Ember Sword

Welcome to

2

User Friendly 2.0 with host Bill Sikkens,

3

technology architect.

4

And this is User

5

Friendly 2.0 as always

I am your host Bill Sikkens.

6

Welcome to this week's

show. Bill Gretchen welcome.

7

Hey there you.

8

So you know

I'm going to circle back to this,

9

but first let me ask you

what's new in your world?

10

Gretchen, I understand

you have an update on the Lego drama.

11

Oh, yeah.

12

So I when when I asked for a new, piece

for the broken ones, I got one.

13

And, thinking that

14

I broke two and I got one that

maybe I should order a couple of them,

15

because maybe there's

something faulty about these.

16

So I decided to order a bunch of them,

and it came to $0.56,

17

which I thought, hey, why not? Yeah.

18

And then I saw the shipping.

19

Shipping was like $11.

20

That's when you might need a cardiologist,

but it's like, yeah, right.

21

Yeah.

22

You know, 11 bucks on it just it's, it's a

I run into this when I order

23

electronic parts to, you know,

I need ten resistors.

24

Oh, that's $0.80.

25

And, you know, $15 for shipping.

26

And then, I know.

27

So just to recap on this, Gretchen,

you're working on a what is it?

28

Oh, gosh. Now,

I don't remember what it's called.

29

It's one of the rocket ships,

the NASA ones.

30

Okay, so there you go, isn't it?

31

I want to say it's a Saturn.

32

And what are they both?

33

How about a NASA rocket ship?

We'll just go with that.

34

But know I know.

35

Yes, that was I, had some bad luck

with some of the pieces breaking.

36

So, you know, it's, it's good to see that

that is actually something

37

that might be coming full circle.

38

So you have to let us know how it goes.

39

And if you get it done, and we'll post

a picture up on the website.

40

Yeah, well, I'm still stuck in that stage

where

41

I was putting it together

and the pieces weren't fitting right.

42

So I'm once I get all these replacement

pieces, what I'm thinking of doing

43

is just pulling everything apart

and just starting over again.

44

Now, sometimes that's the best, you know,

the best way to do it and, go from there.

45

Quick update on something or not.

46

Not a but a few weeks back

we were talking about the big parts

47

showing up and everything, and,

48

I just ran into this

kind of an interesting little thing.

49

I'm putting together a robot

or actually upgrading a robot

50

or a Stem presentation we're doing here

at a local high school in a few weeks.

51

And I was getting him back

online and stuff, and,

52

one of the solenoids on

one of the legs locked up.

53

So I was working on trying to unlock,

and all of a sudden I hear this bang, pop

54

and smoke and,

it turns out my batteries are fake.

55

They're high.

56

Drain, lithium batteries that are used

for running a robot like that

57

with all the solenoids and things,

but there was no battery,

58

safety system in that.

59

They're supposed to have that. It

60

it it wasn't even the right milliamp edge

that was labeled on the label.

61

So it's just one of those things.

62

And we've talked about how this is

becoming more and more of a problem.

63

And yeah, it is and it's like

and then the other thing about it is, is

64

I needed to replace them, obviously.

65

So I did a little research on what's real

and what's not.

66

And I couldn't

even find the real brands on Amazon.

67

Oh, when you put in

this kind of a battery,

68

it just comes up with all the

no name stuff.

69

You, you know, normally

you can at least get.

70

So I had to order from another company

that I did do some research on.

71

And you talked about shipping.

72

It had the same kind of thing there,

but it was, just interesting.

73

So one of those things

74

to definitely be careful

because you don't want that to happen.

75

Unfortunately,

it didn't destroy the whole robot.

76

It did some damage.

77

But, it's

repairable, but, you know, it it's just,

78

Yeah, I have buyer beware, buyer beware.

79

And my other concern is,

80

if that happened at a school, it's

very likely

81

they'd have to evacuate the campus

because it is

82

a, you know, a fire, not a big one.

83

Unfortunately, it was contained.

84

But I don't know,

just stuff like that can be scary.

85

And it's weird to think about

how much stuff is probably fake

86

and what we're carrying around

and different things like that.

87

And, you know, it's,

88

throws the safety precautions out.

89

But anyway.

90

All right, well, let's

go ahead and jump into the news.

91

And then afterwards we're going to be

doing a quick update on the, routers

92

being banned because I've had a lot

more questions coming in on that.

93

And then in the second segment,

94

we're going to be talking

about selling you the Brooklyn Bridge.

95

What that means.

96

All right. So what do we have in the news?

97

All right.

98

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

trailer

99

is raising eyebrows among Potter heads.

100

And their question is,

where is the whimsical color?

101

So I never heard the term potter head.

102

I mean, there had to be like this

that I don't know

103

if that's a common thing for Harry

Potter fans.

104

I mean, it kind of makes sense,

but so they're not calling them pot heads.

105

So no, I wouldn't think so. It's like the

106

the fans of the series, Lucifer,

they couldn't call them Luciferian.

107

So, you know, they.

108

Yeah, in an aquarium Lucy fan.

109

So sometimes you do have to, be,

110

aware of the terminology.

111

Yeah. Right. Exactly.

112

So anyway, so what's happening

here is HBO is doing

113

a series called Harry Potter

and the Philosopher's Stone.

114

They put out the trailer and the color

is very different from the movies.

115

And this is striking a lot of, comments.

116

Yeah.

117

Among those that are in such a thing,

I don't know.

118

Gretchen.

119

What do you think?

120

Is that I actually yeah,

I was curious about it.

121

So I found the, little short video

122

and I did watch it,

and it is a lot darker.

123

Yeah, it is definitely not to the point

where her mini looks like

124

she's got dirt or heavy makeup

or something smeared on her.

125

It's really strange.

126

And the colors are very,

127

It's like everything's filmed in a shadow,

128

so it's kind of odd, that type of thing.

