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John C Morley (00:10):
Hi everyone. I'm John C Morley, the host of the JMOR TECH TALK SHOW and inspirations for your life.
John C Morley (01:02):
Well, hey guys, it is John C Morley here and serial entrepreneur, and welcome to another great issue of the JMOR TECH TALK SHOW. I can't believe today is already the third Friday in July. There are just two more Fridays left, and then we're into August. Where did June even go? There was no spring. We kind of just went right through. Anyway, we have an amazing show for you guys tonight. There is a lot of great information that I think you'll be interested in learning about. We always give you, you know, great insights, and I'm sure you guys know that, but I think a lot of times what happens is, you know, we get these insights and we figure out that, you know, things are not exactly the way we thought they were going to be. Not for any bad reason, but just because, you know, things are different from the perspective that we have on life.
John C Morley (02:01):
So, I think that's, you know, a big difference. And I will say that it depends on, you know, how you look at something and how you look at something can shape things. Right. But what I want to talk about is this wonderful world we have. And you remember a while back; you remember something called crypto, right? Well, I have to tell you that Medi is pulling the plug. Yes. On its crypto payment wallet Novi. So, three years after Facebook announced that it would be ill-fated and pushed into cryptocurrency, the project tech giants had told another team they were scaling back its activities and that Novi, the digital wallet payment pilot, had launched last September. And it's going to be ending it, yes.
John C Morley (03:05):
On September 1st, 2022. So, I have to say something to you guys. I think crypto is not all that it's cracked up to be. I mean, no pun intended there, but it's not all these people that I had connections with virtually. It's like, there's nowhere for them to be found anymore. Like they just, I don't know. They like disappeared off the earth. And so, by disappearing off the earth, I think that's probably an interesting way to say it, but it's the truth, right? They just disappeared off the earth. People were saying, oh, invest in this, invest in that. But the truth of the matter was nobody knew what was going on. So, you know Facebook, Meta, whoever, whatever we want to call them, but it's Facebook AKA Meta, and they have announced per Novi that they're pulling the plug in September.
John C Morley (04:10):
All right. So, there are big changes. My friends in the simulation industry, the new unreal engine five offers significant new potential for the simulation industry. So, the release of this new engine has caused a few waves in many industries, and the potential to change the face of what we will see as the next generation of game development is very clear. Others who are creators in the film and television world, live events and architecture, automotive, and more all have much to celebrate because this unreal engine five will change the world. But with this groundbreaking new toolset of generating highly realistic, highly accurate massive open worlds, they will be equally applicable to the simulation industry. And they're going to look and see what's going to go on, but what we're talking about is augmented reality, right?
John C Morley (05:15):
Visual reality and augmented reality. And so, this would've cost a lot before, but now it's going to be possible to do something like this in fractions of the cost because of computers and technology. I mean, this is something that I think is going to change, you know, where the world is going. And I feel that it's going to give educators, inventors, and engineers like myself the ability to share a world that doesn't yet exist to conceptualize things and present them to other people that would not be able to understand this, not because of their ability to learn anything, but because they weren't immersed into this type of world. This new toolset was exiting the unreal engine features for bringing real-world data to real-life applications, such as the georeferencing plugin that enables you to associate locations in the unreal engine level with locations in a physical space.
John C Morley (06:29):
In addition, there'll be amazing support from the unreal engine ecosystem, including CSUM for unreal with its 3d tile integration, art GIS maps, SDK for unreal engine and the SIM blocks.io, CDB data Smith explore. So, these are just a few things about photorealism in real-time. That's something, ladies and gentlemen, that takes a lot of computer power. And what use is the world? That's so big but not believable. The unreal engine five will be not just a game changer, but it will open more than Pandora's box. It's going to build new kingdoms for people, things they never could grasp. They're going to be able to do that.
John C Morley (07:26):
One company that does pool particles and surfacing can use it to animate how this works so they can show manufacturing or show how things are. It can be used to show texture, agility, and how robots run. We call it AR AI logic. So that's going to help a lot. And it's also going to help with things like massive avoidance and zone graphing so that if we're talking about a robot and we're talking about some other device, it's going to be able to avoid things. I mean, I was in a store today, and it was stopped and shop, which many of you know, stop and shop. And so, what is Marty? Marty's job is to patrol the store and spot spills and hazards. Now, according to to stop and shop, the robot sensors are just there to find items on the floor and to prevent them from bumping into things.
