Does the bidet have, like, automatic aim? It
has butthole target lock? Yeah. Five, four, three,
two, one, zero. Welcome to the show, people.
Welcome to the show. Eat my shorts. So here is
to conversation. Welcome to the cash exchange.
What up? How are you? You know, I had a near
-blinding experience today. Near -blinding experience?
Are you talking LED headlights? No, no. I was
out in the wilds of Houston and I was near some
trees. I look up. As soon as I do, gust of wind
comes in and all of a sudden I feel something
hit my bare eyeball. Okay. And I was wearing
sunglasses, but I don't know, I guess. As far
as final destination situations go, it was a
pretty, pretty light one. But I got back to the
truck. I looked in the side view mirror and just
started digging around in my eye socket and found
like a little, looked like a little piece of
a, I don't know, like a thorn that broke off.
Oh. Just hanging out in my eye socket on my eyeball.
I think there might still be like some tiny bit
in there because I've been feeling funny, but
you know, I'll flush it out eventually, I guess.
I was about to say, I think you should maybe
check that out. Maybe go invest in some eyedrops
to clear out whatever that is. You're not out
of the woods yet. Anyways, what about you? How
are things going with you? Pretty good. I can't
complain. I am... I've been doing a deep dive
on all of my my backlog podcast work today. So
I am Feeling productive. It's great. Nice. Oh
speaking of Feeling good I want to pick up dinner
this evening from a restaurant that I frequent
quite a lot they know me they know me around
there and The guy hands me my food and I was
like, hey, can I get a receipt because You have
to have a receipt to scan the code to get the
points, even though I ordered the food on the
app that the points would go to. Anyways, and
so while he's getting my receipt, he says, so
how's your day going? Or no, he's like, so how
are you today? And I said, not bad. He heard
bad. Oh man. Is everything all right? I was like,
what? He was like, I'm sorry, you're having a
bad day. I said, no, I said, I'm not bad. Believe
me, man, if I were actually having a bad day,
I would just say not bad. Cause I'm not going
to burden you with that. We had this conversation
and I stand by it. You should absolutely follow
up if somebody says they're doing bad. We did
have this conversation, but I clarified with
him that I would not lay that burden on him.
And he was like, oh man, that's good. Cause I
didn't know like, like, do I need to say something?
Do you need a hug? Like, I don't know what to
do. I was like, I appreciate it, man, but no,
no. All peachy. That's so sweet. See? That is
the good side of humanity. Yeah. Yeah. He was
willing to hug this stranger. Cross the counter
at, I assume, Pluckers. Yeah. How'd you know?
They know you there. They do. Everything's coming
up. Millhouse has been so close to triumphant.
Oh, this isn't even the home base, but they do
know me here too. And I do go to trivia here
and use the same trivia name. So, yeah. We'll
have to reinstate that tradition. We will. Are
you ready for your three things? Yes. All right.
What do bananas, knockoff phone chargers, and
HD DVDs have in common? Bananas, knockoff phone
chargers, and HD DVDs. You eat too much of them
in one sitting, you'll die. I mean, that is technically
correct. They're all slightly irradiated. I believe
that one is also correct. Not the three line
I was going with, but if you eat it, I feel like
if you eat enough of them, you'll die is the
three line for anything we've done on this pod.
Yeah. Yeah, probably. Hmm. Bananas knockoff.
So knockoff is definitely the, the part to be
concerned with, with that one. HD DVDs do not
exist and were beaten out by Blu -ray. After
a very brief stint, yes. And someone in our family
bucked the wrong horse on that one. That is true.
The things that have a far superior version.
What is the superior version of a banana? Yeah,
I don't know. A plantain? What? Plantain? Plantain?
What'd you call it? Plantain. Oh, that sounded
weird. It only said plantain. The plantain? Plantain,
yeah. Is the plantain the better version of the
banana? Give me some fried plantains. I am not
that southern. Oh, man. Knock off phone cords.
Banana. Yellow. Phallic -shaped. Phone cords.
thin spaghetti shaped HD DVD boob shaped But
only in two dimensions front view only yeah,
I don't know I have no clue I had an alternative
Three things for this episode. Okay, I figured
those would be too easy now Do you want to hear
them since you're given in? Give me the one most
obscure one of the other three. The other three
don't connect to this one. It was two separate,
like, connections to our topic of the day. Oh.
Okay, yeah, give me all three then. Okay. So,
completely unrelated to Bananas, phone chargers,
and HD DVDs, the other three were Nature Valley
granola bars, wishbones, and pinatas. Things
that are meant to be destroyed. Things that are
meant to be broken. Oh! Planned obsolescence.
Planned obsolescence. Hey -ya! What does a banana
have to do with planned obsolescence? Bananas,
knockoff phone chargers, and HD DVDs are things
with a lot shorter of a shelf life than they
should have. Oh, okay. Which is things with a
similarly short shelf life based on... a fun
little thing called planned obsolescence, our
topic for the day. I was right on track with
the HDDVDs and I just abandoned it. You gotta
verbalize these thoughts. This is an audio format.
We can't read your mind. No, I said it. I said
it. I said... You said they were boob shaped.
There was no other feedback for HDDVDs. Yes,
I did because I said that they were beat out
by Blu -ray, that they barely lasted at all because
they got beat out by Blu -ray. That is true.
That's what I said. Okay. Okay. So this episode
is going to be my version of the Old Man Yells
at Clouds episode. There's a couple of things
on the list of upcoming episodes that we have
that are going to involve at least one if not
both of us being a little grumpy. So by the next
time we do one of those episodes, I will have
your Old Man Yells at Cloud picture done. All
right. No, I mean, I got plenty to say about
planned obsolescence. It's stupid, for one. Sure.
But I can elaborate later, if needed. I mean,
I imagine it will be, but we'll see. All right,
so a quick little bit about the history of both
the concept and the term. The concept of planned
obsolescence began with a literal light bulb
moment. Yeah. I knew about this. Between the
years of, or between the 1890s and the 1920s,
the lifespan of the light bulb was increased
from 1 ,500 to 2 ,500 hours. When they realized
that the light bulbs lasted too long to be profitable,
big companies like GE and Philips joined forces
to create the Phoebus Cartel, the world's lamest
cartel, by my estimation, at least. I don't know.
Not everyone uses drugs. Not everyone has use
for S traffickers. Everyone uses light bulbs.
So if you're asking me, pretty powerful cartel.
This is true. They did impose very strict fines
on any light bulb producer who went over the
thousand -hour bar that they set. I don't know
if they were out here breaking kneecaps, but
I don't think you'd call yourself a cartel if
you're not willing to... Edison was part of it.
...do some damage. He was famous. for sending
goons after people that were maybe not giving
him his fair share. Like especially with the
people that had to flee to LA to make movies
because he literally had people coming to New
York and New Jersey on these shoots. They'd get
word of it. He'd find out. and he would send
people and they would go break their cameras
and just beat up the people. So that's how we
got LA to be Hollywood and where all the movies
are made because they were on the run from Thomas
Edison and his camera company. Look it up, Edison
was a dick. He was. I have watched entirely too
much Family Guy. Brilliant man, but also... Very
nefarious, very greedy, very selfish. So the
Phoebus cartel ended during World War II, but
its effect lasted for several decades afterwards.
In the 1920s, Henry Ford and GM played into this
as well with the original stance that the Model
T should be the only car you'll ever need to
own. It even came with all of the things that
it would take to repair the car yourself. But
once they got a little ways in and both GM and
the Ford production company realized that no
one was buying cars anymore, they started releasing
all of these fun new models with cosmetic and
functionality upgrades to incentivize throwing
your old one away. So that's where we got the
trim levels? Yes. It was the model TX LE. I have
never known what trim level I have on any of
my cars. I assume they're the standard ones,
because I don't think I've ever gone out of my
way to buy an above base level. Well, you don't
have to go out of your way. They'll just toss
it on there. Now we've made it to where we actually
got the name Planned Obsolescence, which was
from the 1930s. It was in a book. by a man whose
name I just realized that I did not write down,
but it was a suggestion as a way for the country
to pull itself back out of the Great Depression,
was if manufacturers would start making things
that had a predetermined shelf life, that consumerism
would go up and in turn, it would fix the American
economy. And now we're here. Yeah. Yeah. I mean,
what was the initial idea for every product made.
