Podcasts about pcs

Welcome back to Pushing Pediatrics - your favorite study supplementation for the PCS exam! We have had 4 successful seasons thanks to you all, our listeners! And a special thank you to those of you who subscribe to our Friday episodes. We are so excited to be bringing you Season 5 of the Pushing Pediatrics Podcast and plan to make it our best season yet.Today we are going to dive into the DSP, the Description of Specialty Practice in Pediatric Physical Therapy and how to utilize it as the anchor to your PCS test prep. We'll be covering tips and strategies on how to be thinking of different aspects of the DSP while studying, a little about what test questions may be like on the PCS exam, and how to integrate your previous clinical knowledge with info from the DSP to think like a pediatric specialist. Resources discussed in today's episode can be found on our website.Use code PUSHINGPEDS for $150 off your Medbridge subscription! Check out our website, and subscribe for our subscription only episodes on Fridays.Follow us on Instagram.This episode was brought to you by the Pivot Ball Change Network.

I have always found it amusing that the canonical story of technology disruption had nothing to do with silicon, PCs, SaaS, or AI. It involved steel. The late great Clayton Christensen mentioned the minimills in his 1997 book, the Innovator's Dilemma. He wrote that minimill steelmaking was a disruptive technology, one that emerged like the Mongols to take down a complacent empire. Was that what really happened? The whole thing has always fascinated me. In today's video, the conquest of the minimills. A story of pure disruption.

I have always found it amusing that the canonical story of technology disruption had nothing to do with silicon, PCs, SaaS, or AI. It involved steel. The late great Clayton Christensen mentioned the minimills in his 1997 book, the Innovator's Dilemma. He wrote that minimill steelmaking was a disruptive technology, one that emerged like the Mongols to take down a complacent empire. Was that what really happened? The whole thing has always fascinated me. In today's video, the conquest of the minimills. A story of pure disruption.

This week I have a roundtable discussion with players from my D&D campaign, Blood of the Avatars, that recently ended. Brett, Craig, and Sam join me to discuss our experiences with D&D at high level, both as players and GM. We also talk about what it was like to bring a new player into a campaign toward the end, when the PCs are all high level. Finally, I talk a bit about my thoughts and strategies going into the final leg of the campaign, and how I prepared and planned for it. The players give their perceptions on how it all turned out. There are definitely things I could've done better, and we discuss that, so as I always say at the top of the show, you can learn from my mistakes, or at least things I could've done differently and/or better.Check out my sci-fi novel, Critical Balance.Have you read Critical Balance? Please leave a review on Amazon.Check Out my NEW PODCAST - Lex Out LoudCall the Game Master's Journey voice mail: 951-GMJ-LEX1 (951-465-5391).If you're a new listener, and you'd like to go back to the beginning, here's a link to Episode 1.If you're interested in worldbuilding and/or my D&D campaign setting of Primordia, check out the first worldbuilding episode. You can go to this page to see all the episodes that discuss worldbuilding.Check out my latest D&D supplement, Adventurers of Primordia.

Factories don't usually make headlines at tech conferences, but what Audi is doing inside its production labs is anything but ordinary. At VMware Explore in Las Vegas, I sat down with Dr. Henning Löser, Head of the Audi Production Lab, to talk about how the automaker is reinventing its factory floor with a software-first mindset. Henning leads a small team he jokingly calls “the nerds of production,” but their work is changing how cars are built. Instead of replacing entire lines for every new piece of technology, Audi has found a way to bring the speed and flexibility of IT into the world of industrial automation. The result is Edge Cloud 4 Production, a system that takes virtualization technology normally reserved for data centers and applies it directly to manufacturing. In our conversation, Henning explained why virtual PLCs may be one of the biggest breakthroughs yet. They look invisible to workers on the line but give maintenance teams new transparency and resilience. We explored how replacing thousands of industrial PCs with centralized, virtualized workloads not only reduces downtime but also cuts energy use and simplifies updates. And yes, we even discussed the day a beaver chewed through one of Audi's fiber optic cables and how redundancy kept production running without a hitch. This episode is about more than smart factories. It's about how an industry known for heavy machinery is learning to think like the cloud. From scalability and sustainability to predictive maintenance and AI-ready infrastructure, Audi is showing how the car of the future starts with the factory of the future. If you've ever wondered how emerging technologies like virtualization and private cloud are reshaping the shop floor, this is a story you'll want to hear.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is without a doubt one of the most influential video games ever made.  Unlike some titles that struggled with the transition to 3D, Zelda absolutely smashed it, setting the blueprint for what successful open world level design looked like for many years to come.It introduced (or popularised) many mechanics, including lock-on, c-button item selection and even an active day/night cycle.  It somehow took the 2D dungeon design of the earlier Zeldas and transformed them into something that modern games struggle to emulate to this day.  And its legacy is so strong that even people who have never played the games are familiar with “Hey, Listen!”.  But for all its fame and fortune, for all of its innovation and brilliance - it is 27 years later.  What was once revolutionary is now standard or even passe.  Ocarina of Time not only has to compete against all the games that have copied and built on its foundations, but also itself, with many more 3D zelda games launched in its wake.  Has Ocarina of Time truly stood the test of time, or should it go back to kid mode and stay there?On this episode, we discuss:DungeonsOcarina of Time's major gameplay draw, its deepest mechanics, are all found in its dungeons.  It's a mix of puzzles, combat and exploration, gated by keys and items.  Are the dungeons in OOT well designed with good pacing, or are they frustrating slogs with endless backtracking?ItemsThe longer you play Ocarina of Time, the more tools you have at your disposal.  Nuts, hookshots, hover boots, ocarina songs, spells - the list goes on and on.  Does the game manage to balance this huge array of options, or does each one end up feeling too shallow and specific?CombatOne of the pillars of Ocarina of Time, and all Zelda games, are their combat systems.  OOT introduced the concept of a lock on, with some very aggressive mini boss enemies that feel like prototype Dark Souls skeletons.  Is the combat here fun and engaging, or does the camera control and AI hold it back?We answer these questions and many more on the 133rd episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!—Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen KOutro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to anotherZelda OOT OST: Koji Kondo—We played Zelda: Ocarina of Time using Ship of Harkinian, a custom modded port of the game that runs like a dream on modern PCs.  Definitely check it out!—Is our take on the Water Temple spot on, or highly controversial?  DId you ever get stuck while wandering the greater open world, or was that just a feature so you could catch more fish?  Which Zelda game should we play next?  Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!You can support the show monetarily on our Buy me a Coffee page

Katie and Danny unpack Nvidia's $47 billion second-quarter revenue – more than it made in all of 2023. But can anyone challenge its dominance? Danny interviews AMD's Lisa Su, head of the American chipmaker that designs the processors powering everything from PCs to data centres, about the company's turnaround, China, and whether Nvidia's crown is within reach.Image: Getty Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, I introduce you to Leslie P. who lives with her two dogs and has always been a renter.  Leslie was searching for podcasts about organization. It caught Leslie's attention when she heard one of the Monday Connections podcasts when we were talking about subjects related to those things she loves like demographics, sociology, and anthropology.  Leslie was always an organized person but once her mom had passed and she was in the role of executor, she just couldn't get out from under all the paper!  She needed help and was looking for organizational solutions. The year after her mom passed Leslie referred to as the “Year of quiet living.” She stayed in her mom's 55+ community and took time to figure out her next steps as she faced hurdles in NYC. She'd decided to go out on her own and no longer be a W2 employee.  When Leslie decided to move down to Florida and stay with her mom to take care of her, who had cancer, she grabbed most of her stuff and just left. Well all that stuff was up there still waiting for Leslie to deal with. When Leslie finally located some important paperwork under the couch pillows that she'd been looking for, she decided she had to get a system in place.  In the midst of the mess, she created a priority list like Maslow's hierarchy of needs. What was the most important first step. She then started to feel permission to put things in logical places like her socks by the front door. She started to task stack while her dogs were eating so she could do other things in her kitchen. And she now gives herself permission to honor the phase of life she is in which may mean the fact that she'll buy new tools, get rid of things, make mistakes, and allow new permissions. Like keeping two sets of china and hosting the holidays her way. She's also given herself permission to have a personal life outside of working and taking care of her dogs because she also had more free time now. And with systems in place she no longer has a need for a to do list AND she's not forgetting to do things.  Leslie opened the conversation saying she was not the Organize 365® typical demographic. I wanted to dig into that a little. Leslie uncovered how renting an apartment is kinda like PCS'ing. You move more frequently and need to start all over again. What does a day look like again? How is the drive to work? Can you keep the same medical providers? How does errand running look? Coffee shops? And we talked about things about renting like owning a car and having outdoor space. We also talked about cost opportunities and what that means for the quiet middle of society from each person's point of view. We both pointed out things the other had not considered.  Leslie also attended a Planning Day. Leslie had attended plenty of corporate organization/productivity events and they all paled in comparison. She was so impressed with how comprehensive and effective Planning Day was. It's frustrating for Leslie because she wishes she'd known sooner that a lof of people struggle with organization and for a long time she thought it was just her. Now she has less anxiety, perceived anxiety, as well as sleeping better, and has a healthier outlook.  Leslie's advice is, “Listen to Lisa because she is smart.” But all joking aside she added “Give yourself permission. You are the subject matter expert of your family, your life, home, of your goals, and your priorities. You get to decide. Trust yourself.”  EPISODE RESOURCES: The Sunday Basket® Planning Day Sign Up for the Organize 365® Newsletter  On the Wednesday podcast, I get to talk with members of the Organize 365­® community as they share the challenges, progress, missteps and triumphs along their organizing journey. I am grateful that you are reaching out to share with me and with this community. You can see and hear transformation in action. If you are ready to share your story with us, please apply at https://organize365.com/wednesday. Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a friend and be sure to tag Organize 365® when you share on social media!

