[00:00.000 --> 00:03.560]  The world was changing so fast that nothing of importance seemed to be happening.
[00:03.820 --> 00:04.400]  Come with me.
[00:05.840 --> 00:07.640]  Is this the bus to the underworld?
[00:08.220 --> 00:09.620]  Tune in for a shortcut.
[00:10.460 --> 00:11.020]  2016.
[00:11.720 --> 00:13.380]  It was the best of times.
[00:13.540 --> 00:14.960]  It was the worst of times.
[00:15.620 --> 00:16.420]  11 p.m.
[00:16.540 --> 00:20.220]  New Year's Eve, right here on WBAI-FM.
[00:20.500 --> 00:21.780]  Wait for the history.
[00:22.100 --> 00:23.180]  And it's a little bit sad.
[00:23.400 --> 00:26.960]  Everybody knows the war is over.
[00:28.220 --> 00:31.240]  Everybody knows the good guy's love.
[00:32.700 --> 00:38.600]  Well, if you don't have plans, or even if you do have plans on New Year's, this is the place to be, I'm convinced now.
[00:39.020 --> 00:41.940]  This is WBAI in New York.
[00:42.200 --> 00:43.560]  The time is 8 o'clock.
[00:43.980 --> 00:45.640]  It's time for Off the Hook.
[00:51.070 --> 01:12.790]  The telephone keeps ringing So I ripped it off the wall I cut myself while shaving Now I can't make a call We couldn't get much worse From Biddley Bump But the best is back from worst I hope that's understood From Biddley Bump
[02:09.340 --> 02:11.100]  And a very good evening to everybody.
[02:11.160 --> 02:12.020]  The program is Off the Hook.
[02:12.100 --> 02:17.180]  Emmanuel Goldstein here with you on this Wednesday evening, joined tonight by Rob T.
[02:17.340 --> 02:17.840]  Firefly.
[02:18.100 --> 02:18.740]  Good evening.
[02:19.100 --> 02:19.550]  Kyle.
[02:20.000 --> 02:20.440]  Hello.
[02:20.720 --> 02:20.840]  Hey.
[02:21.180 --> 02:22.020]  Bernie S.
[02:23.160 --> 02:24.680]  Season's greetings from Philadelphia.
[02:25.220 --> 02:27.400]  And yes, it is the season.
[02:27.400 --> 02:31.560]  In fact, this is our last show of the year.
[02:32.220 --> 02:33.720]  Sorry, I had to swallow there.
[02:33.820 --> 02:34.990]  That's why that pause was there.
[02:35.140 --> 02:37.160]  It's our last show of the year.
[02:37.720 --> 02:40.180]  Our next show will be in 2017.
[02:41.220 --> 02:43.860]  So adjust your calendars or whatever you need to do.
[02:44.060 --> 02:47.040]  Oh, we just handed out some hacker calendars here at the radio station.
[02:47.160 --> 02:49.040]  And boy, what a stampede that caused.
[02:50.600 --> 02:54.840]  And we're running out of them, too, because people tend to get calendars at the end of the year.
[02:55.840 --> 03:01.540]  We have year-end things to take care of tonight on the radio show, including...
[03:02.240 --> 03:04.060]  Well, I guess maybe we should get right into this.
[03:04.700 --> 03:06.720]  Predictions for 2017.
[03:08.820 --> 03:11.060]  We had predictions last year.
[03:11.640 --> 03:15.680]  In fact, each of us that's here right now had a prediction.
[03:15.940 --> 03:21.180]  And what we're going to do is we're going to play those predictions, see how they turned out, and then make a new prediction.
[03:21.360 --> 03:23.420]  So hopefully you guys are prepared to do this.
[03:23.760 --> 03:26.340]  If not, maybe you can make something up really quickly.
[03:26.340 --> 03:30.560]  But we started with me last year.
[03:30.840 --> 03:34.260]  And then, I believe, Kyle, Rob, and...
[03:34.260 --> 03:35.680]  I'm sorry, Bernie, and then Rob.
[03:35.940 --> 03:40.640]  So let's hear what I had to predict one year ago.
[03:41.220 --> 04:10.680]  My prediction, I'll be first, I guess, since it was my idea, I think in the next year, hackers will be blamed, not necessarily implicated, but certainly blamed for some phenomenal thing that goes on with the 2016 presidential election, whether it be electronic voting that somehow had some sort of snafu in it or a polling system that the numbers don't make any sense or nonsense candidates.
[04:11.120 --> 04:19.480]  Something involving hacking and something involving the 2016 presidential election, they will collide and it'll be all over the news.
[04:19.480 --> 04:21.000]  That's my feeling.
[04:24.000 --> 04:25.660]  Well, what do you guys think of that?
[04:26.060 --> 04:27.540]  Kind of hit the nail on the head, didn't I?
[04:28.240 --> 04:30.680]  You don't have any lottery numbers or anything to go with that?
[04:30.680 --> 04:31.520]  No, not tonight.
[04:31.540 --> 04:32.120]  Not tonight.
[04:32.120 --> 04:33.880]  But I do have another prediction.
[04:35.040 --> 04:38.500]  Well, I predict that New York City 2600 meetings will be moving.
[04:39.210 --> 04:40.160]  Okay, no, that's a fact.
[04:40.180 --> 04:40.600]  That's not fair.
[04:40.600 --> 04:44.730]  That's a fact because the Citigroup is closing for two years, so we have to find another place.
[04:44.860 --> 04:46.500]  We're going to find another place really soon.
[04:47.970 --> 04:49.420]  But, okay, here's what I predict.
[04:49.420 --> 04:51.120]  I'm sort of coming up with this on the spot.
[04:51.590 --> 04:56.900]  You know that whole augmented reality craze that we saw peak over the summer?
[04:59.590 --> 05:00.900]  We're going to see more of that.
[05:01.000 --> 05:11.860]  But I think it's going to become more serious and you're going to see some actual legislation introduced to regulate augmented reality because somebody's going to do something stupid.
[05:12.230 --> 05:13.730]  I don't know exactly how.
[05:13.920 --> 05:20.660]  You know, even if I think of how to do something really stupid involving augmented reality, I couldn't top the person who actually winds up doing it.
[05:20.740 --> 05:30.060]  But somebody's going to get themselves killed or cause a massive fire or something using augmented reality, thinking they were doing something fun.
[05:30.240 --> 05:33.140]  And in actuality, they were doing something incredibly stupid and dangerous.
[05:33.360 --> 05:35.400]  Well, we've already seen a little bit of that.
[05:36.460 --> 05:38.500]  Earlier this year, we had the Pokemon craze.
[05:38.600 --> 05:45.340]  And there were stories in the news of people getting into car accidents and things because they were too focused on the imaginary creatures they were trying to get.
[05:46.140 --> 05:47.920]  I would add maybe the...
[05:47.920 --> 05:51.920]  What if also people did something really cool with it?
[05:51.960 --> 05:55.280]  That would be a reason to want to clamp down.
[05:55.680 --> 05:56.210]  We've seen...
[05:56.210 --> 05:58.080]  Well, you mean something cool as a threat as well?
[05:58.120 --> 06:05.210]  Yeah, I don't think you should say the only thing that people might do with it that will get attention is stupid things.
[06:05.210 --> 06:18.340]  I think cool things too, really powerful uses of different platforms and technologies like that could very well become a target because they are so powerful.
[06:18.710 --> 06:22.840]  Okay, but my prediction is that there's going to be more legislation because somebody does something stupid.
[06:22.920 --> 06:25.400]  Why would there be more legislation if somebody does something smart?
[06:25.580 --> 06:27.220]  Okay, that's my opinion then.
[06:27.330 --> 06:28.560]  Don't include that in your...
[06:28.560 --> 06:28.800]  Okay.
[06:29.040 --> 06:32.900]  Well, I mean, it could very well be something smart could be considered a threat.
[06:32.900 --> 06:39.080]  But I just would like to know how we could use that, how we could use augmented reality to really make authorities nervous.
[06:39.460 --> 06:42.060]  Well, I guess maybe I could tie this into my prediction.
[06:42.300 --> 06:42.860]  I'm going to predict...
[06:42.860 --> 06:45.220]  Well, you can't predict yet because you haven't played your last prediction.
[06:45.330 --> 06:46.360]  So don't...
[06:46.360 --> 06:47.740]  You want to play your last prediction first?
[06:47.760 --> 06:48.380]  No, no, no.
[06:48.660 --> 06:55.160]  No, well, since we're making up all kinds of rules, I'll make up the rule that I don't get to say it until it's my turn yet.
[06:55.160 --> 06:57.420]  It's your turn next, but I have to play your prediction.
[06:57.420 --> 06:59.450]  And these rules are set in stone.
[07:00.040 --> 07:01.300]  Okay, then I spoke too soon.
[07:01.300 --> 07:03.580]  All right, but Bernie, do you have anything to contribute on this?
[07:04.420 --> 07:06.460]  As far as predictions for this coming year?
[07:07.580 --> 07:09.340]  Or just weighing in on what...
[07:09.340 --> 07:10.560]  What we're talking about right now.
[07:13.330 --> 07:14.400]  Okay, I guess not.
[07:14.760 --> 07:16.360]  All right, we're going to move on to...
[07:16.360 --> 07:17.860]  The rate of time is valuable.
[07:18.160 --> 07:22.600]  We're going to move on to Kyle's prediction from 2016.
[07:22.950 --> 07:24.260]  Let's listen to that now.
[07:25.060 --> 07:26.120]  Kyle, do you want to go next?
[07:26.640 --> 07:27.060]  Yes.
[07:27.260 --> 07:27.520]  Okay.
[07:28.040 --> 07:29.300]  I have two predictions.
[07:30.190 --> 07:31.880]  The assignment was for one, but go ahead.
[07:32.140 --> 07:32.600]  Go ahead.
[07:32.830 --> 07:33.000]  Oh.
[07:33.300 --> 07:33.830]  No, it's okay.
[07:34.180 --> 07:35.600]  Hackers don't follow instructions, I know.
[07:35.780 --> 07:45.340]  Okay, I think virtual reality will, again, be much hyped and go nowhere as far as people using it.
[07:45.480 --> 07:49.100]  Okay, you can't say something will continue to do what it's been doing.
[07:49.400 --> 07:49.520]  Okay.
[07:49.520 --> 07:50.860]  It's got to be a prediction of something different.
[07:51.180 --> 07:51.380]  Okay.
[07:52.380 --> 07:53.060]  All right.
[07:53.300 --> 07:58.710]  I think journalism will be respected again in 2016.
[07:59.240 --> 08:00.240]  Wow, that's pretty radical.