129

It's horrible.

130

Very drab.

131

I don't know if it's drab.

132

It almost seems like they didn't

133

put enough

light on the set or something. I'm.

134

You know, I'm not a lighting expert, but.

135

Yeah, it's just kind of odd.

136

Yeah. It's, it's interesting.

137

You don't.

138

You know,

I don't think it's necessarily to expect

139

the TV series would look

just like the movie or anything, you know?

140

So it's fine

that they're experimenting a little bit.

141

I had the same kind of reaction to

it is just it was almost to a point

142

where it was distracting and it definitely

gives a feel of being darker.

143

But that type of thing does.

144

I mean, you know, it's a technique

for filming, but,

145

you know, at the end of the day,

I think it will be interesting to see

146

if they keep with that

or if they take some of the speed back

147

and maybe

148

keep the different color scheme, but,

you know, turn on a few more lights.

149

I know they were having problems with,

150

what is that?

151

God of War was having a show

that's coming out,

152

and the people were complaining about

the lighting in it being very boring.

153

Oh, you know, I mean,

the price of utilities is going up.

154

Maybe they're just cutting back on

electricity.

155

Maybe they can't get real light bulbs.

156

So there's always that,

you know, maybe about

157

I think light bulbs, you know, by the way,

don't buy LEDs at the dollar store.

158

Just don't.

159

I'm just giving that advice up

from an expert.

160

Just know. Anyway,

what's next on the news?

161

Astronomers

just discovered a hidden space cavity

162

quietly shielding the moon from radiation.

163

Yeah.

164

So interesting thing here is,

165

they're, you know,

we're researching the idea of eventually

166

doing colonies in space.

167

And right now,

the candidates are the moon and Mars.

168

Yeah.

169

And one of the things that is a problem

170

in both of these locations, more

so on Mars, is radiation.

171

Now, I've heard that

that's kind of bad for you.

172

And on those lines,

you probably want to be careful.

173

So what happens here is the Earth.

174

We have a magnetic field,

and the magnetic field

175

allows us to be protected

from the sun's radiation.

176

And there's a lot more detail

you can go into on this.

177

But basically what it does

is it's like almost having a force field

178

or a shield or something around the planet

that pushes the radiation around us.

179

And it's one of the reasons why Mars,

they think once had life and doesn't now,

180

because one of the things that we'll do is

181

with solar wind is blow off the planet's

atmosphere, and that would be a problem.

182

And then everything's irradiated and,

you know, sterile.

183

So, and the reason that happened on Mars

is because the core of the planet

184

cooled and

185

eventually hardened and wouldn't be able

to create the magnetic field anymore.

186

So this has been an interesting thing,

because the moon is close

187

enough to the Earth

that sometimes this will react and cause

188

different radiation at different times,

you know, depending on what's going on.

189

And there are mathematical computations

to figure all this out.

190

NASA's used it for being able

to arrange equipment and knowing,

191

you know, where stuff was safe, that

it wasn't going to cause havoc and win

192

because it's not always the same,

but there's an area

193

that doesn't seem to react the same way,

where it's shielded more.

194

And as of right now, they're not 100% sure

why or how permanent this is.

195

But if it is and it's, you know, again,

I've said this in the past,

196

the more we learn about our solar system,

less we know that we know.

197

And this is one of those other things,

but it actually could be very beneficial

198

because if it's somewhere that was stable

with a lot less radiation on the moon,

199

that would make it a lot easier, you know,

to do some of these different things.

200

And this has been my big question on Mars

is because, of course, it's

201

far enough from Earth that it wouldn't

be affected by our magnetic shield.

202

And it is a situation where they're going

to have to have direct radiation blockage

203

or something to be able to deal with that,

because even if you're in a environment

204

or in a suit or something like that

for air pressure, lack of oxygen

205

and all that kind of a thing,

radiation is its own beast.

206

And and it's something that can be very,

very, you know, problematic

207

when you have everything else

208

thought about.

209

So anyway,

so it's just kind of an interesting thing.

210

It is a positive sign

because it's something that if

211

if they can confirm what it is,

or at least that it's

212

semi-permanent,

it'll make this a lot easier.

213

Or at least with the moon.

214

All right.

215

The weird hidden attractions

found in one of the Oregon coast.

216

Coolest towns.

217

So tell us about this.

218

Well, this,

I think, is you giving me a kind of a.

219

We need to go to a story, which is where

this says, type situation here.

220

Oregon Live

reporting from The Oregonian on this.

221

And basically,

Astoria is a town on the West Coast,

222

kind of a cool little town.

223

So if you're in the Pacific Northwest,

you probably heard of it.

224

Other parts of the world, maybe not,

but it has some very unique things.

225

One of them is a bridge

that, in my opinion,

226

it's the interstate bridge

between Oregon and Washington. Up there.

227

Oh, just two different kinds.

228

And I think they couldn't agree on

how to build it.

229

So they just split it off the state

line in the middle of the river.

230

I might not be right on that.

231

What at least looks like

that's what it looks like.

232

Yeah, yeah.

233

But it's a it's a neat little town

and a place that's just,

234

you know, go out and be a tourist

or on the coast, it's a lot of fun.

235

But some of the things in there,

236

the one that this article puts out,

is a really cool arcade.

237

Yeah.

238

I don't know why I'd be interested in

that, but, I think it's, definitely seen.

239

And I think we're going to check it out

and talk about it on the show.

240

It is, you know, cool

that these kind of things exist.

241

And there's other sites there.

242

The Astoria column,

which is a weirder kind of monument.

243

But one of the other, things that comes

from a story, it affects technology.

244

So that's where cable TV was born.

245

And the first cable was put from a point

246

to their, they didn't have broadcast

television at the time.

247

So wired and, that

248

was what started, you know, what

we've been using?

249

It's cable TV and satellite

now, over the top internet stuff.

