IoT Coffee Talk
Welcome to IoT Coffee Talk where we talk tech and all things related to the Internet of Things. This program was started by a group of friends who just happen to be thought leaders, experienced practitioners and business leaders in the technology and communications services industries and more. This pod will feature weekly recordings of our casual conversations on the tech topics of the day with the hopes of delivering engaging and thought-provoking insights to our audience. We hope you enjoy program.
IoT Coffee Talk
#303 Rick was Wrong! (IoT is more than 20 Episodes!)
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
All right. Welcome everybody to IT Coffee Talk. I don't have a guitar today. I think the post required the value. Absolutely. Absolutely. But yes, then over time, you know, literally just started breaking out his guitar. And so we have lots of uh, you know, rocking out. Oh, let's see here. I'm gonna hit the admit. We got Stephanie. Hey, hey!
SPEAKER_04Hi there.
SPEAKER_06How's it going?
SPEAKER_04Good. How about you guys?
SPEAKER_06Straight out of Pandera.
SPEAKER_04Yes.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_04The countryhood.
SPEAKER_06Exactly. Exactly. Oh, good. Hang on. Let me let Pete in here. This is good, you know. This is better than I expected. You know, when I have to do the last minute, Rob's gonna send you an invitation. Is that what happened?
SPEAKER_04Like the one that we have like in our calendar, the one that you texted is completely different, right?
SPEAKER_06So it's just this one time. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Oh, okay, because I got into that one well ago.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, because Leonard's like, hey, I'm on a plane flying back from Barsa, so it might be well, you know, but these days, you know, you should I mean, are we do we not have Starlink going from airplanes now for some of them?
SPEAKER_04But have you been reading have you been reading how horrible the Southwest Airlines experiences are for everyone right now since they've changed?
SPEAKER_03No.
SPEAKER_04Like get on TikTok and read how horrible it is. Really? I mean, like, it makes me not want to ever fly Southwest Airlines ever again. That bad.
SPEAKER_06Oh, oh, that's what it took.
SPEAKER_04It used to be beautiful within Texas, you know, if you're going from San Antonio to Dallas, Dallas to Houston.
SPEAKER_06That's right. Yeah. You know, Stephanie, maybe you could give us the OG story of Southwest Airlines. Wasn't it just a triangle on a drink napkin? Something like that. Yes.
SPEAKER_04I don't know the origins. I have no idea.
SPEAKER_06I just know it's a Dallas, Dallas Love is like, did it come out of Texas International or you know, because there was other airlines in the past, you know, you obviously we used to have all kinds of cool like Branif and Eastern and you know, all that kind of stuff. Right, yeah. There's like a Braniff drive right near DFW airport. Um, absolutely. But yeah, you know, uh that that story, uh, what was the is it Herb? Keller, whatever that's the guy started, Southwest. And if like all good startups, it's it's on a drink napkin, and he just drew and he just drew a triangle. Houston, Dallas, San Antonio. And it's like where you can build an airline that just does this, you know, and uh we'll be the low fare airline, and flight attendants can be funny and silly, right? I remember that, you know. And I guess they were also known for being able to get in and out of an airport faster than anybody.
SPEAKER_04So and then they focused on all the regional airports, like each restaurant.
SPEAKER_02That's right. They don't have a home, right? They don't have a hub, does the whole the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00But Stephanie, you have rest assured that the changes you're experiencing as a Southwest are for two reasons. Number one, to improve the end customer experience, and number two, to maximize shareholder value.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, because our customers were telling us I want you to be just like all the other airlines.
SPEAKER_00Please. I no longer want free bags, please charge me for it. I have the money. Take my money, yeah, and number two, you know that whole thing, I really want to pick my seat the way everybody else is doing it. Let's do that.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, much for the caval car in the sky, you know.
SPEAKER_04You know, like well, let's please take away everything that differentiates my airline and just be done with those things.
SPEAKER_06Exactly.
SPEAKER_04Like, but like parents are being separated from two-year-olds, and they're not allowing, like, they're making them buy that seat. Sitting there open.
SPEAKER_05That's actually that might be an alternative.
SPEAKER_00It's a feature and not a bug, okay? The reason I fly southwest is because I don't want to be next to my children or my family or my friends or my loved ones. I see you at the airport and I'll see your baggage cards to David's too.
SPEAKER_04David, you were like writing their marketing messaging. Let's go.
SPEAKER_01Soon there'll be a card swipe on the restrooms, though. I mean, it's just getting nickel and brown. Oh my god. Yes.
SPEAKER_04Wait a minute, Steve. I see you have what a guitar in the background. Maybe you could fill in for Leonard's music.
SPEAKER_06Fill in for Leonard and play guitar.
SPEAKER_04We usually have an intro.
SPEAKER_06You know, just something. You know, give us your best Eddie Van Halen or something. If because if you don't do it, Pete's gonna do it because Pete is legit. Pete should do yes, Pete.
SPEAKER_05Very well set up right now.
SPEAKER_06So yeah, and you know the bummer thing audio thing I need to be prepped for. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Rob, you can do uh uh an air guitar, you know.
SPEAKER_06Air guitar.
SPEAKER_02Place it in post, put it in in post, Rob.
SPEAKER_06We'll put it in post. That's what that's that's what the show is all about. Is we'll screw it up during a live deal today. Exactly. And you know what, Pete? I I know you got new gear, but I really feel like the gain on your microphone is still quiet. Should I go up a little bit? I can go up like this. How's that?
SPEAKER_05Is that better?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, that's perfect. That's perfect. Yes, so all you guys you probably don't know, Ian. Ian, you can introduce yourself. He's a buddy of mine. We hang out at the Ion, which is a startup hangout here in Houston. Uh Ian is a mystery. Tell us about tech and what you do in upstream oil and gas.
SPEAKER_02Thanks, Rob. Hi guys. I um yeah, I'm I'm a former electrical engineer, software engineer, uh, oil and gas, you know, 20 of my 30-year career. Uh IoT uh is kind of like you know, the original control systems that we used to do back in the 90s, you know. So um, that acquisition system. So yeah, my background is hard tech. Um and in the last you know, last few years we've been doing a lot of work with uh companies that are trying to move that into more mainstream and just connecting it to the big enterprise software systems. Uh I share some a little overlap with Leonard, you know. Uh we we worked together IBM and he he used to keep me sane and tame. And so when I was younger. So yeah.
SPEAKER_06There's a real connection there. Leonard is like, oh my god, you know Ian? Oh, we work together.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's a small world we live in.
