CES and End Player One (up)

Welcome to

2

User Friendly 2.0 with host Bill Sikkens,

3

technology architect.

4

And this is User Friendly 2.0.

5

Welcome to this week's show.

6

And if you missed this last week again

7

May this be a wonderful year

for everybody.

8

It'll be interesting for us.

9

We've got some exciting new things

coming this year for user friendly.

10

You're just gonna have to wait

and see what they are,

11

and we'll talk about them as the year goes

by. Bill.

12

Gretchen, welcome. Hello, there. Hello.

13

So since last week's show

was obviously recorded before the first.

14

Just because we were off that week.

15

I'm going to ask you, since we're going

live now, how is your New Year's?

16

Very good. Pretty well.

17

Quiet.

18

And it was great for me, too,

except for the noisy people outside.

19

Well, that's because you live in the

middle of a war zone.

20

Yeah.

21

Seems like

22

it looks normal during the daytime,

you know?

23

But then all the people come home

and they're really noisy.

24

Well, if the time comes that we can fly

the jets, we'll be able to take off

25

and land in your neighborhood because

nobody will, you know, and can notice.

26

Yeah.

27

28

we're going to be covering two things

this week.

29

After the news,

30

we're going to be talking about

what's going on with CBS now as we record.

31

CBS is actively going on. It's Wednesday.

32

When you hear this it will have included.

33

So there might be some additional news.

34

And if there is anything

35

major that comes after today,

we'll pick that up next week for you.

36

But there's been some exciting things

announced and some generally just,

37

unusual, some unexpected, some

that are expected.

38

And spoiler alert, AI, is it everything?

39

We'll talk about that after the news.

40

Second segment we're going

to be talking about arcade one up.

41

James Sherwood, the host of The Vault,

is going to be joining me on that.

42

And anybody that doesn't know Arcade

one up is a company that manufactures

43

replica, stand up arcade machines of a

lot of the classics and different things.

44

There are three quarter size.

45

They're meant for the house.

46

I have one for old knacks

and another one for team and team.

47

I like them.

48

You would never put them in an arcade

or anything

49

because they wouldn't

stand up for your game room.

50

It was an inexpensive way to get something

that I think was really cool.

51

Well, unfortunately, the company is,

52

I want to say, ceasing operations,

although at this point

53

the website is still up

and you can still order,

54

but we're going to be talking about

the details

55

of what's going on

with that in the next segment

56

and what's going to happen

if you have a cabinet

57

that requires online connectivity,

like their infinity table

58

or number of other things,

and what's going to happen

59

if the servers get shut down

and even if that's going to happen.

60

So stay tuned for that.

61

In the meantime, let's go ahead

62

All right.

63

There is an update to Kennedy

leaving Lucasfilm sort of.

64

So we're covering this

because this has been

65

a lot of questions from you on

what's going on here.

66

And for anybody that doesn't know,

Kathleen Kennedy is the,

67

president or CEO, one of those titles

of Lucasfilm at Disney.

68

He's been running it

for a number of years,

69

and he's had bright spots

and not so bright spots.

70

Not quite anyway, but, Oh, yeah.

71

Sorry.

72

And he had stated earlier last year

73

that, she was going to be stepping down

74

75

She still is not stepping down, but

according to reports that are out there.

76

So this is a little bit of a rumor line,

but they are coming up with an exit plan,

77

which would seem to substantiate

that this is going to happen.

78

She's now expected

to step down as president.

79

Okay.

80

That was her title of Lucasfilm

in the next couple of weeks.

81

And they're talking about having Dave

Filoni take over.

82

And when when Brennan

83

also taking a lead role as the air cooled

presidents or, something of that nature.

84

And again, we don't know

what officially is going up yet.

85

There has been no official press release

or anything like that at this point,

86

but it does look like this is around

the corner, so we'll keep being there.

87

Any security people, you know,

88

wearing suits and glasses

and carrying an empty box for her?

89

Not. Not yet.

90

Oh, yeah.

91

That was an interesting video.

92

Just at the president's desk.

93

Okay, fill your box and we're out. Yeah.

94

Sorry, I just told do that.

95

Maybe Wells Fargo, but anyway, so,

I don't know, they just lock the door

96

and just tell you

you can't come in and ever again.

97

I mean, you know,

what a way to do it anyway.

98

So that's a whole nother topic for a whole

nother time.

99

But this is the information

we have on this right now.

100

And there's a number of different outlets

that are reporting different things,

101

but that seems to be what's going on

that is being agreed upon.

102

according to sources

103

that have the rest of this.

104

So what's going on right now

is probably hopefully making a decision.

105

She's run the company for a long time.

106

Some love her, some don't.

107

But it's definitely good to

sometimes make a change in the personnel,

108

maybe picked a little different direction.

109

Warner Brothers tells shareholders

110

that Larry Ellison's

wealth isn't enough to best a Netflix bid.

111

Okay, so that's a mouthful,

but basically what's going on

112

here is Warner Brothers and Discovery.

113

For anybody that doesn't know,

that tied up a number of years ago.

114

They were spun off,

by one of the cell phone

115

or cell phone communication carriers.

116

That for some reason bought that company,

and then it didn't seem like

117

they knew how to run it.

118

So they spun it off

and it became Warner Brothers discovery.

119

And the two are divorcing, amicably.

120

From what I understand, where

121

Discovery Networks and Warner Brothers

each come their own thing again.

122

And Warner Brothers,

that part of it was set up to be sold

123

to Netflix, and Netflix had come in

and offered a tidy sum.

124

Let's just say I mean, you know,

I say it's a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

125

This would be like 4 or 5.

126

Yeah.

