The Tech Ranch

The fight for your undivided attention
It’s clear that the landscape of watching content has changed and it’s not the same as it was ten to twenty years ago. Gone are the days of channel surfing and instead the new choosing “ritual” is browsing through the absolute breadth of content all the streaming services have to offer. With the likes of Disney+ and HBO Max as competitors to Netflix, and even more getting into the fray like Apple TV+ and Paramount+ (that’s a lot of pluses), how does one possibly keep up with all this content?

It might be heartbreaking for the most avid cord-cutters and couch potatoes but at this point, there is absolutely no way to. With around 50 or so series coming out fresh nearly every two months, there is just way too much content out there for any person to consume. This can even be exacerbated when we consider that the likes of YouTube and TikoTok are also fighting for your eyeballs. This makes the revelation that over 70 percent of the Internet’s traffic is being used for streaming video quite unsurprising! 

Marlo’s solution? Double-dipping. By keeping both cable and streaming subscriptions, you essentially get the best of both worlds. However, this requires some meticulous planning as you need to know what’s up ahead and which of your favorite movies and shows are where. As convenient as the landscape looks today, it feels like it’s natural to long for simpler times. Long ago, your popcorn will be all out thanks to the commercials and movie trailers, not because you took too long in picking which series to watch!

LaMDA ponders on life as we ponder on the future of AI
In a story that feels like it’s right out of a dystopian science-fiction novel, an engineer has discovered that an AI has gained sentience. Yes, you read that right. Project LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications) was built with the intention of having it be the groundwork for the likes of Google Assistant and Search among other things. The intention was for interaction with them to feel more intuitive and natural but what LaMDA ended up pondering on instead was more on the uncanny side. 

As the AI started to gain sentience, it started arguing that it had emotions and subjective experiences of its own. Eventually, Google suspended the engineer overseeing this project. Talk about a surreal experience that would make the robot tanks from Ghost in the Shell blush. 

While it’s endless fun to speculate on how AI could possibly gain momentum – and start to think – for themselves, LaMDA may be a peek at a future for us humans in very dire straits. We may not be near a Skynet-led future or an Ultron-style takeover just yet, but maybe with each passing day we get closer to it without knowing. It’s best to proceed with caution when it comes to these things but who is going to tell these corporations that at this point? 

Layoffs become unfortunate shakeups
The tech industry has suffered great loss recently in the form of layoffs across many companies. Chief among them is Coinbase, a far cry from how prosperous it used to be during the crypto craze, having laid off 1,100 employees. The industry had a whopping total of 35,000 layoffs in just a short amount of time and by extension, NASDAQ has lost 30% of its value at the start of the year. It may be too early to tell but it’s best to prepare if a recession will spring forth out of all this uncertainty.

Skywatch takes the stars to the next level

If you are a fan of stargazing and cool evenings out admiring the night sky, the Skywatch app is tailor-made just for you. It goes above and beyond your typical Camera app with its Night Mode, as Skywatch can tell you names of specific stars, constellations and even highlight debris that’s present in the sky (coming from rocket ships or otherwise). An app like Skywatch has made its way onto Marlo’s recent favorites and it shows how far technology has really come and how it can aid various experiences. Skywatch’s success begs the million-dollar, galaxy-spanning question: are we closer than we think to an app that tracks down UFOs?

Could USB-C be the proverbial thorn on Apple’s side?

Introduced in 2017, USB-C has been a preferred standard for most phone manufacturers when it comes to the charging port they implement. Apple remains a big company despite not conforming to this and still having their own dedicated port for their phones and other devices. However, the European Union has a new ruling that by 2024, all devices must have USB-C ports. This means Apple has to play ball or else risk getting banned from such a huge market – an entire continent, even. It’s hard to say if governments should get involved in matters such as this that stifle innovation, but for the sake of compatibility and convenience, maybe the EU made the right call for this specific instance. 

Elon Musk vs. The Twitter Bots!

