A New TV or Projector?

think I can get a media credential? Since I am broadcasting on iHeartRadio, which is actually the former home and in place of Clear Channel, which was iHeart Radio, I don't know, somebody. I am more than happy to report courtside. I an eagle in case his voice gets a little you know, a little dry. I'm more than happy to take over, but we will talk a little bit about that. Yes, it is a technologically oriented show, more of a consumer lifestyle.

But if you are a longtime listener twenty three, twenty four or so years that I have been doing this, it is all sports. I'm massive sports fans, so we can talk about that. Five teams from our great state of Texas are in arch Madness, including my don't know how snuck in earlier this week, the University of Texas Longhards. Yes, something tells me that they may not go relatively far, but the University of Houston, where I'm also over the

air on KPRC nine fifty am. Odds are they have a pretty good chance of reaching San Antonio, which is another opportunity for me to get immedia credential. So we will see lots to talk about today, including spring cleaning. Last week I talked about what to do with some of your old gadgets that are laying around, that are gaining dust, that your spouse is yelling at you. Why don't you do something about this thing? Don't throw them away. You really never should throw away any phone or TV

or computer. A monitor because there's too much metal. And obviously, if you haven't erased your data, absolutely never just throw them away. And I gave you some websites which you actually could turn old devices into money. If you've missed that, shame on you. People. You should be listening to this radio show every single week. You can go to our podcast, go to iHeartRadio hop download it ryheartradio dot com and you can type in my name Michael Garfield, and then

you can listen to last week's show. And I gave you some really interesting websites. One was what declutter and a few others that they will pay you relatively good money if your devices are a good, good, you know, type of condition. But there's other things to do. It is spring cleaning, and I'm going to talk about recycling old phones and appliances. Too old appliances, treadmills, dishwashers, refrigerators. Some places can haul them away from you. So I

have a whole list of things to do. We've got that. I was on Fox seven Austin, but look at me. I'm name drop at every city that I'm in. Shout out to Austin. I am a tech reporter, the tech contribut on Fox seven Austin every Monday morning. I did a segment earlier this week on projectors. I like projectors right now. Projectors, to some extent are the new televisions and TVs. You know, for years and years I get asked the question, Hey, Michael, what's the best TV I

should get? Should I get a Should I get one that hangs on the wash? Should I get one that just sits on a stand? Do I get a forty two inch? Do I get a fifty five inch class? Do I get a seventy five inch class? How cheap are they? How heavy are they? You know? Does it need to be streaming? Does it need to be four K? Does it need to be ak? Well, I'll tell you what.

There's other options right now that includes projectors. Projectors nowaday are getting so simple to use, and in many cases they're cheaper than televisions, but they give you a lot of options because they can be portable. You could take these.

I mean I am playing with some projectors right now that are probably certainly less than three pounds that can go inside and project things on your wall or a screen, but you can also take them outside, and so at night you can have your little pool party and you can, you know, just watch sports. And this is a perfect time of year too, you know, watch games outside with all your buddies on a one hundred and fifty inch screen. That's right. Some projectors can project that wide four K

and ten eighty. I did a segment on Fox seven and I'll go through some of the better projectors that you can get right now. They're relatively easy to set up. Along with your questions. That's right. It is a call in radio show. I'm going to give you the number

three four six twenty nine Texan. See's that simple, three four six two nine t e X A N. No matter where you are listening to this show, because you can listen to it terrestrially in Dallas on eleven ninety talk radio, as I said, Houston, as I said, San Antonio, and you can listen on iHeartRadio wherever you are. If you miss it, you can listen it to it on the replay, which we all call a podcast. A lot of car news and car fun stuff. You know, I

drive cars and test drive cars every single week. And I had I had a smile machine this week I had. If you follow me on social I put some photos of what I was driving, and listen. I drive sixty plus vehicles a year. Every week, at least I get one. Sometimes I get two per week from manufacturers. I don't deal with dealerships people. These are manufacturers who do not pay me. I am just I am an auto journalist, and they want my honest thoughts and opinions. And I

think my audience over the years is really appreciated. I'm not paid or influenced by anybody. I could tell you when a vehicle is crap, some of the better points of a vehicle. Who this one is for? Who you know? Why you should not consider this, depending on what type of lifestyle you're living right now.

car Nerds. It's a muscle car, the Dodge Chargers, the two door vehicle that is zoom zoom, big muscle car. But stand by, there's a twist. You know, muscle cars, if you think about it, they've been around since what the nineteen fifties, nineteen sixties. We're going to go drag race and we're going to take it on the track and we're going to do grease lightning. And it's got a hemi combustible engine that you fill up with gas and it's just rumbling and bumbling. Not this one, people,

This is electric. That's right, electric blue people. It's the Dodge Charger Daytona. It is loud, but how can it be loud if it doesn't have a combustible engine. It's electric, it's supposed to be dirt quiet. Well, there is a way to turn on the sound. It's very interesting. I love the technology. I spent an entire week on it. Did a video. We'll put that on my YouTube here soon, which you can find in Michael Garfield. But I will

talk about that. This is something that you may be interested in, should you be in a lifestyle of getting a muscle car that is electric, which is the new way of doing things, folks. So this is what we have in store for you. I'm just not here repairing

your computer because that is not sexy radio. No, no, no, that's not how we do it on the high tech text and show again, follow me all over social media, high tech text and hi gh t e h T e x A N. I will actually tell you where I am right now, where I will be later this weekend. I want to meet you one on one. A lot of travel and a lot of sports, a lot of fun three four six twenty nine texting. Just don't go only with people. Too much stuff going on, My good

buddy's going on up high tech texts in check. A few days into the March Madness tournament. Raise your hand. How many brackets are busted after the first round of games. So Thursday morning, I know my bracket is busted. Maybe you have a second chance. How many brackets did you fill out for March Madness. I generally fill out four or five because I'm in different fools and I change them up to I don't know, to give myself a chance because nobody's perfect when it comes to these brackets.