Aiden Deacon from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis, discusses a research paper he co-authored that was published in Volume 16 of Oncotarget, titled “Dissecting the functional differences and clinical features of R-spondin family members in metastatic prostate cancer.” DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.28758 Correspondence to - Justin Hwang - jhwang@umn.edu Video interview - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXKhWWU1gnY Abstract This study investigates the R-spondin family of genes (RSPO1/2/3/4), a group of secreted proteins that act as Wnt regulators, and their subsequent role in advanced prostate cancer (PC). When evaluating transcriptomic data from primary and metastatic PC patients, we found that alterations in RSPO2 were more prevalent than in other RSPO family members or Wnt-regulating genes APC and CTNNB1. Further, we found that RSPO2 alterations in PCs were significantly associated with worse disease-free survival. Through our in silico modeling, RSPO2 exhibited strong positive associations with genes regulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and double-negative prostate cancer (DNPC), but had negative correlations with androgen receptor (AR) and AR-associated genes. Furthermore, 3D modeling of RSPO2 revealed structural differences between itself and other RSPOs. In cell lines, RSPO2 overexpression caused up-regulation of EMT pathways, including EMT-regulatory transcription factors ZEB1, ZEB2, and TWIST1. Conversely, this was not observed when CTNNB1 was overexpressed in the same models. These findings highlight that, in PC, RSPO2 functions as a unique member of the R-spondin family by promoting genes and signaling pathways associated with aggressive PC, and RSPO2 amplifications are associated with poor outcomes in PC patients. Sign up for free Altmetric alerts about this article - https://oncotarget.altmetric.com/details/email_updates?id=10.18632%2Foncotarget.28758 Subscribe for free publication alerts from Oncotarget - https://www.oncotarget.com/subscribe/ Keywords - cancer, RSPO2, prostate cancer, Wnt signaling, genomics, therapeutics About Oncotarget Oncotarget (a primarily oncology-focused, peer-reviewed, open access journal) aims to maximize research impact through insightful peer-review; eliminate borders between specialties by linking different fields of oncology, cancer research and biomedical sciences; and foster application of basic and clinical science. Oncotarget is indexed and archived by PubMed/Medline, PubMed Central, Scopus, EMBASE, META (Chan Zuckerberg Initiative) (2018-2022), and Dimensions (Digital Science). To learn more about Oncotarget, please visit https://www.oncotarget.com and connect with us: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Oncotarget/ X - https://twitter.com/oncotarget Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/oncotargetjrnl/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@OncotargetJournal LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/oncotarget Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/oncotarget/ Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/user/Oncotarget/ Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0gRwT6BqYWJzxzmjPJwtVh MEDIA@IMPACTJOURNALS.COM

A Polícia Federal, nesta terça-feira (26), rastreou e acabou com um esquema de criptomoedas que roubou R$ 14 milhões. E tem mais! Apple confirma evento para lançar iPhone 17; WhatsApp pode ganhar correio de voz para chamadas perdidas; China interrompe acesso à internet global por mais de 1 hora após uma falha e estudo revela que brasileiros vão comprar GTA 6 no lançamento mesmo que seja caro. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •Seu próximo setup gamer te espera no MÊS GAMER DA ACER!

Send us a textWelcome to the most brutal members-only episode yet—where we air out the entire damn mess the Air Force tried to sneak past you. No prep. No script. Just raw frustration, hot takes, and wild truths about canceled reenlistment bonuses, halted retirement orders, and why the hell the CMSAF wasn't even in the loop.Peaches, Trent, and Aaron tear into this SRB and retirement trainwreck like it owes them backpay—with spicy theories, blunt facts, and zero patience for Pentagon PR spin. We talk broken trust, messaging failures, the impending war on special pays, and the ripple effect of gutting morale across the enlisted force—especially in Special Warfare.This one's for the zone E operators, the “non-sexy AFSCs,” and every Airman who's tired of being told to “just serve harder.” You're not crazy. You're just in the Air Force.

Ever heard of the Internet of Things, or IoT? This episode explores the use of random numbers in our everyday devices, and how they're often not as secure as our PCs. We also look at how Apple gets it right, and what we can do to keep our devices secure in this connected world.ResourcesSecuring the IoT Ecosystem: Challenges & SolutionsData security of IoT devices with limited resources: challenges and potential solutionsWhat Is IoT Security? Challenges and RequirementsApple Platform Security GuideHardware Accelerated CryptoSend us a textSupport the showJoin our Patreon to listen ad-free!

In this episode of Decked Up, we dive into the oversaturated market of handheld gaming PCs and why incremental upgrades aren't enough to justify their hefty price tags. Join us as we explore the challenges faced by gamers in choosing the right device amidst a sea of options, and why the Steam Deck remains a standout choice. We'll also touch on the broader implications for the gaming industry and what this means for future innovations. Tune in for an insightful discussion on the real issues plaguing handheld gaming today. #HandheldGaming #SteamDeck #GamingIndustry

Jurandir Filho, Felipe Mesquita, Evandro de Freitas e Bruno Carvalho batem um papo sobre a evolução dos jogos para celular ao longo dos anos. No final dos anos 1990 e início dos 2000, quando os celulares ainda eram dispositivos simples voltados quase exclusivamente para chamadas e mensagens, surgiu o clássico "Snake" (jogo da cobrinha), popularizado pela Nokia. Com sua mecânica simples de guiar uma linha que crescia a cada fruta coletada, "Snake" se tornou um fenômeno global e mostrou que havia potencial para diversão mesmo em aparelhos com telas monocromáticas.Com o passar do tempo, os celulares foram ganhando mais capacidade de processamento, telas coloridas e suporte para sons e gráficos mais elaborados. Isso permitiu a chegada de jogos como "Space Impact", "Bounce" e outros títulos pré-instalados, que marcaram a infância e adolescência de muitos. Ainda assim, o grande salto aconteceu a partir de meados dos anos 2000, com a popularização dos smartphones e lojas virtuais de aplicativos. A partir daí, a indústria explodiu. Jogos mais sofisticados e acessíveis chegaram ao grande público, tornando os celulares uma plataforma competitiva frente a consoles e PCs. Títulos como "Angry Birds" (2009) conquistaram milhões de jogadores com sua jogabilidade viciante e mecânica simples de arremessar pássaros contra estruturas. Logo em seguida, "Fruit Ninja", "Candy Crush Saga", "Pokémon GO", "Fortnite", "FreeFire", "PUBG Mobile" e "Call of Duty: Mobile" dominaram os rankings de downloads, explorando a diversidade de jogabilidade dos smartphones.Hoje, a indústria de jogos para celular movimenta bilhões de dólares anualmente e abrange todos os públicos, de jogadores casuais a competidores de eSports. O que começou com uma simples cobrinha em uma tela monocromática se transformou em uma das maiores formas de entretenimento do mundo, mostrando como a tecnologia e a criatividade caminharam juntas para moldar o que conhecemos atualmente como jogos mobile.Essa é mais uma edição da nossa série Hall da Fama dos Gêneros!- INSIDER | Use as roupas tecnológicas da Insider! Ganhe 15% de desconto no cupom 99VIDAS! https://creators.insiderstore.com.br/99Vidas- ALURA |Conheça o Plano Ultra e ganhe até 40% de desconto usando o cupom 99Vidas! https://alura.com.br/99vidas 

On this month's episode of This Ol' Dungeon, we are digesting Boot Hill's BH3, “Ballots and Bullets.” This adventure sets the PCs in the middle of the mining town, Promise City, where elections for Marshal, Mayor, and Town Council are about to take place. The PCs have 10 weeks to help their supported faction win these elections amid both fair and unfair practices and a lot of potential gun-play. The module itself is like many a political candidate, promising much…but does it deliver? We have a lot of fun talking about this one, and were given some great listener questions about making fantasy campaign games work as well as which board games we love to play.  At the end, we give out the information for being a part of our quiz-portion (Geek Credit) that we are trying to start back up. Basically, if you have a good multiple choice, geek-oriented question, you can send it to thisoldungeonquiz@gmail.com. if we use it on the show, you will get a shot at winning fantastic RPG prizes!  Thanks for listening folks, and we will catch you in September with a bit of Mechwarrior!

