ADVENTURES WITH AIRBNB

A‌i‌r‌b‌n‌b‌,‌ ‌I‌n‌c‌.‌ is a company based in San Francisco that operates an online marketplace and hospitality service for people to lease or rent short-term lodging from holiday cottages to hostel beds. Airbnb is a home rental platform with a simple premise–connect homeowners to customers looking for short term rentals. Airbnb does not own any real estate or conduct tours; it is a broker that receives percentage service fees in conjunction with every booking. The company has over 5 million lodging listings in 81,000 cities and 191 countries and has facilitated over 300 million check-ins.

The company idea came from founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia in 2007 after the two were looking to rent space in their San Francisco apartment to help them afford the cost of rent. In 2009, they brought on Nathan Blecharczyk as chief technology officer, and Air Bed and Breakfast was born. In 2009 the company re-branded and changed it’s name to Airbnb. becoming a permanent service in the “sharing economy”.

Success for Airbnb didn’t come easy. The company almost folded. One afternoon, the team was pouring over their search results for New York City listings with Paul Graham, trying to figure out what wasn’t working, why they weren’t growing. After spending time on the site using their own product, Gebbia had a realization that a pattern was taking place with similarity between 40 listings in the area. The similarity is the photos sucked. People were using their camera phones or using their images from classified sites to post photos of rentals. People weren’t booking rooms because you couldn’t see what it is that you were paying for. Graham tossed out a completely nontechnical solution to the problem–travel to New York, rent a camera, spend some time with customers listing properties, and replace the amateur photography with beautiful high-resolution pictures. Without having actual data to prove the photo theory, the three-man team grabbed the next flight to New York and upgraded all the amateur photos to beautiful images. A week later, the results were in and by improving the pictures, revenues doubled $400 per week. This was the first financial improvement that the company had seen in over eight months. They knew they were onto something.

VACATION RENTAL BY OWNER

AUTONOMOUS RACING

One could be forgiven for thinking that Tesla is the only company in existence building autonomous, or self-driving, electric vehicles. The Elon Musk hype machine, fueled by the fanboys at Futurism and other tech sites, has been in overdrive lately.

The United States has not been the leader in the sales of electric vehicles since 2014. That title goes to China, where investments in Chinese self-driving and electric vehicle startups has accelerated. As of 2017, there were more than 40 companies not named Tesla testing self-driving vehicles on the road.mon

China has the world’s biggest population at 1.3 billion people and the world’s second biggest economy at $11 trillion. The population boom in China has brought its own kind of bust in the form of pollution that’s thicker than the haze at a 420 rally in Boulder, Colorado. Those new middle class households all now own cars, creating a chaotic choke hold on the country’s highways and byways. With a ballooning middle class with money to burn, the Chinese want to invest their money and become the leader in artificial intelligence and robotics. It’s no wonder why the Party through its semi-capitalist system is pushing toward quiet and clean technologies. Visit here And, if you’ve ever spent more than five minutes in a vehicle in China, you would appreciate the concept of self-driving vehicles.

Leader of the Pack

The top-8-funded Chinese automotive startups today include companies building electric and autonomous vehicles:

* NIO – Founded in 2015, the brand has become synonymous with the company’s official name, NextEV. The company picked up a cool $1 billion last month as part of a Series D. Earlier this year, its sporty, electric model EP9 claimed the title as fastest self-driving car in the world, reaching a speed of about 160 mph without a human behind the steering wheel.

* BAIC BJEV – A state-owned venture, the company reached $1.6 billion with the Series B model. BJEV is a smaller unit of the larger BAIC Group, a state-owned enterprise and holding company for automobile and machine manufacturers headquartered in Beijing. In fact, about two-thirds of the investments come from government-backed enterprises. Founded in 2009, BJEV is one of the largest EV companies in China, with 30,000 vehicles sold during the first half of this year, according to China Money Network. The company is reported to have has a post-money valuation of $4.2 billion.

* WM Motor – Founded in 2015, this Shanghai-based company has picked up $1.15 billion in disclosed investments. WM Motor hopes to begin selling a sport utility EV by 2018, with an eventual capacity to manufacture 100,000 vehicles per year, according to Reuters. Shen apparently has a fetish for zee Germans. The WM stands for Weltmeister, the German word for “world champion”. The cars will reportedly even incorporate German technology, including tech from Bosch and Siemens. This company also made our list of EV startups to watch.

* LeSee – Developed by Beijing-based LeEco, a global Chinese internet company, LeSee is an autonomous EV concept project backed by about $1 billion in investm...

