#TechTalk: @Marc_Saltzman - podcast episode cover

#TechTalk: @Marc_Saltzman

Mar 13, 20257 min
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Episode description

Marc Saltzman reports about smart video locks that can be unlocked with a wave of your hand. The maker of Roomba expresses significant doubts about its future.

Transcript

Speaker 1

A wave that unlocks a video and the future of rum but in doubt, we turned to Mark Saltzman. The machines are getting smarter.

Speaker 2

This is tech Talk, brought to you by Skynet.

Speaker 1

It's pretty crazy, Mark but anchor the maker of just about everything technology. I think I have a bunch of their their rechargeable batteries and yeah, they're power banks, power banks. Yeah, they've announced through their UFI. Is that how you say.

Speaker 2

It's That's how you say it. It's e u f y, That's how it's pronounced.

Speaker 1

They have a bunch of smart home products, and they have a lock that uses your palm. I don't know if I like this.

Speaker 2

It's meant to be more secure. They sent it to me to play around with. It's pretty wild. So it's called the UFI Familock S three Max and it's a video door lock, so it's also a video door bell camera. But we'll get to that in a second. But yeah, the unique feature is that it uses pun vein scanning technology, So it's an infrared light IR light that illuminates the palm when you wave it over the sensor, it looks at the blood flow in your palm and in the veins,

and it is a unique identifier. It's what we call biometrics technology. It's not unlike using your face to unlock your iPhone or a fingerprint or something. It is another way to securely identify you. The company claims it's ninety nine point nine percent accurate and you can program up to fifty palm prints. So your family, your friends, whoever you want access to your home. So the idea is

that you don't need a mechanical key. It uses either a keypad, but even more convenient is holding up your hand. It's may it be this is gonna sound macabre? Can I know what you're gonna say? Yeah, cut somebody's hand off.

Speaker 1

I don't you kill them?

Speaker 2

So if someone killed you to get into your home, yeah, I think it's looking for blood in the veins. And if I don't know how, I don't know how fast? How fast you need to hold the hand up after it's severed for it. It's a really it's a macob question. Yes, had a low red cell blood counts, you're really My thinking is if somebody wants to get in your house, they're going to get in your house. I feel like one way or another. So it does work. It's pretty wild. Yeah.

I was a latchkey kid when I was younger. I had like a mechanical key on a shoe string around my neck. Like that's old school. So this also works with Alexa or Google. You can use your voice to lock or unlock the door when you're inside. And it does have an integrated two K camera, so that's to see deliveries for example. And on the inside of the door is the screen as well. There's an app, but there's a screen that will show you who's at your door. Yeah,

so it's going to be coming in April. It's going to be three ninety nine, and there's a seventy dollars off co at the website at uf dot com. So yeah, kind of neat. I've been kicking the tires on that. Everybody.

Speaker 1

I know a lot of people who have roombus. I don't know everybody who uses them on a regular basis because there is some upkeep involved. Quick question, if you're murdered, does your roombus still work?

Speaker 2

Oh? If you're if your Helen is still going to do her job, she puts the she puts hell in hell. You can't spell hella without hell. Yes, so yeah, the roombas and other floor vacuuming robots are still popular, but the company I Robot may not be around. It's funny they ironically announced a half a dozen new models this week, but they in the same breath told investors yesterday that it has and I quote, substantial doubt about it or

our ability to continue. The company is in trouble. What happened was a year ago Amazon was going to buy them. It was a one point seven billion dollar acquisition that was called off by Amazon because of regulatory hurdles, mostly out of Europe. That's not unusual. The EU has very strict regulatory compliance rules and all that. So I don't know what the issues were with privacy and all that,

or it was maybe deemed monopoly. But what has happened since is that there are these brands that have come out of nowhere, seemingly that are giving comparable performance in a robotic vacuum and mop combo in one as low as ninety dollars, Like, how do you compete with that? So if you go to Amazon, you'll find brands, some you'll recognize, some you won't. Dream Robo Rock, Shark, Shark

you probably know like Shark. Ninja Ufi is another one the same company as the video door bell lock with the palm scanning and you can now get comparable quality. So even though the company has a half dozen new models, they're also just catching up with light ar sensing instead of other technologies to navigate around your home. Light ar is more efficient. It can clean your home better in

a shorter amount of time. By learning your home. You probably know that there's an app that will show you a map of your floor that you can name, like that's my kitchen, that's my family room, and then you can tell the smart speaker or the app clean in front of my stove. Things like that get very specific. So yeah, so I Robot's got to catch up. But who knows, I'd be worried about buying an eye robot just because you don't know if the company's going to

be around. But they did announce some new they're in debt. They're still paying off a two hundred million dollar bridge loan. Wow, yeah, not looking good.

Speaker 1

Well, and if if I Robot goes under, then whatever Isaac Asimov books are, they're not going to be true anymore.

Speaker 2

Right, Yeah, yeah, right, you know they were the Ogs Room Bod back in two thousand and two. Right, it's not the same I Robot as asim of the same name. Sure, yeah, I didn't. I didn't know if I should even acknowledge that. Yes, it was good. It was a good movie with Will Smith. Though.

Speaker 1

It was a great mind love.

Speaker 2

I like that movie. I was kind of underrated. But yeah, no, Ruba, they're the ogs. I Robot came out in two thousand and two, in September of twenty two. But so it's a shame if they go under because they kickstarted this whole robot fact thing that cats like to sit on.

Speaker 1

We like to watch kat. I don't think they like it, but we like to watch them sit on it.

Speaker 2

Mark, thank you and to you. Talk to you next week.

Speaker 1

You bet Mark Saltzman follow Mark on x m arc under. Mark didn't think my dark humor was funny. He's just got a higher level of humor acuity.

Speaker 2

Well, we set the bar high.

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