We welcome you back, Michael Garfield. If we're tight, you can call me Garf GA RF. You can get into the conversation here three four, six, twenty nine. Texan do you do you put your team your alma mater and make it go all the way? I generally have my home of mater, the University of Texas Longhorns, going relatively far. Two years ago, I had them winning the entire thing and they came there. They were half a game away

from the Final Four. That would have been if you remember two years ago, the Final Four was in Houston at NRG Stadium, Texas would have been I mean, it would have been a home game. In the semi final game they were playing Miami. University of Miami. Texas is up at halftime. I mean, me and my boys were already calling me asking me, hey, can I stay at your place Garf in Houston. Man, this is gonna be crazy. Forty minutes later, Miami comes back, they win, Texas's out

and that was not good. So that's probably the last time I put that's definitely the last time I made Texas go all the way. I did. In one of my polls put uh Houston Cougar's hometown Houston Cougars. I live in Houston at the present moment right now. But if you, uh, let's say utsa San Antonio, which is hosting one of the co the host of the Final four, because hits in San Antonio, they're not going all the way. Texas Tech is in there. We got five Texas teams,

and we talked about brackets. Can you win your bracket? How much do you is it bragging rights? You know? Do you do? You pay? You know, you send your buddy ten bucks and so you can actually, you know, potentially win some money. No one, I don't think in the history of world has ever gotten a perfect bracket. A perfect bracket. Because there are sixty three games total. If you go over the three weeks, there is one in nine point two quintillion chance of picking a perfect bracket.

That is one quintillion is one billion billions. Okay, there's a little tech there's a little too much technological stuff for you, but one in nine point two quintillion and eight happening. Which is why companies and people can offer prizes that, hey, if you've got a perfect bracket and you enter our bracket, you're gonna win this. I remember Warren Buffett. I think he used to offer was it one million? He may have offered a billion dollars. I

mean matter, nobody's gonna get it. I saw this one too, X and your boy Elon Musk. For all you Austinites up there, X has a bracket challenge, and I don't know if you inted night. It's too late to enter right now. You had to do it by Thursday. If you pick a perfect bracket, you will win, could win a chance to go to space, a trip to Mars on SpaceX's starship at a future date. A trip to Mars, not trip just up in the atmosphere to space like

we've seen all these celebrities do, not to the moon. No, you can win a trip to Mars on the surface. It sounds cool, it sounds sexy, so much so that I'm gonna give it here about three minutes of time on my radio. But I want you to think about this. You just kicked a winner that is virtually impossible, if not the word literally impossible. One point nine point two quintillion. You're probably going to be a superstar. You're doing the Good Morning America Today's show. You'll be on my show.

Oh by the way, you also get a trip to freaking Mars. May not be in your lifetime, depending on how old you are, because I don't think we've had manned spaceflight to Mars right now. But that's not the question. My question when I read this and thought about it for a minute, do you want to go to Mars? I'm serious? Do you really want to go to Mars? How long would that take? What are you going to

do there? And would you ever come back? Just because you you did something very cool and picked a winner perfect bracket. So I guess the X folks thought about this. Because you have your choice. You could go to Mars at some future date in your life, or you could pick a two hundred and fifty thousand cash prize. Oh in a free year of Starlink sir. Oh, you can also train like an astronaut for a day. Let me help you out, people. I'm just I'm an advice guy,

I really am. Take the freaking money. Take the freaking money quarter million dollars. If you're so good at picking basketball brackets, here's what you do next year. Pick your bracket and find a pool where you could put two hundred and fifty thousand dollars on picking your perfect bracket because the winning payout of picking sixty three phenomenal games.

If you put a quarter of a million dollars there, or however you want to divide it up, you actually can, I don't know, buy out Eli Musk and Warren Buffett and make your own way to Mars. All right, quick poll here three four six twenty nine Texan, would you rather go to Mars or take a quarter million dollars three four six two nine to e x A N. If we don't pick up the phone to put you on the air, leave a voicemail. We do have the

right to put you on the air. Go to my ex account high tech text and spelled the whole thing out. Just put Quartermilsky garf or hell yeah, I'm going to Mars. Maybe I'm jaded because I did have the opportunity years ago to actually float in zero gravity. So although I haven't been to space, I got to float in zero gravity. It's it's cool. I mean, it's all that that's cracked up to be. I mean, I have a lot of If you don't know what I look like, I have a lot of hair. It's all mine. It's and I'm

proud of it too. At my age, my hair floats in space, and actually you float in space if you're not buckled into a Seatbill too. I got the opportunity to go to NASA and get on what. I don't think they do this anymore. It was called the Vomit Comet. It was what a Cacy one five military jet that had all the seats removed and there was pads everywhere.

But this is how they train astronauts for weightlessness. They take off from Ellington Air Force Space right down there near NASA and Clear Lake, and they go over the Gulf of Mexico and they fly these parabolas. They go up, up, up, up, up up up, and right at the top they go down and as it hits the top and goes down, you experience weightlessness for like thirty seconds. And they keep doing this. I spend the entire afternoon doing this, and it was neat the first dozen times, and then it

got kind of monotonous. But I don't know, maybe neither here nor there. I have some video of it. It was pretty fun. I could say I did it, but maybe I'm jaded. It's like, okay, well, I'm I got bored after an hour of going up and down and floating the hell of how long would it take to get Can someone research this over here? Can someone use chat GPT or somebody? How long would a trip from Earth to Mars peak? And when I get back? Would I be the same age? Would people?

and you could turn them into cash. You could, Yeah, you could sell them on eBay. You could, but there are other dedicated websites that will take them back, and if it's in really good condition, they're going to pay you money. Sometimes they'll pay you in gift cards or whatever. But how about other types? People email me, well, that's cool, garth. How about other types of devices? There's bigger things like I have a dishwasher? Am I supposed to get this?

