UPS delivers on truck-drone hybrid. Is it more than meets the eye? (The 3:59, Ep. 182)
UPS delivers on truck-drone hybrid. Is it more than meets the eye? (The 3:59, Ep. 182)
2017-02-21
welcome back after Presidents Day
weekend here in New York City from the
scene at studios this episode 182 of the
359 podcast with Alfred and Ben Fox
Ruben good morning guys how was your
weekend pretty good but I missed our
great audience here yeah I was so happy
to come back and see everybody that's
that it's so insincere it kind of hurt a
little bit what what we love all the
viewers and we hope you also had a great
President's Day weekend unless you are
overseas you had some other long weekend
of which we've never heard of well do
they have Presidents Day and then have
Presidents Day for sure no there's
Presidents elsewhere so because it was a
long weekend we've actually got a couple
different things we want to get through
on the show today
I wrote this morning about ups doing a
first-of-its-kind
delivery drone test so we'll delve into
that we have some video off it which
looks pretty cool also there's some more
bad news about uber Verizon Yahoo Alfred
you wrote about that and we'll end with
the New York Toy Fair which alfred was
at over the weekend so there's like a
lot to get through on the show yeah I
didn't pay attention to any other news
cuz I was at Toy Fair yeah you know
zipping around on Electric skateboards
and looking at yu-gi-oh cards that's
pretty sweet which are back by the way
everything's back
they don't invent anything new anymore
they just bring it back like Teddy
Ruxpin which by the way was also at the
show so let's get to the podcast as
always send in your questions and
comments Brian we'll get to the best
ones at the end of the podcast itself
and send it in whatever questions and
comments you want obviously on topic
stuff we usually like more but if you
want to ask about Samsung or Apple stuff
go ahead and that's let's let's make it
let's make this podcast thing go buckle
up everybody we're gonna make podcast
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minutes of 59 seconds and then we'll
open the chat up and hang out with you
from 3:00 to
welcome to the 359 where we talk about
the top tech news of the day plus
whatever crap we want to throw in I'm
Ben Fox Ruben I'm Alford hang-ups
completed a first-of-its-kind test for
the company using a drone integrated
into the roof of a delivery truck to
make a drop off the shipping giant said
these drones could save gas in time by
helping drivers cut down on stops Alfred
how excited are you about delivery
drones this looks like one of the
coolest things I've seen all the other
delivery drones that I've seen have been
like it's just the drones on their own
right now and they're flying off and
that it's kind of creepy to me it's cool
though what this one is kind of cool
because it's like working in unison with
the delivery man right there's still a
human touch to it when I saw the video
it kind of reminded me of if you've ever
played The Legend of Zelda with when the
ferry like goes under it's here when
Navi flies around and like picks up
stuff and gives it a link yeah that's
what it's that's exactly what I thought
of Oh totally totally yeah so it's
integrated into the roof one of the
things that I thought was also
interesting was that there's so much
talk about automated cars automated
drones destabilizing the workforce
taking people out of jobs UPS told me
that this is something that would not
cause people to lose their jobs because
the drone would work in unison with the
driver and the truck which is also
something pretty cool and so you can see
you it just kind of flies out and it
comes back and you know you can do the
deliveries it's like having two delivery
people now on exact route exactly now my
only concern is if nobody picks up that
if nobody answers the door or anything
like that and it's a package where does
the UPS drone hide it now because it
can't put it under your carpet or
anything like that so this was just the
test at this point I think it just did
the drop-off and came back but those
types of logistics are the types of
things that they still there's a lot
yeah that kind of thing to work out on
your one day they'll get it right you
need to get your personal drone to go
get that delivery next up ooh BRR hired
former US Attorney General Eric Holder
to investigate allegations of sexual
harassment at the company the move is in
response to a blog post from a former
uber engineer who
said she and other women repeatedly
complained to HR about problems but were
essentially brushed off this is really
interesting because this comes already
uber was struggling with this boycott