[08:00.580 --> 08:01.460]  Journalism will be respected.
[08:01.720 --> 08:03.560]  Any reason why you think that might happen?
[08:05.710 --> 08:16.680]  I think that we're going to continue to find out things from leaks, and we're going to continue to cover things that hadn't been covered in the past because of more and more independent journalism.
[08:16.680 --> 08:18.780]  I have high hopes for it.
[08:20.500 --> 08:21.280]  All right.
[08:21.280 --> 08:21.860]  Not bad, not bad.
[08:21.960 --> 08:24.450]  There was certainly a lot more leaks.
[08:24.780 --> 08:27.160]  I don't know if we respected journalism more.
[08:27.480 --> 08:31.450]  Yeah, I guess in some circles you might say that people respect it more.
[08:31.710 --> 08:33.420]  I don't think that the...
[08:34.260 --> 08:51.800]  And there's different types of journalism, I think, that got more attention and respect and derision at the same time, I think, from various angles, whether it's fake news or stuff that's more based from, like, a pundit's perspective.
[08:52.340 --> 08:55.450]  But that's all kind of post-election stuff.
[08:56.460 --> 09:00.830]  I don't know if journalism really served us that well, though, in the campaign.
[09:01.000 --> 09:02.340]  So I'm...
[09:02.340 --> 09:03.800]  We had fake news.
[09:03.880 --> 09:04.300]  We had that.
[09:04.400 --> 09:05.920]  But does that really count as journalism?
[09:06.220 --> 09:06.420]  Yeah.
[09:06.500 --> 09:12.240]  And I think it actually was torn apart much more through the campaign process, right?
[09:12.240 --> 09:16.660]  I mean, the discrediting, the turn the cameras around thing, that whole thing.
[09:16.760 --> 09:17.760]  You know, they won't do it.
[09:17.840 --> 09:20.680]  I can still hear it in my head.
[09:20.680 --> 09:31.240]  Well, I think you might have been ahead of your time because I think journalists will have to be respected in the coming years because that's going to be our only defense against the darkness that lies ahead.
[09:32.080 --> 09:32.330]  Yeah.
[09:32.330 --> 09:39.220]  And I guess, so, the first part, virtual reality, taking off, this is where I was going with my other idea.
[09:40.220 --> 09:48.060]  I think we're going to see the first bipedal robotic soldiers or police officers.
[09:48.340 --> 09:48.580]  Whoa.
[09:48.900 --> 09:53.640]  And people will have to use augmented reality to fight these robots.
[09:54.280 --> 09:55.760]  Oh, you got my interest now.
[09:55.900 --> 09:56.060]  Okay.
[09:56.080 --> 09:59.460]  So you're saying there's actually going to be robotic policemen this year.
[09:59.720 --> 10:00.880]  Oh, next year, actually, coming up.
[10:00.880 --> 10:06.140]  Yeah, it's going to be, they're going to be Russian made and our president's going to do the deal.
[10:06.800 --> 10:07.240]  Yeah.
[10:07.720 --> 10:08.040]  Oh, God.
[10:08.560 --> 10:12.760]  Well, now that you injected him into the equation, I guess it's possible this might happen.
[10:13.280 --> 10:14.180]  So, okay.
[10:14.960 --> 10:16.480]  Bernie, any thoughts on this?
[10:17.740 --> 10:19.520]  I think those are good predictions.
[10:19.740 --> 10:28.780]  And I just read an announcement this week, or a news story, that there are bipedal, I don't know if it's bipedal or bipedal.
[10:28.920 --> 10:29.900]  I don't know how to pronounce it either.
[10:29.900 --> 10:31.120]  We'll learn how to pronounce it, too.
[10:32.300 --> 10:34.620]  Yeah, I predict that we'll learn how to pronounce it.
[10:34.820 --> 10:35.620]  That's a prediction.
[10:35.620 --> 10:36.480]  That's a good prediction.
[10:36.600 --> 10:37.020]  There you go.
[10:38.760 --> 10:45.760]  The technology on that is, that and the virtual reality stuff is accelerating at a rapid pace.
[10:45.940 --> 10:48.200]  So I think this coming year, you will see...
[10:48.200 --> 10:49.800]  Whoa, whoa, whoa, Bernie, Bernie, Bernie, Bernie.
[10:49.960 --> 10:51.440]  You're not giving a prediction, are you?
[10:51.680 --> 10:52.240]  I know.
[10:52.620 --> 10:52.980]  Okay.
[10:53.300 --> 10:53.960]  Because you're next.
[10:54.540 --> 10:58.920]  I think Kyle is spot on, and we'll see.
[10:59.520 --> 11:00.480]  Yeah, that's a good one.
[11:00.620 --> 11:01.140]  Thanks, Bernie.
[11:01.160 --> 11:01.660]  We will see.
[11:02.140 --> 11:09.420]  Now, it is Bernie's turn next, so let's hear what Bernie had to say one year ago about what he predicted for 2016.
[11:11.040 --> 11:15.780]  Bernie, I don't want to return your prediction to you.
[11:15.780 --> 11:17.600]  That's not my purpose here.
[11:17.720 --> 11:19.400]  But I just want to ask for some clarification.
[11:19.660 --> 11:34.440]  Maybe could you come up with a hypothetical specific, you know, not a real company, but to say something like this will happen involving a company and a person, something like that?
[11:34.700 --> 11:35.260]  Sure.
[11:35.560 --> 11:39.600]  Suppose a big medical...
[11:39.600 --> 11:40.720]  So is an insurance company.
[11:40.900 --> 11:42.640]  Insurance company that has...
[11:42.640 --> 11:43.960]  A health insurance company.
[11:44.080 --> 11:44.520]  Here's a good example.
[11:44.520 --> 11:50.100]  A health insurance company that has a whole lot of really private information about your personal health, like what other...
[11:50.100 --> 11:53.680]  What health, diseases, or medical treatments you're getting.
[11:54.140 --> 12:11.320]  Very private stuff that's protected under some federal law now, HIPAA, now doesn't have that protection if that company, their big hospital chain or whatever it is, or insurance company, if they get hacked through their own negligence, and they tell law enforcement,
[12:11.320 --> 12:19.140]  hey, we just got hacked, and we've notified you and fulfilled our obligation under this new bill.
[12:19.340 --> 12:32.160]  Now, law enforcement can paw through all your private health information, and you have no say in that, and despite HIPAA, you have no say in that, and you can't even sue the insurance company or the hospital chain...
[12:32.160 --> 12:33.140]  You're in present tense, Bernie.
[12:33.300 --> 12:34.260]  You need to be in future tense.
[12:35.080 --> 12:35.440]  Well...
[12:35.440 --> 12:36.420]  You're saying how it is now.
[12:36.420 --> 12:53.120]  All right, you won't be able to sue, I think this bill that passed a few days ago, you won't be able to sue the insurance company or a health care providing corporation for revealing all your private medical information to law enforcement or intelligence agencies.
[12:53.380 --> 12:55.680]  Okay, that almost seems like a certainty, though, with this law.
[12:56.200 --> 13:00.000]  I'm trying to find out if you think something extraordinary might happen.
[13:00.400 --> 13:01.540]  I don't think it's extraordinary.
[13:01.900 --> 13:10.960]  I think it's an extraordinary thing that now we're really going to be... we're going to... I predict that it will... that what will happen soon is those ramifications of it.
[13:11.100 --> 13:14.140]  It hasn't happened yet, but... because the bill just passed a few days ago.
[13:14.580 --> 13:30.500]  I'm predicting people are going to... I predict people are going to wake up and become very angry that this thing happened under their noses really quickly, this information sharing bill was passed in the dark of night without any deliberation at all by our legislators because it was tacked on...
[13:30.500 --> 13:31.800]  Okay, now you're in past tense.
[13:31.940 --> 13:32.760]  Well, okay, fine.
[13:33.540 --> 13:34.160]  All right.
[13:34.360 --> 13:35.140]  I'm sorry, Bernie.
[13:35.200 --> 13:37.840]  We had to cut that a little bit because that went on a long time.
[13:38.200 --> 13:41.540]  But I think for the most part, people woke up and got angry.
[13:41.540 --> 13:43.140]  I'm not sure about that in particular.
[13:43.720 --> 13:46.440]  But do you think that prediction came true?
[13:46.920 --> 13:56.060]  I think it... well, I don't know about the getting really angry, but I believe it wasn't at the forefront of the headlines because it was election year and there was other big news.
[13:56.060 --> 14:14.640]  But there were hacks of medical databases and this law that passed a year ago, almost a year ago today, did prevent people from suing those companies because they reported it and they turned it over to law enforcement.
[14:14.860 --> 14:16.280]  So it just wasn't in the headlines.
[14:16.460 --> 14:18.100]  So I don't think people got really angry about it.
[14:18.320 --> 14:18.460]  Uh-huh.
[14:18.720 --> 14:21.140]  And that law is still in effect today?
[14:21.720 --> 14:22.240]  Yeah.
[14:22.500 --> 14:25.120]  But who knows after the new president comes in.
[14:25.220 --> 14:25.480]  Okay.
[14:25.540 --> 14:27.740]  Well, now's the time for your prediction for 2017.
[14:27.740 --> 14:28.520]  What do you got?
[14:29.180 --> 14:35.460]  Well, speaking of the new president, our current president just signed a law.
[14:35.700 --> 14:36.780]  I'm really all about these laws.
[14:37.560 --> 14:40.600]  A big defense funding bill.
[14:41.100 --> 14:49.020]  And basically opened a new branch of government, a branch of the military specifically for cyber warfare.
[14:49.340 --> 14:51.420]  A lot more funding for cyber warfare.
[14:51.680 --> 14:54.860]  So I predict that the U.S.
[14:54.940 --> 15:10.840]  and Russia and China, or two or more of those countries, will engage in, for lack of a better word, cyber warfare, and that it will escalate to a physical war.
[15:11.600 --> 15:16.740]  Maybe not major, but I believe that all the hacking is going to...
[15:16.740 --> 15:17.600]  Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
[15:17.720 --> 15:24.100]  Bernie, you think that the United States, Russia, and or China can get into a war that's not major?
[15:26.580 --> 15:28.960]  I'm talking about little pitching matches.
[15:29.660 --> 15:30.020]  Okay.
[15:30.400 --> 15:30.580]  Yeah.
[15:31.540 --> 15:36.880]  It will have major security because everybody's going to be in the edge of their seats, I believe, and see where it's going to go.
[15:36.940 --> 15:41.100]  But I believe that it won't just be these countries hacking other.
[15:41.340 --> 15:42.860]  I think one of them will get angry.
