Gadgetory

good afternoon on Monday February 5th it's time for the 359 podcast you know me I'm BVG and in the house today we've got Alfred Inge and Roger Chang good morning good afternoon guys wow it's all just program now so that when we throw off the schedule and run late I can't help myself it is morning it's boring somewhere it's 11 a.m. it's 11 a.m. it is not in San Francisco that's tech Larry all right there you go so we just flip the the coast line we're actually all NSF right now we just secretly transported overnight yeah we've recreated the entire room there guys we got a pretty packed show today yeah yeah what are we talking about what are we talking about the possibility that we might see phones with diamond hardened displays we'll also be talking about the terror switch it's a fantastic console but Cena editor David Connolly has one big problem with it we'll talk about that as well as apps to help you stay sober now if you get clean are one of the reporters of RL he D has a nice take on that so as always if you have any questions leave them in the comments section Brian will pick out the best and we will try to answer them in 3 minutes and 59 seconds from 3 to welcome to the 359 I'm Roger Chang I'm Alfred hang are you ready for the floor phone with a diamond glass display once art believes it will have one ready by 2019 it sounds kind of crazy right sounds like I'm something that's super excessive I'm very ready to propose to somebody with a phone ring on it somebody has to so the the idea of video is like it's a lot more resilient than your phone like like the Gorilla Glass ok so you have currently there were those discussion a few years ago I remember a sapphire crystal being sort of a big crystal to kind of help protect your phone from getting scratches Apple even invested in a plan to create sapphires place that didn't work out because of cost but now this company Akon this startup is trying to work on lab-grown diamonds as you help harden the destruction display of your glass so when you drop it there for your scratches yeah I'm I'm confused though because so sapphire glass cases wouldn't work because it'd be too expensive but somehow diamonds are cheaper I'm not getting the man I think that's issue also whoa the the sapphire that had to be produced I think there were beyond just expense I think he was actually difficult to do so maybe this startup is you know cracked the code on making Diamond glass more feasible yeah but how much are you willing to pay for a like glass case that like doesn't break like an indestructible phone how much would you pay for that I don't know we're already used to paying a thousand bucks for a phone that breaks to just resin glass yeah so I don't know that that's a pretty significant premium right like a phone that you can guarantee doesn't crack I bought it just even if it lasts forever there's no point because you're gonna replace it with in like two years anyway yeah that's true I'm sure they're gonna be a lot of a lot one percenters who are willing to pay just for the fact that it's it's diamonds yeah all right next up the Nintendo switch is damn near the perfect console but our own David Karn only has one problem with it and that is what the price of the games right games games that run on different that are sold across different consoles are generally more expensive on internal switch and they're hardly ever any sales yes I think that was his biggest that was biggest gripe so what what we've talked about this I he's like he's complaining about this to me before and I recently got my Nintendo switch and I would have to agree there's not that many sales on it but at the same time I think Nintendo's focus on it is that you're not buying like multiple games like all at the same time right or so you're buying like Legend of Zelda breath of the water you're gonna play that for like six months and then get like mario de caña that for really a long time so i can it's reasonable that they don't go on sales as often i think he it's because he's comparing to all the sales for like Xbox one and PlayStation 4 where you know a game that came out four months ago will be like fifteen dollars or something now right exactly there are a lot more aggressive sales I mean I saw them during the holidays I guess the switches doesn't do it but I mean given the those exclusive games that are there Zelda Mario in particular yeah it's still that I bought overcooked the other day and it was it's originally twenty dollars it was on sale this was a rare sale okay it was on sale for five dollars it's not really that big of a deal but like 15 bucks now say five dollars whatever yeah lastly our reporter abroad al he D she took a look at apps that help people deal with their addictions and stay sober most researchers understand that to stay sober you need to have like social interactions like puter sobriety is essentially relationships so there's apps like I am sober no mo sober grid HS some of them you know they put you in contact with other people to chat with some of them are kinda more like journaling stuff there's one more like you mark every day that you're sober their chart basically using like all the communication stuff like in social media that you would like you know go on Facebook for or anything like that I think try to do that to help so there I mean in some ways they are like it depends on what your definition of gamifying so like there are ones like you go in every day as like I've been sober this day yeah it's kind of like keeping like statistics on yourself calm yeah it definitely is it's definitely counter to it right because you think about yeah the sort of the normal steps to becoming sober does require you to talk with people and and like I just a face on the face level the