SPEAKER_06It is a small world, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Especially when David can meet up with the who did you meet up with recently?
SPEAKER_00Wait for it with our favorite internet troll, Rick Willada.
SPEAKER_04Rick, I could not believe that. I was like, wow, you he actually made it happen.
SPEAKER_00Yes, in real life, we compared uh hair notes and uh noes. Where did you see each other? Where were where were you? Uh just uh down the street in Geneva.
SPEAKER_03Geneva, okay. Like really randomly.
SPEAKER_00Was he headed somewhere to go skiing? Uh he's having a good time in the mountains, I hope. Oh, that's good. No, it was it was cool. You know, this is, I mean, joke jokes aside, it's this is uh we've been doing this for so long that we forget how communities used to happen when we started this, right? We started this out of out of COVID, out of a necessity that we used to get together, we couldn't get together, we used a tool to get together, and and this has come now full circle because I literally just met someone who I've been talking to for 300 and some odd episodes. Wow, right? Right. So it was uh no no, it was uh absolutely cool. But I was going to ask uh Ian is probably one of the only few people that can spell SCADA and COPL.
SPEAKER_02I program them both, by the way, long time ago. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06Oh, that sounds good to hear that. What is tell us what your company does? Timbergrove, what's that all about?
SPEAKER_02Thanks, Rob. Uh yeah, we're we're an engineering agency basically that uh we build custom software and hardware solutions. So if a company has a need for something that um either exists in the marketplace, they want to integrate it. So we integrate both not just the OT side, you know, the operational technology, but also the IT side, and we build either custom software, you know, a lot of pipelines, things that you already know, right? You know, we put together something with you using utilizing MQTT or Kafka systems like that, and then build applications on the end either in the end user side or the analytics side, you know, like uh some sort of prediction, you know, engine, you know, using machine learning models. Um, so basically we're mostly about having a delivery, um, increase up optimization and uptime for machinery and and minimizing downtime, mostly oil and gas and manufacturing, those are our primary customers.
SPEAKER_06And are you totally focused on upstream or is it all over the place?
SPEAKER_02We are all over the place, but the reality is that when we when we reach out to customers, we reach out upstream. The reason is because I spend uh about a year between Baker Hughes and NOV and drilling rigs and uh and the rig, you know, the drilling side of things, you know. So upstream does both uh drilling and exploration and it also does uh production of oil. And so those are the areas, areas that we know really well. So we when we have conversations with customers, it's a lot easier to do if you know that. I know a little bit about uh refineries, but it's not my field. So I try to stay away from that unless they want something very niche, that the technology is more important than the actual process itself, and so which it doesn't happen often, you know. So yeah.
SPEAKER_06I went to a plug and play event last week in Sugarland at their office, they were doing kind of like a batch selection thing. And yeah, I was amazed how much hard the hard tech that they were demonstrating. I'm I know a lot of us have been to pitch events, and we've seen how startups have been over the last 20 years, and they're all kind of software-y, webby, whatever. And I go to this thing, and people say, here's the prototype I did for this giant machine that plugs into refinery and sucks CO2 out of the air and does that. Everything there was just hard tech, huge industrial, and I felt really stupid all of a sudden. I thought, I thought I was a playa, and then I saw all these people, and they're of course they're all PhDs, and they're building really giant, hard, consequential things, and so it kind of changed my perspective.
SPEAKER_02Um, yeah there is a place here that uh one block away from the ion here in Houston, midtown Houston, is called uh the Greentown Labs. It's actually started in Boston, you know, and it's mostly clean tech and you know energy transition, but they actually have a lab, a section that is just labs. And uh, Rob, next time you're here on Friday, we should go there. We have a lab there. Timber has a little lab there. But the things that people people are building there are just incredible. There's a guy building this um, you know how pipes and drilling have these big threads, right? And every time that you put that pipe and goes downhole, if the thread gets damaged, when you're talking about thousands of tons of weight that you're putting on that pipe, right? That thread, if it is if it gets damaged, it could cost a huge thing. And you know, downhole, the the hole can collapse. It's you know, cost millions of dollars. Um, and so these guys are building something using just the the Jetson nanos, right? Uh and then cameras, and then using cameras, the Raspberry Pi type of cameras built into the inside of a cage that you put on top of the thread and in seconds tells you alignment, it can tell you whether it's out of specs. It's just incredible. I mean, this guy's and they're they're building with 3D printed uh materials, by the way, which is just incredible.
SPEAKER_00Um, Ian, I know it's your first time here, and uh I I only have two jobs here. I bring lack of intelligence and two, I clarify things for the for the young people. So these young people, downhole, Ian is talking about the tools and the operations that go into the ground, into the hole to get crude oil. He's not talking about a really bad hangover as you're being tossed out of your favorite book. That's not that's not what downhall is.
SPEAKER_02That's one clarification they didn't appreciate it.
SPEAKER_05I did I did see a stat somewhere that there's more uh college uh students studying kind of hardware and electrical engineering now than pure computer science. Like it's shifted. Uh it has to.
SPEAKER_00I think you know, one um I read somewhere from uh an alleged reputable source. If you were not doing um computer science before 2021, just forget about it. Just pivot to something else. That's not it.
SPEAKER_02Uh yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's all about the uh oil and gas, and maybe, you know, maybe even uh uh construction. You know, it's like talk about lessons that have always been there. These folks have always the good companies, the good athletes have always been in the local trade schools, you know, uh all your local shops, like basically um fostering and creating the awareness that these jobs exist, that these jobs are crucial, uh they pay well, you can see what you've built. Um they're not they're not fancy because you're not in an you know in an office downtown your favorite city, but you know, they're they're awesome jobs if you ever had the opportunity to be in a in a production site. My two cents.
SPEAKER_06No, you're so right.
SPEAKER_05Uh I saw I got I got caught in a bit of an in uh Instagram kind of hole last night as I was scrolling, doom scrolling. I saw there was a woman who had um uh built a uh she lived in some suburb in the Midwest and she built a she basically created a mine under her house. Um and she uh she dug a mine and um and she was mining rocks and she had built the forms for the concrete for the tunnel and like all this like it was like a multi-year project. And of course, then the city got involved and shut her down because she had no permits or anything. It was like and she had like this, you know, and she built this conveyor belt and like the and the stump pump and the whole thing, and it was incredible. And she was just doing this stuff, you know, and like you know, mining rocks under her house, and it was like an amazing set of engineering skills.
SPEAKER_03Oh random.
