Crazy Mother's Day Gifts

tap for you this weekend? Mother's Day? If I say Mother Day, how many people just went don't Oh my goodness, I forgot mom? Nip do not forget mom. Mother's Day is Sunday. I have a few last minute gift ideas for you in the tech world that you may enjoy. For those of you in Austin who happened to see my weekly tech segment on Fox seven, I was on set showing off of a few beauty products. It's some

other interesting ideas. I can tell you where to go, where to shop, and also how to really cheat in terms of let's go online and give mom an e gift card. We've got that. Also, I'm going to talk about what the stock up on regarding potential price hikes due to the tariff wars. Can we actually say that

there are tariff wars going on right now? There is tariffs, there's the threat of tariffs, and I think the biggest question that I am being halted with right now certainly what's happening with computers and laptops, graduation, presidents at presidents, cars, things that I all of these things. It will fit into the consumer lifestyle category that I do review and I do recommend. Yes, it seems that most everything is and potentially can be raised. So there are things that

you may want to hoard or stock up on. I will get to that. Also. Hope Francis may he rest in peace. Just saw that he bequeathed his Popemobile. I do review cars on a weekly basis. That is one vehicle I never had the opportunity to drive. I'll tell you a little bit about that. And also a question that I like. We we're going to play a little game. What if you were bequeathed any car, any vehicle that is famous, what would it be? Would it be the popemobile?

Pretty cool? I think I heard the popemobil has There were several popemcveils, one of which was an ev I've got my answers. And also, we are mourning the death of another technology service that over the years we just have used and used and used. No one has seen to have used it, and it actually went dark. We

say bye bye this past week. I will give you the phone numbers should you do want to call in, ask some questions, share with me some of your better Mother's Day gifts, or is your insights or your dad jokes? I am here for you. The number is three four six twenty nine Texan three four six two nine t e x A N So no matter where you are listening terrestrially, be it in Houston on KPRC nine fifty,

San Antonio. What's up? San Antonio News Radio twelve hundred WOAI and in Dallas Talk Radio eleven ninety that I kind of hope my parents really aren't listening right now, because my mom may be listening to some Mother's Day gift that hasn't arrived yet. So you mad, you know, if you're listening Susan Garfield up in Big d maybe you want to turn this off because she actually I was talking to her. Was it this week or last week? I'm very proud of them because they generally well number

one for twenty plus years. My radio show is only had only been aired on air in Houston on k PERC nine to fifty am. And they live up in Dallas, and so they would have to listen online, which they can. They have to sit at their computer or they would have to download the iHeartRadio app. She now tells me that she talks to either Google or her Alexa and just says, hey, wake up, ord whatever it is, listen

to Talk eleven ninety Dallas on iHeart Radio. You can do that right now as you walk around the house. So talk to your smart speaker, just say hey instead of listening to the radio, or if you're driving right now, listening to me. You can get home and instead of downloading the iHeart Radio app, which we would like if for you to do, you can just say hey, blank blank, And I'm not saying it because I don't want to

wake up all your devices. Listen to KPRC nine to fifty am on iHeart Radio, listen to news Radio twelve hundred on iHeart Radio, and then it'll start playing amazing.

So technology has infiltrated every generation that I can think of Mother's Day some of the things, one of which is moms and females over the years when they come up and ask me what's the cool device, or if they see me using one particular advice that I have used over the past few years, that they just seem to be, oh, this is so cool, I want one of these. They love flip phones. I like flip phone. And to be sure, if you're an iPhone user, sucks for you because iPhone does not make a flip phone.

And I don't even know if I even want to use the word yet. Who knows what they're going to do. I am an Android guy. Samsung is already on their sixth generation of their Galaxy Z flip phone, Motorola makes a flip phone. Yes, there's foldable phones too, but flip phones are very compact. And if you close your eyes and I am going to try to describe what a flip phone is, ladies, do you know what a compact is? Right? And I do this because I remember my grandmother every

time we went out to dinner. At the end to dinner, she would always open her purse very proper wating, she would take out her compact. And what it has on the top of it. It's a clamshell device like the old clamshell phones. And it's got the mirror on top. So you think she could look at her blips and redo her powder, lipstick or whatever. It's a cop that that is the RM factor exactly what a flip phone is.

So they are small and they fold out to become a full size regular six and a half inch diagonal screen roughly of an actual phone that most people use, the candy bar size phone. Why not make something small that fits in a little, tiny black purse when the girls are going out on a Friday night. Flip phones are cool, they work well. I like them a lot. I am a big form factor person. I don't have the I don't carry my phone in a leather belt

holster like I think my father still does that. We used to when we first got phones, and it's like it looks like it's a pistol. You know, you're in needed a license to carry a phone. I generally keep it in my pocket and I wear jeans. I wear all these you know at leisure type of you know pants, stretchy pants from you know, built or fablet X that you can they're kind of snug but they're stretchable. But you could see where there's a phone in there. A phone in your pocket? Are you happy to see me?

Sometimes like keep in the back pocket. It's much easier when you have a smaller device, a smaller phone. They're just they're lighter. So anyway, flip phones. That's one thing that you potentially can get convinced mom to get into. I also when I was on I did my Fox seventh video in Austin. If you saw this, beauty in cosmetic technology continues to impress me too. I was sent a few different products from a company, a Chinese Chinese

based company called you like Oh you like E? Yes, you do like E. But it's the letter you l I K E dot com. They send me two devices, one of which is a handheld hair removal device. Now hold on standby. When I say hair, I'm not talking really about the hair on your head, but the hair on your arms, the hair ladies under your armpits, the hair on your legs, you know, because people want rare, so it zaps your hair. This is a nice one. They sent me a unit, and this is not that cheap.

It's about three hundred and fifty four hundred bones and it's an IPL and so it uses laser light flashes of light that if you use it three times a week or so over the first four weeks or month, it is supposed to totally remove that you'll never hair be gone. So you could do this at home. One other one that I've actually been using myself, and I haven't seen it, but it's an LED light therapy mask.