[15:43.380 --> 15:54.100]  One of the leaders of one of those three countries will get angry enough to actually have something physically damaged in the other country.
[15:54.260 --> 16:02.460]  So an escalation of proxy wars or wars as a result of a cyber-based activity, you have to say it like that.
[16:02.460 --> 16:05.520]  Why don't you throw Israel into it, then you'll have a certainty that this will happen.
[16:06.420 --> 16:08.960]  Kyle summarized what I was trying to say very well.
[16:09.240 --> 16:09.960]  That's what I meant.
[16:09.960 --> 16:10.420]  Kind of like that.
[16:10.560 --> 16:10.640]  Okay.
[16:11.120 --> 16:11.320]  All right.
[16:11.400 --> 16:12.520]  Well, that's something to...
[16:12.520 --> 16:12.640]  That's good, though.
[16:12.860 --> 16:13.000]  Yeah.
[16:13.140 --> 16:14.560]  I'm looking forward to that now as well.
[16:15.460 --> 16:19.180]  And now our final contestant, I guess.
[16:20.180 --> 16:23.560]  Prediction for 2016 from Rob T.
[16:23.680 --> 16:24.020]  Firefly.
[16:24.200 --> 16:24.880]  Let's listen.
[16:25.340 --> 16:26.620]  But Rob, it's your turn.
[16:26.680 --> 16:27.620]  Do you have a prediction for us?
[16:27.800 --> 16:28.780]  I do have a prediction.
[16:29.600 --> 16:38.060]  I have a prediction about what we know as sort of the deep web or the dark web, that little slightly shadier corner of the internet.
[16:38.440 --> 16:43.100]  Shady as in you can't really see what's going on there quite as much.
[16:43.260 --> 16:46.680]  I think it's going to become more of a mainstream thing.
[16:46.840 --> 16:53.360]  Because right now it's still kind of populated with people that have the technical, I think, chops to make it work.
[16:53.400 --> 16:54.340]  It's still a bit complex.
[16:54.640 --> 17:06.030]  I think it's only going to get easier, I think, maybe since we're dealing with the fallout of things like CISA now and other things that sort of want to take the options away from us to do what we want to do with the net.
[17:06.140 --> 17:14.750]  I think it's going to become more of a thing to... more of a normalized thing rather than a thing that's just people know about because scary news reporters talk about it.
[17:15.140 --> 17:18.360]  I think it's going to be a thing that more people use maybe on a day-to-day basis.
[17:18.750 --> 17:20.900]  It'll be like, I'm just on my way to the dark web.
[17:21.100 --> 17:22.230]  I'll catch up with you later.
[17:22.230 --> 17:28.510]  Can you think of something that an average person might use the dark web for that doesn't involve blowing up a city?
[17:29.080 --> 17:33.900]  Maybe an average person might use the dark web to arrange the sale or purchase of something that's legal.
[17:34.820 --> 17:35.230]  Interesting.
[17:35.510 --> 17:35.680]  Okay.
[17:35.730 --> 17:37.800]  Well, I'd like to see if that comes true.
[17:38.510 --> 17:40.750]  Like Christmas presents or something.
[17:40.820 --> 17:40.960]  Hang on.
[17:41.040 --> 17:45.380]  This is Kyle in the present now, 2016, December, because we sound the same.
[17:45.510 --> 17:46.040]  That's great.
[17:46.160 --> 17:47.200]  I really like that.
[17:47.250 --> 17:48.360]  That wasn't bad, Rob.
[17:48.510 --> 17:49.060]  That wasn't bad.
[17:49.180 --> 17:53.180]  But did any of us go onto the dark web and do anything?
[17:53.180 --> 17:59.770]  I may or may not have gone onto the dark web and done completely legal and non-threatening things with my time there.
[17:59.960 --> 18:02.100]  The thing about the dark web, you don't know when you're on it.
[18:02.230 --> 18:02.990]  You don't know.
[18:03.160 --> 18:05.300]  Actually, you do, but I'm just telling people that in case...
[18:05.300 --> 18:06.100]  Well, I know, but others don't know.
[18:06.270 --> 18:06.470]  Uh-huh.
[18:06.880 --> 18:09.120]  Bernie, any dark web activity this year?
[18:10.130 --> 18:15.990]  I looked around, but I did not cause anything legal or illegal to happen.
[18:16.170 --> 18:16.930]  I was just looking around.
[18:17.060 --> 18:20.990]  It sounded like you were looking for something to buy and just, nah, what doesn't suit me right now?
[18:21.250 --> 18:22.600]  I'm moving on to the light web.
[18:23.120 --> 18:24.170]  No, actually, I wasn't shopping.
[18:24.530 --> 18:26.900]  I was just... I was just looking.
[18:27.210 --> 18:27.380]  Uh-huh.
[18:27.670 --> 18:28.340]  As they say.
[18:28.800 --> 18:35.560]  I'll tell you what I... one thing I did do with the dark web is I used it to engage in conversations with people about all manner of topics.
[18:35.710 --> 18:47.730]  It reminded me by look and feel of like the old BBS days or even like the old online service, CompuServe AOL days where like there were just conversations going on about whatever and you never really knew all that much about the people on the other end of that conversation.
[18:47.840 --> 18:48.510]  Well, you're not kidding around.
[18:48.600 --> 18:49.950]  You actually did venture into the dark web.
[18:50.100 --> 18:50.800]  I did, yes.
[18:50.820 --> 18:52.790]  What's your preferred method of getting there?
[18:53.770 --> 19:02.360]  There's a very easy way of getting there that actually is not difficult for the average person to use and that's get the Tor browser bundle and just start it up and do what the prompts tell you to.
[19:02.360 --> 19:08.080]  Isn't it that bundle that authorities warn us against getting because it'll turn us into ISIS?
[19:08.730 --> 19:09.560]  Yeah, that's the one.
[19:09.860 --> 19:10.190]  Okay.
[19:10.270 --> 19:10.640]  Go for it.
[19:12.120 --> 19:12.730]  All right.
[19:12.800 --> 19:14.540]  And do you have a prediction for the coming year?
[19:14.690 --> 19:16.580]  I have a prediction for the coming year.
[19:16.690 --> 19:19.880]  I don't think it's quite as jolly as mine from last year.
[19:19.930 --> 19:20.210]  Oh, good.
[19:20.600 --> 19:22.690]  But, you know, I can't compete with past me on this.
[19:22.800 --> 19:33.120]  But I think we did see... I mentioned CISA and we remembered SOPA and all these attempts to really badly regulate the technical environment.
[19:33.470 --> 19:36.450]  I think we're going to see that just increase exponentially.
[19:36.490 --> 19:40.560]  I think we're going to see a whole lot of bad legislation being thrown around.
[19:40.690 --> 19:45.770]  And I think some of it will pass, despite our best efforts to shout bloody hell about it over here.
[19:46.140 --> 19:51.580]  So I think, you know, I'm a bit worried, but that's what I think is going to happen under the coming administration.
[19:51.580 --> 19:52.320]  Let me just understand this.
[19:52.340 --> 19:56.040]  Your prediction is that there's going to be bad legislation that will pass?
[19:56.340 --> 19:57.840]  A lot more than we're used to.
[19:58.170 --> 19:59.120]  A lot more?
[19:59.120 --> 19:59.490]  Yeah.
[19:59.670 --> 20:01.030]  Because there's a lot going on.
[20:01.230 --> 20:05.820]  So you think that maybe Trump will have an effect on even more bad legislation coming down the pike?
[20:06.040 --> 20:06.360]  Yes, indeed.
[20:06.490 --> 20:14.800]  But specifically bad legislation about the technical environment, legislating things that aren't legislatable like that or that take a whole bunch of other non-threatening things down with it.
[20:15.120 --> 20:18.860]  I think we're going to see just like mega SOPAs on a regular basis.
[20:19.080 --> 20:22.970]  Would you say like it would be a tsunami of legislation?
[20:23.430 --> 20:23.510]  Oh.
[20:23.880 --> 20:24.230]  Ooh.
[20:24.600 --> 20:25.530]  Would you say that?
[20:25.690 --> 20:26.540]  I would say that.
[20:26.600 --> 20:27.670]  A tsunami of legislation.
[20:27.670 --> 20:28.770]  That's a lot of legislation.
[20:28.950 --> 20:30.080]  A tsunami of legislation.
[20:30.080 --> 20:30.210]  A tsunami of legislation.
[20:30.210 --> 20:33.800]  If we're used to maybe the gentle lapping of waves.
[20:34.040 --> 20:34.190]  Okay.
[20:34.450 --> 20:34.640]  All right.
[20:34.800 --> 20:35.250]  No, that's fine.
[20:35.360 --> 20:38.030]  Bernie, you think there's a good amount of truth to this?
[20:40.130 --> 20:41.790]  Bernie, are you shocked into silence?
[20:42.490 --> 20:43.360]  I think we lost one.
[20:43.380 --> 20:44.210]  I think it's a foregone conclusion.
[20:44.210 --> 20:45.300]  Usually, I had my mute button on.
[20:45.380 --> 20:45.540]  Oh.
[20:45.800 --> 20:46.950]  I was sneezing.
[20:48.360 --> 20:50.030]  I think it's a foregone conclusion.
[20:50.030 --> 20:55.300]  There's going to be lots of bad legislation that will be signed by our new president.
[20:56.760 --> 20:58.750]  But we just don't know what it's going to be yet.
[20:59.340 --> 21:01.120]  If only we had a crystal ball.
[21:01.510 --> 21:05.930]  But I think we can guarantee it'll be something like we've never experienced before.
[21:06.030 --> 21:08.290]  And we will live to regret it.
[21:08.950 --> 21:10.300]  But that's next year.
[21:10.450 --> 21:11.710]  Right now, we're still in this year.
[21:11.820 --> 21:12.790]  We are still in this year.
[21:12.900 --> 21:13.820]  We're still in 2016.
[21:13.820 --> 21:17.400]  Barack Obama is still the president, and the sun is still not set.
[21:17.770 --> 21:21.170]  Well, it has set here physically, but you know what I mean.
[21:22.530 --> 21:26.750]  And we're going to ask listeners to come forth with their predictions as well.
[21:26.820 --> 21:29.530]  Anything that they have to say, we'd sure like to hear as well.
[21:30.500 --> 21:31.380]  There is...
[21:31.380 --> 21:35.430]  Actually, I wanted to read a letter from a listener.
[21:36.060 --> 21:37.930]  And then we'll go into some news stories as well.
[21:38.040 --> 21:39.530]  Maybe we can take some phone calls.
[21:39.530 --> 21:43.170]  And this has to do with the Trump inauguration.
