#SwampWatch and Tech Talk with Marc Saltzman

enough to stop the flow of fentanyl. I've got to believe there's more to the equation than just that it is a major problem. But to start a trade war, what you could call the beginning of a trade war, I think has more skin in the game than just the flow of the fentanyl. The Commerce Secretary today, Howard Lutnik, said that Trump will most likely announce a one month delay on all Canadian tariffs as well. So kind of

just waiting and seeing here. Yesterday he did the same thing with the Big Three, or after the phone conversation with the Big Three, when it came to the auto industry where they had a phone conversation with him, they said that the supply lines are very convoluted between the United States, Canada, and Mexico in terms of where cars are made, where parts are made, a lot of things

going back and forth several times throughout North America. When you're making the cars that hit the assembly lines and then the floors of the dealerships, and the car industry was saying, hey, you're looking at a hit per vehicle from four thousand to twelve thousand dollars of an uptick

in price per vehicle like soon like next week. So the President realized the harm that that would cause to the auto industry, so backed off that for a month until maybe we see what goes on with conversations between Canada and Mexico. Justin Trudeau and the waiting days in office, has been pretty blunt with his take on the tariffs, calling them stupid. As I mentioned earlier. Earlier, Canada has pulled off American liquor from their shelves as a defiant

measure as well. Al Green, also of note today in Washington House voted to censure Democratic Representative Al Green of Texas for disrupting the President during his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday. It's very symbolic the censure, as you know, Handle and I were talking about it earlier. I'm surprised there wasn't more dissension going on in the chamber there. I'm surprised that there weren't more Democrats, and some of them have gotten heat from their constituency. Why

don't you do something? I was all in handle. If Trump promised must CTV. What a spectacle it would have been if they all just stood up and walked out. I mean, I don't know. If there's some sort of duty to where they can't do that, I don't know, But what a spectacle that would have been. I mean, that's essentially what they did. Anyway. They weren't responding, they held up their signs, they weren't clapping or standing or anything. Why wouldn't they just walk out and leave that whole

half of the room empty? I don't know. Anyway, Trump turns out he will not be signing that executive order. It's been a big headline all morning that he would be signing this executive order to get rid of the Department of Education altogether. They say that will not happening today. To dismantle the Department of Education. We don't know where that stands, but that that it's not going to be happening today. And then Greenland, Greenland, the world's largest island,

eighty percent of it covered in ice. What would we even do with Greenland? Well, I'm sure a lot of people in Minneapolis and the like would know what to do with an island covered in eighty percent of ice. But they are doubling down and saying that this cannot be taken Greenland hour, Greenland will not be taken. It's ours now. President Trump appears to be determined to acquire Greenland. You know, once he sets his sights on something, he he does not deter does he He does not one

eighty around from that goal that he sets. It is mineral rich, it is strategically located in Arctic territory, and he plans to get it. Quoting here one way or the other, as he said last night in a joint address before cong Now, Greenland is part of Denmark. It does have its own local government, It's got a parliament that oversees some domestic and civil affairs. There are different

ways that the Greenland saga could play out. USA today broke it down, and apparently Greenlanders have been debating for several years whether they would be better off as an independent country. That could be something that could happen if a national referendum is held, which Denmark has said it would allow if enough of the population voted to hold such a vote. But the majority of Greenlanders do not want their island to become a part of us. They

don't want to become Americans. If they want independence at exactly what they want. Trump may simply try to buy Greenland. Don't know how that would work. Denmark has said repeatedly it is not for sale. The last foreign territory purchased by the US by the BYE, interestingly enough, was from Denmark. It bought the Virgin Islands in nineteen seventeen for twenty five million. That was the last. That was the last purchase.

Some people that are paying attention say that Trump could squeeze Greenland and Denmark economically use those tariffs that he's used this week, So they said that he could go after them with this. Denmark apparently is a major exporter of pharmaceuticals, including insulin. For example, the Danish company Novo Nordsik makes ozempic. Could you imagine another option Trump could invade Greenland? That would be that would be very far fetched, onen't it? And then the other option is that Trump

just gets over it, right, he just moves on. But he doesn't seem to be moving on. I'm surprised at this whole Greenland thing reared its head again during the Address before Congress this week. All right, coming up and next let's see, we are talking about coaching. Coaching is the new asking your friends for help. People are spending hundreds of dollars for advice from complete strangers. Sometimes you take strangers advice more quickly than you take the advice

of people you know and love. Isn't that the case? We'll talk about this new industry when we return.

offer over other investments. In the long term. May feel like things are crazy right now, but they have a way of evening out. It's kind of like turbulence on an airplane. You think the plane's bouncing all over, it's moving very little. It's not in the grand scheme of things. It's not moving at all, at least at this point. People are spending hundreds of dollars for advice from strangers.

