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John C. Morley: (00:09)
Hi everyone. I'm John C. Morley, the host of the JMOR Tech Talk Show and Inspirations for Your Life.
John C. Morley: (01:01)
Hey guys, how are you? It is John C. Morley here, serial entrepreneur. Welcome to the JMOR Tech Talk show. And welcome to the first Friday of April. I can't believe we're already in April. We have a great show for you tonight. But if you're new here, all you need to do it's really simple, is just basically launch your camera, point over the QR code, like so, touch the yellow ellipse, and you'll get my link to lots of great information to improve the quality of your life. So I have to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that technology is evolving. I mean, every day technology is evolving and people are starting to become aware of it. And then what they're doing is they're actually making a choice either to get involved or to just have apathy and not do anything. Well, tonight's show is really cool because we're going to talk about first thing, which is the NHL using AI artificial intelligence to predict key moments in the game.
John C. Morley: (02:26)
Now, we talked about AI in another show about how it was used for endoscopy in medical procedures. So pretty interesting. So it's an in-depth Amazon coverage from the Czech Giants hometown, including an e-Commerce, AWS, Amazon Prime, Alexa, logistics devices and more. They're able to track lots of information, and the NHL brought its third annual technology showcase event to Seattle just recently. And a stone throw from the global headquarters of Amazon. In case you guys didn't know that, that's where Amazon's headquarters is out of, is right there in Seattle. It was interesting because with the growing connections between the tech giant and pro hockey they were very interested in what had to be said. The league took over a private lounge and in the arena they featured an array of technology partners helping the NHL develop new statistics, increased fan engagement, and of course, much more. Now this is all about their climate pledge, and it was named after Amazon's carbon neutral initiative and ran into Amazon Web Services.
John C. Morley: (03:56)
So this is going to be interesting. So AWS has a partnership with the NHL and National Hockey League, and they have started this a few years back, and they're really trying to bring technology together to leverage a better game to sell more tickets and lots of other things. Amazon, ceo, Andy Jassy, as you know took over after the other guy decided to go south because he wanted to play with some toys in space. He didn't appear to be an attendance at the time, and that was a little surprising that he wasn't there. And he's a part owner of a Seattle Kraken, which beat the Anaheim Ducks. So I don't know what their plan is. Amazon has moved a lot deeper into the sports world over the past several years, and if you've noticed, Amazon is trying to get their hands into every little jar, nook and cranny that they can.
John C. Morley: (05:00)
But you know what happens when you do that, ladies and gentlemen, you actually start becoming bad at things. You start to become not as good. And at the NHL showcase AWS demo, this live cloud base production of the game, it was a first for the N H L and a new alternative to the traditional truck based environment of live sports production. The demo was done with a remote team, graphics in Seattle, a technical director in Wisconsin, and replay operators in Toronto and Vancouver. And according to Dave Kinsky and I quote, there are a lot of benefits to producing a live game in the cloud. Operational efficiencies, cost efficiencies. So my question though is, is it really safe to produce it in the cloud? So the reason I say this to you, and I'm not going to mention your names, but a lot of security companies have started to move away that offered cloud services to leave Amazon AWS. I feel that they might have great technology, however, I don't think it's as good as what we'd expect on Wall Street.
John C. Morley: (06:21)
I don't think it's as good as what these security companies actually can have in house, and that's why they're starting to leave. The Amazon AWS and as I said, the NHL is also partnering with AWS for a product called Edge IQ that uses machine learning, artificial intelligence to predict the winner of a face off. So they share datas like how many shots involve a middle crossing, how many shots involve an offensive blue line crossing, how many shots involve a blue line and middle crossing? How many shots cross neither? What raises projected goal rate, distance goal posture, movement, puck movement, traffic the Meridian defensive blue line and what lowers the projective goal rate, goal posture, distance, puck movement, meridian traffic, and defensive blue line. So what the NHL in a sense is trying to do is they're working with Amazon and other partners so they can get data.
