Not To Be Technical

A plethora of new product releases and features are hitting Spotify, like audiobooks, music videos, Netflix show integration, lyrics and video podcasts. We dive in, but first... 

• Nafis & Charlie recount their Black Friday retail therapy & hauls (2:25)
• Using the app Splitwise for sharing costs (6:28)
• Why Black Friday saw a reversal of the growth trend of recent years, but really it didn't (10:28)
• Gripes with sizing and final sales, like Charlie either looking pregnant or fit as hell with shirts that are the same size at lululemon or Nafis hacking the shoe game by buying women's and big kids' shoes (16:03)
• Amazon's growth in logistics and how they are trending to become the largest US package delivery company by the end of the year (21:00)
• The ever growing resale market and how used or "like-new" clothing, tech and furniture sales are growing at a fast rate and retailers are now offering used items (29:10)
• Jack Dorsey's resignation from Twitter and what that means for him and the company (and their unrealistic goals) (41:40)
• Spotify removing the shuffle functionality from the album play button and Charlie doesn't like Adele (51:15)
• Spotify acquiring Findaway, an audiobook company, to compete with Audible (55:05)
• The Netflix Hub, which aggregates soundtracks, podcasts and playlists related to their shows directly in Spotify (58:00)
• Vertical Music Videos coming to Spotify in a new Discover tab (1:03:42)
• Integration of Lyrics and real-time lyric videos in Spotify (1:04:22)
• Podcasters can upload video for their episodes on Spotify (1:05:40)

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The guys are finally all back together, just in time for Thanksgiving. We go through some trending tech and some interesting stats for Thanksgiving and Black Friday, but first

• Charlie is back from vacation and we find out how the hell he is (1:00)
• The Uber of Car Rentals, Turo, is discussed, which includes a hypothetical, disastrous use case with a Lamborghini (2:35)
• Nafis shares a hypothetical story where he damaged a car he rented in the parking lot of a Starbucks (14:15)
• Poll results from people who sit vs stand when wiping (17:12)
• Fat Charlie Content?!?!?!?  (21:40)
• Shopping Organic vs Non Organic Products (we find out Charlie and Gary hate organic peanut butter with a passion) (26:25)
• With the chip shortages going on, Samsung will announce building a massive ~$17 billion chipmaking plant in Taylor, TX, today potentially (29:48)
• Apple's aggressive new timeline for Project Titan, their fully driverless electric vehicle they want to release by 2025. (32:55)
• JPMorgan's $162m lawsuit against Tesla, and Elon Musk threatened to give them a one-star review on Yelp if they go through with it. (38:53)
• Discussing if we ever leave Yelp/Google Reviews and how we suggest analyzing reviews online (41:00)
• YouTube's removal of the dislike functionality & count and we try to understand the unique way Gary finds the right videos on YouTube based only on like to dislike ratio (45:17)
• J.M. Smucker building a $1.1B plant to produce more Uncrustables, since they did $365m in sales this year (55:15)
• Gary gives us a peek into his list of pet peeves, including fitted bedsheet issues (57:39)
• The guys have the most exciting, impressive, latest data and projections on  Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping this year from the least surprising article ever (1:00:39)
• A lil bidet talk with the boys (1:10:30)
• What we're grateful for (1:14:02)

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In the first episode without Charlie, hosts Gary & Nafis touch on how to prepare for Black Friday with resources to use for tracking deals. Some of the websites recommended are Slickdeals, Kinja Deals, FatKidDeals and various subreddits. Going old school and utilizing newsletters. Leveraging Google and coupon websites like RetailMeNot. Cashback tools like Rakuten and Honey. Gary recommends are-tins, more commonly known as rtings. Camelcamelcamel for price tracking on amazon and other websites. How hard it is to get a PS5. But first, 

• We find out how the hell Gary is (2:45)
• Posting Fat Charlie content is still being debated (7:32)
• Updates on our recent polls: 
  • Returning liberally and recklessly on Amazon (9:10)
  • Having ferrets as pets (15:24)
  • If anyone even likes Banana Republic  (16:43)
• Our Mount Rushmore of Thanksgiving Food and the rare, first double Mount Rushmore selection (19:58)
• The chip shortage has made some car manufacturers, like GM, save on chip parts by removing heated car seat functionality (29:19)
• Gary and Nafis shared their love for heated toilet seats and bidets (30:55)
• The classic debate of Standers vs Sitters has entered the chat  (32:00)
• Burger King has acquired Firehouse Subs for $1 Billion (35:37)
• The shortage of retail workers and the never before seen benefits/bonuses retailers are providing entice new holiday workers (37:05)
• Gary and Nafis share why they both have Macy's Credit Cards (44:25)
• YouTube's new live streaming shopping solution that is meant to sell products live using influencers (45:50)

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This episode dives into Virtual Fitting Rooms. What they are, how they work, Virtual Realty (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) use cases, benefits for both retailers and consumers, our first jobs as teenagers, body scanning, AI powered clothing suggestions, data of different age ranges and how they shop for clothing (online vs in-store), Bitmojis and Rent the Runway starting at (38:50). But first,

