198: Exploring AI Impact on Web Design, Navigating Apple Gesture Video Calls, Guest Peter Guirguis from SwiftPress Support, A Win in the Fight Against Robocalls, and Marc Shares - New Riff Single Barrel Strength | Air Date: 3/24 - 3/20/24

Immerse yourself in the digital drama as we tackle Apple's newest addition to video calls and the impact of cutting-edge AI on everyday tech interactions. We'll also unravel the intricacies of a landmark settlement in an Uber Eats face scan discrimination lawsuit, a verdict that speaks volumes about the challenges of modern automation. Savor the sweet justice served to a notorious robocall scammer, reveling in their hefty fine as a win for all of us plagued by these nuisance calls.

Join us as Peter Guirguis steps into the studio to share his profound insights on the revolution of AI in WordPress website design. Discover how to navigate the vast sea of AI tools and learn the secrets to generating content that resonates with authenticity. Witness the evolution of web aesthetics as we move toward visuals that capture the true essence of our digital identities and craft the blueprint for the web's future, one pixel at a time.

Our technological journey doesn't end there; we raise our glasses to the bygone eras that paved the way for today's innovation and get an expert's take on the complex notes of our featured whiskey. As we bid you farewell, remember that staying connected is crucial amidst the whirlwind of progress. So, tune in, join the conversation, and let's continue unraveling the tech world's marvels and mysteries together. Cheers to another week of exploration and discovery, and remember, the best secrets and whiskey are the ones shared with friends.

Episode 198: Starts at :30

Episode 198:This week on TechTime with Nathan Mumm®, we're unpacking a tech turmoil: Apple's new video reactions are causing chaos in virtual meetings and beyond. We'll also discuss the landmark payout to an Uber Eats driver in a face scan discrimination case. As the Affordable Connectivity Program's funds dwindle, millions of low-income families face the loss of crucial internet subsidies. Meanwhile, a hefty $9.9 million fine has been levied against a man for a barrage of unsettling robocalls. Plus, don't miss our guest, Peter Guirguis, who will shed light on how AI is revolutionizing WordPress websites. Stay tuned for a riveting blend of technology news and expert insights! So grab your VR headset, adjust your tinfoil hat, and join us—it's TechTime Radio, and I am your Host, Nathan Mumm. #TechTimeRadio

Join us weekly on TechTime Radio with Nathan Mumm, the show that makes you go "Humm" Technology news of the week for March 24th - March 30th, 2024

--- [Now on Today's Show]
--- [Top Stories in Technology]

• The Affordable Connectivity Program has ran out of money
• Payout for Uber Eats driver over face scan bias case
• Fireworks and Confetti: Apple’s Video Reactions Wreak Havoc at Meetings, Therapy and more.
• US fines man $9.9 million for thousands of disturbing robocalls

--- [Pick of the Day - Whiskey Tasting Reveal]
New Riff Single Barrel Strength | 110.5 Proof| $55 / 750ml

--- [Technology Insider]
Today's Guest: Chief Executive Officer of SwiftPress Support, Peter Guirguis

--- [This Week in Technology]
March 23, 1857 - The world’s first commercial “safety elevator” goes into service.

--- [Marc's Whiskey Mumble]
Marc Gregoire's review of this week's whiskey

--- [Technology Fail of the Week]
This week’s “Technology Fail” comes to us from Panera Bread as it has been experiencing a nationwide IT outage since Saturday

--- [Mike's Mesmerizing Moment brought to us by StoriCoffee®]
Question:  Apple Gestures – Let's talk about virtual assistance for an Apple device

--- [Nathan Nugget]
None this week

--- [Pick of the Day Whiskey Review]
New Riff Single Barrel Strength | 110.5 Proof| $55 / 750ml 

Mike: Thumbs Down
Nathan: Thumbs Up

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Broadcasting across the nation, from the East Coast to the West, keeping you up to date on technology while enjoying a little whiskey on the side, with leading edge topics, along with special guests to navigate technology in a segmented, stylized radio program. The information that will make you go, mmmmm. Pull up a seat, raise a glass with our hosts as we spend the next hour talking about technology for the common person. Welcome to Tech Time Radio with Nathan Mumm.

Nathan Mumm: 0:31

Welcome to Tech Time with Nathan Mumm. The show that makes you go technology news of the week. The show for the everyday person talking about technology, broadcasting across the nation with insightful segments on subjects weeks ahead of the mainstream media. We welcome our radio audience of 35 million listeners to an hour of insightful technology news. I'm Nathan Mumm, your host and technologist, with over 30 years of technology expertise. Our co-host, mike Rodea, is in studio today. Mike's an award-winning author and a human behavior expert and lover of all things AI. We are live streaming during our show on five of the most popular platforms, including YouTube, twitchtv X, facebook and LinkedIn. We encourage you to visit us online at techtimeradiocom and become a Patreon supporter at patreoncom forward slash techtimeradio. We are friends from different backgrounds, but we bring the best technology show possible weekly for our family, friends and fans to enjoy. We're glad to have Odi, our producer, at the control panel today. Welcome everyone. Let's start today's show.

Speaker 1: 1:36

Now on today's show.

Nathan Mumm: 1:40

All right. Today on Tech Time with Nathan Mumm, we're unpacking a tech turmoil. Apple's new video reactions are causing chaos in the virtual meetings and beyond. We're also discussing the landmark payout to an Uber Eats driver in a face scam scan discrimination case. As the Affordable Connectivity Program funds dwindle, millions of low-income families face the loss of crucial Internet services and subsidies. Meanwhile, a hefty $9.9 million fine was levied against the man for unsettling robocalls. Do you like robocalls? I hate robocalls. You hate robocalls? Well, this guy got sucked with a $9.9 million fine. Good, I don't think he's going to be doing that much more, then. Don't think he's going to be doing that much more? Then don't miss our guests.

Nathan Mumm: 2:26

We have Peter Jurgis, who will shed light on how AI is the revolutionized WordPress websites. He's also going to talk about how AI can help you with your business or personal website, and stay tuned for a riveting blend of technology news and experts insight. So grab your VR headset, adjust that tinfoil hat and join us on Tech Time Radio. In addition to these features, of course, we have Mike's mesmerizing moment, our technology fail of the week, a possible Nathan negative and, of course, our pick of the day whiskey tasting with Mark back in studio again today. We decided to have a day off last week. We are going to see if our pick of the day gets zero. Have a day off last week. We are going to see if our pick of the day gets zero. One or two thumbs up by the end of the show. But now it's time for the latest headlines in the world of technology.

Speaker 1: 3:13

Here are our top technology stories of the week.

Nathan Mumm: 3:17

All right Story number one the Affordable Connective Program, a $4.2 billion federal effort to make internet service more affordable, is expected to run out of funding this spring. Let's go more on this story with Karen Westland to hear what he has to say.

