TechFirst with John Koetsier
311 episodes - English - Latest episode: 5 days ago - ★★★★★ - 15 ratingsTech that is changing the world. Innovators who are shaping the future.
Deep discussions with diverse leaders from Silicon Valley giants and scrappy global startups. Plus some short monologues based on my Forbes columns.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
World's first micro lunar rover
April 19, 2024 18:12 - 28 minutes - 26.2 MBIn January of this year, Peregrine Mission One launched with at least 22 payloads. One was intended to be the first American made rover to land on the moon since the Apollo days: 1972. It was called Iris, and it was also the first lunar rover constructed with carbon fiber. It was designed and built by students at Carnegie Mellon University. Today, we’re going to chat with them ... Despite a mission failure due to the lander experiencing a propellant leak and missing its lunar target, the ...
After AGI
April 12, 2024 16:43 - 33 minutes - 30.6 MBWhat happens after AGI? AGI is artificial general intelligence: it’s when AI achieves human-level intelligence nd likely quickly thereafter super-human abilities, maybe even ushering in the Singularity. I was recently at the Beneficial AGI conference in Panama. One of the speakers was the founder of Emerj Artificial Intelligence Research. He’s interviewed nearly 1,000 AI leaders, his name is Dan Faggella, and he has some good insight into what AGI might do. Or at least what the experts th...
No-notch iPhones, FaceID on Android, biometrics everywhere
March 30, 2024 21:35 - 32 minutes - 30.2 MBIf you have an iPhone, you've got a notch. Now there's tech that can get rid of that notch ... and the same tech can bring secure Face ID to Android: at a fraction of the cost. In this TechFirst, I chat with Metalenz CEO Rob Devlin about his meta surfaces product. Not only can they produce about 10,000 lenses on a single 30-centimeter wafer, just like computer chips, they can now decode polarization information on surfaces from the light reflecting off of that. That gives them data on what...
Billions of robots in 10 years
March 21, 2024 18:35 - 32 minutes - 29.9 MBBillions of robots within a decade? A similar growth curve to smartphones? We currently have about 30 million robots on the planet, not counting Roombas and similar small bots. RobotLab CEO Elad Inbar says that will hit BILLIONS with a B within 10 years. We discuss the exponential increase in commercial robots globally and predict billions of robots integrating into daily activities, from service industries to personal assistance, over the next decade. We chat about the evolution of robot...
Apple Vision Pro: future of surgical training?
March 13, 2024 23:51 - 20 minutes - 18.6 MBIs the Apple Vision Pro the future of surgical training? In this episode of TechFirst, host John Koetsier discusses the transformative impact of virtual reality (VR) on surgical training, highlighting the cost-efficiency and effectiveness of VR in reducing the learning curve for surgeons. The conversation features Richard Vincent, CEO of Fundamental VR, who elaborates on how VR technology, particularly the Apple Vision Pro, is revolutionizing surgical education by offering rapid, repeatab...
AGI in 3 to 8 years
March 05, 2024 23:02 - 40 minutes - 42.1 MBWhen will AI match and surpass human capability? In short, when will we have AGI, or artificial general intelligence ... the kind of intelligence that should teach itself and grow itself to vastly larger intellect than an individual human? According to Ben Goertzel, CEO of SingularityNet, that time is very close: only 3 to 8 years away. In this TechFirst, I chat with Ben as we approach the Beneficial AGI conference in Panama City, Panama. We discuss the diverse possibilities of human and p...
Oysters reporting water quality? Not science fiction!
February 23, 2024 01:13 - 25 minutes - 30 MBCan you use sentinel oysters and other mollusks to track water quality near your cities, beaches, or the Great Barrier Reef? Actually ... yes. In this episode of TechFirst, host John Koetsier chats with the CEO of Moloscan, a company focused on bio-monitoring and protection of marine environments using live shellfish. The company uses aquatic bivalves, such as oysters, mussels, or clams to monitor the environment. These mollusks, which are filter feeders, react to changes in water conditi...
