Foldable iPhones, Robotaxis & MapQuest's Comeback

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The High Tech Texan.
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It's Michael Garfield. To Michael Garfield. Michael Garfield's joining us.
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We have the High Tech Texan. Michael Garfield is here
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with us.
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The High Tech Texan.
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Hello.
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Items to make life easier.
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Shows us some new technology.
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So Michael Garfield has something you might like.
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The High Tech Texan.
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The High Tech Texan.
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Michael Garfield is your High Tech Texan.
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The High Tech Texan.
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I don't want to say we made it because.
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Summer is still here.
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But you know me in the heat. Even a Texas
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boy all my life is not a fan.
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It is the first weekend of September. However and wherever
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you are listening to me, Michael Garfield, thank you so much.
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We didn't make it. Not yet. It's still approaching 100 degrees. Man,
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now it's actually, I think hurricane season has officially started,
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even though it officially started June 1st. If you're down
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in the Gulf Coast, got a little drive-by. Edvard, was
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that the name of the hurricane? I hope everybody in
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my listening audience is safe and tuned in and Ready
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for some football because life as I know it begins
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this weekend. College football is here. The worst, the saddest,
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the most depressing three, four, five months of my life.
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Certainly it's summer, probably in April or May because it
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is hot. And, you know, listen, I don't want to
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complain too much. Yes, I've got a pool. I've got
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two pools actually nearby. I live in an air conditioned edition.
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I got air conditioned car. I travel, but you know, listen,
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I do like to, I'm a runner. I like running outside.
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It is very tough and difficult to run when it's
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a hundred plus degrees in humidity, at least in the
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area that I live in Houston. But also there is
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no football. There is no football.
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Yes.
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When the NBA finals, you know, come around in May
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and June. Okay.
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Decent.
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Just never a big baseball fan. Hockey. Okay. Houston may
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get a hockey team. Whoop-dee-doo. At least to me, I
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don't care. Texas is football. Football is Texas. And we
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are back, baby. NFL, my Cowboys, your Texans, or whoever
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you're rooting for, they begin next week. But if you
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were listening this first weekend of September, it is here.
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It is week one, Texas Longhorns versus Texas State. And
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whoever else is playing, I don't care. And so, life,
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maybe you hear. Maybe you hear a little pep in
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my voice, but I hope you do. I would love
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to hear a little pep in your voice, too. And
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you can do that by joining into this radio program,
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which we then turn into a podcast. Why don't we
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hear your voice, and let's do it online. Thank you
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for following me on Twitter. Thank you for following me
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on Instagram or Facebook, should you not be blocked. High
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Tech Texan, H-I-G-H-T-E-C-H-T-E-X-A-N. In this week's episode of what we
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call the High Tech Texan, and by the way, don't
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be scared. I'm not going to geek out on you.
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You've listened for 25 years, people. I really rarely talk
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about RAMs, gigs, megabytes. No, I'm the new device guy.
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I'm your consumer guy. I'm the guy who talks about
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the newest cereal. I'll throw in a little sports. I
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will be devoid pretty much of politics because that's my longevity.
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That's what keeps me young. And I am going to
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talk about some car reviews and almost, I say almost
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anything you want to talk about. So you go to
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the online, find me on the social media, High Tech Texan, H-I-G-H-T-E-C-H-T-E-X-A-N.
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I'd like to thank my man Callum Reed for working
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on a Labor Day weekend. It's not a lot of labor,
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is it, Callum, to do this show? You know, you
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just kind of push a button, you sit back, you
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listen to my fun BS, and we go from there.
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I will get everybody out of here within two hours.
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I do understand that in some of our affiliates, you
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may be listening to us at your normally scheduled time
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on the stream, which means you can go online to
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your iHeartRadio app and hit, in Houston, for example, 9.50 a.m. KPRC,
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because I believe right now we are broadcasting over the
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air a football game, probably a University of Houston football game.
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And so it's over the air. It's on your app.
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It's on your smart speaker. And that's how we do it.
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Holiday season not here yet. But this is what I
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call Tech-timber. And this is also September. And by the way,
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for you old school people, you know what this month
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means for me. And I know you've been waiting for me.
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I'm four minutes into the show, and we haven't played
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a song yet. You know why we haven't played the song?
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I'll tell you why. Because iHeartRadio is cheap. We have
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no money. We don't have the rights, the licensing rights.
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We don't want to pay money to play real songs.
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And so, sadly, it's up to me to start pretending
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I'm Maurice White of Earth, Wind, and Fire, to start singing, Party, ah,
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and dancing in September. Oh, I miss those days. I
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know you old folks. Dumb Truck Dan, I know you're listening.
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By the way, happy late birthday to you. I played
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that dang song. One of the best songs ever made.
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And it's the freaking September. You have to play September. Callum,
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what happens if we even play like two-tenths of a second?
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You want to try it? Are you going to get fired?
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Am I going to get fired? God, I've done this 25... Yes,
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I actually probably could. Sorry about that, folks, but this was...
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this is September and I wish I could actually play
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the song for you.
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Alas.
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And also here's, I got a guy here's old school.
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I mean, I've been doing this for two plus decades.
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There was a caller. I don't know if she's still listening.
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She's in the Houston area. Her name is September and
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she would call every September asking me to play September
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for her September. I don't know if you are still listening.
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I hope you are doing well. We are sorry we
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can't play September because our company is too cheap. But
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go online, go to YouTube, and actually you can find
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the place. But this is, to me, Tech-timber. Because I
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love the months that end in ER. September, October, November, December.
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Because at some point it's going to get cool. But also,
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it's almost holiday season. Kids are pretty much back to school.
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Certainly here if you're in the south in the Texas area.
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Football season is here. and a lot of new technology
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is released. Right now, what is going on in Berlin,
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it's called IFA, I-F-A. It's an incredibly large technology conference,
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very much so like Consumer Electronics Show, which is in
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Las Vegas every January. I went to IFA two years
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ago in Berlin, and I've only been once. I did
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not go this year, but I am following everything that's
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being released, and they got some interesting things. But you're
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going to be seeing... And you're potentially going to be
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buying some new phones because every year at this time
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of year, there's the new phone announcements. And of course,
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we are less than one week away from the annual.
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Guess what? There's a new iPhone. I really don't get
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jazzed about that because I'm not an Apple guy. That's right.
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I'm an Android guy. So suck it up, people. I
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really don't know anybody at Apple. I doubt I'm going
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to get any of the Apple new products, but the
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rumor is there is a new foldable phone for Apple.
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And I'm going to, I'm going to, I've predicted this
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for years. I'm going to tell you what's going to
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happen this coming week when Apple launches a foldable phone, allegedly.
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People are going to freak out. They're going to lose
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their ever loving freaking minds. Oh my God. How can
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a phone with a glass screen Fold in half. I've
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never seen anything like it. Apple's the greatest genius invention
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product of the world. I've got to go out and
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get one of these things. I'll tell you right now
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to shut up. Foldable glass phones have been around for
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no less than seven to eight years. Samsung is on
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their eighth version. Pixel has them. OnePlus has them. We
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can go on and on and on. All Apple doing
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is they are finally copying it. They waited years and
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years for other companies to introduce it and perfect it.
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Not that it's perfected, but it's going to come out
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and it is going to be a pretty penny. And
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I'm sure it's going to be sexy and I'm sure
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it's going to be unique and I'm sure I'm not
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going to see one because Apple, screw you people, I
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ain't going to get one. Maybe one day if Apple
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opens up their eyes and their ears and actually lets
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me play with some of their products, I actually may
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give it good reviews and sell more across Texas and
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across my listening audience. But simmer down. It is going
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to be expensive. And there's more phones coming out also
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from other companies that I'm talking to you off the ledge.
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So those are some of the things that I'm going
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to yap about between now and the next, oh, one
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hour and 45 minutes. I'm going to take a break.
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And when we come back, I'm going to talk about
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one of the biggest controversies. That is happening in the
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United States and Canada right now. And I'll leave you
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with this question. The tease of the hour. Is it
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Lake Ontario or Lake America? I have my answer. Coming
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up on the High Tech Taxi Show. Happy September in
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lieu of us playing the September by Earth, Wind &
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Fire bump music because we at iHeart just don't have
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the money for the licensing rights. Normally you would hear
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that bump, so feel free to hum and sing it
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yourself while you're listening to me, Michael Garfield. We call
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this the High Tech Texan Show. I call it whatever
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Michael wants to yap about. If you're not listening to me,
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I hope you have at least one ear on my
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show and the other ear on one of your favorite shows.
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football games because football is back and I'm actually excited
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about that. If I were to ask you to take
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a rando guess as to the number one app currently
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on the App Store, And we'll go even Apple's App Store.
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What would you think? Because the answer is what's old
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is new. Listen, there are millions of apps. Look at
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your phone. I'm going to guess a typical, I don't
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even know the average, how many apps a person has
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in their phone. You probably have 40 apps. You may
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have 100 apps. Not surprising. And there's old apps, there's
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new apps that are released all the time. I have
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my favorite apps. Listen, an app, if you think about it,
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the phone, the telephone, the button with the icon of
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a phone where you hit it and then you dial
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10 numbers to dial somebody, if you dial a one, okay?
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That's 11. That's an app. The camera on your device
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is an app. The text... little messaging button, is an app.
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And I always play a game like, what do you
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think your most used app is? And people forget that
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the phone, that the camera, and that text are actually
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apps on your smart device. Yes, thank you. See, I
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keep things real. I probably use my text in my
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camera and then my phone in that order. We've become
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a texting world. Yes, we have. But anyway, when you
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go get a free app or when you go purchase
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an app, this news kind of blew me away because
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there is an app that came out so many years
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ago that I didn't think people still use, rose to
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number one, moving up four spots this week to number
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one on Apple's App Store. You ready for this? Here's
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a name for the past, my friends. MapQuest. MapQuest, the
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navigation map app. Not Google Maps, not the traffic map
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like Waze, not Google Earth. And there are dozens and
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dozens of map apps. MapQuest, one of the first years ago.
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is number one. And why did it rise to number one?
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Because they got cojones. They actually are standing up and
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doing something, and I hate talking politics, that's kind of like,
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you know what? Screw you to the United States government.
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I will tell you, MapQuest rose to the number one
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spot on Apple's App Store because they refused to change
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late Ontario's name to Lake America on its platform following
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President Donald Trump's executive order on the matter last week. Yep.
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Just because they said ain't gonna do it. People started
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downloading MapQuest. I love that story. The number one free
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app on Apple's App Store this week said it would
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continue using the lake's historical name despite the president directing
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the U.S. government to recognize the body of water that
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sits between the U.S. and Canada as Lake America. Background.
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Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office. He
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directed his administration to change the name of Lake Ontario
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to Lake America because he threatened the action for days
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because there's an escalating trade war with Canada. All right?
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And we went through this with the Gulf of Mexico,
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Gulf of America shtick a few years ago. By the way,
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what do you call the Gulf of— I mean, in Texas,
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mostly where my listeners are, do you call it the
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Gulf of America or do you call it the Gulf
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of Mexico? And the sad part is it's a political thing.
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If you are a MAGA Trumpster, and good for you,
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should you be the MAGA Trumpster, something tells me you're
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Gulf of America, man. We're going to go take our boat.
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We're going to drive down to Galveston. We're going to undock,
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and we're just going to go out in the Gulf
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of America. No problem with that whatsoever in my mind.
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Okay?
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But I grew up. Listen, it's tough to change history.
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And there are names of bodies of water that we're
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debating here. And I grew up, like most people in
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the world grew up, and we learned the 50 states,
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and we learned the bodies of water, and we learned
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the nine planets, which went to eight planets, which may
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be back to nine planets right now. I kind of
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forget where that thing is. And I'm sure, I don't know,
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I cannot believe there's not a 10th Trump planet, but
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guarantee he'll find one before he gets out of office.
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But he signed the order to actually switch Lake Ontario,
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because it does border the United States, to Lake America.
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Can one person just do this? And it's an actual question,
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but it's a rhetorical question. And again, I am not
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making fun of the presidency. I absolutely respect the office
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of the president of the United States. All 40 plus
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presidents we have. But is there a cartographer? Is there
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the map keeper of the world? Is it the descendants
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of Christopher Columbus? Is it the world... is it nato
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don't they have to kind of come together instead of
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just i don't know the president changing it who owns
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actually the gulf of america who owns the gulf of
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mexico i mean it's a body of water is it
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whose territory i mean these are all rhetorical questions i
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don't need you to chime in but let's get back
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to map quest map quest did the same thing When
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Trump said, hey, we're going to go to the Gulf
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of Mexico, MapQuest said, uh-uh, we're not doing it. And
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they actually made a game out of it. MapQuest launched
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a map generator that let users name your own gulf.
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I mean, if it's that easy, I want to name
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something the Gulf of Garf. Lake Garf. I mean, it
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reminds me of the very first Superman. The first Superman
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was the 1976, 77, 78, Christopher Reeve. It was Lex
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Luthor was Gene Hackman. And then he had a henchman.
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Lex Luthor had a henchman. Was it Ned Beatty? He
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played a guy named Otis. And Lex was going to
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take over the United States of America. And there was
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a map of the United States. And it was going
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to be called Lexworld or something. And Otis, his little fat, idiot,
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stupid henchman, played by Ned Beatty, he took a little
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portion of the state of California and he wrote with
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like this Sharpie on this map, Otisburg. He was just
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going to name it for himself. I will never forget that.