John C. Morley: (07:28)
And we've learned before that when you work with data, that's where the money is. And so Jassy who was previously leading the AWS before taking Ceo reigns from, of course you remember Jeff Bezos, who decided to go play with his other toys in space. And he was very involved with the NHL partnership, but then he just dropped. And Amazon's also working with the Racing League formula One and Germany's top soccer league which is debuting new statistics. And Amazon is one of several tech giants teaming up with pro sports leagues and teams. Google recently beat out Amazon and Apple to secure a multi-year deal for the NFL. There are lots of other things happening streaming most N F L games, YouTube, TV platforms. Starting with the 2023 season, Microsoft had a longstanding deal with the N F L that included use of its surface tablets by players and coaches on the sidelines during the games, as well as other marketing agreements.
John C. Morley: (08:42)
It also inked a deal recently in the cloud with the NBA National Basketball Association. Apple sponsored this year's a Super Bowl halftime show. Google Pixel was the presenting sponsor of the NBA playoffs last year. And Amazon is installing its cashier list checkout technology in stadiums and arenas across the country, including a climate management package. It's like Amazon's getting their hands into everything. And you know, the problem I have with this, a company like Amazon, okay? Or it could be Amazon. Amazon is eventually going to go out of business. And you're saying to myself, why?
John C. Morley: (09:32)
Why is Amazon going to go out of business? Why will Amazon go out of business someday? The product life cycle that a business will eventually get to maturity is going to be at the point, and then it'll decline. And with regard to Amazon, it has done very well. But when Amazon goes bankrupt, where will your business be? I mean, there are all kinds of people in the tech giant armor, and it's through these gaps that other retailers can find ways to be competitive. I can tell you, I won't put one dime into Amazon Web Services. We have our own cloud services. I just don't trust them. Even though they might have good stuff today, I just don't feel I can trust them forever. What Amazon can't do, it's interesting they even have a hashtag WACD what Amazon can't do, although there's no doubt that Amazon has set a standard for online retail, no question.
John C. Morley: (10:44)
And limitations have existed and still exist. They're pretty strong. They carried out their own research speaking to over 3,500 online shoppers have found that consumers are very savvy about the limitations Amazon has. Surprisingly, some of these limitations are actually in direct contrast to the benefits that Amazon claims to offer consumers. For example, 46% chose not to use Amazon because they could find cheaper pricing elsewhere, indicating that Amazon can't necessarily offer the best value in the market. I think that's one reason we know Amazon is a convenience place. They make lots of mistakes or to drone a few years ago, and they just decided to just drop it in my business parking lot at 10:30 at night. And then it took several days before they were even going to refund me until I decided to reach out and file all kinds of complaints with FCC, federal Trade Commission, better Business Bureau, and all kinds of offices.
John C. Morley: (11:40)
And then they said, well, why did you do that? We were going to refund you. Bologna. You were going to refund me. So fulfillment is still a key for Amazon, and not all consumers believe it's the best option. In fact 25% said they felt they could find more convenient delivery options elsewhere than Amazon. Other retailers offer click and collect, for example, a simple way to capitalize on this gap in service. But I don't know too many places where you can place an order on the weekend and still get an order on Sunday or that Monday very quickly. So they definitely have some infrastructure right now. Okay? A core of the people who spoke to some of the research people would not go to Amazon if they were looking for niche products as more specialists ranges could be found elsewhere. That's right. Amazon doesn't have the latest and greatest about everything.
John C. Morley: (12:35)
They have a general consensus. Would I go to Amazon to get my latest cameras or my latest microphones? Absolutely not. They would not have the best products. So they want to become an online only retailer. They want to encourage people to be loyal to them, right? But the question is, when will Amazon go out of business? Because, you know, everybody wants to know that. Amazon killed a big part of its business. The retailer had been shedding staff, and that suggests that the company is exiting a once strong key growth because you don't just drop staff like that. And the e-tail giant, which has already focused on long term, not the next quarters earning, has clearly dropped that philosophy. So Amazon is already, I feel, starting to plan their exit strategy. Amazon has had major cuts in its people experience and technology, but yet they claim they're still the best.
John C. Morley: (13:45)
They're not. Between the reductions that were made this past November and the ones that we're hearing about now, they plan to eliminate just over 18,000 rolls. Several teams are going to be impacted. We already know when you call them, you're getting these people from other countries, again, not to discriminate against them, but they don't even know their job. They don't know their head from their toes, and they're nasty people. Amazon is giving up on brick and mortar. They're going to be closing their brick and mortar, okay? They're scaling back their Alexa aspirations. See, this is interesting because Amazon had been this giant, right? That was doing everything, but now it's like they are really changing.