250

But that's where that idea originated.

251

Or where

the first working prototype of it was.

252

So there's a lot of other stuff

around there, too.

253

It just,

you know, it's a cool place to see.

254

So I think what we need to do is go

check it out

255

and, see what it is

and maybe talk about it.

256

I don't know if you guys are up for that

or not, but we'll have to get these lines.

257

Yeah, yeah.

258

You know.

259

Well,

260

federal judge temporarily blocks

the Pentagon

261

from branding AI firm anthropic supply

chain risk.

262

Yeah.

263

So basically what's going on

here is anthropic is a AI company.

264

And they had some issues with the way the

government wanted to use their products.

265

So they stood up

for what they believed in.

266

And due to that,

certain people in the government decided

267

to try and blackball them essentially

from being able to do anything.

268

And so there's a supply chain risk.

269

You could use them in any government run,

you know, technology

270

and that kind of thing,

which would obviously be $1 billion hit.

271

And so what's happened

now is this is going through the court.

272

It's interesting here

because this is technology and law

273

and technology is definitely something

in politics unfortunately with it

274

are definitely something

that's as much a part of how we do things

275

as anything else, just like anything else

outside of technology.

276

So what's going on here

is that it's gone to court.

277

The court has temporarily

blocked the order.

278

And now what's going to happen is it

will continue to go through the courts.

279

It'll be interesting

to see where this ends up.

280

Yeah.

281

Everest isn't Earth's tallest mountain

anymore.

282

Scientists uncover hidden mega structures

283

100 times

taller and billions of years old.

284

So tell us.

285

Yeah, well, daily Galaxy

reporting on this, an interesting article

286

that, I would say this

is maybe a little bit sensationalized.

287

Yeah.

288

And, because what they're talking about

here is it's tall, you know,

289

these structures are taller than Mount

Everest.

290

Okay.

291

Is based on real science,

but a little bit easy.

292

To misunderstand

what they're referring to is,

293

mass structures

deep in the Earth called LSP.

294

So, Gretchen, I'm sure you can tell us

what that acronym means.

295

No, I was half expecting this

to be in the ocean.

296

So explain all this to me.

297

Large, low shear velocity provinces.

298

I don't understand how you didn't

just know that off.

299

No, ma'am.

300

Well, in the ocean, they're actually

located in the lower mantle.

301

Oh, okay. Two of the fractures exist.

302

One beneath Africa, one

beneath the Pacific Ocean.

303

They've detected them

using seismic waves from earthquakes

304

and can figure out what the materials are.

305

This is a lot like a lighter or something.

But, you know, using the Earth's,

306

sound that's already there.

307

And if you were to do a 1 to 1 comparison.

308

Yeah.

309

So these structures

would be taller than Mount Everest.

310

These can be thousands of kilometers tall.

311

Mount Everest is give or take 8.8km tall.

312

So in sheer scale, they are vastly larger.

313

The only thing is, and this is where

this is sensationalized a little bit,

314

is that area of the earth is not solid

heat and pressure and everything else.

315

It's more like a consistency

of peanut butter.

316

Now, I haven't been down there, so I

for sure, but this is what I've been told.

317

God, you know,

so they're not solid mountains

318

and more like huge, dense

regions of hotter

319

or chemically distinct rocks,

you know, that kind of an idea?

320

Yeah.

321

So, you know, and it's still interesting

from a scientific standpoint,

322

very likely there are ancient material

from early Earth that has survived,

323

and we don't have a lot of that

because the way our planet works is

324

things are recycled over

the space of millions of years.

325

So there isn't a lot of,

this type of thing still out there.

326

So being able to study

327

the origins of the planet,

it makes it kind of difficult.

328

So figuring out that stuff like this

exists can help with that.

329

Now, again,

you know, this is just, evidence

330

that in some cases is circumstantial.

331

If any of our listeners

have been to the center of the Earth

332

and we may have some photographs of this

or want to talk about it

333

a little bit, go to user Friendly Dot show

and let us know.

334

We'd love to have you on.

335

You might get some strange reactions.

336

Happy birthday Apple.

337

It's your 50th.

338

Yeah.

339

So Apple is turning 50 this year, and,

340

Apple

Computer has been one of several companies

341

that are very much involved

in where our microcomputers

342

have come from and set the stage

for where things are going.

343

Their launch date

344

So that would be 50 years and started

in a garage in Los Altos, California.

345

First product Apple One Solar secured.

346

If anybody would like to donate

one to the show, please do.

347

Those are worth

in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

348

Now, if you have a real one,

there's a lot of knock offs of them too.

349

So if someone wants to sell you

one for 10,000 bucks, ask.

350

Unless you're sure.

351

But anyway.

352

So their their first, piece of technology

was the Apple two computer.

353

And this was something you saw everywhere.

354

This was in the time

frame of Commodore 64.

355

And you know, some things like that.

356

Different early micros,

but had an expandable system bus on it.

357

You could do a lot of different things

where

358

if it was a color computer,

which at the time was a big a big wheel.

359

Yeah. It was yeah.

360

You could get an expansion card

to give you a call.

361

So before the days of everything

being graphical,

362

you had 80 characters

across on a typewritten page.

363

That's what it was based on.

364

And I know I went around

and around with this on my Atari computer,

365

because you could only get 40.

366

So it was one of the first ones

that actually you could type.

367

And what the length of the line was,

368

what it would print out

is that kind of a thing.

369

And they've gone on.

370

They had an Apple three, which was,

short lived, and then the Macintosh line,

371

Lisa,

which was kind of the beginning of that,

372

then the Macintosh line,

which is still obviously out there.

373

And there have been times where

the company almost went out of business.

374

Newton was a product

that didn't do so well,

375

but they've set the stage now

and have really been

376

the trailblazers

for the smartphone with the iPhone

377

and the iPad being the tablets

origin of the tablets

378

we all use today

and all that type of thing.