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I mean, it's a free-for-all. Why not have a name
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your own generator? Meanwhile, before we get out of here,
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Google Maps, they did officially change the lake's name from
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Lake Ontario to Lake America. But get this, only for
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users in the United States. So if you're in Canada
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or anywhere else around the world, and you're looking at
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lakes in the U.S. or near the U.S., you're going
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to see Lake Ontario. But if you're in the United States,
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it's Lake America. I'm sorry. I feel sorry for kids
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who are learning geography right now. I feel sorry for businesses, hotels,
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boating companies who have properties or who have vessels on
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that lake. who have named, oh, why don't you rent
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a boat from the Lake Ontario Company? We've been around since,
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you know, 1942. I think I have to rename the thing.
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Something tells me in about two and a half years,
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everything's going to revert back. All will be calm. All
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will be well. What do you call it? And by
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the way, Apple, Apple Macs, Maps, they're also sticking to
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Lake Ontario. But then again, who uses Apple Maps?
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Never.
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Canada doesn't like it. I don't know. It's just too
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dang confusing. I'm so happy I'm not in politics, and
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I'm just a big old mouth who's been doing this
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for two and a half decades. Michael Garford here. Coming back,
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I'm going to tell you what I did last week,
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the busiest week of my entire year. Not that you
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care that I was emceeing and moderating and hosting a
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panel that took three days that had to do with
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a little portion of AI. It had a lot to
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do with a and the restaurant industry, but I learned
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a lot about AI, of how it is affecting other industries.
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I'm going to talk about that and how it could
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affect your industry, along with, uh-oh, another driverless option vehicle
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company coming to Texas. Do we need more of those?
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We have so much fun to talk about here. Garf
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is the nickname, Lake Garf, right here at the High
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Tech Texas Show. Happy Labor Day weekend. I'm sure you're maybe,
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you know, you're watching college football, potentially in your pool.
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It's still pushing 100 degrees, but the fact is that
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you have one year right here on the High Tech
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Texan Show. I do appreciate it. Michael is the name,
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Michael Garfield. I'm not going to give you the phone
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number because you're too busy drinking and sipping, but if
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you do want to hit me on X, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,
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if you're an blocked, always high-tech text and H-I-G-H-T-E-C-H-T-E-X-A-N. I
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will read your name and trust me because I've been
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doing this for two and a half decades. Just because
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your name or your voice is on the radio does
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not make you famous. Does it make you a celebrity?
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Sometimes it makes you annoying, as I have heard from
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so many of you listeners out there. But we are
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continuing to give you all the consumer fund information. I
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did back-to-school gadgets, recommendations, phone calls, answered a lot of
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emails in August. We're kind of in the middle. We're
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in the middle of the transition area of back-to-school and
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the holiday shopping season. We've got a number of of
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new announcements of new products coming out this coming week.
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There will be a new announcement for new Apple products,
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including the rumored... And by the way, if Apple rumors something,
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it's actually true. A foldable phone. Don't get too excited
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because this is at least eight to nine years that
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foldable glass phones have been out. Anxious to see. We
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should play a game over under price tag. And there's
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going to be... there are probably going to be several
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different iPhones announced. There will be a foldable phone. There'll
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probably be a few different versions of Apple's foldable phone of,
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you know, how much storage does it have? An example.
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I say the lower end model of the Apple foldable
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flip phone, whatever they're going to call it. I am
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going to go over under. I'd like to say $ 1, 400.
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I will not be surprised if it's $ 1, 600 in the
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low end just because the price of memory, the price
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of RAM right now is really, really expensive. And so
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my guess is we'll be talking about this next week.
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Orders will probably start immediately and then you can start,
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they'll start being delivered and everybody in your office or
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all your neighbors are going to come up with the
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phone going, are you kidding me? Have you ever seen
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a foldable phone? And you're like, shut up. Garfield's been
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talking about these things for eight years because they've been
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out for eight years from Every other manufacturer except Apple.
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It took Apple eight years to catch up. But by
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the way, congratulations. Apple has a new CEO as of
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last week. John Ternus, I think, is his name. He
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took over for Tim Cook. Tim Cook did a phenomenal job.
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I will give Apple that. Taking over from Steve Jobs,
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who will always be a legend in the world of
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business itself, much less just a tech company. But Tim
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Cook took that company from a very good company to
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an astronomical company of revenues, brands, of assets, of stock.
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So Tarnas, who's kind of a hardware guy, and he's
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been with Apple for a while, it's interesting. They're putting
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him in charge of the first launch of the foldable phone.
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I wonder if Tim Cook is kind of ticked about that,
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that he didn't get to be the CEO under his
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watch when something, I guess, unique coming out of Apple
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actually came out. But That's neither here nor there. One
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place where Apple actually needs to really shore up its
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business is in the world of AI. I'm not going
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to say I was slow in the batting wagon to
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get on artificial intelligence. It's been around for a while.
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But at the low level, and I say low level
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with all due respect, that so many people are using
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AI more than they're using Google search right now. Artificial intelligence,
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we know the We know the LLMs, which is the
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large language model. Those are the apps, those are the
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websites like ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, Samsung Gemini. Those are
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the apps, for lack of a better term, that we
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have on our desktop that we have on our phones
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where they could do everything from answer every single question
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to give you, you know what AI is. And I
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didn't start out by covering that two years ago, maybe
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as I should have. But I'm following it now because
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I'm doing more and more panels, speaking, deciphering it. And
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maybe a year, you know what I'm talking about, maybe
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four months ago, and people still are scared. Should we
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be scared of AI? And that was the title and
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that was the theme that I used to talk about.
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And maybe it was, and I'm not here for clicks,
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I'm not here for virality. But it was like, should
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we be scared? We're past the point of being scared.
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I mean, should we be scared of foldable phones versus
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is it going to take market share away from regular phones?
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I mean, it's an end to a meme. We're still
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going to be able to communicate. Is it taking away jobs? Well,
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I mean, cell phones, mobile phones took away jobs from
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landline phones. Every iteration of a product. It's either taking
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away jobs or it can add jobs depending on how
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companies position yourself. I think AI is getting a rap,
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be it a good rap, be it a bad rap,
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be it true, be it false. It is taking jobs,
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but there's also job creation. Just because you use AI
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for an industry doesn't mean, you know, you have to
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you know, kill jobs because it takes people to actually
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input things into AI. You have to know how to
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write prompts. And some of these prompts are really intense.
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I mean, you've got to write almost paragraphs and paragraphs
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to ask it a question so it can put out
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a proper answer. And I bring this up real quick.
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I'm going to share my week with you last week.
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Last week, I did one of my favorite things that
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I do on a given year. I got the opportunity
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to moderate a three-day conference slash panel. It happened to
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be in Houston and happened to be the Post Oak Hotel.
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And it was put on by a company based in
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Houston called Patrick Henry Creative Promotions. And Patrick Henry is
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a very intelligent, very intelligent gentleman who has a company
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for about 40 years. And he is in the promotion
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company specifically for the liquor, spirits, and restaurant brands. And
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at the highest level, what he does is he takes restaurants,
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big chain restaurants from Chili's, Outback, Dave & Buster's, Texas Roadhouse,
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on and on and on. And he puts them together,
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the beverage managers, the beverage directors, with spirits. White Claw,
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Jack Daniels, Crown Royal, blah, blah. I mean, it just
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00:26:24.579 --> 00:26:26.759
goes on and on and on. He held this conference
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that was packed, 600 people from all over the country,
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hosted them for three days here at the Post Oak Hotel,
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and I was the moderator. And I got to be
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on stage for three days with the CEO of the COO,
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the CMOs of all these companies, from Red Lobster, to
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Texas Roadhouse, to Outback Steakhouse, to Chili's. I mean, these
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are the people who created the margaritas, the El Presidente Margarita,
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how it was created for Chili's and how it became
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multi-multi-million dollar revenue stream. I got to meet some really
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interesting people. And one of the topics, it was how
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is AI affecting the restaurant industry? And you think it's
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a throwaway topic, but it's not. These chief marketing people
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and these executives are have thought a lot and they
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work a lot with their teams to utilize, enhance, but
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also be combative of how AI can help create new items,
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create menus, create new flavors, versus when is AI too much?
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I mean, was it out, was it Chili's? Was it Outback?
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I think they brought some slides. They're trying to create
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pictures of these really cool cocktails that they put on
468
00:27:43.140 --> 00:27:46.180
menus because we love photos on menus. It's like, oh,
469
00:27:46.240 --> 00:27:51.240
I'm hungry. Oh, I'm thirsty. And they took some AI
470
00:27:51.299 --> 00:27:56.099
photos versus actual photos from photographers with a little enhancement
471
00:27:56.119 --> 00:27:59.910
from Photoshop that were done by people. of how AI
472
00:27:59.950 --> 00:28:03.430
can really not make it look realistic. And it's the
473
00:28:03.470 --> 00:28:07.460
placement of the ice in the cup, the placement of
474
00:28:07.480 --> 00:28:10.259
the fruit around the fruity drinks or something. And it
475
00:28:10.420 --> 00:28:13.319
really was just an eye-opening learning experience. And I was
476
00:28:13.380 --> 00:28:15.759
on stage, I was moderating, I was asking so many questions,
477
00:28:15.819 --> 00:28:21.490
and I learned a lot. I'm bringing this down to
478
00:28:21.529 --> 00:28:25.869
the technology level from how artificial intelligence, it is affecting technology.
479
00:28:26.430 --> 00:28:29.660
Almost every single industry. And we can start with the
480
00:28:29.700 --> 00:28:32.819
real estate industry, the medical industry, the automobile industry, and
481
00:28:32.859 --> 00:28:37.880
now the restaurant industry and the spirit industry. And this is,
482
00:28:37.900 --> 00:28:40.319
if for some reason you are in any of these industries,
483
00:28:40.480 --> 00:28:44.299
and this is a pitch for me, I do speak.
484
00:28:44.980 --> 00:28:47.809
And I'm not here to scare people away. I'm actually
485
00:28:47.869 --> 00:28:54.150
here to edumacate people in your company. people in your
486
00:28:54.269 --> 00:28:57.839
industries of what technology can do. And I've done this
487
00:28:57.880 --> 00:29:00.579
for 20 years. I give speeches all the time of like,
488
00:29:00.599 --> 00:29:02.799
let me tell you why this, a laptop is better
489
00:29:02.859 --> 00:29:04.940
than a desktop. Let me tell you why a tablet
490
00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:08.039
is more convenient in some cases than actually bring your
491
00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:11.680
own desktop. How does security, what security cameras? But I
492
00:29:11.759 --> 00:29:15.559
think AI, there's so many people and so many industries
493
00:29:15.759 --> 00:29:18.420
who have yet to wrap their heads around it. And
494
00:29:18.460 --> 00:29:20.769
it really was, and I gotta be honest, it was
495
00:29:20.809 --> 00:29:25.880
really kind of surprising of, How many industries, specifically the
496
00:29:25.940 --> 00:29:30.000
restaurant and the spirits industry, have already have teams, internal
497
00:29:30.059 --> 00:29:35.829
teams of how they use specific LLMs, like Claude, of
498
00:29:36.109 --> 00:29:39.970
how they can ask internal questions. I want to spread.
499
00:29:40.660 --> 00:29:46.359
of how our beverage sales were last week last month
500
00:29:46.740 --> 00:29:49.460
compared to where they were over the same time period
501
00:29:49.509 --> 00:29:53.289
over the last three years and what trends are out
502
00:29:53.329 --> 00:29:56.789
there and they it takes and finds the data within
503
00:29:56.809 --> 00:30:00.559
their internal systems it really was amazing so I got
504
00:30:00.579 --> 00:30:03.220
to spend a lot of time in front of those folks,
505
00:30:03.240 --> 00:30:05.329
the industry. If you want to see some of those pictures, you,
506
00:30:05.349 --> 00:30:07.990
I guess you can actually use one of your favorite
507
00:30:08.130 --> 00:30:10.450
LLMs to find it, but get a high-tech Texan, especially
508
00:30:10.470 --> 00:30:15.490
if you're on Instagram, H-I-G-H-T-E-C-H-T-E-X-A-N-A for some reason. You'd be
509
00:30:15.529 --> 00:30:17.859
interested in having me come speak, and I work all
510
00:30:17.880 --> 00:30:20.500
around the country, if not all in the world, of moderating,
511
00:30:20.539 --> 00:30:22.960
of speaking, and I try to make it interactive, and
512
00:30:22.980 --> 00:30:25.460
I work with your team, your marketing team, your event
513
00:30:25.480 --> 00:30:27.960
team to make sure it's very relevant. reach out to me.
514
00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:33.039
You can find me, michael at hightechtexan.com. You go to hightechtexan.com
515
00:30:33.079 --> 00:30:35.839
and just say, hey, we want Michael for a speech
516
00:30:35.880 --> 00:30:38.180
or something of that nature. But it was good. And
517
00:30:38.220 --> 00:30:41.789
by the way, yes, I walked away with a lot
518
00:30:41.829 --> 00:30:46.930
of samples. Party at my house. And I'm using AI
519
00:30:46.950 --> 00:30:50.839
to come up with creative drinks, creative drink names. Coming up,
520
00:30:50.869 --> 00:30:53.509
it's the Garf Techtini as I sip away here as
521
00:30:53.529 --> 00:31:00.069
we continue the High Tech Texan show. Just a few
522
00:31:00.089 --> 00:31:02.380
more minutes left in this first hour. I will talk
523
00:31:02.420 --> 00:31:04.509
as fast as I can next hour, and then I
524
00:31:04.549 --> 00:31:09.970
will release you on the first weekend in September. On
525
00:31:10.009 --> 00:31:12.869
the first official college football weekend, I will release you
526
00:31:12.890 --> 00:31:15.309
to go watch your favorite college football team. We do
527
00:31:15.329 --> 00:31:18.490
know that my Texas Longhorns kick off at 2.30 p.m.