When you're a young service member preparing for your first PCS, finding honest information about where you'll live and eat can be nearly impossible. Military barracks and dining facilities remain one of the most significant blind spots in our support system for junior enlisted personnel.Rob Evans, an Army veteran and software developer, experienced this firsthand during his 12 years of service. After transitioning to civilian life, he noticed something critical was missing: a platform where service members could openly discuss the conditions of their living quarters and dining facilities. This realization, coupled with a 2023 Government Accountability Office report highlighting widespread problems in military housing, sparked the creation of Hots and Cots – an app that's transforming how we address quality of life issues for our troops.During our conversation, Rob shares powerful stories of service members living with mold-covered ceilings, broken HVAC systems, and unreliable dining options who found their voices through his platform. The app's anonymity feature has proven crucial, allowing personnel to document conditions without fear of retaliation. What began as a simple idea has now collected over a thousand reviews and caught the attention of military leadership at the highest levels – including the Secretary of the Army.Perhaps most compelling is how Hots and Cots creates accountability where traditional systems have failed. Rob describes instances where installation commanders reached out directly after seeing negative reviews, resulting in immediate fixes to problems that had lingered for months. His recent addition of a leadership dashboard allows vetted military leaders to engage with reviews and address concerns while maintaining user anonymity.As someone who's witnessed the transformative power of good leadership and proper resources, Rob's mission extends beyond building an app – he's building a bridge between those who serve and those who lead them. His work reminds us that taking care of our service members isn't just about equipment and training but ensuring they have decent places to live and nutritious food to eat.Ready to see what's happening at military installations nationwide or share your own experience? Download Hots and Cots today and join the movement to improve quality of life for those who serve our country.Support the showVisit my website: https://thehello.llc/THERESACARPENTERRead my writings on my blog: https://www.theresatapestries.com/Listen to other episodes on my podcast: https://storiesofservice.buzzsprout.comWatch episodes of my podcast:https://www.youtube.com/c/TheresaCarpenter76

Greetings from Cologne, Germany! To learn all about the ASUS and Xbox partnership, I'm joined by Sascha Krohn, Director of Technical Marketing at ASUS and ROG. Unveiled at Gamescon, this handheld gaming PCV is wild.Speaking of PCs, there are deals to be had over Inter Gamer Days, from August 25th through September 7th, on select Intel-powered gaming laptops and desktops -- as you'll hear from Intel's Samy Saif.But we first kickstart a brand-new Tech It Out, to get the 4-1-1 on Brane Audio and its portable Brane X speaker and its integrated subwoofer. We're joined by Joe Pinkerton, Co-Founder & CEO of Brane AudioThank you to Visa and Sandisk for your support!

I'm back!! It always feels good to be back behind the mic, recording new content for you. I've spent the summer moving, but now I'm getting settled into our home for this year. In this episode, we catch up on what PCS 2025 was like and what I learned through the experience.  Better Together, Christine   MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Ep 19. Do You Struggle to Get Dinner on the Table When Your Spouse is Gone? RESOURCES Work With Me Join The Free Community Free Clarity Workshop What Matters Most Worksheet Clarity Course Leave a Show Review. Pretty Please!