Speaker 4: 3:37

The Affordable Connectivity Program, which was tucked into the 2021 infrastructure law, was part of the Biden administration's initiative to connect every American to affordable, high-speed internet, but federal officials began winding down the program early last month when they stopped accepting new applications and enrollments. Paloma Perez, a spokeswoman for the FCC, said that the end of the program would be a step backward and that officials were working with lawmakers to think about what. The end of the program would be a step backward and that officials were working with lawmakers to think about what the future of this program looks like. Participants will continue receiving full benefits through April. According to the Federal Communications Commission, in May, internet companies will have the option to provide them with partial discounts using the remaining federal funding.

Nathan Mumm: 4:24

All right, so let's talk about this. So this is a big thing. We talked about this about two years ago when it came on out. Right, we're really excited about it, we talked about it. Our president decided to give affordable connectivity program to low-income houses across the United States.

Mike Gorday: 4:41

How did they do that? Did they do that by subsidizing internet companies?

Nathan Mumm: 4:46

They received $30 off their internet bill each month and households living on eligible tribal lands were able to receive a discount of up to $75 a month. More than 2.3 million households received the reduced bills or effectively free internet service through the program itself. So it wasn't necessarily just free internet service through the program itself. So it wasn't necessarily just free internet. It was an affordable process of internet. So they got the internet down to $19. That's what Comcast had. It was like a $19 package Right.

Mike Gorday: 5:15

So Comcast was offering their basic service for $19, and then the government was paying the balance, right? Is that how that worked?

Nathan Mumm: 5:24

Actually it was like a $45 package. With the $30 discount it came to $19. So $19 per month was what the low income, or a part of this bill, was expected to pay, so it was $19.

Mike Gorday: 5:36

Right. So if I were on that program I would pay Xfinity $19. Correct. And then Xfinity would bill the government the rest of that money and the government was going to pay that to the Xfinity directly.

Nathan Mumm: 5:47

Yep, and so that happened. But now all of a sudden, essentially millions of low-income families are about to lose the internet subsidy. So this is kind of like when you get that package and they throw in HBO for free for two months on your direct TV bill or your internet type of deal, and then they accidentally forget to remove it on that package and it stays on. And then you call them up and say, hey, what's this $19 service for you? Oh, I gave it to you for two. Essentially, their subsidy is going to run out. Some of these companies already have it in the process where they're just going to go in and automatically charge them the full price of the service.

Mike Gorday: 6:24

Is this a result of like the same problem that medical insurance does? They bill outrageous amounts for things like Band-Aids and stuff to cover the subsidies that are given to other people.

Nathan Mumm: 6:39

I don't know if this is exactly like the medical field, but essentially a lot of people today, specifically the elderly. That's really the market, and it was really a surprise because the administration that's currently in office right now thought that this would actually go to a lot of low-income individuals, and what it ended up going to is it went to low-income or fixed-budget individuals took advantage of this, so elderly individuals that may not have used internet a whole lot really took up the offer to have the internet services. And guess what? All these people have become addicted to the internet.

Mike Gorday: 7:11

They didn't have the internet before.

Nathan Mumm: 7:13

Now, all of a sudden, they like it. They say that it's much easier. 23 million households essentially received the reduced bill or some of them if they're on tribal land effective internet services for free. The program was tucked away into that 2021 infrastructure law and now the problem happens is there's no more money in the account itself. Now Vincent Coleman, a 26-year-old medical student in West Virginia City, will probably have to downgrade his internet plan, although the new plan would cost about $40 a month instead of what he currently has at the speeds at the $19 a month service, because he just can't afford it any longer. Other individuals include people that are living in, again, elderly homes that had internet services so they could stream, do VR simulations and have full speed, fast Internet in elderly housing. We'll also probably see this now restricted to basic level services.

Mike Gorday: 8:14

Well, this doesn't look good for the Biden administration, does it Well?

Nathan Mumm: 8:17

no, it's going to run out at the end of next month. Now the question I have for everybody here should all Americans have access to free Internet?

Mike Gorday: 8:28

That was kind of the whole idea when it came on. We've talked about that before.

Nathan Mumm: 8:32

Yeah, so should we, as Americans, have access to free Internet?

Mike Gorday: 8:35

Where are we basing this on? Are we basing this on the capitalistic society that we are trying to be, or the socially responsible one that we?

Nathan Mumm: 8:45

should be. Well, I'm just kind of asking in general, what's your thought on that?

Mike Gorday: 8:48

I actually think, if you live in America I think as more stuff is done through online, I think that service should be available to everybody, I do too. Because there's too much going on of necessity nowadays that you do online.

Nathan Mumm: 9:04

Yeah, so like if you file for unemployment, if you do some of these civil service services, it's so much easier to do online than to go into an office or to go into a location, fill out paperwork. They never get the. The paperwork trail is just horribly non-existent any longer If you didn't submit it a certain way. The customer service rep on the phone doesn't know how to process your next question that you ask them because they can't find you online.

Mike Gorday: 9:30

Well, that's just going to be added on to the other problems of socioeconomic statuses.

Nathan Mumm: 9:33

Does the Biden administration fix this before the election?

Mike Gorday: 9:37

I bet you there'll be some effort Okay.

Nathan Mumm: 9:40

I think you'd want to. I don't think you'd want to go into the election not having some of these free services.

Mike Gorday: 9:45

Maybe not, I don't know. All right, not my bag.

Nathan Mumm: 9:47

All right, let's talk about story number two here.

Mike Gorday: 9:50

Well, story number two is about something we used to do.

Nathan Mumm: 9:53

Yeah.

Ody: 9:54

We did yeah.

Mike Gorday: 9:55

Back in 2019, 2020. Remember when we were goofing around with Uber Eats.

Nathan Mumm: 10:01

Yeah, we do that like on the weekends.

Mike Gorday: 10:03

Yeah, I paid off my car using Uber Eats.

Nathan Mumm: 10:05

I do that and then I work for three hours and then I take that money that I earned for the three hours and go out and have a nice dinner.

Mike Gorday: 10:11

Yeah well, uber Eats is in trouble because a black Uber Eats driver has just received a payout after racially discriminatory facial recognitions. Checks prevented him from accessing the app to secure work. Now we've talked about facial recognition a lot.

Nathan Mumm: 10:31

And every time we talk about facial recognition.

Mike Gorday: 10:34

It's always about the problem of discrimination.

Speaker 4: 10:38

It is.

Mike Gorday: 10:39

Well, I don't know if you remember this piece of the app. At any random time when you had to start work with Uber, you had to take a picture of yourself. Of yourself yeah, I do absolutely Right, and they would do that like you're in the middle of a run, like 15 minutes into it It'd be like are you still the person driving here?

Nathan Mumm: 10:59

I've been on the road as I pick up the item to deliver.

Mike Gorday: 11:02

I, I'm trying to get something done and it's like, hey, you have to take your picture, to take a picture as I'm driving.

Nathan Mumm: 11:08

Clearly you see that I'm going, and it was as annoying as could be. And then, when we had masks you put on, you'd have to take a picture of your face without the mask and then you'd have to take a picture of your face with the mask.

Mike Gorday: 11:18

Yep. Well, when this individual Pa While PAW addresser, menjeng, began working for Uber Eats in November of 2019, the app did not regularly ask him to send selfies in order to register for jobs. But the.

