functioning.  



MARLO 



Supposed to have a short lifespan as well.



STEVE 



So when you put up a solar powered anything, it really functions well. 



MARLO 



Yeah. You’re oh, I forget what they call it, the most efficient solar arrays we have on the planet right now probably operate at about 30%. So anyway, we’re getting way off the topic here again but Artemis is working like it should, Orion is now.

STEVE



We were talking a little bit about politics and I’d mentioned the shortage of diesel fuel, because according to national stores we’re down to 21, 22 days of supply left. 



MARLO



Yeah. 



STEVE



Because of what’s been going on with the strategic reserve and all kinds of stuff, and it’s a little daunting because the world stops for most people when there’s no diesel, because that’s how we ship.



MARLO



Yep. 



STEVE



That’s our connectivity to the supply chain, and we know what happened with the supply chain earlier this year. So, a lot of focus has been taken off of other places. But, if you go back a month and a half, two months ago leading into this political cycle, there was a lot of discussion on climate change and that was a push and now it’s fallen by the wayside because they weren’t getting traction politically with the climate change narrative. So we’ll come back to that after the election, I’m assuming. But, things come and go as it meets political and I say this all the time. It frightens me when things get politicized that are agendas and when you politicize an agenda, then bad things happen. I’m not a fan of that, but you have some legitimate climate change tech. 



MARLO



Yeah – and I wouldn’t – this article that I’m bringing you or quoting you from here is gonna be the articles based around climate change but it really is more about producing more energy, more electricity, and that is actually the takeaway for me here because I don’t think anybody can argue the fact that we’re using more and more electricity.



STEVE



Absolutely. 



MARLO



The only reason that we haven’t gone up in the last seven or eight years is the conversion of regular lighting to LED that has actually leveled the playing field for seven to eight years. But if you look at the rate of consumption of electricity, moving up to 2013, 2014, the amount of energy that LED saves is just enormous. We’re plugging more things in. We all have more devices that we’re using.  



STEVE



Just look at a smart house. The connectivity in every bit of connectivity is using electricity.



MARLO



That’s correct. So, regardless of how you feel about electric vehicles, and even if they’re gonna get off where they’re at right now and really make a significant impact in the world – we’re gonna use more electricity. So, this is interesting to me. Ocean current power. The amount of potential energy in Ocean’s currents is five terawatts. So that’s about five times the energy generation capacity for the whole U.S. So if they can tap into Ocean Currents, then we can basically solve the energy crisis which is interesting.



STEVE



I read – and this was 20 years ago, maybe – an article on producing electricity from tides. The take of the article though, where what they were going after is how to, because you have to be careful and if you screw up tides, bad things can happen. So, you don’t wanna screw with Mother Nature too much. But the take on the article was an opportunity to generate energy from, say, a hurricane. We just take a look at what had happened with Ian down in Florida. Now if you’re able to stop that tide, that flow, whether it’s a net system.

STEVE



Is that work or, I’m on social media–



MARLO



Right. 



STEVE



I use LinkedIn a lot for my day job. 



MARLO



Yeah, I do too. 



STEVE



Is that considered social media or is that a quote-unquote “productivity” and everything? But that’s everything. It’s all encompassing. The lawsuits, the mental health, the lost productivity, all of that goes into that. But it brings up a great point. the gray area. For me, I use LinkedIn a lot for my day job. And do you consider LinkedIn social media?



MARLO 



Of course. 



STEVE 



Okay. So it’s also a tool that’s replaced email in a lot of space. 



MARLO



But you could make the same argument for—



STEVE



So, is email social media?



MARLO



I don’t think it’s in the same realm, so I’d say no. Because that’s more of a direct messaging type of scenario—



STEVE



But there’s an evolution—



MARLO



There is. 



STEVE



—that has taken place. 



MARLO



Yeah. Because like you—



STEVE



But for me to go to work in the morning and sit there, and I never viewed that as productive. Sitting there, going over emails for an hour. And so you talk about the productivity side for me, that wasn’t productive. 



MARLO



It drives me nuts, too. In fact, I have a person that’s almost full time handling my personal email. Isn’t that insane? 



STEVE



That’s okay in the business place. But, okay, if I’m on a social media platform and we’ll say LinkedIn, which is a business one that I use a lot. I’ve skipped over emails because my good lord, I can’t read all this . 



MARLOI think a lot of people have. You have email right? But if they really wanna get a hold of you-– 



STEVE



If you wanna get a hold of me. I tell everybody—



STEVE & MARLO



Text me. 



MARLO



Or, but a lot of people, I mean our younger people aren’t using text like they used to either. So they use their social media platform. What I’ve noticed—



STEVE



Messenger, Snapchat. 



MARLO



All of it. Instagram, TikTok. TikTok now has—



STEVE



It’s Russian. I try not to go there.



MARLO



It’s like you and I have to have, we have to be gurus of all the things. Because I have people that talk to me strictly through Facebook. I have somebody that I’ve been corresponding with about sponsoring a curling team. But it’s interesting. He’s contacting me through, Twitter my old cohort on the Tech Ranch. he’s a Facebook guy too but we always talk through Facebook, so we were messaging each other back and forth and I have some people that text me or message me through Twitter and now it seems...

STEVE



And some of the things I wanted to talk about, I was reading through this and Marlo, you mentioned during the break a little bit we’re talking about Apple chargers and that kind of dovetails into one of the articles. So let’s talk about the chargers first. So, the European Union has come out with a dictate. It concerns Apple and there’s a little dark side to this that you brought up, and we’ll get into that. But, on the surface this should make a lot of Apple users happy. One of the big headaches with Apple, my wife’s an Apple user, I’m not, but every time she gets a new phone, she’s gotta get a new charging cord. Or because they change it with every phone. 



MARLO



And you could maybe say the same with Android too. Maybe not as often. USB-C‘s been around for a couple years now. 



STEVE



Yeah, once I switch to C, I’m sticking with C. That’s it.



MARLO



You can stream video through it. So, you can hook it up to your television. It’s like an HDMI in that regard. It’s very universal. So, the European Union has stated that by 2024, all smartphones and all tablets have to use USB-C. There is no other exception.



STEVE



And we’ve heard rumblings of that. Talking from the United States that it was coming. So, now that the European Union’s done it, I’m guessing it’s gonna come a little quicker in the United States.



MARLO



It’ll be interesting to see if this comes about and it could be the one caveat that we were just talking about where, 



STEVE



Cause that’s the one of my box checkoffs when I’m looking for a new device is, does it have C? 



MARLO



Right. But a lot of people don’t think about it until you bring it home and you’re like, “oh my goodness” –  it’s got another different one. The challenge that I have with this, now, I like this because I’m the same way as everybody else. I hate carrying all the different chargers. The Show more...