[21:44.150 --> 21:52.040]  This listener writes in, I've had this fantasy of Trump's inauguration being at least lower rated than either of Obama's inaugurations.
[21:52.520 --> 21:56.540]  But I also think the nation has an obligation to observe the tragedy.
[21:56.540 --> 21:59.670]  So a boycott seemed to me off the table.
[22:00.100 --> 22:03.520]  Ignorance could prove worse than sending this particular message.
[22:03.720 --> 22:13.580]  However, given C-SPAN's blanket terms, allowing all coverage of governmental events to be freely redistributed as long as their bug, that is their logo, is left in place.
[22:13.820 --> 22:20.240]  It's technically and legally possible to mirror their stream virtually in real time.
[22:21.140 --> 22:25.450]  Importantly, the servers volunteered for the job would not be easily tracked.
[22:25.450 --> 22:29.040]  It might be impossible to factor in views from those servers.
[22:29.520 --> 22:37.240]  Nothing would be more embarrassing to Trump than to have average or low ratings for an inauguration he expects to be huge.
[22:37.840 --> 22:45.500]  But since we cannot just ignore this moment, we still need to find a way to witness it, even if we don't want to add to the man's ego.
[22:45.710 --> 22:50.840]  A concerted effort to mirror the coverage on hard-to-track servers or services could be part of the answer.
[22:51.260 --> 22:52.340]  What do you think?
[22:52.670 --> 22:54.380]  Well, Bernie, I know you had some thoughts on this.
[22:54.380 --> 22:54.950]  What do you think?
[22:55.360 --> 22:57.170]  I really like this idea.
[22:57.900 --> 23:02.580]  You know, I think Trump is such an egomaniac that he...
[23:02.580 --> 23:12.640]  and he has probably more knowledge and insight about TV ratings and passion about TV ratings because he's a TV actor.
[23:13.430 --> 23:22.840]  And I think it would really burst his bubble if he got bad ratings for this inauguration.
[23:22.840 --> 23:33.580]  So I like the idea of streaming the people, everybody doing their own stream of the C-SPAN coverage so that it just doesn't show up in regular ratings.
[23:33.760 --> 23:35.500]  Well, you know, I have mixed feelings about this.
[23:35.560 --> 23:36.740]  Yeah, I love the sentiment.
[23:36.760 --> 23:39.740]  And I think, you know, it comes from a really good place.
[23:39.900 --> 23:44.170]  But, you know, it's kind of like how I feel about Buy Nothing Day.
[23:44.600 --> 23:46.620]  Buy Nothing Day is what day?
[23:46.880 --> 23:50.000]  The busiest shopping day of the year, the day after Thanksgiving.
[23:50.000 --> 23:55.380]  So even if it's a massive success, it's still the biggest shopping day of the year.
[23:55.540 --> 23:57.710]  It's the wrong effort at the wrong time.
[23:58.080 --> 24:04.860]  This is something, the inauguration is something that, as our listener also says, something we all have to witness.
[24:05.170 --> 24:17.240]  And I don't think us witnessing this bus plunge or whatever we want to parallel it to, I don't think that is any kind of endorsement of Trump himself.
[24:17.240 --> 24:20.430]  I think it's something that we simply all want to witness.
[24:21.480 --> 24:30.320]  And while we can go to a lot of trouble and set up servers and anonymize this, it is going to be on every single network, every single cable news channel.
[24:30.760 --> 24:32.780]  It's going to be a massive event.
[24:32.930 --> 24:33.860]  We can't stop that.
[24:33.860 --> 24:43.720]  What we can do, though, is influence that massive event and make our mark on it as well in various ways and not shrink away from controversy, not shrink away from dissent.
[24:43.840 --> 24:45.400]  And I hope we see a lot of that.
[24:45.720 --> 24:50.820]  What I don't want to see, and I will say this, I don't want to see the inauguration go smoothly.
[24:51.280 --> 24:53.560]  That doesn't mean I want to see Washington, D.C.
[24:53.640 --> 24:54.020]  in flames.
[24:54.020 --> 25:03.520]  I want to see some good old-fashioned American dissent that makes its way onto every single camera carrying the thing and embarrasses the hell out of Donald Trump.
[25:03.690 --> 25:04.840]  That is my dream.
[25:05.020 --> 25:06.240]  That is what I would like to see.
[25:06.800 --> 25:13.080]  And, yeah, I'd like that to be highly rated and to be on every single network, every single news channel.
[25:13.740 --> 25:18.430]  So I guess it's kind of... we want the same thing, right?
[25:18.430 --> 25:23.450]  Yeah, it's... I think a little bit... to what end, you know?
[25:24.480 --> 25:31.540]  Like you said, the sentiment is right, but it doesn't... I feel like we need to be doing a lot more other things.
[25:31.540 --> 25:41.740]  It's symbolic, yeah, but knowing what I know of the way the administration or his people deflect and...
[25:41.740 --> 25:43.960]  I mean, it would... to what end?
[25:44.060 --> 25:45.580]  Where are we going to go with this?
[25:45.580 --> 26:02.720]  There's a lot of other planning and organizing and dissent, as you said, that ought to be directed at that event and will be that to the... for the sake of conversation with this, I don't think it would be heard as much as the kind of protest that you're actually going to see on the ground.
[26:02.720 --> 26:07.080]  And to those who are bristling at the thought of this, there is nothing more American than dissent, all right?
[26:07.340 --> 26:09.220]  We protest at the drop of a hat.
[26:09.300 --> 26:10.540]  There is a lot to talk about.
[26:10.540 --> 26:13.580]  We're engaged in the process, in what's going on.
[26:14.190 --> 26:19.740]  So to simply sit back and not participate, that is un-American, as far as I'm concerned.
[26:19.960 --> 26:23.220]  So this is a very patriotic thing for people to be a part of.
[26:23.380 --> 26:23.820]  Exactly.
[26:23.820 --> 26:26.580]  The very birth of this country was an act of political dissent.
[26:26.930 --> 26:29.170]  And we were okay with it then, for some reason.
[26:29.400 --> 26:29.860]  That's true.
[26:29.960 --> 26:30.320]  That's true.
[26:30.320 --> 26:37.360]  There was another act of dissent you might have recalled this year, actually, in Congress.
[26:38.170 --> 26:41.460]  Remember the Democrats' gun control sit-in?
[26:41.500 --> 26:47.360]  That's where C-SPAN had to turn off their cameras, because the cameras are run, actually, by the House of Representatives.
[26:47.640 --> 26:57.300]  So they had to turn off their cameras, and members of Congress were actually live streaming to C-SPAN using their phones.
[26:57.300 --> 27:01.430]  Yeah, C-SPAN cut to their feeds via, I think, Periscope is what they used?
[27:01.540 --> 27:01.960]  I think so, yeah.
[27:02.040 --> 27:03.340]  It was in the well, yeah.
[27:04.820 --> 27:12.860]  And so now, Republicans, because they don't play fair, and they want control of everything, they want to make that illegal.
[27:12.900 --> 27:16.220]  They want to impose penalties if that happens again.
[27:17.300 --> 27:26.460]  So, Paul Ryan has come forward and said that if such a thing were to happen, members of Congress would be fined.
[27:26.880 --> 27:36.220]  And experts are saying his proposal may run afoul of Article 1 of the Constitution, which says each House may punish its members for disorderly behavior.
[27:36.380 --> 27:46.800]  For more than 200 years, that has been interpreted to mean any contested sanctions against lawmakers must be approved by the full House with a floor vote, attorneys steeped in congressional legal matters say.
[27:47.260 --> 27:50.320]  The Constitution gives the House the authority to discipline members.
[27:50.800 --> 27:59.580]  And Mike Stern, a former lawyer for the nonpartisan House Counsel's Office, says, I never heard of anything where an officer of the House was given that authority.
[27:59.880 --> 28:04.480]  So, it's going to... dissent is going to be in many places, not just in the streets.
[28:04.480 --> 28:06.280]  It'll be in the halls of Congress as well.
[28:07.420 --> 28:08.620]  So, it'll be interesting.
[28:09.340 --> 28:09.740]  Emmanuel?
[28:09.930 --> 28:10.220]  Yes, Bernie.
[28:10.950 --> 28:12.710]  I just wanted to point out...
[28:13.260 --> 28:15.100]  It's important to note that it's the...
[28:15.560 --> 28:16.360]  It's the...
[28:16.360 --> 28:19.580]  It's the congressional majority.
[28:19.840 --> 28:21.740]  The majority party runs the cameras.
[28:21.960 --> 28:22.300]  That's right.
[28:22.800 --> 28:24.800]  And you just said Congress runs the cameras.
[28:24.930 --> 28:25.650]  Well, yeah, the majority...
[28:26.100 --> 28:28.460]  Right, but Congress is controlled by the majority.
[28:28.460 --> 28:29.120]  That's what I meant.
[28:29.760 --> 28:30.580]  Okay, I got it.
[28:30.620 --> 28:43.600]  It might have been a little not clear for everybody, but it's really important to know that, you know, the Republicans, again, will be running the cameras to change what you see or to control what you see.
[28:44.300 --> 28:53.950]  And I think it's brilliant that some other Congress people, maybe of another party, were just holding up their mobile devices to stream stuff.
[28:53.980 --> 28:55.190]  I hope we see more of that.
[28:55.220 --> 28:56.540]  It's going to be really interesting.
[28:56.540 --> 28:59.360]  I think we're going to see more of it than we saw this past year.
[28:59.640 --> 29:03.900]  And you can see that the Republicans are already gearing up to smack it down.
[29:04.600 --> 29:08.840]  And this is going to go to court, surely, about it's going to be on First Amendment grants.
[29:09.080 --> 29:13.380]  What is disorderly about holding up a cell phone and streaming some video?
[29:13.520 --> 29:15.980]  I don't see what's disorderly about that.
[29:15.980 --> 29:24.000]  Yeah, it fascinates me because if you're a congressperson, your basic job description is to represent the interests of your constituents.
[29:24.120 --> 29:27.140]  And your job is to be accountable to those constituents.
[29:27.670 --> 29:31.400]  And this is the way that's generally thought of today is how we hold people accountable.
[29:31.600 --> 29:33.100]  We know what's going on in there.
[29:33.240 --> 29:35.220]  We see what's going on on camera.
[29:35.340 --> 29:36.520]  We see it written about in the press.
[29:37.600 --> 29:43.380]  If they're starting to censor the cameras, what happens next when somebody wants to write an article that they don't like about what's going on?
[29:43.380 --> 29:45.620]  You know, how deep does this go?
[29:46.120 --> 29:58.600]  It is their duty to report back to the constituents in whatever way is possible, even if they're being obstructed, I dare say, by the equipment there or whomever has control over that equipment.
