Gadgetory

welcome back to the show we've all been there you're out of concert people right in front of you trying to videotape the artist ah can't see anything one company is trying to change that that company is called yonder and we have the founder and CEO here with us to tell us all about it gram to goney thanks for being here yeah my pleasure so well you have the solution to our nightmare scenario the worst problem in the world ever this is this is a device that will stop people from using their phones at public events right yeah I guess in the simplest sense yeah we create phone free spaces but conceptually I like to think that we're just kind of the tip of the spear and in general movement I love this I think you're I think you're right because I've gone to so many shows for example when I saw Queens at Stone Age at The Wiltern when they did like clockwork you know as people do listen that's a humble brag the Josh Homme II was he said hey guys but before we start show just put your phones away let's all enjoy tonight when Ashley was backstage I'd be dead if that happened I'm happiness um but like there is a movement for that and there is something to be said for really being in the moment at a concert instead of getting shaky cam video and and poor audio from it but you know and always having your cell phone up and this is something artists want right this is something that you're finding not just audiences want audiences all right artists one yeah definitely both I mean if you look at it as artists are the most sensitive people in the culture then of course they're gonna be the first to see kind of what the impact of radical technological change will be and so creating spaces where people can be swept up into a shared mood is something they value probably above all others so how does it work yeah very simple we have three sizes of case that every phone in the market so when someone comes to show their phone slides into one of these cases I guess boom whoa pops open phone goes in it now locks your phones now inside yonder pouch you cannot access it you keep possession of it you leave just tapping on one of the unlocking mechanisms front so I've been I've been at events where you have to check your phone and it's always such a pain because I was at like for example the Star Wars world premiere the you didn't check your phone and when you leave if there's such a line it's such a hassle so this is a way to not have to check your phone at all you actually possession of your own device you have to worry about getting stolen or lost exactly and if someone needs to use it emergency or something like that they can always step outside the phone free space and unlock it and use it so really what it creates is the idea of essentially phone for you it's it's like smoking versus a non-smoking sections but for phones kind of reprieve it this this is also I would I would imagine it would extend very much so to comedians as well because when you are if you guys don't know how comedians are work out their bits or there's specials specifically they'll spend a year two years three or something I mean they'll spend a while work shopping out an entire set and a lot of times they don't want that work shopping because it's not the finished product out there for people but they need to get that feedback from their audiences so this is also something that you were mentioning that comedians are also interested in definitely I mean exactly what you said work shopping new jokes but also just the ability to enter space and know that what happens there stays there the kind of fundamental I think to the art form itself so it hasn't been until very recently that this has been a problem so hasn't been until recently that there's a solution yeah so so you sell this to a venue or you have this available at a venue are you finding as places adopt this technology people are complaining or having a problem with it is it is it hard to convince people to use it yeah what's the what's the audience response when they come up against something like this because it's obviously something they've never experienced before yeah no the audience reception is incredibly positive I mean that's one of the things that early on I kind of saw by being outed a lot of venues and talking to people is that the average person they're kind of understanding of the problem this general angst about not just this at shows but the role of Technology and society generally a lot further advanced than most people I think realized so most people are incredibly positive if they understand as soon as they realize they get to keep possession of their phone they're fine with it if a few people who get angry but they'd be angry anyways yeah that's a good point I think you could actually sell these to families for a time like everybody put your phone in your hand you could make this an IOT thing where you're like Alexa locked down our phone somebody just had Alexa wake up I know I'm sorry I'm sorry you say miss a from Amazon the robot in the machine of the echo please lock our families phones so it there's really nothing that the no damage to the phone there's nothing limiting the fun you can still you'll still hear a ring potentially well we have different models that do different things okay weird answer sort of some of the block all signals altogether some that don't they've different use cases so depending on who the customer is we'll give them a different case because I would love to be able to go to the movies and have everybody's phone not ring or make a child light up at all yeah that would be great so there are versions of this that actually limit the signal that I can receive exactly but it's important for now that this version that I have right here doesn't because you know if someone's at a venue they're expecting a call from the babysitter something like that they'll feel their phone vibrate and they can step out and that's important just for people's you know comfort that's also where it where it I think is superior to a check system because you still as you said if you remove yourself from the situation or the area you still have access to your phone you don't have to go to a a co checker right own checks well and also you don't know if you're getting that call so I think there's if there's an emergency if there's you know things that are happening where someone's trying to eat a hold of you this is a much better system to have in place as opposed to a phone check because you would have no idea until you got out of that event yeah that's something would happen so how long have you been developing Yonder um the concept I had kind of fully fleshed in about 2012 I guess and sat on it and started developing about a year and a half ago I thought back then it was the issue kind of had boil to the surface enough people didn't see the problem so clearly but the