Here's an all-wheel drive e-bike ... with ChatGPT
February 16, 2024 00:49 - 26 minutes - 28.8 MBDo you need ChatGPT integrated into your new bike? How about an all-wheel drive bike? (OK: a 2-wheel drive ... but yeah, that's all-wheel drive!) In this episode of TechFirst, host John Koetsier chats the CEO of Urtopia about their new AI-integrated 'smart bike with a mind'. The e-bike market is predicted to grow to about $26 billion by 2028, but Dr. Owen Chang explains how Urtopia is taking a different approach by developing most parts in-house to create a fully integrated, software-enab...
App store for your brain: reading brain waves to fix sleep, pain, learning
February 07, 2024 17:12 - 21 minutes - 24.2 MBCan you deliver medical treatment by changing brainwaves instead of injecting drugs? Elon Musk has recently implanted his first Neuralink into a human patient. But can we get neurotech medical treatment without drilling holes in our skulls? Maybe ... According to Element, a startup with roots in MIT, we can. And they say they can read your brainwaves, manipulate them, and fix issues like sleep disorders, tremors, pain, as well as speeding up learning. Today we're chatting with Meredith ...
Hacking reality: Apple Vision Pro and security
February 05, 2024 19:46 - 14 minutes - 17 MBCan someone hack your reality if you're wearing an Apple Vision Pro? In this episode of TechFirst, John Koetsier discusses the arrival of Apple's Vision Pro, a groundbreaking VR headset, and its associated privacy and security concerns with Synopsys principal security consultant Jamie Boote. They chat about how the device's advanced sensor systems can map out user environments, posing potential risks and security threats if hacked. Koetsier and Boote also consider Apple's past experience w...
Smart buildings 2024: not just energy consumers
January 16, 2024 20:06 - 21 minutes - 24.6 MBIn this episode of TechFirst, host John Koetsier talks to Dan Hollenkamp, the CEO of Toggled, about the future of smart buildings in 2024. They discuss the difference between devices that are smart and just remote controllable, the continuous improvement in building systems, and emphasize on the usage of data for smart devices. Dan sheds light on how buildings should assist in facilitating our tasks, be predictive, and become an active member of the grid to help stabilize the energy demand...
VR 2024: inflection point with Apple Vision Pro, Quest 3, enterprise
December 29, 2023 18:37 - 26 minutes - 30.5 MBIn this end-of-year podcast of TechFirst for 2023, host John Koetsier explores the future trajectory of Virtual Reality (VR) technology, especially its potential in 2024. The podcast features Rolf Illenberger, founder & CEO of VR Direct, who believes that 2024 will be a critical inflection point for VR with wide-scale adoption, particularly in enterprises. There is notable discussion on different VR headsets including the Meta Quest Pro, Quest Three, and the upcoming Apple Vision Pro, as w...
AI in Bhutan: why Princess Wangchuk is building an AI center
December 14, 2023 23:59 - 41 minutes - 43.5 MBYou’ve probably heard of Bhutan, and you may have heard of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness measurement, which is about measuring how happy a country is as well as how wealthy a country is. Now the royal family in Bhutan is establishing an AI center to teach AI to locals ... and maybe bring Bhutan happiness -- and ethics -- to AI. To bring, as the princess puts it, "Ancient Wisdom & Ethics" to artificial intelligence. In this TechFirst, I chat with Enrique Hernandez about his and Princess...
Say hello to your robot coworker
December 01, 2023 00:07 - 18 minutes - 19.6 MBAre you ready to dive into the emerging world of robot coworkers? In this video, originally recorded at Web Summit in Lisbon, I chat with special guest David Reger, CEO of Neura Robotics. We chat about what it will be like to work with robots, how we can ensure robots don't kill us (as is happening now, occasionally), and what will change about work and us in the process. We talk about: Working with Robots: A New Frontier The Future of Robot Partnerships Impacts on Different Industries...