Or a washing machine or a refrigerator? Can I resell those? Well spring is pretty much here And chances are you've got a lot of e waste that you've gathered, and you've got computers, You've got printers and probably means you doesn't you don't need them. But what are you going to do? Do you have a gadget graveyard inside your home? A lot of people do. In my mind's called the garage. So let me give you a few tips before recycling your device recycling. There's a number of things you need

to do people. I mean certainly when it comes to a smartphone, it has data. You need to wipe that big time before you sell it or before you donate it. You need to back up anything you want off the device, which means to send the information up to the cloud your iCloud, your one Drive, Google Drive, whatever it is, photos, your videos, your songs, your contacts. At that point, it's relatively easy do a factory reset. Go to settings about phone factory reset. I do this on a regular basis

because companies send me phones to test. I upload all my personal stuff. Thirty days or so later, they want the phone back. I factory reset it, so all my information is gone at that point. Then you decide where do you want to recycle your phones and appliances. I got all that information, but I'm gonna make you hang on. It's called commercial break, It's called the teas. I've been doing this twenty plus years. I'd like to think I've got the hack on it. It is Michael Guardful, High

Tech Text and Show. We'll be right back for the answer and more information to that topic in the hower. I know why you've been hanging on because I tease a little something a how to and where to recycle your phones and ampliances. By the way, I told you, it's a big weekend loights of stuff going on. This is if you're a longtime lister of mine, you know this is the first weekend of March madness, and you

probably know where I am. It's unbelievable radio right now because you never really know where the host is because with technology you could be pretty much anywhere.

and keeping me right now on the air. Nowadays, you really don't need to go into studio. There's good microphones. You can have a home studio. You could do it from your laptop. Technically, you could do it from your phone if you've got a good quality microphone and everything. Right now, ladies and gentlemen, you are listening live from you know it, Las Vegas. Thirty six year I have

been here, and there's a tradition unlike any other. Thirty six or so years ago, me and a number of college buddies, eight other college buddies, by the way, we got together and we decided, hey man, we're just out of school, and you know, we don't have a ton of money. Let's all eight of us are nine of us. We stay in one room in Vegas and go watch all the basketball games and bet two bucks on them. Well, that tradition has now carried on well over three decades,

and it's something special. It's something I share about. It's something I tell a lot of people, a lot of my other buddies, and they're like, oh, man, I wish I would have started something like that. That's cool. Well, there's no reason you can't start it right now. But I don't know if you're ever going to get well over thirty years, forty years or whatever. But it is fine. So we always come out this very first weekend of

March Madness. Been out here for a few days and pretty much we have just kind of posted up in front of TV screens or betting cages, even though now you can bet on your phone wherever you are in the state of Nevada. Had a few beer skis, and we're just telling old stories. Hey, do you remember when we didn't have kids? Do you remember when we weren't married. Do you remember when life was so simple?

in Vegas, you know, come by Happy Camper. We're one more time we're here before we fly out, because I have to fly out because Sunday, well, I'll say this as I do the show live tomorrow on Sunday in Houston. I'd love to see you. Should. I even have clothes in my back still in money left. I am going to be at the Syfair Home and Outdoor Show. That's right sy Chris, Texas. It's just the northwest heart of Houston. It is the Syfair Home and Outdoor Show there. It's

going on Saturday, so you don't need to wait. But Sunday I will be there. I will be in a big booth. I will be doing my podcast and so you can see how sexy it is to talk into a microphone, but come up and see me and say hi. I will also be showing off some neat smart home gadgets in my booth, specifically robotic vacuum cleaners. That's right, roboock has partnered with me, and I will be there with no less than three or four different types of

vacuum and mop. We're calling vacuum mop. We're gonna call it wet and dry vacuums. They'll do the same thing. It's an all in one. We're gonna throw some dirt and some ketchup and some milk and some oatmeal on the floor, and we're gonna give you a chance to see how easy it is to vacuum and then mop this stuff up. That is this coming Sunday, eleven in

the morning to five in the afternoon. Again, if you're listening all around the state of Texas, hey feel free to drive in, but certainly Ustonians sci Fair Home and Outdoor Show. It's at eighty eight seventy seven Barker Cypress Road. It's in Cypress, Texas at the Barry br R Why Center. Free admittance to get in and free parking. So this is where you can go in and you can look at spas and saunas and hot tubs and roofing and get some snacks and see people like slicing and dicing

with knives and whatever. But I will be there with the robo rock vacuums and come say hi. I take some pictures and we can have some fun with you. Without a doubt you're gonna you'll probably buy something, probably see something that's gonna make your home smart. It's perfect time of year because it's spring cleaning. So go online. It's x Wood Shows t E x wood shows dot com. You can just get more information. But free admitting, free parking on a Sunday afternoon. What are you gonna do?

What else you gonna do? People? Come say hi to me and help me mop and vacuum some things side far Home and Garden show Berry Center. We will see you there. I will give you my phone number. Nah, hold on, I don't want to confuse anything. Let me let me, let me continue talking. I've already made you wait five minutes. I was on the subject of recycling your phones, appliants and gadgets. You got a lot of

old stuff. You're doing some spring cleaning right now. Number one, if you're ever going to recycle or sell a phone or a laptop, would you do me a favor Just wipe your device, clear it, factory reset it. If for some reason you just want to donate it and you're

not sure, don't laugh. I've seen this happen. Take your laptop or take your phone and go find someone if you don't have the gear and get an actual drill, get a drill bit and drill through the hard drive of that laptop or so, because that will disable it too. I mean, I'll recommend it. That's probably step two or step three that I would say. But there's a way to factory reset everything. Certainly in your phone is very easy.

But at that point, what do you do? There are places that will recycle and repurpose and potentially gives the new life to your old technology. There's stores that you can walk into best Buy and Staples. I think best Buy takes a wide range of tech products, and you know they will. I think they offer a whole away option for even larger appliances. So if you have a dishwasher, a freezer, a big TV, maybe a treadmill or exercise bike. I believe they do. I don't think it's free. I

think it may and I'm just researching over here. It may cost two hundred dollars or so. I know. I know that's a lot. But what you can recycle best Buy does take TVs and cables and chargers, projectors, laptops, hard drives, and I'm reading right now, headsets, vacuums, speaker systems, alarm clocks if you still have an alarm clock. Staples, let's move to the Staple actually has free recycling options

for old technology. I think they do have haul away options that may cost but Staples accept up to seven items per customer per day. I don't know why they put a limit of this thing. But you could take in digital cameras, mobile phones, cordless own computers, tablets, webcams, home depot. I'm on their website right now. They'll show you how to dispose of like batteries and old paint man. I have some old pay man. I need to read that.

Let's see US Environmental Protection Agency. They don't handle recycling or drops off drop offs. Go figure you know why, because I don't know the government has probably fired everybody who works for the EPA. Oh look at me getting political. Uh, But they're smart. There's smart. Let's see. Here's a website smartphone recycling. You can print a free FedEx shipping label, a request a recycling kit. Okay, that's pretty cool. Recycling for charities is that a website? That is a website?