John C Morley (08:30):
But let's get the truth about things. Somebody who worked for stop and shop, who was a worker there, claimed that Marty's robot is used to monitor customers. The store says this is not true. So, Marty, the robot, is stop and shop's most recognizable gimmick. It's tall, oblong, a robot with googly eyes and moving steadily around the store. According to an alleged former stop and shop worker on TikTok, Marty is secretly a surveillance droid. The company has since refuted claims in a statement to many places, including the daily Dot in a viral TikTok. That's been viewed more than six, a hundred thousand times. Marty is a patroller of the stores to watch you. So, what customers think, and I quote, is that Marty's a robot that tells us when there's a spill or any hazard around the store.
John C Morley (09:35):
They say that, in actuality, Marty has a whole bunch of cameras all over him, pointing at sensors on Marty's body. And they claim that security guards could watch a live camera feed from Marty on their phones. So, the question is, is Marty a security device? Stop and shop, you know, is a device meant to help, right, and keep track of things. So, people see the future of grocery store technology. And it's interesting now to understand how a small shop works. You must understand a little about logistics, sensors, and all kinds of stuff.
John C Morley (10:32):
But before 2019, the stop-and-shop experience was similar to that of most other large grocery stores. But in recent years, stop and shop introduced the giant gray aisle patrolling robot in over 200 Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Jersey stores. And they put notes all over the store, telling you Marty's here to help alert staff for spills and things like that. Each robot weighs a massive 140 pounds and costs just about $35,000. And the robot is named Marty, a top of its tall frame, which towers over five feet, three inches in stature. And it rests a large pair of googly eyes. And so as not to come off as a complete faceless, emotionless, lifeless robot, it's a rolling mechanical column. And Marty is interesting, but they say Marty does a whole lot of nothing. Marty is advertised as an aisle-sweeping superhero, but it's simply a messenger that shouts about a problem until a more capable human comes and can do it. But I want to, ladies and gentlemen, what is the truth about what Marty does?
John C Morley (12:01):
Well, I think the stores don't want us to know, but why would they want to hide this from us? Why? Interesting. And so, Marty, the robot you'll see in many retail stores, as I mentioned, is a service bot that alerts customers of spills and trip hazards and checks inventory to detect incorrect pricing or missing labels. So, if we say it can do that, it can check for inventory. I have to believe that it can be watching for customers as well. So, grocery stores can offer times be overcrowded, confusing, and a complete mess, but this new service robot announced not too long ago can help make them safer and cleaner. And next time you shop and visit that local store. It'd be interesting to see if you bumped into Marty. I mean, I bumped it into him before. He didn't say anything to me, but when I got near him, he just stopped.
John C Morley (13:14):
So, Marty notices spills or other trip hazards, and he can alert customers verbally by saying caution, hazard detected. He can then contact employees through the store's public announcement system. Using Wi-Fi, obviously, through the network and Marty, the robot can scan shelves to check products and detect incorrect pricing or missing labels. They say that shoppers don't need to worry that personal information about them is being collected. Any images or videos. Marty captures stored for a short period and is then destroyed. This focuses on identifying spills. But I don't know if I believe that. I don't know if I believe that because Marty, I believe, is a security guard in the way because $35,000 just to patrol that's a lot. I think he watches for shoplifting. Think, many shoppers have said he discourages them from buying because it just feels uncomfortable. And so, when you see Marty, he doesn't greet you or say anything to you, $35,000 for a device that controls the store, has cameras, and can just look into things. I don't know. I feel Marty does more at stop and shop than they tell us.
John C Morley (15:18):
And he's called a non-essential worker. That's what they call it. People look up at him. He can't give you any information. And Marty was introduced by a hold DE's stop and shops, a Netherlands-based parent company. And they put these robots, which cost a whopping $35,000, in hundreds of stop-and-shop stores throughout the United States. The robots have been a source of problems since their arrival, but as the pandemic has been going around us, it's reshaped the shopping experience.