Reinventing speakers: replacing 100 year old tech with MEMS chips
November 16, 2023 10:21 - 30 minutes - 32.3 MBIn this episode of TechFirst, host John Koetsier explores the global transition from traditional coil and magnet speakers to solid-state semiconductor alternatives with Mike Householder, a VP at XMEMS. The discussion includes the history of the speaker, the advantages of using solid-state semiconductors, and the future vision for sound technology. Mike also makes a big product announcement and provides insight into how his innovative technology will improve audio quality and enhance sound ex...
Can VR change history? Maybe 1 mind at a time ...
November 13, 2023 00:42 - 26 minutes - 30.6 MBIn this episode of TechFirst, host Jon Koetsier welcomes Emmy award-winning XR director Michaela Ternasky-Holland to delve into the world of immersive storytelling through technologies such as virtual reality (VR). Using her VR documentary project, On the Morning You Wake, as a case study, Michaela explains how the deeply immersive nature of VR can change the audience's perception of a global threat - nuclear weapons. She compares the engagement and impact of VR experiences to traditional ...
Very first cell phone call: meet the man who made it ... and the engineer who helped make it happen
October 29, 2023 16:25 - 30 minutes - 33.7 MBIt all started with a stolen car. In 1983 Chicago resident David Meilahn's car was stolen. He bought a new one, a Mercedes Benz 280SL 2-seater. But then he needed to replace his old radio-phone ... and the sales rep told him there was something new: a cellular phone. He was one of the first few to be selected, then won a race to place the very first commercial cell phone call, which ended up being from Soldier Field in Chicago, IL, to Alexander Graham Bell's grand-daughter in Germany. Th...
Can generative AI make rockets launch faster?
October 21, 2023 20:27 - 26 minutes - 29.8 MBGenerative AI won't be building Falcon 9s or new space shuttles just yet. But can it help with all the work that goes into running an organization that builds the future? According to Kendall Clark, CEO of Stardog, yes. Generative AI that democratizes access to data and insight and knowledge speeds up organizations can help with launching space ships, or anything else. For NASA, a generative AI solution is apparently helping the team to do in days what used to take weeks.
81% Of Companies Have Generative AI Teams
October 12, 2023 16:30 - 36 minutes - 43.8 MBHow will generative AI impact work? And why are smaller companies adopting generative AI more than enterprises? Generative AI is almost literally exploding: there are so many possibilities. But how is it changing work and business? Recently GBK Collective, a consultancy founded by top academics at Wharton, studied 672 businesses in the US with annual sales over $50 million In this TechFirst we're chatting with 2 of the authors to get a sneak peek into what they learned: - Dr. Stefano Pun...
Diversity, equity, and inclusion in AI: solved problem?
October 02, 2023 16:55 - 25 minutes - 28 MBIs equity, inclusion, and diversity in AI a solved problem? I’ve written a lot of stories lately about AI. AI is critical to our future of automation ... robots ... relf-driving cars ... drones ... and … everything: smart homes, smart factories, safety & security, environmental protection and restoration. A few years ago we heard constantly how various AI models weren’t trained on diverse populations of people, and how that created inherent bias in who they recognized, ho they thought shou...
Apptronik has a totally different approach to building humanoid robots
September 25, 2023 16:23 - 36 minutes - 41.4 MBWho will win the race to have the world’s first usable general purpose humanoid robot? I thought I knew all the companies making general purpose robots: - Tesla - Sanctuary AI - Figure AI - Fourier Intelligence - Agility Robotics - Boston Dynamics I was wrong ... there’s probably a bunch I don’t know. But one that popped up as interesting is Apptronik. They’re based in Austin TX, they're partnering with NASA, and they're building Apollo, a 5’8” 160-pound robot. In this TechFir...