SPEAKER_05And she was running like you know, electrical conduit, and she was, I mean, talk about hard tech. I mean, it was just all you know hands-on stuff.
SPEAKER_04Speaking of construction and women, it's uh happy construction and happy women in construction week. Oh, there you go.
SPEAKER_06Outstanding.
SPEAKER_04I have um I have a few a few uh marketing construction companies and a ready mix company and commercial construction companies. And you're right though, David, it's all about all of their equipment maintenance operations, locating them, um, recovering them, safety, compliance, like that's like where all their energy is. It's not on this. I mean, from a software perspective, it's just like what we've been talking about AI for weeks and weeks and weeks, it's really they just see it as a tool.
SPEAKER_05So right, means to an end. Yeah. And even like like the concrete, I learned a lot about concrete and the uh the water ratios, and like you know, what the ratios of concrete you need to have to do different things and things like that.
SPEAKER_00So well, they have some tricky things like the the type of aggregate for the type of asphalt that is going to change based on altitude and whether you're building through a mountain is uh super cool. Shout out to Knife River, a subsidiary of Montana Dakota utilities all over the Pacific Northwest. Lots of cool rigs, lots of um, I mean, as a non-engineer, I could geek out about concrete mix.
SPEAKER_04And you know what, David, like it who would think that technology and ready mix is coming together right now. The biggest growth engines for my client, Guadalupe ReadyMix shout out in Texas, they are their two largest growth areas are one data centers. They're putting all the concrete in for these massive data centers all over Texas. And then number two, um the modernization of that's happening with the smart grid. And so they're they're they're in the middle of you know, building out the concrete platforms for these massive, you know, transmission lines that are being like they're old or antiquated, they need to be upgraded. Right. You know, you just don't think about like things that are happening in tech that are moving the needle. Texas is one of the fastest growing states for data uh center build out, and the fact that they need concrete, and and not only that, the trend is batch planting. So batch plants they can be moved and mobile and be set up really quickly on the fly, wherever that location is, and so they're not sitting there you know with a long line of trucks coming from so things are just like moving pretty quickly, and you never think about that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00Usually it takes us 20 minutes to get into something that's IoT uh related. You know, but the things that most of us for some time now, um, because you know we've had telematics for a while, but Ready Mix was one of the key use cases to be able to get um data from the drum that's mixing, because when you're doing when you're pouring a data center, that's that's different than the eight by eight shed that Rob and I bought our local Home Depot. We can do that just the two of us. But when you're pouring concrete, it is highly, highly orchestrated.
SPEAKER_05Right.
SPEAKER_00And eventually we made it into the telematics data where we can get data from the mixer in the back so that you can dispatch trucks in the right order so you get one continuous pour. Now, again, not an engineer. I cannot I I don't remember the intricacies, but it's the difference between a slab that the customer will approve, like you did a good job, and having problems down the end. Um and it's all monitored uh with you know lots of uh good old connectivity, all of the telematics. Yeah, streamed, baby, streamed, six Globes. Six Groups go together.
SPEAKER_04They were really hopping up 6G at Mobile World Congress.
SPEAKER_00You know, I monitor what else is there to talk about? There's I'd go to the four things that I didn't want anyone to talk about uh from Mobile World Congress. One was uh there's you know, they keep coming back with the smart glasses because Meta and Ray Ban, I mean they sold millions of these, so it's coming, whether we want to or not. Uh private wireless, that's still a big thing. I'm I'm a fan of that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh SPG32, because we all want AC to swap IoT deployments, but 6G, because 6G is what telcos really, really need to double quadruple revenue. That's all you need. Oh wait, should I tell them?
SPEAKER_06Oh I remember when they were saying that about 5G, and we're gonna make so much more money and pee remember oh yeah, 4G. They found some analysts that said people will like double things, yes, double.
SPEAKER_05Folks not on this call. Folks not on this call.
SPEAKER_06Not on this call, but they found analysts, Ericsson and Verizon and everybody, they said, Yeah, people pay a premium for the faster 5G speeds. And how did that work out? People like, nope, it's table stakes, absolutely not.
SPEAKER_04And these just needs to be inherited when I pick up my phone.
SPEAKER_02It's like I remember the the use case of the the the surgeon who would need a consultation with somebody visually. I'm like, really, how many was those hierribus are happening these days, you know?
SPEAKER_05Not surgery on a banana.
SPEAKER_02That's right, that's right.
SPEAKER_00We know here, uh so I won't defend the banana surgery, but but let's let no listen, listen, let's be thoughtful about it. Uh, this was a marketing ploy, it it showed it showed a capability that uh was never tied to a wireless network before, right? So it's like, hey, before you couldn't do this, one day you you could do this. Uh but the big miss is that if any responsible adult that has a condition that warrants, that requires uh surgery and care from a board certified responsible surgeon, none of us would choose the goddamn robot controlled by the guy. I need the guy. Oh the gal. Humans, we all know about robotic dexterity. And on top of that, I'm going to add a network. Anyway.
SPEAKER_06But wait, that's low latency.
SPEAKER_04What were you saying, Steve?
SPEAKER_05Ultra low latency, Rob.
SPEAKER_04I didn't hear what you Steve, I didn't hear what you were saying.
SPEAKER_01I was just saying I think they should just go straight to 7G. Just not roll people's tracks up and down goes to 11.
SPEAKER_0511 G that's exactly right.
SPEAKER_02So let's keep one version, right? Let's keep one version.
SPEAKER_05So Steve Cannon is Yeah, it was like Windows, we didn't do Windows 9.
SPEAKER_06Remember that we went from Windows 8 to Windows 10 because it was there was something about Windows 95 is going to screw things up or something. Some some nonsense so Steve Steve Cannon is like the most IoT person on this call right now. And I would love for you to break last time you were on the call it's been a while you had long hair um and you were doing the twin thread thing up in Bozeman. Maybe catch everybody up with what you're doing these days.
SPEAKER_01Yeah I've since relocated two hours east of Houston to Lake Charles, Louisiana where I'm from uh I did come out of twin thread. I basically use a white label version of twin thread and went down market to go simplify it. And uh our first pilot project was with a concrete and asphalt factory. Nice 5,000 tons a day they have a rotary kiln system on eight motors has to rotate at a certain speed at 600 degrees Fahrenheit on these 850 horsepower motors. They don't know which ones are going to fail but if they lose more than two the whole operation stops. We put on energy sensors and vibration sensors and 24 hours later came back and said number two that was not that one doesn't look right. You know, and number five is certainly consuming way more energy than the rest. And sure enough those were the first two out of the eight to go and instead of having four or six of these on standby they knew they only needed two and so it was kind of first visibility into a factory there that was 50 years old almost. And then the other was their conveyor system simple thing they offload ships if they get too much tonnage and they don't know density from shipload to ship upload or even on the ship sometimes if they get too much the whole system stops. And then they have to manually shovel off the conveyor system to get back to an operational weight before they can start it again. So but really simplified of uh plug and play show it at work short-term value quickly and then do more of it.