127

And, you know, I'm the kind

with the fluffy stuff on the top.

128

Yeah.

129

You would have the police,

you know, design on the farm.

130

We can have Weird

Al talked about that one.

131

But, at the end of the day,

the concern here is

132

this will make a giant, giant media empire

because Netflix would then own

133

Warner Brothers catalog and studios

and some other things.

134

They were not originally

taking the networks.

135

So like Discovery Network and TNT

and some of these others from the linear

136

television days are still out there,

but they are waning.

137

Just say, you know, as everything

goes to new media and streaming,

138

that kind of broadcast is definitely

something that has become obsolete.

139

It still exists and there are still people

that subscribe to it.

140

And if you're one of those people,

please check how much you're paying

141

because there's a number of other ways

you can get your

142

what would have been cable

for a lot less money.

143

But at the end of the day,

these type of things are on the back end

144

and eventually will shut down.

145

Or they'll do something else

with them and

146

along the lines with that,

this again, was a concern.

147

So Paramount came in

and tried to make a bid or a takeover,

148

not amicably,

and came in with a lot more money.

149

But there's a huge debt position

that would be assumed.

150

And that's something that knocks

151

a lot of these companies out

at the end of the day,

152

as they merge

and take on a whole bunch of debt,

153

and then they can't pay the debt

when something goes wrong.

154

So at this point, they are saying that

this is not going to be an option.

155

They're going to stick

with the Netflix bid and go forward.

156

And if that happens,

157

maybe things will stabilize

and they will, but we'll see what happens.

158

I wouldn't be a bit

surprised to see antitrust concern,

159

from the government on this either

160

just because of what it will end up

creating is going to be a monster.

161

Are you sure it's going to be a monster?

162

Well, how about a powerhouse?

That might be a better our house.

163

Okay, because a monster implies, you know,

trashing things and destroying stuff.

164

You know, Godzilla type, you know,

that's where, you know, maybe I don't know

165

if they have the rights to the old video

game rampage, but maybe that.

166

Okay.

167

NASA's Hubble spots

a stellar wake inside Beetlejuice.

168

And I'm pretty sure that's Beetlejuice.

169

Like,

you know that, say, three times, right?

170

Have a problem?

171

All right.

172

Now, this is, not the movie.

173

It is a thing that exists in space and

174

companion star. Wait.

175

Okay, so let's talk about what

that is very quickly.

176

Beetlejuice is a red giant, and

it is something that we've known about.

177

And it would bubble.

178

And if we have a lot of the new

179

imaging technology we have,

science has been learning a lot about it.

180

And one of the things that was postulated

is that there's a second star

181

that orbits Beetlejuice, probably.

182

Oh, and this was always a theory.

Until now.

183

They've proven the existence of this

184

and the way that they've done

that is with the higher end imaging,

185

they can actually see

when the small star goes through the light

186

created by the Beetlejuice star,

it creates a different wavelength.

187

So you will, just as a red

giant is red and the other one

188

emits more of a blue light.

189

And then the new one, it's a newer one.

190

It would be.

191

Yeah.

192

And, so in any event,

that's what's going on there.

193

And I just thought this was interesting.

194

We have a lot of, you that are interested

in space, and the three of us are too.

195

So sometimes it's kind of fun to see,

you know, substantial things

196

or when our new technology really

is allowing us to discover things

197

a lot faster than we ever

would have been able to in the past.

198

This forgotten the Star

199

Wars series is returning to shelves

200

Yeah. So, Gretchen,

I'm going to have you weigh in on this.

201

But basically what's going on here is

this is a hardcover

202

reprint of a comic strip.

203

If I understand it correctly.

204

Yeah.

205

And the thing is, is

I think I actually recall seeing it,

206

it was printed in the newspapers,

if am I correct?

207

Yeah, I remember

that was in the newspapers.

208

Yeah.

209

And, but I mean, I was still,

you know, pretty young at that time

210

and I didn't like, collect,

you know, collect the newspaper.

211

At least I didn't,

but I do recall seeing it

212

and I'm like, oh, hey.

213

This is going to be out, and

it's going to be available is one volume.

214

I believe it's the first time

it's been published all together.

215

216

Yeah.

217

And, I believe it's been published

by Dark Horse here in Portland.

218

Really? So that's cool.

219

Yeah. And just a footnote on all of this.

220

And, hats off to George Lucas.

221

This is the 50th we're getting to the 50th

anniversary of Star Wars.

222

Oh, we've got oh, yeah, you're right.

223

224

So yeah, it'll be this year.

225

And, I think that's really cool.

226

And it's kept its relevance

and everything,

227

and it's interesting to look at it

that way.

228

Lucas had a way of being able

to create stuff

229

because obviously technology has changed

considerably since the 70s.

230

You know,

we talked about that all the time.

231

But the way that he did it,

the creative control of it,

232

it was done so that it really didn't age.

233

And when you watch it today, it's like,

okay, you know,

234

we probably would have a USB stick

instead of a, you know,

235

droid sticking that weird thing

in that thought that turns around.

236

But at the end of the day,

the concepts still work.

237

It's far, far away.

238

So it's going to be different technology

anyway.

239

It doesn't feel obsolete,

which is something I think is really cool.

240

It's really hard to pull that off a lot of

things age badly, and this hasn't.

241

Oh, right.

242

So daylight savings time

243

get ready to spring forward

even earlier this year.

244

I wish we would just not do this. Yeah.

245

So so editors commentary here. Yeah.

246

All right.

247

I am of the, of the same opinion.

248

And just on the aside on that,

there's been a lot of, attempts

249

to end the changing of the clocks,

the Sunshine Act, which was in Congress

250

and I believe has been reintroduced,

would make daylight savings permanent.