528
00:31:18.509 --> 00:31:22.589
in Austin. I actually turned down tickets, and I very
529
00:31:22.630 --> 00:31:27.019
rarely turn down tickets to my Texas Longhorns. it's going
530
00:31:27.039 --> 00:31:30.460
to be 110 degrees. It will be. And I generally
531
00:31:30.500 --> 00:31:31.900
go to the first game or two or three, like
532
00:31:31.960 --> 00:31:34.740
I always have done for all my life to Austin
533
00:31:35.880 --> 00:31:38.329
in the state of, and they always have a thermometer
534
00:31:38.680 --> 00:31:44.450
or a thermostat on the field in late August, early September.
535
00:31:44.549 --> 00:31:49.069
And I'm not kidding you. The field temperature over under
536
00:31:49.109 --> 00:31:52.900
will be 130 degrees. That's the field temperature. You sit
537
00:31:52.920 --> 00:31:56.000
in the stands. And if you sit on the east
538
00:31:56.019 --> 00:32:01.500
side of the stadium with your I-35, at a 2.30 kickoff,
539
00:32:01.539 --> 00:32:03.109
you are in the sun. And the sun is in
540
00:32:03.119 --> 00:32:06.190
your face the entire time. I just, listen, with all
541
00:32:06.210 --> 00:32:09.509
due respect to Texas State, Bobcats, I'd rather just sit
542
00:32:09.549 --> 00:32:11.329
in air conditioning and actually just watch the game. But
543
00:32:11.369 --> 00:32:13.529
if you're heading up to Austin and you're listening, hook
544
00:32:13.549 --> 00:32:17.349
them horns. Go Cougs. I'm rooting for everybody but the Aggies,
545
00:32:17.369 --> 00:32:18.970
and I say that with all due respect. Actually, there's
546
00:32:19.019 --> 00:32:21.220
no respect for the Aggies because I am your longhorn man.
547
00:32:21.740 --> 00:32:24.480
It is college football season. Michael Garfield is the name.
548
00:32:24.519 --> 00:32:26.880
We call this the High Tech Texan Show. Damn straight,
549
00:32:26.920 --> 00:32:29.160
it's my show. And I am going to talk about sports.
550
00:32:29.180 --> 00:32:32.069
We'll stay away from politics so you don't get mad
551
00:32:32.089 --> 00:32:37.210
at me. One big news here in Houston. I made
552
00:32:37.250 --> 00:32:40.710
a few comments on our sister station in Houston, KTRH
553
00:32:40.710 --> 00:32:48.660
740 AM. about another new autonomous vehicle company getting ready
554
00:32:48.700 --> 00:32:51.700
to come to Houston. And there's already a presence of
555
00:32:51.759 --> 00:32:56.700
it in Austin, in Dallas. And I have actually ridden
556
00:32:57.099 --> 00:33:00.299
in one of these vehicles at its very first market
557
00:33:00.640 --> 00:33:02.400
in Las Vegas. And I think I did it last
558
00:33:02.440 --> 00:33:06.039
March when I was there for March Madness. Every time
559
00:33:06.099 --> 00:33:08.539
one of these new companies announces, and there's so many
560
00:33:08.640 --> 00:33:14.569
autonomous vehicles. I are up in arms. It's like, is
561
00:33:14.589 --> 00:33:16.390
this going to be safe? And what's going on? And
562
00:33:17.930 --> 00:33:20.109
I'll bury the lead right now. The name of the
563
00:33:20.170 --> 00:33:26.400
company is called Zoox. Z-O-O-X. All right. Now, let me
564
00:33:26.500 --> 00:33:30.420
quickly give you the quick background. It is owned by Amazon. Oh, shocking.
565
00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:34.400
Amazon is now getting into the autonomous driving vehicle. What's
566
00:33:34.500 --> 00:33:38.509
different about this Should you see a Zoox in, let
567
00:33:38.549 --> 00:33:41.009
me tell you, Houston, and even Austin and Dallas, you
568
00:33:41.049 --> 00:33:44.210
probably will not see a Zoox automobile on the road
569
00:33:44.769 --> 00:33:47.380
in the near future. They are testing right now. They're
570
00:33:47.400 --> 00:33:50.140
actually going to use other vehicles to map out the
571
00:33:50.200 --> 00:33:53.420
roads themselves. Then at some point, they're going to launch
572
00:33:53.440 --> 00:33:55.599
these Zoox vehicles. But I've been in a Zoox vehicle.
573
00:33:56.440 --> 00:34:00.619
They are different looking than almost anything else on the road. Now,
574
00:34:00.640 --> 00:34:03.250
I want you to think about this. You've probably seen Waymo's,
575
00:34:03.930 --> 00:34:10.039
which is, a regular four-door SUV or CUV. It's equipped
576
00:34:10.059 --> 00:34:13.219
with some crazy cameras and LiDARs and things so it
577
00:34:13.239 --> 00:34:16.210
could see. There's generally no driver in the front. There's
578
00:34:16.250 --> 00:34:18.969
a steering wheel that looks like there's a ghost driving it.
579
00:34:19.989 --> 00:34:22.829
And you can order them through Uber or whatever. Generally,
580
00:34:23.369 --> 00:34:27.349
vehicles are vehicles. We know what vehicles are. There's four wheels.
581
00:34:27.389 --> 00:34:30.030
There's a front door. There's a back door. And then
582
00:34:30.090 --> 00:34:32.809
there's the steering wheel for the driver's side. There's a
583
00:34:33.269 --> 00:34:36.610
passenger side, whatever. Zoox is different, and I'm going to
584
00:34:36.650 --> 00:34:39.039
describe it like this. This is what I do. My
585
00:34:39.059 --> 00:34:44.940
job is to describe things. It's like an old-fashioned stagecoach
586
00:34:45.719 --> 00:34:50.780
or a chariot. There's four wheels, but technically there's no
587
00:34:50.949 --> 00:34:54.869
front or back, so it's a rectangle. The doors on
588
00:34:55.070 --> 00:35:01.030
each side, double doors slide open like an elevator. You
589
00:35:01.070 --> 00:35:05.590
climb into it, and there's a bench on the left
590
00:35:05.650 --> 00:35:08.050
and a bench on the right. You could seat, I believe,
591
00:35:08.110 --> 00:35:09.820
two on each side, maybe three on each side. So
592
00:35:09.860 --> 00:35:12.579
maybe you'll fit up to six people. They face each other.
593
00:35:13.960 --> 00:35:17.219
So it's like a party bus. Hear me out. You
594
00:35:17.260 --> 00:35:20.920
buckle up. You can control the air condition. It's very comfortable.
595
00:35:20.960 --> 00:35:23.539
They've got speakers and it tells you where your stops are.
596
00:35:24.619 --> 00:35:30.219
There is no steering wheel. It is totally, totally automated.
597
00:35:30.360 --> 00:35:34.000
It's like a train car that just rolls down the road,
598
00:35:35.110 --> 00:35:38.349
Takes you from point A to point B. It opens
599
00:35:38.409 --> 00:35:40.710
the door when you get there, and then it closes
600
00:35:40.769 --> 00:35:44.250
the door. And it was interesting the first time because,
601
00:35:44.389 --> 00:35:47.849
number one, it's a head turner. This will turn it.
602
00:35:48.199 --> 00:35:50.659
Waymos are head turners when you first see them. It's because, okay,
603
00:35:50.719 --> 00:35:52.579
it's a regular car, but what are all these cameras
604
00:35:52.619 --> 00:35:55.960
and whirring things on top of the roof? And why
605
00:35:55.980 --> 00:35:58.159
is there no driver? And then you generally take a picture.
606
00:35:59.139 --> 00:36:03.780
This thing... It's absolutely, Ed Turner's like, there's no steering wheel.
607
00:36:03.860 --> 00:36:06.260
And why is it going front? Why is it going back?
608
00:36:06.300 --> 00:36:08.639
It just goes back and forth. That's what a Zoox is.
609
00:36:09.889 --> 00:36:12.610
But every time I'm in an interview, and people interview
610
00:36:12.630 --> 00:36:15.110
me this because it's a combination of the two key
611
00:36:15.150 --> 00:36:17.090
things that I've done for 25 years. Number one, I'm
612
00:36:17.130 --> 00:36:22.510
a technology guy. My job is to follow and explain
613
00:36:22.710 --> 00:36:25.769
and recommend or steer you away, and I use the
614
00:36:25.789 --> 00:36:29.289
steer with pun intended, from something. tech products, but I
615
00:36:29.389 --> 00:36:33.469
also cover the automobile industry. For 15 plus years, I've
616
00:36:33.489 --> 00:36:36.239
been a member of the Texas Auto Writers Association. My
617
00:36:36.280 --> 00:36:39.739
job on a weekly basis is also to review vehicles,
618
00:36:40.119 --> 00:36:44.539
and I have done over 1,000 different vehicles. I don't
619
00:36:44.719 --> 00:36:48.199
even own my own vehicle. Every week, I am delivered
620
00:36:48.539 --> 00:36:51.440
by a third-party company a brand new vehicle from a
621
00:36:51.519 --> 00:36:55.019
various manufacturer. I do not deal with dealerships. I'm not
622
00:36:55.059 --> 00:36:58.079
here to promote dealerships. My job is to go down
623
00:36:58.119 --> 00:37:02.639
the line. I have probably dissed more vehicles than I
624
00:37:02.659 --> 00:37:04.679
have recommended. It's like, I don't like my job. I
625
00:37:04.679 --> 00:37:06.969
don't get paid for it. And that's why you can
626
00:37:06.989 --> 00:37:11.349
trust me. I do SUVs. I do CUVs, EVs, sports cars,
627
00:37:12.590 --> 00:37:16.750
station wagons, you name it. So I get asked to
628
00:37:16.789 --> 00:37:19.550
comment on what's the future of the automobile industry and
629
00:37:19.590 --> 00:37:22.090
how it melds together with the technology industry. And I've
630
00:37:22.219 --> 00:37:24.500
seen it. I have seen for the first time I
631
00:37:24.539 --> 00:37:27.800
saw an autonomous vehicle I was in San Francisco where
632
00:37:27.840 --> 00:37:31.449
everything starts. This may have been 10 years ago. And
633
00:37:31.489 --> 00:37:33.769
I'm leaving, and I guess I'm in a taxi cab
634
00:37:34.590 --> 00:37:37.630
with a driver. And I'm heading from San Francisco Airport
635
00:37:37.769 --> 00:37:40.230
north to San Francisco. And what is that? Is that
636
00:37:40.289 --> 00:37:43.519
the I-5 or the 105 or whatever it is? Pacific
637
00:37:43.539 --> 00:37:47.219
Coast Highway. And driving right by me is a test
638
00:37:47.260 --> 00:37:49.699
vehicle from one of the Silicon Valley companies. And there's
639
00:37:49.719 --> 00:37:52.980
this car with no driver. And I am freaking out.
640
00:37:53.739 --> 00:37:54.980
I know they were there, but it's the first time
641
00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:56.340
I've seen it. It's like, oh my God, is this
642
00:37:56.360 --> 00:37:59.739
thing going to crash? It didn't. So I've seen this forever.
643
00:38:00.300 --> 00:38:02.340
Why is it, why did it take 10 plus years?
644
00:38:03.340 --> 00:38:05.809
Let's just say eight, seven years for it to become
645
00:38:07.090 --> 00:38:11.510
consumer driven. Where Waymo and Zoox and all these other companies,
646
00:38:12.110 --> 00:38:14.170
and I'm telling you right now, the technology has been there.
647
00:38:14.889 --> 00:38:22.030
It's the consumer adaptation. We as consumers just really have
648
00:38:22.070 --> 00:38:25.070
not been ready for it. When Henry Ford created a
649
00:38:25.090 --> 00:38:28.329
vehicle all those years ago, we had a paradigm shift.
650
00:38:28.389 --> 00:38:31.530
We stopped using horse buggies, trains and everything. We as drivers,
651
00:38:31.550 --> 00:38:33.929
we got behind the left side in America. We got
652
00:38:33.989 --> 00:38:36.800
on the left side behind the drivers and we trust ourselves.
653
00:38:38.159 --> 00:38:40.679
Now we have to trust technology. There is no driver.
654
00:38:40.820 --> 00:38:43.420
We have to trust radar, lighter, GPS and all this
655
00:38:43.539 --> 00:38:46.869
and AI. Can we do that? There are a lot
656
00:38:46.889 --> 00:38:49.349
of people who are very, very scared of doing that.
657
00:38:49.449 --> 00:38:51.289
And so when I do these interviews, and this happened
658
00:38:51.349 --> 00:38:53.780
on one of my radio stations, Michael, oh, so, Zooks,
659
00:38:53.800 --> 00:38:56.559
there's another one coming to Texas. What do you think?
660
00:38:56.579 --> 00:38:58.239
You know, we hear all these reports of these crashes.
661
00:38:59.079 --> 00:39:02.079
I am not here to defend any of these companies.