SPEAKER_06Right. So pulse checker is your company yeah um and I remember getting to ride shotgun with you and Bozeman a few winters ago I can't believe that you're pitching VCs in the dead of winter like in December in Bozeman so I got to experience you learn to survive.
SPEAKER_01Yes yes and so that was that was fun hanging out with you there and I never thought I'd go to everybody who goes to Bozeman who decides oh we're moving here this is the best city in America you're there like in August you know yeah well it was a hurricane down here Hurricane Rita that pushed us up there uh we ended up in Las Vegas for two years I was in the casino world at the time um and then ended up in Bozeman and it wasn't on our roadmap and managed to stay for almost 17 years but three years was the magic number anybody that moved up there if they made it past three years three winters not just summers there's a pretty good chance they would stay because there's like a lot we saw a lot of yuppie Californians who moved there because they heard it was cool and we don't know if they can survive you know seeing their west right I've seen 37 below on my dashboard.
SPEAKER_06Wow thank no thank you wow my body wouldn't survive that it's like the first thing you need to ask the people from LA when they move to Bozeman it's like all right how many cords of wood have you collected to see if you can make it through the winter because you have no idea I know you're watching Yellowstone and you think it's just going to be great.
SPEAKER_05There are a couple of dirt lights in there all good.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Absolutely um but man the stuff Steve's doing I mean the the machines you're building um you know I know it started with you know freezers and coolers and restaurants.
SPEAKER_01Yeah um and the stuff you're doing is hardcore we're doing digital twins of boats tugboats big 5,000 horsepower engines uh entire school systems um it's it's really been interesting finding people that really want to get nerdy about old equipment.
SPEAKER_02Yeah yeah I and I think we've said that on the show before you know earlier days of IoT the the people if you want to have success in IoT you have to work with old stuff you gotta embrace you got to embrace brownfield embrace because too many people dove in IoT early on and they showed up at Raspberry Pis and they told companies I need you to rip out all that old stuff and we're gonna put in all the shiny new stuff and those what do those people say get the hell out of my office rip and replace is never a good thing in IoT for sure yes you need to most of us can have to leave oh well thanks for joining us guys yeah I'm sorry only 30 minutes but a pleasure to meet everybody I've watched you from the distance so excited to uh to share some time with you guys appreciate it absolutely nice to you David's dropping off too so yeah but you know I'll say I'll say something nice on my way out about the oil and gas guy too that just dropped off.
SPEAKER_00Yeah the um it's it's it wasn't hype but uh you know doing work with utilities and oil and gas companies um it was incredible to see the success in deals and the satisfaction of the customer when all you would do is say listen this dual hickey this widget all it's going to do is going to let you remotely monitor the things that you're driving two hours through the mountains to check that's all I'm doing I'm not doing anything else if there's an alarm it will tell you if something opens it will tell you if you're doing if you have a pump station or a little SCADA system and you got to come look at this uh you know Windows 7 computer I can I can give you all that from the main office that was it we were not talking about lifting and shifting no no forklifting of deals no uh no new software no new nothing and oil and gas they were incredible uh great users for uh good old IoT remote monitoring I think we got too big for our britches sometimes with IoT and got too slick and it's like you know what what's the basic great thing it does it does great remote monitoring and gives you a heads up that is like the original OG use case for almost all of the industries like yeah if you look if you look at all the different like core applications it was remote monitoring and tracking were like that's just the that's the mother load from the industrial marketplace that is where all the money's being made outside of that it was like just wishful thinking.
SPEAKER_06Yeah and I would see bro take it easy you know and I know we talked about this with AI uh everybody's expecting AI to do all these things I remember one of our shows we just said let's just get level set what are the handful of things that we know for sure AI is good at and maybe if we just focused on building value around that you know what what can it do? It can summarize data documents like you know it can write code there's like there's this handful of stuff where we for sure know this is really good and then there's like a million things that everyone talks about that's la la land that it may or may not be good at and I think I think I think it gets challenging when most folks are using um these open AI systems that are fed any and all data whereas like if you're a corporation and you're feeding training simulation models whatever you're training it with your already trusted information materials documentation code that to me is where the beauty lies in AI not this system that has all these external factors being fed into it which creates a lot of bias which not providing sovereign data like it's just a lot of mess. And so I think that we have to get really smart around that the internal use corporate use um organizations government entity use like things that are already trusted and in this environment um it's a completely different story um when you're talking about use cases and trusted data yeah I love how the uh I'm gonna mispronounce his name anyway the head of DeepMind at Google his little comment and I posted it he was just like all right here's how we're gonna figure it out he goes we'll train the you know like Gemini for instance because that's where he works with everything there is to know and then we're gonna cut off that know-how at the year 1911 and then we're gonna see if it can come up with the theory of relativity on its own. And if it can then we'll know we've reached AGI. If it cannot then we know that we just have a you know a pattern matching mimicking machine. That's all it is.
SPEAKER_05And so and yeah it's it's interesting you know yeah but it's all you know it's all about the data that the thing is trained on. So you know these the chatbots and these kind of frontier models that are trained on you know 4chan and like old soap bup or reruns and stuff are inherently creating like really bad personalities and characteristics. But if you train the data more locally on the actual job you want to get done then um you get a lot more kind of accuracy and predictability and so of course I'm a little biased but I think that uh you know moving these models to more specific use cases as opposed to general purpose frontier models is really the way to go in terms of getting real ROI. I mean better problems first exactly so I think that's the migration is going to be toward more specific models and expertise now it's interesting my former boss at Microsoft has created a kind of a you can sort of hire these virtualized engineers like I think it's a chemical engineer you can hire like these employees quote unquote that are trained on very specific expertise probably some frontier models on the back that were trained on four chair which is not good. But uh but the idea of creating more specialized intelligence as opposed to talk about general intelligence I would argue there's not such a general intelligence. So there's either specialized intelligence or there's the intelligence of humanity which is as we know pre-twisted uh so you get uh you get models that um you know try to blackmail people and uh try to have self-preservation you know like we've been saying with Anthropic. I don't want that. So so that was the mistake initially it was training it on the garbage of humanity. Yeah the answer is training it on the data around the problem that you want to solve with enough kind of language capability to make sense of the data. But um we'll get there. We'll get there maybe we we and maybe we end up Pete with these microagents that are uh company specific or industry specific or use case outcome specific or well I think people that can show that they can provide agentic AI and the and the and the they can trace back to the um authenticity of the data it was trained on I think those will be valuable assets to invest in.