John C. Morley: (14:47)
I mean, that's crazy. And like I said, for there to be a hashtag already WACD, what Amazon can't do, that's pretty sad. They have their own hashtag. So what I think we're going to start seeing with Amazon, let's know, this gets a little off topic. We're going to see that Amazon is going to start getting into all these markets. I think what's going to probably happen is either a, they're going to go out of business or they're going to start selling off parts of their company the little bit that they have left just to make some pennies on the dollar. But I give Amazon about 10 to 12 years, and I don't think they're going to be around much longer. If they are, they're not going to be long after that because they're already dropping their operations. But the question I still have is why are they putting up more warehouses? The other question I have is, will Walmart beat Amazon?
John C. Morley: (15:56)
The answer is yes. Yes. Walmart is bigger than Amazon with retail revenue of 600 billion versus Amazon is only 280 billion. Amazon is non-retail business. And Walmart is still larger of the two in revenue to 600 billion to Amazon's 502 billion. You see, Amazon is doing all these things right now to try to make money like they bought iRobot, right? They did this so they could grab our personal data, which we all know what they're doing. They want to learn about your house so they could sell all the product and services. I just see them as very underhanded, and I don't trust them. Do I buy from them? Yeah, I buy from them, but I don't depend on Amazon. If I can't get it from them, I'll get it somewhere else. They're just the place. Like I go to buy milk, you know what I'm saying? I don't really have an allegiance to Amazon.
John C. Morley: (16:57)
Yes, I pay the prime every year, but I can tell you that when something bigger and better comes around, I'll jump ship. I can tell you that right now. All right, so something else interesting is a recap of Bill Gates trip in an autonomous car in London. This is really cool, ladies and gentlemen. So Bill Gates took a ride in this car in London. He met up with the Wavy company and he sat in the car and the lady was sitting in the car. And as you know, in London, they drive, we'd say on the wrong side of the road, but they drive sitting on the right. And so he was sitting on the left and her hands weren't touched the sterling wheel, but they were just there. And like, where do you want to go? Oh, let's get some fish and chips.
John C. Morley: (17:44)
And what was interesting about this car is that a lot of people that are making autonomous cars or working toward this technology are trying to outfit the roads so that they can give data back to the car. And if the roads aren't outfitted properly, well then the car can't necessarily operate. See, that's bad. So what this company's doing is really using artificial intelligence. They're learning about the road, they're learning about the bike, they're learning about situations like where the biker is cars distance. It's very similar to something called lane Keeping Assist or smart cruise Control, which you guys will probably know that doesn't use AI, but it uses a technology that has a camera and sensors to be able to automatically speed up to maintain the cruise control level or decelerate. And so companies that are going to want to work well in the autonomous space for cars are going to need to build cars and vans and trucks that actually can learn from their surroundings.
John C. Morley: (19:00)
But guess what, ladies and gentlemen, those surroundings in that data is going to be sent up to the cloud. I have a little problem with that cuz I don't necessarily know who has access to it. And when does that data get deleted? If I go from point A to point B, do they know that it was me that went there with my car? Or is it, let's say random data? I don't think it's random. So I'm a little concerned about that. But thank you so much Bill for taking that trip and letting us see how you went on that drive. You know, behind the wheel, actually sitting next to the wheel it's called Wavy. It's a British company whose AI learns from the real world driving does and applies these lessons to future trips without relying on predetermined driving instructions.
John C. Morley: (19:52)
Gates is somewhat impressed by the vehicle's ability to navigate busy London streets with a plethora of obstacles and things that would stress a normal driver. And again, it keeps learning. So very interesting situation. But I think we're still a little way off before we'll see an autonomous vehicle working, but retrofitting our streets and putting sensors in them. That's not the way to go ladies and gentlemen. So our friends, or shall I say our foes in Japan to restrict chip making equipment. Now, I didn't say chip making, I said chip making equipment. What's this all about, ladies and gentlemen? Well Japan is going to restrict chip making equipment exports aligning it with the US China curves. And so this could be a big problem. Japan's government recently, it was actually on March 31st, said that it plans to restrict exports of 23 types of semiconductor manufacturing equipment so they can align it with the US push to curb China's ability to make advanced chips.