first prototyping everything I did myself just through Alibaba I'm just using a Chinese manufacturing and everything and then hard to design for him after all of those you know steps but it's process so this unlocking mechanism reminds me a lot of the type of thing that you would see at a clothing store or they take off the security tag it sort of reminds me of that where it's a survey security tag s like you've kind of popped out and then you see it's kind of an interesting were you inspired at all by that proprietary technology yeah could you explain how it works in detail for us I'm just gonna take some notes yeah was there what was there a moment in which you were like I need to build this like what was there a convoy that you went to was there a time where you were like okay a news story something like that where you were like okay I've got this great idea what was the light bulb and someone record you when you didn't want them to yeah no I guess it was going to a lot of live shows and just seeing kind of what was happening in general and kind of observing doing social trends and etiquette changes over time which kind of people have a short memory for things like that but I'm looking at that and then I guess I was at one show backgrounds living in Atlanta and saw a guy there's pretty drunk he's dancing to strangers recording him and posted it through the internet right after the record it and just sitting there looking at that and going well if you follow that line out and see where that goes yeah I think you'd find it actually what a lot of people are saying especially in Silicon Valley about the future of technology is actually not just not tenable from a psychological physiological perspective so I thought for a lot of reasons just to be social the need for some element of privacy you know yeah so that was kind of for me realizing that to me it became very clear that you know this was something was going to exist then it was just figuring out the form how to do it right I think that's interesting of the point that you make that it's not just about creating a safe space for the artist but also for the people enjoying the show sort of let loose have a great time unselfconscious me unselfconscious about you know you know if they're of a terrible dancer for example you know even if they're not drunk like some people here at this table to be able to enjoy themselves without having to worry about you know being posted to the internet on somebody else's account or something like that you really feel like it's a safe space not again not only for the artist but also for the attendees I think that's really cool yeah I agree I mean that feeling of being onion it is really important and yeah I mean I could chew your ear off about this about kind of the philosophical side of the whole thing for me but at the end of the day it's what people go to shows and if they enjoy it more than a show with phones then yeah that's it they've made their association with the idea it's really not more complicated than that have there been any specific places that have adopted this so far yeah so there's venues all over the country we work with more artists we're now working with artists and Europe UK as well and then our other big customers schools which was unanticipated but um has turned out to be really I can imagine yeah yeah no that's a great point again like having possession of the phone but not having access that's that's actually since it's almost anti cheap technology as well right yeah that's a good point that is a really good point um so just out of curiosity do you are there any other unanticipated use cases that you were really surprised about that you said oh my gosh like I I haven't thought about that as a use for this but yeah I guess we could use it for that um no I think there's different types of utility for different spaces or different areas so some of them are pretty practical whether it's preventing people from ripping off copyrights and stuff on a production floor or stuff like that that's very just kind of utility okay and then there's more that you know kind of experiential side which is live music in these creating these spaces where people can be swept up into a shared mood and that's really kind of the most important to me these other ones are fine they're good but it's you know education is important because I think that we have really figured out maybe how new digital tools fit into education in a meaningful way and then entertainment yeah yeah it's so interesting that we you know we give ourselves these these technologies bits of technology these tools as you said and we have to figure out a way to force ourselves to not use them sometimes it's fascinating yeah and you made a good point before we started out doing this interview where you were saying that you know we're conditioned it's a habit now to sort of always have our phone either checking it out constantly or you know always using it or always kind of being in that habit of having it out and in use and so I think this is a really interesting sort of to kind of again with the whole you know keeping people mollified by letting them have their phone on them but also kind of saying okay just for two hours just be in the moment and let's just enjoy this are you know are you selling these as a product end users or is it sort of only a corporate or you know we have families that have ordered them and use them at home but more than that it's it goes with venues and artists or to the school so it's not really directly to those people but you know we're getting kind of new types of deals every day so very cool who knows so where can people find out more about yonder over yonder calm the yonder without an e yes why oh and ER because when dr it removes your electronics just trademark stuff would have added the e if we could and then uh and then what is like over yonder calm and then are you guys on social media at all but anybody want to tag you or ask you questions things like that we do not have any social media no Twitter no Facebook all their phones are locked out inside the building so that's part of the movement I like this as more than just a product but it really is a philosophical stance that you're taking which i think is kind of necessary where we are now yeah it's just more fun yeah with it thank you so much for for coming and talking to us about Yonder guys get ready for the bag put your phone in the bag well okay if you're watching the show don't put your phone back yeah put it in the bag right now don't finish watching the show and then for your phone bag we will be right back we are gonna have a major discussion about virtual reality B's there was tons of VR news that happened this last weekend we really want to talk about it all week so we decided to make it its own segment but thank you and stick around it's tomorrow daily great