251

There is another school of thought

252

that would like to make standard time

permanent.

253

It should be standard.

254

Yeah,

I agree with the standard time thing,

255

but I would support the other one

if that's the way it had to be.

256

I really just the changing of the clocks

every year, twice a year is a real hassle,

257

and it actually has been found

to cause more traffic accidents

258

and things like that because it puts

people out of their normal rhythms

259

and in the fall, it's

nice to just get an extra hour sleep.

260

But in the spring it isn't so nice

because you lose it. You know?

261

I don't like it either way.

262

I think they should just leave it

at standard time.

263

We're not living in an age

where we have candles, okay?

264

We have electricity now.

265

We have electricity now we can really.

266

Okay, there is that.

267

But, so if we need to go outside

and see what's going on with the cows,

268

we can turn the lights on or a flashlight.

269

Okay.

270

Yeah.

271

I just, you know, and the thing of it

272

is that's another argument is, you know,

is daylight saving still relevant?

273

Most majority of people

would say it's not.

274

Some say it is.

275

It would be interesting

because I know up here in the Pacific

276

Northwest, it would mean that set up in

the morning would be what like

277

during the dark times 9:30 a.m.

278

something and then you would have sun

really early in the in the summer

279

anyway, depending on which way you shift

weather, which one becomes permanent. So

280

anyway, so back to the topic at hand here.

281

We are springing forward one day earlier

than last year, so it isn't that bad.

282

But it is going to be just the way

283

the calendar works out is the earliest

possible date that they can do it.

284

Which means if we're still switching

next year, it will be a little bit

285

later.

286

Scientists can't believe it.

287

New spacecraft images

unmask Interstellar Comet three Atlas

288

in such unsettling detail,

it doesn't look natural.

289

All right,

so this is a story that I wanted to cover

290

for, not the reasons you might think

that we would cover a news story.

291

Oh, and the reason for

this is we get a lot of questions in on

292

how do you figure out what you can

believe?

293

Oh, especially with things like science

and that kind of thing.

294

Come out.

295

This is published by an outlet called

The Pulse.

296

I'm not particularly familiar with them.

297

Yeah,

but it is one that when I looked at this

298

I first thought, oh,

you know, this isn't terribly accurate.

299

So we're going to take out of the lineup.

300

Some parts are, I think, what

this would qualify as something that's

301

sensationalized

would be the best way to put that.

302

There are aspects of the article that are

absolutely true and that type of a thing.

303

And then there's other stuff in there

that isn't quite the,

304

and so just to kind of go over this real

quick, we've talked about this in the past

305

three outlets is real

and has been observed by many spacecraft.

306

And there are images that do exist,

but not high

307

definition movie like pictures,

which the article seems to allude to.

308

Oh, really?

309

Now that I and I figured that one out

as I tried looking for the pictures.

310

Oh, this would be cool

and I couldn't find it.

311

And there's none in the article

either, right?

312

So I thought that was annoying.

313

But I see these articles constantly,

314

so I don't know which one is

which one is good and which one is bad.

315

And so yeah, I know it makes it hard

because stuff that's presented

316

and I wouldn't

317

go as far as to say this article is false,

it has accurate information in it,

318

but the way it's presented is it's not

accurate as a whole, in my opinion.

319

One of the things is

the scientific community do not think that

320

three outlets looks unnatural,

which is alluded to in the article.

321

It is a comet.

322

It has some unique characteristics

according to mainstream

323

scientific community,

but they say that there is no artificial

324

or unsettling link

that would apply non-natural origins.

325

So is it an alien spaceship

and the aliens are going to come down?

326

Well, that would have already happened

in December.

327

Or, you know, outside of it being maybe

like super smart AI or something,

328

it's not going to be the case.

329

But at the end of the day, again,

the article would tend to allude

330

to different things.

331

And we're picking on this one

because it's the one I saw.

332

But I'm seeing this, like you say,

Gretchen all over the place.

333

Yeah, there are videos on YouTube

that go into, you know,

334

well, it's been proven that,

you know, this, that

335

and the other thing happened

when in fact you research and it hasn't.

336

And NASA and independent studies confirm

the object is a natural object.

337

Again, the scientific community reports

this.

338

Searches for artificial signals

or technosignatures have not been found

339

and alluded to it that so wrapping

340

that up, sensational claims online

remain unverified.

341

The article talks

about rotating weird shape, but

342

they're not used by scientific agencies

and lack verification.

343

So I think where we're going with

344

this is it's important that you don't

just believe everything you read online.

345

It makes sense, you know, and most of us

get our news

346

through the internet now

as opposed to conventional news sources.

347

But the thing of it is, is,

as we all know,

348

anybody can write on the internet

and have a blog, put up a website.

349

All these different type of things

does not mean it's accurate, does not mean

350

it's inaccurate, but it does require

doing some independent research.

351

Going to organizations

like Nassar or the USA

352

and seeing what they're

353

talking about, and maybe even reaching out

and asking questions.

354

There's ways to do that too.

If you have them.

355

But again, at the end of the day,

I just wanted to throw this

356

in here to talk about

how these things can fool you.

357

And it's very easy to do.

358

359

I saw this video and I was hoping

what I was seeing was real.

360

So I'm assuming

that you've done your CES research

361

and it was a really cool looking robot.

362

And I'm hoping I hope this guy's real.

363

Is he? Yeah.

364

From what I've been able to find, the,

videos they're being showed are real.

365

And it even looks like the robot's

operating on its own.

366

Not having someone in the corner,

367

you know, doing it by remote

like some other human.

368

Like the Wizard of Oz.

369

Yeah, it's actually not working

behind the curtain on.