John C. Morley: (21:03)
The trade and the industry minister in a press release said that it will impose export controls on six categories of equipment used in chip manufacturing, including cleaning depo deposition deposition, deposition lithography and etching. It did not specify China as the target of these measures saying that equipment makers will need to seek export permission for all regions. So, and they said, and I want to quote, we are fulfilling our responsibility as a technological nation to contribute to international peace and stability. The ministry said, adding that its goal was to stop advanced technology being used for military purposes. I don't know if I believe that Tokyo's decision comes after the US in October, imposing sweeping restrictions on chip making tool exports to China, citing concerns that Beijing plan to use advanced chips to enhance its military power. It could be probable. Washington, however, needs Japan and the Netherlands and the other key suppliers of such equipment to join it to make those restrictions effective.
John C. Morley: (22:17)
I don't know, we'll have to see. The Netherlands government in a letter to the country's parliament recently said in its plans to restrict chip making equipment exports. And the Dutch company ASML holding the NV ASML as is a key supplier to advance lithography machines, Japan and the Netherlands in January, agreed to join the US in restrict chip making exports to China. So China has accused the US of being a tech . They, and I'll quote, hegemon. what the heck is that? Because of its export restrictions. I don't think I've ever heard that term before. A monopoly and suppression. So the United States seeks to deter other countries scientific, technological and economic development by wielding monopoly power and suppression measures and technology restrictions in high tech fields. I don't know. This doesn't smell very good. So we'll have to see what happens.
John C. Morley: (23:34)
And I feel right now that this could be good, but then I don't know if I trust them a hundred percent. So we're going to have to just see, but I just want to bring this news to you right now. And so in other news, Utah passes aggressive law to limit kids' social media access. Interesting. So they passed a bill requiring minors to get parental consent before joining any social media platform. There are a lot of negative impacts on social media and we want to change that. close quote. says the Utah State Senator Mike Mikel quote, I wish all parents would step up. It's simply not happening. Close quote.
John C. Morley: (24:26)
See that is interesting, but is that really going to solve the problem? I don't know. I think it might be a step in the right direction. I also want to let you know that Utah is the first state to limit kids access to social media, the first state. So will there be more? And by Utah becoming the first state to pass the legislation, seeking to limit teenager's access to social media sites. Just last week, Republican government, Spencer Cox said he signed the two bills in order to protect the state's youth from the harmful effects of the platforms. And this move is because of the alarming rise in mental health issues among American adolescents. Okay, I hear this. All right, but let's not kid ourselves Capitol Hill.
John C. Morley: (25:32)
You can go outside your door and still have things happening that are not great. So yes, I think it's interesting that you're doing this, but I don't think it's going to do everything that you want. I don't think the teens are going to just give up because they can't get it through social media. They'll get it somewhere else. So the new law says that social media companies will have to verify the ages of all their Utah users and will not be permitted to collect children's data or target them for advertising. Users under the age of 18 will be required to get a parent or guard's permission to sign up for an account. And minors who want to bypass the digital curfew to access their account, which is now going to be restricted between 10:30 PM and 6:30 AM we'll have to obtain a parent or guardian's permission. Wow. So the parent or guardian would also have access to the minor's account and private messaging.
John C. Morley: (26:36)
I don't know if this is necessarily the right thing. I believe education would be the best thing. If a parent controls the social media account doesn't this violate a person's right for freedom of speech? On many levels it does. It actually violates the first amendment rights of minors by requiring social media platforms to obtain parental consent before anyone under the age of 18 is allowed to have an account. Is that going to then restrict what video games they can play? We're not talking about smoking, we're not talking about vaping, we're not talking about drinking, we're talking about social media.
John C. Morley: (27:29)
And cone from the legislation recently stated this under the legislation, minors can sue social media platforms for harms which may include any minors negative reaction to any speech on the platform, while presuming causation and establishing a $2,500 statutory minimum damage award regardless of the harm, if these laws survive any legal challenges regarding the First Amendment, how would these laws ever be enforced? Would enforcement of the laws create unintended issues? Oh yeah. Could the laws or ones like these becoming to my state? Yeah, they may. And if you're in a state like they call it a red state Arkansas, Texas, Ohio or Louisiana. So again, that's Arkansas, Texas, Ohio or Louisiana or in a blue state like New Jersey, keep an eye out for proposals similar to Utah's laws. If you're in California, well the law's already going into effect July 1st, 2024. And that increases privacy protections for children online.