662
00:39:03.119 --> 00:39:05.929
I'm here to put things in perspective. And real quick,
663
00:39:05.949 --> 00:39:08.230
I'll finish this up in about 45 seconds. My perspective
664
00:39:08.269 --> 00:39:12.050
is this. We hear, and I'm in the media too, okay?
665
00:39:12.090 --> 00:39:14.289
And I understand. If it bleeds, it leads, okay? You know,
666
00:39:14.309 --> 00:39:17.360
hurricane season's coming, we gotta, yeah. If there is a crash,
667
00:39:17.429 --> 00:39:20.849
if something happens to the autonomous vehicles, it makes headlines.
668
00:39:21.489 --> 00:39:23.650
Tesla does this, and this didn't stop, whatever it is,
669
00:39:23.809 --> 00:39:27.070
it makes headlines. Do you know how many people are
670
00:39:27.110 --> 00:39:30.809
in automobile accidents who die every single day? day because
671
00:39:30.829 --> 00:39:35.030
they're behind the wheel? Because something happens? Yes. It's not
672
00:39:35.110 --> 00:39:38.409
apples to apples. It's sheer numbers. We're used to that.
673
00:39:38.869 --> 00:39:43.030
But it always makes headlines when an autonomous vehicle happens.
674
00:39:43.309 --> 00:39:46.289
It's going to happen. This world is not perfect. Do
675
00:39:46.349 --> 00:39:47.969
I trust Zoox? I don't know. I'm just letting you
676
00:39:47.989 --> 00:39:50.050
know there's another one out there. Be on the lookout
677
00:39:50.090 --> 00:39:52.469
for it. Next hour, I'll take phone calls. I'll take
678
00:39:52.530 --> 00:39:56.039
emails also. Michael at hightechtexan.com. Pop me on Twitter. Have
679
00:39:56.139 --> 00:40:00.199
you ever been in an autonomous vehicle? What's your experience?
680
00:40:00.460 --> 00:40:03.079
Thumbs up, thumbs down. Good stuff, bad stuff. That's what
681
00:40:03.099 --> 00:40:05.000
we do at the High Tech Texan Show. One more
682
00:40:05.039 --> 00:40:06.840
hour coming up. Michael Garfield.
683
00:40:16.260 --> 00:40:18.260
The High Tech Texan.
684
00:40:19.179 --> 00:40:22.079
Is Michael Garfield. To Michael Garfield. Michael Garfield's joining us.
685
00:40:22.079 --> 00:40:23.599
We have the High Tech Texan.
686
00:40:23.679 --> 00:40:25.340
Michael Garfield is here with us.
687
00:40:25.360 --> 00:40:26.530
The High Tech Texan.
688
00:40:26.570 --> 00:40:27.739
Hello.
689
00:40:27.820 --> 00:40:28.789
Items to make life easier.
690
00:40:28.809 --> 00:40:30.070
Shows us some new technology.
691
00:40:30.090 --> 00:40:32.170
So Michael Garfield has something you might like.
692
00:40:32.190 --> 00:40:33.090
The High Tech Texan.
693
00:40:34.309 --> 00:40:36.909
The High Tech Texan.
694
00:40:38.530 --> 00:40:40.730
Michael Garfield is your High Tech Texan.
695
00:40:40.750 --> 00:40:42.690
The High Tech Texan.
696
00:40:43.449 --> 00:40:49.340
Three decades helping you make magic with your gadgets. Heard
697
00:40:49.400 --> 00:40:55.639
worldwide on the iHeartRadio app. Now, your high-tech Texan, Michael Garfield.
698
00:40:56.599 --> 00:41:00.840
Hour number two of two. Starting right now, what we
699
00:41:00.880 --> 00:41:04.500
call the High-Tech Texan Show. Do not change your radio
700
00:41:04.519 --> 00:41:07.230
station or whatever you're listening to. If it's online, if
701
00:41:07.250 --> 00:41:09.349
it's on your smart speaker, I guarantee it's not all
702
00:41:09.389 --> 00:41:12.510
about technology. I'm not going to geek out. doing this
703
00:41:12.530 --> 00:41:15.070
two and a half decades, I have found the formula
704
00:41:15.389 --> 00:41:20.000
of making radio and podcast sexy, people. I put the
705
00:41:20.119 --> 00:41:23.500
sex in sexy. Well, I don't know. Can we, Callum,
706
00:41:23.539 --> 00:41:25.940
Callum Reed, who helps run the show, can we use that?
707
00:41:26.320 --> 00:41:31.550
Is that too raunchy for a wonderful company like iHeartRadio, iHeartMedia? That,
708
00:41:31.570 --> 00:41:34.989
by the way, won't let us actually play any songs
709
00:41:35.030 --> 00:41:37.329
because we're too cheap to actually license the right. Because
710
00:41:37.389 --> 00:41:39.190
right now, we would be starting my second hour of
711
00:41:39.869 --> 00:41:43.670
with Earth, Wind & Fire singing, September! Because it is
712
00:41:43.710 --> 00:41:46.690
the first weekend of September. We are halfway through the show,
713
00:41:47.210 --> 00:41:50.730
and it is halfway to happy hour. That's right, because
714
00:41:50.929 --> 00:41:54.110
college football is here, depending on when you're listening to it.
715
00:41:54.130 --> 00:41:58.010
It's almost kickoff time. For at least my Texas Longhorns,
716
00:41:58.070 --> 00:42:01.449
we've got lots of things happening, and next week is NFL.
717
00:42:02.329 --> 00:42:06.800
Is life perfect? No. Is life great? Maybe for some
718
00:42:06.820 --> 00:42:09.550
of you. Is life good? But I'll tell you what,
719
00:42:10.280 --> 00:42:12.349
Maybe soon it's going to get an inch, a little
720
00:42:12.389 --> 00:42:15.610
tidbit cooler here in the Texas area. But football is
721
00:42:15.670 --> 00:42:19.690
at least starting. And for the 24th year plus or so,
722
00:42:20.030 --> 00:42:22.199
I am here for you. Whether you're listening in Houston
723
00:42:22.360 --> 00:42:27.079
online this weekend on KPRC 950 AM, shout out to
724
00:42:27.119 --> 00:42:29.139
San Antonio, the big stick, W-O-A-I, 1,250,000 watts. I think
725
00:42:29.260 --> 00:42:36.300
my voice is in Mexico, right? I think my high
726
00:42:36.320 --> 00:42:38.489
squeaky voice, I think we're at 50,000 watts, goes from
727
00:42:38.530 --> 00:42:44.050
San Antonio easily to Mexico. Hola, me llamo Miguel. In Dallas, KFXR.
728
00:42:44.989 --> 00:42:47.829
That's talk radio, 1190. Or if you're listening on the
729
00:42:47.909 --> 00:42:49.929
iHeartRadio app, this is how I do it. Some of
730
00:42:49.949 --> 00:42:52.429
the things that we covered in hour number one, I
731
00:42:52.469 --> 00:42:55.960
did a whole bit on the Lake Ontario versus Lake America.
732
00:42:56.280 --> 00:43:00.139
And before you say, geez, Michael, you don't really get
733
00:43:00.159 --> 00:43:04.099
into politics, it wasn't the political angle. It was... It
734
00:43:04.139 --> 00:43:06.400
was an app angle. There was some tech in there, too,
735
00:43:06.500 --> 00:43:12.639
because MapQuest. When's the last time you've heard the name MapQuest?
736
00:43:12.800 --> 00:43:18.059
One of the original navigation apps. You don't hear MapQuest.
737
00:43:18.099 --> 00:43:23.280
That's old school. MapQuest has refused on its map to
738
00:43:23.420 --> 00:43:29.619
update it and rename Lake Ontario to Lake America, as
739
00:43:29.889 --> 00:43:34.050
President Trump has ordered last week. Google went ahead and
740
00:43:34.090 --> 00:43:36.110
changed it in America. If you were in the United
741
00:43:36.179 --> 00:43:39.239
States and you look up Lake Ontario, I don't think
742
00:43:39.260 --> 00:43:40.900
you're going to find it. They've already changed it to
743
00:43:40.940 --> 00:43:44.840
Lake America. Apple, I don't think has changed it yet,
744
00:43:44.860 --> 00:43:47.239
but knowing Apple and their politics, they're probably going to
745
00:43:47.280 --> 00:43:50.210
change it to Lake America. MapQuest said, you know what?
746
00:43:50.250 --> 00:43:53.969
Let's screw this. Whoever named it Lake Ontario, we're going
747
00:43:53.989 --> 00:43:56.409
to freaking still call it Lake Ontario. And good for them.
748
00:43:56.789 --> 00:44:01.090
So much so, MapQuest has now become the number one
749
00:44:01.389 --> 00:44:05.559
most downloaded free app on the App Store this past week.
750
00:44:07.159 --> 00:44:11.539
So take that. You take it whatever way you want to.
751
00:44:13.460 --> 00:44:15.199
And the funny thing is, you know who's getting the
752
00:44:15.219 --> 00:44:19.860
best publicity out of this? It's the lake itself. Because,
753
00:44:19.880 --> 00:44:23.239
you know, based down here in Texas area, I mean,
754
00:44:23.519 --> 00:44:28.619
I know in Houston there's Lake Conroe. Lake Pontchartrain, if
755
00:44:28.639 --> 00:44:31.889
you're a big Louisiana boy and girl. There's a lot
756
00:44:31.929 --> 00:44:35.449
of lakes. I was just in Chicago last week, and
757
00:44:35.989 --> 00:44:39.429
Lake Michigan is right there. One of my best friends
758
00:44:39.489 --> 00:44:41.670
lives right on Lake Michigan. I ran up and down
759
00:44:41.690 --> 00:44:46.829
Lake Michigan. It was great. I never mention Lake Ontario
760
00:44:47.869 --> 00:44:49.949
or Lake America. You know what? So the point is,
761
00:44:50.070 --> 00:44:52.710
they're winners. They're getting some good publicity. Maybe there's some
762
00:44:52.750 --> 00:44:57.489
TV news crews. They're standing on the banks of Lake,
763
00:44:57.510 --> 00:45:00.090
whatever you want to call it right now. And talking
764
00:45:00.130 --> 00:45:03.949
about the debate, it's getting some good publicity. So listen,
765
00:45:04.090 --> 00:45:08.659
is all PR good PR? No, but they're in the
766
00:45:08.719 --> 00:45:10.280
news and map question news. But anyway, that's one of
767
00:45:10.300 --> 00:45:12.699
the things that we talked about last hour. We also
768
00:45:12.719 --> 00:45:19.019
talked about a new, another new autonomous vehicle company. It's
769
00:45:19.059 --> 00:45:20.860
coming to Texas. Well, it's kind of been in Texas.
770
00:45:21.469 --> 00:45:23.550
Don't expect to see these on the roads soon, but
771
00:45:23.989 --> 00:45:28.869
they just announced in Houston, a company called Zoox, Z-O-O-X,
772
00:45:28.949 --> 00:45:33.750
which is an Amazon-owned company that's a robo-taxi, for lack
773
00:45:33.769 --> 00:45:36.090
of a better term. They're going to come to Houston.
774
00:45:36.110 --> 00:45:38.739
They already do have a presence. They're at least testing
775
00:45:38.780 --> 00:45:41.139
in Austin, and they're testing in Dallas, but they're coming
776
00:45:41.179 --> 00:45:46.179
to Houston. Houston is a different cat of a city, because...
777
00:45:46.929 --> 00:45:48.929
The first time I was in a Zoox, which is
778
00:45:48.949 --> 00:45:54.539
an interesting— when you physically see a Zoox vehicle, it is
779
00:45:54.579 --> 00:45:56.880
a head-turner because it's not a typical vehicle. If it's
780
00:45:56.980 --> 00:46:01.239
a CUV or an SUV, it looks like a train car.
781
00:46:01.960 --> 00:46:07.690
Four wheels, no driver's side, no passenger side. The doors
782
00:46:07.730 --> 00:46:11.039
slide open like an elevator left or right. But the
783
00:46:11.079 --> 00:46:14.800
point is, the first test run was in Las Vegas,
784
00:46:14.840 --> 00:46:16.199
and it was nice because all it did was go
785
00:46:16.280 --> 00:46:18.480
up and down Las Vegas Boulevard. It just went up
786
00:46:18.500 --> 00:46:21.559
and down the strip from one hotel to the other hotel.
787
00:46:21.579 --> 00:46:24.840
They were testing free rides. It was cool. You get
788
00:46:24.880 --> 00:46:27.800
to Houston, man, and you get to traffic. You get
789
00:46:27.820 --> 00:46:30.940
to potholes. You get to bumps. You get to overpasses.
790
00:46:30.960 --> 00:46:33.820
You get to bridges. You get to potential flooding. So
791
00:46:33.840 --> 00:46:37.219
that is a big step. So Zoox announced they are coming.
792
00:46:37.400 --> 00:46:42.199
They are mapping the areas out right now in Austin. Dallas, Houston,
793
00:46:42.530 --> 00:46:44.960
by the time we actually see a Zoox, maybe it'll
794
00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:50.239
sometimes be in 2027. I asked, I ended last hour,
795
00:46:50.300 --> 00:46:52.760
and I asked a question of all you kind listeners.
796
00:46:52.820 --> 00:46:58.530
I said, if you've ever been in any autonomous vehicle,
797
00:46:59.429 --> 00:47:02.730
and we can go Waymo, and there's just, there's a
798
00:47:02.750 --> 00:47:07.630
number of them. What was your experience? Was it scary?