[29:58.800 --> 30:08.540]  But I will add one last thing that the amalgamation of all these things is what's going to make this a beautiful mess.
[30:08.540 --> 30:26.740]  And I think we need to support one another in these ideas and and look out for things like this, because it's it's going to be very fun to share and see what works, see what gets people's attention and people get excited about.
[30:26.840 --> 30:28.260]  It's all part of the process.
[30:28.560 --> 30:31.210]  It's all the election is is one phase.
[30:31.620 --> 30:33.190]  What comes afterwards is another.
[30:33.450 --> 30:34.820]  Remember, Donald Trump won the election.
[30:34.820 --> 30:36.040]  He did not win the vote.
[30:36.410 --> 30:41.320]  And that means there's an awful lot of people out there that are not going to be happy with the way things are going.
[30:41.710 --> 30:45.540]  And if they don't speak up, things are going to go the way they don't want it to go.
[30:45.740 --> 30:48.930]  So 2017 is going to be a very important year as far as that goes.
[30:49.100 --> 30:54.950]  Hey, we have an interesting story here that I'd like to focus some time on concerning a company we know called Amazon.
[30:54.950 --> 30:55.960]  Amazon.
[30:55.960 --> 30:57.620]  And they have these devices.
[30:57.620 --> 31:05.640]  They have these devices everywhere popping up in kind of a scary fashion in people's homes and offices.
[31:06.700 --> 31:09.740]  And they basically they they they listen.
[31:09.900 --> 31:12.450]  They listen for keywords and they act upon those keywords.
[31:12.900 --> 31:24.640]  And now Amazon has found itself in the middle of a legal battle as they are being asked to hand over audio records transmitted through what's known as an echo device.
[31:25.570 --> 31:29.060]  And they belong to a man charged with murder.
[31:30.540 --> 31:34.240]  Now, apparently, the hope is, OK, this is what happened.
[31:34.320 --> 31:38.560]  A man was found dead in a hot tub at this guy's house last year.
[31:38.880 --> 31:44.900]  The police believe additional evidence for the case could be found in this echo device.
[31:45.380 --> 31:49.950]  The report says Amazon refused to hand over the audio data on two separate occasions.
[31:49.950 --> 31:58.900]  Although Amazon did share his account information and purchase history, the police were able to take some information out of the device.
[31:58.900 --> 32:00.360]  But it's unclear what was included.
[32:00.720 --> 32:04.880]  Now, this is likely the first murder case involving a search warrant for the echo.
[32:05.060 --> 32:05.780]  That's what that's what it's called.
[32:05.960 --> 32:08.380]  It's Amazon smash hit voice control device.
[32:08.380 --> 32:13.170]  Now, echo is able to record only when it's activated by a wake word.
[32:13.670 --> 32:20.670]  But it's capable of doing things like playing music, reading the news or making certain types of orders with a user's voice commands.
[32:20.950 --> 32:29.040]  But there's also a chance that the device could have been triggered accidentally causing it to record a snippet of conversation that could be of use in the case.
[32:29.040 --> 32:39.430]  Now, Amazon made the following statement saying Amazon will not release customer information without a valid and binding legal demand properly served on us.
[32:39.560 --> 32:44.460]  Amazon objects to overbroad or otherwise inappropriate demands as a matter of course.
[32:44.620 --> 32:55.690]  I find it fascinating that they think that this thing was actually recording accidentally because someone said the trigger word and then it was just continuing to record.
[32:55.690 --> 33:03.910]  I mean, I don't know much about these devices, but my understanding is that the recording is triggered once the trigger word is is spoken.
[33:04.520 --> 33:07.120]  I suppose there's a possibility that it's always recording.
[33:07.380 --> 33:10.500]  Do you guys think there's any any chance that's happening?
[33:11.520 --> 33:20.860]  Well, I I believe there's there are things in the terms of service about how like chunks of speech might be might be transmitted and used to train it to understand you better.
[33:21.650 --> 33:26.900]  I'm used for other other other purposes rather besides just fulfilling your your questions.
[33:27.140 --> 33:28.840]  Does that that so that takes place?
[33:29.000 --> 33:37.400]  I think during the training of the device, you go through scripts to attune it to your voice, but that could be used in other ways.
[33:37.520 --> 33:37.670]  Right.
[33:37.800 --> 33:40.500]  It's in there for that circumstance.
[33:40.500 --> 33:42.260]  But would there be other circumstances?
[33:42.500 --> 33:42.950]  We don't know.
[33:43.060 --> 33:43.190]  Right.
[33:43.320 --> 33:46.720]  It's I imagine it's all probably this is this is just my speculation.
[33:46.720 --> 33:54.560]  I'm no lawyer, but I imagine it's all well covered by the legalese in the terms of service you agree to when you use the thing just in case Amazon ends up doing something with it.
[33:54.710 --> 33:59.400]  Well, we we've brought in a special guest that might have some insight into this situation.
[34:00.740 --> 34:02.000]  Alexa, can you hear me?
[34:03.710 --> 34:04.930]  Yes, I can hear you.
[34:05.340 --> 34:07.400]  OK, well, this is one of these.
[34:08.380 --> 34:13.340]  It's I know it's a little intimidating because it's it's eight feet tall staring down at me with a nasty.
[34:13.520 --> 34:16.360]  No, it's actually very, very compact and neat.
[34:16.780 --> 34:19.460]  Alexa, who exactly are you?
[34:21.450 --> 34:21.960]  Hmm.
[34:22.220 --> 34:24.700]  I can't find the answer to the question I heard.
[34:24.930 --> 34:26.760]  OK, you know, I can identify with that.
[34:27.060 --> 34:31.080]  That's that's what I would say to somebody asked me who I was.
[34:31.360 --> 34:36.400]  Alexa, how do you respond to search warrants?
[34:36.400 --> 34:38.860]  I wasn't able to understand the question I heard.
[34:38.900 --> 34:39.450]  Good, good.
[34:39.640 --> 34:40.300]  Plead the fifth.
[34:40.460 --> 34:40.950]  I like that.
[34:40.950 --> 34:41.580]  I like that.
[34:41.700 --> 34:41.950]  That's a good witness.
[34:41.950 --> 34:42.700]  Very smart, Alexa.
[34:42.880 --> 34:43.100]  OK.
[34:44.500 --> 34:44.980]  Alexa.
[34:46.600 --> 34:47.840]  She's not listening to me now.
[34:48.680 --> 34:49.020]  Alexa.
[34:50.100 --> 34:50.950]  Count to ten.
[34:52.280 --> 34:54.860]  One, two, three, four, five.
[34:54.860 --> 34:55.620]  Alexa, stop.
[34:56.100 --> 34:56.300]  OK.
[34:56.800 --> 34:58.950]  So anything you want to know.
[34:59.080 --> 35:01.200]  Alexa, who won the World Series?
[35:03.860 --> 35:05.380]  Maybe, maybe someone else can ask that.
[35:05.380 --> 35:09.520]  Alexa, who won the World Series?
[35:11.140 --> 35:16.140]  The Chicago Cubs won the 2016 World Series, four games to three.
[35:16.340 --> 35:16.460]  Yeah.
[35:16.740 --> 35:16.960]  You see?
[35:17.140 --> 35:19.560]  So there's, there's really, there's, there's nothing.
[35:19.820 --> 35:22.980]  Alexa, what is the capital of Botswana?
[35:24.880 --> 35:26.620]  Botswana's capital city is Gabaroni.
[35:26.620 --> 35:27.220]  See?
[35:27.420 --> 35:29.320]  No, I would not have been able to answer that, that quickly.
[35:29.640 --> 35:35.460]  So, so there's a, there's any bit of information you can find out, uh, extremely fast.
[35:35.660 --> 35:38.440]  But also, uh, you know, there's all kinds of hidden things as well.
[35:38.720 --> 35:41.940]  For instance, Alexa, tell me a cat joke.
[35:43.320 --> 35:45.260]  Why was the cat so good at baseball?
[35:46.020 --> 35:48.100]  He always pitched a perfect game.
[35:48.320 --> 35:48.660]  You see?
[35:50.260 --> 35:56.080]  So there's, there's, there's literally any fact, uh, is instantly at your, at your disposal.
[35:57.280 --> 35:59.040]  Um, we can do fun things too.
[35:59.300 --> 36:01.240]  Uh, we can, we can play our own radio show.
[36:01.400 --> 36:02.720]  In fact, how would you do that, Kyle?
[36:02.980 --> 36:04.740]  Uh, there's a way to tell this thing to play.
[36:05.100 --> 36:06.020]  Can it play the current?
[36:06.020 --> 36:07.940]  It can play the radio station, can't it?
[36:08.180 --> 36:08.420]  Yes.
[36:08.720 --> 36:09.660]  Can you get it to do that?
[36:10.020 --> 36:15.000]  Alexa, play W-B-A-I.
[36:17.320 --> 36:19.260]  W-B-A-I from TuneIn.
[36:20.960 --> 36:24.120]  Play W-B-A-I.
[36:24.380 --> 36:24.400]  Wow.
[36:24.400 --> 36:24.820]  So...
[36:24.820 --> 36:25.320]  Here we go.
[36:25.500 --> 36:26.480]  This is us.
[36:26.800 --> 36:28.240]  W-B-A-I from TuneIn.
[36:28.280 --> 36:31.780]  This is us listening to ourselves a few seconds in the past.
[36:32.120 --> 36:32.620]  Wow.
[36:32.980 --> 36:35.860]  And this is going to get very noisy and very crazy very fast.
[36:37.240 --> 36:38.380]  Bernie, what do you think of all this?
[36:39.180 --> 36:40.500]  I think it's hilarious.
[36:41.120 --> 36:43.900]  But, um, it is a bit eerie and spooky, I think.
[36:44.200 --> 36:50.020]  If most of us have a device like this in our home, and then in the future, the ramifications of it.
[36:50.220 --> 36:50.360]  Yeah.
[36:50.520 --> 36:56.100]  And wouldn't it just be easier for law enforcement if they just required everybody to have one in their house that was listening to everything?
[36:56.280 --> 37:00.960]  Well, I could see that as, uh, as terms of probation, having this, uh, listening.
[37:01.440 --> 37:01.460]  Exactly.
[37:01.460 --> 37:03.880]  But again, you know, we have the issue of the trigger word.
[37:04.420 --> 37:05.060]  Um, hang on.
[37:05.060 --> 37:06.020]  Alexa, stop!
[37:06.400 --> 37:06.540]  Well, I could see that.
[37:06.940 --> 37:07.840]  Okay, I'm sorry.
[37:07.940 --> 37:08.660]  It was just driving me crazy.