John C. Morley: (28:43)
But the bottom line is that these laws shouldn't be a substitute for important communication between parents and children or general education about online safety. I think we are passing the buck. I think social media education, just like you know, we've had sexual education, we should have social media education, we should have stalking education. See, that should be something that is taught in grammar school. It should be taught even more. Again, reinforcing in high school at a deeper level, I think this is what's going to save the people. It's going to protect them because just by slapping some rule up there, do you think that's really going to teach anybody anything? No, it's not the companies that need to learn, it's the kids that need to make the right choices. And if we don't teach and we just restrict them, that's not enforcing by positivity, it's enforcing by negative behavior. And no one ever learns anything by negative reinforcement.
John C. Morley: (29:58)
Yeah, that's going to be interestingly, we'll keep you apprised on that. So citing data privacy concerns, Italy, temporarily bans chat, GPT, you know, my thoughts on chat GPT, it's dangerous. Okay? And they made a recent statement and I quote, we are pretty excited about the disrupt of 2023, getting a whole stage dedicated to FinTech. And while we're talking about events, there's just a few hours left. And they're saying right now that you can go get tickets to learn more about it. But, you know, the whole thing I want to share with you is that it comes down to what's happening. And I think a lot of these conventions are doing the wrong thing. They are using this as a money vehicle. Do I say you can't make money. So Chat GPT is temporarily banned in Italy amid an investigation into data collection and a computer screen shows the open AI website Friday from a recent report and meant to Italy chat GPT has been temporarily blocked in Italy amid the concerns that the artificial intelligence tool violated the country's policies on data collection. Ooh, so why is it ladies and gentlemen, that Europe seems to be more on the ball than we are in the United States.
John C. Morley: (31:42)
It was European Union that forced Apple and other mobile manufacturers to have the USB port and get rid of the lightning port. AI technology is widely known for its chatbot feature and it's become a global thing for its wide range of capabilities from building realistic art to passing tests to figuring out someone's taxes. But what you didn't realize about chat GPT is also can be used to create malicious code. It can be used to take information and have a good situation turn bad. I've always told you that there is not good or bad technology, it's how we choose to apply it. If we have chat GPT, the choice of how it's applied will not come down, ladies and gentlemen, to a person who'll come down to chat GPT and you, which was designed by people. But the decision of it is going to keep changing.
John C. Morley: (32:47)
Very similar to war games. And you all remember WOPR, you remember WOPR in war games. I remember that. So Whopper if any of you guys remember that stands for war Operation Planned Response and it's designed to simulate what a war would be like, casualties, resources and how do we make these kinds of decisions. But Chat GPT is strictly relying on data and previous situations to make a choice, but there could be that one condition or more when it makes the wrong choice. And that choice, ladies and gentlemen, could cost someone their life. All right, I got one more story to share with you. I'm going to talk about Twitter. So Twitter's gone through a lot of changes, I guess thanks or not thanks to Elon Musk. Twitter pulls the check mark from the main New York Times account. So not too long ago, Twitter had removed the verification check mark earlier this week on the main account of the New York Times.
John C. Morley: (34:10)
And this was because Elon Musk says it's one of the most despised news organizations. The removal comes as many of Twitter's high profile users are bracing for the loss of the blue check mark that helped verify their identity and distinguish them from posts on the social media platform. Ooh, that's crazy. It it's like they're now running their own underground world. They're running their own underground world. We're pulling the mark from the main New York Times account so we can just pull accounts just because we don't like the content they're producing.
John C. Morley: (35:20)
I don't know, I think this is going to have a lot more ramifications and Musk, as you know who owns Twitter, set a deadline for verified users to buy a premium Twitter subscription or lose the check on their profile. And that just happened recently. The Times said in a story, and I quote Thursday that it would not pay Twitter for verification of its institutional accounts. Close quote, early Sunday must tweeted that times check mark would be removed later. He posted not so nice remarks about the newspaper, which aggressively reported on Twitter and on flaws with partially automated driving systems at Tesla, the electric car company, which he also runs other times accounts such as its business news and opinion pages still had their blue or gold check marks, this past week. As did multiple reporters from the news organization quote, we are planning to pay the monthly fee for the check mark status for our institutional Twitter accounts per the statement from the Times quote.