799
00:47:08.760 --> 00:47:13.639
Was it entertaining? Because It's the weirdest feeling getting in
800
00:47:13.679 --> 00:47:16.000
the back seat or even the front seat of a
801
00:47:16.099 --> 00:47:19.690
vehicle that we as human beings are used to having
802
00:47:19.730 --> 00:47:23.550
a human driver. But I guarantee you, and I really,
803
00:47:23.590 --> 00:47:26.349
really will put some money on this. The first time
804
00:47:27.150 --> 00:47:29.610
you ever saw one drive by you with no driver
805
00:47:29.750 --> 00:47:32.590
or absolutely when you've been in one, you've taken your
806
00:47:32.630 --> 00:47:34.909
phone out and you've taken pictures or a video. Don't
807
00:47:34.929 --> 00:47:39.190
tell me you haven't because it's a novelty. But what
808
00:47:39.230 --> 00:47:41.710
did you think? Were you nervous? Were you scared? Were
809
00:47:41.730 --> 00:47:45.050
you excited? When kids get in it, and I say this,
810
00:47:45.090 --> 00:47:47.880
don't get kids, but when, like, my cousins, they live
811
00:47:47.900 --> 00:47:50.599
in Atlanta. I think they, I don't know, I think
812
00:47:50.619 --> 00:47:52.860
they were in Atlanta. Maybe they came to Austin. Because
813
00:47:52.900 --> 00:47:56.780
in Austin, they're everywhere, every single company. My cousins, they
814
00:47:56.800 --> 00:47:59.199
brought their kids. And their kids are, you know, let's
815
00:47:59.219 --> 00:48:04.039
just say 13. No, no, yeah, they're about 13 and
816
00:48:04.119 --> 00:48:07.150
they're about 10 years old. They thought it was freaking Disneyland.
817
00:48:07.869 --> 00:48:10.949
They were loving it. They were laughing. One of my cousins,
818
00:48:10.969 --> 00:48:13.889
their dad, they was taking videos. It was cool. But
819
00:48:13.909 --> 00:48:17.070
a lot of people fear for their safety. And it
820
00:48:17.110 --> 00:48:19.610
is a paradigm shift. So I'll ask you again before
821
00:48:19.630 --> 00:48:20.789
we get out of here. And I'm going to read some,
822
00:48:20.809 --> 00:48:22.340
when we come back, I'm going to read some of
823
00:48:22.380 --> 00:48:26.260
your comments. It's about a 70-30 split. And I'll tell
824
00:48:26.300 --> 00:48:29.079
you which way. What was your experience? Was it thumbs up,
825
00:48:29.300 --> 00:48:32.980
thumbs down? Is this the future? Will at one point,
826
00:48:33.599 --> 00:48:37.559
we'll never have driverless, we'll never have taxi drivers, we'll
827
00:48:37.679 --> 00:48:40.960
never have Uber drivers. What are your thoughts on driving
828
00:48:41.000 --> 00:48:44.699
those autonomous vehicles? Also, when we come back, a lot
829
00:48:44.719 --> 00:48:47.079
of new products are released. There is a big technology
830
00:48:47.119 --> 00:48:51.699
conference going on right now in Berlin. Berlin. So take
831
00:48:51.739 --> 00:48:54.139
my breath away. Hold your breath. When we come back,
832
00:48:54.260 --> 00:48:56.139
I'm going to tell you what one of the hot
833
00:48:57.389 --> 00:49:00.780
categories is. that I've been playing with some of these
834
00:49:00.820 --> 00:49:03.059
products for about a year or two, but several companies
835
00:49:03.079 --> 00:49:05.599
have now released it. You may have heard it. You
836
00:49:05.639 --> 00:49:09.539
may use these to help you sleep at night. And
837
00:49:09.559 --> 00:49:12.909
I'll tell you what that is, along with your questions, emails, hightechtexan.com,
838
00:49:12.949 --> 00:49:19.449
Michael Dyko. Don't go anywhere. Time check right now brought
839
00:49:19.469 --> 00:49:23.139
to you by the nice, brilliant, great folks at U.S.
840
00:49:23.239 --> 00:49:25.960
Coins & Jewelry. And why would U.S. Coins & Jewelry
841
00:49:25.980 --> 00:49:28.929
sponsor a time segment? Well, not only do they have coins,
842
00:49:29.449 --> 00:49:32.170
and if you're a coin collector, if you're a numismatist,
843
00:49:32.690 --> 00:49:35.630
it's the only place to go. Pretty much in the country,
844
00:49:35.670 --> 00:49:37.969
but certainly if you're in Texas and absolutely if you're
845
00:49:37.989 --> 00:49:40.980
in Houston. But also it's the jewelry part. And they
846
00:49:41.019 --> 00:49:44.719
just opened Matthew Duncan and Kenny Duncan, the second generation
847
00:49:44.760 --> 00:49:48.380
of the Duncans. They just opened a brand new showroom.
848
00:49:48.440 --> 00:49:51.920
It is on I-10 Katy Freeway right at Voss, not
849
00:49:52.000 --> 00:49:55.460
far outside of Loop 610. They also have a great
850
00:49:55.500 --> 00:49:59.699
website that you can trust them, uscoinsandjewelry.com. They buy and
851
00:49:59.739 --> 00:50:03.969
sell gold and silver. And I was there last Wednesday
852
00:50:04.010 --> 00:50:07.650
and I was talking to Will and uh, he deals
853
00:50:07.789 --> 00:50:10.190
with Rolexes and that's where I was going the whole thing.
854
00:50:10.210 --> 00:50:12.030
But we were talking about the price of silver and
855
00:50:12.070 --> 00:50:15.489
gold and, and businesses is just booming. And if you
856
00:50:15.530 --> 00:50:17.769
have extra silver, if you have extra gold, and if
857
00:50:17.809 --> 00:50:20.110
you need some extra cash, they pay you right there,
858
00:50:20.679 --> 00:50:23.139
but it's also time to buy some too. I mean,
859
00:50:23.159 --> 00:50:26.840
the prices are actually kind of okay. They, you know,
860
00:50:26.880 --> 00:50:29.300
I'm not, I'm not, this is, this is not an investment,
861
00:50:29.420 --> 00:50:31.500
you know, coming from me because I'm just Michael Garfield,
862
00:50:31.519 --> 00:50:33.559
the high tech tax and who am I, but, uh,
863
00:50:33.699 --> 00:50:36.170
it is, uh, It's some neat opportunities. But if you
864
00:50:36.190 --> 00:50:38.559
do want jewelry, I go in there and I always
865
00:50:38.860 --> 00:50:41.699
look at, I learned a lot about watches, specifically Rolexes,
866
00:50:41.760 --> 00:50:45.599
because they have always getting some just beautiful ones in
867
00:50:45.619 --> 00:50:49.360
and I'm leaving. I'm learning so much about it. So anyway,
868
00:50:49.469 --> 00:50:53.889
I have one and every, I actually resell it back
869
00:50:53.929 --> 00:50:56.809
to them and buy another one on site to change
870
00:50:56.849 --> 00:50:58.250
the look. And that's one of the many things that
871
00:50:58.269 --> 00:51:02.760
you can do. So anyway, time check, We are about 16,
872
00:51:02.760 --> 00:51:05.190
17 minutes past the hour. We call this segment number two.
873
00:51:05.750 --> 00:51:07.510
About 40 minutes to go. But if you do want
874
00:51:07.530 --> 00:51:11.519
to go to U.S. Coins & Jewelry, go mention my name.
875
00:51:11.579 --> 00:51:14.159
Don't you love when radio people say that? Hey, my
876
00:51:14.500 --> 00:51:17.099
buddy's over there. Mention my name. And here's the funny thing.
877
00:51:18.280 --> 00:51:20.739
They're probably not going to give you a discount. But
878
00:51:20.760 --> 00:51:23.480
they're going to say, holy hell, man, we love Garfield.
879
00:51:24.519 --> 00:51:29.269
Dude is here every week. Just checking out inventory and
880
00:51:29.309 --> 00:51:30.949
hanging with this. And the reason I do this is
881
00:51:30.989 --> 00:51:36.380
because they're good partners. They're good people. And I just
882
00:51:37.110 --> 00:51:39.539
deal with good people. And I've learned this the hard way.
883
00:51:39.860 --> 00:51:41.699
When I started this radio show, when I created my
884
00:51:41.780 --> 00:51:46.539
brand of the high-tech tech 25 years ago, I was
885
00:51:46.559 --> 00:51:49.269
just like, what do you mean? I do commercials and
886
00:51:49.289 --> 00:51:51.030
I actually can just read the script and I can
887
00:51:51.070 --> 00:51:53.869
get paid. And I learned the hard way that there
888
00:51:53.889 --> 00:51:57.670
are some fly-by-night companies. There's companies who just sell crappy
889
00:51:57.690 --> 00:52:00.650
products and just horrible service. And it came back to
890
00:52:00.789 --> 00:52:04.329
bite me in the butt. My listeners would blame me. Michael,
891
00:52:04.349 --> 00:52:06.110
why are you talking about this company? Because they ripped
892
00:52:06.130 --> 00:52:10.030
me off. I have now learned to say no much
893
00:52:10.090 --> 00:52:11.929
more than I say yes when it comes to working
894
00:52:11.949 --> 00:52:14.710
and endorsing a company. U.S. Coins & Jewelry has been
895
00:52:14.730 --> 00:52:18.170
around for two generations. I am not saying no to them.
896
00:52:18.769 --> 00:52:21.489
I know the owners. I go in there. I know
897
00:52:21.510 --> 00:52:24.510
the workers and I know how they operate. Absolutely go
898
00:52:24.550 --> 00:52:28.389
by and you can say, Garfield. And if you want Rolexes,
899
00:52:28.409 --> 00:52:30.849
you can start with Will. I know Matthew Duncan. I
900
00:52:30.869 --> 00:52:32.929
know Kenny Duncan. I know their father. I know everybody.
901
00:52:32.949 --> 00:52:37.369
They do sports collectibles. And if you've got coins that
902
00:52:37.409 --> 00:52:39.130
I think are worth something, maybe you want to start
903
00:52:39.150 --> 00:52:42.340
your kids off with a coin collection. Ain't no body
904
00:52:42.380 --> 00:52:46.219
better in this country than Kenny Duncan Jr. This dude, man,
905
00:52:46.239 --> 00:52:47.300
he can look at a quarter, he can look at
906
00:52:47.320 --> 00:52:48.860
a penny, and he can say, oh my goodness, man,
907
00:52:48.880 --> 00:52:51.400
that was before 1965, and it's worth it. And he
908
00:52:51.420 --> 00:52:53.019
can say, you know what? That penny is worth a penny.
909
00:52:54.320 --> 00:52:56.489
But it's a great guy. So anyway, Thank you for
910
00:52:56.530 --> 00:52:58.340
a time check with them. What time is it? It
911
00:52:58.400 --> 00:53:01.440
is time to continue what we call the Michael Garfield
912
00:53:01.460 --> 00:53:04.639
High Tech Texan Show. You can follow me, High Tech Texan,
913
00:53:04.659 --> 00:53:09.670
spell the whole thing out, on X, on Twitter, on Facebook, hightechtexan.com, which,
914
00:53:09.750 --> 00:53:13.170
by the way, have we launched my new website yet?
915
00:53:13.349 --> 00:53:17.250
I have been working with the really smart folks over
916
00:53:17.469 --> 00:53:24.639
at astounds.com. Steve Winter and the guys, they are getting
917
00:53:24.760 --> 00:53:32.099
ready to– am I relaunching my brand? Not really, but
918
00:53:32.119 --> 00:53:34.639
I'm focusing on other things other than media. Listen, I
919
00:53:34.659 --> 00:53:37.960
do TV. I'm on Fox 7 in Austin. I'm on
920
00:53:37.980 --> 00:53:41.280
Channel 11, CBS Great Day Houston. I do a ton
921
00:53:41.300 --> 00:53:43.570
of radio over the country, but more and more I'm
922
00:53:43.590 --> 00:53:49.449
doing speaking engagements and moderating panels and emceeing. And we're
923
00:53:49.469 --> 00:53:53.260
kind of refocusing on that. So we are probably, actually,
924
00:53:53.320 --> 00:53:55.239
I could probably flip the switch anytime, but I want
925
00:53:55.260 --> 00:53:58.920
to make sure it gets right. HightechTexan.com. You can find me, Michael,
926
00:53:59.119 --> 00:54:03.800
at HightechTexan.com. I'm going to bury the lead. I teased
927
00:54:03.840 --> 00:54:07.659
you right before we went to the commercial break about
928
00:54:08.099 --> 00:54:10.780
a product that I just saw that's being, several products
929
00:54:10.820 --> 00:54:14.420
in this category that are being released. You may use,
930
00:54:14.440 --> 00:54:16.239
you may not know of, but it's becoming a very
931
00:54:16.920 --> 00:54:20.670
contested category of And what it is, is we know
932
00:54:20.710 --> 00:54:26.949
what headphones are. We know what earbuds are. Headphones, to me,
933
00:54:26.989 --> 00:54:30.119
quite simply, they're the big, and in the radio industry,
934
00:54:30.219 --> 00:54:33.519
we call them cans. They go over your ears. They
935
00:54:33.539 --> 00:54:36.320
could be noise canceling. They could be big, they could
936
00:54:36.340 --> 00:54:40.440
be heavy, and they do provide probably the best sound
937
00:54:41.219 --> 00:54:44.079
because the bigger they are, the more bait, the woofer,
938
00:54:44.139 --> 00:54:47.969
the tweeter. They're good. Sometimes they're not as convenient when
939
00:54:47.989 --> 00:54:50.050
you're working out, when you're running, when you're exercising, when
940
00:54:50.070 --> 00:54:51.650
you're driving. And that's where we go to the little
941
00:54:51.710 --> 00:54:54.309
ones that go inside your ear. And we're going to
942
00:54:54.329 --> 00:54:56.809
call that category earbuds. We're not going to call them
943
00:54:56.889 --> 00:54:59.789
AirPods because that's a brand of Apple one because there
944
00:54:59.849 --> 00:55:05.179
are hundreds of different earbuds. Some also are active noise canceling. Now,
945
00:55:05.940 --> 00:55:09.880
have you ever tried to go to sleep with earbuds
946
00:55:10.139 --> 00:55:13.760
in your ears? It is not the most comfortable thing.