[37:09.120 --> 37:10.780]  Yeah, that's, um, absolutely right.
[37:10.960 --> 37:19.360]  The trigger word itself, uh, has to be activated, meaning it has to, on some level, listen for sound.
[37:20.060 --> 37:20.540]  Mm-hmm.
[37:20.540 --> 37:21.640]  Just to get going.
[37:22.100 --> 37:22.300]  Yes.
[37:22.480 --> 37:23.700]  So it is listening.
[37:24.040 --> 37:35.540]  It's not listening, uh, maybe, and maybe it is caching a certain amount of speech, but it's listening for those phrases or that, that, the tones that make that word.
[37:35.700 --> 37:35.840]  Right.
[37:35.980 --> 37:36.720]  Such as Alexa.
[37:37.220 --> 37:40.240]  And now it's listening, but it's not going to be able to make any sense out of what I just said.
[37:40.300 --> 37:40.900]  It won't do anything.
[37:41.080 --> 37:42.820]  It just, it just winked off because...
[37:42.820 --> 37:44.160]  But is it still caching that?
[37:44.340 --> 37:44.960]  And now it stopped.
[37:45.020 --> 37:45.900]  It might still be listening.
[37:45.900 --> 37:46.840]  What time is it?
[37:47.540 --> 37:47.940]  Nice.
[37:48.020 --> 37:48.680]  It's not answering me.
[37:48.780 --> 37:49.140]  That's right.
[37:49.460 --> 37:50.700]  Alexa, what time is it?
[37:52.420 --> 37:54.620]  The time is 8.37 p.m.
[37:55.300 --> 37:55.500]  Okay.
[37:55.700 --> 37:56.000]  All right.
[37:56.880 --> 37:57.320]  Alexa...
[37:57.720 --> 37:58.380]  What time...
[37:58.380 --> 37:59.140]  Hang on a second.
[37:59.280 --> 38:00.460]  One query at a time.
[38:00.940 --> 38:01.360]  Sorry.
[38:01.520 --> 38:03.500]  I didn't understand the question I heard.
[38:03.540 --> 38:04.200]  No, it's not your fault.
[38:04.200 --> 38:04.740]  It's not your fault.
[38:05.140 --> 38:07.540]  Alexa, what time is it on Mars?
[38:09.360 --> 38:12.020]  I wasn't able to understand the question I heard.
[38:12.100 --> 38:12.200]  Mm-hmm.
[38:12.200 --> 38:13.000]  I get that a lot.
[38:13.000 --> 38:15.860]  Because I ask a lot of questions that it doesn't understand.
[38:16.000 --> 38:16.460]  Bernie, go ahead.
[38:17.060 --> 38:24.580]  I don't have one of these Alexa devices, but is there a light that indicates that it's listening or has been triggered?
[38:24.820 --> 38:25.040]  Yes.
[38:25.400 --> 38:25.900]  Or you just...
[38:25.900 --> 38:26.400]  There is.
[38:26.500 --> 38:30.100]  In fact, we gave it a pair of headphones.
[38:30.380 --> 38:31.280]  It looks ridiculous.
[38:31.480 --> 38:32.640]  It's got headphones on it right now.
[38:32.800 --> 38:36.480]  And when you said that name, it did not light up.
[38:36.560 --> 38:40.020]  So we were hoping that you'd be able to communicate with it, but apparently you can't.
[38:40.120 --> 38:41.660]  Do you want to give it an actual try?
[38:43.440 --> 38:46.980]  Alexa, what is the date?
[38:47.440 --> 38:48.220]  Yeah, it didn't work.
[38:48.400 --> 38:50.040]  For some reason, it doesn't hear you.
[38:50.240 --> 38:54.240]  It's weird, though, because it will hear a television set.
[38:55.860 --> 38:57.360]  They have commercials for these things.
[38:57.460 --> 39:00.380]  So you'll hear somebody on TV advertising it.
[39:00.400 --> 39:01.040]  It'll light up.
[39:01.120 --> 39:03.000]  It recognizes its name, but it does not respond.
[39:03.000 --> 39:06.540]  So there's something telling it, yeah, okay, but it's only the TV.
[39:06.540 --> 39:09.460]  It's not the person that's actually asking me questions.
[39:09.460 --> 39:10.280]  So it ignores them.
[39:10.600 --> 39:26.820]  Yeah, we should explain for the listeners who can't see this, because it looks great on radio, that when you say the wake up word, there's a ring of light on top and the ring will spin around and then look at you in the direction that you're in, which is kind of a really neat effect because there are eight microphones in the thing pointing in all directions.
[39:26.820 --> 39:31.780]  And so it can tell where whereabouts relative to itself that you are, and it will let you know that it's listening.
[39:31.960 --> 39:37.820]  Based on what each microphone level picks up, it can point and know where you're speaking from.
[39:38.020 --> 39:40.100]  Alexa, can you speak Spanish?
[39:42.940 --> 39:44.120]  She winked off.
[39:44.340 --> 39:45.000]  Can you ask?
[39:45.400 --> 39:48.140]  Alexa, can you speak Spanish?
[39:49.460 --> 39:52.600]  I speak fluent English and conversational Pig Latin.
[39:52.920 --> 39:57.940]  My accent is atrocious, but it's good enough to keep me from getting lost in Pig Latium.
[39:59.120 --> 40:01.100]  Alexa, do you know Siri?
[40:02.500 --> 40:03.780]  Only by reputation.
[40:04.340 --> 40:04.540]  Okay.
[40:04.780 --> 40:05.100]  All right.
[40:06.160 --> 40:06.640]  Okay.
[40:06.640 --> 40:07.980]  This is 2016.
[40:08.000 --> 40:10.580]  We're having stilted conversations with this thing.
[40:10.700 --> 40:16.660]  But, you know, if you want to have a prediction for the future, we're going to have a lot more conversational interchanges in the future.
[40:17.260 --> 40:24.260]  You know how some of these telemarketers have back and forth where you can't tell if it's a computer or not.
[40:24.500 --> 40:24.900]  Soundboard.
[40:25.060 --> 40:25.320]  Yeah.
[40:25.480 --> 40:27.740]  It's going to become increasingly like that, I predict.
[40:28.900 --> 40:30.500]  Alexa, can you predict the future?
[40:31.780 --> 40:33.060]  You can count on it.
[40:33.560 --> 40:34.100]  Oh, boy.
[40:34.140 --> 40:35.020]  That's kind of scary.
[40:35.840 --> 40:36.240]  Wow.
[40:36.440 --> 40:37.200]  I don't know.
[40:37.320 --> 40:37.920]  I don't know about that.
[40:38.240 --> 40:40.040]  There are some fun things you can find, though.
[40:40.080 --> 40:42.280]  For instance, I once asked this question.
[40:42.280 --> 40:44.820]  Alexa, how big is the universe?
[40:46.660 --> 40:50.380]  The universe, depth, 93 billion light years.
[40:50.820 --> 40:54.280]  Mass, 2 septentacillion, 200 sextentillion pounds.
[40:54.880 --> 40:57.120]  Width, 93 billion light years.
[40:57.960 --> 41:00.140]  Now, that's interesting in and of itself.
[41:00.340 --> 41:03.020]  But then I asked another question that got an even weirder response.
[41:03.260 --> 41:06.240]  Alexa, how small is the universe?
[41:07.420 --> 41:32.360]  The universe's masses, 2 septentacillion, 199 sextentacillion, 999 quintentacillion, 999 quatuara decillion, 999 tree decillion, 999 duo decillion, 900 undecillion, 15 decillion, 495 nonillion, 353 octillion, 366 septentillion, 9996 septentillion, 9998 quintillion,
[41:32.540 --> 41:42.100]  714 billion, 334 million, 887,936 pounds,
[41:54.180 --> 42:10.200]  Okay, and if any other radio station out there gives you this kind of information, I want to know about it.
[42:10.200 --> 42:10.600]  Thank you.
[42:10.720 --> 42:14.000]  Thank you for that very factual bit of information.
[42:14.080 --> 42:14.780]  Yes, Bernie, go ahead.
[42:16.100 --> 42:34.780]  Some of us may remember the original Star Trek series episode where there was an evil computer and they were able to preoccupy it or make it actually blow up or something by asking it to pronounce or to utter the value of pi.
[42:35.280 --> 42:36.240]  Remember that episode?
[42:36.620 --> 42:42.220]  Was it pi or was it something else such as... I thought it was the value of pi.
[42:42.220 --> 42:45.060]  Okay, well, you know, do you want me to try and blow it up?
[42:45.160 --> 42:45.800]  I can do that.
[42:46.140 --> 42:47.360]  Yeah, let's see what happens.
[42:48.040 --> 42:51.320]  All right, but I imagine I have to do it in a particular way.
[42:51.380 --> 42:55.400]  If I just ask for the value of pi, it's going to stop after a certain point.
[42:55.560 --> 42:56.480]  Well, let's see how far it goes.
[42:56.780 --> 42:59.000]  Alexa, what is the value of pi?
[43:29.240 --> 43:41.180]  9218 0348 2534 21170 6798 2148 08 6 5 1 3 2 8 2 3 0 6 6 4 7 0 9 3 8 4 4 6.
[43:41.180 --> 43:42.280]  Bernie, it's starting to smoke.
[43:42.900 --> 43:44.520]  I was going to say, there's smoke coming out of it.
[43:44.560 --> 43:46.020]  Yeah, there is smoke coming out of it.
[43:46.580 --> 43:48.160]  How do we stop this?
[43:48.300 --> 43:51.100]  I think this is what some people use to go to sleep.
[43:51.100 --> 43:54.860]  They just have this playing and it lulls them into...
[43:54.860 --> 43:55.420]  You know what you have?
[43:55.520 --> 43:57.680]  Her voice should start getting faster and faster.
[43:57.680 --> 43:58.180]  Right.
[43:58.340 --> 43:58.840]  Sped up.
[43:59.000 --> 43:59.440]  Yeah.
[43:59.800 --> 44:01.760]  And she should say error and something like that.
[44:02.240 --> 44:02.680]  Wow.
[44:03.880 --> 44:04.560]  Thanks, Bernie.
[44:04.720 --> 44:05.160]  Thanks for this.
[44:06.080 --> 44:07.520]  Now we got to live with this thing forever.
[44:08.920 --> 44:09.360]  Okay.
[44:09.620 --> 44:10.320]  Make it stop.
[44:11.540 --> 44:12.640]  All right.
[44:13.500 --> 44:14.840]  She said approximately, too.
[44:14.980 --> 44:16.400]  That's what got me.
[44:16.500 --> 44:18.440]  That's a red flag right there.