Mike Gorday: 11:37

Microsoft Power Uber Eats app increased these verification checks, as you know, and in 2021, it said, after careful consideration, quote unquote his account would be removed due to continued mismatches Ooh, mismatches. An Uber representative said that the real-time ID check is designed to help keep everyone who uses the app safe, and includes robust human review to make sure that we're not making decisions about someone's livelihood in a vacuum, without oversight. Now, again, this sounds like double speak to me, because how is that going to keep you safe? I don't know what's the safety feature there.

Mike Gorday: 12:12

The Equality and Human Rights Commission and the App Drivers and Couriers Union funded Mr Bajang's case. The EHRC was concerned that the artificial intelligence in the facial recognition checks had deprived him of his income. The ADCU said the number of selfies Mr Manjang had been asked for amounted to racial harassment. The union told BBC News that it was working hard to ensure workers' rights were protected as the pace of development of AI and machine learning tools in the workplace accelerates. And you wonder why I'm always complaining about.

Mike Gorday: 12:48

AI always complaining about AI. Mr Manjang, who is reinstated and continues to work for Uber Eats in Oxfordshire, said that, and this is in the UK, if you didn't know that already.

Marc Gregoire : 12:59

Yeah, I got that.

Mike Gorday: 13:00

Said that the out-of-course settlement marked the end of a long and difficult period for him.

Mike Gorday: 13:05

His case shines a spotlight on the potential problems with the continued potential problems of AI for low-paid workers in the gig economy in this case, and he hoped the decision would help strengthen rights and protections of workers in relation to AI, particularly ethnic minorities. Baroness Faulkner, who chairs the EHRC, said Mr Manjeng should never have had to sue Uber Eats to understand the opaque processes affecting his work. That makes sense. Microsoft has previously admitted its fake. What was that? Well, that was a Freudian slip.

GeekFest West: 13:44

Facial not fecal.

Mike Gorday: 13:45

Okay, sorry, facial recognition software it actually works out, does it? Facial recognition software works less well for people belonging to ethnic minorities, and previous cases involving the police, home office and universities have shown the same thing.

Nathan Mumm: 14:03

Now, this is a problem. Facial recognition is not.

Mike Gorday: 14:06

This is one of the issues that I continually have. We talked about this with police monitoring down in LA.

Nathan Mumm: 14:12

We've talked about this. This has been a story that pops up probably every month or so where there's a pretty large discriminatory act that happened with the software and it's funny as the companies keep on just getting away, but just kind of saying well, it's our software.

Mike Gorday: 14:26

We even used some. I don't remember what it was. It was some facial recognition thing and it would scour the internet for your face. And we did you Yep. And did it find any of you? It did find a lot. It did find a half of me. I think, it found all the recent publicity photos that we did Yep, and it found none of me it did and it had you as a different. It found all these pictures of different people that look like me.

Nathan Mumm: 14:53

Some of them are pretty good looking too. Well, you know, I'm pretty good looking, so it's just picking up the good looking picture.

Mike Gorday: 14:59

That's right. It was getting all these supermodels and saying, hey, this is this guy. And I was like yep, that's right.

Nathan Mumm: 15:05

Yeah, the facial recognition is not working and I don't know what Apple has on the phone to scan my face, to say that I'm who I am or who I'm not, because sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work. I mean, it's like a hit and miss.

Mike Gorday: 15:19

I really hate the facial recognition of iPhone. Okay All right.

Nathan Mumm: 15:23

Story number three. Now, Odie is not doing whiskey today, but she was really excited about covering this subject in our production meeting. So she's on story number three.

Ody: 15:35

Okay, so essentially, apple recently came out with a new update. In their last one that included something new called reactions, and when you're on like a FaceTime call or any video conferencing call and you throw up certain hand signals, it'll have a reaction gesture on the screen okay so there's a bunch of them, but so what does that look like?

Ody: 15:59

well, like if you throw up a peace sign if you throw up a peace sign, or actually not even that, a thumbs up thumbs up will give you a little thumbs up. Bubble by your head. Okay, two thumbs up, you get confetti. Oh, two thumbs up bubble by your head.

Nathan Mumm: 16:12

Okay, two thumbs up, you get confetti, oh two thumbs up confetti no fireworks.

Ody: 16:14

Okay, fireworks A single thumbs down will be a thumbs down emoji.

Nathan Mumm: 16:18

Yep.

Ody: 16:18

Two thumbs down, you'll get rain in the background. Rain in the background, okay, and then a bunch of others as well. There's like a heart. There's balloons. Like an okay, there's confetti.

Mike Gorday: 16:29

Sounds really stupid to me.

Ody: 16:30

And lasers.

Nathan Mumm: 16:31

Okay, so tell us what happened here.

Ody: 16:33

So essentially, a bunch of people have come out in recent months Confused because they'll be on a conference call. For example, a Pennsylvania senator who was recently interviewed on MSNBC live Was just having confetti in the background.

Nathan Mumm: 16:50

Confetti in the background as he's going through the interview.

Ody: 16:52

As he's just talking, you know. And then there was another person who was discussing layoffs for the company and suddenly balloons come out.

Nathan Mumm: 17:00

Oh, that would be great, you know talking about layoffs and like let's have a party.

Mike Gorday: 17:05

Well, I guess it would depend on if you were OK with that. I got laid off.

Ody: 17:13

There's also a woman in Boston who who's a mental health counselor and she was on the phone with a client discussing, you know, their mental health and out of nowhere, a thumbs down came on oh and you know she expressed how that was embarrassing and kind of an inappropriate moment that's more therapy that is more therapy itself. So Apple has said that they've fixed the problem. You basically have to click on your camera and then turn off reactions.

Nathan Mumm: 17:40

So this is newer cameras and the new iPhone, ipads and the new no, it's not, Not the new ones.

Ody: 17:46

Anything that was updated to the new OS, okay, okay.

Mike Gorday: 17:51

So instead of just automatically taking it off, they've just said you have to manually take it off. Yes, way to go, apple.

Ody: 17:58

But at first it was something that wasn't.

Nathan Mumm: 18:00

Yeah, people didn't really notice. This feature was enabled by default.

Mike Gorday: 18:03

Yeah, we've talked about this before how they will update something and they will turn on features that you don't know. Now they do give notes?

Nathan Mumm: 18:11

Have you ever? When you do an update, it comes and the very first thing says all the notes that you do, I read, yeah, I read patch notes. Okay, so you reach patch. Okay. So if you read the notes you would have seen it. And in the update they actually did include hey, we have enabled new gestures, but nobody reads that. It's just like those terms of service agreements.

Ody: 18:28

Next, because you can't install the software unless you hit yes anyways, it's interesting because it's not just for FaceTime, which is what I assumed.

Nathan Mumm: 18:35

It's literally for the camera. Yeah, zoom, it does it on Microsoft.

Mike Gorday: 18:39

Teams. So if you do this, taking a selfie, you would have a thumbs up in your selfie. Yeah, yeah.