And the mask itselfs that you put it right and it just smothers your face then smother you really, but it looks like Iron Man and it has LED This one has hundreds and hundreds of LED lights and you wear this thing for six, seven, eight minutes at a time, and these LED lights are supposed to help with blemishes and your acne and tighten up your face. Those are

interesting too. They both come from this. You like things, and so the point is, don't sleep with the fact that there are cosmetic things that women love, moms live, that they can use at home. And so go up and take a look at some of those things. I'll leave it at that. We have our first break right now.

Coming up phone numbers, I will get your questions and calls three four, six, twenty nine texts and and up next, what the stock up on If you're scared that prices are going to escalate with these tariffs, I'll give you a few of the low hanging friths that you maybe you're run out by right now. It's Michael Garkoff, the High Tech Texting Show. Not yet, people were not giving away anything yet standby. Apparently I do appreciate everybody reading

MYMX dot com account, formerly noticed Twitter, my Instagram. I kind of, you know, was teasing you guys, going, hey, we got some few things to give away. Got a fifty dollars our gift card to Red River Cantina, Happy Laid by the Way, Cinco de Mayo. I went there for Cinco de Mayo, the fifth of May, by the way. Well, and I used to think Cinco de Mayo was a made up, a made up holiday. Actually, I don't even

know if it was a holiday. I thought it was the beer companies and the tequila companies that got together. But it actually it did mean something. It celebrates the Mexican Army's victory over the Second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla back in eighteen sixty two May fifth, eighteen sixty two. So in celebration of the wonderful I bet that was that. What that was was that televised, was that on ESPN two, the Mexican Army's victory over

that Second French Empire Battle of Peblo. I definitely had a a sortvezza or two at the Red River Cantina two locations, one down what on the in Richmond, Texas, which is on the west side of Houston off of the Grand Parkway ninety nine and Harlem Road. That's where I was and went down in League City. Man, that's a big outfit outdoor patios Red River Cantinas, So I thank to Shane Swope has doing it. He's the general

manager at the one on the west side. I got a fifty dollars red River Cantina, so stand by, we will give that away here soon. Michael Garfield is the name, and he didn't notice note that prices have yet to be raised at red River or any of it. I don't I don't eat at a ton of restaurants. Really has anybody noticed the price going up? And are you blaming the tariffs? Are you blaming the government for already raising the price of I don't know, avocados, hot sauce, tortillas, lettuce,

toilet paper or whatever it is. I don't know, but I do cover this industry. And the fact is I just returned from a trip to China speak with a meeting with Chinese based technology companies on their thoughts of what they think the tariffs, at least in the short term, but also sometimes in the long term. Can what's it gonna do for their businesses? And they the sound bites and I sat down. I mean, I got a really really nice conversation at length with the CEO of Lexar.

Alexar is the company that makes a lot of the internal storage drives, the little tiny storage cards that you put in that there are in phones that you put in cameras. Lexar nice gentlemen. Ryan Lee is his name, and relatively young guy too, and he gave me some lengthy conversations, very frank that in the short term he believes that he could help business because people are stocking up on things that they think they may need before

prices go up. The longer term, over the next six months year that at the tariffs do continue the China one hundred and forty five percent currently right now, how that could hurt their business and hurt the economy, the lifestyle everything. It's I don't know, are there any winners in this right now? So trying to keep the politics out of it, but it is politics, there's no matter how you cut it down. And right now Trump has paused reciprocal tariffs, but they're set to expire in July.

So businesses they've been scrambling to ensure that they have enough product in stock before these double digit tariffs take effect. And after that stock runs out, companies are going to need to pay more for products made outside the US, and those costs almost definitely going to get passed along

to us the consumers. Tariffs on goods from China they're already hitting Chinese total tariff rate currently one hundred and forty five percent, and price it's for some products they've already risen as much as three hundred and seventy seven percent. I saw that there is hitchen towels. If you get him at how do you pronounce this? This online website Timo is one, but the Shine Shi n I don't shop on shot kitchen towels went from a buck twenty eight to six dollars and ten cents. It's a three

hundred and seventy seven percent increase. A meat shredder rose two hundred and nineteen percent. Timo, which is the Chinese e commerce company, they raised their right duds. So we're seeing a lot of prices already rise. But what imports have companies already stocked up upon. Among the biggest hikes in imports that companies are stocking up from number one is pharmaceutical goods. There was an increase of about twenty billion dollars in purchasing passenger cars, two billion dollars worth

of that in computer accessories another two billion dollars. Now some companies have they've already making the strategic moves to avoid the worst of the triple digit tariffs on Chinese goods. In March, Apple shipped about two billion dollars a month of iPhones from India because they had a temporary twenty six percent reciprocal tariff. So point is, what should you stock up on. It's unclear wind prices could rise. It's

unclear on how much prices will rise. But experts warn and listen, I'm gonna I'm gonna call myself an expert. Do not go out in what we call hannick. Buy, don't handic, don't go out and panic. Buy a new got it, a who car, a new PC, a new something that you fear tariffs are gonna hit in order to upgrade. Now, there is a difference between want in need. I have taught my three sons this over the years. Do you want something I want a lot of things

versus do you absolutely need this right now? If you need something, you you have a car that is just it's about to die because it's three hundred and fifty thousand miles and you've got another kid coming and you need more room and you need more safe Okay, gotcha? Do you want a new car because oh this is cool? Because it's got to know you know, a third you know, a third row. Maybe it's got exit into the satellite radio. Maybe it's got you know, it's it's a new technology

with the rear view camera. You just want it because your current car is good. Think about that want versus need. Don't panic by that's number one. But if you're already planning to make a big purchase refrigerator, wash, your dryer, car, you can make the purchase without going into debt. Now in now, now could be a good time to buy things. This trade deficit. Why does this trade deficit? And we

talked about this trade deficit. The trade deficit sword to a record one hundred and forty billion dollars in March because businesses tried to stock on these import shipments ahead of these tariffs. Trade deficit means we're buying more goods from other countries than we're selling abroad. It's not necessarily a bad thing. If another country has the resources to produce a product cheaper than we can produce it here,

we can save money by buying an imported good. But these tariffs, these trade imbalances, I don't know, it's it is tough. So if you want to call in. Are you finding I antegochally? I'd love to hear from you. Three four six twenty nine. Texted it for some reason, we don't pick up. He goes to voicemail. Leave a voicemail. We have the right day error it online. I want to hear what you think. What have you seen that prices have already gone up? And maybe food and maybe

clothing and maybe guards or whatever. Give me something specific. Michael is the name Michael Garfield. It is the high Tech textan show. When we come back. Oh my goodness, another technology product and service has died. I can almost this. I guarantee you've used this over the past twenty years. But it is gonzo. How much are you going to missus?