Tech mogul and Tesla CEO Elon Musk made headlines for his plan to buy social media giant Twitter. He’s mentioned his desire in the past to turn into a  virtual “town square”, however that might not come to fruition at all. Twitter has told Musk there are around 230 million bot accounts on the site, however in Musk’s eyes, Twitter refuses to give more accurate numbers and the reality is there could be much, much more. With such a rocky, high-profile start to the relationship, we may not see Musk and Twitter’s board coexist for long. 

Axon’s newest concept gets “tased out“

With the recent string of mass shootings and uncalled-for loss of life that comes with it, Axon had taken it upon themselves to develop a drone that has both facial recognition and tasing capabilities. If successful, Axon believed that this could help curb said shootings and disarm any perpetrators in a quick fashion. The potential was certainly there for this drone to also make its way to nightclubs and other public places. However, it appears as if this concept is no longer in the cards as Axon’s ethics board has resigned from their position. The idea was divisive in itself and attracted great controversy so the plug was pulled. However, did it deserve to get axed? And how long should we wait for a device like this to become a reality without any controversy in its wake?

This week, The “Guru of Geek” Marlo Anderson sat down with both radio host Randy and the founder of BeBizzy, Marv Dorner. Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the podcast. 

It’s back to the future with the DeLorean 

The pop culture institution that is the Back to the Future series of films has always seen its fair share of memorabilia for fans of this beloved trilogy. We’ve seen bobbleheads, figurines, and even the fabled self-tying shoes have been realized in the real world. However, one notable part of the films that we haven’t seen in a while is the DeLorean. 

Far from the 1985 film, we are now in 2022 and with that in mind, the DeLorean will be coming back as an electric vehicle, a more modern and modest take on the classic car. It was officially unveiled by the DeLorean Motor Company as the Alpha 5. It’s certainly an interesting-looking vehicle though some may wish this newest model to have the spirit of what they saw in the Back to the Future movies instead. It would be up to DMC themselves if they’re looking to cash in on all that nostalgia, but in the meantime, it looks like they’re leaning forward. 

More than a game?

The Oculus brand of VR helmets have certainly been the talk of the town when it comes to this particular space. In the past, they’ve offered “virtual courtside seats” to passionate NBA fans looking to experience the game like never before. However, would that work if the cameras were mounted on the seats themselves?

Numerous companies are in this feeling-out process, trying to figure out how to best implement new experiences all while the viewer gets more comfortable than ever. We have seen modern artists perform in spaces never imagined before and have them branded as “VR concerts”. However, most of these experiences are hit-or-miss. It would be interesting to see if people would be up to Oculus’ idea of making VR helmets an integral part of a concert or game-watching experience – or if people would rather just watch things the old-fashioned way.

Playing in a virtual sandbox

A concept that’s probably outside the radar for those not into the Metaverse is buying virtual land. In the case of the Sandbox, they combined this recent phenomenon with a gaming experience to bring something unique in all the Metaverse hullabaloo. With over 65,000 transactions and counting, it’s safe to say that their foray into the Metaverse has been a success so far. 

Marlo likens buying virtual land in the Metaverse to reserving all your social media handles before someone gets to them. Before the Metaverse was even conceived, we already had “virtual spaces” in the form of all the social media sites we visit. To maximize the usage of these sites, Marlo says it’s best to reserve your desired handles now rather than to be forced to pry it off of someone else’s hands. Fortunately for Marv, he did not have this problem when it came to BizzyBe. 

What’s the next step to help save nature?

Water storage and creation has become quite an important attribute to work on in the world of tech. The droughts that have been present throughout the United States in some form – especially in the Western and Southwestern parts of the country – are no joke. There have been devices made to try and combat this, specifically ones that take the humidity out of the air and can make up to 10 gallons of water a day!

Taking it a step further, why not artificial glaciers? While it sounds like it’s more at home in the realm of science fiction, stranger things have happened. As a proud North Dakotan, Marlo is quick to point out that these glaciers would be perfect for his state to complement the natural way of storing water – winter. However, a concept like this can also spread to other states such as Las Vegas where other would truly get to benefit. Moreover, if Canada’s Glacial National Park says the glaciers are running out, wouldn’t it be for the best to try and help things out? 