Go to Recycling for Charities dot com. They accept tech donation and they give a percentage of the device's value to the charity of your choice. I guess you can write that thing off too. Here's one called call to recycle with a number two Call to Recycle? What am I missing? Give me a shout? Three four six twenty nine Texan. What what do you have hanging around just top of mind? What do you have hanging around your house that is just ready to go? I know my

parents right now, who probably are not listening. They are in Dallas. They sometimes do listen, but they have a refrigerator that has been dead for five months, and they have been trying to work with Best Buy, who has been screwing them around. They are living, they have lived for five months. I gave them a plug in schooler slash freezer, and it's just it's it's like one of those portable things you take to a soccer game. That is where because best buys jack them around some muchs.

They couldn't replace it. All these warranties. They have a warranty too. Somebody put a haul off this refrigerator my parents. But you have something like this. Listen, it's spring twenty twenty five. Do something, man, do something. I mean, wash your dryers, treadmills, the least of which wipe it clean. Put it on sell it like you've got an old treadmill. You've got an old exercise bike. Put it on Facebook marketplace, for example. You know something that you don't, someone locally

could pick it up. Don't laugh. It was about a one year ago this week. It was the end of March last year. I wanted a Peloton bike and the hell if I'm going to spend what fifteen eighteen hundred dollars in those things. I went to Facebook Marketplace. Somebody was selling their Peloton bike that they used for no list than I think five times, and I got it at a fraction of the cost. And they were about

five miles away from me. It's amazing. Which you can make some money people, And by the way, if you do make some money, consider me your source of you know information, feel free to drop me a commission. I'm more than happy to give you my VENMO Michael Garf. Garfield is the last name. Bottom of Actually, what we got about with ten more minutes left to go in this top what do we want to talk about? You want to talk about these projectors? Hey, if you're giving away a TV, do you buy a new TV? Well,

I'm gonna give you an option. You may not ever need to buy a TV. Projectors may be the way to go. I talked about this two months ago when I came back from CEES because I see these new projectors. Just earlier this week I was on Fox seven and Austin I did my segment on how to pick a projector? What are some of the best projectors out there? Because they are relatively inexpensive and they are portable. You can go inside, you can go outside. All you need is just a big Blend Walt projector.

basketball in the second and third rounds? Actually what the third and fourth rounds?

undefeated dip recipes, shoot for a winning menu. Okay, we get it, we get it. But speaking of undefeated dip recipes, I mean literally buffalo chicken dip. I mean, is there any other standby? We'll get to that. I talked about projectors right now. If you're watching on a TV, how big is your TV? Right now. You got buddies over, you got some friends, you get your family. You really don't want to gather around to forty two inch maybe a fifty five inch TV. If that's all you got,

that's all you can afford. Cool. I appreciate that nowadays flat screen TVs seventy five inches, eighty five inches, Yes, they're flat screen TVs that are over one hundred I thinky are about one hundred and ten hundred and twenty inches. Saw those a few months ago at the Consumer Electronics Show. Very expensive, pretty heavy, But I have a dang big space to hang that thing, probably about four people to hang it and hope it doesn't fall off the wall. Well,

there's another option. And I talk about this every few months, but it reminded me because last Monday, if you're listening, if you happen to be in Austin, if you're listening, I was on Fox seven in Austin seven to forty five in the morning. That's where I do my segment as the Tech contributor. I showed out some projectors. They're projectors because home projectors it's an inexpensive way to get a massive image that's potentially bigger than any TV and

these projectors they can create a bright, colorful image. And nowadays most of them have built in streaming services Netflex, something like that Prime. You can watch movies, you can watch TV shows pretty much anywhere your living room, or you can move it outside, backyard, movie night with friends and families. Most of these models they have speakers inside. I mean, can they get easier to set up? I

don't think so. Remember, I mean I had a projector once had to have a company come mounted on the ceiling, and a lot of home theaters do this too. If you have a theater in your home and you want to watch movies, there's one that you can mount on the ceiling and then you have to wire speakers to it and it throws out about what one hundred and twenty inch hundred and fifty inch which is what twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen foot screen. That's pretty cool. They're expensive too,

you have to have professional installation. No more people. I have two or three right now that I continue to play with, and I'm like, I should actually hire myself out to go to people's houses and throw indoor outdoor sports watching parties or movie night with the kids. First time I ever did this. When my kids were young, we had it. We had a pool previous house and the garage, our white garage outdoor wall was right next

to where our pool was. And at nights I would set up a old school projector and they were pretty big, pretty bulky, and then I have to get another speaker, and then I would set up on a DVD to it, and then I would you sit there and we would watch Disney movies for the kids. But it was pretty cool because the kids were in the pool and they were watching the movie. It's fun. It's a great family outings. But you don't need to slip all that gear nowadays.

Nowadays you just need a projector. So point is. I showed off a few on Fox seven, two of which, well, I'll give you some. I'll give you some brand new right now. Specifically, not that I recommend one over the other, but I'll just throw them out there. When was a company called the Yabe or why ABR. I picked this one up a few months ago. Actually they let me play with it about two months ago. This thing, I

think is three hundred dollars, that is it. It is Boom ten eighty T speaker built in all you need to do is just give it a source. Now, if you have YouTube TV, because these things are Wi Fi and able, you could plug a HDMI, Google TV or a fire stick in there. You're set to go. It receives it. It throws out a really really good picture. And depending on how close or how far you place that projector to the wall or to the screen, it makes the

projection larger or smaller. And some of these, now, if you get it to the perfection was I mean, you can get these things till one hundred and twenty one hundred and fifty inches again, that's fifteen feet. That's how you celebrate and watch march madness. Am I right? Am? I right? People, one shining moment. That's what you need to do. Now, there's a lot of them out there. There are LCD projectors, there's d LP, there's HD there's

four K. There's a lot of them out there. Another one that I've been testing it is from a company called x Genie and I'm gonna spell it. It's x Gimi. Now I've had this one for several months and I like this one because this is incredibly portable. It looks like a can of pringles, a little larger and fatter than a can of pringles. But it's got a carrying case in there. It's got a remote control. All you do is plug it in, but it pops up and