related to the travel ban how bad is
this for the company and do you think
this response is enough to to kind of
quell concerns about what's going on
there well from what I've seen on social
media this is already one of the top
trends on Facebook I am a lot of people
already tend not to trust Eric Holder I
mean he's had a lot of poll being the
former US Attorney General but I mean
for some reason the tech world loves
this guy I mean Airbnb hired him also
last year to help develop its
anti-discrimination policies and look
into those issues for them so it's kind
of following the same trend here for
uber and he seemed to have done the
trick for Airbnb so he might be able to
pull up pull it off again for uber but
yeah this is not a good look for the
ride hailing company yeah also more news
today Verizon agreed to cut the
acquisition deal for Yahoo by 350
million dollars
Alfred you wrote about this today can
you give us like a quick in a nutshell
what happened here
so basically after the two massive hacks
were Yahoo seemed to outdo itself you
know 500 million in September then 1
billion
announced in December Verizon kind of
backed off a little bit on it's four
point eight billion dollar deal so it
was announced today that they would be
cutting that deal by about 350 million
dollars also anytime if Verizon is sued
for this you know people saying you know
we want to see you over our hacked
accounts and things like that
yahoo has to put 50% of that bill but
Verizon and Yahoo have agreed to handle
half of any not half but handled
together the any regulatory or you know
government issues that comes with the
hacks yeah and the good news for Yahoo
is it looks like the purchase is
actually gonna happen now so they aren't
gonna be left out in the cold if you
want to read more about these stories
check us out on CNN I'm Ben Fox Ruben
I'm alfred Aang thanks for listening
you
and welcome back we got he had to skip
Toy Fair yeah but we have Toy Fair now
or our beloved real audience
we might even try to do Toy Fair
tomorrow if we if we want because Toy
Fair was actually pretty interesting
one thing that was pretty cool was Teddy
Ruxpin
Alfred you weren't that excited about
rocks man was really cool I don't get it
it's a bear because you didn't grow up
with it I grew up with Teddy Ruxpin I
didn't actually even have a Teddy Ruxpin
but I remember the Teddy Ruxpin
commercials and I'm pretty psyched to
have him back he's got LCD screen eyes
little touch sensors in his paws he's a
hundred bucks so I don't think then I'm
gonna buy him why is a teddy bear a
hundred dollars exactly because he talks
to you and he tells you stories and he's
interactive and one of the things that I
like about it is that they didn't really
screw with Teddy Ruxpin all that much I
think the voice is even the same it's in
1980 I talked to Bridget about this it's
the exact same voice clips it's the same
stories and stories but it's all
digitized now so it works through of
course your phone through the ad right
and like I said I grew up on Teddy
Ruxpin I thought this was really kind of
cool if I had kids this is exactly what
I would do for them because it's it's
what got me kind of into like audiobooks
and radio and just kind of fascinated by
storytelling kind of stuff my god you
just sold me on buying this stupid thing
all right yeah it's fine I'll get it I
think it's a little more fun and a
better gateway for kids than just
handing them the iPad and saying learn
around yeah for sure there's a lot more
creativity when it when you have a toy
that you can interact with as opposed to
like a kids tablet or anything like that
so for this 3:59 after-dark the
post-show
alfred what was it like being a Toy Fair
super fun night I love toys like it's
like I said I'm still one of those
people that had like a just like the
chest like just filled with toys in
there I go to thrift shops and just buy
toys for no reason that like my
girlfriend's not that happy about umm
but yeah it was like being at Toy Fair
was awesome I saw these like
collectibles that like I they had they
had like you know how like there's like
those like Power Ranger mecha toys and
stuff mm-hmm
they had one for like Toy Story for some
reason we're like Buzz Lightyear turned
into like a mech and
and woody had his own mech - and you
could combine them into like you you've
got a friend in me combined into a super
powerful I'm desperately trying to find
this on the page and we have so much
stuff no story for hundreds and hundreds
of photos and videos I'm not trying to
do this as like some shameless
self-promotion for the company I
literally can't find what you're talking
about cuz I'm sectioning through
everything to try to show were you there