John C Morley (16:10):
Marty was rolled out to cut back on staffing and give the workers a more pleasant experience. So, they don't have to the shoppers, but he isn't doing that. Some tech dazzled people say he's annoying. Some people say he's charming; he's fascinating. But many people see him as a problem and a problem solver. One stop-and-shop employee. Who's been there for over 30 years to withhold his name for privacy reasons? And I quote, that's not my perspective. It's everybody. For the most part, he is a pain that customers cannot stand him. He's always in the way. And I even hear managers complaining about what a pain in the neck he is, but they have to play along. They have no choice. He is a pain, a Royal pain in the rear.
John C Morley (17:15):
So, Joe, who has been working at stop and shop for more than 30 years, told Mashable that sometimes the robot even has trouble doing his one extremely simple job. Joe also wanted to withhold his last name for privacy concerns. And I want to make a quote. We had a shopper pick up a sugar thing, and the bag had a hole in it. So, the sugar got all over the floor, but you can't see it. Marty walked right through it and never said a word, a customer pointed out to us. And Joe explained, you know, how slippery sugar is on those wax floors. Joe noted that although Marty misses major hazards, the robot occasionally summons workers to remove extremely small inconsequential threats, such as marker and error bits of produce or a twist tie. So, sugar is a hazard, right? Whoever works sees Marty. They're reminded of how heavily invested stop and shop is in their pieces of useless technology. I quote that I have nothing to do but create more work on the floor. I have to say, if I had to believe Marty's a security device, I think Marty scans the store. I think he watches what's going on.
John C Morley (18:45):
Okay. That's my experience. And they don't want to tell people the truth about Marty, but I have to say that Marty, I feel, is a security surveillance robot. Now you might say to me, is he? Well, He has cameras, right? They're claiming that he just looks at things, but people who worked at the store said they hold the video for a lot longer. And actually, they store that information, and they look at it. So, Marty appears to be like this friendly robot, but really, I can see stores investing $35,000 in a robot because that robot pays one time you pay a security guard, 25, $40,000 a year or more, they paid $35,000. So, the question you might be asking is, how long does Marty run on a charge at stop and shop?
John C Morley (20:15):
Well, he seems to run for a while, but how long does Marty, the robot, run on a single charge? How long does he run? So, Marty has his little portal. You know, basically what you need is a scratch three compatible device with Wi-Fi, a laptop or a tablet, and Marty, the robot, that's basically what you need. Marty behaves, and how do you care for Marty? So, Marty on a switch is on the back, and you can tell if he's switched on because a white light will appear, as shown below right in the indicator. And so, if the light doesn't appear, it might be because the battery is flat or not connected. So, a charging cable with your Marty comes, and you can use the charge from a USB port. A blue light will turn on when Marty is charging and off when Marty is fully charged. Marty can be used while charging, but you don't want to leave.
John C Morley (21:41):
It turned on and plugged into the charger, and it eventually deactivated. And then Marty will just run out of battery. So, Marty's battery starts to run low. Marty will start beeping at you when the battery gets flatter. Marty will just stop moving until charged up again. So, Marty can't charge himself. So, when Marty's turned on, his motors can be on or off. A command will turn on all Marty's motors and move Marty to a starting position. And they claim that's very easy to do. It's interesting to see that Marty is a set of building blocks you can click on, but they have together. So, some things Marty can do are get ready and walk ex steps. He can kick the left leg and right leg. He can circle dance; he can stand straight, eyes excited. So that's for their dancing things. So, you could do things like that. You can repeat actions. You can make him dance when things happen.