947
00:55:14.320 --> 00:55:18.719
Because a lot of earbuds, they have a little stem
948
00:55:19.400 --> 00:55:23.980
that sticks or hangs down from your ear. So you
949
00:55:24.000 --> 00:55:26.440
put it in your ear. They're Bluetooth. You can listen
950
00:55:26.480 --> 00:55:30.389
to your music and anything from your phone. But if
951
00:55:30.449 --> 00:55:35.030
you sleep on your side like I do, that stem
952
00:55:35.630 --> 00:55:39.289
is going to hurt your ear. So there's another category here,
953
00:55:39.949 --> 00:55:44.550
and they're called sleep buds, and I've reviewed these things.
954
00:55:45.989 --> 00:55:51.239
And what they are, they're wireless, they're Bluetooth, but they
955
00:55:51.300 --> 00:55:54.860
go almost fully inside your ear. Now, they're not going
956
00:55:54.880 --> 00:55:56.840
to get lost or caught inside your ear, don't worry,
957
00:55:56.860 --> 00:56:00.860
but they're designed very soft silicone that squishes and it
958
00:56:00.900 --> 00:56:04.369
goes inside your ear. It doesn't have a stem, so
959
00:56:04.409 --> 00:56:06.429
when you lay on your side, you don't even know
960
00:56:06.489 --> 00:56:11.739
it's on there. And what it does, it's also a different,
961
00:56:12.070 --> 00:56:14.090
many of them have a different type of Bluetooth. It's
962
00:56:14.130 --> 00:56:17.630
a low power Bluetooth. They come in a charging case
963
00:56:17.690 --> 00:56:20.210
most often. You keep the charging case right next to
964
00:56:20.250 --> 00:56:24.460
your bedside, certainly within three or four feet. And then
965
00:56:24.500 --> 00:56:28.260
you connect your phone to the case and everything. It's just,
966
00:56:28.360 --> 00:56:31.360
it's like a daisy chain. But they're very soft. I,
967
00:56:31.440 --> 00:56:36.960
for a long time, have used a brand called Oslo, O-Z-L-O,
968
00:56:37.000 --> 00:56:38.880
because it was really one of the only ones in
969
00:56:38.900 --> 00:56:44.119
the market. Now, to be fair, the engineers and creators
970
00:56:44.159 --> 00:56:47.900
of Oslo used to work for Bose. Bose was the
971
00:56:47.940 --> 00:56:49.619
company who came out with the very first pair of
972
00:56:49.659 --> 00:56:53.719
these sleep buds. Bose killed that line. The engineers left,
973
00:56:53.739 --> 00:56:55.570
and they created their own company called Oslo. I've been
974
00:56:55.610 --> 00:56:57.489
using a pair of Oslo. Oslo just came out with
975
00:56:57.530 --> 00:57:00.889
their second version of it. And when you put them
976
00:57:00.909 --> 00:57:03.869
in your ear, you actually can listen to not only
977
00:57:03.929 --> 00:57:06.550
music or audio books, but you can listen to sleep noise.
978
00:57:07.130 --> 00:57:09.250
And they have all of these sounds. They've got the
979
00:57:09.329 --> 00:57:12.690
babbling brook and they've got the ocean tide. They've got
980
00:57:12.750 --> 00:57:16.429
the beach. They've got all this other stuff. The airplane
981
00:57:16.489 --> 00:57:20.139
noise is just a white noise. And I like sleeping
982
00:57:20.159 --> 00:57:24.340
with white noise. And sometimes when I'm traveling, when I
983
00:57:24.380 --> 00:57:26.659
put these things in my ear, or maybe I was
984
00:57:26.699 --> 00:57:28.280
in a hotel room in New York or something, I
985
00:57:28.320 --> 00:57:30.460
need these because I don't want to hear the jackhammers outside.
986
00:57:30.480 --> 00:57:34.920
They're great. They generally run between $ 150, $ 250, but they're
987
00:57:34.940 --> 00:57:37.559
specifically meant for sleep. And I say this is because
988
00:57:37.579 --> 00:57:40.239
in the past week or two, I've been finding more
989
00:57:40.260 --> 00:57:41.949
and more of these that are on the market. And
990
00:57:41.989 --> 00:57:44.429
just this past week, there is a company called Anchor.
991
00:57:44.469 --> 00:57:46.710
And you've probably heard of Anchor. Anchor makes a lot
992
00:57:46.869 --> 00:57:51.690
of accessory products. And they make headphones and they make earbuds.
993
00:57:52.349 --> 00:57:57.570
They now just came out with their Sleep Earbuds 4 Pro,
994
00:57:58.139 --> 00:58:00.000
the number four. So I guess they've had three versions
995
00:58:00.039 --> 00:58:03.320
before this. But this one, and I haven't tried it yet,
996
00:58:03.599 --> 00:58:06.699
but they just came out with a speaker. So not
997
00:58:06.739 --> 00:58:09.530
only is it an earbud, the case itself actually has
998
00:58:09.730 --> 00:58:13.130
a speaker. And I think it actually has a hearing aid.
999
00:58:13.489 --> 00:58:14.769
And they came out with a hearing and a bunch
1000
00:58:14.789 --> 00:58:18.190
of headphones. This is coming out of a big tech
1001
00:58:18.230 --> 00:58:21.530
conference in Berlin right now called IFA, I-F-A. And I'm
1002
00:58:21.630 --> 00:58:25.570
interesting to try all these. There's now more than one.
1003
00:58:25.590 --> 00:58:28.969
I really thought Oslo, I think, was the first major one,
1004
00:58:29.690 --> 00:58:32.090
the big one on the market. But they're coming strong.
1005
00:58:32.329 --> 00:58:34.409
I think this is a very big category. I'm going
1006
00:58:34.429 --> 00:58:36.659
to keep my eye on and I'm going to keep
1007
00:58:36.719 --> 00:58:38.579
my ear on. You see what I did over there?
1008
00:58:39.179 --> 00:58:41.079
If anybody has tried these, you got a favorite brand,
1009
00:58:41.659 --> 00:58:44.179
hit me up, take a picture. Hope you're falling asleep
1010
00:58:44.219 --> 00:58:49.329
right now while listening to me. High Tech Texan, H-I-G-H-T-E-C-H-T-E-X-A-N.
1011
00:58:49.929 --> 00:58:52.280
Find me right now on Twitter and everything else. When
1012
00:58:52.300 --> 00:58:54.519
we come back, 30 more minutes, more phone calls. Well,
1013
00:58:54.539 --> 00:58:56.420
not phone calls, but more of your emails at Michael
1014
00:58:56.440 --> 00:58:58.179
at High Tech Texan. Michael is the name.
1015
00:58:58.260 --> 00:59:02.570
Michael Garfield.
1016
00:59:02.610 --> 00:59:07.469
H-I-G-H-T-E-C-H-T-E-X-A-N. I'm going to spell High Tech Texan because that's
1017
00:59:07.510 --> 00:59:09.610
the name of this show. Michael Garfield.
1018
00:59:09.650 --> 00:59:09.969
That's right.
1019
00:59:10.030 --> 00:59:12.250
Just like the cat. Just like the 20th president. No
1020
00:59:12.289 --> 00:59:15.349
relation to either, sadly. That is me. I've been doing
1021
00:59:15.369 --> 00:59:17.030
this for two and a half decades. Whether you are
1022
00:59:17.070 --> 00:59:19.670
listening online right now. And if you're in the Houston area,
1023
00:59:19.829 --> 00:59:23.070
generally heard from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.
1024
00:59:24.230 --> 00:59:27.070
KPRC 950, I believe, is airing a University of Houston
1025
00:59:27.090 --> 00:59:29.750
Cougar game. So if you're in Houston and you just
1026
00:59:29.789 --> 00:59:32.210
can't miss my show. Because, you know, you grew up
1027
00:59:32.250 --> 00:59:35.449
with me. You're probably listening online. Thank you for downloading
1028
00:59:35.489 --> 00:59:38.110
the iHeartRadio app. You can also listen to me on
1029
00:59:38.130 --> 00:59:40.250
your smart speakers, too. Just go to your little smart
1030
00:59:40.269 --> 00:59:43.710
speaker and you say, yo, Google, or whatever. Listen to
1031
00:59:44.110 --> 00:59:49.570
KPRC Radio on iHeartRadio. And you could do all your
1032
00:59:49.610 --> 00:59:52.489
robot vacuuming and everything that you want advice from, or
1033
00:59:52.929 --> 00:59:54.809
just to listen to me. Just because you like my BS.
1034
00:59:55.610 --> 00:59:58.929
You could do that on your smart speaker. I flew...
1035
01:00:00.059 --> 01:00:03.360
This past weekend, I was up in Chicago. I love Chicago,
1036
01:00:03.400 --> 01:00:05.440
by the way. And by the way, if the Chicago
1037
01:00:05.480 --> 01:00:08.059
Visitors Bureau, the CVB is listening to me right now,
1038
01:00:09.300 --> 01:00:12.420
feel free to make checks payable to Michael Garfield. I
1039
01:00:12.460 --> 01:00:14.969
love Chicago. I love Chicago in the summer. I actually
1040
01:00:14.989 --> 01:00:17.989
like Chicago in the winter. But I go to Chicago
1041
01:00:18.070 --> 01:00:21.710
once a year in the summer because right now it
1042
01:00:21.849 --> 01:00:26.570
is not anywhere near 100 degrees. It is not anywhere
1043
01:00:27.489 --> 01:00:29.190
near the humidity level as Houston and a lot of
1044
01:00:29.210 --> 01:00:33.650
the Texas cities are. It is breezy. It is sunny.
1045
01:00:34.570 --> 01:00:39.409
Everybody is out walking, running, outdoor restaurants, shopping up and
1046
01:00:39.429 --> 01:00:43.730
down Michigan Avenue. It's such a freaking fun city. One
1047
01:00:43.750 --> 01:00:47.659
of my best friends lives in a really very big
1048
01:00:47.880 --> 01:00:51.260
high-rise condominium there right on the banks of Lake Michigan.
1049
01:00:51.619 --> 01:00:53.820
We strap on our running shoes. We run all the
1050
01:00:53.840 --> 01:00:55.619
way down from his place near the Navy Pier all
1051
01:00:55.639 --> 01:00:58.300
the way down near Soldier Field. We run back. It's
1052
01:00:58.340 --> 01:01:01.880
just so fun. I happen to fly Southwest Airlines because
1053
01:01:01.920 --> 01:01:04.960
I am an A-lister until I'm not an A-lister by
1054
01:01:04.980 --> 01:01:07.860
the end of this year. And I cover, I also
1055
01:01:07.880 --> 01:01:10.099
like to talk about the airline industry because I'm your
1056
01:01:10.139 --> 01:01:13.980
typical consumer. I have been a long time, I mean
1057
01:01:14.059 --> 01:01:16.079
long time, I literally was, I'm from Dallas, so obviously
1058
01:01:16.099 --> 01:01:18.800
I was born into either the Southwest or American Airlines family.
1059
01:01:19.340 --> 01:01:23.489
Big Southwest Airlines guy. Last week, and I mentioned this earlier,
1060
01:01:23.630 --> 01:01:26.210
I was on a, I moderated a panel, a three-day
1061
01:01:26.269 --> 01:01:31.579
panel in Houston for the restaurant, beverage industry. The keynote
1062
01:01:31.599 --> 01:01:35.139
speaker that I got to spend one-on-one with, just obviously
1063
01:01:35.159 --> 01:01:38.159
the two of us on stage, the chairman of the
1064
01:01:38.300 --> 01:01:44.139
board of Southwest Airlines, former president of Brinker International, which
1065
01:01:44.199 --> 01:01:48.409
runs Chili's and Maggiano's and everything. His name is Doug Brooks.
1066
01:01:49.949 --> 01:01:55.329
Unbelievable gentleman. So respected in the industry. And I had
1067
01:01:55.429 --> 01:02:01.039
so many questions of him about running a a restaurant
1068
01:02:01.320 --> 01:02:03.519
industry that I grew up with in Dallas. I mean,
1069
01:02:03.539 --> 01:02:07.219
the Chili's was founded in Dallas. And then running an
1070
01:02:07.260 --> 01:02:11.170
airline that was also founded in Dallas that is still
1071
01:02:11.210 --> 01:02:13.230
right now trying to change the way it works. It
1072
01:02:13.250 --> 01:02:15.650
was just fascinating. And you talk about brand loyal. I mean,
1073
01:02:16.630 --> 01:02:19.230
people are falling off the Southwest Airlines bandwagon just because
1074
01:02:19.269 --> 01:02:22.260
it was taken over by private investment, whatever. I'm hanging
1075
01:02:22.300 --> 01:02:25.599
in there. But He talked about marketing. He talked about
1076
01:02:25.639 --> 01:02:28.780
customer service. We talked about how Herb Kelleher, the founder,
1077
01:02:28.860 --> 01:02:34.639
and why Southwest still serves wild turkey. Herb Kelleher, favorite drink.