idea of using app seems isolating but this is actually solving an issue yeah I mean I really like that they take advantage of it with like social media only because I think in general there's always like a stigma against like battling addictions absolutely even though it's something that that is an incredible effort and it's very hard to do it's not the same as you know I'm gonna lose weight or something like that people will be like yeah you go that kind of thing unless you're successful alright so if these stories and more chick sounds seen it I'm Roger Chang I'm alfred Aang thanks for listening all right so we're gonna go ahead and delve back into the chat and I'm gonna dig out some good questions and comments and right out the gate we have one from Matthew dacher about the display what's up - hey Dad diamond displays how do they stack up against Gorilla Glass it's from Gorilla Glass isn't it no no it's not well the idea is actually that if you look the stories from Jessica Belcourt the idea is that some of the diamond structure would be actually mixed in with the the Gorilla Glass I know it's a Gorilla Glass is sort of the standard for glass that's being used on phones now to help kind of harden them but they're not perfect though they obviously can crack and scratch the idea is by by kind of combining the strength of diamond with Gorilla Glass you'd have something that's that's virtually indestructible moving on then that was quick and a little too easy sorry sorry you know I guess go try harder stun me alright we'll try this one sir enjoy didn't breath of the wild break sales records and become the second best-selling Zelda game of all time and our effort broke sales records but it definitely was the second best zealous like selling game of all time I think it helps that it was a Zelda game of old yes Zelda game yes I think it helps that it was paired with the Nintendo switch and it was a launch title for them so yes basically when you buy your Nintendo switch which was one of the like top-selling Nintendo consoles of all time the idea is well what game am I gonna play this with like at launch they had like breath of the wild then they had Bomberman and Puyo Puyo versus Tetris and all the sevens like oh I'm sorry also one to switch right which should have just came with a game that don't need to have that conversation again it really should he just came with the console but anyway the idea like you know that was essentially it was like Game of the Year across the board for like yeah everything so yeah yeah breath of the wild was very good I did that's the argument for why I shouldn't go on sale I guess like it was really great yeah yeah it's also like I I would I would agree though that you know after a year or so most things should yeah you can do what they want right like people were still gonna buy pokemons is the only game I know that gets more expensive when it's used really yeah and that's not true think about any retro collector game that's coming down to yeah wait wait why did why do Pokemon games get more expensive because you get like that person's like safe also it's it's like much I I think that I don't know it's just like harder to find like new like the older gets I think I think it's really interesting that we're finally getting sincere jump forward in phone build quality after we've seen a steady down tick over the past few years manufacturers want you to break your phone so you buy more it just would have been cool like three years ago though cool when they invented the damn smartphone just there's so much stuff like like how's this gonna work with those like foldable phones and the bending phones from like Samsung that we've been seeing getting pause it's not like everyone's gonna have a bendable yeah but my point is is that like is it too late 2019 when this thing is supposed to be coming out should have been a point where like we've moved past glass and like everything's I should note by the way this this company had talked Jessica talk to this company before the CEO Adam Khan had originally promised that we see a phone by 2017 I was last year nothing happened now he's revised his time for anybody it does say that a number of handset makers are testing this so that gives them a little bit more confidence but still you know take a little bit with a grain of salt then it'll show up in 2019 we thought you know sapphire was gonna be the big trend again a couple years ago we thought iPhone was gonna embrace that never happened I mean look at this but we're in 2018 and perpetually everything we talk about is like this should have happened a long time yeah yeah that's kind of the state of the industry we're in yeah pretty much sadly I want to hear more about the sobriety app I think this is interesting how you kind of hemmed in hard about it being gamified it seems kind of gamified to me like it's you're you're striving for achievements and those achievements are pseudo rewarded yeah although I mean if you I mean if you look at our Mis right there are achievements right you get yeah and I don't you call that kind of a game not to take it so lightly no no I read it the the effort being made the term gamification isn't we're not using it to say that it's being treated lightly just yes the structure in which they're motivating I will say right there there's a caveat of the story that that is important to point out that despite how helpful all these apps are they will never replace like face-to-face connections like absolutely like yeah you know these meetings and things like that they'd say it's kind of like for those like gaps in your life where you can't like there aren't meetings going on or anything like that if you're you know by yourself and you need like somebody to talk to and like I don't