Generative AI 10X'd this solopreneur's output
September 18, 2023 17:40 - 33 minutes - 38 MBCould artificial intelligence make you MORE human? Help you become your best self? And, maybe, 10-15X your output? In this TechFirst we chat with author, flow coach, and entrepreneur David Passiak, who has gone way down the generative AI rabbit hole and made tools like ChatGPT his CMO, CEO, CRO, chief strategy officer, chief content officer, and more. He says it's 10X'd his output, but in some ways it's even more that that. 10Xing what you can do it one thing, but enabling what you could ...
Solving the GPU shortage: software to 2-4X existing GPU utilization
September 12, 2023 03:02 - 18 minutes - 16.8 MBGPUs are rare and expensive right now. Every company doing AI model training needs more, and NVIDIA can't build enough, especially of the NVIDIA H100 GPU. Run.ai CEO and co-founder Omri Geller says he has a software solution to this hardware problem. The key: GPUs are mostly idle, even in high-demand settings. According to Geller, his software 2X to 4Xs your GPU capacity on existing hardware, simply by streamlining workloads and maximizing GPU usage time. In this TechFirst, we chat about:...
The Black Swan cargo drone carries 800 pounds for 1500 miles
August 26, 2023 20:03 - 15 minutes - 17.5 MBDronamics just got a license to operate in Europe. Its Black Swan cargo delivery drone is the size of a 2-seater aircraft and carries 800 pounds for 1500 miles. It's also 50% cheaper with 60% fewer emissions and 80% faster than standard airfreight. In this TechFirst, host John Koetsier chats with Dronamics CEO and co-founder, Svilen Rangelov. Topics include: - The Black Swan cargo drone - Why is it so much cheaper, faster, and less polluting? - Dronamics has raised $40M. One of its inve...
Wireless power for robots on the moon
August 21, 2023 21:02 - 17 minutes - 15.8 MBIt looks like we will soon be delivering power wirelessly to NASA robots on the moon. Yank Tech just won a NASA contract to to develop wireless charging solutions for autonomous vehicles on the moon. In this TechFirst, we chat with CEO Josh Yank. Topics we cover include: - Wireless power on the moon ... how does it work? - What’s the power source … solar energy? - When will it be ready? - When could it be used? - What missions will this be used on? - Any uses on earth? - There's bee...
Space phones: why Apple, AT&T, Verizon are adding space comms
August 11, 2023 22:47 - 14 minutes - 13.7 MB"ET phone home" has never been more relevant. We're seeing a wave of phone calls to space, or at least space connectivity from relatively ordinary cell phones. - Apple added SOS - T-Mobile is working with Starlink - AT&T is working with AST SpaceMobile Why? And where is this going? To answer, we chat with a senior director from Ciena. It's a networking giant that supports 85% of the world’s largest telcos, with customers like AT&T, Amazon, Google, Deutsche Telekom, Verizon, and the U.S....
Sanctuary AI humanoid general purpose robot: a deep dive with CEO Geordie Rose
July 31, 2023 18:01 - 48 minutes - 44.8 MBRight now might be the golden age of humanoid general purpose robot development. Tesla, of course, is building the Optimus robot. Figure.ai is working on one as well, plus others like Chinese company Fourier Intelligence with the GR-1 Boston Dynamics, and Agility Robots. So is Sanctuary AI. Sanctuary says they’re on a mission “to create the world’s-first human-like intelligence in general-purpose robots.” They’ve recently released their 6th generation robot, called Phoenix, and have comp...
Tesla full self driving: worse than a drunk driver?
July 24, 2023 16:04 - 27 minutes - 25.6 MBElon Musk calls him "batshit crazy," but Dan O'Dowd has built software for the F-35 fighter jet, the B2 bomber, and to secure U.S. nuclear forces. He's also built a microprocessor for Mars, worked on the Mac at Steve Jobs' request, and completed a ton of test drives of Tesla full self driving. His conclusion: it's worse than a drunk driver. And: it does not recognize small children. In this TechFirst we chat with Dan about his tests, what he thinks is wrong with Tesla, and why Tesla is fa...