We'll talk about that on the other side. Big shout out to the folks up in the Woodlands, Texas, and congratulations to everybody who competed in Saturday mornings Woodlands Triathlon. Once again, Yes that was me. If you recognize the voice, that was my real voice, not AI voice. I was the race announcer mc gosh. I have done that for eight, fifteen, sixteen,

seventeen years. Great folks the Woodlands, it's spout. We got about forty five minutes an hour north of Houston, but it attracted man a number of runners and bikers and swimmers from all over the country, mostly in Texas, but all over the country there do such a nice job. Weather was pretty good and I did not do it.

I'm not a triathlete. I am a runner, and that's why they enjoy hiring me to be the race announcer, because I understand the concept of races, the mentality of the finish line, of hyping people up early in the morning to get them started in whatever. But they know, no way I am doing a triathlet will I have run ten marathons. For half marathons, I run probably four day, five days a week. I'm there, man, But Big Daddy does not swim, No, sir, does not happen. And I

just recently about a year ago. I bike, but I do a stationary bike. I have a peloton, just not I don't have a road bike. So I the respect man, Kudos men, women, and some of these kids. Man, these kids are like thirteen years old. They were out there and they can kick my butt running. Love it that people are so just athletic and in shape, but just getting any exercise, just any exercise. Just get out and do it. Man, even just walk. And I'm happy that

I took up running thirty plus years ago. But you get out there and do something. So anyway, thanks for having me out there the woodlands. It's a really fun seeing you. And now I still have a little voice left. And it's my voice too, not my AI voice. Give me about Give me about fifteen minutes. Next segment, I'm going to talk about AI voices. There are some news this week that it's very interesting because AI artificial and tear intelligence. It can be a scary thing. It can

be useful. You see, I am of I am not the dude behind the microphone that says, oh my god, you gotta be scared of AI. It's gonna take away jobs. It's going to ruin the world. There are some processes that AI can greatly help you with. You may use AI for a number of different things. Yes, AI can and has been cutting into people's jobs. Not happy about that whatsoever, especially when it comes to people in the media and replicating voices and images. I'll have a story

about that in about fifteen minutes. In the meantime, we're going to talk about something right now that's very sad, something that has gone away this past week in the world of technology. I'd like to take a few minutes right now to give an obituary. Normally I would have little background music. Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today. However, we you are too cheap to actually pay the licensing

rights for any music, including friends. So dearly beloved, we are indeed gathered here this day, this week to remember our good friend, the service that kicked off the Jetsonian age of being able to talk and see somebody from around the world via your computer. We remember Skype. It has been laid to rest, and it is indeed, with mixed emotions and an ironic ring tone, that we announced the passing of Skype. Aged twenty two, born in two

thousand and three, died twenty twenty five. Skype died peacefully and a forgotten desktop folder under a pile of zoom icons. Dipe was once the golden child of Internet communication. In its youth, it was the way to yell can you hear me now at loved ones across continents while staring at pixelated foreheads. It brought families together, ruined job interviews, and was the awkward third wheel in many long distance relationships,

and its prime Skype had a promising future. It introduced us to the beauty of buffering mid sentence and the thrill of accidental video calls when you definitely weren't camera ready. Microsoft adopted Skype in twenty eleven, promising to raise it right, but like many step parents with too many kids, the

love just wasn't the same. Skype was eventually overshadowed by sleeker, younger, better dress competitors like Zoom, teams, FaceTime, Discord, and even shouting through walls, and its final days, Skype spent most of its time popping up uninvited, asking for updates no one approved, and confusing boomers who just wanted to talk to their grandkids. Skype has survived by vague nostalgia, a few IT departments, and that one uncle who still insists Skype is just as good now. Memorial service will be

held online on Zoom and lou of flowers. Mourners rassd to mute themselves until called upon. Rest in pixels, Old friend, Rest in pixels, My my, my ma. Who use Skype, Raise your hand, put your hand down because you're driving right now, is anybody really upset that Skype has gone? Because who really used it? And it got me thinking,

guy was cool back in the day. And it started in two thousand and three, a few years just after I created and I started my brand of the High Tech Texan, which I started in two thousand and one, and I was, I was, I was on the Skype pipe train. I was a skypepiper. Oh, this is the coolest thing.

don't want to pay long distance charges. Who I'm dating myself with that one right there? I don't have to use MCI or eight No, no, I'm calling for free over voiceover Internet Protocol. That's what it was. VoIP it was Skype. Baby. It was awesome until it really wasn't awesome until things got more impressed, And sadly, it took COVID. It took one of the world's most deadly outbreaks of a virus five years ago in twenty twenty for masses to say, you know what, we can't meet face to face,

we can't travel. How can we see each other and stay saying, well, you know what, my computer, my laptop has a built in camera. Yes I know I can FaceTime, and yes I know I can do Skype. Yes, but Zoom proliferated. Zoom, to be sure, was invented, was around before COVID, not too much longer, but it was. But somehow someway Zoom not the TV show on PBS that I grew up with in the nineteen seventies, but Zoom, the teleconferencing for lack of a better term, service, proliferated.