379

So it's interesting to see where this has

come from.

380

It's cool

to see a successful American computer

381

company still being here, still

being based in California and all of that.

382

But happy birthday, Apple.

383

All right, candy makers.

384

Sounds like they're not using cocoa.

385

What's the deal?

386

Well, yeah. So.

387

The Guardian reporting on this,

388

and this is another story that I would say

is a little bit sensationalized.

389

Yeah.

390

The headline is

I took two bites and had to spit it out.

391

Well, okay,

392

so what is fact and what is fiction here?

393

What's going on is that

cocoa is becoming more and more expensive.

394

And that is true.

395

So is everything. Right.

396

And to that end, a lot of companies,

397

several of the bigger ones,

to be specific, are starting to toy

398

with the idea of using other products

to create what I would term

399

fake chocolate. And I'm a chocolate bean,

400

so this is something I tend to be

a bit of a of a snob.

401

Let's just say it like

it is when it comes to chocolate.

402

And the theme of videos is, what you have

to look for is basically one thing.

403

Is cocoa butter an ingredient?

404

If it is,

then it's probably real chocolate.

405

If it's not, then it's

definitely not real chocolate.

406

And what are they trying to replace it

with?

407

Well, things like vegetable oil, palm oil,

hydrogenated oil,

408

things like chocolate coating

409

or chocolate flavored, compound chocolate.

410

You know, different things like that.

411

It's like, you know, a cheese product.

412

You know, what does that actually mean?

413

And it's the same thing to look for.

414

Flip the package around,

see if it contains

415

a cocoa butter, and if it does,

then you're looking pretty good.

416

What about cocoa powder?

417

Well, it's the powders made out of cocoa

butter than. Yes.

418

And you would see, this is where

these things can get confusing.

419

Oh, okay.

420

Able to hide things in layers and that

kind of stuff like this that Nestle's.

421

So either Nestle or Hershey know,

I think it's Hershey's.

422

And you buy those little jars

of this cocoa powder to make things.

423

Now, if you're talking like,

necessarily quick

424

and those type of things, you know,

I think I'm talking Hershey's.

425

Okay.

426

I'm not aware off the top of my head

of the product what you think I would be.

427

I know Hershey sirup is chocolate, but,

Hershey, this is Hershey powder.

428

It's been around for a long time,

429

so if it contains cocoa butter,

it was the same standard.

430

If it contains so-called

cocoa butter, it's real.

431

And if it doesn't, it's not.

432

So just when you're out

there looking at this stuff,

433

Lance Garrett.

434

Daly and some of the better

435

brands like that

are typically staying with real chocolate.

436

Hershey's, more store brands.

437

That's where you got to be careful.

438

And, these products,

definitely there are still going

439

to have real chocolate products.

440

So it's not, you know,

like the headline says that candy makers

441

are not using chocolate anymore.

442

Well, yeah, they are in some things,

but they are also looking at taking it out

443

in some other things and trying

to replace the flavor with something fake,

444

which is, in my opinion,

not possible and also sacrilege.

445

Now, I've also heard,

or saw something about,

446

the Reese's Pieces

not being quite right either.

447

And they sometimes they don't always taste

peanut buttery.

448

They kind of have an odd taste.

449

Yeah.

450

I don't know if you look at part of

it could be product age.

451

You know, there is a shelf life or shelf

stable that you want to

452

look at that because that can start

to change the taste a little bit.

453

And the question is, is

are they using different ingredients.

454

Well it happens

like I'll give you another example.

455

It's not chocolate but is A1 steak sauce.

456

Okay.

457

Now one of the things that I have to be

very careful about is finding things

458

that do not contain high fructose

corn sirup, you know, sweet surprise.

459

But I can't say what

I would think about that on the air.

460

But I have a thing called nonalcoholic

fatty liver disorder,

461

which looks like it's caused by high

fructose corn sirup.

462

So these are things that are out there.

463

Well, A1 steak sauce, depending on

464

what part or what plant it's made in,

I guess some of them are done with sugar,

465

some of our we're done with high fructose

corn sirup.

466

I see that with other products.

467

Yeah.

468

You got to read the labels

because I have a problem

469

with the high fructose corn sirup, too.

470

It does not sit well with me.

471

And, I know the first time I got to go

do the, jet suit in the UK

472

everybody's having a Coke. Why?

473

I don't drink soda.

474

What's wrong with it?

475

And the ingredients on the camera

are like lifelines, sugar sirup,

476

you know, this kind of stuff.

477

And then I had pulled up a picture

on my phone of, our, Coke.

478

One more and, it's, you know,

479

one of those type of things that are just,

just out there.

480

We're almost done with this segment.

481

I just wanted to throw one thing out.

We got a lot of questions on it.

482

Following up on the routers

being bad thing.

483

Routers are still not being banned,

but it's in the news,

484

and there's a lot of confusion

and keeps going.

485

And some of the chips that are being used

are being restricted.

486

So this is something that's evolving.

487

But you can still today buy a router.

488

You know, at a big box store

or anywhere else.

489

And they're fine.

490

But we'll keep an eye on this

because the thing of it is, is the concern

491

from this really comes down to is chips

made by other countries,

492

especially some of the unfriendly

other countries,

493

that they're trying to put back doors

and things into our electronics to be able

494

to monitor things and communication

equipment like routers is a big deal.

495

There are restrictions on 5G

and some of the other components for that

496

that are very real.

497

But routers, you can still buy them

and they're still legal.

498

This is user friendly.

499

2.0 we'll be back after the break.

500

I can see him. He's from the future.

501

He's got a really big computer

502

and he uses it uses it every day.

503

And he uses it uses it in every way.

504

So I see you sure.

505

You know, I'm

not that sure, because he used to be.

506

Welcome back.