370

And the other thing of videos is Boston

Dynamics is a credible company.

371

They support the dog.

372

Wish you a lot of seen videos online

and that type of thing.

373

So at the end of the day,

I do think that this is fairly accurate.

374

And I do think the videos are showing

are accurate.

375

I mean, if it comes out,

it's not we'll talk about that.

376

But you know, it really it seems like

they've kind of gotten there.

377

And if they have, they've got articulation

of the three fingers and other things

378

that have been something that has been

somewhat difficult to come up with.

379

And speaking of CTS,

I promised that in the opening.

380

So let's go ahead and jump into that

a little bit here.

381

The show is happening this week.

382

It closes.

We're recording on the seventh.

383

It closes on the ninth.

So you'll be hearing the show on the 10th.

384

So it'll be one day ago that it shut down.

385

And I is kind of in everything

386

we are

387

seeing this next gen display, smart home

upgrades, robotics, wearable tech,

388

AI powered devices across every category,

389

and from PCs to fridges to everything

else.

390

So needless to say,

they're talking about AI a lot.

391

Hey, hey, you know, spark

used AI on on Star Trek to research,

392

an actor

who was thought to be a mass murderer.

393

And I just watch this and I'm thinking,

hey, I use AI to research stuff. So.

394

And so does Spock.

395

And that was in the 60s.

396

So. Yeah. So, yeah. And it is true.

397

I've been, you know, in artificial

intelligence as an idea is not new.

398

I mean, they talked about it in the 80s.

399

It's been something that's been out there

now, generative

400

AI and some of the direction we're

able to go with it now that is unique

401

and something that is definitely

getting involved in everything

402

good, bad or otherwise.

We're seeing it all over the place.

403

And along that line

there are some interesting

404

pieces of technology they show now.

405

Samsung unveiled every year.

406

They seem to go

see us with the biggest TV this year.

407

It was 130 inch,

408

micro RGB, ai TV,

409

have built in conversational AI

so you can talk to your television.

410

How nice. Right. Okay.

411

I'm thinking of, Sharon Heights.

412

We're 51 and Weird Al's song. And.

413

So what's going through my head?

414

LG's showing

415

a new OLED line up, which are paper thin.

416

They're calling them wallpaper OLEDs.

417

And again, AI powered picture adjustments.

418

So you need a new television.

419

There's

going to be some cool stuff out there.

420

I don't know how you did

130 inch television through your door,

421

but I'm sure there's a way.

422

So the other thing that's interesting

is phones, wearable tech.

423

This is an area

that usually is covered at CES,

424

but Motorola is, distributing or actually

showing off a book style foldable phone,

425

so it folds up

426

even more than the ones we have now,

which are kind of cool.

427

I like the form factor.

428

I have one that's a what is it,

a flip Samsung flip that folds in half.

429

Yeah, and I know they have a fold

that's two screens

430

that go together,

but it's smaller and it's nice size.

431

So they're, you know building up on that

which actually makes a lot of sense.

432

They would

you look at the different things.

433

Wearables are becoming a big deal.

434

Eyeglasses and that type of thing

are going to be available

435

to regular consumers,

although they still have

436

their bugs to get worked out,

but they're there.

437

And when you look at these things, it's

kind of fun to see what direction

438

this will all go.

439

I think one of my favorite things

was a concept laptop

440

or the screen unrolls, so when you turn it

on, you can pull it out the side

441

you have, like this thing for an immersive

display that you can roll around you.

442

And it didn't seem to work as long as

it was really what it was being shown.

443

Yeah.

444

It was really,

you know, something that's different now.

445

Smart home and robotics is another area

that's been a big deal.

446

But one of the most unique one was a

447

robot

by robo rock company called robot Rock.

448

And it's a stair climbing robovac.

449

So one

of the limitations about robot vacuums

450

and a lot of other robots

is they don't do the stairs.

451

They have to be on one floor.

452

So now this can climb up the stairs.

453

That sounds really like that

wouldn't be scary

454

in the middle of the night if you forgot

to turn it off and maybe, so you see it,

455

you know?

456

So, yeah, I just,

I think I laundry care that.

457

That's interesting.

458

I was looking at what that's going to be,

and not that our washers and dryers

459

aren't complicated enough,

but it's going to get

460

even more complicated.

461

Another one

that's interesting is air conditioners

462

that intelligently adapt to the room

they're in.

463

And I can see where

this would be kind of cool

464

because it could save electricity

in that type of thing.

465

So you know, it's kind of cool

to see where

466

all of this is going

and we'll see what else gets debuted here.

467

Ikea was even involved.

468

And they have a set of Bluetooth speakers.

469

It can pair in large groups.

470

So instead of just your one smart speaker,

which one of the things I like

471

is stereo and surround sound.

472

And that is something you do lose

with a smart speaker, although the

473

some of them have been set up where you

can pair two together and put it in place.

474

But that's not done by a lot of people.

475

Well, this kind of a situation

actually allows for

476

preparing your smart speakers for Atmos

if you wanted it.

477

Or at least five channel surround sound,

seven channel surround sound, you know.

478

So, that being the case, a lot to see.

479

All right.

480

We're going to go ahead and break

481

and go to our next segment

and we'll be right back.

482

This is user friendly 3.0.

483

You see here he's from the future.

484

He's got a really big computer

485

and he uses it uses it every day

486

and uses it uses it in every way

I see you sure.

487

You know, I'm not sure because he uses it.

488

Welcome back.

489

This is user friendly.

490

2.0 before we get into our next segment

where we're going to be talking about

491

what is happening

492

with our arcade, one up, a question

that's been coming in from everybody.

493

I just want to remind you to continue

sending in your information user friendly

494

dot show questions, comments,

anything like that.