The generation gap cannot be more apparent than in Technology. Today we will explore that gap with our two in-studio guests, Jefferson White and Nick Ressler.

Baby Boomer vs. Generation Z

Jefferson is a recent graduate of Legacy High School in Bismarck. He is spending the summer working at Awesome 2 Products. He grew up in the digital age and considers himself to be very tech-savvy and scholarship to study in usa can also get you the best education out there. Nick is the computer repair technician at Awesome 2 Products. He is also significantly older than Jefferson and grew up in an era where televisions and telephones were luxuries in households. Jefferson and Nick have both experienced operating new technology. The difference between the two is Jefferson was born during a time when technology was beginning to take off. Nick, on the other hand, remembers the first time he used a computer or cell phone.

Finding a balance between generational gaps and technology presents many obstacles for the older generation. Technology changes so quickly and it’s hard to keep on top of those changes. Older adults often lack the ability to adapt to technology and it’s changes because they are barely learning the current technology. This episodes compares two points of view between different generations and how each generation feels about the use of modern technology. It also visits the question of how much former technology the current generation is familiar with. Take care of your knees, get cissus quadrangularis. Get more info here.

If you would like the “Guru of Geek” to do a product review and have it featured on The Tech Ranch, let us know! Leave us a comment on this episode or call 701-204-6674 for more information.

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Tech Talk Even A 3rd Grader Could Understand

 

Broadcast Date June 25, 2018 Episode 323

Clean Energy In North Dakota

Lightspring, LLC launches reliable, technically sound, and efficient solar farms. The enterprise uses solar energy to generate electricity on tracts of dormant or existing agricultural land. These methods break from traditional power generation means such as fossil fuels, hydroelectric and nuclear.

Someone You Should Know

James Kambeitz, ​​Public Relations, Media, & Information Technology Advisor: James Kambeitz is an experienced communications specialist, working as a film director, editor, scriptwriter, public speaker, television and radio producer. James directed, shot, edited and produced over 500 television programs. He has a Master’s Degree in English from the University of North Dakota and Post-graduate work in Cinematography at the prestigious Polish National Film School in Lodz, Poland.

James is a fourth-generation North Dakotan. He is a life-long clean air advocate who promotes clean energy, sustainability, local agriculture, music, art, culture and small businesses in Bismarck-Mandan. James is a volunteer for the American Lung Association of ND Board of Directors as well as actively  He has been a member of the local groups Urban Harvest, BisMarket, Go Bismarck-Mandan, the ND Film and Media Association, local CSAs (community supported agriculture) like  Riverbound Farms.

Dr. John Bagu, Public Relations:  Dr. John Bagu has a passion for clean energy and clean transportation. His family house was the largest solar producing entity in Fargo for 4 years and he has the first inductively charged EV in North Dakota with the best interior decorators working for them. He worked on the Fargo/Cass County Comprehensive Energy Study that discovered the Fargo community spends $607 million-$774 million every year on energy (depending on the price of gas). He created a 30-Year Energy Freedom Plan that would make Fargo & Cass County free of air pollution and save $8 billion in the process. This calls to us, the average people, to make out own plan and make a difference in saving non-renewable energy sources and prevent them from repleting completely. An energy comparison of a measure of how much your house consumes energy would throw light on many aspects and help significantly in devising your own energy-saving plan.

If you would like the “Guru of Geek” to do a product review and have it featured on The Tech Ranch, let us know! Leave us a comment on this episode or call 701-204-6674 for more information.

Join the “Guru of Geek” Marlo Anderson and “Tech Geezer” Jim Walsh every week for a new episode of the Tech Ranch.

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Tailgating and Drones, Solar Power and Drones, the Economic Impact of Drones and Agriculture and Drones.

Broadcast Date June 18, 2018 Episode 322

AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE NEWS

Autonomous vehicles are here to stay. It comes as no surprise that car manufacturers will begin to mass produce autonomous vehicles in the near future. General Motors (GM) is already building autonomous versions of the Chevrolet Bolt EV on a production line in Detroit. Beyond sheer numbers GM also makes a wide range of vehicle types and sizes into which self-driving technology could be used, said Brian Moody, an executive editor with Autotrader. Meanwhile, Waymo, the self-driving car division of Google parent company, Alphabet (GOOGL), announced it was strengthening its relationship with Fiat Chrysler (FCAU). Waymo already uses about 600 Chrysler Pacifica plug-in hybrid vehicles to test its autonomous driving equipment. Waymo recently announced it would use up to an additional 62,000 Pacifica vans in its fleet, all planned to be wrapped with branding features – see Fleet Wrap HQ in Denver for the way it’ll look like. Waymo plans to begin offering a driverless ride-hailing service in Phoenix later this year. Stay tuned for more changes and advancements with autonomous vehicles.