and again. Go to Austin Fox seven. Actually I put it on my here you go, go to my website Hi tech Texin dot com Hi g h T e h T e x a M scroll down to the video. The latest video I uploaded was my Fox seven segment this past week where I showed off these projectors and you can see it. You just kind of twisted open. It's a bright light. It's really it shines well. It weighs less than three pounds. It's got a speaker inside, and you're set to go. Number you can there's a

number of them you can choose from. What do you look for? Do you want ten ADP? I would suggest ten EIGHTYP at least now ten ADP is not four K. There's a difference, all right. You want to look for something that has you know, good color accuracy, lend shifting. You may want one that has what's called a very short throw and these are pretty cool. These are more expensive. If you plan to use a projector that you do. You don't want to move it. You want to make

it in your home theater. Let's just say you want to make it as your main TV screen, or if you will, but I'm not gonna call it a TV. Or if you have a very small room. If you have a small room and you can't move a projector ten fifteen feet back, you want to get what's called a short throw, meaning you place this projector incredibly close to the wall you're projecting it of. Some of them can get as close as eight to nine inches away.

But what it does, It throws the foe. It throws the video almost straight up, and and it just it so it doesn't look skewered in anything to make it look like a real video. It's phenomenal. Now these things run more. These things maybe eight hundred. You can get one for fifteen hundred dollars or so. They've got good speakers. There's one another. There's another company called ben Q be in the letter Q. They have one called the X five hundred. I that's not cheap. But these are short

throws and the s and it looks great. Last point, the darker the room, the better, without a doubt, because obviously all this is is light projecting on a wall. So yes, if you can get away from windows, if you can have curtain darkening curtains, things like that. If you want to do something out at night by the pool, do that. I may a little tough to show it in the plight of days seeking outside with the boys watching it from bears. But a number of things to

choose from. So check out my website, my tech text in dot com. Look at my latest video. Give me some tips and you can see at least two of them that I have at on set Box seven hospitting the settle is what I can look like. That is mind actu. Our number one is over when we come back. Underrated snacks for March Madness watching. Also unexpected uses for your home smart speaker. If you got a smart speaker, all the Amazon echoes, all the Google nests or things

like that, what are you using for? You give these ideas of what to use im for. What's gonna row your mind? If you have no cluel in making news?

that in the first hour. A few things coming up. Amazon getting ready to make some changes. If you have an Echo device, one of those smart speakers, you got about a week and a half or so before your information everything that you think Amazon may be listening to, Well, they change things and it ain't for the best because they're going to take all the stuff that has listened to. They're gonna put it up in the Amazon cloud. I'll tell you how to prepare and what's up with that?

Leave you this hour. I can't wait for this interview in Houston, actually Houston and San Antonio. Over the next few weeks, there is a big national whiskey festival coming to town. And you know I'm a brownwater guy people without a doubt. I'll tell you how to get tickets into how many over under? What do you think guys over under? Number of different wiss that they're going to be tasting. They send me a press release. I glanced

at it. I think it's in the three digits. There's a lot of whiskey to be tasted, so we'll give you information about that. Speaking of cocktails, and speaking of watching March Madness, what are you snacking on right now? What are you snacking on? I'm getting all these recipes and these ads are popping up, and everybody's using the huns euphemisms of March madness or basketball. I'm looking at a few right now. Shoot for a winning menu. Ballin' Bites.

I'm not kidding you. It's it's called ballin Do you Kroger, I'm looking at you. Do you really need a headline? This says score full court Press flavor with snacks and SIPs for your party. Try these Ballin' bites, big taste for turning times and then I'm looking. I'm looking at this one. Undefeated dip recipes, just like Martin Geort's character on Only Murders in the Building. I like dips. I love dips, big into dips. I make my own hummus, and I just like saying hummus. No, I make it's

It's actually very easy to make hummus. Just go google a recipe you I need some chickpeas and spice it up and whatever. Where do you rank these? Okay, let's real quickly callum reading. Well, you know the guys help them out behind the glass of the show over here. We can't we can't put it. Could we put an online X poll together? Or should we just let's just do it on air real quickly? Where does this rank in your bracket? You could talk in my ears bracket?

Best dips, baked spinach and artichoke, buffalo chicken dip, quacom only it's dip, Hummus dip, buffalo wing dip, mushrooms, Swiss dip, aving corn dip, jalapinia popper dip, beer cheese dip, pmento cheese dip, loaded potato dip, hey so, artichoke and spinach black beans. All right, oh of those? Okay, talk to me in my ear. All right, hands listen. We live in Texas. KSO always always top notch, speaking of KSO best KSO in town, Chips in town. Shout out Cabo Bobs.

I'm in Vegas as we speak this moment. Returning later tonight. Cobo Bob is not open on Sunday. I will be having Cobo Bob's Dip for the remainder of the March Madness. Phenomenal stuff. Four locations in Houston, There's one in San Antonio, seven in Austin. Go to Cabo Bob's. Actually, that is the perfect game day snack. Go get massive burritos, Go get nachos, Go get the casadillas. It can't be Babo Bobs Cobo Bob's, but the best chips in the world in phenomenal Depp. Okay, so is that the all time

hearty dip? It's easy to make. You go get a block of cheese, you put a little halopenias, put a little pecante in there. Okay, Yeah, we're not going for I'm not giving style points for how easy or simple it is. Just what's the best dip? Because for me and I don't have this all too often, and I made it a few times. I love buffalo chicken dip, absolutely love bluff. Do you guys know what that is? Buffalo chicken dip? I'm talking to the guys here behind

the screen. It's it's cream cheese, and it's shredded chicken, and it's regular cheese like uh, you know, it's cheddar or something like that. And you put some halopenias in there if you really wanted, and you sit there. It takes like fifteen minutes. What else am I missing?

hopping a plane a little later today coming back from Vegas. Tomorrow, I wanted to be at the Scifair Home and Outdoor Show. I'll tell you more about that, and I hope you do come see me. By the way, someone wants to see me tomorrow at the Scyfair Home an Outdoor Show and you want to bring me a taste of your favorite dip. I'm not going to be mad. I am not going to be mad whatsoever. But anyway, next weekend, maybe I'll hold a little Sweet sixteen watch party. I

got it. Smoked buffalo chicken dep recipe. That's easily top of my bracket, top of my bracket. Guys, what else you got.