495

We've been getting some great

496

feedback back over the last year,

and this is how we do our programing,

497

because we want to be able to produce

what you want to hear.

498

So again, user friendly not show.

499

Click on the ask question button.

500

And that's where you can submit anything

that you would like to do.

501

All right.

502

With that I'm

going to welcome the host of the vault.

503

James Sherwood. Welcome.

504

Thank you.

505

Thank you for having me again.

506

Oh, it's always a pleasure.

507

But this time we have a topic

that is kind of created

508

some churn and questions

and that type of a thing.

509

And that's

what's happening with the arcade one up.

510

And before we get into that,

just really quick

511

for anybody that doesn't know, arcade

512

One up is a company that manufactures

reproductions of stand up arcade games.

513

There are three quarter

size of the original.

514

There's some been doing this

for a number of years.

515

You could buy these at Walmart

and other places like that.

516

One that we have among us is Golden Ax,

the old Sega game Golden Ax.

517

So that's one.

518

But they've done Pac-Man

519

on a number of other things,

so a lot of people know about them.

520

And there's a definitely

521

from some of the comments

522

we've been getting a love hate

relationship,

523

but there have been

some developments here.

524

So James Watson will go ahead

and just take them all on this.

525

What's happening.

526

527

there was a screenshot of an internal

528

email released from arcade one up.

529

And that email was indicating that

most of their operation was shutting down

530

the following Friday and pretty much said,

you know, this will be your last day.

531

We're we're changing things over.

532

There has not been too much of

an official response from arcade one up.

533

There's been a little bit of stuff

on the side.

534

One of the primary ones

is a lot of their titles

535

and property are going to be absorbed

by the company.

536

Basic fun and basic

537

fun does games and and claw machines.

538

They have a whole line of handheld

arcade games, which is kind of fun.

539

And by handheld arcade games,

I mean, it's, literally

540

like the size of one of the old Game Boys,

but it's classic

541

arcade titles with a little joystick

and a couple of little buttons.

542

But yeah, it looks like arcade

one up is go away.

543

I did a fair bit to dig in,

544

and one

545

of the things I was able to find,

546

one of the concerns of this out there was

what happens to the game software,

547

what happens to the online

connectivity and updates and things.

548

So this is like

if you have one of their cabinets,

549

or some of their other products

550

said some other cool stuff

like the infinity Table and things.

551

Yeah.

552

I guess what you're saying is

this is going to still work,

553

because if that's the question,

this is something

554

that we've had

a lot of requests to find out.

555

So they have release

that some of the arcade cabinets

556

are still going

to maintain some connectivity.

557

I can't remember exactly.

558

There were four of them

that were listed on the website.

559

Well, Marvel versus Capcom,

I believe was one of them.

560

Mortal Kombat was one of them.

561

There will still be

562

some online connectivity,

but what it's going to do is remember

563

the last 100 IP addresses

that you played against.

564

And when you want to play online, it

565

pings those 100 and sees

if any one is online.

566

Okay.

567

So rather than being an open server

and having full connectivity, it's

568

going to be a greatly truncated amount.

569

So does that mean that

if a new person couldn't

570

I'm trying to understand

how that would work.

571

So right now if you wanted to go online

572

with this system or before this change,

I don't know if it's in there yet.

573

You would be able

to see if there's others online.

574

So what you're saying

575

is that restricting it to the last 100

so a new person couldn't join your group.

576

In other words,

577

that part hasn't been released.

578

Okay, okay.

579

It's kind of this nebulous gray area.

580

I was able to find two reports on it

that they had come out with.

581

I cannot find super official releases

582

from arcade one up or from Basic Fun.

583

It's all been kind of around the edges.

584

That was one that they were talking about.

585

They will still have some connectivity,

586

but nothing super in-depth with it.

587

One of the other interesting parts is

there

588

has been no conversation

about the infinity tables.

589

Okay.

590

I cannot find anything on whether or not

those are going to continue to function.

591

And they have a lot of online

592

online features.

593

So we just don't know with that.

594

Okay.

595

If you could give us a quick rundown

on what the infinity tables are.

596

We've discussed this a few times, but

I don't think everybody's heard of these.

597

So the infinity table is a really bad idea

because it is.

598

There are two versions of it.

599

One is the tabletop

and one is an actual table.

600

The table is a 32 inch touch screen board

game table.

601

You can play chess.

602

You can play, sorry,

you can play Candyland.

603

They have a collection

of I believe was 170 games

604

or one

605

that you could get on and play

606

right there on a table with touch screen.

607

Some of them,

there was wizard chess from Harry

608

Potter, was one of them

that it was on the list,

609

but it allowed for everybody

610

to get together for a game night of play.

611

And this would not be just in your house,

but be remotely.

612

I would assume that is my understanding

is that there is a remote feature.

613

I have never played on one myself.

614

I desperately wanted one,

but the price point was not cheap.

615

The tables went for around $1,000.

616

But if you're somebody who hosts a lot,

if you're somebody that really enjoys

617

their board games, has a lot of friends,

or has a lot of family that you want to do

618

game night,

619

it would be fantastic

620

right up until the company announces

that they're going to shut down

621

and all of a sudden we don't know

what's going to happen with it.

622

And, you know, an interesting thing

as of the time of recording.

623

So this may have changed when this errors

and when you hear it.

624

But as of the time of our recording,

the arcade one website is still there.

625

You can go online and you can still buy

product and and some of their vendors.

626

I went to Home Depot.

627

It for whatever reason they carry this

and so does Best Buy.