Oh, Canada!

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Kanata North Business Association (KNBA) is pleased to announce the development and launch of Canada’s first Autonomous Vehicle Technology and Innovator Directory in collaboration with Invest Ottawa and the Canadian Automated Vehicles Centre of Excellence (CAVCOE). The first of its kind, this unique and valuable resource will provide a comprehensive overview of the growing number of contributors to the Canada’s AV ecosystem. This will include innovators, companies, post-secondary institutions, and other organizations with AV technologies, Ninja Tech Deals, solutions, and know-how. The Directory will be an open, community document (hosted in Google Sheets) to be populated initially by KNBA and InvestOttawa with Kanata North and Ottawa based AV companies to start. The Directory will be shared with local and national community partners and promoted broadly to ensure continued sharing and awareness. Access the Directory here. The Directory will be available on the Ottawa AV Cluster website – a central resource for all AV related information, announcements and events.

Working collaboratively, the Kanata North Business Association, Invest Ottawa, CAVCOE and the City of Ottawa as well as researchers and academics at Algonquin College, Carleton University and Ottawa University – all bring the awareness of the emerging connected car and AV technologies, products, services and applications. The best way to make sure these applications a running great is by doing a pci test to run the proper diagnostics.

The Curious Case of Disruptive Malware

The FBI recently recommended rebooting home and small office routers that could have been infected with disruptive malware, allegedly by sophisticated state-backed Russian hackers. An estimated half million routers and network-attached storage devices have been infected. But even the FBI acknowledges this step will only “temporarily disrupt” the malware. When you want to advertise your business on the web, the best is to order Outreach Kings Backlinks first.

If you would like the “Guru of Geek” to do a product review and have it featured on The Tech Ranch, let us know! Leave us a comment on this episode or call 701-204-6674 for more information.

Join the “Guru of Geek” Marlo Anderson and “Tech Geezer” Jim Walsh every week for a new episode of the Tech Ranch.

Uber, Chrome, Apple & Mars

Broadcast Date June 4, 2018 Episode 320

This show is particularly charged with information and will introduce many of our listeners to a field of expertise we probably rarely, if ever, think about. We also consult with the investigation hotline to make sure that the business is legal.

Most days, Scott Fisher can be found troubleshooting electrical grounding and conducting preventative inspections. Other days, he is researching the topic to learn as much as he can. As Operations Manager for Sustainable Grounding Systems for Lyncole, Scott provides electrical grounding and safety systems expertise in the Bakken Oil Field in North Dakota (and across the country). To Scott, lightening is a lucrative business. So what exactly is Scott’s job?

Scott Fisher spends his days performing hazard risk assessments to gather data through observation, testing and interviewing employees to administer a plan for electrical safety and grounding. Oftentimes, during storms, lightening strikes the ground near facilities, causing electrical currents to become disrupted. Phone lines, automation, electricity and even aerospace are all impacted when currents aren’t grounded properly. Electrical motors, especially those operating in oil country, are very sensitive to surges, which are most often caused by things like lightening. Many companies, even those recently built, may not be able to handle a transient current strike. Scott says when companies face problems as a result of transient currents, the result can be costly for repairs. The best way to those avoid costly expenses is through preventative measures. Did we mention Scott’s dad, Paul Fisher, invented and manufactured in Boulder City Nevada, the “Fisher Space Pen,” a zero gravity writing instrument patented in 1965 as the “AG7  anti-Gravity Pen,” used by NASA and the Apollo astronauts.

If you would like the “Guru of Geek” to do a product review and have it featured on The Tech Ranch, let us know! Leave us a comment on this episode or call 701-204-6674 for more information.

Join the “Guru of Geek” Marlo Anderson and “Tech Geezer” Jim Walsh every week for a new episode of the Tech Ranch.

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Crude Technology

Broadcast Date May 21, 2018 Episode 318

Autonomous vehicles are rolling towards us at an amazing rate.  Even autonomous flying cars will be fluttering in our skies in just a few years.  With that said, you don’t have to wait to start using autonomous technology.  On today’s show, we are going to review our top picks of autonomous mowers and vacuum cleaners.  We will also chat about amazing advances in autonomous farm machines.  We will also be joined by a representative from PhotoSpring to talk about an amazing way to share photos and videos with loved ones.