John C Morley (22:58):
But the question I have for you is what propelled Marty to be built. Well, in the original version of Marty. So, there was Marty, Marty the tablet, and this was the confusion. There was Marty, the Marty table, but that's different from the Marty at the store. The Marty at the store actually will charge himself automatically. Okay. But then another company makes a Marty, but this Marty I got news for you is often confused because this is the Marty for education. This is not the Marty for stop and shop. So, I see it as a real confusion, right? So, Marty, it's Marty. I call Marty the stop and shop robot. And I don't know, I just feel that Marty himself is a bit of an enigma for people to say, you know, they're former stop,-and shop employees, and Mar the robot, Marty, the robot is not just for decoration. He holds a more sinister purpose. So, I believe that Marty is watching the store in the beginning. What, I didn't see him around so much. I thought that Marty was just coming out, but he watched the shoppers.
John C Morley (24:41):
Right? And so, what are Marty's true plans? Well, the former employee, whom we won't give you their name, claimed to have shared the real reason behind keeping Marty in the stores. Allegedly Marty's entire robotic frame contains cameras that help store security. And I have to believe that because I've looked at Marty's frame, and he looks like he has many more cameras on the back. She also claimed that Marty is there to keep an eye out on you up close. So, while she showed a snap of the robot, she demonstrated exactly where the cameras were and claimed. So, while you're there thinking it's a cute robot, the head of security can see you looking at the machine from his phone. It's a lazy way of them surveilling the place.
John C Morley (25:46):
Some people were convinced that this foreign employee had confirmed everything they already knew about Marty one user route. I knew it because it would be in places where there were no spills, another admits, and I quote, I never thought he was there to alert employees. I knew he was watching these steal, expensive vegan cheese. Another person I worked there for years, Marty was the biggest waste of money, said the third person when asked for a comment, stop and shop. Jennifer Brogan told the son exclusively, Marty, that the robot does not watch customers or conduct surveillance of any kind. Marty does not have video capabilities. Marty only takes still photography of our store floors as he monitors for spills and hazards. And while some people believe Marty is a pointless robot, their robot bartenders will sit behind the round bar, and a bunch of bottles will hang from the ceiling beneath them.
John C Morley (26:43):
However, human bartenders will still be using a mixed variety of cocktails. So, the question is, some people believe Marty is useless, but you have to understand why a company would just make something for $35,000 to just go around and tell you about spills. I think the answer is right there in the question; a company would not spend millions of dollars developing robots just so they could tell you when there's a spill. I'm sorry, but would they do that to cut back on security staff? Yeah. So, my conclusion is that I believe Marty is a security robot.
John C Morley (27:33):
He's a security robot, but many people will not agree with us on that because they don't want you to know. They don't want you to know the true purpose of the robot. So, when the robot gets slow, he can go back and recharge himself, but he gets confused with the academic robot, which is a small thing that sits on a table. So, I want to tell you right now that I have no problem that they use a robot for surveillance, but hey, stop and shop. Why are you hiding it? Why don't you just tell people the truth? What do you have to hide? Right. All right. So, I went off my banter on that. I think we must understand in life that sometimes people do things for a reason, and they don't tell people the real truth. They don't tell people the real truth. But we all know the truth because they're not going to spend that much money on a robot that just patrols around. And it has a lot of extra stuff to move around. And you have to realize if he was just trying to patrol for spills, hypothetically, he would not be that tall.
John C Morley (29:05):
He has to be on top of the spill lots of times, but he misses things like sugar on the floor. So really, his sensory abilities were not designed to handle things like what we think. I believe it's a big facade. And ladies and gentlemen, the NFL is to choose the new streaming partner for Sunday night games. This will be very interesting as the NFL will select the new Sunday partner this fall, according to commissioner Roger Goodwell. And so, Roger Goodwell spoke with CNBC Julia Borstein in an executive interview not too long ago. And Goodell said that the NFL would select the new Sunday ticket partner by the fall. Amazon, Apple, and Disney have all bid to be the NFL's new exclusive stream provider for Sunday tickets. CNBC has now reported, and Goodell confirmed that the NFL plus would launch in time for this season. So, I think the NFL league is planning to select the streaming service, and they're planning to make a lot more revenue because many people aren't going to games. They might be doing it on demand or just paying for the event.