by the way - Brian no I didn't get to go
this year
then they had all these like Megaman
toys that I thought were awesome that
like I couldn't get either but coolest
thing I saw there was probably either
the razor's like electric skateboard
just because I've been kind of
interested in getting one but it's
always been like expensive it's pretty
neat as if for something that I like it
because I already have a skateboard so I
can just kick I don't like why would I
pay like more than $200 mine you're a
tech reporter just buy and then they had
one of these drones I was like marketed
as like indestructible where basically
it was like this challenge where is this
like big netted area and then you could
shot like a tennis ball gun at it and
then knock it down and then it would
like fly right back up was pretty cool
yeah yeah yeah the little time that I've
spent with drones usually like one of
the propellers will come off really
especially like the micro drones so that
definitely sounds like it would have
significant usefulness so yeah I
definitely like that idea we got a
question in the chat Alex wants to know
do you think that these toys can help
kids stay off iPads so out of curiosity
how much was like integrated into iPads
and how much did you see was like
completely free of the tablet or mobile
phones in general yeah well they had
like a whole section just for like kids
tablets and you know of course and
things like that if anything it would be
the parents on on the apps though and I
was like kids on devices goes I don't
know that much about iPads I know a lot
of kids are like using phones all the
time I don't think like I know I know
when I was growing up I I like was on
the screen like all the time like I had
like a bunch of toys but I still didn't
like stay away from like video games or
anything I mean I had a gameboy when I
was growing up yeah I don't think it'll
keep them off no I don't think any kids
gonna choose like one
these toys over an iPhone or anything
like to play games on but that's why I
kind of like the idea of the Teddy
Ruxpin comeback and the usage of that
because you've got something that yeah
the it's it's driven by the iPad but
you're not using the iPad yeah
necessarily right and it's still
interactive so they can continue to use
it there was another one it talks like a
hologram Barbie which was essentially a
Barbie that was like a personal
assistant I don't know how useful that
would be to like get kids off of their
iPads because it's mostly like you would
query it like you would query Alexa for
any specific things I don't think you're
generally having a conversation with it
maybe you would but yeah I mean I think
the reason I mean like all these toys
are really cool and they're gonna like
get kids away from like you know their
phones or their tablets or anything like
that but that's like during playtime
there's so much like downtime for like
apps cuz like think about like a kid
just like sitting on the couch when they
don't want to play with you know Teddy
Ruxpin or anything anymore and they just
want to look at their phone and like
yeah yeah and zone out that's like
that's the majority of like screen time
yeah yeah yeah you're watching a show
you're watching Dora yeah
is Dora still around that still think
Dora stole the thing very much so yeah
you have to deal with I don't know my
daughter's watching a lot of the Care
Bears lately well it was the Care Bears
episode where the kid was on their phone
all the time yeah which was actually
pretty interesting how Legrand Barbie
totally reminds me of like Hatsune Miku
expand please there's a in Japan they
have a Vocaloid program called Hatsune
Miku where it's like you make all the
music like in the program but then it
somebody made like a hologram of it
where like it sings the songs and things
like that it's Barbie dabbing yes oh
yeah that always happens zabi
they're always trying to figure out how
to make her more relevant and cooler and
whatever yeah okay daddy mommy you you
should expect Barbie to keep doing
whatever it is that people think are
cool our old buddy Michael Brown in the
chat he says UPS drone it's interesting
but probably won't see this fully in
action until at least 2020 yeah that's
probably right it's still kind of cool
to see totally so way all I can like a
brown very very correct incredibly
astute as always all I can think of as
we were talking about this wait you
brought this up before the show started
unlike so it this
Jeron comes out of the truck and then
carries out the the bidding of the
driver and all like I swear to God all I
can think of a sound wave from
Transformers totally with the like the
cassette tapes popping out gets that
tapes turn into other things right if