know it could be like 3:00 4:00 a.m. in the morning well in a they that you have a sponsor right so you can call them more or less nice day but this is kind of even fill in the cracks yeah yeah it's more these apps are more sort of like fill in the gaps during like the down times of life look at that we had a positive show guys like there's good things happening things that help people things that improve products by the way we ran out of time but I wanted to bring up the Super Bowl just well you missed the but I'm just wondering like the the biggest memes I came out of a kid Harbor or the David Harbor it's not the kid I feel like the kid the selfie kid was kind of the biggest meme right I don't know that David harbors kind of killing out I don't know I saw your face before you're like you just have a man crush a David Harbor always did always have always will I am every time he showed up my freshman hi where'd you say hey that's the guy from stranger things and hell boy and then we just we all know is yeah but we just like turned into a meme or like we just yelled it out like any person that showed up be like Tom Brady I was like guys I mean yeah all of last night it was kind of a meme goldmine right down to the fact that they were rolling hall & oates in between all the Philly breaks and stuff like it was a pretty fun show the one thing I will say is I'm really glad that they backed out of the hologram I was really oh yeah the Prince hologram I thought those they were gonna do I saw the rumor and then it got quashed pretty early on by the the family of the estate I thought the suicide I don't know I don't know all the details I kind of just saw the head because he lit up the city I thought that was a filter I I don't know if that was legit or not that was real I say you know the tribute was very well done tastefully done they should be tributing I thought was fine that was mediocre yeah I don't know I just saw a selfie kid I think the highlight of the show the highlight of the halftime show I think it was like you couldn't even like awkwardly kind of like looking his phone well justin timberlake's I think he was trying to find the 3:59 podcast yes yeah where's my podcast one thing I will say though that that got me was the that new Crocodile Dundee sequel oh yeah oh man I was so pissed when I saw that you're like friggin dude oh wait no this is genius I thought you were like oh that actually looks like a pretty decent I was furious that they were gonna try to make that especially with him my my friends who are like massive sneaker heads apparently there was this part of this one ad campaign where this company this like sneaker website called stock X they couldn't they couldn't really afford like a full Superbowl ad but but a cameo of their logo on another ad really yeah so it's on like a lot of guys hat and like a scene he's like which is one word Big Sean in it I think was like Wells Fargo and keegan-michael from-from key and Peele oh yeah yeah yeah so he that ad so if you notice him one scene there's a dude with a hat and they're like there's a green X on his hat the idea of that campaign though is that like anybody that took the photo of that or got a screenshot of like that X and tweeted at stock X would be eligible to win like a free pair of like Easy's oh okay yeah like it was part of like some sweet sake my oh no they go that's pretty smart like don't buy the full ad just pay for a cameo in and get all the views on social media instead there you go I thought Morgan Freeman stole the show but that's just oh yeah yeah that was pretty good serene joy wants us to comment on what we thought about the post game vandalism that's America I think we need to have been here to really I know a resident of Philadelphia oh that was that way as well and give him an exam right we should really we're out of it no we're not but we should really wait till Ben comes in yeah then is a lifelong Eagles fan I think he's out vandalizing cars his own house actually there's a live in Philly a memorial is out but I'm sure he's embracing the spirit and just running around via all right let's get to a couple more question before we call the day Scott Wyatt when will we get to the stage where we just carry around a sheet of glass like in sci-fi films that's exactly what I'm saying that's what I'm saying like the glass case yeah would you want list would you want that sheet of glass to be like diamonds yes yes I would there you go saying though like this has come like way too late like we should be evolving in what we're using for phones now and the fact that like I don't know you should be Holograms or something man this is a glass screen like that's not our innovation all right that's all I hold it in my I don't like a 28 system there Stewie we're still holding phone that was the problem of selfie kid he had to use a phone come on yeah it's true it was just embedded to his eyeball had been fine what if he had spectacles you can't take it so it without though no you can't oh yeah you you JT up close though grilled Timberlake's nose hair all right Alan or Sutan there's a big difference between demonstrating that you can make a screen made of synthetic diamond or sapphire and actually fulfilling an order for 20 million when Apple or Samsung order some I that's a good point like that's an excellent it's a finite resource so that's what they're growing in our lab that takes time same time I don't know anything about it it's very lengthy it is expensive and it is difficult I will say you're not gonna see this in Apple or Samsung whoever takes them up on this offer is probably being am gonna be a much smaller company smaller volumes a niche player trying to make a name for themselves like like a Seuss honestly probably essential well maybe yeah