Ody: 18:44

If you're using a Mac or Apple device.

Nathan Mumm: 18:47

Correct. With the latest update Now, Zoom says they're in the process of making this state essentially not on by default when you use the Zoom app itself, but we do our Zoom meetings for our production meetings yeah, I don't want that I don't have a camera. Next time I'll be on my Mac and then every time I say something, I'll keep on doing like two thumbs up and I'll get like balloons that will be popping and it'll make it much more easy.

Mike Gorday: 19:11

Yeah, and I like balloons that will be popping and it'll be, it'll make it much more. Yeah, and I'm going to drop off the call.

Nathan Mumm: 19:17

I'm going to be like, and everybody else is going to drop off, I'm going to give everybody a zoom link and we're going to go over there and we're going to talk, smack about Okay, so here, so here, here, here I'm going to give you a little prelude into the Mike's mesmerizing moment. I want you to do some research during the show, specifically about the lady that was doing the voice conference call setup for this, with the gestures and what happened, because that's kind of you kind of do counseling, that's a part of your everyday job, right that you do that. So I want you to kind of be ready. I'm going to come back and ask you a specific Mike mesmerizing question on this.

Ody: 19:53

Hold on what? That's another thing. She was just resting her hand on her chin and it went down, and it went down.

Mike Gorday: 20:01

It was a misrepresentation, you know what I actually mimicked it.

Nathan Mumm: 20:05

So what happens is if you do it right here underneath and you have your thumb kind of come out, in itself it actually does trigger the motion itself.

Ody: 20:13

But I went on FaceTime last night with my sister and I threw up all the hand gestures yeah, and you have to hold it for a really long time.

Nathan Mumm: 20:20

You do, you do. So it's not as easy to happen, so it doesn't necessarily happen out of the blue.

Mike Gorday: 20:27

Right but.

Nathan Mumm: 20:28

I think in the story of this lady, I think she was like in the middle of crying when this actually came on out. Yeah, the woman was.

Ody: 20:35

They were discussing her depression and she was just there listening to her with her chin under her. I mean her hand under her chin. And then boom. The gal starts crying and then he starts putting the thumbs down. That's not really good.

Mike Gorday: 20:46

Yeah, that's more therapy right there, I'm sure.

Nathan Mumm: 20:52

I'm sure she had to do some Profusely apologize Some therapizing Saying I am so sorry, I was not saying that I wanted you to be down on me.

Ody: 20:59

But also, why wouldn't Apple, Like you know, when you open After an update, after you've updated your phone, and it tells you, hey, here's what's new and it's specific to every app, why wouldn't that be the biggest thing? Because, I remember when I updated it.

Nathan Mumm: 21:14

I never saw that I don't think they thought this was going to happen the way that it happened.

Mike Gorday: 21:19

That's the normal thing. They just roll out something and they don't understand the ramifications of-. How many people are going to use it? Yeah, Because when you do air quotes.

Nathan Mumm: 21:29

it essentially thought that that was the peace sign and if you look at it that's kind of like peace sign. So if I'm on a national televised and I'm doing that, that looks like peace. You say a quote-on-quote and then all of a sudden you're having balloons come in the background.

Mike Gorday: 21:41

I don't know, probably not acceptable.

Nathan Mumm: 21:46

I think some of this stuff is absolutely ridiculous. Well let's, I don't know, maybe Story number four US fines $9.9 million for thousands of disturbing robocalls. Let's go to David Larson for more on this story.

GeekFest West: 21:59

A US federal court has issued a penalty and an injunction against an individual named Scott Rhodes for making thousands of spoofed robocalls to consumers across the country. Robocalls are automated phone calls that use automated dialing software to deliver a pre-recorded message to many recipients. A federal court in Montana fined Rhodes with a $9.9 million penalty and an injunction against future violations of the Truth in Caller ID Act and Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

Mike Gorday: 22:30

When did this happen? Was that I used to get these all the? Did this happen? What's that? I used to get these all the time you used to get that Okay.

Nathan Mumm: 22:34

so first of all, this guy is not very intelligent because you can like spoof calls and everything like that. This guy actually had he was doing robocalls in a robocall bank and he had his actual caller IDs as his actual caller ID so they could trace this guy down. So, first of all, if you're going to do something bad that's kind of borderline illegal you need to be at least a certain level of knowledge to do that.

Mike Gorday: 23:01

We don't need to use this as a platform on how to do bad things better. Okay, well, okay.

Nathan Mumm: 23:05

So that's my first. When I'm looking at this I'm like, well, you know what he kind of deserves. That fine, because he's not very intelligent on how he did it Now. Second of all, he essentially ran an illegal and malicious robocall campaign specific regions that had inflammatory and disturbing messages, so it wasn't trying to sell you something, essentially for the vacuum clean salesman that's trying to always sell you something better.

Mike Gorday: 23:31

No, this is like a couple of years ago. This was a couple or few years ago. I would get a call on my phone that said stuff like your social security number has been acquired by the FBI and you're in big trouble, kind of thing, or the IRS, or I would say the IRS, oh yeah, because it's tax time, so that's like the big one right now.

Nathan Mumm: 23:53

Right, the IRS is going to levy fines against you if you don't pay the certain amount. You need to call us back.

Mike Gorday: 23:59

You need to call this number. And yeah, it's ridiculous and I'm sure that people called that number, and then I don't know what happened after that.

Nathan Mumm: 24:10

Essentially, several people received these calls, reported the number of this harassment to the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC, and essentially traced the activity very simply to Rhodes, a resident of Ohio, idaho and Montana. So he was like at three different states. He was moving around. Instead of just sending and trying to sell something, he was essentially telling people disturbing facts regarding a woman's murder that was in Brooklyn, iowa, near the aftermath of an incident that happened. He then decided to go on regarding an investigation regarding the killing of one woman and injuring dozens during the Unite the Right rally in August of 2017. So he was taking disturbing facts of events that happened and he was calling into those areas and telling people about these disturbing facts with what he figured was his fake news or his news that he wanted to share with people.

Mike Gorday: 25:07

He just wanted to get all his news out, so that's all he did was robocall everybody.

Nathan Mumm: 25:11

So he was robocalling with news to tell people about disturbing things that happened Way to go. Scott. Well, Scott now owns $9.9 million to the government. Well, good for you, Scott.

Mike Gorday: 25:22

I don't know how you're going to pay that off, but hey, buddy, go right. Well, yeah, there you go.

Nathan Mumm: 25:41

Well, that ends our top technology stories of the week. Up next we have the chief executive officer of Swift Press support, peter Jurgis, who has a unique ability to communicate technical information to non-technical clients. Known as the go-to guy for WordPress and AI, peter will explain how AI can work for you, and not against you, on any website. Buckle up as we drive into the show at 88 miles per hour into the next segment. See you after this commercial break.