I guarantee you, the initial idea wasn't, well,
we can get this stuff a hell of a lot cheaper
from China, so we'll just get everything from
China. Yeah. I mean, I don't imagine that was
the takeaway back in the 30s, but they had a...
So were there specific things? It was... So he
wrote an entire book on it and I don't have a
great deal of... like that kind of specific information
on it, but from what I read, it seemed like it
was just a blanket statement for American manufacturers.
So it was a, if you have a factory that produces
toothbrushes, then you can make them so the bristles
wear out faster, the American people will buy
more of the toothbrushes and you'll have more
work for the people in your factory to do. Well,
and then you can also put out PSA saying, oh,
you have to change your toothbrush out like every
week. Do you know what kind of bacteria it creates
unfreshness for the women folk? Because everything,
everything back in that time was a threat against
women's freshness. I mean, it wasn't necessarily
a ploy for planned obsolescence or to boost the
economy, but it was a ploy to have people...
I mean, it is a ploy to boost the economy because
it's a product that people didn't necessarily
need and they created an issue to solve this
problem that didn't actually exist like gingivitis
with Listerine. So, yeah, I mean, that's where
all that stuff comes from, I guess. Same mindset.
I mean, planned obsolescence was solving a problem
that did exist. It just... Yeah. Overcorrected.
Yeah, I mean, that's a story of America, isn't
it? Overcorrection. Sure, that you could definitely
make that case. A lot of people think we're swinging
in to the extreme of the other way now, and it's
a mess out there. Yeah, I have no thoughts I'm
willing to share on that out loud. Good, good,
because a lot of people are too willing to share
their thoughts on the internet. Yeah, no. Not
a political podcast. I'm not going to weigh in
on it. I have thoughts. They are irrelevant to
this. What is relevant to this is fast fashion
and Ikea furniture. Because we have so much over
-corrected that we are completely dependent on
fast and cost -effective over sustainable and
lasting. Do you have real purchase in a brick
and mortar kind of furniture? Like, do you have
actual like... Yes, things made out of wood.
Yes your home dining room table that we used
Growing up came from brick -and -mortar Living
room set We have two entertainment centers one
holds a TV one holds a fish tank both of those
were Drop on your doorstep and assemble Coffee
table same way bedding came from a store dresser
came from a store kids' beds were packages. So
I think we're split about 50 -50. Okay. When
I was looking for information about this episode,
I took stock of all of the furniture that I owned,
which is not a great amount. My couch came to
me through Wayfair, so it was delivered to my
package locker. Absolute nightmare to get to
my fourth floor in a different building apartment.
I have a bed frame that I've had for five years
now, uh, that I bought from Amazon that is seen
better days. It has made it through several moves
and it is, it's dying on me. And my entertainment
center and bookshelf, Ikea. That thing behind
me, I don't know if that counts as furniture,
Amazon. Uh, yeah, the kids have a bookshelf that
I bought from Ikea and it is garbage. It constantly.
just explodes if you put like one too many books
on it just the whole thing just like so that's
crazy should probably get that replaced at some
point but i would consider that yeah but you
know that's that's what it is right now yeah
these podcast checks aren't coming in yet all
of that one dollar that we've made so far can
go to fund a new bookshelf for your children
one dollar and 12 cents checked it today okay
okay we're making progress man We're getting
there. We're getting there. So yeah, all of my
furniture has basically been delivered to me
and has been assembled with a very specific size
of Allen wrench. I own at least 12 of them at
this point. I don't know what they go to. I don't
know how they keep moving with me. I'm pretty
sure that I throw them away after I finish building
the thing. But every time I move, I have a new
collection of them. I actually like putting those
kits together. For a little while I was using
this, what's the, what do they call like side
hustle stuff? Gig work? Yeah, yeah, the gig,
I was part of the gig economy and a lot of it
was putting that stuff together and for the most
part, it's enjoyable, it's mind numbing sometimes
and you realize how shitty all this stuff is
and it's just, it's like the crappiest particle
board you've ever seen just fashioned into some
sort of usable piece of furniture that is covered
in the thinnest layer of, it's pretty much just
like a sticker that they put on top of the particle
board to make it look like it's wood. But I also
have a funny story about from a brick and mortar
because one year for I don't know, I think it
was like birthday and Christmas one year. Dad
got me a couch, a sofa because the one I had
was from Wayfair and it was busted in the middle
and it was just a piece of junk. And so he was
like, okay, I'll get this for you and that'll
be your birthday and Christmas present. I'm like,
great, because I need a couch. And so we're going
through the buying process and they said, okay,
well, I'll even do the delivery for you. Like
I'll do the to the door delivery, not the bring
it in because you can do that part. They'll bring
it to your door, you just bring it in, you set
it up, then you're good to go. Awesome. So the
time comes where it starts to, it's being delivered.
And I waited home all day because they're like,
okay, well, we'll be there between like 9 a .m.
and noon the next day. It's like, okay, cool.
And I wait around, wait around, wait around,
nothing. Wait around, wait around, wait around,
nothing. Get a notification, driver's on the
way. Wait around, wait around, wait around, nothing.
Made sure that I had the phone number in the
system so they knew to call me whenever they
were there. And then it was probably like, I
don't know, nine o 'clock at night. I get a notification,
delivery successful. That's weird. I'm on the
second floor and you can hear everybody going
up and down the stairs. So I don't know how they
would have gotten an entire couch up the stairs
without me knowing. Well, I lived in a terrible
apartment complex that had the same apartment
number for multiple buildings. Yeah, it was it
was off the highway. So half of the addresses
were off were based on the highway The other
ones were based on the street behind the apartment
complex. I had the highway address with the apartment
number They delivered it to the apartment number
with the backstreet address and so I had to drive
around to go find where they put this couch and
they also lived upstairs but they had like this
tiny little walkway like you walk out of your
door and you turn and then the stairs would be
right there. These people, these furniture store
people, delivered this couch to this apartment
on its side wedged between the door and the railing.
So if this person walked out of their door they
would run face -first into my couch and would
not be able to leave their apartment. So I had
to enlist some help, move it, wiggle it out of
there, get it down the stairs, into my truck,
drive it to my apartment, get it up the stairs,
and then get it into my apartment. Yeah, and
it was not a fun experience. I wouldn't imagine.
I don't understand. I know that most delivery
drivers are underpaid and overworked. Oh. And
also competent, but by God. Holy moly. It's just
overrun with silliness. It is. It's a silly world.
It's a silly world, but I am hoping to one day
own furniture made of actual wood and not press
board and vinyl. It's on the bucket list is to
own real furniture again. Just wood? Bare wood?
to own furniture that is made of real wood. Okay,
we can make that happen. Bed frame and all that
jazz. Yeah. Yeah, just go to Home Depot. And
the great thing about getting your wood from
Home Depot is that it's got all the twists that
look like intentional design. Yeah, maybe I'll
channel my inner Ron Swanson one of these days.
There you go. And for your next place, we'll
just do handmade furniture. But not like Amish
handmade, it's just like... We spent like 30
minutes thinking about it and then this was the
result kind of handmade furniture I think I would
maybe like it to look a little bit better than
that Do we get some spray paint too? Yeah, or
if you're feeling real in the money, we'll just
get some stain Oh Fancy We'll stain that pine.
Yeah Anyways, where were we? We have made it
to Just a couple things that have really grinded
my gears when it comes to planned obsolescence.
One of which is the printer. I have so many grievances
with a smart printer. I just had my rant about
HP like two or three episodes ago. I know. I
wasn't going to go too deep into it because I
do remember us already talking about it, but
the... The printer situation is just ridiculous.
I don't print enough things to warrant a subscription
service. I should not. That's too bad. That is
too damn bad. I don't know why I have to stress
this. I don't know why I should have to stress
this, but I should not need a subscription to
print things on my own paper with my own ink.
From a printer that you purchased. From a printer
that I purchased. And it was not cheap. No printer
is cheap these days. No, it's absolutely ridiculous
that you have to get a subscription to your printer.
Not gonna touch on it because it was already
on our subscriptions episode. But it will get
me heated. As it should. It should get more people
heated. Then maybe I'd cut this shit out. I mean,
the only way to get through to the powers that
be is to stop subscribing to ridiculous subscriptions.