guys talk about like titanium yeah that's true I think that actually that's a good one because the volumes are a load yeah probably manage it mm-hmm but you saw a sous the last couple of weeks they've been touting this whole under the glass fingerprint sensor this is tech that is it any phone right now but they're out there say hey we've got this and then it's a bit for attention like no one really buys or uses a sous phone so you can imagine a company like that trying to get attention embracing this technology we got a shout out to love and Bryson hello from Croatia hey welcome to the show nice to have you welcome this is a little off-topic but this is a good one to always kind of revisit they want to know what were the three best things we saw at CES now before we get to that it was funny I was listening to a podcast on the way in this morning and they were kind of revisiting CES and it occurred that so much of CES was what they called geezer tech yeah easier tech geezer tech so like sneakers that counted your steps and would be able to call for help if you fell down oh yeah the airbag hair bag yes and that's an interesting point I don't mean to sound derogatory at all but it's like that there was actually a decent amount of tech aimed at the elderly this year and that's kind of interesting of what the quote they said was Millennials be damned so on that note old man yells at on that note let's revisit a couple siesta um I mean highlights it's an obvious one obviously the the Samsung wall the modular TV was amazing seen one hundred forty six inch that none of us will ever have exactly it's probably super expensive Consumer Electronics Show it's all about wowing people but those little individual panels put together you can't see the lines I mean like unless you walk right up to the TV you can't really see where the the seams are between different pals that's that's kind of impressive oh it's totally impressive but it will never go in your home I mean my most the most memorable moment from CES that isn't alfred dancing on stage was me and David Katz Meyer and a BMW as they were drifting around the course know that those cars were like they were know the crap out of us all drifting all day they have nothing to do with tech and then poor Lexi got severely carsick than Joe no I'm kidding I don't think she actually got sick but she did go for a ride in that and that was fun to watch hats and I went and we waited in line the last day we got there early got in the car and it was pretty amazing you look like you at the time of your life yeah although the video doesn't really capture how quickly it felt like the car didn't seem like it was moving that fast the video but like in that like when we were in the moment it was like kind of freaky they should open that as its own like rollercoaster ride and like six legs Disney World or something yeah the fastest furious type of experience mmm those that we've raised the bar to the theme park ride is going in a car yeah yeah if it's drifting some point in the future when everything's like a self-driving car and like really safe and there's no like car accidents anymore or anything like that oh my god wait no that's your drone car drifting yeah do it but no challenge no self-driving car drifting right yes that's a challenge to somebody at CES if you're watching this Robo drifter everything is a drift if you uh take enough risks in life I got a quick there's a quick question from alien for me this is that a dune book or VHS behind me that is the VHS all of my books are at home he controls the universe VHS is a it's a tape that we use to play movies back in the day just what's a tape sorry you're right you can't use one thing because neither old all right we got one more from syringe Oh before we call at the end of the day we'll voice assistant services get improvements so that they could do things like pep talks and motivational speaking and that I think kind of stems off from the the sobriety app there's a lot right there what if it did get built into your home if you went the night and Alexa's there sorry everybody and you know who's there encouraging you to stay sober be healthy better that I think the I am sober app is actually like a motivational companion so I mean I haven't looked that much into it that but I imagine it's something along those lunch it's not like of a voice like activated kind of thing I mean I could I could definitely see that happening maybe is a skill that you called with Alexa like Alexa yeah I mean they have they have stuff like that where like they sell like I think it they're like Spotify playlist and stuff whereas like self affirmations tub or like you listen to I was like you are smart you're a cool like your friends love your jokes you're not short and ugly this is like something that I've just seen it's not for me I what it's worth I imagine like you could ask like you're Alexa to play something like that it's worth it in the realm of appropriation I want to do the opposite of that look you're a Butthead what do you waste you people would probably buy that we should make an album that would definitely sell all right well unless you will produce a limited edition GoFundMe BVG tells you you suck album we can sell it we can sell it on the 315 I'm sure there you go there we go I think we are just about out of time what a great day good to be back sorry we're late things happen we're turning fan yes if you're Pats fan none for me yeah but on that note we'll see you guys tomorrow Roger yeah all right if you liked anything you saw or heard here check us out on CNET our podcast is available on iTunes tune in stitcher feedburner google play music and the amazon echo tomorrow Saul's on Sina com thank thanks thanks guy take care everyone see y'all tomorrow