SPEAKER_04Do you guys feel like we we jumped over sanitizing the data side of it and we just jumped right over that into the capabilities.
SPEAKER_01So we're talking about the bias. There's two kinds of bias intended and unintended and everything. Right. And we just think it's pure and it's so unpure. Yeah that's not even what Oracle's talking about now. You know everybody's talking about the nature of what these are built upon and the bias.
SPEAKER_05Well initially they didn't have enough data to train it on so they just sucked in everything from YouTube and like I said all those soap opera reruns and 4chan's and whatever they could get their hands on and lo and behold it's kind of uh you get some weird behavior there.
SPEAKER_06I want to I want to see an AI model that's just trained 100% on Alex Jones.
SPEAKER_03You know oh my God. Yeah I'll come I'll come eat your children.
SPEAKER_05That's right.
SPEAKER_01Well yeah but but as well singularly looking at any one person there's massive bias.
SPEAKER_05Sure everyone has bias. Yes anyway prejudgments or prejudice.
SPEAKER_04One of the exercises that was going around I think it was trending some I don't remember social media or TikTok or is go into one of these um platforms chat GPT or whatever and just ask it to write a bio on yourself and watch it go find some stuff and put a little write up together and then you read it and you're like that's there's some there's all kinds of things that's either missing or misinterpreted or it's actually saying some things that it thinks are fact that are completely untrue and you're like this confidently giving that answer.
SPEAKER_01It's not telling you hey there's a 60% chance this is correct. It's confidently giving an answer.
SPEAKER_05Yeah yeah in a very sycophantic way.
SPEAKER_06Yeah for sure very you know step a whole other personality disorder by the way that's yeah when I think about this the AI and the data centers and stuff like that closer to where you live like there's a lot of construction data center stuff around San Marcos area or there's proposals to do that.
SPEAKER_04In Bass Drop.
SPEAKER_06Bass drop and I've but I've just heard some news about people showing up at city council meetings saying we already have a drought out here we don't have enough water to feed these you know and obviously there's been all the talk about electricity and stuff like that. I just didn't know if you knew anything if you ever hear anything about that.
SPEAKER_04No that's that's a huge thing going on right now. They're they're going to the T T C EQ it's the environmental I forgot what it stands for it's Texas it's the compliance for it's the environmental compliance um organization over Texas. And so there's the two sides we're complaining about water and we're complaining about electricity use so if we our community is not getting you know we're not re you know we are already can see the growth in our population and the demand for electricity and then now you're bringing in all these data centers like what's going to happen to our quality of life and then the second secondarily yes a lot of these industrial plants a lot of the the data centers require water right and so there's a big fee and even just creating the concrete lots of water these backs like so they're like what's going to happen to our communities and the quality of our air and the quality of our water and so that's a huge thing but Bassdrop which is east of Austin where you've got between like north of Austin and east of Austin you've got you have the big Amazon warehouses you have Tesla AWS we have all of that stuff and all that growth right there and everything's being built out and so it's like Austin proper you know and it's between Austin and college station where all that all that growth is and so that's where a lot of the build out is right now.
SPEAKER_05There's also you know noise pollution I mean data centers put off 90 decibel plus light pollution and unfortunately the public sentiment I don't know if it's unfortunately but the fact is the public sentiment is against uh a lot of this kind of AI and data center stuff. They just don't want it they just don't see the value add of adding more data centers to it doesn't and the other thing is the employment per square foot jobs per square foot on data centers really low. I mean you don't need that many humans to run a data center. So it's not like it's creating any jobs it's just pulling I mean I think definitely on the power side it's going to be there'll be some well maybe not for the next few years but some regulation that says all data centers need to be self-powered like oh wait for it wait for it.
unknownGo ahead.
SPEAKER_06And to your point there Pete what just happened on the fourth the uh day before yesterday um all the different hyperscalers and AI got to hang out with their buddy President Trump in the White House and they all signed this rate payer protection pledge which basically says what you just said they they all they're all on the hook they're like you have to come provide and create your own new energy sources you cannot do anything that's going to cause electricity rates to be hitting the people in the surrounding communities yeah um they also also a little thing that was included on there is is they it's kind of a social thing it was like you need to hire people in your local community to be working at these places so those three people working at the data center need to be local yeah well because I remember reading the blurb I mean it's probably exaggerated but the the big the shock value takeaway with the self-powered is the only way to go I mean you know we we already know this the hyperscalers don't want to take a dependency on public grids you know they can't take a dependency on the public grid because the public grid's 50 years old right and it needs a lot of work.
SPEAKER_05So they're like well we'll just build our data center next to this new power plant behind the meter and call it a day and and that's also why you're seeing a lot of interest in small nuclear reactors and some of these other longer term kind of solution it reminds me of it reminds me of if you've ever noticed anytime you see a Home Depot you'll see a chilies nearby well it's it's the strangest thing there's a there's always a chili so this is this is what's happening with the data centers like the data centers are really close to a substation or electrical power.
SPEAKER_04You know so I'm like with with in that backstrop area the all you know because of Tesla and Amazon and all of that build out all the distribution warehouses all out that way today um you know I don't I don't see the employment being driven you're right Pete by the data center build out that's close to close by but the the housing development is going up just as fast as all of the industrial warehouses and and it's housing it's massively happening it's happening at such a fast pace there's also a really cool airport out in Vastrop that is like an innovation center where they have like big tech um robotics and drone and um supercomputing and all of that because they want to be near Tesla and Amazon and all of you know all of that. So you're starting to see some little patterns here where you have a data warehouse built out you know you're you're gonna have a bunch of other businesses that are going to be nearby. So it might be good from a business perspective or even just a expansion perspective to start following that Azure City.
SPEAKER_06So it'll be the Azure data center with the Azure chilies and the I want to go to the Azure shop you know and oh my god is this like that movie with Wesley Snipes and Stallone in the future like Taco Bell won the restaurant wars or something.