Speaker 9: 25:55

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Nathan Mumm: 26:59

Well, that got really quiet. Welcome back to Tech Time with Nathan Lomar. Our weekly show covers the top technology subjects without any political agenda. We verify the facts and we do it with a sense of humor, in less than 60 minutes, and, of course, a little whiskey on the side. Today, mark Gregoire, our whiskey connoisseur, is back in studio, so Mike and I can ask questions about the whiskey Mark. What have you chosen for us today?

Marc Gregoire : 27:21

Well, today we're doing New Riff, and no, it's not a story about Elon Musk. Okay, it is a bourbon. New Riff single barrel, barrel strength. He always has to go after you.

Nathan Mumm: 27:30

I like that. I like that Okay.

Marc Gregoire : 27:34

So tell us more about this. So from New Riff's website. New Riff offers a robust single barrel program, so selections are bottled at barrel proof without chill filtration, allowing all the characteristics of the barrel to shine through. So no two barrels are the same each create their own story. This whiskey has a broad, fulsome mouthfeel, leading to a sweeter vanilla accent, before a gathering of rye spices, clove, cinnamon, mint, dark berry into the finish with brambly red-black fruits, amid white pepper and clove. Okay, that's a lot of taste.

Marc Gregoire : 28:04

Hey they love describing their whiskey on the website.

Nathan Mumm: 28:07

Okay, clove.

Marc Gregoire : 28:09

Now, this is from New Riff and from the New Riff Distillery, which is in Newport, Kentucky. It's a straight bourbon. It is age four years. It is 110.5 proof. The mash bill is 65% corn, 30% rye, five-malted barley. It is roughly $55.

GeekFest West: 28:26

Oh I like that.

Mike Gorday: 28:27

See, that's a little strange because it has kind of that rye bite that I dislike.

Nathan Mumm: 28:32

And to me it tastes kind of like a $100 bottle too.

Marc Gregoire : 28:35

So it's not a rye, as we pointed out, but, mike, it is of a bourbon. It's like a high rye bourbon because it's 30% rye.

Ody: 28:42

Okay.

Marc Gregoire : 28:45

So that's a higher percentage of rye in a bourbon traditionally.

Nathan Mumm: 28:52

Now is this only available on the Riff Club itself, because it says right here on the tag it says notes Did you get it through your secret smuggling organization?

Marc Gregoire : 28:58

No, you can buy these throughout various liquor stores in certain states.

Nathan Mumm: 29:03

Okay, how much is this? $55.

Marc Gregoire : 29:08

Oh, you're going to buy it, I know, and the secondary on this is roughly the same, like $60, $55, $60.

Mike Gorday: 29:15

Okay, you're pretty good, so now.

Marc Gregoire : 29:17

I would like to remind everybody to like and subscribe. In addition, please put a comment down there for what your favorite whiskey is, and if we haven't reviewed it, we'll see about reviewing it. All right.

Nathan Mumm: 29:26

So let me just tell you, Mike and I look at the YouTube stuff and we're like, oh okay, we get some comments here and there. Mark is upset with the listener audience because some people comment and they don't really say a whole lot. So Mark wants all of our listeners to go into YouTube and say I like the whiskey, I hate the whiskey, Put new whiskey in there. So if you're listening to the show right now and it looks like we have about 1500 people watching our show right now, Go in and make a comment about the whiskey specifically.

Mike Gorday: 29:52

Just for.

Nathan Mumm: 29:52

Mark.

Ody: 29:53

Yeah, so that Mark will be able to-.

Mike Gorday: 29:54

You have any idea what you're asking for.

Nathan Mumm: 29:56

Well, a comment on the whiskey itself, All right. Well, with our first whiskey tasting completed, let's move on to our feature segment Technology Insider Today, Peter Gerges-.

Mike Gorday: 30:07

You sure.

GeekFest West: 30:08

I think it's Gerges yep joins the show.

Nathan Mumm: 30:10

An AI enthusiast for all things website, Peter has a proven track record in crafting exceptional websites for business and personal brands. His commitment to excellence is evident with the ability to communicate all these technical details to the non-tech savvy clients. So you're up to bat here, mike. So listen, and if you understand it, then that's perfect, ensuring they achieve their digital goals. Let's welcome Peter to the Comcast video stream and start our next segment.

Speaker 1: 30:36

Welcome to Technology Insider. We get the information directly from the source.

Nathan Mumm: 30:42

All right, Peter, welcome to the show.

Peter Guirguis: 30:45

Hey, Nathan, great to be here.

Nathan Mumm: 30:47

Good to have you on. So where are you calling from? First, we always want to know where you're calling from.

Peter Guirguis: 30:51

I Great to be here, good to have you on. So where are you calling from? First, we always want to know where you're calling from.

Nathan Mumm: 30:53

I'm calling from the fabulous city of Los Angeles, los Angeles, all right. So outside of your city, is it nice? You know the Pacific.

Mike Gorday: 30:58

Northwest. We're broadcasting out. It's sunny.

Nathan Mumm: 31:01

It's 70 degrees and sunny, so this is like a first for us in a long time. No, I'm talking about where he is. Oh, where he's at too. Okay, where's it at? Is it nice and warm where you're at?

Peter Guirguis: 31:11

It's amazing. It is 70 degrees, so you guys are right on the money, and it's always like a sunny 70 degrees most of the time over here, so just a great place to be.

Nathan Mumm: 31:19

There you go, all right. Well, peter, welcome to the show Now. First thing, I need to know and explain to us what WordPress is, because you specialize in this. So, for the listening audience, explain a little bit about your websites, that you customize and what WordPress is.

Peter Guirguis: 31:37

Yeah, sure. So when it comes to building websites, you can really choose so many different platforms, and the number one most popular website building platform in the world is WordPress. So there's approximately 2 billion websites on the internet and of those, roughly about 850 million of them are built on WordPress, and so they have about a 42 market share. And then the next most popular ones are going to be things like Shopify maybe, if you've heard of those or Wix, and those have a lot less market share. So, because WordPress is so popular, there's been this amazing ecosystem that you know people have been building upon.

Peter Guirguis: 32:17

So, basically, you can make whatever you want with WordPress, and it's really great for scaling, like if you have a business or if you have a nonprofit. So that's what what WordPress is and that's what we specialize in, and absolutely we think it's a great tool. And it's great to also hear that you guys are talking about AI on the show today, because there's lots of great enhancements with AI on WordPress and with making websites. So I think that can be really helpful to anybody within the audience who's looking to build a website or to make enhancements to the website using AI.

Mike Gorday: 32:49

Okay, we talk about AI quite a bit.

Nathan Mumm: 32:53

You're going to be excited about this, aren't you, Mike? Not yet.

Ody: 32:57

Okay, all right.

Mike Gorday: 32:58

Tell me.

Nathan Mumm: 32:58

All right. So, peter, now, first off, are you a chat GPT guy or are you a fan of another, llm, which is a large language model? We've talked about that on the show quite a bit for your AI work.

Peter Guirguis: 33:14

Which type of AI services do you specialize in? Yeah, I love this question, nate, and that's the thing. I am a big chat GPT guy, but I'm not exclusive with chat GPT, so I like to try the different AIs by giving the same prompt, a different one, and seeing which AI gives me the best output, and then I'll use that one. So, in addition to ChatGPT, I also use Google's Gemini, and I also find myself using Claude3. So those are the different ones.