Event cancellation insurance, it is one of the most overlooked forms of insurance cover that a professional might shop for. Most new business owners and event coordinators never look at the strengths and weaknesses of having this kind of insurance. Having this type of insurance can save you thousands if not hundreds of thousands if your event has to be cancelled for any reason. Imagine the money you would lose if you put thousands into an event that brought you absolutely no revenue. To prevent thousands of event coordinators from losing their shirts there is a range of companies that offer varying degrees of event cancellation insurance for your protection. You can see it here for more about the Cancellation Insurance.

If you were throwing an outdoor concert for several thousand attendees as a benefit for a certain charity and you have ten famous artists at your event, what would you do if it started to rain at the event? Probably no much right because that kind of thing happens all the time, people will just hang out in the rain and watch the concert anyway. If you had a headliner who cost you forty thousand dollars to have attended your fund-raising event and that person called to cancel because he or she has a throat infection, what would you do? This might prompt you to cancel your event entirely.

Event cancellation insurance is created for just this very reason. Cancelling a multi million dollar event, or even an event of several thousand, can be devastating for your business and your reputation. To avoid the possibility of financial ruin as a result of cancelling your event, it is always recommended that you apply and pay for some cancellation cover. The price of the cover is minute in comparison to the amount of money you could be losing if you did not have the cover. Save yourself both the money and your reputation by being smart in the first place. Pay for the event cancellation insurance to ensure you are covered from all sides, legal, cancellation, and property damage.

Mission InSight Ready for Take Off

After a journey of 300 million miles, Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) will head for the surface of Mars on Nov. 26. The mission: Take to take a sonogram of Mars to hopefully reveal the planet’s size of the core, thickness of the crust and properties of the mantle. If all goes well, a heat shield, parachutes and a rocket engine will slow InSight to a safe landing in a flat plain just north of the Martian Equator known as Elysium Planitia.

When A Frame Meets An Album

PhotoSpring is both a digital photo frame and a digital photo album. It displays an entire collection of photos or you can select photos to be displayed as an entire album. The product automatically displays photos collected from your smart devices or computer. You can share photos and albums with family members through their PhotoSpring.

Weeding Out The Best

It’s no real secret at this point the future many of our least favorite jobs will be automated. While the pessimists routinely tout automation as the inevitable downfall of our entire economic structure, the optimists see the other side of this same coin.

Do reviews influence how you purchase items online, check in at a hotel or eat at a restaurant? Even tho there are sites that sell incredible good products online like Oddbins, We will chat about how reviews can influence us and the impact they can have on businesses. Computer and smartphone sales are down, which is why prices are going up. Will this trend continue? Yes, our devices are spying on us. Find out how they are spying on us, who is doing this and what you can do to protect yourself.

Secret Asian Man

The mobile security firm Krytpowire uncovered Chinese malware on as many as 700 million budget Android devices. Hidden in a benign support app, the pre-installed, third-party software would secretly send full-text messages, contact lists, call history, location data, and other sensitive information to a server in Shanghai every 72 hours. The head of the FBI has warned that the Chinese government may be spying on U.S. citizens who use smartphones made by Huawei. The intelligence chief told the Senate intelligence committee American telecom companies should be cautious of Chinese technology companies that have links with foreign governments.

Review 101

How often do you use reviews to help you make a decision before hiring a service or purchasing a product? The Internet has made it easier for us to research our future investments and purchases. Customers are more likely to choose something if they see a positive review. Customer reviews help drive traffic and improve company ratings. Internet Ads help companies review data to decide what works and what doesn’t. Believe it or not, bad reviews have been known to help companies too. Benefiting from bad reviews only happens when companies address issues or complaints to rectify problems with customers.

Common customer review sites

* Angie’s List – Lists reviews for local businesses and services.

* Bing Places – Allows companies to add their information to become searchable on Microsoft’s Bing.

* Epinions – A consumer review site for products.

* Facebook – The largest social network in the world and if you don’t have a page on it for your business, you need to create one as soon as possible!

* Foursquare – Started as a social network in 2009 that let users “check in” at different landmarks and businesses.

* G2 Crowd – The leading provider of B2B software reviews online. That may not sound like a big niche, but it’s worth billions.

* Glassdoor – The biggest site on the Internet for reviewing employers. Here, your products and services don’t really matter — it’s how you treat your employees.

* Home Advisor – The biggest competitor of Angie’s List. They specialize in reviewing home services.

* Manta – An online directory service that’s grown surprisingly quickly since its founding. It mostly operates as an alternative to Yelp, and the format of the site is almost identical.