You know what I blame? You know what I blame
for that? Do you remember in like the 20, probably
mid 2010s, where everything was a subscription
box? Yeah. If you liked candles, you could get
a subscription box. Makeup, beef jerky. Dinner
is a subscription box now. I'm tired of this
grandpa. That's too damn bad. The big bad when
it comes to planned obsolescence is... By far,
cell phones and tablets. Yes. When you consider
replacing your phone, what is it that makes you
want to switch or want to upgrade? On this last
one, it was because it was dying. I mean, I'd
had it for a while. And as far as average phone
ownership goes, I think I'd had it probably four
years, five years. Okay. Wow, that's not bad.
The camera on the back was cracked and it wasn't
like egregious. It just showed up like sometimes
if the light hit it right you could tell in the
pictures that there was a crack but for the most
part it was fine other than that and the battery.
But I think mostly if I have a functioning product
then I will want to trade because of like new
features or stuff like that. Yeah. I switched
from iPhone to Android two years ago, I think.
And the thing that eventually just motivated
my, my switch over was just the fact that all
of the iPhones that were getting released seemed
like they were just carbon copies of the one
before it just with like forced to have larger
capacities. But now they're orange. Neat. They're
orange and no longer include the battery. What?
The battery that's in the iPhone Air is so small.
You're supposed to buy it separately and then
attach it to the back, creating a thicker phone
than the actual iPhone. But you can use it without
that, and you get like a solid 15 minutes of
the world's thinnest phone. It was only a matter
of time until the battery was sold separately
on one of these things, but oh my god is that...
Just nonsense. Do you remember when, because
I had a Blackberry Pearl, loved that phone. And
if it started acting up, you just went to Fry's,
which doesn't even exist anymore. You go buy
a battery for like 15 bucks, plop it in. It's
like you got a brand new phone. I remember I
dropped my Galaxy S5, the ones that still had
like the plastic backs. I dropped that thing
so many times. If I dropped my phone without
a case right now, I think I would shatter this
$1 ,200 machine. Yeah. As opposed to my little
$400, maybe, Galaxy S5. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, for
Christmas, Emily and I got Mom the battery in
her phone replaced because she said that it was
dying all the time. And yeah, it was a hundred
-something bucks. and you have to like take it
to the store. We had to drop it off and then
go eat and then come back and pick it back up.
Yeah. With my pearl, you run into fries, you
run out, you swap them out, you're done in like
10 minutes. It was a simpler time. And you saved
80 bucks. Yeah. Did you know that being able
to take your phone in to get the battery replaced
was also a peace offering from Apple after they
got big time sued for planned obsolescence? Yeah.
Yeah, because they had that whole scandal about
intentionally torpedoing your phone. Like, they
would put out a update and they would be like,
oh, but a side effect that we just can't help,
that it just has to happen this way, is that
all the older phones will run slower and it'll
drain the battery faster. I didn't know that
was their workaround for them. So they've been,
so technically that's not the workaround because
they never admitted guilt. They weren't officially
actually torpedoing the phones, but you know,
they did pay $500 million to users of iPhones
if you were eligible. Apple came under fire for
the same reason that John Deere and a bunch of
other like really big companies have recently,
which is based on the the right to repair. The
right to repair is a thing that is I think more
bananas than almost anything that we can discuss.
And that's like John Deere technically has the
ability to shut off your machinery if you try
to get it repaired by someone who does not work
for John Deere. You pay hundreds and hundreds
of thousands of dollars for this equipment. And
you can't fix it. And they say that, hey, well,
you know, only we know what we're doing. Like,
I know that you can get some guy under a tree
somewhere taking apart your tractor and he thinks
he knows what he's doing. But, you know, I just,
we wish that was the case. We wish that there
were ways that people could know what they were
doing. Just sorry, so can you give us like 10
grand and we'll fix it for you? Although who's
to say when a John Deere tech would be available
who knows how prevalent they are didn't I feel
like there's another big one I don't want to
throw out any Any names if it's not true. I feel
like there's a big motorcycle company that also
ran into these issues I could see that it's been
a push from consumers for a really long time
because It's just insane that we can't fix the
things that we own. We've gone so far from a
hundred years ago getting a car that came with
the tools to fix or replace anything that you
need. You have to pay extra for carjacks now.
You have to pay extra for spare tires. Oh yeah,
I get fix -a -flat in my car. I don't get an
actual tire anymore. Well, it's just that the
tires are so advanced to that. Yeah, we honestly,
there's no other way around it. We just have
to, we would have to charge you for it or, you
know, you can just bring it in, we'll fix it
and we'll figure out the price later. The dumbest
thing about the fact that my car comes with fix
-a -flat is that it has the space in my trunk
for a spare. Why give me a spare tire shaped
hole? If you're not going to give me a spare
tire. Well, in case, in case you hit the lottery
and then all of a sudden you want to splurge
and get a spare tire. In case you get a flat
at midnight on the highway. You know, that would
be on my list for winning the lottery. It's my
third purchase. It's a spare tire. It's a spare
tire. I'm not even getting a new car. Just a
tire for my little Toyota. I'm sure they have
great financing options for it. Yeah. Only 36
months and it is mine. Oh, this world, man. I
will say I've fallen, I've kind of fallen prey
to the marketing on the iPad because I do really
want to get a new iPad. Mine still works. In
your situation, it makes sense. And there's nothing
wrong with upgrading because of new features
available. Yeah. So my iPad still works. It is,
I want to say like five, six years old. And it
has gotten to a point where the work that I'm
doing on it, because I'm trying to do more like
art things, in part, tends to take up a lot of
its capacity. And so... I've gotten to a point
where the things that I'm doing are slowing down
so much that I know that I can just have a better
way to do this if I just upgrade my iPod. That
said, those things are so expensive that I don't
know how long it's going to take me to be able
to justify a purchase that large. That's going
to be my second purchase if I win the lottery.
Is there anywhere someone might be able to see
your art perhaps on a weekly basis anywhere?
You can check out my artwork on at cash exchange
pod on Instagram. There we go. We are also on
TikTok X. I was going to say Snapchat. That's
definitely wrong. YouTube. YouTube. Yes. We could
be on Snapchat if there were, if there were a
market for it. This is true. Maybe one day we'll
be a, we'll be a Snapchat pod too. Maybe need
some outside help for that. We need some outside
help with the socials that we have now. This
is true. But two marketing degrees on this call
right now. Yeah, but hey also if you're interested
in Getting doing some pro bono work for an up
-and -coming podcast company and your social
media savvy You can email us at cash exchange
pod at gmail .com. Yeah, and And with that we've
checked everything off the list and we may continue
the episode. I will justify within the next like
year or so I think actually upgrading my iPad
because the more that I'm asking of it, the less
that it's capable of doing. I made a flip book
animation for this podcast and it took me so
unbelievably long because I had to pause after
each frame played to make sure that my iPad didn't
crash and I didn't lose the work that I was doing
because it would have broke me as a human being.
Yeah. Well, hey, if that time comes and you get
that new iPad, I have a Apple pencil for you.
Okay. It'll be a birthday or Christmas present.
You don't use your Apple Pencil? Well, I wanted
to upgrade my current Apple Pencil because it
has the barrel roll feature and haptics on it.
What is barrel roll feature? Like when you turn
it, it like turns the, it can sense the turning
and so like whenever you're like drawing or something
like you'd like a paintbrush. So it would twist
with the... Oh, okay, okay. Yeah. and also like
haptic feedback stuff on it. So that was that
was going to be an upgrade just for feature sake,
like not because I actually needed it. But it
was a present from this Christmas present from
dad, and I had gotten something originally and
it just wasn't working the way I thought it was.
So I returned it, got store credit. They had
to sell on that the new Apple Pencils. I got
it. brought it home, tried to connect it to my
iPad and I was like, that's weird. And I did
a lot of research on whether you could have two
Apple Pencils connected to the same iPad, all
kinds of stuff. And it turns out that I didn't
do enough research beforehand because the Apple
Pencil I got does not work on the iPad that I
have. So it has been sitting at home in a drawer,
in the box, completely unused. Okay. So that's
unfortunate. I thought you were looking to upgrade
yours sometime soon. I don't know. I don't know.
I got a lot of stuff I got to take care of before.
I worry about that. That's fair. All right. So
after cell phones and tablets, I think one of
the things that's gotten out of hand with planned
obsolescence is the kitchen appliance. A lot
of the reason that I think that the kitchen appliance
has gotten a little ridiculous is because the
prices seem to double yearly and the things that
they do seem to get narrower and narrower. I
specifically blame that on as seen on TV products.