Nathan Mumm: 33:42

Look at that A thumbs up. Did you see a thumbs up? A thumbs up came right in the stream itself.

Mike Gorday: 33:47

I was going to ask if ChatGPT got jealous and then this thumbs up came up.

Nathan Mumm: 33:53

I decided to do that too. All right, so ChatGPT. We love ChatGPT.

Mike Gorday: 33:56

I love ChatGPT. Oh, you love ChatGPT. I am a big fan of that. You have been talking.

Nathan Mumm: 34:00

I love Sam Altman. I got a little man crush on him.

Speaker 4: 34:02

You have a bro crush on him. I do I think he's a good guy.

Nathan Mumm: 34:05

Okay. So now, peter, moving on, how do you see AI essentially shaping the future of WordPress sites, and are there tools or plugins that you'd recommend, and how do you use it to become the experts that your company is?

Peter Guirguis: 34:20

regarding this tool, yeah, I love using AI and I highly recommend it, you know, for anybody who's building their site, whether they're a DIYer or maybe you know, partnering up with an agency to have them build their site. And that's because, before you know, the problem with building websites is that it used to take a really long time to get the text, the copy, so to speak, for the website. You're like, hey, I don't know what to put here. What are you supposed to put on the homepage? Or how do you make an about page? What's the best practices?

Peter Guirguis: 34:47

And then AI came along and really revolutionized that. And because they're able to you know, take a look at, hey, what are the best practices from websites and copy. So they AI does a tremendous job with you just knowing kind of how to write. You know a few prompts into AI and to be able to get all the texts that you would need for your website, for any kind of page. So all it takes is just a little bit of finesse to know kind of how to get the gold out of the AI, because I think a lot of people kind of misunderstand and think that like, oh, I can just write in one sentence, and out comes this amazing output.

Nathan Mumm: 35:22

Yeah, explain to the gold what are some of your secrets here in AI, because that's really important. Sometimes people don't know really how to use the prompt. It's kind of the new version of a web search crawl ability. So how do you use the best AI prompts?

Peter Guirguis: 35:36

Yeah. So one of the things, nathan, that you were talking about earlier is that you said, hey, am I a chat GPT guy? Well, in the name is one of the secrets, and it's chat right. So the whole point is for you to have a conversation with AI so that you can continue to refine the output, and so some of the best secrets that I have for getting amazing gold out of AI is whatever it is that you're trying to tell it.

Peter Guirguis: 36:00

You want it to always, for example, tell it, it's a role and that's how you always want to start. So, for example, let's say you want to build a website. So you would start out your product by saying you are a world class website design expert. All right, that's your first sentence. Then next, you're going to add the context. You're going to say what is it that you wanted to do? You're going to say, hey, I want you to give me the text for a homepage for my business. My business is basically runs, sells tools online. So you're going to say that. Then you're going to say, hey, here are my services that we offer, here are the different things that we offer, and here's our pricing, and here's a little bit about our company. Now give me the text to pay.

Peter Guirguis: 36:43

I can copy and paste to my website and write in a conversational tone. You want to put that at the very end to say hey, how do you want the output? Do you want it to sound professional? Do you want it to sound conversational? Do you want it to sound informational? You can tell it however you want. And here's another secret is that if there's a famous person that you wanted to mimic, you can actually do that. If you wanted to say, hey, write in the tone of, let's say, bob Vila, you can have it, do that and it will actually give you text that would sound exactly like him, because it's been trained on billions and billions of models, including how Bob Vila speaks, you know, or whoever is your idol, or whoever it is that you want to mimic. So those are just a little bit of insider tips of how you can get that gold out of AI.

Nathan Mumm: 37:27

So Mark would say write like Elon Musk.

Mike Gorday: 37:32

Well, yeah, I would say, I would write like you, but you get all your words wrong.

Nathan Mumm: 37:35

Oh, that's right, that would be really good. All right. So building a website, you also need to get good graphics. Where are some of the sites you go to for graphics?

Peter Guirguis: 37:43

Yeah, so you can go to different places. You know I don't recommend going to stock imagery anymore, like the Adobe stock photos or anything like that. It's been done, you know. Or Unsplash, you know that's a very famous website where you can get free photos and because they're free, you can get them from anywhere. So now, using AI, you can use the power of AI to create amazing photos, and some of them are even free. It's like you can use the free version of Microsoft Copilot AI, which is built on a kind of graphics AI called Dolly 3. And you can tell any image that you want. You can go in there and say the prompt and you say hey, get me a picture of two funny guys sitting in a studio having an amazing time while drinking whiskey, doing a radio show, and'll produce it.

Mike Gorday: 38:29

so I think that's a great idea oh, so we don't need to be here.

Nathan Mumm: 38:33

Okay, okay, all right, so let's talk a little bit about your company itself. Those are great uh information to have. What inspired you to launch swift press support and how has your journey been so far?

Peter Guirguis: 38:47

sure you know for me what inspired me to start support where we we build websites and apps for small business owners. And it really started a little bit about nine years ago where I was just having, you know, trouble making ends meet with my family. You know, living in LA. La is like the number two or number three most expensive city in all of the United States to live in, and it's in California which is like the number two or number three state also the most expensive. And I was just having a hard time with making ends meet for my job and I was like, okay, what am I good at, what can I do to bring in more money? And so I was good at websites. So I started building websites for different clients and stuff.

Peter Guirguis: 39:31

And then one time I had a friend of mine who had a marketing agency and he said hey, peter, how do you, what do you think about doing a white label agency partnership? And I was like white label agency, what is that about? And he's like, well, that's where you build websites for us. But you act as if you're a part of our staff. But we treat you like an independent contractor. Act as if you're a part of our staff, but we treat you like an independent contractor and I said, sure, that sounds amazing, I'll do it.

Peter Guirguis: 39:53

And that's how I started. And you know, the journey has been incredible just because websites every business needs a website, every nonprofit needs a website. So basically, it's been so much fun to be able to interact with different people, small businesses and also, you know, nonprofits to connect with them and to learn about more about you know what they do, and to build them sites that help them win and to accomplish their goals. So this, this field is always, always changing, so we always have to be up on our game. It's always learning new technologies and no doubt, ai is radically you is radically transforming our industry.

Nathan Mumm: 40:32

Now are you worried about losing your job to AI? Because I mean, if AI is so good, then I guess they don't need to hire you as a web developer, right? Or a web host.

Peter Guirguis: 40:42

Personally I'm not, just because I think, like with the people that I deal with, they're people that want to leverage their time.

Peter Guirguis: 40:49

So, no matter how good the AI gets and it's always getting better there's always going to be people who understand that, like, hey, you know what?

Peter Guirguis: 40:56

I'm not the best at building websites or prompting the AI and telling it what to do, or creating images, or putting the text with the images together.