It's the go to. Yes, Microsoft teams try to come along, and it's still there. But now we can video chat on our phones via WhatsApp. We could do it on Facebook, we could do it so many different ways, but hey, you want to zoom. Zoom has become the word, it's a verb, it's an acronym. That's what it is right now, But we do remember when I got about in a minute before we take a break right now? What other pieces of technology, what other products? What other services do

you remember that are no longer here? And maybe it's not a specific service, but maybe it's a type of media like VHS. Do you does? I mean, I know my older folks, my older generation, if you are older than listen, if you're older than thirty, you know it. VHS is because when you were a kid and I'm talking to my son justin right now, who I know, he's not listening. In Los Angeles, when I used to wake up with you and hold you in my arms at three in the morning when you were crying so

we could let your mother sleep. I popped in a VHS of Barney the Damn Purple Dinosaur because there was no Barney on CDs or download or streams. It was VHS. Who remembers pagers? Yes, I had my first pager back in nineteen ninety one ninety two. That was cool. You could pick up a phone, not a cell phone, but a real phone, and you could call somebody's pager number. And then you'd hear a beep and you'd type into your ten digit return phone number, and then your little

pager would go beep, beep, beep op. I gotta find a phone, maybe put a quarter in it so I can call back this person. Casset tapes, Yes, I also had vinyl records and eight track tapes, but cassette tapes is when I was big man was high school. For me. My first cassette tape, Journey Escape had to go out

and get Michael Jackson Thriller. Yes, because I could take that and I could put it in my house with my stereo cassette, or I could take that to my car and I had just a thump and stereo system where I was trying to impress my high school chicks, which I had none of. Analog telephones, blackberries, overhead projectors, google glass, Apple iPods. We mourn, We sit Shiva, and we remember things that we in many cases grew up with Skype or went out. It was glad to know

you what am I forgetting? People give me a shout or you talk to me on X because I ain't gonna tell you to skype me three four six twenty nine texting Michael Garfield when we come back. What else can we talk about? Oh?

is my real voice I am. I mean, you can't hear me hitting the microphone right now.

And I don't know how it came out or something, but people didn't seem to be too happy about it because maybe they didn't understand it. Now listen to be sure. Other radio stations they've experimented with using AI. There was an in Portland, Oregon radio station. I think something on Serious XM happened, and there was a post station last year. I don't know, but as far as I know, this is me as far as I know the radio station that I'm on, the stations that I'm on right now, iHeartRadio.

I don't think they use AI. They haven't told me yet. But when you hear stories like this, it's like, right, row, what's happening? Because it's not hard to train AI artificial intelligence on a computer, almost a regular PC laptop to mimic your voice, speak with the same cadence, maybe you have an accent, maybe you have a Texas drawl, y'all. You know, it can imitate you and for some people, they may not care for some people who make a living off it, like me, Hello, nice to meet you.

It may pick up. Listen, my longtime listeners know that I use fun verbiage. You know, I use the word ova and eva and let me help you out and if you know what I'm saying and p y P play by play. All of this is on it's it's not on tape, but it's online. It's on my podcast You Tell an AI bought to just discour the Michael

Garfield High Tech Texting podcast over the past year. It's going to pick up the way I speak, the cadence, my accent if I actually actually have an accent depending on where you're from, but also the words it's it is. It is scary. And I bring it to this story which happened this week, which I found fascinating because as scary it is that people can you know, rip off my voice, my face or whatever it is. It's interesting news, but it's also semi good news, and I can I

appreciate this. So NBC, if you're an NBA, you're excited because next year the NBA awarded part of its TV contract to NBA. The NBA will be back on NBC. And for those of you of age, you know, certainly over thirty five years old, you may remember back in the late eighties and the nineties the NBA was on NBC. This was the Michael Jordan Hayday and everything that you need, and this is where they had John Tesh's theme song.

That's right. John Tesh wrote a theme song called round Ball Rock and it went something like Dun da dun da dun Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun da dunda dunda da da d That's been gone for years and years and years because I think NBC owned the rights to it. Well, they're bringing it back. I love it. There was I saw commercial this past week John Tsh man looking good. We're gonna be hearing this, I think on Sunday nights or Monday nights. Dun dan Dun dun d and dun dun dun dua da Not

the point. Here's the point where AI comes in. Not only is NBC bringing back and paying John Tesh for the rights to use that opening, NBA is bringing back the original announcer, his voice for the NBA broadcast Next system. So if you go back to nineteen ninety or something. There is a voice, and I I remember the song. Watching NBA on NBC, Marv Albert during the play by play with us Zar this tellus straitor Mike Frittello, I remember it all. I don't really remember the voice, but

his name was Jim Fagan. Jim Fagan did the voice. It's the NBA on NBC tonight, the Chicago Bills take on the New York Next. You know that stuff ool nostalgia? What it'sy bitsy little caveat with Jim Fagan's voice. Jim Fagan died in twenty seventeen. NBC is using a I to generate his voice for the title sequences the show opens in the promos for its upcoming NBA covering, is that freaky dekey? They're recreating his voice? But they are, and they have gotten approval with the consent of his family.

That is how you're supposed to do it. You ask his family, maybe you pay his family, whoever has his estate. They're doing it the right way. It softens the blow when you hear that AI voice is taking over a job that could have gone to me. I'll come in be see couldn't hire me. Tonight the NBA on NBC. You are Euston Rockets versus the Dallas Mavericks and it was host matchup seen only right here tonight a PM, Eastern, seventh Central NBA on NBC.

If you go to Peacock. NBC used in the AI version of Al Michaels to offer personalized recaps of the Olympics. And al Michaels is still alive. Yes, they got permission from Al because al is under contract with I actually used to be with NBC, but Al now works for Amazon when it comes to football. But using the voice of a dead Man as a prominent feature of its

return to NBA broadcasting. It's an aggressive move. AI continues to be a hot button issue a number of different industries, and this is just one because this is one that is in my wheelhouse thoughts on this. As we get to our number two, and I will reassure you this is the High Tech tex Show and it really is the raspy voice of Michael Garkle the High Tech Texans. When we come back on the other side, we're going to talk cars. What's Michael been driving this week? Also,

Pope Francis rest in peace. He bequeathed his Pope mob. I guess every time a pope dies his popemobiles they go into a museum. He actually bequeathed his Pope m'bile. I'll tell you to who. But also, if anybody bequeathed a famous vehicle to you, what would it be? Me Batmobile? It's in the running. We can have this discussion along with some giveaways.