The Slap Chop. Slap Chop. The Vigetti. What?
It spaghettied any vegetable of your choosing.
That name should have been workshopped a little
harder. Primarily zucchini. But yeah, no, it
just, it made all those zoodles that were popular
for one whole year. I worked in a restaurant
that sold zoodles for a little while and it was,
it was so gross. They used it in place of pasta.
It was like a $3 substitution despite the fact
that zucchinis are not. Much cheaper than, yeah.
Yeah. And because they didn't drain the zucchini
or like dry out the zucchini a little bit, the
sauce wouldn't stick at all. And so you essentially
just had like a plate of cold zoodles and then
a glob of marinara on top. Zoodles is a funny
word. Completely inedible, it is. And I will
be using it as often as I can. I do like spaghetti
squash though. Yeah. It's been a while since
I've had it, but it's good. It's the season.
Yeah. I'm on... PSL 4 so far. Okay. I'm slacking.
It's been available for like a month. I haven't
had any. I haven't been to a Starbucks in forever.
Are you a PSL gal? I am, yeah. I like spiced
coffee. Like I'm a big chai person. That's my
go -to if I'm ever at Starbucks is like a chai
latte. So I'm a big pumpkin spice person too.
Well maybe next time we get together we can go
get some PSLs and hold them with both hands and
just inhale. It's got to come in one of those
ceramic mugs with no handle, the little vase.
You got to have a sweater with the influencer
paws. I have spent too much time online. Yeah,
well. A quick little side note. I Googled, as
seen on TV, food products. And the best one that
I found that just like sparked that nostalgia
in me was the Amazing Brownie Pan. Do you remember
that one? Uh vaguely. Was it something about
how it doesn't stick to the sides? No. So the
Amazing Brownie Pan, Its entire purpose was that
you only get edge pieces of the brownie. And
so it was this big like metal S that went in
the center of the pan. So it was just a snake
of brownie. It was the best. It was the best
way to eat brownies. I'm all about like the corner
pieces. That was just all corner. Yeah. I'm looking
at it now too. And it's a lot of, a lot of copper.
Yeah. Going hard into the copper. All of that
like Gotham copper stuff was, was very big for
a minute there. Our dad actually has a collection,
I believe, of copper cookware. Oh, here's a copper
brownie maker. Okay. Ceramic infused copper cooks
each brownie evenly. Do other methods not cook
your brownies evenly? I guess I haven't made
enough brownies to know. I might not be discerning
enough. I got to step up my brownie game. Mr.
Lid Tupperware with the lid attached. How is
it attached? It's got a hinge on it, I think.
Or it may just be part of the whole thing and
you can't separate them. Seems like it'd be a
pain to clean. Sounds like a storage nightmare.
That too. But, I mean, actual Tupperware stuff
is also a storage nightmare. Like so much copper.
Copper steel propane. Copper chef square pan.
Red copper brownie bonanza. Red copper mug. I
want a brownie bonanza. Copper eggs XL. Extra
large eggs? It's an egg poacher. Extra large
copper? Make perfect hard boiled eggs without
the shell. No peeling required. Alright. Copper
house stove grill. Stove top grill, non -stick
copper pan, non -stick copper square pan. Geez
Louise. They just found like a big old pile of
copper and they're like, what are we going to
do with this? And this is just the kitchen stuff.
It doesn't even talk about like all the, like
the knee braces and stuff that have their copper
infused. Or those sea sickness bracelets that
rounded you to the earth. Yeah, what were what
were those were those the ones where you'd stand
you'd like stand on one leg And they're like
try to push me down. You can't do it. You can't
do it. It's bracelet. Oh, yeah I should really
have added that into the the episode on advertisements.
Those were so fun They were all righty Billy
mates now We're gonna have to add has seen on
TV as an episode topic because just going off
the kitchen stuff I got plenty to say about it
So I'll save all the rest of my copper humor
for that. I think to be able to do that, I would
propose that we do it on a milestone episode.
So maybe when we get to our 50th. Okay. And in
the time between that, we purchase each other
one as seen on TV kitchen item that we are required
to cook with. Okay. Oh, yeah, that sounds like
a good plan. It's a good 50th celebration. I'm
not necessarily going to ban copper, but I think
we can do better. Perhaps the little vampire
who chops garlic. I have actually always wanted
a slap chop. My neighbors would absolutely hate
me. The Vagetti Pro. Look at that. What is a
Vagetti Pro? What is an amateur Vagetti? I don't
know. You just sit there with a cheese grater.
I don't know. Three stainless steel blades included.
Great for gluten -free diets. Oh, here's a Vagetti.
They're just plain old Vagetti. Looks like a
pepper mill type situation. Anyways. Spiralize
your veggies? Yeah. You know when I think that
we lost the plot when it comes to all of the
new things that we're building? When? At what
point? It does kind of vary depending on what...
appliance or bit of technology that you're using
as your mile marker. But I think the moment that
we dove headfirst into planned obsolescence in
a point that we may never come back from was
in 2020, which marked the release of the AI integrated
refrigerator. 2020 was a wild year, like a fever
dream of sorts. To be fair, to be fair, people
had like, how much were those checks? Two grand?
I don't know. the stimulus check or whatever.
I didn't get one of those. I wasn't totally enough
with the turtle club. Well, I didn't mean to
bring up any bad memories or missed opportunities,
but... That was the worst part of 2020 for sure.
But yeah, people had these and they were blowing
on such dumb crap. Yeah. And so, I mean, it makes
sense that that's the time that they would release
an AI powered refrigerator that would Would it
scan the contents of your fridge and make a list
for you? It would track what you were putting
in and taking out of this refrigerator. It had
a 32 -inch touchscreen, built -in Alexa, and
a family hub that allowed for image sharing.
And yeah, it had AI vision. There was a camera
inside the fridge that would constantly scan
your groceries to see what you maybe needed more.
Was that the one that also had the... Screen
on the outside that would show you what the inside
look like. Yes. Mm -hmm Man that refrigerator
that would have taken two and a half stimmies.
There's a $5 ,000 fridge I Mean if you're you're
two adults and you have literally nothing else
To spend that money on then I guess why not?
Sure. Yeah Oh man, I swear. But imagine getting
to a place in society where you can spend $5
,000 on your refrigerator and its technology
will be outpaced in like five years. When there
are still refrigerators from 50 years ago that
still do what they're supposed to do, there's
nothing more frustrating than when something
breaks down, you go to fix it and then you find
out that the problem is a computer chip or some
nonsense like that. Old refrigerators, old dishwashers,
old washers, old dryers, old air conditioners,
all this stuff. stuff I can fix no problem. You
know what I can't fix? I can't fix something
that's got a broken computer chip on it. Yeah.
I remember a couple years back, dad had a car
with like the big display in the middle. It needed
a software update and it, I think it somehow
damaged the car when they were trying to update
it because he took it into the dealership and
he ended up leaving that dealership with a new
car. Yeah. Yeah. And it was, it was more, I mean,
He also really wanted a truck. And then whenever
he got a truck, he was like, why do you have
a truck? I mean, he uses it now for the stuff
that he does. But yeah, it was less of a headache
for him to just buy a new vehicle than it was
to figure out what was wrong with the radio.
That is where we are in this world. I've talked
about it a couple of times, but I've been trying
to like go backwards a little bit in technology
because of how ridiculous most things are these
days. I am so frustrated with the fact that I
don't have a CD player in my car. He does. I
want a CD player. He does in his 2019, 2019 RAM.
Yeah. I don't know. It's ridiculous because he's
got USB -C. He's got like seven of them. in his
truck. You know how many USB ports I have in
my 2017? How many? One of the fat ones, the USB
-A or whatever it is. Yeah. I got one and he's
got like 19 of them. He's got one up on the on
top of the dash. He's got them underneath the
the radio. He's got them in the console. He's
got them in the back seats. He's got a CD player.