you can get sliders. I'm not a big Hamburger meeting. I'm not a big red meat guy. Sliders to pizza, you know, Okay them, come, I get get more. We're creative people. Three four six nine Texan best food snack to watch sporting events overall. You gotta have dips, gotta have some sort of a chip. Wings are always up there. Pizza easy to do. Oh look what's coming in? Strong people? Got the charcuterie board very I'll give you bonus points

for actually spelling it correctly. Got the cheeseboard. Other things get crazy. So I say this because we're hungry. I say this. I just this is what we do on the show. Yes, I am going to give you some hard hitting stuff as we take a break over here. When we come back, I am going to talk about home smart speakers. Two things. Number one, if you have an Amazon Echo recorder, you got about two weeks before something big time is going to change and you may

not like it. That's one and what all you can do with your home smart speaker. You should be listening to this radio show right now over your home smart speaker. I'll tell you how to do that, but there's a number of different other things that you can do. I am here to open your eyes and your ears when it comes to technology, dips, wings, brown water, and I don't know anything else I can kill time to get to the top of the hour. It is Michael Karkiel

on the High Tech Text Show. All right, I'm sure I got some few people hungry as we just finished a kind of little tutorial, a little over the air question and answer poll. The brack of course, this time of the year, we have a bracket. What dip or snack is at the top of your bracket for watching any sports, especially right now we have around rounds three and four of the March Madness. Whoever you got, hope,

your hope, your team wins, Hope your bracket wins. Michael Garfield is the name and talk about smart speakers right now. You know I do a lot of smart home talk and smart speakers. That's an easy gateway. It's a nice simple entry way into making your home relatively smart. You can go buy one of these things. They some of them cost as little as twenty five dollars. Some of them, you know, have video screens that you can place in your kitchen, dishto it to watch TV, where you talk

to it, it answers it back. And there's there's everything from and I hate using these keywords, and I hope I really don't set off a lot of your smart speakers, but everything from Google to Alexa, to Siri to it whatever, there's there's a number of them. And this is where they had that wake up word. And Amazon was the pretty much the first to market with those in the home category, and they had the Amazon Echo devices where they said Alexa, what time is it, what's the weather

or whatever? And a lot of people you probably forgot about it. Maybe you ask it for some recipes, maybe you ask it to play games. There's there's a number of different things, just almost too many to count. But I was going through a list and cause somebody asked me, you know what do I use my smarts? I have several different smart speakers. I have some from Amazon. I

have several from Google because I in I have. They're on different levels of my home, in different rooms, and so I can I can test, I can compare, so I know some of the features that are better than others, and so I can review and give the nice information to you. But there are some things that Number one, let me suggest that you could do. I mean, you could say timers, you just talk to it. These are voice controlled. You could tell it to play your favorite podcast.

And by the way, right now, right now, here's something you should do. You should tell your smart speaker to listen to me right now over your smart speaker, because right now you may be listening through your phone through the iHeartRadio app, which is which is great. We love that. But how about this. Try this go to in and I don't want to use the wake up boards, so I'm gonna use hey blank, which could mean the A word for Amazon or the G word for that other

big company like that. Okay, so I want you to say, hey blank. Listen to KPRC nine radio on iHeartRadio. That's in Houston. If you're in San Antonio, hey blank. Listen to news radio twelve hundred WOAI on iHeartRadio. If you're in Dallas, listen to talk Radio eleven ninety on iHeartRadio. Do it right now. It will start streaming. This way, you can blast it all over your house, all over your room. That's one of the things. They try it right now again, Hey blank, listen to whatever local station

you're on on iHeartRadio and it'll start playing. That's that's cool. Here's another thing you could do. You know, you can find your phone. If you can't find where you're placed your phone, you can ask it. Try try the one with Google. Hey blank, starts with the g find my phone and what it's gonna do. It's gonna cause your device to ring for about thirty seconds. And if you have several devices lengked, you do need to specify which

one you want to locate. So this does work with iPhones, androids, tablets, and some accessories too. Pretty cool. You could use it as an intercom. I like this one. See I have three I have three floors in my home, and if I'm on the top floor, and I guess I haven't used this in a while until you know, one of

my kids moved out. But if I was on the bottom floor of my office or the off one, and I have several different devices all over the house to relay a message, and instead of yelling like you know, my parents dead, Hey Mike, oh dead, n you don't need to do that anymore, so you say, hey blank, announce it's time to leave right now. You can also even even if it's the A word, I actually did this, if someone can give you permission to do this to

another one. Like my parents are in Dallas and I'm in Houston, and we each have the Amazon Echo device, which starts with the A word. You know what I'm saying, you actually can. It's called drop in, So I can say, hey blank, drop in on parents, and that's why I call it, and I then all of a sudden, you in their house. Their speaker goes boop, so they can know someone's listening in, and then I can start talking. You don't even need a phone, So these speakers actually

were speakers work well. Also, they can help you go to sleep if you like a sound machine or a wave machine, which is interesting because you can buy those individually. If you have one in your in your bedroom or wherever you're gonna go take a nap or something, you can say, hey blank, play white noise, play sounds of rain. I mean it's a number of different things that you could do. All right, So that's Oh, by the way, a little fun tip from Michael. We got some not

so good news. Let's go back to Amazon. Amazon just announced this. They're getting ready to launch and Alexa Plus service. Okay, that's what it's called. And before we do that, Amazon is requiring owners to send all of their voice data to Amazon and put it up in the Amazon Cloud. Okay, now there's an issue with that in my opinion. Here

we go. It starts on March twenty eighth, and if you own an Echo smart speaker or some of those Echoes show smart displays, you will no longer have the option to block voice command recordings from being sent to Amazon now keeping voice recordings local, which means right on your machine. To me, it's an important privacy feature for any voice assistant. I'm not sure what Amazon's doing by removing it. See removing it to me raises serious questions

about what Amazon is listening to. I'm not accusing Amazon anything. I'm trying to use this as more of a news thing than throwing my own thoughts in over here. But take it for what it's worth. If you didn't even know about these privacy settings before. You've probably been a little worried about voice assistant privacy overall. There's a lot of the majority amount of people have privacy concerns adding all of these more AI features to these home voice assistants.