a half ago, just got back from China? China? Is how is that how somebody pronounces that we gotta di Jina, I ate dinner off of fine China. Yeah, I just give me a paper plate. That's all I care about. It's three four six twenty nine text and that is the phone number. Callum Reid. He's on the other side of that glass. He Callum. You feel on my picking

the phone up? Maybe he's nodding, is that he may put you through to me three four six two nine t e x A N if you get if it goes to voicemail, leave a voicemail people, and then we have a right to Eric and I will answer your questions or get your comments. We've been doing this for well over twenty three years. By the way, a special Happy birthday, Happy anniversary to kp RC Radio KPRC nine fifty am, my flagship in Houston, where I have been

on the air for twenty three years. The longest run show in the history of KPRC, Folks, this radio station. If you're listening to Houston one hundred years old, how about that came on early May of nineteen twenty five, nineteen twenty five. Of course, my grandmother who passed away recently, one hundred and five, she's like, oh my beer. Congrats to KPRC and everybody who is involved in that. And I thank you for keeping me on almost a quarter of that time. Woo whoo? Am I old or I

just started young? I don't know, but maybe you like me, you really really like me. Maybe you do. Maybe you like my two hours of BS, which of course stands for Bachelor of Science, which I got from the University of Texas. But I do spout two hours of what I'd like to think is good information, very good news, wreck tips if you do want to figure out, Hey, what car to drive? What should I buy? What should I test? I want this phone? Do I want this

piece of clothing. I'm kind of a jack of all trades. I talk about everything that I play with and test and companies send me and and I am not shy to tell you this sucks. I am not shy to say, you know what, you need to stay away from this whatsoever? Like mayna stay away from free, stay away from pork, not healthy. See, I am the guy who's going to tell you the truth. Tell you the truth. I saw this. But also we would like to extend congratulations to the

new pope. We have a new pope in town. We have Pope Leo, Leo the fourteenth, I dig that name. He is the first American pope ever from Chicago on the South Side, So we have to assume he's a white Sox fan, not a Cubbies fan. He is taking the reins of what one one point four billion Catholics around the world. That's pretty strong, pretty impressive. That's good. He among the other perks gets a pope mobile or two. And I test drive cars, and I've never seen the

popemobile in person, certainly never ridden it or driven. It could be a goal. I have a I would love one day to fly in Air Force one. That's kind of a dream. I would like to kind of roll around in the popemobile. And I think over the past several popes, each of them has had a few different potmobiles. I think one of Pope Francis's was even an electric popemobile. Anyway, it's you think these popemobiles would get handed down from

pope to pope to pope. Maybe they do. I'm guessing the new Pope Leo, does he want an American made popemobile since he's from America. I don't know. It's not up to me, but I saw this the one of Pope. Pope Francis says, you know, passed away about what three weeks ago or so, he bequeathed one of his popemobiles. He was a good dude. We were tight, you know, we talk about you know, you know, football odds or whatever. He passed away, he bequeathed one of his popemobiles to

a health clinic for children in the Gaza Strip. He was fulfilled one of his final wishes and they're transforming it into a mobile health clinic. So it was a popemobile, which is pretty cool when you look as I'm looking at it right. Here's this allows the Pope to stand up or sit down in an open air vehicle. But it's got this canopy, a glass I'm guessing bulletproof canopy that he could stand in and wave to everybody. It's it's pretty cool. And it's got a bar you know

he can hold onto. And it went not not a bar bar you know with cocktails, but it's got this bar he can hold on too when he's standing up. And he donated it, and I'm thinking, how cool is that? I mean, I guess the Vatican could put it up, could have put it on eBay. How much do you think a popemobile would have gone for on eBay? I mean, listen this rhetorical wee can you know I mean several hundred thousand a million dollar me if the Pope signed it.

Maybe you know, if you Millski could have donated that to health clinics around the world. That's not mean for me to say, but I was thinking if if I was to bid on a famous vehicle, a famous car, famous truck, and then again, I'm opening it up. I'm

opening this up to you, my dear listeners. If you could get mom one of the greatest Mother's Day of her the coolest car you've ever seen on TV or a movie, or maybe it's a Popemobile, or maybe it's the beast as we say that the President of the United States drives around in in a Cadillac, what would it be. I would have to go number one seed for me Batmobile, and only I would pick the Batmobile

because the Batmobile is actually a real vehicle. It was it was you know, starting in the nineteen sixties went Adam West was Batman. And you know now in the movies they're way cool with all the Batmobile movies. So it's it's real. Whether they actually go one hundred and fifty miles an hour or whatever it is batteries to power, turbines to speed, I don't know. The only reason is because the greatest vehicle ever designed, schematic created conceptually in

TV or movies. In my opinion, speed racers mock five. There is no better vehicle. Now it's not. I have seen a mock up or a version of the mock five. It looks like it, but ain't no way. It works like the cartoon, the greatest cartoon known to man. Exactly what at least known to Michael Garfield. Go look up mock five and if you are of age, you know what I'm talking about. It's got the steering wheel with the letters A, B, C, D, E, F and G. Trivia question, There actually is a letter H somewhere on

the mack five. Actually we should do a trivia question. First person who calls in at seven one three, two one two five nine five? Oh, where was the H? At the letter H? There was a button, don't I'll tell you what it's not on the steering wheel because it was ABC, D, E, F and G and they each you press up speed racer pressed the button, they did something you pressed A and and I had these automatically jumpers and so he could drive and all of a sudden he would jump over you know something in

the rogue dunt dun dun, dum dunk dum. It was also a jack that you know, So Sparky can work under the car. Uh, and then there was a there was a cockpit underwater with the oxygen there. I mean, I can go on and on. There was cutters that actually came out of the car so he could actually cut through the forest. It was beautiful. Okay again it's car Tim. You tell me first person, you're gonna get a fifty dollars gift card to Red River Cantena in Houston.

All right, great Mexican food seven one three, two, one two five nine five. Oh we got a few lies. Where was the letter h J and what did it do on the mack five? You see, this is what a loser I am. I live vicariously through sports and cartoons. We're gonna take a break and went listen. Other cars I would like listen Scooby Doo's Mystering Machine, the Lory, the Ghostbusters, Ecto one, the trans Am, and you know the Bandit. Burt Reynolds Action Duke Savazers had a heck

of a car Zebra one. Uh. You know for star Skin Hudge, James Bond had the Aston, Martin Herbie the love Bug. There's some famous vehicles, but the Pope Bill's pretty iconic. Pe My Bill is pretty kind by the end of the show. I actually I am going to tell you what vehicle I testro of this week, and I'll tell you if it was good or work it was bad. Coming up more looks like a stop calling. We got a winner. Stop calling. And on the other side, I will give you the answer to where the H

button was on speed Lacer. I'll tell you right here. I'm a high tech tex Mother's Day weekend thinking about getting Mom a new phone, maybe a cheaper data plan. I suggest Total Wireless. They got a lot of pretty cool promos going on right now. Switch to Total Wireless and you can get two unlimited lines. That means Mom can yap yap, yap, yap yap and talk talk talk all she wants. Sixty five dollars a month period. That's it.