Humanoid robots: 'we could be one-to-one with humanoids quickly'
July 13, 2023 15:31 - 27 minutes - 25.5 MBOptimus, the Tesla bot, has been in development for 2 years and still can’t really do that much. There’s another dream team of engineers and roboticists who are building a humanoid robot that they call the “kinder, gentler” robot. In this TechFirst we chat with 2 investors in Figure.ai: Jesse Coors and Gregg Hill. They think humanoid bipedal robots could be one-to-one with humans in numbers "pretty quickly." Corporations will want thousands, and most of us will want at least one. We also ...
Can open source AI save health care? HIPPO AI founder Bart de Witte chats with John Koetsier
July 06, 2023 23:45 - 36 minutes - 33.7 MBCan we get an open source medical AI that saves millions of lives? Everywhere on the planet, health care is a problem. In the US it's too expensive. In Canada it's too busy. In much of Africa and India it's too rare, and in many other countries including Western Europe, it's overwhelmed and overrun. AI could help, but only if we can get our act together, says HIPPO AI foundation founder Bart de Witte ...
Intel research scientist: ChatGPT is NOT generative AI
June 28, 2023 00:17 - 44 minutes - 51.2 MBChatGPT is not actually generative AI, says Intel senior research scientist Ilke Demir. In this TechFirst we chat with an Intel scientist who has been working on generative AI for years. We talk about the genesis of generative AI, which is as far back as the 1970s, and we talk about ethical uses of generative AI and how we can use neuromorphic computing to help reduce the massive computation cost of generative AI. Plus, we also talk about what Intel is doing with generative AI, including se...
Is nuclear back? Talking to Nano Nuclear Energy about tiny reactors
June 20, 2023 23:48 - 37 minutes - 44 MBI’ve done a lot of shows on alternative energy ... green energy sources like wind, geothermal, solar ... but should nuclear be in the mix? Nuclear’s having a bit of a resurgence lately as a green option for reliable energy. To talk about why and where it might fit we chat with the founder and president of Nano Nuclear Energy, Jay Yu, and the CEO, James Walker. We discuss Zeus and Odin, their two nuclear reactors, safety, disposal after their usable lifespan, and what the ideal mix of green...
Could full-body MRIs save millions of lives and billions of dollars?
June 08, 2023 19:53 - 26 minutes - 30.8 MBWould you get a whole-body MRI scan to check for cancer and other problems even if you don’t feel any symptoms? Some have done just that and saved their lives. Others simply find out that they're relatively healthy. I seem to fall somewhere in the middle. I recently did a 60-minute full-body MRI scan. I learned I'm mostly healthy, but there are some potential problems. The CEO and co-founder of the company that ran the MRI says that adopting these kinds of scans would be part of a switch ...
Apple VR competitor: my biggest fear is Apple will fail
May 31, 2023 19:11 - 31 minutes - 36.6 MBApple's likely releasing its massively expensive VR/AR/mixed reality headset, Reality Pro, next week at WWDC 2023. One key VR competitor says he's much less worried about Apple winning than he is worried that Apple will fail. Why? That would devastate the consumer VR market, setting back the industry years. In this TechFirst I chat with Varjo CEO and co-founder Urho Konttori, Finnish maker of one of the best VR headsets on the market. Their headsets are super-high resolution ("human eye r...
Generative AI will completely transform gaming as we know it
May 19, 2023 15:53 - 30 minutes - 28.6 MBGenerative AI is going to drive a 10X transformation in gaming, says Unity CEO John Riccitiello. It'll create truly believable worlds ... so believable it might even become more real that our "real world." It will transform NPCs -- non-player characters -- into deep, intelligent, and differentiated characters who might be more fun to hang out with than your real friends. And it will make infinite worlds and infinite experiences more of a reality than a dream. In this TechFirst we hang out ...
When AI takes over ... will you even notice?
May 13, 2023 22:10 - 20 minutes - 23.2 MBHuge chunks of our lives are already managed by AI. The songs we listen to, the routes we drive, the search results we see, the climate in our homes? When AGI takes over, will you even notice? In this TechFirst, we chat with Evan Coopersmith, a data scientist and AI researcher who says that when AI fully takes over ... we probably won't. And, he says, his bird can teach us a lot about what our future relationship with AI will be.