So what do all these Alexa voice recording settings do? Amazon's new concern this news concerns two specific privacy options for its Echoes and Echo shows there is a feature here called do not send voice recordings, and there's another one do not save voice recordings. They can be found, but it's not easy to be found. Go deep inside the settings of your Alexa app or Echo device settings. They're there for now, but on March twenty eighth they're gonzo.

Amazon's going to be removing they do not send voice recordings option, which means all recorded voice commands are automatically going to be sent to Amazon for processing and analysis. So Amazon, is it going to be able to listen to whatever that you tell Alexa? Everything Alexa records when it or is it's weight word, Yes, it's automatically sent to Amazon Cloud for processing. And Amazon's messaging to all these owners now you know, says that it's going to

use this data to train to train Alexa Plus. It's new service, so it can hold better conversations, understand why people you know do things you know, and give them more accurate, you know, answers as of March twenty eight day and giving people a choice. Nope, some we just tied email. Our other Alexa privacy setting is going to be effective well right now only they do not send voice recordings and they do not say voice recordings option

appears to change on March twenty eighth. Other Alexa privacy settings, like their skill permissions. I didn't read anything about that, so they should be intact after this deadline. And why are they doing it? Really, it's mostly about Alexa Plus. They're launching this new AI up grade which is going to be twenty dollars per month, or if you're an

Amazon Prime it's free. Man, that's brilliant. Amazon really really needs Alexa Plus to bring in more revenue hopefully more customers, and so they're pulling out all the stops to prepare for this big release that's coming out soon. In one of those stops I believe was the were the privacy settings They need it to learn quickly and be and do well. Amazon says that encrypts voice data in transit between your local machine and the cloud. We hope it is. So what do you do? I don't know. Can you

stop your echo from saving voice recordings? Well, you're gonna have access to your privacy settings. However, Amazon made it clear that it's turning this setting on means voice ID settings will not work. So at the end of the day, is their workaround? I can't think of it. The only workaround I can think of is getting rid of Alexa going to Google. Now do I know that Google doesn't do the same thing or will they do the same thing? I do not know. This is an issue that we

have that I grapple with. But I tell you to see if we could talk through this. But again, I'll say it, some of the tech, a lot of the technology we use it is great. It helps everything. People don't like giving away their GPS, their information on their phone. Well guess what if you don't turn on some settings of your phone, your phone is nothing but a brick. It does nothing. I use my map feature all the time just to check out traffic, so I have to

let my phone know where I am. Am. I worried that somebody from Google or maybe Zuckerberg is gonna, you know, creep up behind me. It's some traffic light on you know Loop six' ten Your West timor road In. Houston, no there's too many people who do who do, That but you have to give some information to get back information that you. Want that's the way of the, world that's the way we live right. Now you suck it,

up people now speak it of suck it. Up we're getting rented sucked down some really good stuff Because i'm gonna have an interview with somebody involved with an event coming To houston And San antonio real soon when it comes To. Whiskey and so if you're a, fan ah, yeah don't go.

is Brown. Water a big event coming up at the end of this month Of, march certainly In, houston SOMETHING i attended last year AND i will be there this year because if you are You're spirits, fan a whiskey, fan brown water, fan you gotta go to. This this is the the Annual National Whiskey, festival and it is a fest and there is a lot to drink and see AND i want to give you the inside, info tell you what's gonna be, there and also how to get. Tickets but to do, That i'm gonna have to go

to the. Expert i'm going to bring In. Alexi. Oh, sure she's the director of operations With Whiskey, riot that is the event company that puts this. ON, lexi please tell me you are not yet, schnoggered because you've got to be sober and put this thing. On, okay naw, yet one more.

ninth and H down give us the play by. Play what's the event?

you've been looking at and it's on your tasting. List maybe they're a little out of, budget or you just aren't sure if you want to buy the full, bottle this is the perfect event for. You you'll be able to connect with brands and try tons of, whiskeys Both american and.

this and? This AND i don't want to go buy a bottle BEFORE i taste the whole. Thing and this is WHAT i love BECAUSE i can go up and down all of your bruce and try, things especially ones That i've never heard.

they're starting to branch. Out this is perfect lot forty From canada is going to be, There Glen, Fiddick, belvaney Both. Scotches we've got a bunch For virush brands as. Well so it's a really incredible opportunity because very, rarely like you, said do you get access to two hundred plus whiskeys all under one, roof not to mention the opportunity to connect to the people behind the brands for essentially the same cost it would it would be if you were to buy one bottle at the liquor.

know we had a whole thing of. It but you do have scotch, coming you do have the bourbon, Coming so it's a wide. Variety so no matter what your taste, ARE i think you're going to be very surprised and. Happy.

to take that home with. You it's three hours to, try LIKE i, said two hundred, whiskies as well as access to unique whiskey cocktails from some specific, brands and then you, know it's the perfect weekend date. Idea my husband AND i like to go to these, ourselves but if you've got a group of, friends you can also snag four packs online for seventy five dollars a.

in the. Past but we've got actually thirty thirty new brands this year coming To Houston Whiskey, Riots so you'll have a very large lineup that will not look like last year's event.

talk to those brands and get some more. Information try try that product, again because you, know as you, know the first stip is always, uh you, know a nice warm, hug the second, sip the third, sip they taste a little. Different SO i always recommend finding the ones that you are really interested in and hitting those those tables.

because you'll want to get on. That they sell out.

i appreciate your. Time, yeah looking forward to.