That's it. Oh by the way, plus two free five G phones with activation on the Total five G unlimited plan and two eligible poured its new customers. Only think about that. What does mom really need two phones? Mom may need two phones. Mom's got two different kids, three kids, four kids. We love you mothers out there, and oh, by the way, you don't have to be a mother to get this deal. Total Wireless great deals. Also bring your own phone. That means you don't need to buy

a phone from them. You could bring your own phone. Fifty percent off savings when you bring your own phone and you switch to a Total Wireless unlimited plan, and that is fifty percent off compared to standard rates like Metro in cricket, Okay, you have to bring in your unlocked device walk in. If you're listening to anywhere in Houston, San Antonio, Austin interrestrially, we love you to visit to one of the Victor owned stores that you can easily

go to Victory dot Total Wireless dot com. But they got some really good specials, a lot of need phones. Free phone but do we dig free absolutely dig free phones over here. So Motorola rasor Samsung Galaxy A sixteen five G DCL fifty x E five G. This is five G people, means you're gonna get some great clarity and a good spee. I have used Total Whiles for gosh almost a year right now. Very happy with it.

I like the fact that I know exactly what I'm gonna pay, and I could talk all I want and I don't have to like you know, Hike up or put extra credit in my thing. I am set to go Total Worlds. Happy Mother's Day to you. As we continue the hi tech textan show got a Triviu trivia answered the trivia question and we were talking about Vehicle's the most famous vehicle that you've ever seen on TV

or movies that you would want. I mean, I've never really seen the inside of the Beast, which is the Cadillact that the President of the United States drives, and it looks pretty cool. The Popemobile, which is obviously in the news now, the prope Francis. He bequeathed one of his potmobiles to become a health clinic in the Gaza strip. You could choose from the Batmobile. You could choose from Dukes of Hazards, Starski and hut Zebra one. You could use your kits Car and Kaga the Dolorian doc he

made a time machine out of. I mean an I would pick. I don't know. Scooby Do's Mystery Machine is pretty cool. Actually that this very rudimentary. There was nothing in the back, I mean they I mean, I don't even think they had seats in the back. I mean, you see, you would you would see you know, kind of Daphne in the pass in your seat and Fredo was driving, and then you know Screw and Shaggy and Velma. They were just kind of standing behind them that it's

cool to speed racers. Mock five period case closed. Coolest vehicle ever scene, Absolutely love that stuff. Trivia question that was just answered. Who won this? This was Ray Ray in just outside of Dallas. He called in here's the winner. If you remember the cartoon speed Racer Tricksy Sparky Pops Spridle Chim Chim the whole game, speed Racer had his most powerful, most sophisticated car ever invented by Pop's Racer.

They had. He has a steering wheel and it has letters on the steer will A, B, C, D, E, F and G. G was the middle big one, and each button when you pushed it did something special. I mean you could go under water. Cockpit would come on, oxygen cutters would come out the front and he would cut down trees. It would the A button has jumpers that you know, he's driving in the middle of the road and all of a sudden he's a boulder and he junk dunk dunk, dunk dunk, yeah, A B, C, D, E, F,

and G G was the homing pigeon. That was the big one in the center, so he could record a message. Hit G OR and there's a little remote control would pop up in the center between the driver's seat and the passenger seat and he can actually, I don't know, defend himself or this little it's like it was like a drone. It's electronic homing pigeon. Okay, when a real pigeon, but it was electronic hoomit pagion. There was another letter H and very few people ever remember this. Congratulations to

Ray You're you're just an idiot cartoon watcher. Leg me. When you hit it was a sub button. When you hit the letter G for the homing pigeon that he can control with a remote control that popped out you know where the kind of gearshift was. You also saw a letter H and by hitting the letter H, the homing pigeon. Homing pigeon would go home to speed racers family, good job, fifty dollars to red River canteena in Houston, great tex mex food, thanks to you. Okay, anything else

we could think of this? This is why why have I've been on the air twenty three years. You know why because I am nothing but a trivia fun guy who just kind of keeps you entertained. No no need to call anymore. I mean you can call it. Asked me a question three four six twenty nine textan. You can also go to x Twitter and whatever you want to call it. You can go to my Instagram high

tech text and spell the whole thing out. H I G h T e h T e x A N. It is Mother's Day weekend if you're thinking about Also, don't forget man, dads and grads are coming up. We love you, mom, and I'm not trying to blow off mom yet. But we got graduations that are happening. Like right now, kids are graduating high school and they're going to college. College kids are graduating. They're hope they're moving home with their parents, or they're going to work. I

hope the latter. What can you get them? How about a gaming PC a lot of game Well, first of all, you can get them a PC. If high school kids are going to college, they may need a new computer. They may need a new tablet. I can recommend those and some of them. If you want a very powerful computer, you can get a gaming pc. I don't talk a ton about gaming PCs. I know, of my three boys, my middle son's a big gamer. He and I built his gaming PC four or five years ago, and it

was it was fun. It was a great dad sun spend time, learning experience together. Even though at the end of the day we could have bought one and it would have saved time. It would have at the end of the day may have Actually I don't know if it's saved money, because you know, you could build one for you know, relatively expensive. I talk about this because coming up there's a new gaming pc. I saw that as man. The specs are unbelievable, spectrumable. It's from r

OG Republic of Gamers. It's their new G seven hundred gaming pc. I'm going to dial up and I'm going to get someone from r OG slash as US to call in. What have we got to You gotta give me, give me about five or six minutes, and we're gonna talk about some of these specs and why these gaming PCs are just massively fast, and how they can heat up really quickly and this new air cooling system that they've got. So just some topics I thought I would bring up, which I think is pretty cool. Anybody and

everybody have their real ID. Yet, as if flying wasn't already cray cray in America, if Newark Airport this past week wasn't already jacked up because of delayed flights, this was the week that we've been waiting for for How How long have we known we should be getting these real ideas? Was it two thousand and five or something? We have known this for a long time. The deadline

has come. It was last Tuesday. US travelers, they are required by law to have a real ID, because God forbid you have a fake ID if you want to even fly domestically. So if you're traveling, if you've forgot to get your real ID, you're actually still going to be able to fly, but you may be screwed at security. It may take a little bit longer. Give yourself some extra time of the airport. I have I have a real idea, and you know you have a real idea.