* OpenTable – A restaurant-specific business directory designed to show users t...

Have you ever wondered how social media companies like Facebook make money? Today, the Guru of Geek Marlo Anderson and Tech Geezer Jim Walsh discuss why people should be concerned about the data found in your social media accounts.

Steve Wozniak, Co-Founder of Apple, made a big move to get away from Facebook. His biggest reason was Facebook wasn’t forthcoming in notifying users their data was being sold. Wozniak told USA Today “Users provide every detail of their life to Facebook and … Facebook makes a lot of advertising money off this. The profits are based on the user’s info, but the users get none of the profits back.”

Somewhere in the fine print of signing up for Facebook is a clause stating your personal information will be shared and sold to a third-party. If you clicked “agree” you should have known what was happening. Except no one really read the fine print. Who would have assumed the free Facebook service wasn’t actually free.

Most people don’t give a second thought about agreeing to the terms and conditions of using apps on Facebook. Why would you? It’s fun to see who you were in your past life. Unfortunatley, each time an app is used, the data of your personal profile provides app creators information about you.

People are are ignorant of the fact that there is an exchange for using the apps. App usage is all about gathering data to sell to other companies. We see this in the news today concerning politics. One could argue Facebook was the defining piece that won the election. People shouldn’t be surprised about what has happened. You are the product. If you don’t like the outcome, stop agreeing to use apps on social media.

TidBits

Alexa can now broadcast voice to every echo your house. You can call the kids to dinner. You can use Alexa to get the attention of household members in a different location in the house. No more screaming “Dinner is ready”. Sync Alexa to your smartphone to account and make phone calls. The Guru of Geek praises Alexa as the best device ever used for conferencing.

Curious Gadgets & Gizmos:

* Driverless rideshare services;

* Hyperloop test faze;

* Elon Musk and The Boring Company;

* Huddy;

* Driving glasses; and

* Glow Bowl.

Is Big Brother Watching Thru Smart Devices?

If you would like the “Guru of Geek” to do a product review and have it featured on The Tech Ranch, let us know! Leave us a comment on this episode or call 701-204-6674 for more information.

Join the “Guru of Geek” Marlo Anderson and “Tech Geezer” Jim Walsh every week for a new episode of the Tech Ranch.

Broadcast Date April 9, 2018 Episode 312

Get your smartphone ready for some note taking. The Guru of Geek Marlo Anderson visits with Rockin’ Dave Blair and Tech Geezer Jim Walsh about ways to save and make money using your smartphone. The Guru of Geek is going to help justify why he uses a cellphone. We’re not sure if he is trying to convince or listeners the benefits of paying for our data plans, but his points are valid.

In 1995 the average landline cost was about $62 per month for a home. This cost often included long distance calling, which is the main reason people began switching to cell phones. Today, the average cell phone cost is about $60 per month. However, the cost depends on the data plan you choose. The more data you need, the more the phone bill will cost. Have you ever wondered if your return on your investment has paid off?

Taking full advantage of the features on your smartphone will allow you to get the maximum value. Let’s explore common features and add value to your service to see where you stand with your current smart phones. 

Performing micro tasks using a smartphone is becoming easier as technology evolves. In the time we spend waiting for appointments, we can earn cash. The second half of The Tech Ranch offers tips on how to earn money using a smartphone.

Apps That Help You Earn Money

* Swagbucks – Lets you earn free gift cards for taking surveys, watching videos and shopping online.

* Inboxdollars – Pays you to read email, shop online and watch videos.

* MyPoints – Receive gift cards from places like Amazon, Ebay and clothing outlets by earning points made on purchases.

* Panelpayday – Earn up to $150 for taking a survey.

* Mindswarm – Get paid $50 for answering 10 minutes worth of questions using video response.

* Receipt hog – Flexible receipt scanning apps to earn coins to redeem for cash.

* Shopkick – Earn points for everyday shopping just for walking into store and scanning items. Price collection.

* Mobee – Mystery shopping that can be completed in 5 minutes or less.

* Nelson Digital voice – Earn points to convert into cash for every hour you use your smartphone.

* AppNana – Get paid to download, test and review apps.

* Foap – Let’s you sell your photographs online.

If you would like the “Guru of Geek” to do a product review and have it featured on The Tech Ranch, let us know! Leave us a comment on this episode or call 701-204-6674 for more information.

Join the “Guru of Geek” Marlo Anderson and “Tech Geezer” Jim Walsh every week for a new episode of the Tech Ranch.

Broadcast Date April 4, 2018 Episode 311