Building a successful business often means solving problems nobody else sees coming. In this episode of Building Texas Business, I sit down with Merrilee Kick, founder of BuzzBallz, to talk about how she transformed a poolside idea into a ready-to-drink cocktail empire she sold to Sazerac in 2024. Merrilee shares her journey from high school teacher to manufacturing pioneer who bootstrapped through engineering challenges and suppliers who refused to sell her essential components. Her approach demonstrates that when traditional paths close, entrepreneurs must forge their own. We explore how Merrilee built a family-like culture with minimal turnover through practical benefits like daily cooked meals and extended holiday breaks. She discusses why fairness matters more than equality in building loyal teams. During COVID, she created an on-site school for employees' children and manufactured hand sanitizer for hospitals, showing how adaptability serves both business continuity and community needs. Merrilee reflects on mistakes that shaped her success, from coconut cream that solidified at room temperature to trusting the wrong people. She emphasizes that entrepreneurs must trust their gut instincts and move quickly when something isn't working. Her discussion about selling to Sazerac reveals the cultural shifts that come with acquisition and why selecting the right buyer matters as much as the price. The conversation reveals how a teacher's frustration with glass by the pool became a multi-million dollar business through relentless problem-solving and genuine employee care. Listen to discover why sometimes the best business education comes from cleaning your own warehouse bathrooms. SHOW HIGHLIGHTS "S#@t doesn't smell any better with age" - why firing fast is critical to maintaining culture and performance When suppliers demand hundreds of thousands for R&D, sometimes you have to source from Canada and figure it out yourself A $10 daily lunch investment eliminated production delays and built the family culture that kept turnover near zero Creating an on-site school during COVID kept the production lines running when competitors shut down People quit managers, not companies - know your employees' kids' names and eat lunch with them Trust your gut over resumes - the West Point MIT grad who couldn't deliver taught her that credentials don't guarantee performance LINKSShow Notes Previous Episodes About BoyarMiller About BuzzBallz GUESTS Merrilee KickAbout Merrilee TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Chris: In this episode, you'll meet Merrilee Kick, founder of BuzzBallz. Merrilee shares her story of going from a high school teacher grading papers to a multimillion dollar manufacturer of ready to drink cocktails by trusting her instincts, being honest and fair, and keeping sales concepts funny. Merrilee, I want to welcome you to Building Texas Business. Thank you for taking the time to come on in the podcast. Merrilee: Thanks Chris. Chris: So let's start. You founded a very interesting company called BuzzBallz. Love the name. Tell the listeners what is BuzzBallz, what is the company and what's it known for? Merrilee: So BuzzBallz is a ready to drink cocktail company. It's a manufacturing company based in Texas, and I started it back in 2009. Our first sale was in 2010 and I sold it. I ran it for 15 years and then I sold it last year, may of 2024 to Sazerac, a big company, one of the world's largest manufacturers of bourbon and alcoholic spirits. And they were very interested in us because it was the convenience store channel and it was ready to drink. And so it was a little bit different twist for them. Chris: Very good. So what was the inspiration for you in 2009 to start a alcoholic beverage company? Merrilee: I was going through some hard times with my marriage and I was a high school teacher at the time and I wanted to be more financially independent. And my high school that I was working at said that they would give me a teacher's enrichment program to where I could go get my master's in administration and be a principal. And I was like, oh my God, no, I don't want to be a principal. No, I want to go into my own field, which was business because I taught entrepreneurship, business law, international business marketing, computer science, all those kinds of wonderful subjects to high school kids, and I wanted to get my degree and get my MBA in that. So I convinced them to let me do it. Got my MBA and BuzzBallz was my master's degree thesis project. I was grading papers by the pool thinking of what should my project be for my capstone, my final project for my MBA and I had a little vo of candle with me and drinking a cocktail like a good teacher would, and I should probably not have a glass glass out here by the pool where I'm grading papers. I need to have something plastic. So I came up with the idea and the concept of a little party ball, a little ready to drink cocktail in a ball shape. Then my family and I, we sat down at dinner and we came up with the name Buzzballz. I love it. So catchy. And so that's where it came from and it stuck, you know, and it's one of those names you don't forget. So, that's the genesis of it all. Chris: What a great story. So high school teacher grading papers by the pool comes up with a cocktail and turns it into a wildly successful business. That is a coolest story I think I've ever heard. Merrilee: Yeah, we started out with six different flavors and they were pretty edgy. I'm a pretty edgy person, I guess. So, we came out with names like OJ Screamer because it was right when OJ Simpson was on trial and we had an orange juice and vodka screwdriver and we thought, okay, this will be funny, and funny sells, and it makes people laugh again. It makes it fun. So, We came up with some funny, funny names, strawberry Rum job, you know, like kind of edgy, dirty names, but funny and people loved it. Since then, it's kind of calmed the waves a little bit. We've mellowed it down a little bit, toned it down for the general grocery store shoppers, and more more family focused. But we've been through many renditions, many different flavors and sizes and things over the years. Yeah, Chris: It is really cool. Let's go back to kind of that 2009 or maybe time period. So I guess you had your MBA and you had this idea, but what did you do to get this off the ground and what kind of hurdles were you facing in order to do that? There Merrilee: Was so many hurdles. I didn't know anything manufacturing. I didn't know anything business. I was told by bankers all around Texas that I've applied for loans with that you're just a teacher, you don't have any experience, you don't have any collateral, you don't have any knowledge of manufacturing, how are you going to pull this off? And I just googled everything. Google was a really good friend, but I was looking at how many pounds per square inch does a Coke have on the inner walls of its container and will my container hold that and will this plastic have BPA in it and will it leach into my product? And what is the oxygen scavenging ratio of will oxygen permeate this plastic and degrade the product and what kind of petaloid base do I need on this? So there's a lot of engineering involved to create the container because it is a custom container. And then I was almost to the finish line and then a company, I wanted to put these metal lids on the container and a company came to me and they said, we want you to pay us hundreds of thousands of dollars so that we can r and d and see if your product really can be a good product for the market. And I couldn't afford it, so I just did it myself and I had to launch it myself and they said they wouldn't sell me any lids because of it. So I had to buy 'em from Canada. I had to buy 'em from overseas and then do it myself. So one of the things I learned is you just have to do everything yourself. You have to clean the bathrooms, you have to clean the warehouse, you have to set up the equipment, you have to do all the QuickBooks, you have to do the shipping, you have to do the billing, you have to understand all the details of this business inside now before you can pass it on to anybody. Chris: That's a very common theme amongst entrepreneurs, especially in the startup. You have an inspiration or a passion or something or idea that you believe so much in and are so passionate about that despite all the hurdles you run into, you just figure out ways over the hurdles. Merrilee: That's because if you don't, your failure to do anything and try to get it right means bankruptcy. And most entrepreneurs are going on their last thread, maxed out their credit cards. They can't afford a complete and utter failure. They can afford mistakes, but they quickly pivot and fix it and keep going. They keep swimming Chris: To that point. So you said you have to be able to do everything to get it going. Those are early days. How do you then transition once you've got some legs underneath it to start letting go of some things and bringing people in because it's your baby and you have to learn to trust some people to take care of it, Merrilee: And you make a lot of mistakes trusting people too. So you'll have a lot of duds people that you hire, some family and friends I would steer away from as much as possible unless that family is under your control, like cousins, aunts, uncles, those are more difficult to work with than your own sons because your sons will do whatever you tell 'em to do. Chris: And I know you have your sons in the business, Merrilee: But it was difficult when I hired friends because they were entitled. They thought they would be able to have more. So it's very different when you're having to hire people that are friends, Chris: That's having a strong team around you is so critical to the success of any business. What did you learn along the way? And aside from maybe don't hire friends to really hone in on your process to improve your hit rate on making sure you were hiring people that you could trust and they could do the job Merrilee: Well, sometimes you hire somebody based on their resume or their referrals or whatever, and that's a good first step, but you're going to still make mistakes. I remember I had a guy that had all the accolades in the world. He was a West Point grad, he was MIT, he had all these accolades, but he couldn't seem to get anything done and talk about delegation. I had to have my son because I was out of town. I was like, Hey, you get to fire this guy and here's this guy that's 30 years his senior and my son has never fired anyone before. And he had to have that experience. It was difficult. But one thing I've learned is crap doesn't smell any better with age. So you've got to get rid of people that are toxic or that even if you have a relationship, a friendly relationship with them, sometimes it just isn't going to work for whatever reason. Either something legal that they did or something that was immoral that they did or just basic laziness or in capability to get the job done. So sometimes if you don't feel it, it's almost like a gut feel. If it's not working right, then there's something wrong and you got to make moves. A Chris: Couple of things there, right? First I think the adage of hire slow fire fast is very true. Easier said than done. I Merrilee: Don't hire slow. I don't like that. I don't like that saying because I think sometimes you hire fast and it's okay. I think the important thing is fire fast if you have grounds to do so and try to get somebody to replace them as quickly as possible. You got to do everything fast when you're an entrepreneur. Chris: So on the fire fast side, right? I mean I think it's whether it's performance or cultural fit, if it's not working, the sooner you move, the better your organization's going to be. Merrilee: But on the cultural fit too, that's a big one because they may have the capability to do it, but maybe at their own pace or maybe not at your pace or maybe they just have a different idea of work altogether. Chris: And one of the things we say here, it doesn't necessarily make 'em a bad person. This isn't the right organization for them and they need to go find that organization that will fit them better. But speaking of culture, how would you describe the culture that you built at BuzzBallz? Merrilee: Okay, so my culture at BuzzBallz, we hardly had any turnover because I treated it like family. I think that people quit managers, and I've heard that before, but people do quit, managers and they quit companies that don't believe in them. And I think that is a big cultural learning. You've got to do things together, you got to take them to lunch, you got to talk to them, you got to get involved with their family life, know their kids' names. You need to know something about the people that report to you. Now when you have a thousand people reporting to you can't possibly do all that, but you can have parties and you can have celebrations and you can recognize people at every level of the totem pole. And I think some of the things to do to build culture, we would have a cook on staff that cooked for everybody every day because that $10 a day savings meant more to, and it meant a lot to me because they could start the lines on time. I didn't have to wait for somebody to go get a burrito down the street and come back. They could just go ahead and keep together. And it built culture that way too. They started to trust each other, they started to rely on each other. And the other thing that we did was we all rolled up our sleeves. It didn't matter whether you were the lead accountant or if you were the CEO, if something needed to get done, you go do it. Chris: I think Merrilee: That's great. So it's not that it's above you or it's somebody else's job. Chris: Yeah. Kind of lead by example, right? No task is above anyone. It's all about getting the job done. Merrilee: Correct. Chris: And I think to your point of knowing your people as best you can, when you start to scale the business as you did, I think it breaks into tier. So within your direct reports or a level or two, you have the ability to get to really know them. And then I think it's important to teach them that they take it another level down and really have good connections within their direct reports and then you can layer that through the organization so that people feel connected. And so Merrilee: One thing I learned too, Chris, is I learned that people are better managers than me. I'm more of an inventor. I'm an entrepreneur. I'm not really a good manager of people. I'm a good people person and I'm a good salesperson, but I don't like doing the management of the day to day of my car broke down or I'm sick or I need PTO approved or I need blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't like doing any of that. All the administrative stuff that comes with management I'm terrible at. It's not that I'm terrible, it's just that I don't want to do it. I would rather have somebody that's better at it do it. I think that it's really important that people see your genuine self and that you're honest and fair to them more than equal. Equality is different than fairness. And I think fairness trumps equality, fairness. Somebody who comes to work every day works their butt off every day, takes care of you, always says they're going to get it done. That person is a person I want to hire versus somebody who's complaining and moaning about equality. If you gave them a day off, I want a day off, I need a PTO day just because I just need a de-stress day, it's buzz off. I don't need you to complain about your daily work. Chris: Everybody has stuff. So despite that, we still have to get a job done and that gets lost sometimes. And that just goes back to the hiring process and making sure, and I agree with you, no hiring process is perfect. It's more of an art than a science, but if you really focus on some of the right things, you're going to have better hits. But again, like we said earlier, once you realize you've made a mistake, you got to make a move. Merrilee: And also about the speed of hiring. When you said hire slow, I've been with companies that hire too slow and they drag prospective employees on for so long doing too many rounds and they lose them Chris: For sure. I guess it slows relative, but yes, if you drag it out immersively long, if you have a good process, you know what you're looking for. And within a couple rounds of an interview, you should know whether that person's going to hit fit or not. We talked a little bit about culture and I guess one thing would be interesting is how do you believe that you've been through a transition in the last 12 months? Has that culture been impacted by that Merrilee: Tremendously? Yeah. Culture is completely different with a big company versus a small entrepreneurial company. Entrepreneur companies are more freewheeling, more giving in terms of the things they allow people to do. They help people more. Bigger companies are more rigid. They have more rules because they have to, they're just bound by more legal problems if I could say. So just they've got more issues to have to Chris: Worry, maybe legal hurdles and regulations and such, Merrilee: And they have just a bigger spotlight on them. So people are always looking at them trying to find fault and trying to sue them for anything possible. There's rules and regulations that they have to abide by that I didn't. So culture has changed also with they had to let go a lot of people and that was really hard because these are people that I loved and people that I cared very dearly about that helped me build the business, but they had their own internal structure and people already filling some of those roles so it didn't make financial sense or business sense to string them along and have two people doing the same thing. So there were some business decisions that were made that affected culture. Yes, Chris: It's almost inevitable when that type of combination happens, right? Because there's going to be some overlap and a business has to run efficiently and can't have two people doing the same thing Merrilee: And they just run it differently. It's not that one's better or