507

This is user friendly 2.0.

508

Check out our website.

509

User friendly God Show is your one

stop for everything user friendly.

510

Send us your questions.

Send us your comments.

511

We love to hear from you.

512

Check it out at User Friendly Dot show.

513

All right, bill and Gretchen, you know,

I think it's safe to say

514

that we all play video games.

515

And now, Bill, you and I are a little bit

more into him than Gretchen you are.

516

But you play the tablet games like,

517

the train station,

which is actually kind of cool.

518

And some of these,

if I was to ask you the question,

519

what is the reason

you like playing video games?

520

I enjoy them because they're entertainment

521

and they make me think,

and they're interactive.

522

Right.

523

Gretchen,

why do you like playing Train Station?

524

Oh, actually, with with train station,

it's more like

525

I need a break from reality.

526

And I just need to stop and focus on

something else.

527

I used to do that with The Simpsons, too.

528

As far as, like, the bigger,

529

more fun games, it's more just like the

530

the challenge of just having a good time

and just playing the game.

531

Right.

So entertainment challenge enjoyment.

532

And for me, it's basically the same thing.

533

And also figuring out when we finally get

cyborgs what not to do with cyberpunk.

534

So you know,

but it's a learning experience, right.

535

So plucking asteroids in your garage.

536

So I mean,

my stuff is really different. And

537

I keep it simple.

538

So let me let me ask you a question.

539

If you were to be given an offer of,

540

you know, some upgrades

to your video games where you could invest

541

real money and, you know, do

different things along those lines,

542

would you find that to be something

that would,

543

be interesting?

544

Not for me.

545

I do play some games

that use premium currencies for things.

546

But like gotcha game, experience

547

and other stuff is different, than most,

I guess.

548

So I tend to be a free to play

kind of person.

549

Yeah. Now that's, Yeah, that's one thing.

550

I mean, I've done that a little bit too,

and you have to kind of

551

watch what you spend,

because that can go pretty quickly. But,

552

but, you know,

553

and we are going somewhere

with this, by the way, so that

554

there's a game that has come out

or that came out a few years ago

555

that has been somewhat

controversial on these topics,

556

where it isn't buying premium currency

or paying for the game, but

557

it's like actually trying to invest money

and get a return on your investment.

558

So to jump into this, one of the

a couple of things that are kind

559

of important to know is we're talking

about something called web 3.0.

560

So like cell phones and different things.

561

The internet is excepted to be divided

into three different eras, if you will.

562

Version one was the tech stuff.

563

Version two was when we started

getting interactive things.

564

That's when social media started being a

thing and YouTube and that kind of stuff.

565

And then web 3.0 has to do with ownership,

blockchain,

566

cryptocurrency, you know, all that kind of

came out with that, right? So,

567

idea of web 3.0 is that users

568

own their own data

and digital assets and NFTs.

569

Right.

570

There's no central authority.

571

It's built on blockchain.

572

And, the idea is you're

promised you own your stuff,

573

you can sell your in-game items.

574

You are not locked

into a company's ecosystem.

575

And if you want to take a look at this

from, you know, kind of a perspective

576

of some kind of reality,

this would be heavily speculative.

577

And they are often centralized,

even though they claim that they're not.

578

So one of the other things is a NFT,

which is non-fungible token.

579

So the idea of this is

if you think about something like,

580

your dollars that's fungible.

581

So in other words,

what that means is, Gretchen, Bill,

582

I give you $50, and then later

you pay me back.

583

We're not paying me back

with the same actual $50 I gave you,

584

but it's representative of the same thing,

so it's not unique.

585

Same thing.

586

Like,

if you're going to go put gas in your car,

587

you would not look at the gas

that they're going to pump and go,

588

that gallon looks good,

but that one does it.

589

So I'm going to take this one

and not that one.

590

It's all the same thing right.

591

It's supposedly

592

so NFTs are based around the idea

of being able

593

to make a digital item like a picture

594

or something unique, so that you actually

own this digital asset.

595

If you

know, for anybody that kind of questions

596

that and there have been a lot of things

going along with this in the past

597

that, make this a again, speculative.

598

So would be the idea of I'm playing a game

and I get a weapon of some

599

kind in the game.

600

So I have an NFT that I own this weapon,

601

so I can now take it and put it on eBay or

something and sell it to another player.

602

And it's unique.

603

And, you know, that kind of an idea

that's non-fungible.

604

So in the real world, like,

605

real estate might fall

under that kind of a classification.

606

There's no two properties

that are identical.

607

They're unique. Right.

608

So that would be the case.

609

So, you know, they sell it to you.

610

You're going to own your own beer,

sell it for real money.

611

Investor early profit later.

612

And ownership

does not equal control of the game.

613

If your game shuts down foreshadowing

you know air quotes here of the your NFT

614

may be worthless and the value is often

driven by hype, not unity.

615

All right. So Bill,

I'm going to throw the ball to you.

616

The game

617

that we're talking about here,

and this isn't the only one, but it is

618

the biggest example of this that is out

there is one called Ember sort.

619

So tell us a little bit about what

this is.

620

Well, Ember Sword

was developed by Danish developer.

621

622

It was designed for Windows

and Android operating systems,

623

using the unity game engine.

624

They tried to use Ethereum blockchain

625

to integrate into the game, to,

626

tokenize cosmetics and weaponry

and things like that.

627

So the NFT integration

628

and they used an in-game currency

629

called pixel,

630

However, this, game

631

also got a lot of investment

from a lot of places like GameStop.

632

So there was a lot of big names behind it,

633

which led to $203 million

634

being pledged from approximately

35,000 applicants for in-game property.

635

Yeah, like in-game real estate, I think.

636

Real estate. Yes.

637

Game day year in game housing.

638

Gretchen, you're making a face.

639

Yeah.

640

What could possibly go wrong?