He's got an Uber driver. Yeah. He's got a heated
and cooled seats. It's ridiculous. It's flying
too close to the sun. Yes. I have one USB -A
or two USB -A ports, one USB -C and a wireless
charging mat that does not fit my phone. I don't
have any devices that I can use on this little
charging mat. I strongly dislike wireless charging
mats because usually you have to take your phone
out. And I'm not a psychopath, so I have a case
on my phone so I can never use it. Yeah, no,
it's a complete non -starter. Also, they don't
they're never at the right angle to actually
stay charging I found or maybe I'm just getting
like the cheap ones. I don't know but I am NOT
a fan. Yeah, I Wrote the word obsolescence in
my my document at least ten times. I don't think
I spelled it right once There are too many letters
in this word The first couple of times Google
Docs did the little, like, gray line under it,
like, are you sure? You sure about that? Let's
double check this. And then I got later in the
document and it just started fixing it for me.
Like, she's not going to get better. Enough with
the subtlety. It's like this, you idiot. Alright,
do you have anything else? Because I have a little
game for us to play. I mean, we already talked
about the fact that then it's been alleged and
Apple did not accept blame, but also made things
as well. I mean, okay, fine. Okay. Okay, we'll
do this. But just to help out our customers.
But there's also like the fact that companies
that have already gotten your money for a product,
like especially a laptop, all like technology
-based stuff will just say, Yeah, we're not offering
support for that anymore. And in fact, after
this day, it essentially just becomes a gigantic
calculator. That's going to be all you can do
with it. Because it's too dangerous. It's too
dangerous. It's too dangerous because we can't
keep updating it with how the world is going
and all the things that could take your privacy,
all of all that. Like we can't. So we don't want
to leave you susceptible to that so we're just
going to make it to where you need to buy a new
product or you just can't use this one anymore.
So yeah laptops and stuff they'll sunset whatever
operating system because oh this is a new one
and won't be able to use this one anymore for
your safety because we can't keep updating it.
Cars. Cars do not last anywhere near what they
used to. Like on the last episode, we talked
about how after a hundred thousand miles, which
isn't that much when you're paying $40 ,000,
$50 ,000 for a car after a hundred thousand miles,
you have to pay $10 ,000 to get the battery swapped
out or whatever it is. It might not be a hundred
thousand miles. It's a big milestone these days
if you get to a hundred thousand miles in a vehicle
though. One, because if you have the attention
span, and you have the wherewithal to stick with
a car and not get blinded by things that glitter,
then you will be lucky to make it to 100 ,000
miles and not having some catastrophic failure
on it. Like I've been real lucky with my truck
that I haven't had anything major go out on it.
I did have a random coolant fitting, like metal
fitting that just exploded one day. I started
smelling something. It's a very distinct smell
when you're burnt, when you're leaking coolant.
And check under the truck, sure enough. And it
was a, I don't know, I fixed it myself and the
part cost like 70, 80 bucks. But as far as like
issues that I could have had, like I've been
real lucky with what I've got, but I know that
most people aren't as lucky as I've been. And
it should not be ridiculous to sit here and say,
okay, I just took a five -year loan out on this
vehicle. I hope it lasts that long. You should
not be making major repairs on something when
you are still... taking a reasonable amount of
time to pay off that thing. But it seems more
and more that that's where everything's going.
Everything's getting cheaper and cheaper, thinner
and thinner. And they want to tell you that it's
because of fuel mileage, we have to make the
cars lighter so that they don't burn as much
gas. Well, we have to add all this other stuff
to pass emissions and do this and that and this
and that. It's just more stuff that could go
wrong. Oh, well, the government wants to make
sure that your car is doing everything that they
say it's supposed to. So we have to add all these
computer chips. Okay, well, we add these computer
chips, but those computer chips can go out. And
it's up to us whether or not that's within warranty
or not, or whether we decide that maybe you did
something to it. And so now we won't cover it.
I just hit the four -year mark with my car last
month. I have been getting mail every three to
four days. I'm getting mail like Harry Potter
getting accepted to Hogwarts. You ready to trade
in yet? You ready to trade in? I've been getting
calls from the dealership that I bought my car
from. At least once a week that's like, hey,
so you've hit your inverse. Are you ready to
trade up? Have you seen the 2025 version of your
car? You could be doing like 500 a month, you
know? That's not bad. My favorite. No. My favorite
call is like the, hey, hey, so we know that you
came here, like, no. four years ago, five years
ago, and you bought a Ram. Well, oh my gosh,
this is so, okay. So we are in desperate need
of a Ram. Your Ram, like would you be like, we
could get you in something great, but we just
really need this Ram. Like we've got this deal
and it's all contingent on just getting this
right. Can you think we can work something out?
We'll give you a great deal on something else.
Come on, leave me alone. They want to make you
feel important. That's why they make you sign
a blank paper. Let me keep my USB -C -less car
playlist vehicle and then be happy about it.
I'm riding this until the wheels fall off. If
it happens literally, I don't have a spare. And
I don't think you can buy four spares at once,
can you? Yeah, I'll take the whole set. I like
to come. I'll just put three in the back seat.
I was about to say, I like to come prepared.
My whole trunk is just tired. And still nothing
to lift the car with. I'm not a smart man. Yeah,
no. I don't have any plans to upgrade my car
despite the fact that I think having wireless
card play would be very cool. Yeah, it would
be cool. Having any card play at all would be
neat. It is. Maybe think about that. I will say,
I will make one small concession to you. Apple
card play is leaps and bounds better than Android
Auto. That's it. That's all I'm giving you in
the application. Interesting, interesting. It
is, yes, it is light years better. All right.
Are you ready to talk innovation or idiocy? Ooh,
is that our game? That is our game. All right,
let's go. It might be more of a debate than a
game necessarily because I had... an idea originally,
and that was to create a mixed list of five AI
integrated things that I personally believe are
ridiculous and five AI integrated things that
do not yet exist. But as I Googled a great many
of the things that I thought wouldn't have AI
integration, I found out I was depressingly incorrect.
There are AI powered bidets that will track.
I don't remember specifically what those track.
There is an AI toilet in the works that is made
to track your gut health. Don't know how that
works. Don't want to know. That one's based out
of my current home hometown of Austin. It's called
Throne. And I will be keeping an eye out on it
because I'm very curious. But yeah, no, the more
ridiculous things that I looked up, the more
I realized that I couldn't find five things that
didn't already have some kind of artificial intelligence.
Maybe does the bidet have like automatic aim?
It has butthole target lock. I like to think
so, yeah. It changes the water pressure, the
water temperature specific to the, I think it's
like a retinal scan. And you sit down, hey, how
you doing? Welcome back. How does it know? It's
like the rings on a tree. I mean, do we know
with any kind of certainty that they're not like
fingerprints? It's not a, not a unique to the
person. Anyway. I could not find enough ridiculous
things that did not actually exist with AI. So
I have five AI products that do exist and we're
going to talk whether they are innovation and
they are going to replace their dumb counterparts
and make them obsolete or if they are idiocy
and will go the way of Google Glass. Okay, before
we start this, I am very pro automation, smart
home, that kind of stuff. Okay. Where are you
in that? deeply against it. I don't think we'll
get into a couple of them in this list specifically,
but I don't think that I need data on every single
thing that I am and do. Okay. I understand the
point of bringing cameras. I understand why they
are a great thing to have. I also don't really
need to see every time that I come to my front
door. I don't need to watch myself unlock my
front door. So if it were smarter and were able
to recognize you and didn't give you a notification
of that, then you would be on board with it?
No. So I think the point is that I don't personally
see a lot of the things that AI is used for as
things that really benefit me. Like I don't feel
like I am worse off because of the way that things
have been prior to them being integrated with
AI. Like the fridge that I have, perfectly fine.
There is no possible reason that I think it would
improve my life that I no longer have to look
at the vegetables in my refrigerator before I
go shopping. It takes a minute of my time to
check before I leave my house. Devil's advocate.
And by devil, I mean advocate for myself. I'm
notorious for not remembering what we have before
I go shopping. And so I end up getting everything
I need for whatever I'm trying to make. And then
we have doubles, triples, quadruples of things.
Okay, sure. Do you make a grocery list when you
go out to get groceries? Sometimes. Sometimes.
Maybe. Sometimes I leave the house and I'm like,
you know what? No, it's like three things. I'll
remember it. And then I get there and I'm like,
wait. You're going to measure with your heart.
Wait, did I check the eggs? I saw an egg carton.
Did I check how many eggs were in the egg carton?
A gallon of milk. I did not. Well, I guess I
better buy 24 then, just to be safe. Yeah. And
just like that, it's Easter in September. And
a week later, I need eggs. I wish I'd checked
how many eggs we had. Better buy another dozen.