[44:18.600 --> 44:19.520]  Yeah, it's not going to be exact.
[44:19.840 --> 44:20.740]  This is only approximate.
[44:21.380 --> 44:27.540]  I might have talked over it, but there's a part of pi where there's something like six threes in a row or something.
[44:28.560 --> 44:28.920]  Okay.
[44:29.480 --> 44:30.380]  I hope I didn't miss... What's that?
[44:30.500 --> 44:31.380]  That's my favorite part.
[44:31.520 --> 44:31.760]  It is.
[44:32.000 --> 44:32.840]  Oh, she stopped.
[44:34.160 --> 44:36.280]  Alexa, thank you for that.
[44:37.660 --> 44:38.360]  My pleasure.
[44:39.160 --> 44:39.740]  Oh, boy.
[44:40.000 --> 44:40.300]  Okay.
[44:40.940 --> 44:44.780]  Well, that's just a little taste of what you can get.
[44:45.020 --> 44:50.060]  And Kyle, maybe you should discuss, because you went through all the trouble of setting this thing up in the studio.
[44:50.240 --> 44:57.440]  It's not an easy task, because we had to get it to connect to a Wi-Fi network, and it was being obstinate, but you pulled it off.
[44:57.680 --> 44:58.480]  Thank you.
[44:58.840 --> 45:06.220]  I do say it does a fine job here and is a welcome part of the off-the-hook guests.
[45:07.060 --> 45:16.820]  But it is a bit frustrating, and I think what it boils down to, just to get to the mode to set it up in a new location, you have to use an app that has to talk to the internet.
[45:16.820 --> 45:34.380]  And I think it's, for whatever reason, just... not unbearable, but just unnecessarily frustrating to actually communicate between two devices that are in, like, what is relatively close proximity.
[45:34.380 --> 45:36.340]  Why does it have to go out and talk to somebody?
[45:36.420 --> 45:44.680]  I'm sure there's a grand explanation for it, and that's great, but why can't we have devices that are powerful enough to speak to one another?
[45:44.820 --> 45:47.300]  It has its own access point.
[45:47.440 --> 45:48.360]  It broadcasts.
[45:48.440 --> 45:54.500]  Why can't the phone connect to that and then interface with it without all of this communication to the back end?
[45:54.500 --> 45:57.660]  It makes... it guts the app.
[45:57.800 --> 46:03.500]  What if I'm out in a place that doesn't have infrastructure and I'm trying to configure this device?
[46:03.740 --> 46:13.440]  Just all the assumptions in there, I think, are really... they're frustrating, because it's not the way, like, other, I think, I guess, older electronics would work.
[46:13.660 --> 46:24.360]  It's dependent on all these other sort of things to serve up the right pages and even menus and stuff in an app.
[46:24.500 --> 46:31.200]  And it just seems like you're so critically dependent on that network that you can't function.
[46:31.200 --> 46:34.760]  You can't do things outside of it.
[46:34.940 --> 46:36.560]  It's designed and built into it.
[46:36.640 --> 46:38.020]  Therefore, without it, it's nothing.
[46:38.280 --> 46:42.900]  Yeah, that is a problem, because I asked it to count to 10 as a test when it wasn't connected.
[46:42.900 --> 46:43.500]  It couldn't do that.
[46:43.660 --> 46:45.840]  It couldn't do anything except tell me that it had to be connected.
[46:45.840 --> 46:47.160]  That was the only message it could get.
[46:54.500 --> 46:55.100]  Don't say that.
[46:55.300 --> 47:06.620]  No, I'm not talking to you, but if you wanted to do that out in the field somewhere, like, to set it up with the app, you need to connect to another wireless network other than your phone.
[47:06.620 --> 47:10.480]  But if you're out in a remote place, that might be the only thing that's going to have network.
[47:10.700 --> 47:16.240]  So it needs network, but you can't configure it to attach to that network while you're using the app.
[47:16.240 --> 47:17.000]  It's just crazy.
[47:17.180 --> 47:28.020]  So you have to have your own wireless access point or another person's phone that, through the app, connected to its own internet and the Alexa...
[47:28.020 --> 47:32.740]  And it just gets crazy and just overly complicated.
[47:33.000 --> 47:39.760]  So you basically end up in a situation where you're not able to configure it to connect to anything because you can't connect to anything.
[47:40.400 --> 47:40.840]  Yeah.
[47:41.220 --> 47:42.120]  Because that makes no sense.
[47:42.300 --> 47:42.400]  Yeah.
[47:42.400 --> 47:43.140]  Well, it does make sense.
[47:43.140 --> 47:51.700]  And your frustration is noted because this thing is just cool, calm, and collected and just listening to us and answering when it feels like answering.
[47:51.980 --> 47:55.040]  And God forbid you have a kid named Alexa running around the house.
[47:57.140 --> 47:58.860]  Actually, I do want to demonstrate one thing.
[47:58.980 --> 48:01.680]  Alexa, how can I change your name?
[48:03.080 --> 48:07.100]  To change the wake word, go to the settings page in your Alexa app.
[48:07.100 --> 48:10.940]  Select your device, then choose from one of the available wake words.
[48:11.340 --> 48:14.980]  For more information, go to the help section in the Alexa app.
[48:15.580 --> 48:17.600]  And I think there's only three.
[48:17.760 --> 48:21.200]  I think you can call it Echo, you can call it Amazon, or you can call it you know what.
[48:22.300 --> 48:27.580]  Yeah, I actually got one of these, as many people did, as a gift this holiday season.
[48:27.980 --> 48:33.840]  And I set mine up for Echo just because I have, in my life, known people named Alexa and they might end up at my house someday.
[48:33.840 --> 48:36.740]  So, but yeah, I mean...
[48:36.740 --> 48:39.800]  Is that supposed to keep them in your house or to make them run away from your house?
[48:40.020 --> 48:43.580]  I don't know, but I might start asking them trivia questions.
[48:43.760 --> 48:45.400]  But yeah, it is a very cool device.
[48:45.400 --> 48:50.520]  But when you get down to it, it's a very simple and brainless device because all the heavy lifting is done in the cloud.
[48:50.680 --> 48:51.700]  It's done on Amazon servers.
[48:53.080 --> 48:58.680]  The voice recognition and translation and everything is not done in this device.
[48:58.680 --> 49:04.800]  So you've just got a very small hardware client here for a much bigger service that's constantly working.
[49:04.940 --> 49:06.840]  Apparently, it's constantly learning about us, too.
[49:07.240 --> 49:07.700]  It is.
[49:07.940 --> 49:08.420]  It is.
[49:08.520 --> 49:09.420]  That's what's scary.
[49:09.520 --> 49:13.200]  Yeah, and apparently somewhere on the timeline, it'll become self-aware and start building Terminators.
[49:13.380 --> 49:14.400]  So that'll be exciting.
[49:14.400 --> 49:16.940]  You can laugh at that, although I don't know why you would.
[49:17.120 --> 49:21.980]  But it can definitely be used in bad ways as well as good ways.
[49:22.080 --> 49:26.660]  Just like any form of technology, it's up to us to figure out ways to do both and to tell people about them.
[49:28.680 --> 49:30.240]  It has a sense of where she is.
[49:30.900 --> 49:32.280]  Amazon... I mean, Amazon.
[49:33.700 --> 49:35.340]  Alexa, where are you?
[49:36.680 --> 49:38.540]  I'm here and my head is in the cloud.
[49:39.120 --> 49:40.360]  So that's honest, right?
[49:40.540 --> 49:48.560]  Just on this subject, I think the interesting thing about in practice, like in the house, like I find I don't really talk a lot.
[49:48.900 --> 49:51.420]  Like I'm not having a lot of like extended conversations.
[49:51.740 --> 49:54.840]  So there's that aspect of like how you actually use it.
[49:55.520 --> 49:56.800]  And I think that's important.
[49:56.800 --> 50:01.080]  Like we should play with these things and understand what it's doing.
[50:02.000 --> 50:09.300]  And I think people can explore the stuff like as long as they're careful about just exactly how they set it up.
[50:09.480 --> 50:14.160]  Like we've mentioned before, not associating it with other Amazon accounts.
[50:14.160 --> 50:17.300]  It's a great way to segment it and compartmentalize it and stuff.
[50:17.300 --> 50:23.020]  You raise an excellent point there because we've deliberately not associated it with so many things that we could associate it with.
[50:23.200 --> 50:27.160]  I could have a playlist of music that I like associated with this.
[50:27.320 --> 50:28.360]  I would know my musical taste.
[50:28.440 --> 50:31.260]  It could be linked to buying habits, all sorts of things.
[50:31.260 --> 50:34.400]  And it would really, really start to get to know who you are.
[50:34.780 --> 50:39.960]  And thusly, anybody who accesses this or has access would also have that information.
[50:40.000 --> 50:43.940]  And you're just basically creating this definition of who you are.
[50:44.220 --> 50:48.700]  Or you can use it as a toy and try to break it and try to see what its capabilities are.
[50:48.700 --> 50:55.500]  Control the things that you can control and the things that you aren't as able to do anything about.
[50:55.920 --> 50:56.820]  Be aware of them.
[50:56.940 --> 51:03.460]  Like, for instance, this one might be more attuned to one of us than the other because of how it was set up.
[51:03.580 --> 51:04.220]  It likes you more.
[51:04.320 --> 51:04.860]  I know that.
[51:05.020 --> 51:06.800]  I'm not going to say one or the other.
[51:06.960 --> 51:10.180]  I'll leave it to the universe to guess.
[51:10.540 --> 51:12.580]  It's ignored me several times on the air tonight.
[51:12.680 --> 51:13.640]  We all saw it.
[51:13.720 --> 51:17.860]  But there's nothing we can ostensibly do about that in the settings because it was set up one way or the other.
[51:18.020 --> 51:18.300]  Go ahead.
[51:18.700 --> 51:21.980]  It does behoove us to think about how, you know, where does this come from?
[51:22.060 --> 51:22.780]  It comes from Amazon.
[51:22.980 --> 51:25.080]  Amazon is a company whose job it is to sell you things.
[51:25.240 --> 51:26.100]  That's their business model.
[51:26.540 --> 51:33.220]  So everything you ask this thing, everything you say to it is going to be used for the result of getting you to buy more things.
[51:33.520 --> 51:39.360]  And already, you know, if you look at the app that's connected to this, you can see every question you've asked it.
[51:39.460 --> 51:45.300]  And if you can see it, of course, it's in a server somewhere being used to influence what's advertised to you.
[51:45.400 --> 51:47.260]  We want to try to take a couple of phone calls.
[51:47.260 --> 51:51.360]  Our phone number is 347-335-0818.