628

I didn't order anything,

but it seemed like

629

you could still add it to the cart and,

you know, do the normal bit,

630

which is interesting

because you could right now,

631

if you didn't know about all this,

drop $1,000 on something that, in

632

my opinion,

sounds like a very cool device.

633

And, then find out when you get it,

634

it doesn't do anything

or I don't know what that would mean.

635

And, you know, let's talk about that

a little bit,

636

because when you have a company

that uses online access and an arcade

637

one up in what we're talking about here,

but this is not it's hardly

638

just arcade one up that sells products

that have online components.

639

I mean, pretty much everybody does

now that, you know, comes into,

640

realm of these things

and it's, a situation

641

where this can affect,

you know, a lot of different things.

642

And one of the,

you know, one of the concerns

643

that a lot of people have about this,

if you buy into a new technology

644

and then that company goes away,

it can brick your device.

645

Now, something like the table,

646

I would assume

647

you're loading stuff online,

or at least it

648

probably comes with some stuff

pre-installed.

649

But the point of it is, is losing

that much of the functionality

650

with no, you know,

you didn't know that was going to happen

651

all sorry, you know, kind of thing. Well,

I don't know.

652

I could see where this could be

very frustrating and very concerning

653

to a lot of people, I don't know.

654

How do you feel about that?

655

So it's a gamble.

656

And it's one of the concerns I've had

is the thought of modern gaming.

657

You look at your platforms

like PlayStation and Xbox

658

and some of these other huge names, and

it's gone so far away from physical media.

659

And what do you do when it shuts down?

660

Right.

661

You have hundreds of thousands of dollars

invested in these sites

662

that all of a sudden

you have no access to,

663

even if it's just part of the

functionality, one that comes to my brain.

664

There was a game on Xbox

called Gears of War II.

665

Remember that? Yeah, amazingly fun game.

666

One of the really cool parts was

it had some really fun,

667

multiplayer online,

668

online matchmaking and co-op,

and they had PvP arenas

669

and all sorts of stuff.

670

And then one night it went away.

671

You could still play the game,

you could still do the single player,

672

you could still do the single player

campaign, but all of a sudden

673

you couldn't even do come up play online

because those servers went away.

674

So you have that as a real a real risk.

675

Any time you were relying

completely on internet

676

or online connection.

677

You know,

it is interesting to see where the

678

these companies can reach,

you know, into your stuff.

679

I know one thing that, has come up in the

past and user friendly and is a concern.

680

I don't know if Microsoft does this,

but Sony does where they will ban

681

your device if you violate rules

or something forever from their network.

682

And one of my issues,

and one of the reasons

683

I don't have a PlayStation

five or the new Xbox

684

is because I'm kind of tired

of the subscriptions.

685

And at least on my PlayStation four,

686

if you had PlayStation network,

that was great, and it had those features,

687

but if you didn't,

the system would still work.

688

It seems like the newer generation

of the stuff I'm sure it turns on.

689

I'm sure there's a game or two

690

you can even get for, well,

I don't know if it's a digital one,

691

if it would even work at all

without the network,

692

I guess you would know

more about this than I would.

693

So I can speak mostly the Xbox.

694

That's my that's my jam.

695

One of the things with the Xbox is

you have to buy an online membership

696

to have access to online multiplayer.

697

Okay?

698

They range anywhere from $10 to $30.

699

You can buy the very basic one, which

you don't get a lot of the other perks,

700

but at least you have that online

online ability

701

all the way up to the top

702

tier one,

which I believe is called ultimate,

703

where you get free games like Game Pass

and all these other things.

704

So the memberships, rather than what

they used to be with the Xbox

705

Live, do have value.

706

You can play day one releases for free.

707

They also allow access to those servers

so you can do the online multiplayer,

708

but that also means that you're paying,

what,

709

3 to $600 for the initial unit

and then you're having to pay another,

710

let's say, $100 a year to be able to use

it for part of that function

711

as well.

712

After hours from what you were saying,

because it's $10 a month

713

and a $30

a month, you know, would be, what, 360?

714

So it you know, it does seem like now,

I don't know,

715

you know, the people that know me know

some of the games I like.

716

One of them is cyberpunk,

and it's available on the platforms now.

717

I don't have to pay a monthly fee.

718

It works off of my PC.

719

I don't have that restriction.

720

Yeah.

721

So, you know, so if I was to do this

on a console, it seems like

722

I would have less control of the game

because of the controller configuration.

723

And then I'd have to pay for the privilege

of using the game that I bought.

724

I can see why people have a problem

with that.

725

It is.

726

And PlayStation

727

I believe was PlayStation

three even started where

728

if you buy physical media,

it wasn't the game.

729

Yeah, yeah. Zero day download.

730

Yeah.

731

You'd have to put the disk in the disk.

732

Was your activation key and would download

the game from their network.

733

So getting back to it

a little bit, their servers

734

go down, their service goes away.

735

Whatever

it may be. You're bricked up. Yeah.

736

Because so many of the games now

737

even if you buy them,

it has to have an online component

738

so that it can make sure

that you have a valid license

739

for that game,

even if it's physical media.

740

Yeah.

741

Well,

742

the other part of it too

is it sounds like the disk

743

doesn't really contain the game.

744

Yeah.

745

You know, at the end of the day and,

if you go on download

746

and you know, there's

different parts of again,

747

you know, talking about cyberpunk,

when I bought it, it came in a box

748

and there was a disc in the box.

749

I'm kind of looking at this going,

is this actually on

750

a, you know, DVD or Blu ray or something?

751

No, it's a CD with music and

752

a box is a card with a link of

where you download the game.

753

And now

this is like a gigabyte or something.

754

So trying to fit that on any kind of

physical media would be difficult.