1078
01:02:35.539 --> 01:02:38.079
It was great. But going back to Southwest, Southwest actually
1079
01:02:38.119 --> 01:02:41.179
announced something pretty big, something pretty different. This week, they,
1080
01:02:41.219 --> 01:02:45.329
for the first time ever, they are starting to build clubs,
1081
01:02:45.550 --> 01:02:49.670
airport clubs. Just like, remember the old Continental President Club?
1082
01:02:50.030 --> 01:02:53.269
Now it's the United Club. It's the Delta Club. It's
1083
01:02:53.289 --> 01:02:57.519
the whatever club. Southwest, man, they were just the, nope,
1084
01:02:57.739 --> 01:03:01.480
low-cost air carrier. Nope, they're launching clubs. It's not going
1085
01:03:01.500 --> 01:03:03.719
to be in, Austin's going to have one. There's not
1086
01:03:03.760 --> 01:03:05.260
initially going to be the one in Houston, believe it
1087
01:03:05.280 --> 01:03:08.820
or not. So I thought that was interesting. And I'm
1088
01:03:08.880 --> 01:03:11.079
going to segue that into what I saw United. I
1089
01:03:11.119 --> 01:03:13.760
know the United PR folks. They do reach out to
1090
01:03:13.800 --> 01:03:16.420
me regularly here in the Houston area. They did not
1091
01:03:16.519 --> 01:03:20.090
send me this. I had to find it online. United is,
1092
01:03:21.199 --> 01:03:23.800
all these airlines are trying to do something new. United
1093
01:03:23.860 --> 01:03:29.369
is launching, very limited, a service that will deliver food
1094
01:03:29.849 --> 01:03:35.369
and other essentials to your gate. Now hear me out there.
1095
01:03:35.690 --> 01:03:40.659
The test is going to start in Newark, Newark's Liberty
1096
01:03:40.760 --> 01:03:45.539
International Terminal C. That's a big United hub. And it's
1097
01:03:45.559 --> 01:03:47.599
going to give you through the app, of course, the
1098
01:03:47.619 --> 01:03:51.869
ability to order food, medicine, and travel essentials through its app,
1099
01:03:52.409 --> 01:03:56.579
have it delivered right at the gate. And it's a
1100
01:03:56.599 --> 01:04:02.840
pilot program. I think there's nine designated gates. And I, it's,
1101
01:04:03.480 --> 01:04:04.800
I mean, so let me give you what you could do.
1102
01:04:04.800 --> 01:04:09.570
You could, you can order salad, sandwiches, chips, candies, kids, meals, drinks.
1103
01:04:10.190 --> 01:04:13.230
You could over the counter meds, travel pillows, charging cords.
1104
01:04:13.409 --> 01:04:16.349
So I guess it's like when you go into one
1105
01:04:16.389 --> 01:04:18.769
of these shops that you get the magazines in, there's
1106
01:04:19.030 --> 01:04:21.989
now physically not going to be a shop. It's going
1107
01:04:22.010 --> 01:04:24.949
to be probably a, a hidden shop in the bowels
1108
01:04:25.010 --> 01:04:27.820
of the airport. And they're going to deliver it to
1109
01:04:27.860 --> 01:04:32.699
your gate. Who would use this? I don't know. I
1110
01:04:33.130 --> 01:04:34.630
don't even go into any of those shops in the
1111
01:04:34.650 --> 01:04:41.989
first place. It's another way. I get it. It's another
1112
01:04:42.130 --> 01:04:46.050
revenue stream. We're united right now because you can buy
1113
01:04:46.449 --> 01:04:49.949
on the plane or pre-order food and you get the
1114
01:04:50.070 --> 01:04:53.269
food boxes, right? And you can get, oh, I got
1115
01:04:53.289 --> 01:04:55.170
a charcuterie, I got a hummus thing, and that's going
1116
01:04:55.190 --> 01:04:57.289
to be $ 11 or $ 15, and they're going to deliver
1117
01:04:57.309 --> 01:04:58.989
it to seat 9C, and it's going to be you.
1118
01:04:59.610 --> 01:05:03.300
But that's only when you're on the plane. Sometimes a
1119
01:05:03.320 --> 01:05:05.699
flight's an hour, but you get to an airport two
1120
01:05:05.739 --> 01:05:09.920
hours beforehand. How is United, or any airline, going to
1121
01:05:09.940 --> 01:05:12.360
get more revenue when you're just sitting at the freaking gate? Well,
1122
01:05:12.420 --> 01:05:17.940
you can walk down to the little convenience store, or
1123
01:05:18.320 --> 01:05:21.860
now let United deliver it to it. So, yay! Good
1124
01:05:21.900 --> 01:05:24.440
for United of coming up with another opportunity to upsell
1125
01:05:24.579 --> 01:05:34.409
and integrate it. But is this going to work? Listen,
1126
01:05:34.679 --> 01:05:36.389
just because it's there, you don't need to use the thing.
1127
01:05:37.349 --> 01:05:43.789
But it's DoorDash for airplanes, for example. The airline industry,
1128
01:05:45.090 --> 01:05:48.889
it is changing so fast. Is it changing for the better?
1129
01:05:49.110 --> 01:05:52.760
You tell me. I don't think it is. I think
1130
01:05:52.800 --> 01:05:56.699
it's helping the private flight, the PJ, the private jet industry.
1131
01:05:56.840 --> 01:05:58.760
If you can afford one of those. I can't, but
1132
01:05:58.780 --> 01:06:02.190
luckily I got friends who actually do. But it is changing.
1133
01:06:02.369 --> 01:06:07.630
And I am, Southwest Airlines, your PR people, I love you, man.
1134
01:06:08.969 --> 01:06:11.730
I got to continue my streak of an A-list, A-list preferred,
1135
01:06:12.150 --> 01:06:14.590
companion pass. If not for you, I now know your
1136
01:06:14.610 --> 01:06:16.150
chairman of the board, Doug Brooks. I do not want
1137
01:06:16.170 --> 01:06:17.550
to have to make a call. I'm going to fly
1138
01:06:17.570 --> 01:06:19.590
as many times as I can before now the end
1139
01:06:19.630 --> 01:06:23.889
of the year. United, I'm listening to you. See, the
1140
01:06:23.909 --> 01:06:26.769
thing is, though, we... And I want to talk to
1141
01:06:26.789 --> 01:06:28.710
you about customer service because this is one of the
1142
01:06:28.750 --> 01:06:30.909
things that I... I am the most.
1143
01:06:32.969 --> 01:06:37.070
I'm not a typical consumer. I'm a consumer on steroids.
1144
01:06:38.110 --> 01:06:41.030
I walk the aisles of grocery stores just for the
1145
01:06:41.170 --> 01:06:43.269
hell of it. Yeah, this is my sexy life. I
1146
01:06:43.289 --> 01:06:45.750
don't read books. In the summer, there's no football to watch.
1147
01:06:46.170 --> 01:06:48.030
I just like walking up and down the aisles of, say,
1148
01:06:48.050 --> 01:06:50.510
an HEB. And I look at the colors, and I
1149
01:06:50.530 --> 01:06:54.260
look at the packaging, and I look at... The names,
1150
01:06:54.300 --> 01:06:59.110
the titles, where it's placed on the shelves. Because it's
1151
01:06:59.170 --> 01:07:03.250
my job actually to help determine. You could have the
1152
01:07:03.289 --> 01:07:05.530
greatest product in the world. Let me make it an analogy.
1153
01:07:05.590 --> 01:07:07.570
I love Field of Dreams. And Field of Dreams, in
1154
01:07:07.630 --> 01:07:11.329
its most famous line, if you build it, they will come.
1155
01:07:12.929 --> 01:07:16.449
That's false. They are not going to come unless you
1156
01:07:16.690 --> 01:07:20.050
market and tell the world about it. You could have
1157
01:07:20.070 --> 01:07:25.679
the best product, but if you don't package, position, market it,
1158
01:07:25.739 --> 01:07:28.800
tell the people about it, they ain't coming. And so
1159
01:07:29.119 --> 01:07:32.059
that's why I get pitched day, every single day. I
1160
01:07:32.079 --> 01:07:34.320
get dozens of press releases. Michael, let me talk about that.
1161
01:07:34.739 --> 01:07:37.449
And it's up to me to determine, is this product
1162
01:07:37.769 --> 01:07:42.150
actually good at the lowest level? Is this going to
1163
01:07:42.289 --> 01:07:45.750
change your life? Is it going to make your process
1164
01:07:45.789 --> 01:07:50.929
of a daily life easier and entertain you more the
1165
01:07:51.010 --> 01:07:52.989
return on investment is it going to be good that's
1166
01:07:53.010 --> 01:07:55.949
what i need to determine and if it can well
1167
01:07:56.030 --> 01:07:58.210
i'm going to shout it from the rooftops but how
1168
01:07:58.230 --> 01:08:01.429
do they deposition it to the world is it covered
1169
01:08:01.449 --> 01:08:03.269
and so they have test markets and they have things
1170
01:08:03.329 --> 01:08:05.389
that's this is what united is doing in in in
1171
01:08:05.409 --> 01:08:08.289
this instance and so you listen to me this is
1172
01:08:08.329 --> 01:08:09.880
not just i'd like you to think as you know
1173
01:08:09.889 --> 01:08:12.019
there's just some dude he's been on the radio and
1174
01:08:12.139 --> 01:08:14.599
media and tv for 25 years and he did whatever
1175
01:08:14.639 --> 01:08:16.159
product they send to me he thinks it's the greatest
1176
01:08:16.180 --> 01:08:18.850
thing no I'm more than happy to rag on a product.
1177
01:08:19.550 --> 01:08:23.210
I'm more than happy. I'm very proud to say that
1178
01:08:23.229 --> 01:08:27.750
I have track records of just organically helping launch products
1179
01:08:27.789 --> 01:08:31.760
because there's a mom and a pop garage. They created
1180
01:08:31.800 --> 01:08:33.880
this thing. They've sent me it. I've played with it
1181
01:08:33.920 --> 01:08:37.880
and going, oh my God, how cool is this? And
1182
01:08:37.899 --> 01:08:41.600
then they use that marketing without my permission, but it's
1183
01:08:41.649 --> 01:08:43.710
gone somewhere. And then they sold it to another company
1184
01:08:43.729 --> 01:08:45.430
for billions of dollars. I haven't gotten a freaking cent
1185
01:08:45.449 --> 01:08:47.779
for any of this stuff. But I'm also one, I've
1186
01:08:47.800 --> 01:08:50.380
probably killed a few companies still going, why do we
1187
01:08:50.439 --> 01:08:52.890
need this product? But that's what I do. So in
1188
01:08:52.909 --> 01:08:58.350
this case, airlines, cars, technology, liquor, bourbon, fashion, I am
1189
01:08:58.369 --> 01:08:59.710
your guy. And I got 15 more minutes to talk
1190
01:08:59.729 --> 01:09:01.439
about it. before we get out of here. Final segment
1191
01:09:01.460 --> 01:09:03.539
coming up. Don't go anywhere, Michael Garfield. It's called the
1192
01:09:03.579 --> 01:09:10.140
High Tech Tech Show. Home stretch, people. Give me eight
1193
01:09:10.199 --> 01:09:13.729
minutes and I am out of here with you. Then
1194
01:09:13.850 --> 01:09:16.449
go watch your college football games or whatever you're going
1195
01:09:16.470 --> 01:09:18.369
to do because this is it. Thank you for hanging
1196
01:09:18.409 --> 01:09:21.789
with me for almost two hours, Michael Garfield. That is
1197
01:09:21.829 --> 01:09:24.729
my name. Been doing it for 24, 25 years here
1198
01:09:24.850 --> 01:09:28.390
all across the iHeartRadio talk stations, certainly in Texas and
1199
01:09:28.409 --> 01:09:31.869
around the world if you do download the iHeartRadio app.
1200
01:09:31.909 --> 01:09:34.590
And we do thank you for doing that. Talked about
1201
01:09:34.630 --> 01:09:36.210
a number of fun things. If you want to go
1202
01:09:36.229 --> 01:09:39.670
ahead and podcast this, you can hear why MapQuest is
1203
01:09:39.729 --> 01:09:43.770
the number one most downloaded popular free app on the
1204
01:09:43.890 --> 01:09:46.569
App Store. That's right, MapQuest. What's old is new, people.
1205
01:09:47.590 --> 01:09:50.770
Got my thoughts on the upcoming announcement from Apple this
1206
01:09:50.829 --> 01:09:55.520
coming week. Foldable phone, iPhone 18, who knows? But they
1207
01:09:55.560 --> 01:09:59.020
have a brand new Presidente as Tim Cook finally steps down.