one's worse. They just are different. And I tried to pick a company to buy us that would be as close as possible to our culture and I tried to pick one that was privately owned and family owned and manufacturing instead of some other kind of company. I didn't want private equity or anything like that. I wanted somebody that held some of the same beliefs I did and I think I did a good job with this company. I really like them and I think they have a lot of great ideas, but it's different than how I would've done it. Chris: Hello friends. This is Chris Hanzlik, your building Texas business host. Did you know that Boyer Miller, the producer of this podcast is a business law firm that works with entrepreneurs, corporations and business leaders. Our team of attorneys serve as strategic partners to businesses by providing legal guidance to organizations of all sizes. Get to know the firm@boermiller.com and thanks for listening to the show. So let's talk a little bit about innovation because what you did there was nothing like it on the market. Obviously the initial concept seems unique and novel As you grew the company over those 15 years, how did you incorporate or encouraged innovation within the company to keep it going? Merrilee: We would have so much fun together. We always had happy hours after work and we would sit and brainstorm with a cocktail in our hand and just anything goes. We would talk about anything and everything and we would do fun marketing things too. Things that were a little edgy maybe too far. Like we had Buzz Ball condoms for spring break and we had crazy stuff for marketing and now the marketing is a little more toned down because it's going to the general populace instead of just craziness. So I think that that's changed for sure. Tell me again what you were asking about Chris: Kind of incorporating innovation into Merrilee: Innovation. Yeah, so it's just Chris: Propelling success. Merrilee: We would try different flavors and this tastes gross or this tastes like medicine or no, I don't like it or I don't like the color of it or whatever. So we had an r and d team and they were fun people and that was really important to me. I wanted the ability to have the science aspect of it, but I also wanted the ability, we had a good formulation going so that we could do that. Now, one thing we decided when it was around, I don't know, four or five years in, we were thinking, oh, sales are starting to slump a little bit, wonder what's going on. We should start our own vodka and our own rum and our own gin and our own bourbon and start making those. We could do that. And so we started doing that. The thing we didn't do well was marketing of those products. So those products felt flat over two or three years. We had distribution, but we didn't know how to sell it because we had been selling in a different channel in a different way. So we went back and focused on our core learning from that mistake, just innovation is something else. Do you want to make things in a different shaped container? So we came out with the biggie, the giant biggie, and I had always wanted to make a big bowling ball sized buzz ball and everywhere I went, they were like, no, the Chris: Party size, we Merrilee: Can't do it party size, we can't do it. That's what they kept saying, you can't do it, you can't make it. It won't work. We found a way to make it work and it's one of the coolest looking things on the market and we've got witches potion coming out pretty soon. We've got biggie, BuzzBallz everywhere. Chris: I think one of the things you mentioned there, just it's okay to try new things and expand, but you've got to stay on top of 'em and I guess you said with the vodka and the bourbon and whatnot, eventually we're not as good at this. So you have to know just higher or firing fast, you have to know when to cut that off and go back to your core to really just focus on what you're good at and be the best at that. Merrilee: And so what we did with all that excess booze that we made is we just drank it in our bar. We had it at our bar at work. We had a nice big bar at work, so we would Chris: Some cost savings. We had to go buy support Merrilee: Our habits. Chris: So I'd be interested to know, you said you were in the Dallas area when you started this company. Do you feel that being in Texas as a entrepreneur and startup business had its advantages that allowed you to achieve the success that you have? Merrilee: I knew that Texas is a little bit cheaper than some of the other big cities out there, la, New York, and it's centrally located, so that helps a lot in terms of shipping, but I don't think that Texas particularly helped me other than this is where I grew my family and it was home Chris: Cheaper real estate. I think typically a legislature at the state level that's business friendly. Merrilee: Yeah, yeah, it is. I think that the other thing I wanted to make a point of is we have a big labor pool, not necessarily good though, it's a big labor pool, but sometimes you have to go through a bunch of people to find the right kind of people. What's that work ethic thing? Chris: Of course. So let's talk a little bit then about leadership and how you would describe your leadership style and how you think that evolved over time. Merrilee: I'm a hugger. I walk down the hall, I smile at everybody, I talk to everybody. I give them a hug, I eat lunch with 'em. It's an open door. So I think that is one thing that's different about me. I care about my employees so much. When COVID hit, one of the things we did that I'm especially proud of was we started our own little school. So I knew I needed employees to show up for a manufacturing plant, but how could they do that if they had to stay home to take care of their kids? Their kids' school was closed, so I was like, I'll start a school. And so I started a school onsite, a buzz ball school, hired a Texas education, the agency teacher and an aide, so a TE, a certified teacher and an aide, and we converted a conference room, big conference room into a kids learning center and we got headphones and we had them get their PCs from all their different schools. We had kids' books, we had play mats, we had tents, we had all kinds of stuff. We cooked breakfast for 'em, we cooked lunch for 'em, we gave them a snack, we helped them with their homework and then their parents could bring 'em to work at 6:00 AM before school starts, but 6:00 AM We had somebody there to greet those kids when their shift started, the people working and we'd help the kids, give them a snack, give them their homework, make sure they got everything done, and then their parents could eat lunch with them if they wanted to during that day and then pick 'em up at two or three o'clock in the afternoon when their shift was over. But that's one of the things I'm really proud of. That's like a different thing that we had to do for COVID. So we did a lot of things like the lunches, the free lunches. We also gave everybody time off between Christmas and New Year's, right around December 22nd to January 2nd, I just said everybody gets that time off because of when I was a teacher. That was really important to have that family time and when you're working your job for your first year when you're out of college, or even if you never went to college, you get two weeks vacation. That's not enough for the whole year. So two weeks vacation plus a week of PTO for sick time, and then you get this extra 10 days off paid and you don't have to come to work. You can make that plan and go to New York for your family. And then we also give them a bonus at Christmas so that they could buy some Christmas presents. Some of them were paycheck to paycheck and so it meant lot. Yeah, just little celebrations, chili cook-offs and dinosaur races and silly stuff, but it was good. It was a good relationship, good culture. Chris: What you just mentioned about the school during COVID is fascinating to me and brilliant by the way, so kudos to you that would fit within my definition of innovation. Thinking outside the box and going, one, you have to keep your business going and so how can I do this given what my workforce is dealing with? And you found that is an amazing solution. Merrilee: We also decided that we would be an essential business, so we made BuzzBallz, hand sanitizer, we took some of our spirit based vodka and rum and gin and put these little toppers on them instead of the 50 ml size that's on the airplane that had a screw cap, put these tops on 'em and then made hand sanitizer, gave it out to all the lab corps, all the hospitals in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, all of the grocery stores, Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, spirit Airlines, we gave it out to so many people and all the hospitals and everything. So that was one way that we could stay in business made us essential. Chris: It's funny, I had some clients do some similar things with hand sanitizers during that time. Of course, looking back, if you remember the spike in alcohol cells during COVID, it seems like it would've been a natural essential business anyway, right? Merrilee: Straight answer from any kind of government saying essential business or not. I was like, we're going to make ourselves essential, and people wanted to buy our hand sanitizer and I'm like, no, we're giving it for free. We're not doing it for money. We're doing it for the betterment of mankind. Chris: At that point, it was so uncertain, right? Merrilee: Yeah, we thought we were going to die, we're going to all Chris: Die. Thank goodness that didn't happen. We've suffered that. I think there's been a slow progression back to normalcy in the business world as a result of COVID. You see it more and more the work remote versus now just this year a lot more about five days a week back in the office, which four or five years ago, you never thought that would happen. Merrilee: That really made me mad too, that everybody was expecting to work from home forever, and I was just like, that's not real life people. You need to collaborate with other people. You need to get things done. And you can't do it in a bubble unless you're like a computer programmer and that's all you do all day is sit in front of your pc. It doesn't make any sense if you're in a people oriented business. Chris: I couldn't agree with you more. And that's what our firm is, people oriented, customer service, customer facing professional services, and we say we're better together and the collaboration is key. It's where learning and training and development come from, and we think where our best client service comes from. So we got to be together. We actually got back in the office in May of 2020 in a smart and safe way, but it was that critical. Merrilee: It's changed time and leveraging technology. I've just noticed such a flowing in customer service and an accountability and when you call somebody to set up an appointment for something, you get some robot on the phone and you push one and you push two and then you push one and then you push three and then you get somebody that's a voicemail or whatever. It's so frustrating. There is such a decline in accountability. It's like somebody's always passing the buck to somebody else or that's not my department. I don't do that. And companies have gotten so big, and I'm talking about the big at ts, the big companies that don't ever answer their phone, they don't have a human that answers their phone. You can't get support. And I think that when it's just so refreshing when you have a company that actually answers their phone, that actually responds to your email that you sent, even if it's a complaint, somebody listened. Somebody responded, oh crap, I'll buy their stuff forever because of that. I was mad, but now I'm happy. Chris: So true. So you mentioned something, it was a while back, but you talked about making mistakes along the way. Can you give us an example of maybe one or two where you're like failure or mistake, but that you learned through persevered through made you better because you had that experience? Merrilee: Yeah, so I had so many mistakes. I think that it's so important to make mistakes because you don't get better unless you make mistakes. Mistakes don't mean failure. Overall. Mistakes mean it's an opportunity to change it for the better, to make your product better, to make it more solid. One of the things early on that I did was I was making a pina colada and I was using real coconut cream. A lot of these entrepreneurs come to me, I'm going to do everything with real stuff. It's healthy, it's this, it's that. It's whatever. I'm not going to use anything artificial. That's great. Okay, go for it. Is it shelf stable? Was it going to rot on the shelf? All those kinds of questions I have that come up when you do a commercial product. But anyway, I was making this pina colada coconut cream. What I didn't know, what I didn't Google was that coconut cream freezes and turns solid at 70 degrees Fahrenheit. So I'm sitting here making this coconut cream. Oh my gosh, taste is so good. The pina coladas were so awesome. And then after that sat there on the shelf for about two or three months, it started to clump up and it looked like cottage cheese in the container. So when people would open it up, they're like, so that was one mistake that I learned from and had to fix, and we did and it's awesome. Another mistake I made was I was using real orange juice in my, instead of triple suck, I was using some orange juice in my tequila, Rita, it was a margarita, and I wanted just a little tad of orange juice in there. That orange juice pulp turned brown over time and you don't notice it when you make it. You don't notice it when you test it, but it looked like fish food floating around in the bottom of my container. You could see through my container Chris: Once it goes on the shelf and sits for a while right then, Merrilee: And people are going, I'm shaking it and there's brown specks going around in here. What is that? So these were all early lessons learned, just things you learned just by running the machinery or by cleaning products or by making the containers. I can't even tell you how many mistakes I've made, but I think most of my mistakes were later on more with people than with product And also just learning who to trust. Trusting your gut instinct I think is one of the most important things entrepreneurs have to do. When you feel something's wrong, it is wrong. Even if you meet somebody that seems to be nice or really important, they might just be weird or they might have a problem. So got to keep your distance. Chris: That's good. On that point, any advice you received along the way from someone that really stuck with you and helped you through the journey? Merrilee: There was lots of times I had advice, but it wasn't really framed in terms of advice. I remember when it was pretty early on, my dad came to see me and it was before we knew any level of success and he sat there and he looked at the buzz ball and he goes, I think you might have something here. And that just felt so good to me to hear that from someone else. And it wasn't because he was my dad, it was just like he was just a normal person looking at a normal product and he was judging it and I thought, wow, okay. He said that. Another one that comes to mind is Blair Casey. He was an original distributor for me, and he was the first guy to bring in my buzz ball product into Texas. He worked for Glazer's at the time, and then I hired him in 2017. He came on board and became my head of sales. Anyway, this guy was always positive. I relate him to Ted Lasso, but he's just so positive. But he always was, glass is always half full with that guy, and I always remember his way of being more than him saying the glass is half full, but the glass was always half full with Blair. And even when you focus on how it's half empty, you got to remember that it's also half full. Chris: Look for the positives in the learning though. That's great. Great stuff. Merrilee really appreciate your insights and sharing your story. A couple of things just to maybe wrap things up more Texas specific. Is there anything, having been in Texas for a long time, any traditions or things that you and your family like to do in the state or in the dallas Fort Worth area? Merrilee: I like to go to Stars games and things like that. My husband loves to play golf. My kids, I've got five grandkids now, so home is special to me. My home is the most important place to me and there isn't really, I can't say I like State Fair of Texas or the PBR Rodeo or anything like that is sticking out in my mind. I like to go occasionally, but I like to stay home a lot and I like to spend time at work a lot and I love Christmas holiday lights. Just the holiday season, seeing all the lights, it just warm my heart. It just makes me feel good. Chris: That's great. Okay. Here's a question for you. Do you prefer TexMex or barbecue? Merrilee: TexMex with lots of cheese. Chris: Lots of cheese. I can relate to that. Merrilee. This has been great. I really appreciate your time. Congratulations on just what a cool story coming from a teacher to a very successful alcoholic beverage manufacturer. Merrilee: Oh, thank you. Thank you. I'm on my new things now and I'm actually making some barbecue sauce and doing some other things with gourmet land that's a completely different new products, new company, and that's where I'm spending a lot of my time now. And RAC is carrying the torch for BuzzBallz and they're doing a great job. Chris: Well, it sounds like you meet the definition of some of my favorite people, which is serial entrepreneur onto the next thing. Merrilee: Can't stop. Chris: I love it. I love it. This has been a pleasure. Thanks again and wishy continued success. Merrilee: Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Chris: And there we have it. Another great episode. Don't forget to check out the show notes at boyer miller.com/podcast and you can find out more about all the ways our firm can help you@boyermiller.com. That's it for this episode. Have a great week and we'll talk to you next time. Special Guest: Merrilee Kick.