755

You'd probably put on a flash drive,

I would think,

756

if you were going to do that,

but that wasn't the case here.

757

And then the other part of videos is

I noticed with not just that, but

758

with a lot of them,

you also have updates, you

759

know, downloadable

content that you buy is one thing.

760

But even if you choose not to do that,

to keep the game functioning,

761

there still seems to be updates.

762

And if you didn't have access

to the online thing, no.

763

So so let me ask you this on the PC again,

I can download those updates

764

even if it's if I want to buy DLC.

Of course that too.

765

But even the stuff

that's just maintenance.

766

If I was on the Xbox

and didn't have the network and presumably

767

the same thing for the PlayStation,

could I even download the updates? Yes.

768

Okay. That's good.

769

My understanding is as long as you have

internet connection,

770

you can download patches,

you can do that kind of update

771

the online connection.

772

The multiplayer is the primary thing

that we have to do.

773

Watch out for that.

774

That connectivity is what goes away

or what you're paying for the most, right?

775

It gets into kind of this gray area,

though, and

776

and you'd know better than I would

how much data even a Blu ray can store.

777

Yeah, but I just downloaded a game

that the base game

778

without patches, without DLC,

without anything else, was 148 bytes.

779

Yeah, that's and that's not unusual.

780

So, it really isn't, you know.

781

Yeah.

782

Cyberpunk I believe, was around 80GB.

783

And when it first came out

784

and then when it actually worked,

it was more like a hundred.

785

But yeah, I guess that missing 20GB

was the what caused that

786

for anybody that doesn't know

when that game came out, it was a disaster

787

for about the first three months.

788

Yeah.

789

And the PC version would actually run.

790

I mean, you know, I was able to get on it

and stuff, but,

791

you'd go through to your character

creation and stuff and, you know,

792

it was a roll of the dice

whether or not it corrupted it.

793

And you have to do it again

and lose all of your things.

794

Now, my understanding is on the consoles.

795

It didn't work at all.

796

Yeah, you bought it and, you know, they

they actually had a warning

797

you can buy I think you one of them

I know took it down completely.

798

The other one was like,

799

oh yeah you can buy this game,

but you know it's not going to work.

800

Click here to make sure you acknowledge

that in X-Box.

801

Yeah, yeah, Xbox had a warning

saying this game does not function.

802

But if you buy into it now, when it does

function, you'll have a great game.

803

Yeah. And that's exactly what happened.

804

CB Red did fix it and did a very nice job.

805

And once they got the bugs worked out,

806

it's been a great game

and it's been very stable.

807

There

hasn't been a problem like that since,

808

but it's very different than the days of,

you know, you get your Nintendo cartridge

809

and you put it in. First of all,

you'd have to have the game done.

810

I don't even think

some of these games are finished

811

when they start being distributed,

because they don't have to, you know?

812

Yeah, well, that's kind

813

of an interesting aspect of modern gaming.

814

So a lot of them now do ground

815

level kind of a beta test.

816

One that comes to mind that

people know about is Baldur's Gate three.

817

I bought into that

about two years before it was released,

818

so I got to

819

see the entire evolution of this game

820

from the fact that it barely worked

when it first came out.

821

It had almost no character classes

all the way up to the finished product,

822

which is now released

and and is amazingly fun.

823

But I got to see all the steps

going through.

824

Ark survival was another one

that did that.

825

You part in on like a prerelease,

826

and you actually got to go in

and play the game and see the evolution.

827

Some of that's okay,

but if you're selling me a complete game

828

without that aspect,

I expect it to be playable

829

and they've gone away from that

with some of the games that that cyberpunk

830

is one of the most illustrative examples

831

because it literally didn't function,

832

but they released it

as a game on physical media online.

833

And they did take, I believe it was around

two months, three months

834

to get to the point where it was

stable enough to actually play.

835

And so then again, at the end of the day,

they fixed it.

836

I think in the old days

they might have just waited

837

to make sure the game was done

before they released it.

838

But yeah.

839

Because,

you know, it's somewhat of more difficult

840

to change the ROM in a cartridge

that's already been made. Yes.

841

Yeah.

842

What is this?

843

And, although modern stuff,

I have a, console called an advocate,

844

and it takes cartridges and,

you know, works like the old stuff. But

845

it's interesting because it is connected

and it can update the cartridges.

846

So just so presumably there flash

or something, you know, but,

847

even that is, kind of bridging,

you know, the two different things.

848

But, you know, on a broader scale here,

let's just kind of circle back to servers

849

and things.

850

I know that there's been

there's been a lot of information

851

that has come out in recent years.

852

I have one of these things

and it's these smart devices

853

because, you know, we're talking about

arcade one up in cabinets.

854

But the thing of videos

is that's basically a smart device.

855

And at the end of the day,

if that just vendor distributor

856

goes away, you've lost access

to something that you've paid for.

857

You can't, you know, deal with.

858

In my case, it was a holiday light thing

that you could program and,

859

you know, do all this stuff with it.

860

Now it's still turned on this year

and it's still work.

861

The last mode, I had it set in,

862

but you can't get in and change anything,

you know, so that part of it's done.

863

And another big one is some of these

new digital ink picture frames.

864

And, it's kind of a cool concept.

865

You have a picture frame on the wall.

866

It uses the same kind of technology

that's in an e-reader.

867

So when you've put a picture, photograph

or whatever in it, it doesn't use power

868

and it's just sits there

and you look at it.

869

And then if you want to change it,

you can.

870

And when these originally came out,

they were in some cases

871

for the bigger ones for $500 or more.

872

And the first company or not

first company, but the company that had

873

distributed

some of these, there were different

874

vendors and the others are still around,

but they ended up in a situation

875

where they went bankrupt

about six months later.