There are specialized coaches popping up everywhere these days. If a problem exists, there seems to be a coach for it. If you have trouble focusing, there is something called an executive function coach. If you're undecided about having kids, there's a coach for that as well. You want to plan a transformative vacation, sounds like white lotus, doesn't it? A travel coach can help you. How much does a travel

coach plan or charge to help you plan your transformative vacation? Well, in this article here, it says that that will cost you about six hundred bucks on top of what you're paying for that transformative vacation. Could you imagine you're talking to a friend on the phone and you're like, Hey, what's going on. How are the kids? Oh, they're good. We're planning a vacation. Oh where are you going? Oh? Well, I hired this guy, Bob. He's going to help us

because I'm just so burned out from work. I don't have time to plan this vacation. Oh really, Bob. Huh. Yeah, Bob's going to really find all the great things that we can do with the kids and all the different experiences we can have. Oh yeah, we're paying Bob six hundred bucks. Hey, how do you react to that?

was cut off here by the end. But anyway, she's spent a bunch of time talking to coaching clients, and she says, most of the coaching clients I spoke with asked to use only their first name because of the personal nature of the issues they sought help for. Bs. That is not why. It's because it's embarrassing to admit you've spent six hundred dollars on someone who planned your vacation for you. Like, that's an embarrassing thing. You should never admit if that happened. I mean, you do, you

live your life, but I wouldn't admit that. There's one woman she talked to goes by Sarah. Sarah sees a meditation coach for three hundred and fifty dollars a session. Sarah justifies it because she does not own expensive purses or clothes. Another woman, Liz has various points, had a career coach, an executive coach, a doula, a co parenting coach, and two different accountability coaches who focus on diet and exercise. I'm going to work to get Liz's number for all

of us so we can pitch ourselves to Liz. And she's just throwing money all the coaches. I'm sure we could find a niche, a niche to help Liz with. She recently, by the way, added a Disney concierge coach for navigating the Magic Kingdom? Are we all an agreement that we hate Liz? Who would admit this? Deborah? Now I can't really I cannot relate either. I mean, isn't this why you have friends? Yeah? I used to say

that about therapy. I've never had a therapist. I understand the stigma has been removed and everybody goes to therapy. But my refrain used to be, well, that's what I have friends for. And then it hit me, maybe my friends are tired of hearing from me. Maybe that's why people pay their way out of that to preserve their friendships. But I mean, that's kind of what you do. You kind of that's you pick up the phone and you

can Maybe that's part of it. Maybe people aren't picking up the phone anymore to talk to friends about, Hey, what kind of im planning this vacation for the family? What have you heard of anything cool? Like any places to go? Maybe we're not interfacing enough with our friends anymore to where you think you need some sort of bot on the other end of your computer screen that you're paying for this kind of advice. I mean, I

get using a travel agent. Yeah, if you need to use a travel agent for whatever reason, you know, maybe getting a better deal on a hotel or well, you were going to Israel at one point, that's where you use a travel exactly exactly, Yeah, that makes sense. But my goodness, Liz really went for it. I mean, she hit all the coaches. She told this interviewer She told me that she hasn't done something important before and she

wants to do it right. She tends to hire a coach to help her, She said, winging it is so not my style. Why not go into it informed if you can, Oh, Liz, if you want to make God laugh? Well, anyway, Apparently it's not just Liz. There is a whole slew of people that I gotta believe that if there's a number of people that are into hiring you just give them advice. You could just come up with easy Why not take advantage of them? Right? I think we should

all start our coaching company. Some great, some hilarious examples of this. When we come back.

It was in the Atlantic, and the reporter here is Olga Kazan. She's a staff writer there at The Atlantic, but she's also written for the New York Times, La Times, the Washington Post. And she talked to people that are hiring these coaches. Liz was one of them. Liz has had a career coach, an executive coach, a doula, a co parenting coach. Two co parenting coach You mean her husband that marriage didn't work out. That was unfair and unkind.