Omelets for dinner, kids. Eggs for everything.
You got a neighbor you particularly hate? Let's
go. Oh, we don't talk about them. I would still
argue, despite your devil's advocacy, make a
list. Look at the things in your pantry. You
have a general idea of what you're cooking. How
many times should I check it? I mean, I believe
in going the Santa Claus route. Check it twice.
Okay. Maybe I'll get around to that at some point.
Maybe. At this point, I think it's just too late
for me to change, you know? Yeah. Would it not
be a change if you got an AI integrated fridge
and it was suddenly doing all of your your grocery
list for you? A lazier change. I could just connect
it to whatever Instacart and then I could hire
someone that will take the groceries from Instacart
at my door and then put them into the fridge.
Which I mean really is the only reason I had
kids. So they're built in. But one of them, one
of them would put milk in the pantry. Just being
absent minded. The other one would put milk in
the pantry just to mess with me. I think both
of them are in both of those camps. And the third
one would try her best to get it to the fridge,
but then would trip and milk would be all over
my floor. A kid after my own heart. Maybe we're
not there yet. Maybe I still got to get outside
help for that part. Sure. That's when you call
in the fiance. As you live your best Wally life.
I don't have to do nothing. I mean, yeah, you
know, I don't have kids. So maybe I should invest
in a $5 ,000 refrigerator instead so that it
can do all of the work for me. So when we're
talking about the, do you have a problem with
the, with cameras that have like AI integrated
into them or they use like a physical sensor
to notice motion and then can take a video from
there? We do have cameras. that can tell you
if there is a vehicle, if there's a person, if
there's whatever. So it does use AI for that,
but as far as just motion goes, it's a physical
sensor. I don't, like, I fully understand why
people get ring cameras. I have a security camera
for, like, if I'm away, because cats don't necessarily
need, like, a person to come in and check on
them if I'm only gone for, like, a day and a
half. But I make sure like their food is on a
timer. I make sure that I have my security camera
on so that I can like check in on them if I need
to. But it also, it stays off for the rest of
my time. Like as soon as I get home, it gets
turned back off because I just, I don't like
it. I think so much of my problem with AI integration
is that I want to maintain my personhood and
I feel like the more AI gets integrated into
the things that I do every day, the more I just
become a whole set of numbers. the amount of
data that I am is a little irksome. I mean, they
have all the data they need just based off the
phone in your pocket. I know, which is also a
concerted effort that I've been making because
I understand all of the draws of why you would
spend all of your time on your phone. But I also
know that it made me miserable for a lot of the
same reason. I don't like the idea that I have
an algorithm on each individual app that's tailored
to what will keep me on that app for as long
as possible. That's fair. It feels pretty gross
and violating. And so I don't, I don't think
that it's going to be a long time before everything
in our lives is just automated for the sake of
automation. A chip in your brain? More or less,
yes. But I would like to hold out on it as long
as I can. Gotcha. And on that note. On to the
game. Innovation or idiocy? The AI enabled oven.
which uses AI to recognize dishes and adjust
the temp and cook time automatically. It also
includes an interior camera to track progress
from your phone and create time -lapse videos
for your social medias. Innovation or idiocy?
I would say innovation. Okay. I am so bad at
cooking things in the oven and I always feel
like I have to like peek in on it just to make
sure that I'm not messing everything up. Like
baking? Forget about it. Can't do it. I burn
something. or undercooked something and then
I keep cooking it because I think it's undercooked
and then I ended up burning it. So if I could
get some help with that then that's just fine
by me. So much of baking is just contingent on
you sticking a toothpick in and it coming back
clean. It's a pretty easy mile marker. The wipe
method. Just keep wiping until it comes back
clean. Think about that next time you're baking
a cake. How do you feel about it? I understand
the validity of it because I am a very anxious
cook. I am always convinced that I have either
condemned myself to salmonella or I have burned
the absolute hell out of my chicken. I have no
middle ground because the only way that I can
mentally eat chicken that I make is if it looks
like it's been charred. If it's overcooked. That
is the wrong take. And so I also acknowledge
in this specific instance, that it would be a
great help to me. Okay. If I had something that
was just going to like adjust the temperature
and time and all of that stuff for me. And it,
so does this exist? This does exist. Okay. So
how, I guess, how does it know to adjust? Like
I know that it can get like the pan, but what
information do you have to give it in order for
it to do that? Can it read the internal temperature?
just based off of AI? I genuinely have no real
idea how it works. What it gave me were the like
punchy clip note release kind of things. Because
I do want a set of like the Bluetooth probes
that you just pop in there and then you put your
food in like the smoker or whatever. And then
you can just constantly keep track of what the
temperature is. It doesn't work if there's steam.
Okay, come on. That is very cool. I will have
to look that up and get back to you. It can't
it can't read through aerosoled water to get
a good reading on everything. That is so dumb.
My time -lapse videos are gonna be foggy. Idiocy.
I'm gonna sue Samsung. Idiocy. I'm changing my
mind. Idiocy until they hammer that out. So the
takeaway that I had from this one specifically
was that I get anxious when I cook. It would
be really cool to have something that just like
takes that worry away from me. But it also is
a thing that I know personally that I should
just know. I don't cook enough is the takeaway
that I have. I should know better how to cook
and to know when to take a thing out of the oven.
And takeaway is the reason you don't cook enough.
You're absolutely correct. And so like I, I know
this is a personal defect and not one that I
feel willing to offset with AI. Also, I think
having time -lapse videos for social media is
stupid. I understand why they're there. And I
do watch a good amount of cooking videos, but
I think having a feature of your oven be that
you can make an Instagram reel with it is idiocy.
This is actually, it's actually something that
I wondered sometime earlier this week. I saw
a video of a woman baking cookies and it showed
you from like ball of dough to the whole cooking
process. And I was like, how do they get that?
How do they get that view? How do they record
this? And now we know. Huh. I'll be. No, still
idiocy until I can cut through steam. Stupid.
Do you want to venture a guess into how much
this bespoke single wall oven cost? Bespoke.
That means they're tacking on a couple grand
in the wall. Single or double? Single. Single.
I am going to go. Remember, the crazy AI fridge
was only $5 ,000. Oh, okay. If it did your grocery
shopping for you and cooked all of your things
without you having to lift a finger. $8 ,050
and $1. Prices right? Nope. Too high, too low?
Too high. Wow. $5 ,000. I will give you a hint.
It is cheaper than the fridge. Oh, okay. $3 ,200.
$2 ,600. Okay. It's $2 ,600. I mean, what does
a regular glass top stove oven go for? I want
to say like six, 700. Okay. So you're still paying
a premium, but I'm assuming since it's in wall,
you don't get any kind of like cooktop. Yes.
It's the 30 inch in the wall oven. There's a
Whirlpool electric cooktop, just the cooktop
900 bucks. Is it AI integrated? Will it turn
off whenever my pasta is done? No. I mean, it
just looks like a glass top stove. Interesting.
Well, I was way off on that one. Last time we
were in Nebraska Furniture Mart, we looked at
like the chef kitchen stuff. And those, those
go for 20. Yeah. Which is dumb. There have been
discussions about things like that in my household.
Like one day getting them? I mean, ideally in
the perfect world. Are you a pot filler girl?
Are you a pot filler girl? Are you going to run
another water line from the sink so you can fill
pots on the stove? I do think those are incredibly
cool, but I think it's a level of rich I never
aspired to be. It's just, it's so far out of
my reach. Nate and I were actually talking the
other day about what I think is a rich person's
kitchen. And it is where everything looks like
a cabinet where you can just like open a cabinet,
boom, trash can, open a cabinet, surprise fridge,
open a cabinet, pantry. I do want a trash compactor.
I think they're so cool. It's what I mark as
a rich person. Yeah, they are neat. One of these
days. One day. All right. Your next item is an
AI toothbrush. It tracks where you brush and
gives you real time feedback. Dumb. Straight
up idiocy. Paying a hundred plus dollars for
a toothbrush is stupid. Yeah. Trust yourself.
But it tracks coverage pressure and brush time.
Okay. You can do two of those by just saying,
huh, did I get it? Yeah, I got everything. And
then you can do what my Children are smart enough
to do. Alexa set a two minute timer every time
before bed and they brush their teeth. It goes
off and then they're done. Voila. It's like magic.