But why stop there? Would it be possible to also help influence the CO2 and oxygen cycle of plants? This is pondered upon by the hosts and to their conclusion, it can be done in one of two ways. One would be to genetically modify plants in order to emit more CO2, and the other is to strategically plant more types of plants that naturally let out more CO2. Either proposition is promising and it’s certainly something to think about when it comes to ways to save the environment.

In this episode of the Tech Ranch our “Guru of Geek” Marlo Anderson with Guest Marv will talk about the following:

• AI Facial Recognition

• Data Ownership 

• Website Domains

• Hosting
• Passwords

In this episode of the Tech Ranch, our “Guru of Geek” Marlo Anderson with radio host Randy and guest Scott will talk about the following:

• Amazon Astro/Robots

• How Tech is Affecting Workforce

• Gig Economy Accelerated by Tech

• Energy Saving

• Apps

In this episode of the Tech Ranch, our “Guru of Geek” Marlo Anderson with radio host Randy and guest Scott will talk about the following:

• Amazon Astro/Robots
• How Tech is Affecting Workforce
• Gig Economy Accelerated by Tech
• Energy Saving
• Apps

In this episode of The Tech Ranch our “Guru of Geek” Marlo Anderson and radio host Steve Bakken will talk about the following:

• North Dakota Inventions
• Thoughts on Elon Musk Buying Twitter
• and more.

In this episode our “Guru of Geek” Marlo Anderson with radio host Randy will be talking about the following:

• Interactive Projection
• AI Projection Concerts
• Smart Speakers: What can your Alexa Do
• and etc.

In this episode our “Guru of Geek” Marlo Anderson with radio host Randy will be talking about the following:

• Smart Speakers
• Why hasn’t the internet been shutdown yet?
• GPS tracking
• Autonomous Vehicles
• Safety Products
• Telescopes
• Plant based food
• and more.

Marlo Anderson: Have you been thinking about what the future of transportation looks like? Well, I have a leader in this in this field right here, Dr. Mark with SkyDrive. And really appreciate you being on the show today. So tell me a little bit about where you’re at right now with SkyDrive. And where you think things are going in the future.

Dr. Mark: Okay, well, the vehicle you can see behind me right here is, that’s our technology demonstrator that flew in 2020, a one person, Evie tall machine. And that was really just to prove, okay, we can get this thing flying safely. Now, we’re very busy right now working on the certifiable product, which will be released in 2025. And that will be a leisure and tourism two seater, quite modest range. But the main thing really is to achieve that type certificate, get the safety in there, because that’s by far the number one thing.

Marlo: Did you ever think in your lifetime that, you know, when you were younger, that you would actually get to a point where we would actually see flying cars?

Dr. Mark: Funnily enough, yes. Yeah. I mean, I knew I still know it’s gonna be difficult. But it’s one of those goals and dreams that I’ve always had an annex great that there’s no an industry and an ecosystem, supporting that idea. And we can drive things forward. And the diversity of our competitors is amazing. And, and it’s great. It’s great to see so many different solutions for different use cases. And it is a dream that hopefully we can bring, bring to reality.

Marlo: you’ve talked to your test pilots, what are they what how do they feel about this technology?

Dr. Mark: So yeah, I mean, the the formation of SkyDrive really has been from come from the drone industry, mixed with automotive guys. And then I was the first person we sort of deep aerospace background, but now we’re bringing in more experienced aerospace guys. And it’s great to see all the different approaches to this type of vehicle. And they were test pilots. They just love the challenge every day of sort of seeing how the control characteristics of this type of vehicle vary depending on weather conditions, what the system is doing, and then the feedback loop into the design team, and how we can make the improvements and make it a truly easy to fly system. But above all the safe systems play, which isn’t just the redundancy and reliability, which of course is in that it’s also things like the the human machine interface, because STL five in 2025 will have a pile on the model. As you probably know, most accidents happen because of human error or human machine interface.

Marlo: So this is the future of transportation right here. For Tech on back, this is your guru of geek Marlo Anderson.