Peter Guirguis: 41:04

I want to leverage that out and to give that to somebody who's really good at it at an affordable price. And I want to do what I do best, which is be a business owner, lead my team and, you know, do whatever it is that I need to do to bring in, you know, the big bucks for the company, and so that's usually who come and hire us are going to be the small business owners that want to leverage their time and they don't want to have to finagle with it and spend hours every single week, you know, taking care of it. And don't forget also that with WordPress, you need a maintenance company to continue to maintain it, because, just like a computer can get a virus, so can a website, so you need a company to be in your corner to keep things updated and to test it out, to keep the hackers out and to keep viruses out. So you're going to need somebody also to help you do that.

Nathan Mumm: 41:54

All right. So thank you so much for being on our show. Where can people find out and get in touch with you after the show ends today?

Peter Guirguis: 42:02

Yeah, sure, thanks so much for having me. The best place to connect with me is my website, so that's swiftpresssupportcom, and if you like, you can hit the book, a call button, and you can get on a free call with me and check out all that we have to offer on swiftpresssupportcom.

Nathan Mumm: 42:18

All right, all right, thank you so much. That ends our technology insider segment. Up next we have this week in technology, so now it'd be a great time to enjoy a little whiskey on the side, as we're going to be doing so during the break. You're listening to Tech Time Radio with Nathan Mumm. See you in a few minutes.

GeekFest West: 42:32

Join the fun and grab tickets to GeekFest West, the three-day geek festival extravaganza of fun and entertainment that will take place on the third weekend in July. Learn more at geekfestcom. Geekfest will feature diverse activities, including a film festival, vendor hall, street fair, outdoor music festival, cosmic cosplay and video game tournaments. Join us at GeekFest West, the ultimate celebration of geek culture. To learn more, visit geekfestcom. That is geekfestcom.

Speaker 1: 43:04

And now let's look back at this week in technology.

Nathan Mumm: 43:10

All right, we're going back to March 23rd 1857. Yes, 1857,. The world's first commercial safety elevator goes into service New York City, the Hogworth Department Store. The elevator, created and installed by Elijah Otis, was powered by a steam engine that moved at the rate of 40 feet per minute and took 15 seconds to move between floors. That moved at the rate of 40 feet per minute and took 15 seconds to move between floors. By the 1870s, there were 2,000 of these Otis elevators in service. The creation of a practical and safe elevator was a major step towards the development of modern skyscrapers, since it makes the buildings accessible for more than a few floors. Ironically, the first elevator was shut down after three years because not enough customers wanted to use it and opted for the stairs right. People said why would you ever need to use a device when you can just walk up the stairs?

Mike Gorday: 44:01

Yeah, that's part of our obesity problem now, well, there you go, all right.

Nathan Mumm: 44:06

Well, that was this week in technology. Have you ever wanted to watch some Tech Time history, with over 180 weekly broadcasts spanning 40 plus years of video, podcasts and blog information? You can visit techtimeradiocom to watch our older shows. We're going to take a commercial break. When we return, we have Mark's Mumble Whiskey Review.

Speaker 10: 44:26

See you after the break. Hello, my name is Arthur and my life's work is connecting people with coffee. Story Coffee is a small-batch specialty coffee company that uses technology to connect people to each product resource, which allows farmers to unlock their economic freedom. Which allows farmers to unlock their economic freedom, try our Medium Roast Founder Series Coffee, which is an exotic bourbon variety that is smooth, fresh and elegant. At storycoffeecom, that's S-T-O-R-I coffeecom. Today you can get your first bag free when you subscribe at storycoffeecom with code TECHTIME. That's.

Mike Gorday: 45:00

S-T-O-R-I coffeecom, the segment we've been waiting all week for Mark's Whiskey Mumble. All right, he's been over there mumbling for a bit, that's all right.

Marc Gregoire : 45:13

I am mumbling. I am back today, mumbling with you, gentlemen. Yes, and I had to come back today, because what today is, what is today? I could not miss today.

Nathan Mumm: 45:22

Today must be sexy producer in the show. That's what I'm saying, right, yeah, you know did you see her just cringe. I know. Well, that's what I think today would be. What's today?

Marc Gregoire : 45:33

It's Nathan cringe day I'm embarrassed that you two gentlemen don't know it.

Nathan Mumm: 45:36

No, I do not National Ball.

Mike Gorday: 45:38

Day.

Nathan Mumm: 45:38

Oh, you know what? Hang on, hang on, hang on. Today is a national Star Trek day. Also in my little calendar that.

Marc Gregoire : 45:46

I get You're very close. It's something related. Yes, you are I am right. Okay, so today is Live Long and Prosper.

Nathan Mumm: 45:53

Day. You know what? I have that on a calendar at home.

Mike Gorday: 45:58

Why are you disappointed in me? Why would I know that?

Nathan Mumm: 46:01

I'm just saying that I knew that it was there. That's how well this Live long and prosper.

Mike Gorday: 46:05

Okay, live long and prosper One of the most well-wishing days.

Marc Gregoire : 46:09

Live long and prosper day is celebrated on March 26th, which is the birth date of its inspiration, leonard Nimoy. Live long and prosper is a Vulcan blessing which was devised by Leonard Nimoy. Live Long and Prosper is a Vulcan blessing which was devised by Leonard Nimoy, who played the half Vulcan science officer, mr Spock in the Star Trek series. Star Trek, Trek Trek. It's Trek Nathan again. Thank you so much. All right, he developed the Vulcan salute representing Live Long and Prosper, which first debuted in season two, episode Amok Time.

Mike Gorday: 46:41

Oh I guess that's-.

Nathan Mumm: 46:42

It wasn't season one that it was in right.

Mike Gorday: 46:43

No, I guess that's normal for everybody to have problems. Everybody on the show always has a problem doing it, but I guess that's normal. I've never had a problem doing it.

Nathan Mumm: 46:52

You like it too? There you go. You're pretty good, but you're like oh, look at Odie go, I got to move my fingers. Oh, look at that, that's great. Okay, all right, okay.

Marc Gregoire : 47:02

Tell us a little bit more about this whiskey. So, just like they visited New Worlds, we're going to talk about New Riff. Okay, dun, dun, dun. So Ken Lewis opened New Riff Distillery in the spring of 2014 in Newport, kentucky, which is just on the other side of the river from Cincinnati, and Newport, kentucky, which is just on the other side of the river from Cincinnati. Now, while New Riff built up the supply of their own aged products, they actually sourced high rye bourbon from MGP. This they named under their brand, oki, which stands for Ohio, kentucky, indiana, aka distilled in Indiana, bottled in Kentucky and loved in Ohio. This brand has now been retired and New Riff is focused on their own distillate. In addition, ken Lewis just announced his retirement for the spring of 2024.

Marc Gregoire : 47:50

Now, while sipping on this whiskey, as you gentlemen have been doing to me, it tastes relatively young. It's a bit grain forward, with a newer oak flavor. It's also a pretty hot bourbon. For the proof, I do think this bourbon has character, but it lacks a little depth and complexity to complement its rye content, and that's Mike, why you're getting that rye burn a little too strong on it. I'm also a huge, huge New Riff fanboy, but this particular single barrel does not tickle my fancy. This is the inherent potential pitfalls of single barrel products Because, remember, each bottle you pick up, unless it's from the exact same barrel, there's a variance. Sometimes it can be better and sometimes worse than another of the same bottle.