So flat idiocy on straight up idiocy. Okay. Devil's
advocate. Okay. While I do think this thing is
still idiocy because I can't imagine a level
of features that would ever make an AI toothbrush
make sense. I don't have dental insurance. And
so if my forever payout is just what it would
cost for this toothbrush, there is a chance that
I could be persuaded eventually. Is there cavity
detection? Does it pop out the little mirror
while it's in there? Just give you a once -over?
It has... Do you have to buy a special attachment
to put the floor right on? It breaks into zones.
That's so dumb. That's so stupid. It's so silly.
With this iteration, idiocy. But I could see
it in the future, making sense. That's where
I stand. What does this oral be AI powered toothbrush
cost? North of $100. North of $100. $149 .99.
Nope, higher. $175. Nope, higher. $225. $329
.99. What? There is a different version of this
particular toothbrush that comes in midnight
black, but it's $70 more. It's got the midnight
package? It's got the midnight package. It's
either $3 .29 or $3 .99. People are buying this.
People have bought this. But then these people
will turn around and say the economy is in the
shitter. But this is the same economy that affords
you to buy a 400 - What a time to be alive. I
know. I know. Jesus, man. All right. Next up,
we've got an AI powered lawnmower. This is one
of the specific things that I did look up hoping
that it didn't already exist so that I could
put it on the nonsense AI products. Nope. No,
they have robot lawnmowers. I mean, it works
on the same principles as like a Roomba. I think
giving a robot spinning sharp blades might be
a bad idea. I think that that's probably the
first one that's going to turn evil. And then
you're going to have like a final destination
bloodline situation on your hands. But before
that happens, you're going to have the best lawn
in the neighborhood. Maybe. Do you have a Roomba?
Have you had a Roomba? Yeah. My Roomba, I do
appreciate what it did. It was a good little
robot vacuum for a decent amount of time. With
that said, it could never get the smart layout
feature right. It never knew where any of my
walls were. And so almost every day it would
end up in some idiocracy -esque situation. where
it's just the, it's little mopping robot going
back and forth one foot from the wall. Your floor,
your floor is now clean every day. It would just,
it would beep in distress for me to go move it.
I don't think that I have talked about this on
the podcast, but there have been multiple times
where I've, I've gone to this establishment and
there is a robot mop and it goes around the store.
And it says something along the lines of, we
are keeping the floors clean for you. Thank you
for shopping at, we are keeping the floors clean
for you. Thank you for shopping at, we are keeping
the floors clean for you. Thank you for shopping
at, over and over and over again. Exactly. That's
exactly what it reminds me of. But like people
are trying to walk around it. and then it'll
sense the person there and then it like stutters
it tries to juke out of the way and then someone's
over there and then it tries to juke again and
just back and it's just stuttering all over the
place we are keeping the clean the floors clean
for you thank you for shopping with us anyway
ai -powered lawnmower i'm sorry i interrupted
you last time go ahead go ahead it's two sentences
This AI -powered lawnmower has intelligent self
-charging capabilities and uses AI for precise
mapping and continuous mulching. It has smart
sensors that detect obstacles, changes in terrain,
and wires. It is the outdoor Roomba. Wires? Like
fencing, I would imagine. Oh, wires you have
hanging around your yard. Okay, I mean, I'm on
the fence with this one. On one hand, it would
be nice to just, while I'm working, just, hey.
Lawn's getting mowed. Nice. But on the other
hand, I like mowing. It's casual exercise. It's
nice to do in the spring. I like mowing, but
yeah, I mean, I think that there's a lot more
maintenance that would go into having this, having
a AI powered lawn mower that probably wouldn't
be worth it right now. I think that you would
need like a medium sized yard. You're not going
to get it for a small yard, but you're not going
to get it for a big yard either. So I don't know.
But those are, they're not AI powered, they're
remote controlled. But there's a lot of municipalities
that use those mowers. Oh, I didn't know that.
Yeah, take care of like medians and stuff. Or
really steep hills. They're really good for really
steep hills. Interesting. Like on the sides of
overpasses and stuff. You know, they just have
remote control. They just... Okay. So is your
take idiocy or innovation? With the right circumstances,
with the right situation where it would make
sense to have it, then no, it's innovation. Because
then you also got people that can't physically
mow. So that would also be taking care of them.
So yeah, I mean, it's got its points of idiocy.
It's got its innovation. But if you're using
it just solely because you don't want to mow,
I think it's a pretty dumb thing to spend that
money on. Because what, you're looking at like
three grand? No, lower. Oh, a grand? Higher.
$1 ,500. $1 ,500 for the base. I don't think
it goes too much higher than that, like $1 ,500
to $2 ,000, $22 ,000 maybe. And then probably
at that point, you're just, I mean, I guess there's
a lot of things that could up the price, deck
size, battery size. No, I mean, $15 ,000 seems
about right for that. $1 ,500? Yeah, $1 ,500.
It's got to be the right situation for it. So
I'm right in the middle on it. All right. Your
next item is an AI -powered deadbolt. with facial
recognition and AI fingerprint identification.
AI powered as in it senses that my phone is nearby
and unlocks. Don't need the facial sensor. Don't
need the fingerprint. But it is really nice.
I lived in an apartment that had a smart deadbolt
and it's nice to have. It had a code on it, which
I wasn't a fan of. But yeah, I would be down
for that. Okay. I am firmly in the idiocy camp
on this one. Yeah. You're not getting into Fort
Knox. Why do you need a fingerprint scanner and
a facial ID to get into your home? That's one
less thing you need. Keys are fine. I guess.
Keys are fine. Especially like if you have a
Tesla and your phone is your key or the card,
whatever it is, you don't have a physical key.
So that's one less thing you have to carry around.
And for guys, we have very limited real estate
as far as holding things. We don't have a purse
that we can just put mountains of nonsense into.
Receipts from six years ago. Seven different
makeups that all do the same thing. Probably
some hard candies that you got somewhere because
I think they just come with every purse. How
do you not have the upper hand when it comes
to storage? All of your pants come with pockets.
Okay, so get pants with pockets. Problem solved.
That's a lot easier said than done. They still
don't make a lot of women's things with pockets.
Women are always on TikTok and it's got pockets.
Yeah, because it's still a fun new thing for
us. So has every piece of clothing that I've
owned since the beginning of time. Male privilege.
Get with the program. There's nothing stopping
you from wearing jeans. You tell me that your
jeans don't have at least two pockets? Women
over here trying to get the jeans that make their
butt look good. Okay, well, maybe in lieu of
that, just get pants with pockets in the back.
You can put whatever you want to back there,
make it look however you want. But no, you're
going to sit here with your ass looking good
and then, oh, I don't have pockets. Get out of
here. First of all, in a lot of the pants that
I have that do actually have like, maybe they've
got four pockets. They probably have two. A lot
of them won't fit my whole phone. They're still
built for the flip phone era when things were
wider and not as long. Okay. So you want to talk
about things that are meant to steal your attention.
So you got a flip phone and now you're complaining
that your pants can only fit a flip phone. Make
it make sense. I'm not saying that in the sense
that I can't put a flip phone in my pocket. I'm
just saying it's ridiculous that they are sized
inappropriately for what nowadays phones look
like because I bought all of those pants well
before I bought my flip phone. I can tell you
right now. I am wearing custom -made jorts. You
see? You see? And guess what? You want to know
something funnier? There's literally a pocket
in these jeans that is too small for me to put
anything into. Yeah? I have all my regular pockets
and I have a pocket that I don't even use. I
have so many pockets. Male privilege over here.
You could too. I'm sorry I don't have a pocket
watch. Is it one of those little pockets inside
the big pocket? Yes. I have one of those in these
shorts. I don't... I don't know what they're
for. I feel like they served a purpose at some
point. Maybe that's like for a, I don't know,
an iPod shuffle. Sure. Maybe. I don't know. All
right. So the deadbolt is innovation. Yeah. I
think it, it goes into ADSE territory whenever
you're adding facial recognition and fingerprint
analysis. Okay. I have one more item on our list.