641

I know this this just sounds like a scam

642

to screw people over and.

643

Yeah, and I feel a disturbance

in the force with this.

644

Okay.

645

Let's be let's be straight about this

after years and years,

646

the development

647

648

they were still using basically,

649

Unity's

650

what would you call that.

651

Public assets or the end game.

652

Yeah.

653

So just look the same.

654

Your characters were just blocky polygons.

655

So just a real quick,

656

footnote on that.

657

So when you're talking game engine

for anybody that doesn't know,

658

a lot of games, when you make them,

you use a predefined framework.

659

And what that framework is, is,

is basically an operating system

660

that the game runs in that then is used

to distribute the whole thing later.

661

So it'll run on different platforms,

662

different things

like there's a lot more technical like.

663

So it's kind of like a foundation

or foundation.

664

Yeah. Framework. Foundation.

665

Yeah.

666

Within that framework

you have access to, in-game assets.

667

You know, you're talking about trees

and other things.

668

So your, your graphics

representation of stuff within the games,

669

there's a set that you can buy

and some that are included.

670

And things that are kind of a generic,

this is it, a tree.

671

So when you're developing things

you might start out with that.

672

Now, you also can certainly develop

your own in-game assets

673

for your game that are custom,

which is what you should do.

674

So and again, I just want to throw this

in here because, Bill, when you're

675

talking about this kind of thing,

what you're talking about is the fact

676

they are using the framework

and never really created their own stuff.

677

No, they didn't,

678

you know, and so they had a lot of money,

679

but they didn't bother to invest the money

into,

680

the infrastructure

or the foundation of the game.

681

Yeah, yeah.

682

Even had $1 billion partnership

with Game Shop.

683

Yeah. And just never, never took it.

684

So you have all these people

buying fake land in a game

685

that is not in production yet,

or real money

686

being sold on it from the idea of, well,

if people want to rent space

687

on your land in the game,

688

you'll make money back in Ethereum,

that is now, you know, pixel dollars.

689

That goes back to that.

690

However, that would have worked

and somehow would make money off

691

of your investment and really hyped it up.

692

One of the big problems, though, is that

693

I think the first thing is,

is that you have a kind of a flip flop,

694

and what I would consider

to be important here,

695

and that it's financial investment first

and the entertainment second.

696

That's a problem.

697

Yeah, in my opinion.

698

You know,

699

and then the second part of this is

the fact that the game was never finished.

700

Yeah.

701

One of the comments

that I saw about the game was that it was,

702

horse, pay to earn, which meant that,

703

it became your second job.

704

Oh, jeez.

705

Yeah.

706

You know, and again,

707

it's, you know, I already consider bitcoin

and a lot of people do that,

708

this kind of thing to be speculative.

Anyway.

709

It goes up.

710

It goes down a huge, huge amounts. Right.

711

So you're already dealing with something

that is not a fiat

712

currency like a real currency

issued by a government or something.

713

It's virtual.

714

Bitcoin keeps its value

because there is a limited number

715

based on the algorithm

that was constructed

716

to make this by somebody,

that they don't think they know who it is,

717

it's a kind of a weird background

where this started.

718

But the idea is, is that if you've ever

heard the term Bitcoin mining,

719

basically what that is, is computers

going out, right?

720

Were based on algorithms

trying to find Bitcoin

721

based on, you know, a code.

722

And that code,

there's a limited finite amount of them.

723

So if you can figure it out

then you get a bitcoin.

724

And bitcoins can be worth a lot of money

depending on the hour of the day.

725

So that kind of a thing

726

is already something that I would consider

to be a little bit sketchy.

727

My opinion there's people

728

that have made a lot of money off of it,

more power to them.

729

But again, if you're investing in this,

I've always said use the same money

730

you would use for going to Las Vegas

and put in a slot machine.

731

Don't use money you can't afford to lose

because it is something that is that line.

732

So now playing on that is the idea of,

okay, we're going to have a game

733

that you can buy now, virtual

or fake land with virtual or fake money,

734

but you get the virtual money

with real money.

735

Okay, I believe I

736

am I correct in that analysis?

737

I mean, well, I mean, you're

paying real money for a picture of land.

738

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

739

You know, so, it just.

740

Yeah, it's one of those things

741

that if there was going to be a value

to these things,

742

your game would number one have to

not only be finished, that's a problem,

743

but also be popular enough

that there would be

744

a finite amount of this virtual land

that people would start wanting to buy it.

745

It would drive the value of it.

746

I could see something like this happening

in a game like World of Warcraft.

747

Yes, it's

exactly how a lot of players or, EverQuest

748

would have been a previous one like that,

where you have a lot of, things,

749

and in those games you actually can sell

virtual objects for real money.

750

It's not a Bitcoin or anything.

751

It's just you would,

you know, somebody would,

752

oh, I'll give you money

and then you send it to them.

753

So it's not an NFT and it's not.

754

It's something I know.

755

I also know

that Blizzard somewhat discourages

756

because that's not the right reason

to play the game.

757

Yeah, you can do it,

but it's not based around that.

758

It certainly isn't required.

759

So you, you know,

but you're looking at something like that.

760

You would have to have an environment

where whatever the virtual asset is,

761

is finite.

762

For one thing,

and there's no guarantee of that.

763

A lot of the problems that, they've seen

with a lot of this NFT stuff is, okay,

764

you have an NFT that I am, the proud owner

of this digital image right now.

765

If I was really the only proud owner

of this digital image,

766

there's a possibility

that that could have some value to it.

767

But what inevitably happens is, oh,

768

the person making this

or I'm going to give 150.

769

So now there's,

you know, like a series of 100.

770

All right.

771

Well if you have real artwork,

you know, and it's one of 100

772

or 100 of a 100, but it's limited,

then that can be of a real value.

773

But now you have an infinite

774

amount that you can grow this

and there's no limit, you know?