1208
01:09:59.899 --> 01:10:04.789
Talked about a new... robo taxi launching a geez just
1209
01:10:04.810 --> 01:10:08.149
what we need another new robo taxi driverless vehicle service
1210
01:10:08.210 --> 01:10:10.449
in texas it is coming an amazon owned one this
1211
01:10:10.489 --> 01:10:14.409
time gave a review of some sleep buds not earbuds
1212
01:10:14.470 --> 01:10:17.449
not headphones not headsets but sleep buds that's a that's
1213
01:10:17.479 --> 01:10:20.199
a hot category uh and now it's time to talk
1214
01:10:20.239 --> 01:10:23.359
a little about what's michael driving that's right not only
1215
01:10:23.380 --> 01:10:25.920
do i do technology i get to drive cars vehicles
1216
01:10:25.979 --> 01:10:27.979
every single week it is not from a dealership i
1217
01:10:28.039 --> 01:10:30.239
do not get paid for this and I don't get
1218
01:10:30.260 --> 01:10:33.140
to drive in Toyotas too much, but the nice folks
1219
01:10:33.180 --> 01:10:39.159
from Gulf States Toyota, actually a Toyota company, a Texas-based
1220
01:10:39.220 --> 01:10:42.869
company in the United States, Frisco, Texas, they have lent
1221
01:10:42.909 --> 01:10:47.069
me for one week. I got stopped two times by
1222
01:10:47.109 --> 01:10:48.810
people because they didn't know what it was. They saw
1223
01:10:48.829 --> 01:10:54.029
the Toyota insignia. They did not know or have never
1224
01:10:54.229 --> 01:11:00.180
seen a Toyota crown insignia. Have you ever seen a
1225
01:11:00.319 --> 01:11:02.939
Toyota Crown Signia? I think this is the second time
1226
01:11:02.979 --> 01:11:05.989
I've been behind the wheel of one. Had it for
1227
01:11:06.029 --> 01:11:08.350
a week. I'm not going to tell you a dealership
1228
01:11:08.369 --> 01:11:11.369
because I do not know Toyota dealers. If you kind
1229
01:11:11.409 --> 01:11:13.470
of listen to my thoughts of who it's for, go
1230
01:11:13.529 --> 01:11:16.310
test drive one. If you don't care, don't go find
1231
01:11:16.350 --> 01:11:18.310
a dealership. Again, just to prove the point, I don't
1232
01:11:18.350 --> 01:11:20.399
get paid for this stuff, but this is my thoughts
1233
01:11:21.020 --> 01:11:22.720
because I've been doing something like this for 15 years.
1234
01:11:22.720 --> 01:11:30.270
2026 Toyota Crown Signia. Is it a station wagon? Practically,
1235
01:11:30.329 --> 01:11:34.550
it is like a station wagon, and that's a good thing. Luxury,
1236
01:11:35.529 --> 01:11:39.069
there are some very luxury features. Obviously, Toyota's sister company,
1237
01:11:39.420 --> 01:11:43.180
high-end luxury line, Lexus. It's kind of Lexus-like inside, too.
1238
01:11:44.020 --> 01:11:50.979
I'm going to call this an upscale, efficient replacement for
1239
01:11:51.020 --> 01:11:53.000
what one person came up to me and said, hey,
1240
01:11:53.060 --> 01:11:58.659
is that a Toyota Venza? Well... Good eye, because it
1241
01:11:58.880 --> 01:12:04.460
is a replacement for the discontinued Toyota Venza. It's between
1242
01:12:04.479 --> 01:12:10.180
a traditional crossover and maybe a higher SUV. It is
1243
01:12:10.199 --> 01:12:13.739
a very comfortable ride, and I must say that. It
1244
01:12:13.819 --> 01:12:19.119
is very quiet. I really like the MPG. EPA estimated
1245
01:12:19.119 --> 01:12:24.939
38 combined miles per gallon. Several different trims and levels
1246
01:12:25.000 --> 01:12:28.199
if you want to go check it out. The XLE,
1247
01:12:28.840 --> 01:12:32.699
and it starts right about $ 45, 000 there. Want to get
1248
01:12:32.720 --> 01:12:35.369
the limited? And I believe I had the limited. You're
1249
01:12:35.390 --> 01:12:37.750
going to get this fully loaded maybe to $ 55, 000. So
1250
01:12:37.770 --> 01:12:41.470
we got $ 45, 000 to $ 55, 000. Depends what you want it.
1251
01:12:42.029 --> 01:12:47.029
But two and a half liter, four cylinder hybrid. So
1252
01:12:47.050 --> 01:12:50.289
we got a hybrid system here. All right. So that's
1253
01:12:50.310 --> 01:12:53.170
why we're going to get decent miles per gallon or
1254
01:12:53.210 --> 01:12:56.970
miles per gallon equivalent. Pretty impressive horsepower for what it is,
1255
01:12:56.960 --> 01:13:00.060
240 horsepower. Now, I'm not a zero to 60 guy,
1256
01:13:00.090 --> 01:13:02.750
but I believe my ilk in this industry, they're saying
1257
01:13:02.770 --> 01:13:04.850
it's somewhere around seven seconds or so. Is it the
1258
01:13:04.869 --> 01:13:06.369
fastest thing to get you from A to B to
1259
01:13:06.390 --> 01:13:09.010
get you on the freeway? No, but it's very punchy,
1260
01:13:09.510 --> 01:13:12.989
and punchy is good. Really like the way it handles.
1261
01:13:13.770 --> 01:13:17.750
The ride quality, suspension was pretty tuned. It was not bumpy.
1262
01:13:18.250 --> 01:13:21.529
It was sedan. Is it going to go off-road? I
1263
01:13:21.609 --> 01:13:25.670
probably would not specifically get it for anything off-road. Who
1264
01:13:25.729 --> 01:13:28.630
is it for? Well, let's talk about the interior first.
1265
01:13:29.390 --> 01:13:33.529
Front seats, very cushiony, almost flagship-like. Maybe they stole some
1266
01:13:33.550 --> 01:13:38.420
of the semi-luxury things they had from Lexus. Second row, yes,
1267
01:13:38.760 --> 01:13:40.659
I'm six foot tall, and I got a big head
1268
01:13:40.680 --> 01:13:42.819
of hair. My head did not hit the back, so
1269
01:13:42.859 --> 01:13:49.079
it's good legroom in the back. The controls and screen,
1270
01:13:49.100 --> 01:13:53.420
12-inch display, two of them. One for the digital gauges,
1271
01:13:53.439 --> 01:13:55.579
which is right underneath the steering wheel, what you're looking through.
1272
01:13:55.819 --> 01:13:58.619
And there's the infotainment. It's got Apple CarPlay. It's got
1273
01:13:58.680 --> 01:14:02.250
Android Auto. I do like the fact, thank you, Toyota,
1274
01:14:02.289 --> 01:14:05.050
at least in this case, of keeping some physical buttons.
1275
01:14:05.630 --> 01:14:08.189
There was a knob that I can turn left to
1276
01:14:08.229 --> 01:14:09.970
turn the volume down on the radio and turn it
1277
01:14:10.170 --> 01:14:13.380
up to turn it to go. The HVAC, the HVAC,
1278
01:14:13.859 --> 01:14:16.960
there's physical buttons. I didn't need to start going digital thing.
1279
01:14:17.079 --> 01:14:21.119
Old school guy actually likes that. Cargo space. not bad
1280
01:14:21.159 --> 01:14:26.270
it's about 25.8 cubes um with the seats up but
1281
01:14:26.310 --> 01:14:28.229
if you put the back seats down you're going to
1282
01:14:28.310 --> 01:14:30.710
get 68 cubic feet of space not too bad you're
1283
01:14:30.729 --> 01:14:31.850
going to go to heb you're going to put some
1284
01:14:31.869 --> 01:14:33.569
clubs and you know your golf clubs in there it's
1285
01:14:33.630 --> 01:14:37.750
actually going to work so it compares it now i'm
1286
01:14:37.770 --> 01:14:40.439
not i'm not comparative person it compares to maybe the
1287
01:14:40.489 --> 01:14:43.520
toyota rav4 hybrid and maybe look you look at the
1288
01:14:43.739 --> 01:14:47.579
lexus rx 350 hybrid so we're looking across the hybrids
1289
01:14:47.640 --> 01:14:52.220
over here um If you're trying to decide between the
1290
01:14:52.319 --> 01:14:54.970
XLE and the Limited Trim, just go drive both of them.
1291
01:14:55.130 --> 01:14:58.069
It's whatever's in your budget. But I actually was impressed,
1292
01:14:58.210 --> 01:15:00.649
and I don't see a lot of these. And again,
1293
01:15:00.770 --> 01:15:02.229
it's called, you probably haven't seen it, but it's the
1294
01:15:02.270 --> 01:15:05.689
Toyota Crown Signia. Kind of took the place of the
1295
01:15:05.750 --> 01:15:10.739
Toyota Venza. A price point, maybe not the cheapest of
1296
01:15:10.779 --> 01:15:13.039
what you're going to get when it comes to the
1297
01:15:13.100 --> 01:15:16.840
entire line of these small crossover type of things, but
1298
01:15:16.880 --> 01:15:20.140
I was impressed. Am I a Toyota fan? Listen, you've
1299
01:15:20.159 --> 01:15:22.699
listened to me for 15 years. Not the biggest Toyota fan,
1300
01:15:22.729 --> 01:15:24.770
only because I don't get to drive Toyotas. I used
1301
01:15:24.789 --> 01:15:26.609
to go to all the Toyota media launches, and I
1302
01:15:26.649 --> 01:15:28.729
got to see them and talk to the engineers. I
1303
01:15:28.770 --> 01:15:30.729
don't get it. For some reason, I'm not invited to
1304
01:15:30.770 --> 01:15:33.689
that stuff anymore. I'd like to ask the Toyota people, engineers,
1305
01:15:33.710 --> 01:15:35.720
the marketers, more questions about that. So I just get
1306
01:15:35.770 --> 01:15:38.560
what I get. I'm not the biggest fan of their
1307
01:15:38.600 --> 01:15:41.359
infotainment system. There's really no reason every time I want
1308
01:15:41.380 --> 01:15:44.930
to save a radio station that this pop-up display bubble
1309
01:15:45.010 --> 01:15:48.689
comes on for 10 seconds going, yes, you just programmed
1310
01:15:49.010 --> 01:15:52.270
80s on 8. Get it off the freaking screen already.
1311
01:15:52.590 --> 01:15:56.130
All right? It's big enough. The navigation is fine. But listen,
1312
01:15:56.149 --> 01:15:59.760
there's other infotainment systems. If that's my biggest gripe, tell
1313
01:15:59.770 --> 01:16:00.979
you what, you may want to check out the 2026
1314
01:16:00.979 --> 01:16:02.199
Toyota Crown Signia, $ 45, 000 to $ 50, 000, $ 55, 000. If you want
1315
01:16:02.220 --> 01:16:04.399
to hear all of my reviews from the past 15 years...
1316
01:16:09.979 --> 01:16:13.050
The vehicles, you can go to iHeartRadio, and certainly you
1317
01:16:13.069 --> 01:16:15.409
go to Spotify, and I believe even Apple iTunes, and
1318
01:16:15.430 --> 01:16:21.109
you look for High Tech Texan, H-I-G-H-T-E-C-H-T-E-X-A-N. This is unpaid.
1319
01:16:21.350 --> 01:16:22.989
It is my thoughts. I do want to thank the
1320
01:16:23.060 --> 01:16:26.520
nice folks at DriveShop for this one. It's a third-party
1321
01:16:26.560 --> 01:16:29.539
company who delivers me and several other automobile journalists the
1322
01:16:29.560 --> 01:16:33.140
opportunity to roll around in a week. Again, sadly not
1323
01:16:33.180 --> 01:16:35.350
paid for, not sponsored, but you're going to get what
1324
01:16:35.359 --> 01:16:37.289
you get, and it is the real Michael Garfield thoughts.
1325
01:16:37.350 --> 01:16:39.409
But maybe you want to go check out. the 2026
1326
01:16:39.409 --> 01:16:42.569
Toyota Crown Signia. If you want me to review something,
1327
01:16:42.939 --> 01:16:45.279
ride something that you've never heard me talk about, well,
1328
01:16:45.380 --> 01:16:50.159
pop me an email, michael at hightechtexan.com. I will contact somebody.
1329
01:16:50.619 --> 01:16:52.579
Maybe I'll be lucky enough to get into it. Maybe
1330
01:16:52.619 --> 01:16:55.039
I'll give you the review. With that, that takes us
1331
01:16:55.100 --> 01:16:57.060
up to the top of the second hour. We out
1332
01:16:57.100 --> 01:16:59.329
of here. I'd like to thank my man Callum Reed
1333
01:16:59.369 --> 01:17:01.949
for putting the show together, putting on a podcast after this.
1334
01:17:02.609 --> 01:17:06.229
Everybody at iHeartRadio, People, life as we know it has begun.
1335
01:17:06.390 --> 01:17:10.140
Happy Labor Day. Be safe. Football season is here. Follow
1336
01:17:10.149 --> 01:17:13.899
me online, on social, on the website, because we're going
1337
01:17:13.920 --> 01:17:15.420
to do it again next week. We'll talk more about
1338
01:17:15.460 --> 01:17:18.359
when iPhone is launched and whether you should stay away, probably,
1339
01:17:18.739 --> 01:17:20.760
or go get any of these new products. On behalf
1340
01:17:20.779 --> 01:17:22.680
of everybody who's been a part of this big high-tech
1341
01:17:22.699 --> 01:17:25.659
detection show, thank you for tuning in. My name is Garth.
1342
01:17:26.340 --> 01:17:33.659
Go watch football, because my show is over. Yeah, yeah.