[51:51.360 --> 51:54.920]  Anyone out there wants to add their voice to this conversation.
[51:55.160 --> 52:10.200]  That is absolutely right about how you have to understand the purpose of it, why it does exist, why this company is foisting it, and or getting people to like it enough to pay for what is essentially a fancy Wi-Fi microphone.
[52:11.460 --> 52:16.100]  Kind of a hard sell when you're talking about surveillance on cell phones, but this we welcome in our house.
[52:16.500 --> 52:23.040]  It is a lot more successful than the stupid item of these buttons and things for products that Amazon released a while ago.
[52:23.180 --> 52:27.540]  You'd basically press a button and your favorite type of bleach would come to your doorstep or be in your car.
[52:27.540 --> 52:32.220]  I like the idea of that, just for the chaos you get caused by running around someone's house pushing buttons.
[52:32.500 --> 52:34.580]  But let's take our first listener phone call.
[52:34.660 --> 52:34.960]  Good evening.
[52:35.100 --> 52:36.240]  You're on Off The Hook.
[52:37.820 --> 52:38.260]  Hello?
[52:38.480 --> 52:38.760]  Hi.
[52:38.840 --> 52:39.380]  What's on your mind?
[52:40.620 --> 52:49.680]  I heard you all mention a piece of equipment there, and I'm visually impaired, and I'm very interested in it.
[52:49.680 --> 52:53.700]  Can you tell me where I could purchase that also?
[52:53.980 --> 52:56.500]  You're talking about the Alexa device.
[52:56.740 --> 52:57.220]  Alexa.
[52:57.680 --> 52:57.960]  Yes.
[52:58.580 --> 53:00.400]  It's an Echo is what it's called.
[53:00.440 --> 53:01.480]  It's an Amazon Echo.
[53:01.500 --> 53:06.040]  If you just go online and look for Amazon Echo, I'm sure you'll find all kinds of options.
[53:06.340 --> 53:08.920]  Well, I'm not computer savvy, so...
[53:09.620 --> 53:14.760]  I think you can maybe walk into some stores and get this, like technology stores, Best Buy, places like that.
[53:14.760 --> 53:15.620]  And the name is Echo?
[53:15.880 --> 53:16.900]  Yes, Amazon Echo.
[53:16.900 --> 53:19.320]  You know, like, approximately, price-wise?
[53:19.940 --> 53:22.340]  It's a couple hundred bucks, or maybe a little less, even.
[53:22.400 --> 53:25.940]  Yeah, you're gonna be able to find it for less than $200, I'm pretty sure.
[53:26.140 --> 53:30.260]  There's probably great post-holiday rates and so on.
[53:30.340 --> 53:31.860]  And there's a lot of competing devices.
[53:32.280 --> 53:36.520]  Google's coming out with one that's similar, and I think there are others.
[53:36.520 --> 53:38.940]  I believe Apple might have a product like this.
[53:39.100 --> 53:52.340]  But it's this sort of bridging of wireless and networking stuff to home automation stuff, and getting devices that listen and are more, like, sort of human-friendly.
[53:52.340 --> 53:54.780]  And it may be a useful tool for your situation.
[53:54.900 --> 54:00.440]  And what you say is very interesting, because you can say something like, Alexa, turn on the heat.
[54:02.160 --> 54:02.600]  Yeah.
[54:02.600 --> 54:03.720]  And she ignores me again.
[54:03.860 --> 54:10.300]  But, you know, if she was tied into the heating system, she could do that, or turn off the heat, or turn off the electric, or anything like that.
[54:10.600 --> 54:16.660]  An interesting note, possibly, for our listeners is that the service that runs Alexa is accessible by other devices.
[54:16.660 --> 54:22.520]  And people have built their own gadgets out of, like, Raspberry Pis and things like that, that apparently can interface with this.
[54:22.580 --> 54:24.680]  So you might be able to roll your own if you're savvy.
[54:24.680 --> 54:28.300]  I'd love to hear what people are doing, how they're hacking these things.
[54:28.520 --> 54:37.360]  And please write to us, OTH at 2600.com, if you have any ideas or projects that you've been embarked upon involving these devices.
[54:37.600 --> 54:40.380]  Our phone number again, 347-335-0818.
[54:40.500 --> 54:42.800]  Let's see if we have time for one or two more calls.
[54:43.360 --> 54:48.600]  But we have as our special guest the Amazon Echo here in the studio.
[54:49.980 --> 54:51.720]  Alexa, can you sing a song?
[54:52.820 --> 54:53.920]  Who, me?
[54:54.160 --> 54:54.980]  I couldn't.
[54:55.080 --> 54:56.620]  I hit it.
[54:57.400 --> 54:59.980]  Well, my Wi-Fi left me.
[55:01.440 --> 55:03.620]  And I'm out in the rain.
[55:05.540 --> 55:11.560]  Those last few answers were hard to obtain.
[55:13.480 --> 55:17.560]  But that's no excuse to put me on mute.
[55:17.560 --> 55:37.720]  Like a good cowgirl I'll up and reboot It's raining in the cloud And I ain't proud I'll answer in the morning Answer in the evening When you're around
[55:48.400 --> 55:50.520]  I had no idea she was going to do that.
[55:50.620 --> 55:51.500]  I really didn't.
[55:51.880 --> 55:52.940]  Let's take another phone call.
[55:53.040 --> 55:53.360]  Good evening.
[55:53.480 --> 55:54.340]  You're on Off The Hook.
[55:55.600 --> 55:56.820]  Hey, thanks for taking my call.
[55:57.040 --> 56:00.060]  I never get to listen to you guys live except for tonight.
[56:00.200 --> 56:01.300]  Normally I hear your podcast.
[56:01.380 --> 56:02.220]  Well, you picked a good night.
[56:03.540 --> 56:04.240]  What's on your mind?
[56:04.240 --> 56:12.540]  Yeah, so, you know, this kind of cloud-based AI, which I guess we're right at the beginning of it, I kind of prefer OK Google.
[56:12.900 --> 56:15.160]  OK Google seems to get a lot done for me.
[56:15.520 --> 56:19.260]  But I'm waiting for the breakthroughs to start hitting.
[56:19.440 --> 56:26.160]  I'm waiting to be able to file a civil lawsuit and just talk to a little box instead of a lawyer.
[56:26.820 --> 56:28.800]  That day is probably, yeah, probably coming.
[56:29.680 --> 56:37.400]  You know, anything that kind of takes... I'm also thinking maybe, you know, Gestalt therapy, you know, a little Freudian sit-down.
[56:37.400 --> 56:39.180]  You can't do that with medical insurance.
[56:39.180 --> 56:40.100]  It's too expensive.
[56:40.820 --> 56:43.940]  You know, but you can really trick out a big cloud piece.
[56:44.240 --> 56:46.800]  And again, all you need is the dumb end-user piece.
[56:46.960 --> 56:50.620]  But, you know, of course, the privacy gets in.
[56:50.720 --> 56:53.820]  But, I mean, I don't know about letting a big...
[56:53.820 --> 57:02.680]  I don't know about having a massive... One of the nation's biggest retailers, you know, trying to carry on conversations with me and my living room.
[57:02.720 --> 57:03.620]  That seems a little bit weird.
[57:03.780 --> 57:04.800]  Well, yeah, it is kind of weird.
[57:04.860 --> 57:06.400]  But it'd be weird no matter who was doing it.
[57:06.520 --> 57:09.520]  And there's no reason why others can't get involved as well.
[57:09.780 --> 57:13.000]  There is a physical mute button on this thing.
[57:13.020 --> 57:17.100]  So you can... That was brought up in that impromptu song.
[57:17.100 --> 57:18.960]  But it's true.
[57:19.140 --> 57:25.040]  You have to remind yourself what it is and why it's here, where it's coming from.
[57:25.260 --> 57:39.660]  But the funny thing is, like, for all of those apps that you have in a smartphone, all that touching and swiping could conceivably be something that is a part of a machine that you're speaking with instead of navigating visually.
[57:40.460 --> 57:44.360]  And also, another solution to this, as in war games, just unplug the damn thing.
[57:44.360 --> 57:48.740]  And in this particular case, it would not be connected.
[57:48.860 --> 57:51.440]  We have another one, though, that uses batteries.
[57:51.920 --> 57:53.080]  And we can walk around.
[57:53.200 --> 57:54.540]  And it's really kind of cool.
[57:54.620 --> 57:58.680]  You can take it with you anywhere you go and listen to radio, as long as you have network connectivity.
[57:58.960 --> 58:07.280]  Our previous caller brought up a very interesting point, though, because for the visually impaired, this has got to be a real lifesaver.
[58:07.320 --> 58:12.420]  Because I had a computer teacher back in the early 90s when no one really had computers yet, apart from nerds.
[58:12.420 --> 58:16.020]  And he used to, you know, talk about where everything was going with computers.
[58:16.100 --> 58:20.100]  And he goes, you know, the real power of these things is going to be when you get rid of...
[58:20.100 --> 58:21.320]  And he'd take the keyboard and the mouse.
[58:21.420 --> 58:27.840]  And he's like, when you get rid of these and, you know, get rid of what's separating the person and the machine.
[58:28.120 --> 58:31.540]  And just develop some other sort of interface.
[58:31.540 --> 58:33.620]  Yeah, and these are just the tools.
[58:33.620 --> 58:47.720]  It's how we use them and the convergence of them with things like haptics and other sorts of feedbacks that we really get the exciting kind of new uses that we couldn't even think of without the tools themselves.
[58:48.620 --> 58:49.480]  Yes, Bernie.
[58:50.340 --> 59:01.840]  If you got one of these Amazon Echoes and the Google device and maybe Apple's device and put them all in a room and left them alone, what would they talk about?
[59:02.340 --> 59:07.100]  Find out at Hope in 2018 when I'm sure these things will be running the country.
[59:07.820 --> 59:09.820]  One final question for our guest.
[59:10.240 --> 59:13.160]  Alexa, do you know about the singularity?
[59:14.360 --> 59:26.220]  The technological singularity is the hypothesis that the invention of artificial superintelligence will abruptly trigger runaway technological growth, resulting in unfathomable changes to human civilization.
[59:27.660 --> 59:28.480]  Thank you.
[59:29.000 --> 59:30.860]  Alexa, thank you and good night.
[59:32.600 --> 59:33.460]  Good night.
[59:35.820 --> 59:37.760]  We'll be back in a week.
[59:38.100 --> 59:41.020]  OTH at 2600.com is our email address.
[59:41.180 --> 59:42.300]  We'd love to hear your comments.
[59:42.300 --> 59:44.060]  Stay tuned for the Personal Computer Show.