SPEAKER_01That's right that's right everything's all happening every restaurant's called Taco Bell Rob you won a Los Dios next to all of the yes that's right the buckies Buckeys now Bucky's what it's oh there's plenty of buckys called that way so yeah my Bucky's experience when I was in Texas recently my first bucky's experience there is a bass drop bucky's by the way there is yeah it seemed like they were everywhere when I was driving what did you what in Baytown all the time oh yeah yeah Pete that's an amazing place what did you get though when you were there I got well I got lots of different things.
SPEAKER_05Well I got a brisket sandwich for lunch because I felt like that was obligated. And then I got some uh I got some lime and salt peanuts Bucky's lime and salt peanuts and I got uh pretty large diet coke like a pretty big one um you didn't get the bucky nuggets the the no we got we got a bag of Bucky Nuggets it's actually in the pantry uh cheese nuggets I don't know buckies nuggies yeah no it was uh it was uh it was definitely and of course I got some gas at one of the uh 185 gas pumps out front yeah so uh you know that's um aggi owned right no they oh also they also had the what were they they like have the roasted nuts the roasted nuts smells makes it smell real good with blocking you know yeah all that no it was pretty impressive impressive as a as a stop on the highway but then quite Course, yeah. As soon as you leave one, there's a sign for the next one.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. Uh you're right.
SPEAKER_04You always hear the you can't go in there without spending $50.
SPEAKER_06For sure. It's like Costco. It is. It's like Costco. I don't know what happened. I just spent $400. I don't know why.
SPEAKER_05I came in to get some paper towels and I left with uh a couple of bars of gold.
SPEAKER_04You know, do they have the do they have any in um crossing the border there in Lake Carl? Oh okay.
SPEAKER_01That's cool. Where do you live?
SPEAKER_05I'm in Bellevue, Washington. I'm up here in the Pacific Northwest. Got it. I was in a strange land in Texas. It was fun.
SPEAKER_04I can't believe how close you were. I was like, Pete, you're in my on the corner.
SPEAKER_05Should have we should have had uh so Rob and I had some catfish sandwiches. We should have had you over there for that.
SPEAKER_04Oh, I I'll pass on that.
SPEAKER_06Pete had a po-boy.
SPEAKER_04Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_05I know a native there for a few days.
SPEAKER_06But you're right, you know, we have you because I I feel like the the head the IoT Coffee Talk headquarters is in Bandera out at her ranch, you know.
SPEAKER_04Sure, if you want it to be.
SPEAKER_06We we should all get together. We should have like a summit or some kind of a yeah.
SPEAKER_04I feel like we need like we need to have some kind of event. If you've ever been on IoT Coffee Talk, if you've ever been on any of the podcasts, that we get a full collective together, yeah, and we have some kind of like reunion somewhere. Bandera, maybe we'll all then maybe we do some live events and do something fun and some discussions.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, everybody will fly into Bandera's International Airport, you know. And uh I think it's the last best place in Texas. It might be.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you know, it's the you know it's um their um tag line is cowboy capital of the world.
SPEAKER_06Oh, I didn't know that. Wow. That's something, that's for sure. You know, well, I've been seeing a lot of cowboys around Houston lately because the rodeo is now going on, and so that's a big deal. And so every Friday morning, like you know, you saw Ian there go to this this tech place they built downtown called the Ion, and it's you know, they do a deal every Friday morning trying to and so we kind of we mentored founders and startups and stuff like that. I had just noticed this morning at this event, there were like a sizable number of people wearing cowboy hats and boots.
SPEAKER_04They're all ready to go to the rodeo tonight, huh?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I have yours on the big deal. You know what? I know you got it. It's right there. I got a couple. I bet. I've got a couple.
SPEAKER_04Well, do you have tickets to any of the um shows this year? You probably can't hear me now, but um they the San Antonio just wrapped up. It goes Fort Worth Rodeo and then San Antonio, now it's Houston.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, yeah. She's trying to create the illusion that they have all something in common as opposed to the world's largest rodeo, live structure rodeo on the planet.
SPEAKER_04Houston is definitely this the hub, but they all have great like concerts. Like that's the theme because they have great concerts.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, so guess who Kathy and I are gonna go see, not tomorrow Saturday, but the following Saturday. Kelly Clarkson.
SPEAKER_04Oh, he's gonna be amazing.
SPEAKER_06Love Kelly Clarkson, and whenever I say that name, I just think of the movie, you know, 40-year-old version, you know, Steve Corell. Remember the waxing his chest and they're like, we're ripping out.
SPEAKER_04He goes, Kelly Clarkson! 40-year-old version.
SPEAKER_05Uh yes. By the way, speaking of events, PSA, so Rob and I, and actually Leonard, we will be in San Diego at the March 24th to the 26th for edge AI San Diego. So if people have not yet gotten their tickets, uh see you down there, and we have day passes available too. I'm still holding. Yes, Stephanie, you are welcome. We will roll out the red carpet for you.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I am um I'm trying to make I'm trying to coordinate some things on the back end to make it work. We'll see. We'll see.
SPEAKER_05We've got lots of qual lots of qualcomers down there.
SPEAKER_04So unfortunately, all the people that I'm trying to coordinate with were at we're just getting back from mobile world conference.
SPEAKER_05So yeah, no, everyone's at MWC and all that stuff. And in embedded world, I'm flying out to Nuremberg on Saturday for embedded world.
SPEAKER_04So that'll be a good one. That'll be a good one. There's a lot of people.
SPEAKER_05Busy month of things, but March is like um swamped. Like, yeah, March is a little crunchy, a little crunchy. But uh April, I think we're at microelectronics in Austin. We'll be back in Texas and microelectronics in Austin and April will be there. I won't be there, but we'll have the foundation will be there.
SPEAKER_04So that one looks good. And Smart Cities Connect is next week in uh Raleigh, and then the week after that is NVIDIA GTC. Yeah, the GTC. So there's just a lot going on in March for tech.
SPEAKER_06A lot of stuff. And I and one of our IoT copy talk mates, Bill Pugh, I saw he's gonna be speaking at what is it?
SPEAKER_04Connect Connect and America is Connect America, and he's gonna be at Smart Cities Connect next week as well. That the the Connect America is in April.
SPEAKER_06Okay, I just saw that.
SPEAKER_04I've been assisting and helping with some of the PR and marketing with that they have going on with those events, and there's just a lot going on, but really cool stuff going on in um Carrie, Count of Carrie. Oh, um, and then of course, they've already made some big announcements on some of the work and activities that they're doing with Frisco, Texas. Um, so yeah, there's some really cool stuff. And uh doing putting together these operational dashboards, digital twin technology with these cities is is essentially a lot of the things that Bill is working on. So it's cool.