the end of the, Month San, Antonio europe. NEXT i APPRECIATE lexi for letting us know some of that information we got ABOUT i don't, know six seven minutes before we hang, up BEFORE i hang up the, microphone BEFORE i actually can have a zip some of that good whiskey BEFORE i hop on a. PLANE i will be back In houston and Then, sunday my, Friends, sunday although you'll be listening to this, SHOW i will be at the Sy Fair home And Outdoor show on the northwest

side Of. Houston i'll be there from eleven in the morning till about five in the. AFTERNOON i will be doing a. Podcast you can see how cool and sexy it is for me to talk it through a. Microphone but come meet, me say, HI i take pictures and answer ask. Questions But i'm also doing it at a big booth in a partnership with Robo. Rock if you've ever been interested in getting one of them smart vacuum cleaners that also, Mop we'll be having at least, three

if not, four wet and dry. Vacuums we'll be tossing ketchup and oatmeal and fun. Stuff we'll let you see how light some of these devices. Are we'll show off on some of these robotic. Vacuums just give you some ideas when you're shopping for home in garden or smart home in garden. Things it is at eighty eight seventy Seven Barker. Cypress it's in The Big berry enter. Ry it's like a convention. Center it's In, Cyprus. Texas check it. Out Texts wood shows that is This. Sunday it Is

march twenty. Third with the robo. Rock you're going to be having some fun and be impressed with all these robotic vacuum. Cleaners texts t Ex wood Text wood shows absolute free, admittance free parking two and you don't see a lot of that word a lot. FREE i love. It i'm going to get there via one of my

vehicles That i'm test. Driving let me close out for the next few, minutes what is going on in the world of cars and, trucks auto movie, heels because that is one of the things THAT i test on a very very regular, Basis and any given WEEK i am testing, one maybe two new, cars and this past WEEK i was in a fun. One i'm not the biggest electric vehicle, guy not BECAUSE i don't think they're, sexy not BECAUSE i don't think they're super fast and very quiet and

potentially green and. Whatever but the way our the infrastructure of charging and battery charging is in The United, states it's just not for me WHERE i am in my life at this, point BECAUSE i just like get up and. GOING i like going To austin To San antonio To houston To, dallas back and. FORTH i really don't want to stop halfway between those cities and wait for an, hour hour and a half or more to charge the car.

Up but if you do drive on a local basis and you've got a charger at, home you've got a charger at, work and all you do, is you, know schlept the kids to basketball practice or ballerina ballet. Stuff, yeah electric cars could be for. You but WHAT i was driving in was. Fun it was, fun AND i don't say that about a lot of cars THAT i drive. IN i was in A Dodge Charger, daytona and those generally are muscle. Cars but this the twenty twenty four

version of The Dodge Charger. Daytona it was, electric that's. Right and it was the Scat Pack Track Package stage. Two for all you car nerds out, there six hundred and seventy horsepower zero to sixty three point three seconds does a quarter mile and eleven and a half seconds ESTIMATED ev range on this one just about two hundred and Forty, good not, great so we'll call it. Decent Dodge, actually calls this the next era Of dodge muscle, cars and they say it's the world's quickest muscle. Car AND

i gotta tell. You WHEN i hit that launch, button and there is a button that says the word, LAUNCH i. WENT i didn't time at zero sixteen three point. Three but ALL i know Is i'm on the freeway AND i was smushed back into that driver's seat and my hair almost was flown back. In the windows weren't even. Open that's how fast it. Goes no less than nine cameras curb side, everything several different drive. Views the pickup is absolutely. Incredible the fact is there's no. Sound it's.

Electric but What dodge has done they created something very unique and it's. Patented it is what's called a frat sonic and they made up this word decades. Ago Frat sonic chambered. Exhaust so in the bottom the back of the car where the exhaust, is there's actually no exhaust because it's an electric. Vehicle think about. It there's nothing to exhaust, out and there's no airtake that needs to

come in because it's. Electric but it makes a, sound and it makes a rumbling, sound and it makes a muscle car, sound and when you're inside it actually rumbles and vibrates the vehicle and all of. This It's. Hollywood

it's not a speaker. System it's an patented. Chamber and if you think about, it it's like a pipe organ because pipe organ's worked with chambers and so as you hit the, accelerator what it does it just makes it can create this sound that you can hear from the outside and people behind you can my NEIGHBORS i certainly woke up one, morning but on the inside they've got speakers so you can also. Hear and it, also oh

rattles the. Car it is a muscle car. Feeling it's a muscle car drive if you want it that, way because it also drives quiet as a. Bird that's one of the neat. Things and that's what it. Is FAT i got a lot of head. Turns. Now it's a two door. Car so do you want this for? You, WELL i don't, Know, ah do you have car seats kind of tough to get in the. Back do you always carry a lot of, people two or three extra people who are maybe more than you, know five and

a half six feet. Tall it's relatively easy for me to get In i'm a six foot tall, guy but you know you may not want to, open you, know those back doors and crawl. IN i will say the. Uh And i'm not going to call it a. Trunk it doesn't have a, trunk but it's a. Hatchback but it's got that cargo, space which is not bad for a two door. Car and when you open up that hood and you expect to see that, shiny silvery engine and it ain't. There it's an electric. Vehicle it's got

batteries underneath the. Car so it's got what's called a, frunk a front. Trunk it's got a one and a half cubic kind of bin that you can ice. Down and let's just put it this. Way nice sodas in, water or carry maybe like a small briefcaseit. There if you really wanted to price base price for the twenty twenty four, dits charge your daytona scat pack at about sixty five thousand dollars the WAY i tested, it because it had a lot of, upgrades eighty two thousand. Dollars

it's quite a bit of. Money they don't make a lot of. Them do you like? Electric you have to ask yourself some, Questions but, DANG i had. Fun you want to see what it looked. Like check it out On facebook With Michael. Garfield if you're not my, friend free BUT i did post some things on My instagram and My twitter or my ex by the, way follow it high tech texts and high tech t e X A n one of the more fun. Vehicles WHAT i

get this probably. Not this is Not LISTEN i look at WHERE i am or my Kid my kids are. GONE i am a certain. Age AM i having a midlight? Crisis this is a fun one to. Drive don't know if this would be my everyday, car but it. Is it's gonna get you from POINT a to POINT b very very, fast just LIKE i did these last two, hours which means the show is ALMOST. OPA i gotta shut. UP i gotta now go watching little. BASKETBALL i got a. PACK i got to get a get out Of, vegas

Which i've had. Fun thank You Las, vegas And i'm coming back. TOMORROW i do Tomorrow. SUNDAY i really hope to see if you're used to spend a few hours with. Me it's The Side Fair home And Outdoors show at The Barry center In, Cyprus. Texas free to get in free. Parking come see me showing off some robo, rock smart home vacuum, robots answering your questions and it's gonna be.

Fun listen for everybody's part of this. One thank You callum And will And Brian, Erickson Mark, Sherman Paul lambert and the big big big guy over The state Of. Texas iHeart and dead Is Eddie. Martini thank you for giving Me mark for next. Year my name Is garth and right now say it with me. People my show is.