Draft Wars is BACK and this time the PCS squad are battling it out over the greatest films of the 2010s.Huss, Gaz, Bis and Manny are locked in as Jason and Khiszer return as the ruthless judges, deciding the pick order each round. But once a film is drafted, it's GONE from the board — meaning the snatching, scheming and saltiness hit new levels.Who got to Interstellar first? Who claimed Inception before anyone else could blink? And did Avengers: Infinity War cause the biggest fallout of the draft?Expect bold picks, shameless steals, and heated arguments over what truly defines the 2010s in film. Who built the strongest list? Who fumbled their chance at greatness? And will anyone walk out of this still friends?

Draft Wars is BACK and this time the PCS squad are battling it out over the greatest films of the 2010s.Huss, Gaz, Bis and Manny are locked in as Tee and Khiszer return as the ruthless judges, deciding the pick order each round. But once a film is drafted, it's GONE from the board — meaning the snatching, scheming and saltiness hit new levels.Who got to Interstellar first? Who claimed Inception before anyone else could blink? And did Avengers: Infinity War cause the biggest fallout of the draft?Expect bold picks, shameless steals, and heated arguments over what truly defines the 2010s in film. Who built the strongest list? Who fumbled their chance at greatness? And will anyone walk out of this still friends?

Send us a textThe Ones Ready crew is back in the team room with another unapologetic ops brief. Peaches kicks things off by dragging coneheads who fail day one fitness tests and then launches into the week's wild ride of military news. Marines get their obligatory “media hero” spotlight, the Army unveils another tilt-rotor science project (because clearly we learned nothing from the V-22), and Peaches calls for the resurrection of the mighty MH-53.From record female enlistments to the Space Force playing with quantum sensors (while the rest of us can't even get quantum computers), this episode goes from shade-throwing to straight-up “WTF are we doing?” moments. Add in an orbital aircraft carrier concept ripped straight from an Avengers script, PCS moves frozen by broke budgets, and a National Guard soldier stopping a mall assault—yeah, this one's got it all.If you want watered-down headlines, go watch the news. If you want sarcasm, blunt truth, and a reminder that sometimes the Pentagon makes decisions with a Magic 8-Ball—welcome to Ones Ready.⏱️ Timestamps:00:00 – Welcome to Ones Ready (and Peaches' selection rant) 01:15 – Sponsor shoutout: creatine gummies > failing day-one tests 02:05 – Marines deploy (cue dramatic news voice) 03:12 – Record female enlistments and why it matters 03:45 – 85 years of airborne—still jumping, still relevant 04:20 – National Guard soldier breaks up a mall assault 04:50 – Army rolls out tilt-rotor 2.0 (what could go wrong?) 06:15 – Bring back the MH-53, dammit 06:35 – Carrier Strike Group returns to San Diego 07:05 – Northern Edge 2025 flexing in Alaska 07:45 – $635M Army munitions buy—still not enough 08:40 – Air Force freezes PCS moves (again) 09:40 – F-16s get AR training goggles 10:15 – Indo-Pacific logistics exercise: “can we even move?” 10:45 – Hill AFB tests wartime readiness 11:15 – Space Force preps X-37 Bravo mission with quantum sensors 12:00 – Guardians get a new grooming standard (yes, seriously) 12:45 – Space Systems Delta activation 13:20 – Deep Space Radar keeps eyes on orbit 13:50 – GPS jamming and spoofing 101 15:15 – USAFA leadership drama and Lomer's visit 16:00 – Trump's NATO talksSupport the showJoin this channel to get access to perks: HEREBuzzsprout Subscription page: HERECollabs:Ones Ready - OnesReady.com 18A Fitness - Promo Code: ONESREADY ATACLete - Follow the URL (no promo code): ATACLeteCardoMax - Promo Code: ONESREADYDanger Close Apparel - Promo Code: ONESREADYDFND Apparel - Promo Code: ONESREADYHoist - Promo Code: ONESREADYKill Cliff - Pr...