All right. Very big one. Very good one. An AI
mattress that uses data like heart rate. breath
rate, and sleep patterns to make real -time adjustments
on things like temperature and firmness. Can
it give you other suggestions? Did not look,
will not look. I mean, if everything's already
in place, it should just be like a software thing,
right? Maybe. Maybe it just gives you like a
little, you know, for the most successful situation
to find yourself in. Know what I mean? It just
plays Staying Alive by the Bee Gees. It's the
same as CPR. Don't ever anyone's ever tried the
surely they have Maybe okay. Well, that's just
my question or you're the one that brought up
the Bee Gees Although if it tracks your heart
rate and your breath rate feel like it's tracking
some things. They really shouldn't be yeah that's
like that story about that woman who caught her
husband cheating because she got a notification
from his Fitbit that his Heart rate went up at
like 3 in the morning when he wasn't home now
heard that story Technology, man. Real double
-edged sword. It was like a cautionary tale,
like whenever those started becoming popular.
Thousands of men suddenly stopped wearing their
Fitbits. And women. I don't know, babe. I think
I threw it in the washing machine. And women.
No, I had one that was a program through work,
and it was one that just clipped onto your pants.
I definitely ran that through the washer a couple
times. But yeah, I mean, if it's tracking that
kind of stuff, then... I don't see why I couldn't
track everything. I don't know at the end of
the day who that's helping, if it's helping anyone,
or if it just ends up being a real mood killer.
I think some things just don't need to be tailored
to you. You can adjust. That's fair, yeah. It's
a thing you're capable of doing. In the same
way that you can learn, I could learn to trust
the chicken cooking in my oven. I can also just
like... Learn how to control my sleep cycle on
a regular mattress you could but I mean there's
there's things that Like the Apple watch is good
for tracking a quality of sleep. It's good for
tracking sleep apnea I don't I don't know in
what capacity or the Effectiveness of it would
be for tracking that kind of stuff, but there
I mean there would be benefits to that if it
was actually accurate. If it's not just like
the shoes I got in the third grade that had lights
one through five and then depending on how fast
you were going was how many lights lit up. I
would run like Forrest Gump if I had those shoes
today. But my point is it was all for show. It
wasn't actually anything. That's fine, where
do I get those shoes? Is that what you want for
Christmas? Yes. Speed sensing shoes. If they're
AI powered, no. But then there was also Nike
released their own smart shoes at one point that
connected to your phone and could give you stats
like that. They also had a line of shoes that
had the thing cut out. so that you could just
take out the insert and slip it in, put the insert
back in, and it served the same purpose. So,
I mean, we've come a long way since just the
five bars on the tongue of your shoe. Yeah. We're
moving on up in shoe innovation. As far as the
mattress goes, I mean, I think a pretty easy
one would be like if it sensed that you were
maybe getting too hot and there was like cooling
somethings in it. There is. I mean, we don't
have like a smart mattress or anything, but it
was like, oh, this mattress has technology in
it to keep you cool at night and doesn't do shit.
I mean, there's nowhere, there's nothing to plug
in. So it's all like, oh, because of the airflow
and yada, yada, yada, all this other stuff, just
marketing baloney. But I mean, if it wasn't a
product that actually adapted to the situation,
then I can see it being innovative if it actually
did what it's advertised to do. Because sleep
is very important. So if you can have something
that is maybe overseeing things while you are
unconscious, then I could see the perks of it.
Am I going to go out and buy a smart mattress
tomorrow? No. But for someone that is concerned
enough, with those things to have that option
then by all means go for it. I could see how
this technology could eventually maybe be able
to like not necessarily diagnose but show signs
of say like sleep apnea. And I think that would
be really cool. I think it's an innovation in
that sense because I think it has a future with
it. I think if the only things that it's doing
are making adjustments on the temperature and
firmness, throughout the evening. When you're
asleep, if you're too hot, kick the blanket off.
If you're too cold, bundle up. Like you do those
things in your sleep anyway. You want to fix
the problem that you're having. You don't need
a computer to do that for you. Yeah, but if it
takes you out of your rim because you become
so uncomfortable that you have to wake up to
some degree to Put on more blankets or to take
off the blankets then I don't know I mean like
I said it's it I feel like it's a product for
people that feel like that is important enough
to have a product for Sure, and all this stuff
is if it is something that interests you then
go for it If it's not if you think it's dumb
then just don't get it if it helps with accessibility
I'm all for it if the entire purpose of its development
and its use is just to take away a thing that
you can just do, then I'm against it. You know,
when your tooth brushed clean. You've brushed
your teeth enough times. You've, I assume, been
to a dentist before. Like, you don't need to
automate that. You don't need to offload that
onto a robot. But if you are incapable of mowing
your lawn, absolutely get the robot. I am...
personally on the idiocy side of this one. Okay.
For now, at least. I don't think that the technology
is there to serve all the purposes that it claims
to serve. Yeah. So yeah, but again, it's, I just,
if it's your thing, it's your thing. Go for it.
And that is one of the pitfalls that we fall
into. a lot more now than they ever did before.
If it's not for you, then it's just not for you
and that is fine. If it's for someone else and
they enjoy it, great. Yeah. We're not out here
yucking people's yums. No. And that was a topic
for its own episode, but I feel like we say it
so much that we just end up doing a compilation
of the episodes that we have done. That is fair.
That'll be our clip show for episode 100. No,
it can't because we got to get Charit Reddick
on for $100. It can be $99. It can be the lead
up. That's fine. I'll accept that. Like when
they do a clip show before the season finale.
I just got to the clip show episode of The Office.
When it gets bought out and they have a banker
talking to Toby about how safe the office is.
Yeah. I understand why they're made because your
budget was blown in some other episode, but I
hate them. Yeah, I have a... I watched a couple
episodes of the second season of Twisted Metal.
It is far worse than the first season so far,
but I'll give it a shot. It's only like six episodes
or something like that. What is it? The Boy Spinoff.
Generation V? Yes, that came out. That was really
delayed because one of the guys died. Car accident.
So I'll give that one. I'll watch that one and
then still have not got around to the office.
I only watched the premiere of paper. One thing
that I had ended up on the cutting room floor
from one of our previous episodes was that I
haven't watched the episode yet or the show yet
but I knew it was a terrible, terrible sign when
like two days after the premiere of it and I
went on to Peacock and the first thing you saw
was stream the entire season now. Yeah. And no
one I know is talking about it other than, like,
I see commercials for it all the time. And there's
one with the main guy and Oscar, and he's like,
I'm Donald Gleason. And Oscar says, yes, you
are. And I'm Oscar Martinez. And Donald says,
yes, you are. What is this, man? Nunez. Oh, I
said Martinez, didn't I? Nah, he's always just
going to be Oscar Martinez. That's the character
he plays, man. No. No, he lost that. He does
not get to say that. Yeah, I... I've only ever
heard bad things about the rest of the season.
I did. I won't divulge anything that I know about
the rest of the show, but it did get picked up
for a second season already. It got picked up.
I think the week it got released, which more
power to him, I guess. Did you see Nate Bragazzi
hosted the Emmys? I did. And did you, he did
the Washington skit, but he was, what's his name?
The guy that created the TV. Earl Television.
No, it's Farnsworth. Hubert Farnsworth? No, it's
that guy is named after the TV guy. Hubert Farnsworth.
I think it's Farnsworth something. Philo Farnsworth
was the creator of the television and he was
him and they're like, what is this? And they're
like, streaming? What is streaming? And Nate
Bergazzi said a new way for companies to lose
money and 100%. And that is very indicative by
the paper. Yeah. Having not watched it. but knowing
enough about it to make an informed decision.
That's fair. But all right, you got anything
else? What do you think that the queen -sized
version of an AI mattress cost? Nine thousand.
Close, higher. Ten five. Ten flat. I think it
might be, it might be like ten two, so you're
close. Silly, silliness. They make it up to a
California king. Not even want to know how much
that cost. I don't know what the price of that
one was. I think it was like 15 grand maybe.
Dumb. A lot of saliness. But that is all the
things I had. This episode lasted significantly
longer than I thought it would. Final thoughts.
If you have bought a thing, especially if it
is an expensive thing, do your best to avoid
the marketing for the new version of that thing.
I wholeheartedly agree with that. What you have
is fine, in most cases. And if it's not, replace
it. No shame. Yeah, you do you, man. You do you.
That's all I got. Well, as far as for me, AI
does not need to be in everything. Things don't
have to be smart. Things don't have to talk to
each other. But, if that's what you're into,
then go for it. But just know. Just know that
China sees everything. China knows everything.
And every time you connect something else...
I do not like this little ASMR. China. No. Absolutely
not. And with that... We're out. Peace out, Girl
Scouts. We'll see ya.