Two different accountability coaches who focus on diet and exercise as well. And Liz recently added a Disney concierge's coach for navigating the Magic Kingdom travel coach Olga Rights can cost you up to six hundred bucks, not including the actual booking of the trip as well, and that's just for advice, and then they charge you extra to book the trip that they plan, and then you have to pay for the actual trip. Okay. Eric Baker is a

Harvard historian. He is the author of Make Your Own Job, and he says that coaching is the latest example of the therapeutic culture that emerged in the US in the twentieth century, a sense of needing to have some kind of expert to help optimize your performance. That being normal is no longer enough, So people are hiring coaches to help them transcend normal like the tiger mom, right, the old tiger mom hiring the piano coach and the mandarin coach and making sure your kid has all of these

experts to help them become exceptional. People are now applying that to their lives we were talking about. Is the erosion of good old fashioned friendships playing into this, because that's who you would call for advice on things like this. You call your friends, they say, yes, that there are fewer close friends for people these days, so they may be reluctant to rely on those friends for help. Also, civic support. Sources of support have eroded over the past decade.

People are not likely to be members of community groups, religious congregation, things like that. In some circles you used to kind of bounce things off those different groups or churches or things like that. One of theologists profiled in this in this article, our Lee Hofschild writes that a coach is like a super friend, someone very smart and attentive who can help you make the best decision possible.

A travel coach by the name Makayah Thompson refers to her service like a best friend pre trip, during the trip, and after the trip. Some of these coaches say they see themselves like a big sister. Friends and family are really good. Often they give you advice, though that is not helpful. Also, you can be messy in front of these coaches. You can be depressed around them, so you

can be interesting and bubbly around your friends. Another woman who has a weight loss coach said, your friends don't want to listen to you talk about that all the time. To my point earlier, maybe your friends want to break from being your unpaid therapist. Well, too bad for mine,

They're not going to get that. A twenty twenty three report by the International Coaching Federation, which is a credentialing entd for some of these so that the average one of these coaches that's raking in the cash spends just twelve hours a week coaching. One woman that the reporter

spoke with for The Atlantic Olga Cazan. She spoke with this woman named Maria Maria says she was scrolling through TikTok when she comes across a bariatric surgery coach who promised to help her adjust to the dramatically different eating habits that this kind of surgery requires. So Maria says, I booked a call with this coach and she sold

me within like twenty minutes. So for about five hundred dollars a month, this coach would check Maria's My Fitness Pal food log and the coach would text her in emoji assessing her performance. So if she's doing well, Maria would get a fire emoji. For five hundred dollars a month, you get a fire emoji. My friends do much better than that. During their one on one sessions, Maria says she felt she was talking with the coach's TikTok character

rather than with a devoted advisor. Maria said she had like five things that she would repeat over and over again. So she repeated after two months, two months, gone, thousand dollars gone for how many fire emojis? The reporter for The Atlantic spoke with Neil Wolfhart, a decision coach who charges two hundred and forty seven dollars per hour long session. Nell helps her clients make one big life decision for

that two hundred and forty seven dollars per hour. The decisions are as varied as whether to have kids or what color to paint their kitchen. Oh my gosh, If I'm hiring someone for two hundred and fifty bucks an hour to tell me what color to paint my kitchen, I have one life. I also should check myself into some sort of center. This woman, Nell told the reporter she's always had this fixer brain, and that often she's simply listening for what the person really wants to do. Anyway,

that's a real friend right there. It just happened. It just helps, she says, to have a totally neutral third party to check your work and make sure, yes, this is not a ludicrous risk you're taking. What qualifications does Nell have, the reporter asked, and Nell, to her credit, said nothing. She says, people have said to me, you're so wise. Nell takes that like they must think I'm in my mid forties. So the author of this story, the reporter, decided to hire Nell for an hour session.