Look at your driver's license, and on the top right hand corner. If you're in Texas or actually almost anywhere except California, there is a star. There is a star in California. There's actually a bear, a golden bearing, because that's that's on the flag. It's the logo of California. That's how you got a real ID. I didn't even

know about this real idea. I've had a real ID for years and years and years because the last time I got my driver's license, I guess on my birthday when it expired a few years ago, went in, took a picture, had tod you know, put the makeup and the hair on the whole thing, and then they mailed me my driver's license and it had the real ID start, so I didn't have to worry about it. So, if you've gotten your driver's license renewed over the past four or five six years or so, odds are you have

a real ID? I just this has gotten a lot of publicity over the past four or five six months, certainly over the past ten years. How does anybody not have this yet? And what it is? It's an enhanced version of your standard state driver's license. I don't know how it's enhanced, but it's intended to help authorities crack down on terrorism and identity fraud. I don't know. And here's the thing. Did anybody when they were underage before they could drink or drive. Who had a fake ID?

And I'm raising my hand. Listen, I was a d nice gol. Yes, me and all my buddies had fake ideas. If you could fake an ID, can't you fake a real ID? Star. I'm just throwing it out there. I'm not telling you to do that. I'm not telling you that whatsoever. All right, coming up, we're gonna talk about gaming PCs before and then when we come back, I will tell you what I was driving this week. Got a really really cool card that I had. It is not the mock five, but that's what I do every week.

I actually test draft card, tell you my thoughts right here on the High Tech text and chew black at it. The long running high Tech text and show. Michael Greifeld is the name Open phone lines if you want to ask questions. Count down to Mother's Day, big mod man. We got Mother's Day. We've got graduations that are happening too, which actually is segueing, and I can segue because I

am a professional media personality. People, I'm gonna segue into potential gifts for mom, yes, you better hurry up, but also for grads. They're gonna like this next thing we're gonna talk about. And also dads too. I am a dad. I got into gaming and computing because of my three sons, and I remember helping them. At least my middle son, big gamer, and he always wanted a big, powerful gaming PC every few years. And you know, one of the things when it comes to gaming PCs, you can build

these things. You can speck them out, and you can go get the motherboard and the components, and you know, I know how to do that without a doubt. But then again, as I got older, I got lazy. I'm like, you know what, let's just buy one that's pre built, which is exactly well we're gonna talk about right now. A big name when it comes to gaming PCs is OROG stands for a Republic of Gamers, kind of a part to the Asus computers. ROG big name, and you know, listen,

they make phones and a number of other things. But if you want to spect out just out of this world big gaming PC. I just saw that they have a relatively new one, and I wanted to talk about that, just give everybody some ideas that this is out here. And with that, I go to the source and that source when I need ROG information is wits and Gordon. He is the head of content marketing with ROG. Happy early Mother's Day, witson just kidding.

it's not something that everyone's into. Some people just want to game, right, they're gamers first. They want to come home, plug it in and get up and running. They don't want to put it together themselves, and that's totally fine. Some people want one all inclusive warranty so if something is a little wonky with the PC, they have one single place they can go to for support. They don't have to kind of piece out each individual part, figure out all of that stuff, totally get all of that.

But really the advantage is you know that we have pieced this thing, that we built it from the ground up, rigorously tested it, for rock solid stability, reliability.

And I'm looking online. I'm looking at the specs of this thing, and you can speck it out a few different ways. But oh my goodness, I mean, I never thought years and years ago, you know, you can get into the numbers of how many terabides and how many what I mean it is just fast and super speedy. What makes this new Rogg seven hundred stand out from other pre built gaming PCs?

can see the inside of your PC. That's really nice. I know a lot of gamers love that. But it's

also still got enough ventilation from the front. It's got these events on the side that draw air in from the front and then out the top with our again a custom water cooler that we built for the CPU in this machine, got a radiator on the top, so you get really cool performance, quieter performance because water cooling is so efficient, and it's got just an absolute monster graphics card in it, depending again on how you spec it out, but it's using the latest fifty serious cards

from Nvidia with the special rog sauce that we put on you know, our heat sinks and all that. So this thing is quiet and performs like you said, a monster. There's only one way to put it.

don't have to build it from scratch, but you can choose. Hey, these are the kind of the specs that I want that match my budget and the kind of games that I play, so you can still really make it yours, which is cool. You get a lot of that fun part of PC gaming, even if you don't want to kind of build it from scratch.

You can have two PCs with the exact same you know, parts of them, the same Nvidia GPU and Intel CPU or a MDCPU, but the cooling can make a big difference in how it operates day to day and how it you know, feels and sounds when you're playing it the right fans in the right places, can mean that it's quieter, can mean that it keeps that performance stably for a longer period of time. Right, All of that

stuff does make a difference. So that's why you know, we kind of put all of our expertise in designing the cooling system to work this way. Whereas you know, if you're building yourself and it's your first time, you might not get that completely optimal airflow path and things like that.

sacrifice a little performance for that, you can. But you know, the other advantage is that just with a PC, depending on how you speck it out, you could be way more powerful than a lot of those consoles. You can get much better performance with crazy fidelity, super high resolutions, all of this realistic lighting, that kind of stuff. But the other thing that a lot of people don't realize is that games are often pound for pound cheaper on PC.

This is one of my favorite things is that because everything's digital and you have multiple stores competing with each other on PC, you can get games on sale for really inexpensive and there are all kinds of free game giveaways and stuff like that, so you end up amassing this giant library of games where you could play anything you want, anytime you want, which is one of the things that I really like about the platform. Is kind of unique.

I know the website. I'm looking at it right now, r OG dot as USA SEUs dot com. If people are interested in getting these things, how about are they in stores? You got a few stores where people can go.

happy Mother's Day. All the grads out there, take my advice, take witch AND's advice, and go get a gaming PC. But I appreciate your time, my man.