John C Morley (30:27):
And it's interesting because now they have this whole new platform called the NFL plus. So definitely interesting what's going to happen. And another interesting thing is that I thought you'd be curious to know if the contractual language with CBS and Fox would prevent streaming services from charging fans significantly less than the current $300 cost for a Sunday ticket. According to CNBC. Now I have to tell you something; if I'm going to spend $300 for a game, I'd rather go in person. So, I think that's terrible. I think that's gouging people and direct TV. It isn't fitting to renew the package, but it is willing to partner with the winner CNB resort reporting. So, the current arrangement with the NFL direct TV mandates that customers who sign up for the Sunday ticket also sign up for its pay TV service, with some rare exceptions. And that requirement will go away with the new streaming service partner potentially opening up Sunday tickets to a much wider audience, as Goodell noted. And I quote that many people who watch games on streaming services don't subscribe, to traditional pay TV, allowing the lead to capture a wider audience by moving Sunday tickets to a digital provider.
John C Morley (31:52):
Interesting. It's probably going to grow, but I think they're going to rip people off, and I think it's going to be costing more money to attend a game now, and they could have made the games much more affordable. I mean, they're just gouging people. We see this with gas; we see this. My mom ordered flowers the other day because somebody had passed away, and flowers usually would cost 50 $75. She was getting prices for 400 and $500 for the same arrangement to be delivered to a funeral power. I think that's terrible. And that should not be tolerated. All right. So, in other news, I know, you know, want to hear about this, Mr. Elon Musk, Elon, what do you doing, buddy? What's going on with Twitter? I mean, this is like an abomination. Elon must deal to buy Twitter is in serious jeopardy. As you know, three people familiar with the matter say, and I quote as must camp, concluded that Twitter's figures on the spam counts are not verifiable, but Twitter is now trying to Sue Elon Musk for breaching the contract.
John C Morley (33:12):
So, what's going to happen there? I mean, I think he even needs to get on and get off the pot. And I think he's just wasting people's time. And I think right now that before he even entered into this kind of arrangement, he should have asked for this before he was seriously thinking about buying the company because he's wasting everybody's time, and you know what I see happening? I see Twitter possibly going under if they don't change their ways and develop a new business model because the traffic's not there, ladies and gentlemen; it's just not there. It's not like it used to be all right. You know, and a very big provider. And I'm sure you know whom I'm going to talk about, but this is something ladies, gentlemen, that is serious, something that's very serious. And why do I say it's so serious? Well, I will tell you why because big companies are getting away with unfairly treating people just because they're big.
John C Morley (34:21):
Whom am I talking about? Hope, you know, other than are good old friends, Amazon workers condemn unsafe grueling conditions at the warehouse. They're paying their warehouse workers 30, 40, $50, and more per hour. Now, why are they doing this? I'll tell you why they've got state-of-the-art robots, which are great but don't worry. They're not replacing people in the warehouse for at least another century. They're getting people who don't understand the conditions, and they're getting attracted by the green stuff by the money, but they're not doing the litmus test and saying, hey, is this okay? You know, people after working their three 12-hour shifts every week at Amazon's plant in New York City warehouse called JFK eight on Staten Island since its first began operations in late 2018. And its sorters on outbound shipping docks it's growing, and they're expecting people to work very hard.
John C Morley (35:32):
A petition went through to consolidate workers to two 15-minute breaks into one 30-minute. Workers say it can take up to 15 minutes to walk to and from the warehouse. Break-room workers also call for Amazon to provide more reliable public transit services to the warehouse. You know, but even though they have the latest technology, do you know the statistics are here to prove it? Amazon has probably one of the highest injury rates of any other fulfillment distribution company. I think that's atrocious. I want to quote what one of the workers said, which is coming right from their lips. There are days I say I'm just at the mercy of God.
John C Morley (36:20):
She said the only change is Amazon implemented. After the high injury report was reported and published install video monitors around the warehouse to tell workers safety is the company's number one priority. But it's one thing to say something, but it's another thing to do. So, I always say actions speak louder than words. So, if you're a person that lives on integrity, but yet you're saying in one breath that you're giving them a great deal, you're cheating them on the back end. That's unethical. Do you know? And I want to quote another quote from Amazon. People get fired regularly. She said it just takes two or three writeups, depending on the severity. And you can get fired for anything. Why would you even want to work for a company like that?