876

And as long as you're happy

with the photograph that's in the frame

877

and you better be, because that's

what's going to be there forever.

878

You can't change it anymore.

So you've paid for something.

879

And and to me, it's a little bit weird.

880

If I bought something

and I want to be able to use it,

881

but I'm not able to, but I purchased it,

you know, how does that work?

882

And that plays back into some of the other

things, like the BMW heated seats, like,

883

so you ride a car and the seats

are in the car and the hardware is there,

884

but you have to have a subscription

to be able to turn it on.

885

Now, I would have figured out a way to

bypass and hotwire a man, but that's me.

886

Probably would void the warranty.

887

But the question becomes from that too,

and this is another aspect of

888

these things is okay.

889

And that set of circumstances,

890

how I paid for the heated seats

and the price of the car.

891

And if I have, why can't I use them?

892

And if I haven't, how does it work?

893

Because let's say I,

you know, by my subscriptions

894

for my heated seats and heated steering

wheel, that was the other one, by the way.

895

That's had a lot of pushback.

896

And they've kind of stopped doing this

for the moment at least.

897

But let's say I have a two year

warranty on my car.

898

My brand new car has two warranties now

or a two year warranty now.

899

I make two years of one month,

and the heated seats break.

900

Well, whose responsibility

am I running them from?

901

BMW because I'm paying for them. Are they?

902

I can assure you.

903

Or they're going to say,

oh, you have to pay to have that repaired

904

even though you're running them.

905

I mean, you know, you have some issues,

situations like this.

906

And I can understand

why people get frustrated with this stuff.

907

And do you even look at,

some of the subscription based service?

908

And one that comes to mind

is something like, MMO, RPG.

909

I'm more familiar with the video games

and some of the other technology.

910

You look at some of those,

there's one right now, a new world.

911

That has been out for several years.

912

It's an MMO, RPG.

913

You can buy it on Xbox,

you can play it online.

914

It's supposed to have some

cross-play features, which is really neat.

915

And then they announced a little while ago

that the servers

916

are shutting down this year,

but that's not broadcast widely.

917

So you can still go on Xbox Marketplace

and buy this game

918

for it's 60 or $70.

919

And if you're not paying attention

and I believe

920

that's March or something like that,

it goes away.

921

So where's the accountability for that?

922

You know, you charged me money

for something that is only online.

923

That is only a subscription.

924

It's free to play once I play the game,

925

but then you break it 2 or 3 months

after I buy it.

926

Yeah.

And right now it's let the buyer beware.

927

I've heard some rumors

that the government is getting involved.

928

I'm sure that will fix

all this immediately.

929

And wanting to pass some legislation

dealing with these things

930

that, would affect,

you know, how that would be handled.

931

But, you know, again,

at the end of the day,

932

it really what it comes down to

is that you're not buying it.

933

You're renting it out.

934

Because if there's no guarantee

you continue to use it was always say

935

you bought a software, you're

936

not buying the intellectual property

by a license to use it, but

937

you would be able to use it

as long as you want to.

938

If you need an upgrade,

than you would buy a new version.

939

And that model is pretty much gone now.

940

Most software sells with a subscription

model, and most of the time

941

if you stop paying the subscription,

you lose access completely.

942

One of the biggest ones with

this is the Adobe product suite.

943

You know, a lot of other ones

might leave it

944

where you can still edit and,

you know, things like that.

945

But no, they your files

that you've created will not be accessible

946

if you don't continue

to pay the subscription.

947

And there is a lot of people

that are not happy with that.

948

I mean, you know,

949

I don't know, where do you think

this is all going, do you think?

950

I'm sure the subscription model

is here to stay at least

951

as long as they can allow it?

952

I don't know,

I think it's going on a trajectory

953

that you need to be very certain

that whatever you're buying is stable.

954

If I want to do something online, I'm

955

going to look for Adobe's a good example.

956

If I'm going to have to pay for that

subscription, I want to pay for it.

957

For someone like Adobe, where I know that

958

five years down

the line, it's still going to exist.

959

Because so many of

960

these I,

I use a different PDF program than Adobe

961

because I was able to go online and buy

962

a permanent license for that program.

963

But for me,

I didn't want that subscription.

964

I wanted to own something that I could

utilize as I needed to.

965

That's becoming less and less prevalent.

966

It's kind of the downside

of this gift of technology to me.

967

They give it is if there is connectivity

968

like that,

there is a way to hold it ransom.

969

And that's, you know, and I think that's

where this is held up to see what happens.

970

For all that, may I have permission

to ask you a question?

971

Sure.

972

I understand The vault is becoming

a standalone show pretty soon.

973

Can you tell us about

what's happening there?

974

It appears that people

like what they're hearing.

975

When I come on the air and talk.

976

So we are looking,

turning it into a podcast.

977

We don't know entirely

what that's going to look like as of yet,

978

but you'll be able to access past content

that I've done on user friendly.

979

I'll be doing drops a couple of times

a month, put it out on.

980

You'll be able to access it on the vault.

981

That show will put it out on

on some other platforms as well,

982

and kind of give people a chance

to look into what we're doing.

983

We're coming back to you both.

984

On User Friendly and on The Vault

with updates on all of this.

985

Anyway, James, thank you.

986

And until next week,

987

this is User Friendly 2.0 keeping you safe

on the cutting edge, User Friendly 2.0.

988

989

by User Friendly Media Group Incorporated.

990

All rights reserved.

991

The content is the opinion

of the show's participants

992

and does not necessarily

reflect this station or platform.

993

Requests for material use, interviews,

disclosures,

994

and other correspondence may be viewed

995

and submitted at userfriendly.show