Next Session Help:  Diet Toothpaste's PCs are in a temple/dungeon and split across time! Let's see what fun ideas we can brainstorm around this interesting and clever mechanic.  Kejones9900's PC that decided to eat every random berry in a cave system of every color. What should happen to them?  Ask a GM: RadiantIris_ has some questions on how to implement the lingering damage rules in an area and is asking about crits on saving throws.  Use That Spell!: Raulothim's Psychic Lance Thanks for listening! As always, you can ask us a question at www.nextsessionpodcast.com Instagram: @nextsessionpodcast Facebook: @thenextsession Bluesky: @thenextsession Discord: Poderation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's a lot up in the air for our aviatrixes. Will Dmitriya ever be free from Ivana's squeaky clutches? Could Tati and Zoya's unlikely friendship become something more? How can Rita make (human) Constantine, Constantine, Constantine's day a little crappier? Thank goodness they have all the time in the world to figure things out...Special thanks to Matti Wells, Kevin DiFazio, Matthew Kastner, Chloe Familton, Will Cloud, Justin - The DM's Guide, GM Ashowan, Nate Scott Jones and someone who wished to remain anonymous - for providing additional mission pool points or "biscuits" for us to use in times of great peril (and bad rolls).Want to support the folks in the cockpit who are making this show happen?Tip us on Kofi, and follow us on social media https://linktr.ee/wingwomenpodGeneral CW: War/Military Themes and Violence, Language and Suggestive Dialogue, Bombing Nazis, Death from Plane CrashHorror/Ghost (Named NPC): 4:40 - 7:35Description of blood/gore: 4:53 - 5:08Reference to Past Named NPC Death (plane crash): 5:27 - 5:38Discussions/Descriptions of Pornography: 5:45 - 5:50, 6:45 - 7:00, 7:15 - 7:25Description and handing of firearms 7:00 - 7:09Discussions about Masturbation: 7:15 - 7:48Description of assault (punch to face): 8:45 - 8:55Discussion about dead rabbit (killed for food/fur): 13:28 - 14:15Discussions about poop 29:20 - 31:00Mission CWs: SX Gunshots/bombs and explosions, mentions of blood, PCs and NPCs getting shot/gun wounds, Named NPC Death (plane crash, crushed alive) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Click HERE to send us a text message! Sofie's home! The cast welcomes back a team member from a real and in-game vacation! Warm greetings are shared, level ups are done and old enemies crop up to remind the PCs that their actions can have deadly consequences.You can find exclusive Spirits and Monsters of Old Seattle merchandise at our store! https://www.bonfire.com/store/spirits-and-monsters-of-old-seattle/You can also join us on Patreon for exclusive episodes and behind-the-scenes content! https://www.patreon.com/c/SpiritsandMonstersofOldSeattleOur opening theme is “Myths and Legends” by Robert Bruckmayer which you can pick up at his bandcamp or stream on Spotify.  Our episode music is created by Andreas Lundström. You can hear more of his work on the Sweden Rolls podcast or on Spotify. This episode featured the song Wildfire by artist Thwhalee.Do you have questions or comments about the show? Send them to old.seattle.pod@gmail.com, we would love to hear them!

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Zelensky rules out ceding Donbas region as Russians make fresh advance Starbucks tells customers in South Korea not to bring printers or PCs Wildfires rage across southern Europe as temperatures pass 40C JD Vance meets Robert Jenrick in Cotswolds England enters fourth heatwave as temperatures reach 33C Twin Lamborghinis seized in central London supercar crackdown Real Housewives of London Producers told us to tone down the drama Police given new guidance on releasing suspects nationalities and ethnicities White House to host UFC fight night on 4 July The UK car industry is at a crunch point can it be saved

Starbucks Korea implemented a ban on customers bringing desktop PCs, desk partitions, printers and power strips to the coffee stores. Google is rolling out “preferred sources” in Search, enabling users to pick news outlets they want featured most. Sling TV will now sell access to its service on a 24-hour, weekend, or weeklong terms. And would you pay for the ability to turn your videos into a VHS-like viewing experience? Starring Sarah Lane, Tom Merritt, Roger Chang, Joe. To read the show notes in a separate page click here! Support the show on Patreon by becoming a supporter!

Gemwin leads a dwarven expedition with Grom, Vindalf, Hokan, and Jendri in search of the ruined dwarfhold of Dragonfang Mountain. They visit Llorkh and the other PCs, then follow the road East toward the Dawn Pass, discovering the Valley of Huvrathe (with its weird plants) on the way. Once there, they discover several possible ways into Dragonfang Mountain. When they are spotted by orc guards, they opt for a hidden tunnel, which brings them in to a series of natural caves. They battle some troglodytes and a bear, find a magical sword in a mold-infested corpse, investigate some fungi, and descend near a waterfall to a section where they hole up in an abandoned storeroom.

Guest Introduction:Sarah Wuebbolt is a student rower, brain injury advocate, and aspiring anesthesiologist from Toronto, Canada. After sustaining three concussions—the first at just 12 years old—she has spent years navigating post-concussion syndrome while continuing to pursue her passions. Sarah is a national-level coxswain, working toward her private pilot's license, and mentors younger students on topics like mental health and resilience. She is also the creator of Hope Post Injury, an Instagram platform offering support and relatable content for young brain injury survivors. Through her advocacy, Sarah emphasizes that healing starts with being believed and that recovery is possible, even when progress feels slow.Sarah shares:The challenges of sustaining her first concussion at 12 and the isolation she felt due to lack of awareness.How her symptoms evolved across three concussions, including headaches, dizziness, brain fog, and sensory sensitivities.The importance of self-advocacy in school and sports, especially when faced with skepticism from teachers and peers.Strategies that helped her manage symptoms, including deep breathing, meditation (using Insight Timer), cold air exposure, and therapy.The mental and emotional toll of PCS and how she learned to reframe setbacks as part of the healing process.How activities like rowing and flying helped her rebuild her identity and find joy post-injury.Her advocacy work, including her Instagram page (@hopepostinjury) and a recovery pamphlet she created for concussion survivors.Sarah's story is a powerful reminder that you don't have to look injured to deserve care—and that hope and persistence are key to recovery.Sarah's Instagram: @hopepostinjury – A platform for young brain injury survivors with tips, personal stories, and support.Meditation App: Insight Timer – Sarah's go-to for guided meditations.Recovery Pamphlet: Sarah's free PDF on 6 common concussion symptoms + daily strategies (Click Here).Rowan's Law: A Canadian law mandating concussion protocols in youth sports (inspired by Rowan Stringer's story).Recovery is not linear—setbacks are part of the process.Advocacy is exhausting but necessary—find supportive communities.Small wins matter—celebrate progress, even if it's slow.Acceptance is transformative—living with symptoms doesn't mean giving up.Additional Resources from Bethany:Free Guide: 5 Best Ways to Support Your Loved One with Concussion – Download at https://theconcussioncoach.com/Resources Mentioned:Key Takeaways:Concussion Coaching Program: Sign up for a free consultation here.