John C Morley (37:20):
Raymond Veles worked as a packer at the Amazon JFK eight warehouse from October 2018 to November 2019. He was required to pack at a rate of 700 items per hour. That's inhumane. He said that workers are regularly fired for missing rates. "That's all they care about. They don't care about their employees," for those also comment. And I want to add that they care more about the robots than the employees. He also stated I've been to care. A couple of times, the company's onsite medical unit for not feeling well. And all they do is give you an aspirin and send you back to work.
John C Morley (38:09):
Another person said I was a selector, and we were expected to always pick 400 units within an hour in seven seconds of each item picked. I couldn't handle it. I'm a human being, not a robot. The last comment I want to make is a quote, "you're being tracked by a computer the entire time you're there. You don't get reported or written up by managers. You get written up by an algorithm," said Geer; you're keenly aware. An algorithm keeps track of you, ensuring you keep going as fast as possible because if there is too much time lapse between items, the computer will know this, we'll write you up, and you will get fired.
John C Morley (38:56):
One. Their head person said that we have performance expectations like any other company. All right, I get the performance expectations. But what you're doing is brutal slave labor. You're treating people inhumanely, and I think America, the United States of America, the international countries, our entire universe needs to come together with a consortium. That's not going to let companies like this get away. That's going to get in front of their face. That's going to find them for stuff like this. They care more about their robots than they do about people. So, let's ask a simple question. How much does one robot cost at Amazon?
John C Morley (39:59):
Well, I must tell you, it's probably the millions in any company. That's more focused on profit that doing the right thing. This is why they have such a high turnover rate. I am blown away, and I am dismayed at the fact of what's going on. And I know, ladies and gentlemen, that they're just going to burn through people left and right. So, if you're looking for a job, do you want to work for a company? I mean, just this past week, the 12th and the 13th were Amazon Prime's birthdays. Why would you want to work for a company that wants you to work at a higher rate that is physically feasible without you getting sick or injured? They have the highest injury rate in the industry for this type of company, but because they're Amazon, they could just do whatever they want. We need to send a message to companies like Amazon and these other companies. I don't know how Walgreen is, I don't know how Walmart is, but I've heard stories. I can't prove to them that they may not be any better, but they are just stepping things down when they get complaints from their employees because they don't have the money or the resources that Amazon does. So, let's send a message to our Congress, our government, regulation, the FDA, and the board of labor that this will not be tolerated.
John C Morley (41:51):
They might pay people $75 an hour, but would you want to work for that? If you could barely make an hour or two of work and come home so exhausted that you can't even breathe. I wouldn't. So, Amazon, you're fooling a lot of people. You're not fooling everybody. So, they're just hoping they can get people. Even their delivery route system is a joke. I can't tell you how many times I've not gotten items. And then I've had to fight with them about where to go. And then they thought I stole it. I didn't steal it. Your driver didn't know the difference between my address going from left to right and right to left. You delivered it, dyslexic. I mean, come on. I really, and gentlemen, hope you enjoy this edition of the JMOR TECH TALK SHOW. I always enjoy being here with you guys and sharing so much information.
John C Morley (42:41):
And you know, if you want to be a guest on the JMOR TECH TALK SHOW, just go to www.jmor.com. And all you need to do very simply is click on that, reach out button, and apply to become a guest. You need to go through some steps, and we don't accept everyone. It is not a sales show. It's about giving value. We're also rolling out very soon again, and we'll be doing live shows monthly in Oakland, New Jersey, at the Oakland public library. So really excited. Lots of great things are happening, and I just rolled out double impact with my friend, Hurricane H, which takes place weekly. So, you're going to want to catch that. That's a brand-new program as well. Again, I'm John C Morley, serial entrepreneur and the host of the JMOR TECH TALK SHOW. It has been an amazing privilege, an amazing pleasure. And, of course, an honor to be with you this evening. Check out all my other great content. You can go to www.believemeachieve.com. Check out my TikTok, and check out my daily John's new daily days. And I'll see you guys. Yes. In another JMOR TECH TALK SHOW, which should be next week, July 22nd. Have yourself a great rest of your weekend.