SPEAKER_06That's awesome. Well, I might have to go to the Connect America thing. That's up in Dallas.
SPEAKER_04Um, yes, it's in the Dallas area.
SPEAKER_06Okay.
SPEAKER_04That's in April. I'll have to look it up, but it's called Connect. Is it Connected America or Connect America?
SPEAKER_06Something like that. Yeah. You'll have to send it to the Oh, I I saw the post from Bill, and it's like click here to get your free pass.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. If you become if you're a speaker, then they'll give you a little special link to speak to people.
SPEAKER_06I'm gonna get my free pass and then I can just drive up there. Rob, I'll pick you up. Okay, that sounds like a pleasure.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's a good it's a good event, and a lot of city CIOs, a lot of Dallas folks there too, like leaders, you know.
SPEAKER_06Yes, I'll be there.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Yes, what's her name? Sanders.
SPEAKER_04Um what is it, the North Texas Alliance people, they'll be there.
SPEAKER_06Okay.
SPEAKER_04Um, there's also a Dallas, I think Dallas Alliance, and it's all the city operations, um, you know, people that are part of that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05That's okay. Yeah, there's so many of these. Uh I would say every kind of industry vertical show now is a tech show. You know, so every show is a tech show. LA Auto Show is a tech show, you know. Um all these things. We're also gonna be at Automate in Chicago in June. We're gonna do that.
SPEAKER_03Oh that, yeah, I saw that one.
SPEAKER_05There's also AI Plus Expo in Washington, DC in May, which is uh we have our new defense working group. We're gonna do a panel there. We'll love that things. But it's all every industry vertical.
SPEAKER_04You're just gonna be all over.
SPEAKER_05Well, you know, Ed JI is all over, so we get pulled in lots of directions, and you know, every week we get invited to go whatever. Fortunately, we'd be staffed up a little bit so we can cover more ground, and it's just not just me flying around everywhere.
SPEAKER_04So uh Divide and Conquer.
SPEAKER_06Edge AI is so hot right now. It is.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, well I have my shout out, so I have my Auto X Innovator Awards and Yeah, what's going on with that? This is the third edition of this. We don't do this every year, so um, it is focused on physical AI, edge AI, robotics, um, and automotive technologies. So um we had this is probably the most submissions I've seen um with this awards program. So I think there's a lot of excitement, a lot of interest in all of the innovation that's taking place in those sectors. And there's a lot of overlap, by the way. There's a lot of autonomous systems, yeah, you know, robotics and in the industrial space and manufacturing and automotive. So there's a lot of overlap. So that press release goes out next Wednesday, and you'll see all the award winners from that program.
SPEAKER_05If you can find some robots that can fold the laundry and carry the laundry, that's really the by the way, Pete.
SPEAKER_04I was looking at your list of partners, and there are some people that are award winners that are edge AI partners.
SPEAKER_05So I was like, we have we have now, I think, 60, 65 different partners. I mean, it's uh that's amazing. It's yeah, we get a lot of uh startups now and uh new folks. We just had Avnet we announced this week as a part of uh Avnet worldwide. So um oh that's good. Pretty cool. So yeah, no, it's uh the whole physical AI. Someone someone uses the term embodied AI, which I don't know if I'm really a fan of, but I know what that means. You know what that means? Okay, for the one.
SPEAKER_06Well, robots, people are in the robotic space, they talk up when they say the word embodied, they actually mean it's like literally it could be just a robot arm or cuckoo robot or whatever. It's in the body, but that's what they mean, it's embodied, and in China that's all they say is embodied when they refer to physical yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Maybe that's why because culturally, like that's just the the term that they use. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then the like specific industries, it's uh autumn, you know, it's AGR and AMR, and you know, there's a lot of the actions that are coming into that. So, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Well, like in the robotic space, what I learned was there's the the movable robots, which are called something, and then there's the robotic arms, which are called something else, and then you can combine those two together, so you have a movable robot with an arm, and that's something else. So there's like a lot of different um Lego permutations going on.
SPEAKER_04It is evolving. And you know what?
SPEAKER_05At at CES not all just humanoid with like a smiley face.
SPEAKER_04Oh, and you know what? A lot of the stuff we saw at CES, there is someone in the background that was managing all that, and so yeah, it was another thing, but there was a lot of there was a lot of discussion and hype around just tactile um improvements.
SPEAKER_05Yes, dexterity is a hot topic.
SPEAKER_04Dexterity and tactile, like that is like I think that that was one of the areas that I saw a lot of just yes innovation around.
SPEAKER_05So yeah, yeah, we have analog devices is one of our new partners, and they are very invested. If you think about it, it makes sense, um, in the sensor world and dexterity world and uh pressure sensing and uh how do you you know the gripping and the touching and the all that stuff. Yeah, that has to be that's a uh big tech problem.
SPEAKER_06It's a huge tech problem. I remember watching uh I was at a agriculture show a few years ago in eastern Washington, and it was like it was a really sad uh session they did. It was a post-mortem on this robotic apple picking company and that that didn't make it that didn't make it, and you're watching the video, and I was so blown away. I was so impressed. You know, they're going down the line, it's like you see lights flashing and computer vision and picking apples and stuff like that, because that they have a huge labor problem in agriculture.
SPEAKER_01Um, and and I was like a problem to solve, yeah.
SPEAKER_06Right, it had a problem to solve, right? And I was so impressed, and I was and they were like, is it not fast enough or whatever? You know, and it wasn't quite as fast as humans doing it, but the problem was it was bruising the apples, the dexterity, yeah. And they said, We can't sell those apples, yeah. People are picky when they go to the grocery store. If they see an apple that looks they're like, forget it.
SPEAKER_05No, yeah, it's gotta be a like picking strawberries. I mean, that's yeah. Oh, there's lots of folks working on that, and it'll get solved, but it's definitely an opportunity for like that. We go back to the hard tech and the physical sciences, you know, and uh the software is important, but the the real world, we say we say connecting AI to the real world. This is the real world, you know. Yeah, apple picking. Uh I noticed I have one of those baskets on the end of a pole that I use to pick up what you're like for you. Go you kind of yank it and it goes into the basket. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Well, I noticed that one of my I had the I have two different ways. I have a drive every morning to Fredericksburg, Texas, for my son to go to school. And one of them, if I go through comfort, they have this great feed mill right in the middle of town. Like it's so cool because it's right in the middle of town, and the doors are always open. So I love they had a Kookah Robotics massive arm picking up these massive bags of feed that they had already you know bagged up, and it's it's gone. So I'm like, where's where's my robotic arm? So I'm like, I wonder what happened with that that tool that it's not working.