• IKEA highlights from Nafis' first time there (3:08)
• A refresher on a glizzies (5:22)
• Returning Amazon items, like Halloween costumes, when you are done with them (7:16)
• Nafis (aka The Dark Mode Nazi) is back with stats about how popular the dark mode is (10:50)
• Amazon is now allowing users to pay with Venmo (15:52)
• Facebook planning to open physical stores to sell their Metaverse relates devices (18:15)
• Anonymous Listener #3 flexes her Oculus VR Headset (18:50)
• Reminiscing the good old days at  Brookstone stores, we find out if they are still operating in 2021, the Frog-O-Sphere controversy and the moving ferret aka weasel balls (20:35)
• Charlie goes off on Ferrets as pets with his hot take, while Nafis hates birds as pets and Anonymous Listener #3's family had an indoor domesticated iguana as a pet (25:05)
• Elon Musk polling on Twitter if he should sell 10% of his Tesla Stock (worth $21 Billion) and abiding by the results (33:35)
• More importantly, Nafis shares that Grimes and Elon Musk have broke up (36:28)

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Facebook's name change to Meta and the concept of a metaverse are discussed in-depth. We discuss why they changed the name, Mark Zuckerberg remaining the lizardman face of the brand, what a metaverse actually is, Virtual Reality (VR), examples of what a metaverse could look like in the future and Nafis needing to hug people in any metaverse. But first, 

• Nafis and Charlie discuss their failed costume idea for Halloween, running into an ex and impromptu costumes as Plague Doctors (2:05)
• Nafis following Charlie's exes on Instagram (10:53)
• After four years of silence, Nafis posted on his Instagram account for the first time for external validation - shoutout to photographer @theonlychriswilliams @cbwilliamsphoto (12:22)
• Poll results on Charlie's Drunk Uber Chronicles Part 2 from last episode (13:57)
• The long-awaited Fat Charlie content is still not here (15:32)
• 2021's 10 Most Popular Halloween Costumes based on Google Data (17:38)
• McDonald’s promoting the return of its McRib sandwich with NFTs (24:58)
• Spotify is now the top podcast platform in the US, reaching 28.2m podcast listeners per month, surpassing Apple Podcasts (27:22)
• LinkedIn finally launched a marketplace for freelancers within their platform (32:50)
• Apple’s privacy changes on mobile have cost Facebook, Google, Snapchat and Twitter $10 Billion Dollars (36:14)
• Zillow’s "iBuyer" home-flipping business is shutting down due to poor forecasting/execution with their algorithm and they had to fire 25% of their overall workforce (39:42)
• Facebook shut down its facial-recognition software which powered the auto tagging of user photos  (44:00)
• Our Facebook & Metaverse topic starts at (44:00)

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The guys get into essential purchases for setting up your home office in our 20th (22nd recorded) episode. We'll touch on footrests for short people like Nafis, monitor arms, standing desks, cable management, yoga balls, lumbar support for people with bad backs like Charlie, office chairs, zero gravity desks, notepads, pedicures & docking stations for your laptop starting at (51:18). But first, 

• Part 2 of the Drunk Charlie in an Uber Chronicles from III Points Music Festival in Miami that involves sensual Spanish phrases, glitter, threats of a fight, a 69 cent tip and 1 star ratings (1:52)
• "Fuck What They Say" mask girl poll results (17:52)
• Following up on Fat Charlie content (20:20)
• We reveal our much anticipated Mount Rushmore of Pies (21:38)
• Instagram's "Collabs" (their version of TikTok's "Duets") has been released (32:31)
• Tesla breaking $1 Trillion in Market Cap once Hertz purchased 100,000 Model 3s from them this week (36:09)
• Apple SharePlay (watch movies/shows or listen to music together on FaceTime) is now available with the latest iOS update (45:21)
• Gary sounds older than ever, almost as old as the Chock Full of Nuts coffee brand (47:40)
• Nafis limps in weakly with a lack of information on Apple's addition of vaccine cards in the Apple Wallet (50:03)
• Eventually we get into the main topic of Home Office Essentials (51:18)

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Apple had another event and this time they announced new MacBook Pros with M1 Pro and M1 Max chipsets (we feel this is a worthy upgrade), 3rd generation AirPods, updated Apple Music plans (including one that only lets you play music by asking Siri) and the HomePod Minis (their version of the Amazon Alexa or Google Home). We get into it all starting at (41:15), but first... 