The question on the table should she move to Florida or to Texas. A reporter says, Nell began asking questions about what was important to me, what else i'd considered, what place each place had to offer me, And the reporter says, unlike my therapist, she didn't ask about my childhood. She didn't care about any of the backstory, none of that. Why I behave the way I do, none of that. And Nell said, why you feel this way is not relevant. The only thing that matters is that you do feel

this way. The reporter says, it was like talking with a super friend, someone who is smart, likable, but disinterested and ruthlessly rational. And after about thirty minutes, she told me what I should do, and the author says, it's what I wanted to do anyway. All right. Coming up next, we've got tech Talk with Mark Saltzman, our tech guru. He's going to have the highlights of what's called the Mobile World Congress. Sounds very nerdy and exciting. There is

a laptop that is powered by the sun. We've got information on the world's thinnest phone, and new ear buds that do even better real time language translation. I'm super into this because I'm super bad at learning languages, and if you could get earbuds that enable you to talk to somebody who doesn't speak the same language as you do in real time? How cool would that be when it comes to traveling. So we'll talk to Mark about all that when we return.

one hundred thousand folks from the industry like yours. Truly, about twenty seven hundred exhibitors, so it's not as consumery as Consumer Electronics Show in January in Vegas every year, but there was still some cool tech products that Again, there was a lot of B to B a lot of business solutions, which I find a little dryer than you know, the consumer stuff. So I found, after you know, walking the massive showroom floor for a couple of days, a couple of really cool things that I thought i'd

share with you. The first is a solar powered laptop from Lenovo. So it's got solar panels on the back of the laptop that will keep your computer topped up when you're out and about. So according to the company, about twenty minutes of sunlight can yield about an hour of video playback, which is a lot, or even more if you're using like a word process or to crank out something for work, you're in a coffee shop, you're by the window, the back of the laptop can take

in some sunlight and convert that into energy. That concept PCs only fifteen millimeters thin as well for very thin and light about just about a kilogram or so a couple pounds.

is cool. So that was from Lenovo. And then I did say it was a very very heavy smartphone show. So I saw the world's thinnest smartphone. It's only five point seven millimeters deep. It's called and by the way, the iPhone sixteen is almost eight millimeters thin. So this is from a company called Techno Tecno and the phone is called the Spark Slim.

so we'll see if that comes comes out. But this is a nearly seven inch Android phone called the Spark Slim that is ridiculously thin, thinner than a pencil like a number two pencil, and about one hundred and forty eight gram so really light as well. In fact, Techno the company said they actually added weight to it because they thought it was too light, like people might think it's not real and despite it's like it looks like a dummy thing they see at Ikia, like staged, you

know what I mean. Yeah, it's got like a fifty two hundred milli AM battery as well, which is really a lot for a thin phone. That's even more than like Samsung's Galaxy S twenty five, which is their flagship phone. So some cool things on the on the smartphone front. And then to round it out, I picked a tablet that was neat. It's a tablet that can show three D images without you needing to wear glasses. So when you look at content on this twelve inch tablets from

a company called Red Magic. It's part of the ZTE family. The like if you're seeing like a turtle swimming, for example, you're watching a video of a turtle swimming, it looks like the turtle is coming out of the tablet screen and onto your lap. Yeah, it's pretty wild. It's a special screen and it's got two cameras on you as well that look at your eyes. And so there's two small caveats. One is that it only looks good if you're right in front, Like you can't be sharing that

screen and watching YouTube beside anybody. It's just for you. And then secondly, as a content creator, when I so, I shot some videos and posted them to social media when I was away last week this week in Barcelona. You can't record this tablet with a phone and get that effect. You need two eyes to see it. It's right, that stereoscopic effect, you know, like remember when those remember those posters I'm going back, You had to let your eyes kind of blur a little bit all.

an emergency, it's always recording. It's always recording content. It's a small little wearable that is always recording in sixty second video loops that you can you can stop and have it like you know, archived, or if it senses any any movement that you know, it could lock the file itself. You can also have it send alerts to certain contacts with a push of a button. So it's kind of an interesting take, you know, in this world that we're living in, sure of wearing it's basically a

body cam that a police officer would wear. It's for personal use, and that's k e O c Am.

So yeah, it's really neat that same company, Honor, showed a cool AI trick on their phone as well, where it's not unusual today Apple Samsung Pixel where if you have like a photo bomber in your photo that's rooting your photo, that you can circle it with your finger and have that subject removed, then that's using AI. But now with this Honor phone that they've got called the Magic seven.

you're your sool. If if you don't know how to do it, you don't know how to do it. So this is kind of cool. That's from a company called Honor.