they could only make the truck actually
make this the transformer sound as the
drone takes off I'd be sold I want all
my stuff delivered by drone be like you
me preferably if they could redesign it
to look like a pterodactyl while they're
at it I'm on that oh my god that would
be so phenomenal that every single time
it made a delivery would go air or yeah
I hope we see that by 2020 Terminator
p-51 says Skynet is rising it is it is
important to note actually the 2029 user
you wouldn't you would expect delivery
drones to potentially come by 2020 but
they're probably gonna be coming even
later than that there was a well study
out by Gartner recently that said that
delivery drones were only gonna be 1%
less than 1% of the commercial drone
market by 2020 so 3 years from now you
should still expect to see very very few
deliveries well is that is that only
applying to the US though cuz I can't
imagine other countries of the same like
restrictive you know regulations on
drones that like the US has with the FAA
that is a good question you have now
stumped me and I have to go back and
look at the report I have to punt
immediately I mean rather me stumping
you and somebody you know like audience
question oh that's ok get stumped by the
audience all the time I think mr. Oz is
a little apprehensive about the whole
drone thing he sounds a distrusting as
he may have had some less than stellar
interactions with actual human delivery
in the past I mean wouldn't you be more
trusting of drones in that case because
they can't like there's less room for
error
Loran they can't make fun of you for
being in your underwear at 12 o'clock
but a good driver knows where to hide
that package and also now yeah this
trust well that's what I'm saying a
drone can just drop it off on your roof
think you just get it they're like no no
robbers are gonna make that effort all
smart homes come
enabled with a drop point like a
dumbwaiter on top of your house so that
the drone drops it there and then it
also has to make the Transformers noise
though that would be oMG so but but I do
it's it's cool to see all these
different tests we were talking back in
December about Amazon doing this very
very small piloted study in England
where it's it's in rural England and it
they send out the drones from an actual
factory or from a from a shipping area
and you drop off like some Cheetos and
then come back this is another area
where you're actually bringing you know
the drone directly to people
so why Cheetos I don't know I was hungry
he's sponsored by Jada CNET bought and
paid for about you that's what the C
stands for I love working for this
company anymore now I don't know anybody
see anything else cool at Toy Fair this
weekend I don't know if anybody out
there was there with us I know you went
and Brigid went and Mark went and what
else did we see I was really jealous I
was watching all the the Ninja Turtles
this is this was also there was like a
larger bb-8 that was kind of cool yeah
it's like if almost life-size kind of
yeah well like a soccer ball yeah this
wasn't this was pretty close to that I
think it was a little bit smaller I was
I was actually surprised that the price
was only 230 dollars because it was it
was a rather large size bb-8 and the the
smaller one by Spiro was like a hundred
or plus I didn't get the same access
that Bridget got to Mattel like they
told me I needed to make an appointment
to see hologram Barbie or something like
that so poor guy I was blocked off from
of yeah I got rejected by hologram
Barbie oh jeez I thought we had I was
I'm trying to look for that BBA and I I
don't think I can find it right we had a
too much Tory Ferris we do we have a lot
of toy first stuff I haven't even gone
through it yet myself because I was lazy
this weekend but yeah I was super
jealous if I was awesome cool do we have
any other questions just props out to
Michael Hallett in the chat oh my god
ermahgerd
turtles in the half shell turtle power
you're my hero sir I am a big man child
and I love my ninja turtles definitely
playing terrible's in time for the Super
Nintendo over like the last few days
good it's a great game it's one of the
best one of the best like Super Nintendo
game absolutely all right
that's probably a good time to shut it
down because oh my god Michael sing
ermahgerd Cheetos ermahgerd Toy Fair
this is one of the nerdy or podcasts
we've done that's saying a lot
and it's spiraling down horribly alright
on the tower at all it let's call it
thanks everybody
alright the 359 podcast is available on
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watching listening setting in your
questions we'll see you again tomorrow
later bye
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