• Updates on the poll regarding Nafis' glasses looking like glasses a mother would pick out for her son in Target Optical in middle school (1:50)
• Nafis experiences Fall for the first time and shares his former red flag of girls who like pumpkin spice lattes (4:30)
• Charlie shares the biggest red flag he encountered on a first date (7:48)
• McDonald's McPlant Burger made with Beyond Meat is coming soon (13:35)
• Nafis claims certain people at the gym always smell like Burger King Whoppers and Gary wants to share a photo of Fat Charlie on Instagram (15:35)
• Squid Game adding 900M in equity to Netflix (22:55)
• Gary's fantasy movie update where he claims everyone he knows gets Hufflepuff on the Harry Potter house quiz and his long awaited review of the Twilight movies (27:00)
• The company that assembles iPhones, Foxxconn, revealed their first Electric Vehicle (may be the first view of an Apple Car concept) (36:30)
• Gary confirms he is indeed interested in purchasing a Tesla CyberTruck (39:46)
• "So, let's get into the Apple Event" - Gary (41:15)

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A listener asked how to tell if a photo is photoshopped, so we share some simple tips, tricks and free tools online to check on a photo. We also dive into how to spot a fake profile, reverse image search, vet a potential catfish situation online and relevant use cases with dating apps (44:55). But first,  

• Nafis is going to be a Bride's Boy (5:32)
• Using an Amazon Alexa or Google Home as an intercom in your home (9:02)
• Our Mount Rushmore of things that are unnecessarily expensive (12:25)
• Following up on The Nightmare Before Christmas poll from last episode (32:18)
• Twitter and TikTok will soon allow you to showcase a verified NFT on your profile (34:20)
• Instagram will now alert users with there is an outage and when it will come back (38:06)
• Instagram is combining all IGTV and regular video posts into "Instagram Video" (38:48)
• A new IG feature called "Take a Break" (42:45)
• We start to discuss the main topic with Anonymous Listener #3 (44:55)
• Charlie opens up about his Runescape romance (49:52)
• Nafis opens up about Snapchat scammers he has encountered on dating apps (56:56)

Relevant Links:

Reverse Image Searching - 

• Google Reverse Image Search (Here's a Guide)
• TinEye
• Yandex

Photo Edit Analysis - 

• ImageEdited
• FotoForensics
• Forensically

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Our first named guest, Steve Assoé (@stevecheldy), joins us (19:45) to go over NFTs for beginners. NFTs (non-fungible tokens) can be anything digital (such as art, graphic design, drawings or literally anything), but a lot of the current hype is related to investing real currency/crypto in art-based NFTs and hoping their value goes up. Steve goes over NFTs in a great, approachable way in this episode. But first, 

• Gary, Nafis & Charlie struggle to pronounce our guest's last name (1:20)
• We debate if the Nightmare Before Christmas is a Halloween or Christmas movie (4:05)
• A recap of our poll regarding the Fiesta Potato Fiasco on our last episode (6:55)
• Facebook, Instagram & WhatsApp going down for nearly a whole day (9:27)
• Frances Häagen-Dazs (11:30)
• Windows 11 is now live and available (16:00)
• Y'all got Google and can look up partitioning a drive (18:00)
• Sora from Kingdom Hearts is the final Super Smash Bros Ultimate challenger
• Steve Assoé Joins at (19:45)

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NFT Related Links from Steve Assoé (@stevecheldy):

NFT platforms where you can only buy with a wallet:
SuperRare
OpenSea
Rarible

Wallet- most popular wallet to buy NFTs on NFT platforms:
MetaMask

Where to look for NFTs:
Nifty Gateway
NBA Top Shot (Basketball NFTs) **

** Charlie's Derrick Rose Dumb Assist Card that sold for $2,249
** Nafis opening a NBA Top Shot pack

Popular platform to mint your own NFT:
Mintable.app

Buy and Sell Virtual Real Estate (Real Life Locations):
SuperWorld

Platform where you can see a few current NFT projects and upcoming ones:
rarity.tools

NFT Projects:
Cryptopunks
CryptoDads

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Charlie, Nafis & Gary dive into the essential devices needed to start a smart home. There's also a bunch of new Amazon products, like Astro, their home robot and other odd smart home devices to discuss. But first, 

• Winter is kind of here in South Florida
• The Mount Rushmore of Soups is built
• Gary shares his iOS 15 update woes and how to pronounce Mojave
• Poll results of Android vs Apple
• Gratitude is shared to two other Nafis Ahmeds that Charlie got to follow the show
• TikTok reaching 1 billion monthly users at the speed of light
• Tesla's full-self driving beta for city streets
• Fast food drive thrus being less efficient and accurate since the pandemic started
• Charlie & Gary share a story of violence and betrayal from college centered around $1 Fiesta Potatoes from Taco Bell
• Twitter's new feature that allows you to tip users with Bitcoin
• Nintendo's Super Mario movie and its star-studded cast
• Smart Home Devices
• Amazon's new Echo devices
• And more 

Smart Devices mentioned: Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Apple HomePod, Phillips Hue lighting, Nest Cameras, Ring Doorbells, Nest and ecobee Thermostats, Smart plugs, Smart TVs with Google/Amazon/Apple integration, Smart door locks, Automated blinds/shades, Amazon's Alexa powered microwave, Smart Mirrors, Smart Showers, Smart Toilets, Sous Vide Smart Cooker, Smart Pet Feeders and the Amazon Astro Robot.
 
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