Generative AI and podcasting: story coming to life
May 02, 2023 23:25 - 37 minutes - 34.1 MBImaging using an entire podcast as a prompt to GPT-5, or GPT-10. What would a massively capable generative AI do with a podcast? Create a movie? Score a soundtrack? Build an immersive world? John Gauntt is the host of The Augmented City podcast. He’s also a journalist, analyst, founder, and story teller who has been building an audio sci-fi ghost story about Seattle 100 years from now for the past half-decade He created a video companion to the podcast with Midjourney. In this episode ...
The future of Facebook: where does Meta go from here?
April 22, 2023 00:25 - 26 minutes - 31 MBFacebook isn't what it used to be. It's shedding staff, dismantling efforts to create the metaverse, losing ground to TikTok in short-form video, bleeding ad revenue thanks to Apple's privacy changes, and generally following rather than leading tech industry trends. But it still has a massive number of users and some of the biggest apps on the planet. What can Facebook do to regain its mojo? And ... honestly ... can Facebook regain its mojo? In this TechFirst I chat with Brian Bowman, an ...
Artificial intelligence out of control? AI in the era of "meganets"
April 17, 2023 23:09 - 35 minutes - 32.4 MBIs technology and AI out of control? Is AI already beyond our ability to manage and monitor? In this TechFirst, we chat with David B. Auerbach. He's a software engineer who has worked for Google and Microsoft and recently wrote a book. The title is a bit on the scary side ... MEGANETS: How Digital Forces Beyond Our Control Commandeer Our Daily Lives and Inner Realities. He says technology is already way out of control ... just like weather. "Rather than treating these technological system...
This generative AI lets musicians and listeners create song together
April 11, 2023 03:35 - 18 minutes - 16.8 MBAimi is a generative AI application for music that make songs that are everlasting: collaborations between artists and audiences that start, but never have to end. In this TechFirst I chat with Edward Balassanian, the CEO of Aimi, a generative AI for music that musicians can use to create, generate, and even code music ... while allowing audiences to add, customize, extend, and personalize the sound. There's free music, monetization for artists, and over 200 artists onboard who are creating...
500-year ceramic geodesic dome home: now real
March 22, 2023 22:19 - 26 minutes - 23.9 MBThe 500-year ceramic geodesic dome home is now an actual physical reality. I first wrote about Geoship's plan to build long-lasting, inexpensive, earth-friendly, community-centric homes about 3 years ago. Last year, Geoship showed me a prototype. Now there's an actual built, powered, and furnished dome home in Nevada City, California. In this TechFirst, we chat with Geoship founder Morgan Bierschenk, see the dome first-hand, and get some insight into pricing, availability, technology, and ...
Chat GPT is NOT generative AI: Intel scientist
March 17, 2023 18:58 - 43 minutes - 40.1 MBIs generative AI the beginning of the end for humans ... or the end of the beginning? And, did you know generative AI has been around since 1972? In this TechFirst we chat with Ilke Demir, a research scientist at Intel who is working on ethical generative AI applications, like a speech synthesis project that aims to enable people who have lost their voice to talk again, an open urban driving simulator developed to support development, training, and validation of autonomous driving systems...
YouTube invalid traffic bug: what 5 YouTube creators say
March 10, 2023 01:00 - 30 minutes - 27.6 MBOn November 16th, revenue for skippable ads dropped 50%, 60%, even 90% for many YouTube creators. They say YouTube variously admits it was a bug, says it was fixed or will be fixed, or claims the payment drops are due to invalid traffic: code for "you're cheating." However, looking at their YouTube analytics doesn't support that claim. In this TechFirst, I chat with 5 creators who say they were impacted by the bug ... including several who have been impacted so severely they're not sure ...