775

Okay.

776

So I if you have something that's original

777

and it's a

778

let's say, it's, it's a sword in the game.

779

Okay.

780

Well, if other people can't see it

then what's the point of it?

781

So you have to be able to show this NFT

while you're playing the game.

782

Why can't you screen capture

what this, this, this sword looks like,

783

while the other where the person's

playing with it in the game and then

784

go to your computer, make a copy of it,

and then you've got another one.

785

That's the thing with digital artwork.

786

And see, that's what you're talking about.

787

There is that's exactly what you can do.

788

Now, it could be argued that in a game,

if the game was designed properly,

789

the copy wouldn't work.

790

You would have an image of it,

but wouldn't actually do whatever

791

this weapon, sword, whatever

it is, is supposed to do that special.

792

So I think like Dungeons and Dragons, you

get a, you know, some oh, holy avenger.

793

Yeah, it's a sword from a long time ago.

794

And this sword with the other players

in the game, you probably,

795

you know, would

work a trade or that type of a thing.

796

Now that's fine.

And that's part of playing the game.

797

But now, if, Wizards of the coast decide

I'm not wanting to give them an idea here,

798

it's Wizards of the coast.

799

Decided to somehow make it

so that that asset

800

is the only one or a very limited amount

and did it properly.

801

And this would have to be a video game,

not a tabletop

802

roleplaying

game, obviously, for this work.

803

So it's not an exact 1 to 1 analogy,

but the idea being that, okay, now

804

you have this digital certificate

that you own

805

the only one

or the limited edition of this sword,

806

and now you can sell it to real money

for somebody else.

807

But you're basing that on the idea

that, number one, in this example,

808

Wizards of the coast isn't tomorrow

going to go, hey, this is a great idea.

809

We want to make more money.

810

So we're going to put another 10,000

of these out there,

811

you know,

which is kind of what happened here.

812

Yeah.

813

It is, you know,

so the no centralized authority

814

in air quotes

that has to go along with this stuff

815

is, well, that's not quite right,

because somebody

816

is issuing the asset and it's working

within somebody's ecosystem.

817

And if that ecosystem doesn't exist

818

or they do something they shouldn't,

you end up with this kind of a problem.

819

$203 million is enough to develop

a very good game if you do it right.

820

Even a multimedia roleplaying game,

you could do a really good job

821

for that at 203 million.

822

Just to point this out, they came out with

823

GTA six

824

or GTA five.

825

Yeah. Yeah.

826

And that's a,

that's an A rated top of the line.

827

You know, if there's a controversy there,

it's the violence in the game.

828

I understand that,

but that's not relevant to the fact

829

that it is a very pretty

well done, completely walkable.

830

Yeah, exactly.

831

Triple-A.

That was what I was going for. Yeah.

832

For for a game.

833

And, so you have a situation here

834

where, you know,

835

and the

I would even say that there would be

836

a way to argue, let's say, you know,

using the Grand Theft Auto analogy.

837

Okay, we have a kind of car that

you can get that's an NFT that's unusual.

838

There's only 100 of them in the game.

839

There might actually be value to that

because the game's already out there

840

and there's real players playing it.

They might want this.

841

They might actually pay you

something for it. You know?

842

Yeah.

843

But you need to have the, the,

the the game, company

844

keep track and issue numbers

for all these.

845

Yeah.

846

And make it

847

so you can't have more than, you know, 20

or whatever number they decide on.

848

Yeah.

849

It's like a perk

or something that you earn.

850

And then. Right,

851

right.

852

Or you make more.

853

Here's the funny thing

854

is there is technically already

those kind of things in certain games

855

where there's limited members,

there's there's

856

rarities, there's special items.

857

Call of duty, I think is one of those

that does that or Csco.

858

Halo.

859

I don't know if Halo does. Does it?

860

It's it's in there.

861

It's not part of the core thing, but.

Yeah.

862

Oh, okay.

863

I, I'm an old player of Halo.

864

I don't know the new stuff.

865

Yeah. This is new a recent recently new.

866

It's a downloadable content.

867

It's more than we could go into right now.

868

But yeah, they sort of have it.

869

Not as direct as some of the others.

870

Well, but they already have these things.

871

So why would people want to start

paying for them

872

when there is already a system

that's going on?

873

And a lot of these games,

even Call of Duty, I believe,

874

tried to bring NFTs into it

and just found it to be unfeasible.

875

Yeah.

876

And it's and they think

it's going to ruin the joy of the game.

877

Yeah. Oh without a doubt.

878

Without it.

879

Well it would because again

you're investing before entertainment.

880

You know, that type of thing

makes it not for the right reason.

881

And the other thing

882

I think if I'm understanding

what you're saying, is

883

there's already in-game currency and

you can buy special things if you want.

884

That's fine, but that doesn't require

investment strategies.

885

And NFTs and,

you know, all the rest of this stuff.

886

And usually those items are

887

maybe a couple of bucks

or ten bucks or something, which,

888

you know, whatever the case may be,

and you're doing it for the fun of it.

889

And, great.

890

I mean, that's very different than this.

891

Yeah. The point of a game is to have fun.

892

This isn't.

893

Yeah. Okay. This is not behind the scenes.

894

You know, football teams

where, you know, managers

895

and owners,

you know, strategize for money.

896

It we're we're doing that as the players.

897

We want to have fun.

898

And you take away the fun

then what's the point.

899

It's no longer a game.

900

You're trusting the a distributor

901

not to make a lot more of whatever

these items are available.

902

Oh, we're out of virtual land.

903

We're going to make our planet bigger.

904

Well, I mean, you could do that.

905

I mean, I'm going to take,

906

you know, programing a couple of hours

and you're you're done.

907

It's, if even that and, Yeah.

908

So you got to trust the companies.