Mike Gorday: 48:35

Yeah, well, I mean it tastes good, but I certainly don't detect that full medley of fruitness that you were talking about earlier. I taste the vanilla, that's not fruit.

Marc Gregoire : 48:49

Well, I taste the vanilla.

Mike Gorday: 48:50

Okay.

Nathan Mumm: 48:50

Okay, all right. Well, mark, thanks for that mumble. You're welcome, it's a great technology. What a great pairing, just like baseball games and Cracker Jacks. Now let's get ready for our technology fail of the week.

Marc Gregoire : 49:00

Hot dogs.

Nathan Mumm: 49:03

Hot dogs Okay, we are out of time. Congratulations, you're a failure.

GeekFest West: 49:07

Oh.

Marc Gregoire : 49:09

I failed. Did I yes, did I yes.

Peter Guirguis: 49:13

Did I.

Nathan Mumm: 49:15

Yes, alright. Do you like free food Depends? Well, now is the time to go to Panera.

GeekFest West: 49:20

Why are you asking me questions like that?

Nathan Mumm: 49:21

Panera Bread has been experiencing a nationwide IT outage since Saturday. My wife and I experienced this on Friday of last week at the Outback Steakhouse restaurant. We ended up with free meals and a drink because their IT system went down and they did not know how to take credit cards. Since Saturday, though, this US food chain giant, Panera Bread, has been experiencing a nationwide outage that impacted its IT systems, its POS systems and that's for point of sale not other POS systems.

Nathan Mumm: 49:50

Well, it could be both Internal systems. According to an employee's reported, While all stores are open, they only accept cash payments and reward program members cannot redeem their points. Essentially, in the stores they have kiosks that say that essentially, you need to now talk to a live human so that you can then purchase your orders.

Mike Gorday: 50:08

There you go. This is a hack that's happening.

Nathan Mumm: 50:11

We'll see if that is the case. That has not been released yet, but a spokesman from Panera Bread did not immediately respond to have they had a cyber attack yet. Well, now let's go right into our Mike's Mesmerizing Moment. This is Mike's Mesmerizing Moment presented by Story Coffee. Visit storycoffeecom. All right, mike, let's talk about Apple gestures, essentially a virtual assistant on an Apple device. Let's talk about Apple gestures Essentially a virtual assistant on an Apple device.

Nathan Mumm: 50:45

this 38-year-old Jacqueline Tenagali it looks like was a mental health counselor in Boston and essentially she had a client on the phone. She put a thumbs down when this client was crying. But what do we think about this hand gesturing? How does this affect a client if you're giving them counseling?

Mike Gorday: 51:03

Well, okay. So this is problematic because it's a contextual issue here. So, regardless of whether or not you don't know, the client doesn't know what's going on, right? So the client is looking at the screen, she's having an emotional time and suddenly a thumbs down comes on the screen. What are you going to think?

Nathan Mumm: 51:34

I'm going to be really depressed. I would be. You see, during our interview today. Do you see the thumbs up? Yeah, that was on an Apple. That was on an Apple device. Yeah, I saw that. He see, during our interview today. Do you see the thumbs up? That was on an Apple. That was on an Apple device. Yeah, I saw that. He did it on purpose.

Mike Gorday: 51:42

So that can be problematic. Now, it's only because of the context of the situation that makes it so problematic, and that's one of the problems that this, whatever this is, has. So, whoever decided to create this program, they didn't think about the ramifications of certain contexts. They just think, oh, this is fun, but obviously this has a problem, because what the therapist was doing was a normal listening gesture, right? So we have gestural things, and one of the listening gestures is just putting your chin on your hand, and the program or AI or whatever drives this thing, interpreted it as a thumbs down. And here it is popping out this thumbs down thing during a therapeutic discourse and regardless of how it happened how it happened or why it happened.

Mike Gorday: 52:50

It creates something that's not there. It creates a variable that now she had to go back and she had to apologize. And obviously you know it was understandable and she didn't know exactly what. But this is a problem with this sort of ideas is that we don't understand human nature enough to drive some of this stuff. Even experts aren't don't know everything about human behavior, and then you've got technical people trying to mimic this kind of thing and it creates oddball situations.

Nathan Mumm: 53:30

That was definitely an oddball situation. But now let's go from an oddball situation to a happy situation. Let's go to our pick of the day.

Speaker 1: 53:40

And now our pick of the day for our whiskey tastings. Let's see what bubbles to the top All right.

Nathan Mumm: 53:46

What do we have here that we're tasting again?

Marc Gregoire : 53:48

We are drinking New Riff single barrel, barrel strength. It's a straight bourbon, four years old, 110.5 proof, roughly $55.

Nathan Mumm: 53:57

All right, thumbs up, thumbs down.

Mike Gorday: 54:03

Well, I think I'm becoming more of a snob as we do this more and more, because I can taste the newness in it, yep, so I'm going to give it a thumbs down. A thumbs down.

Marc Gregoire : 54:11

Oh, my word it's not bad. I'm agreeing with Mike on this one. I actually poured myself some of that 1792 12-year from last week that you guys had.

Nathan Mumm: 54:18

I'm giving it a thumbs up. I thought it was good.

Mike Gorday: 54:20

50 bucks right on my ear. It's not bad. Like I said, it's not.

Marc Gregoire : 54:24

I'm a New Riff fanboy, but this bottle. I would not get this specific bottle again. Okay, All right.

Nathan Mumm: 54:30

I do like the bottle.

Marc Gregoire : 54:31

I have other single barrels from them that are delicious.

Nathan Mumm: 54:34

All right. Well, guys, we're just about out of time. We want to thank our listening audience that listened to the show today. It was a great show. We talked about AI, we talked about websites, we talked about an elevator, we talked about how gestures can set the apple cart.

Mike Gorday: 54:49

We got some gestures from Odie.

Nathan Mumm: 54:51

We did yeah. She gives them all the time she gave us a single finger.

Mike Gorday: 54:56

salute a couple of times, all right.

Nathan Mumm: 54:57

If you want to be a caller, you can always click on that. Talk back at the top right-hand corner and remember the science of tomorrow starts with the technology of today. We'll see you next week.

Marc Gregoire : 55:05

Later Bye-bye.

Speaker 1: 55:11

Thanks for joining us on Tech Time Radio. We hope that you had a chance to have that hmm moment today in technology. The fun doesn't stop there. We recommend that you go to techtimeradiocom and join our fan list for the most important aspect of staying connected and winning some really great monthly prizes. We also have a few other ways to stay connected, including subscribing to our podcast on any podcast service from Apple to Google and everything in between. We're also on YouTube, so check us out on youtubecom. Slash techtimeradio. All one word. We hope you enjoyed the show as much as we did making it for you From all of us at Tech Time Radio. Remember mum's the word have a safe and fantastic week.