3-hour discussion on everything AI :-)
March 01, 2023 01:00 - 3 hours - 198 MBSo I did a Twitter Space with a bunch of really smart people, and they said I could upload the results to TechFirst. The only thing ... it's literally over 3 hours. So ... listen however long you'd like! The people on the Twitter Space include the host, Robert Scoble, as well as: Bryan Talebi, CEO of Ahura AI Tiarne Hawkins, director of AI at WeLocalize Chris Nakayama from Nufa/Mimesis Labs Ajay Juneja, CEO of Speak with Me Adryenn Ashley, founder of Wow is Me Martine Paris, AI colum...
Irish drone delivery company expanding to USA and mainland Europe
February 17, 2023 23:26 - 24 minutes - 22.5 MBDrone delivery is super-hot, but there aren't that many major players yet. Google's Wing is doing well, but Amazon is still just getting started, and few other significant players have major traction. Tiny Irish drone delivery company Manna Aero, however, has completed over 100,000 drone deliveries, is expanding to Dublin shortly, and will be expanding to mainland Europe and the United States this year. In this TechFirst with John Koetsier, we chat with Bobby Healy, CEO of Manna Aero.
AI, drones, & country-sized digital twins: mirroring the real world in code
February 07, 2023 18:41 - 26 minutes - 24.3 MBImagine building a digital twin of an entire country: all inputs, outputs, activity, infrastructure, issues, challenges ... That hasn't happened yet, but a client used Bentley Systems's tools to create a baseline digital twin for Singapore. In this episode of TechFirst with John Koetsier, we chat with Greg Demchak, who leads digital innovation at Bentley. Increasingly, the company is using digital twin technology, AI, and drones to monitor, protect, and maintain massive infrastructure proj...
Our brains are 1 million times more efficient than ChatGPT: chatting with Gordon Wilson of Rain AI
January 20, 2023 19:13 - 16 minutes - 15 MBThe wetware in a casket of bone that we each carry on our shoulders is 1 million times more efficient than the AI models run by services like ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion, or DALL-E. In this TechFirst with John Koetsier we chat for a second time with Gordon Wilson, CEO of Rain AI, which is building a neuromorphic artificial brain simulating the structure of our biological brains, and aiming at 10,000 to 100,000 greater energy efficiency than current AI architectures. We also discuss "mortal c...
2023 mobile predictions: billion-dollar apps, TikTok, 3rd party app stores, and more
January 02, 2023 23:21 - 13 minutes - 12.2 MBWhat will 2023 bring for mobile apps and games? We chat with Data.ai's Ted Krantz about 21 new billion-dollar mobile apps including Call of Duty Mobile, Bumble, and HBO Max. We also chat about entertainment, about third-party app stores competing with Apple, and the decline in ad revenue growth for mobile apps. One category that's growing fast: travel, hotel, airplane ticket booking, and rental car booking apps. Links: TechFirst transcripts: https://johnkoetsier.com/category/tech-first/...
Aerospace giant canceled 40,000 Oculus Quest order for this tech
December 23, 2022 00:04 - 31 minutes - 28.5 MBA massive aerospace corporation cancelled an order for 40,000 Oculus Quest VR headsets when they saw the technology in this video. In this very special TechFirst, I've received permission from TechBeach Retreat to share the first global unveiling of a technology called AirGlass from Mobeus HQ which, the founder Richie Etwaru says, is finally the Z-axis of tech: the depth to the horizontal and vertical of our flat screens. The most interesting part to me is that AR/VR/MR headsets are bulky ...
BMW's heated seats & the evolution of ownership in an era of smart matter
December 17, 2022 20:22 - 23 minutes - 21.8 MBThis year we saw consumers push back hard on BMW's decision to include heated seats in vehicles but only make them actually work if people paid a monthly subscription fee. Why? And how does the concept of ownership change when everything is smart, everything is remotely configurable, and everything can report its own level of usage? In this TechFirst with John Koetsier, I chat with Zach Supalla, the CEO and founder of Particle. We talk about music, software, hardware, and buying versus re...