909

I know there was a, controversy

a number of years ago in the real world

910

that one of the, car manufacturers,

one of the big three American ones,

911

was releasing a vehicle that was this year

only special edition, you know, thing.

912

And a lot of people

bought it at a premium.

913

And at the end of the year, well,

914

they decided to make it, special edition

for another year.

915

You know, I think there was even a lawsuit

about that.

916

But are you talking about, like, the Eddie

Bauer ones or, Eddie Bauer

917

as a trim line? No.

918

And I'm not mentioning the actual car

just to get him right, but it is a,

919

No, Eddie Bauer is like, you know,

the titanium package or something.

920

That's a little bit. Okay.

921

You know, this was an actual model.

922

It would be like, it's not BMW,

so I can use this.

923

Let's say we have a, BMW i5 and this year

only, we're going to make an i5 sport.

924

Okay? It's for one year.

925

It's a real special one.

926

No looks unique, all that kind of stuff.

927

And we're going to charge,

you know, 20 grand, 30 grand more for it.

928

And people buy it because I,

some people would like a special edition.

929

And at the end of the year BMW goes, oh,

we made a lot of money on it.

930

We're going to do this for another year.

931

Now you know, that kind of a thing.

932

And it's what happened.

933

It was not BMW,

934

but the thing of it is, again,

at the end of the day is trust in these.

935

There's there have been things like

baseball cards, sort of picture things

936

that went out a while ago

that were done as NFTs and, sold out. So.

937

Okay, well, we made more, you know,

now all the sudden the value drops.

938

The reason things have value, for

the most part, is scarcity.

939

Why is gold worth more than silver?

940

Why is silver worth

more than the rocks in your backyard?

941

Like granite?

942

It's for that reason, you know, I'm

part of its hype.

943

You know, it's for example,

diamonds are not that rare,

944

but because of the way it's driven,

you get an item that doesn't even get back

945

to the market when the person dies

that bought it usually.

946

And that makes it feel like it's scarce.

947

So, you know, that drives the value.

948

That's that's where this is coming from.

949

It's not easy to replace.

950

So you make it.

951

So it's not easy to replace

until you can make more money off of it.

952

Because it's virtual.

953

Well, you just make more out of the blue,

you know?

954

And yeah, that type of thing.

955

Wizards of the coast has got a lawsuit

with their own investment,

956

investors over, Magic The Gathering cards

because something similar to this where,

957

you know,

they were supposed to have special edition

958

cards and production numbers

and all that were supposed to be.

959

They created false scarcity.

960

That's interesting.

961

That's interesting. Yeah.

962

And and I could see that being on

the trading card games are a big deal.

963

Like the what is a black Lotus card

or whatever that one was I found one day.

964

And, that one really is valuable

because it's scarce now it's a third issue

965

instead of the first or something.

I don't know that much about it.

966

This happened with the comic books, too.

967

Yeah, comic books are another one.

968

I've got tons of these beautiful

special edition

969

comic books with beautiful covers,

970

that Jeremy had collected

because he, he thought,

971

oh, wow, these are special, you know,

and I'm going to buy the extra one.

972

And apparently there's tons of them.

973

Yeah. And that's the whole thing.

974

If you make something

that's a special edition,

975

but there's too many of them, it's

976

never going to have value,

or at least not for a long time.

977

It's the ones that are like your Superman

one that, wasn't ever meant

978

as a special edition, in fact, was sold

as something you'd read and throw away.

979

Now there's scarcity and real scarcity,

and now there is a real value,

980

you know, but

981

trying to do that in a virtual world

using web 3.0

982

for interactive stuff with money,

just it's one of those things.

983

What could possibly go wrong?

984

Well, if Amber saw quite a lot and,

you know, number one

985

pre-selling stuff and then not finishing

the game as a problem

986

and then, you know,

so and people lost a lot of money on that.

987

And it's too bad

I, I feel bad that happened.

988

But I have to look at it

from a standpoint too.

989

It seems like you should probably think

about these things a little bit

990

before you put it out.

991

If it's the ten bucks,

because you're buying an item in a,

992

you know, free to play game, and that's

how the company is making the game.

993

Okay. You know,

994

but when it's something

995

like you're $1,000 or as Bill,

996

you put it, a picture of fake land,

which is what it was, or more.

997

I don't know about you.

998

$1,000 is a lot of money.

999

I think you'd be better off trying to,

do the market instead.

You know, like, real.

Yeah.

From real reality to that.

Although, you know, it's.

Oh, buy

stocks and Home Depot or something.

At least you play playing the reality.

You know, Home Depot is a real company.

It's a good company.

That's. Yeah.

Go up and go down.

But you're

you're something I can go walk into a Home

Depot if I wanted to in about ten minutes,

you know.

But you know what? Virtual land.

I don't think that's it's Tron and

I don't really want to go there this week.

You know,

I would

say commodities are usually better.

Yeah, yeah, I just, you know, and no,

this is not a financial investment show.

Do not follow any of this advice please.

It waffles put your all your money

in waffles legs out.

You know it just, run off boy. But anyway.

But yeah.

So a lot of questions came in about this.

And this is basically what it is.

Is it this type of a situation?

It's not the only one,

but it is definitely the one that seems to

have had the most attention.

And I think a big part of that

is because the game was never finished,

and there was a lot more investment

in this than some of the others.

So just be careful

and you know what you're doing.

There's a lot of great things

you could do with the internet

all around, but there's also a lot of

I don't know

if this was started out as a scam,

but certainly something

where you can lose a lot of money

and there are legitimate scams

until next week.

This is User Friendly 2.0, keeping you safe

on the cutting edge. User Friendly 2.0.

by User Friendly Media Group incorporated.

All rights reserved.

The content is the opinion

of the show's participants

and does not necessarily

reflect this station or platform.

Requests for material use, interviews,

disclosures,

and other correspondence may be viewed

and submitted at userfriendly.show