John C. Morley: (36:38)
We also will not reimburse reporters for Twitter, blue for personal accounts, except in rare instances where the status would be essential for reporting purposes. The newspaper said in a recent statement. So Twitter did not answer any email questions obviously when they were asked in in a new statement. The cost of keeping a check mark ranges from $8 a month for an individual starting price for companies as a thousand dollars a month to verify the organization plus a $50 monthly for each affiliate or employee account. Now, Twitter does not verify the individual accounts to ensure they are who they say they are. As was the case with the previous blue check that you got out to public figures and others during platform pre Musk administration. While the cost of Twitter blue subscription might seem like nothing for Twitter's most famous commentators celebrity users from basketball star like LeBron James to Star Trek’s Williams Shatner have Baed adjoining Seinfeld actor Jason Alexander pledged to lead the platform of Musk takes his blue check away.
John C. Morley: (37:54)
The White House is also passing on and rolling in premier accounts according to a memo sent to the staff. While Twitter has granted a free gray mark for President Joe Biden and members of his cabinet lower level staff won't get Twitter blue benefits unless they pay. So you might be saying, all right, John, what is the difference? Okay between Twitter, blue and gray Mark, cuz I know you're probably thinking about that. So Twitter began rolling out a gray tick verification mark for government related accounts and a golden tick mark for companies. The blue is still for individuals. The other accounts, as we said, get the blue tick mark. In addition Twitter rolled out square affiliation badges for the handles of businesses on the platform.
John C. Morley: (38:52)
Ooh, this is going to get very sticky very fast and I think it could bring Twitter down. I don't know. The question I have is, what is Twitter's future? And right now I'm not sure if they're going to stay on track. , it's changing a lot. Is Twitter really going to grow? Don't know. Is this going to annoy a lot of people or are they going to couch out it? We already know places like the New York Times main accounts said they're not going to do it on their main account. So is this really about verification cause they don't verify? Or is it just some kind of smug, sarcastic way of saying, okay, I don't like what you're doing, so we're just going to remove your check mark unless you pay us. That seems so below the belt, so underhanded and it just seems like something that I'm not sure I want to stay a part of.
John C. Morley: (40:09)
What do you guys think? Let me know about that. I think people don't really understand what's going on. And so when you have social media or you have platforms out there, the biggest concern is that they're regulated or that they do what they say they're going to do, right? These platforms can't do whatever they want. I mean they are right now, but I feel that they're abusing their power. That's right. They're abusing their power. Think of all these platforms as media. And although we can't be saying, you know, you can't do this, you can't do that, I get it. But these platforms need to act in an ethical manner. That's right. I said an ethical manner.
John C. Morley: (41:09)
And if they don't, that could be a very, very serious, serious problem. We'll have to see what's happening. Ladies and gentlemen, well, you know, I'm John C. Morley serial entrepreneur. It has been an amazing privilege, pleasure, honor to be with you this fantastic. Yes, first Friday of April, April 7th. I hope you guys had a wonderful holiday. I hope you start enjoying some beautiful warm weather and get outside and see the wonderful flowers and take walks and just really enjoy life. Hey, if you're looking to become a guest on the JMOR Tech Talk show, really easy, just go to www.jmor.com , click on reach Out today. Remember, there are three questions that I ask you. First one is, are you looking to provide value to the host, myself and to my audience that listens and watches? If the answer is yes, it'd be a great fit on the show.
John C. Morley: (42:01)
The two other questions I ask, are you trying to come on here to sell a product or service? The answer that question is yes, you're not a good fit. Are you coming on here to manipulate the audience so that you might get some financial gain from that or just derail them? If the answer to that is yes. So if one is yes, great. If the answer to basically two or three is yes, then you're not a good fit for our show. I hope that you have a wonderful rest of your weekend. Enjoy this first weekend of April, and you know, I'm going to be back. Ladies and gentlemen, you know when Yep. I'll be back next week, April 14th. Take care everyone. Have yourself a wonderful weekend and check out all my great content and all my amazing articles at www.believemeachieve.com . Be well everyone.