SPEAKER_06It's got a new job at Kroger or Whole Foods.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, it's working the checkout line at uh Kroger.
SPEAKER_04A T B.
SPEAKER_05I heard there's also robots now in the grain silos, like there's these robots that kind of scurry through the grain silos and that go in and around something in there because I guess it's very dangerous for people to be in. Oh, I've heard people get buried in all in and so now there's robot robots in there that are like rotating the grain or something. Okay.
SPEAKER_06Well that would not be good to be buried in grain in a silo. Like if you're at the bottom of the silo and it gets no, very dangerous.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you could uh so robots are now taking over the grain silo stuff.
SPEAKER_04I read that somewhere else, Pete. I like barely like read maybe the two-minute headline, but I didn't get into it. So probably what we're probably see reading some of the same stories.
SPEAKER_05We are well now that now that uh AI is listening, our Instagram feeds are gonna pop up with grain silo uh articles and stuff.
SPEAKER_04Actually, my Instagram feed for compass my Instagram feed for compass intel is like after CES, it's all robotics. I'm like, okay.
SPEAKER_06But that's all we saw at CES.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, but it's it's watching and listening to the things that I'm looking at, so it's funny.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, it's true. Wow, yikes.
SPEAKER_01I don't want to see any more videos of them practicing kung fu and jujutsu and backflips in hand combat and back useless uh dancing dancing robots, yeah.
SPEAKER_06But it's progress because if you looked at the robots last year, they're like fallen over and they couldn't do anything, and so the fact that they could do kung fu is yeah, cool and terrifying at the same time.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, they're showing just how maneuverable they are, I think, more than anything. But some of the displays at CES, they're so comical, you're like, okay, I know that they just showcase that, but they don't talk about the real world applications because of this improvement. Like they're just talking about it.
SPEAKER_05It doesn't make a good demo as the laundry folding robot.
SPEAKER_04Exactly.
SPEAKER_06We should have recreated that at CES and had show before and after. And like maybe sacrifice some money.
SPEAKER_04They could have partnered up with Kubota or one of the other big tractor guys that were out there and just been right next door to them and done that.
SPEAKER_05Or maybe like a ball pit instead of grain silo could be like a McDonald's ball pit robot or something. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Ooh, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Cleaning the balls in the ball pit automatically.
SPEAKER_06If you're in that ball pit at Chuck E. Cheese, you're probably gonna get sick.
SPEAKER_03You are gonna get sick.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, it's kind of like going to Great Wolf Lodge and swimming around in that water with all the other little kids who are all yikes. Yeah, yeah. Every time we hear my my wife being a school teacher, they some family, oh yeah, we spent the weekend at Great Wolf Lodge. And sure enough, the kids are like sick for the next three days.
SPEAKER_05Quarantine.
SPEAKER_06Quarantine. Yeah, pretty much.
SPEAKER_04It's just full of bacteria.
SPEAKER_06It pretty much is. Well, I guess we can wrap it up now. This has been a wonderful show.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, we survived without Leonard. That's amazing. I know. I can't believe it.
SPEAKER_06We we could do it.
SPEAKER_04Y'all, I could not, I could not keep up with his posts. I want to read them all, but I haven't been able to see the content machine. Yeah, because I want to read what's happening. I'm not there, I have FOMO, so and I want to read and learn, but I'm like, oh my god, I don't know if I can keep up with this post.
SPEAKER_06I think the coolest thing, the coolest picture I saw though, and you saw it, was the Mark Post posting that picture of him with Steve Aoki. The DJ.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_06I was like, how the hell did that happen? You're at Mobile World Congress and you get posed with Aoki? Oh my god. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_05I think Steve is working with Qualcomm, though, I think.
SPEAKER_06Maybe probably that's probably why he's there. Yeah. You know, you know, we'll go check him out at his residency in Vegas. The glamorous life of Leonard Lee.
SPEAKER_04They'll spend that money.
SPEAKER_06Exactly. I think don't they make like a hundred thousand dollars a night or something doing the EDM stuff in Vegas? You know, to uh DJs?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, these DJs. Well, fame very famous DJs. I mean, it's worldwide fame, you know. Yeah, they're they're living large, you know. So yeah, who knew? It is a it is a career path for some folks, no question.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, that was helpful. Nice, good. All right, thanks everybody for coming and joining us on IoT Coffee Talk. Um, but a word from our most important sponsor, Stephanie, is gonna talk to you about elevate communities communities.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, you know, Rob, it is it has been a struggle when you're setting up a nonprofit and someone else is using the same name as you in a small little East Texas nonprofit, getting them to send over paperwork so you can actually move forward with your nonprofit. That's been our challenge. It has been signed, but I need actual paperwork in my hands. Like if you're gonna notarize something, you can't send that to me digitally.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_04It will not work.
SPEAKER_06Right.
SPEAKER_04So I feel like I might have to just do a drive to East Texas. You're gonna have to go to this little go meet her and register document because we cannot move forward until we have that document in hand, and I got everything else ready. So in the meantime, you can check out elevatecommunities.org. We're talking about pre-disaster during the disaster and post-disaster relief. The goal is to bring together technologists as well as the solutions to really support in drought, fires, and all the other disasters that are happening across the states. So stay tuned while we get ourselves organized. But that is going to be, you know, as soon as we have the information, we're gonna share that with all of the greater IoT Coffee Talk crew. And um, just stay tuned.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. Turns out IoT can help out with a lot of that stuff. Early warning, remote monitoring of things when things go bad, right? Yeah, absolutely. All right. Well, good seeing everybody. Thank you. It was great seeing all of you. Yeah, great man. Don't be a stranger, Steve.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and check out all the episodes at IoTcoffeetalk.com.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, and we're also on Substack now. Substack, YouTube. We're all over the place. Everywhere. Yeah, every time stack was cool, and so now we're on Substack. Blue Sky. No, not Blue Sky. Sorry. I tried Blue Sky for a while, and now there's like it's like a ghost town.
SPEAKER_05It's a ghost town. I think we auto-post the blue sky.
SPEAKER_06Okay.
SPEAKER_05It's part of my agent, uh, AI agent posts the blue sky. Absolutely. Just in case.
SPEAKER_06Just in case. There might be one person out there. You never know.
unknownNever know.
SPEAKER_06All right, we'll see y'all next week. All right. Take care, everybody.
SPEAKER_04Bye.