I'm going thank you too. I'm missed out Whitsony Gordon from r OG All you PC gamers out there, maybe you've uh you liked that chat that I had with him. Uh, I don't talk about I'm not the biggest gamer, you know, I I totally you know, listen, it's my kids. I had three boys and back in the day man one of them had the Xbox. When of them at the Sony place, one head Nintendo, and I would get all of the games and I would have them on when they were young, and they would come on the ear

and talk about it. They still I think. I know my middle son, he's a big Nintendo switch, you know. I think my youngest still has the Xbox. But I leave that stuff up to them. But I know my middle son is really big in the PC gaming. And I was, as I was talking to as you just heard with the Republic of Gamers, the rog G seven hundred gaming PC that just came out for fifteen hundred dollars, and it is a piece. It is fast, the graphic card is just unbelievable. I mean, sometimes it pays off

just just get it instead of building one. Because my son and I built his, which was a good you know, it's a nice bonding experience, but I don't know, it's probably just as fun to play games with him on that PC rather than building the thing. I mean, I could do it. It's okay, But if you're you're lazy, if you want to get somebody to get for the graduation. Again, it's Dad's and grads and Mom's day and all this stuff coming up. So there you go with that if

you want to final segment over here. And usually at some point during the show, I talk about what's Michael driving this week? And we still don't have a SoundBite for that? Do we call um? We need it? What's my No? No, we need to here? He comes, here comes Michael gar Field. He's a demon on wheels. What's Michael driving this week? Because every week I do get to test drive a car, not from a dealership, directly

from a manufacturer. They do not pay me, sadly, which means I can rag on it, love on it, tell you the good, the bad, the things to stay away from. This week, Michael was driving in a new twenty twenty five super Ru Forester Hybrid super super Ru. I hear the word super Ru. It to me, it's the official car of Idaho, maybe Montana, maybe Colorado. You go, I mean it's There's I'm never actually Idaho, have I but I just know so many people who live out there.

They love their super Roots because it's not pretentious, it's not ostentatious. It gets you there from a to z wherever you want to drive. It could go, you know, if it gets snowy, if it gets hilly, if it gets a little rocky. These superos are strong man. The Forester we're gonna call this a We're gonna call it an suv, a very small suv, maybe a Cuvia compact utility vehicle. But it's hot. This particular one. It's the Forester Premium Hybrid, five passengers, so it's got four doors,

it's got the hatchback. I was able to fit a lot of stuff in that hatchback. Certainly when you fold down that second row. It easy to steer, easy to drive. One hundred and ninety four horse power. It's good because it's not a heavy car. It's a relatively like carts. So one hundred and ninety four horse power is gonna get you where you're gonna go. What I found is got very good gas milage fuel economy thirty five in the city, thirty four in the highway, so we got

about thirty five miles combined. It's also hybrid too, which kind of regenerates the breaking too, so it's got forty percent better fuel economy than non hybrids. In this same model, so I like it a lot. Inside twelve inch full instrument cluster, digital cluster. That's when you look through this steering will, you could see the odometer, the speed dometer.

You can configure it however you want. It's got the eleven and a half inch touchscreens, got good navinations, not the best SUPERU doesn't have, not my favorite infotainment multimedia center. It does its job it certainly. It's got Bluetooth, it's got Apple CarPlay, Android auDA, the whole stuff. It's just I don't know. The graphics are just maybe a little bit more rudimentary or just non defined sexiness than a lot of the other infotaments that I've seen. Absolutely certainly

capable with whatsoever. It's available. Just came out spring of this year. It's got some really nice standard features, the typical auto start and stop, and the auto powered door locks, and the dual automatic climate control, rear seat reminder. I can go on and on. I don't want to sit here and read the MONRONI here for you, but the EV drive mode. Hit a button and you're set to go.

I was. I took this thing from Houston to Austin and back, and I didn't have to put gas in it until I was back, and that's that's pretty good. That's pretty good. The other thing as we wind up the price Listen, no one is locking down a price, especially because the uncertain that we have in the market,

whether it's tariffs or whatsoever. But the Forester Premium Hybrid, as I drew as I drove it, everything packed on there, including the destination delivery, right about thirty six thousand dollars. That is not bad car as I toss drive on the weekly basis that I've done for fifteen years. I mean, I was in one that was one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars a few weeks ago. Yes, it was

a range Rover. But I get some expensive cars. It's tough to find a vehicle that is under forty thousand without a doubt, certainly underd fifty thousands a but for thirty six thousand dollars strong. Absolutely if you're looking for a car, which you know, if you got kids and you slap them around them with the soccer gear or the ballerina gear, and you know, hatchback and you want to go a little it's a little off roading. Super U has always been strong, and I do like it.

It's the twenty twenty five SUPERU Forster Premium Hybrid. I'm not going to tell you a dealership because I don't even know where a superwo dealership is. Just to prove the fact that I'm not selling these things. I wish I was sponsored by Superode, but I'm not. So absolutely like a sixteen point six gallon fuel tank, so you're gonna get about five hundred and eighty one mile range. Woo, that's far. That's like halfway across Texas or something, depending

on how you slice it. With that, you're going to start winding this down. I do think are good friends at Cowbo Bob's the greatest chips to statle chips in the world. Happy Cinco de Mayo to those folks. For locations in Houston also United States Coins and Jewelry, which actually we call Uscnjay Last Minute. If you are in Houston and it is Saturday, you're listening to this. They are open today, the day before Mother's Day. They have watches and rolexes and jewelry and a lot of great things.

If you're a coin collector, this is the place to go because you're ready to expand it with another new building. It's on My Boss Exit right on Katie Freelik Katie just outside of Youth sixteen. Tell Michael Garfield, Garfield, Garfield. There's a number of Michael's attempt for him and the film Garfield Hold you get in there. Thanks also to Total Wireless and everybody else who've been a part of

this show. Happy Mother's Day, and for my mom, Susan Garfield, who may be listening live or on podcast after we put it up. Thank you very much, Callum Happy Mothers two years once you do year round. Thank you moms for cooking it, for doing the thing with Alchi. I appreciate everybody being a part of the show. My name is Michael Garfielder. Right now, my show is over.