On this week's episode of The Post Credit Scene, the team is diving headfirst into Scandal — a show that doesn't get nearly enough credit. With returning guest and certified PCS family member Ore joining us for her fourth appearance, we unpack Shonda Rhimes' TV empire and why she's in a league of her own.From Kerry Washington's historic role as the first Black woman to lead a network drama in nearly 40 years, to the wild, chaotic, and iconic characters that made Scandal a must-watch every week, we're covering it all.Expect passionate debates on Jake Ballard vs. Cyrus Beene, why Eli Pope might be Shonda's greatest creation, and a look back at the legendary era of #ShondaThursdays (HTGAWM hive stand up!). Plus, we get into how Bridgerton kept the Shondaland legacy alive.Is Scandal the most underrated series of our time? Tap in and find out.Tune in now and don't forget to catch the full episode on YouTube! @PostCreditScenePodcastA 14HQ Original

All Hail Unicron: Episode 97: Hasbro trumped us INTRODUCTION Anybody Get Anything? Movie/Show News Third Party DX9 goes G2 https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DSojP8CAy/ Wook at this whittle guy! https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1GKwxhUMUh/ Official: Pre-Ozempic Earthspark Cosmos images https://news.tfw2005.com/2025/07/17/transformers-earthspark-deluxe-cosmos-stock-images-542299 Wal-Spray first look https://news.tfw2005.com/2025/07/17/walmart-retro-seaspray-first-look-542329 Wal-Brawn full reveal https://news.tfw2005.com/2025/07/21/walmart-retro-brawn-full-look-542649 Unix Square Combat Grimlock, I guess, reveal https://news.tfw2005.com/2025/07/27/acghk-2025-unix-square-combot-grimlock-revealed-more-543679 SDCC MOTU TF Crossover reveal https://news.tfw2005.com/2025/07/25/masters-of-the-universe-x-transformers-megatron-armor-skeletor-bumblebee-armor-man-at-arms-first-look-543385 SDCC Flame Toys reveals https://news.tfw2005.com/2025/07/25/acghk-2025-flame-toys-kuro-kara-kuri-furai-action-furai-model-and-more-543235 SDCC Threezero reveals https://news.tfw2005.com/2025/07/24/acghk-2025-threezero-mdlx-g1-tfone-dlx-bayverse-rise-of-the-beasts-and-more-543206 SDCC YoloPark reveals https://news.tfw2005.com/2025/07/24/acghk-2025-yolopark-amk-pro-transformers-2007-movieverse-kits-amk-beast-wars-amk-pro-transformes-one-more-543180 SDCC Iron Studios and PCS reveals, yes, more non-transforming Transformers https://news.tfw2005.com/2025/07/24/san-diego-comic-con-2025-day-1-iron-studios-pcs-threezero-yolopark-543083 SDCC Hasbro Reveals https://news.tfw2005.com/2025/07/25/transformers-brand-panel-recap-sdcc-2025-available-online-543640 Got all your Seekers finished, do ya? Well then, heeeey, fuck you! New Seeker mold details (and more)! https://news.tfw2005.com/2025/07/27/sdcc-25-sunday-transformers-booth-update-seeker-altmode-windcharger-head-and-more-543973 Questions? Discussion: Email your questions to: Hailunicroncast@gmail.com    Special Shoutouts: Dustmightz for providing the beats for the theme song! Check the Realm of Collectors on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/groups/realmofcollectors   Everyone who followed us from Shattered Cast Uncut, we are grateful to each and everyone of you for joining us on this journey!   Hosts: T2RX6 http://www.youtube.com/user/T2rx6 Rich “Preordered” H. Oscar Alonso https://www.youtube.com/user/oscarnjboy Robert Duyjuy-sabado-gigante

HMC Josh Mackey joins Damon, Damo, and Tisha. We kick things off wondering if OMPF access is really gone for good, and with Chief results dropping this week—are y'all ready? Tisha's back with another round of office drama (they're calling her “Chief Bing” now), and Josh opens up about his time as a Navy Drug and Alcohol Counselor. Damo's prepping for a Change of Command and asks a big question about where he should spend Chief Season—at his new command or current one? Josh has a season dilemma of his own. We talk late paychecks (you good?), respond to a comment calling Chiefs a “cancer to the Navy,” and wrestle with the line between discrimination and poor leadership. There's a detour into Sydney Sweeney and an impromptu review of “Echo Valley.” Listener questions about our own Chief Seasons spark real reflection, including stories of personal loss. We also salute the USS Iwo Jima and the USO, explore the idea of changing sea duty hours while in port, and debate the Chief selection board process after Josh's #DoBetter segment. Damo calls for people to stop leaking All Chiefs Call convos, Damon goes off about NGIS keys, and Tisha wants the PCS process to stop playing with her money. These topics and more are covered in this episode.       To have your “Do Better” reviewed on a future episode, please get in touch with us at ptsfpodcast@gmail.com       Keep up with the ‘Permission to Speak Freely' podcast on our social media and YouTube - https://linktr.ee/Ptsfpodcast       Book of the Week: [Damo] The Motive (Patrick Lencioni) -  https://www.tablegroup.com/product/themotive/?srsltid=AfmBOooFcvvFdVuzMSPMj1JXpQLe9b7mZZSE-vffWacR6BCkB9GjTenF   [Damon] Go For No! (Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz) - https://shop.goforno.com/product/go-for-no-book-2/       Additional Credits: PTSF “Theme Music” - Produced by Lim0

This week: Skechers steps up with AirTag-compatible sneakers, and we explore which jobs may actually be safe from AI. Microsoft confuses users with Windows 11 upgrade prompts on unsupported PCs, and a first look at the Nintendo Switch 2 is in. Plus: Uber Eats lets AI update food pics, AI's growing implications, and what's trending in streaming.

Welcome to another episode of Perspective Checks where I sit down with friends and folks from the TTRPG world and discuss what they love about this wonderful hobby!   This special 1st of the month Perspective Checks episode is with Mat of Role Play Chat, a similar interview-style TTRPG discussion podcast which I think you'll enjoy if you like these episodes!   Mat comes on to talk about the wonder of GM-less games, how they foster collaboration and shared storytelling, including romance in your games, and his new game First Date Update, where you play two characters who just went on a date and their friends as they try and figure out why one of you is ghosting the other, and whether or not they can work to get you both face to face to potentially go on another date or come clean.   This episode has lots of fun ideas, one of which you may have heard me discuss in my recent design episode - a character relationship matrix idea that can be used at any table to track your character's relationship with NPCs/other PCs!   Hope you enjoy, and go check out First Date Update on RPC Press's itch.io page!   ----more----   Join the DMs After Dark Discord channel!   2 New MECH Cities Out Now (& Free!)   I made a Ko-Fi if you feel absurdly generous and want to help cover podcast hosting costs & all the upkeep. I'm still working on whether I want to offer anything special over there or just give my extreme gratitude (maybe some stickers or something in the mail) to those who donate, but no pressure whatsoever :)   Where to Follow Rene Plays Games: LinkTree |  BlueSky | Threads | Instagram | Facebook | DMs After Dark Rene's Games: MECH | MECH Cities 2 | One Last Quest email: RenePlaysGamesPod@gmail.com   Music in the Episode: Theme Song written & produced by Dan Pomfret | @danfrombothbands

Send us a textThe GSE Podcast welcomes Jennifer Zucchino (IEMA Executive Director), John Jezo (Endeavor Sales Manager), and Jenny Lescohier (Editor) to discuss the upcoming GSE Expo in Las Vegas this September and its exciting new features.• Fortbrand has acquired Xcēd, retaining all employees while expanding service offerings• IEMA has partnered with Endeavor to create an enhanced show experience with 210+ exhibitors expected• Only 25% of exhibitors are currently IEMA members despite significant benefits including 10% booth discount• The reimagined Demo Zone sponsored by PCS will feature scheduled equipment demonstrations throughout the show• The new "Layover Lounge" replaces the beer garden concept with a more inclusive social gathering space• The "Oasis" provides shaded seating with fans, phone charging, and prime viewing of demo activities• Ground Support Worldwide will present its Leaders of the Year Awards at the Expo• Registration is trending up with 2,000-2,500 attendees expected• A mobile app is being developed to enhance the attendee experience• Electric vehicles and sustainability technologies will be prominent themes throughout the showRegister at gseexpo.com to secure your spot at the GSE Expo, September 16-18 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.Looking for dependable and on demand ground support equipment leasing? Fortbrand is your go to partner. We specialize in tailored operating leases for airlines, cargo carriers, and ground handlers, delivering top tier equipment without the wait. From the latest electric GSE to traditional units, Fortbrand offers flexible terms, competitive rates, and a customer experience that is second to none. Keep your ramp moving with confidence. Visit fortbrand.com and experience GSE leasing redefined.

Quantum computing has been "five years away" for decades, but when NVIDIA's Jensen Huang says we've hit an inflection point, Congress listens and stocks soar. The reality? We're still building very expensive proof-of-concepts. Today's quantum computers run on 100 qubits—impressive to physicists, useless to you. Commercial viability needs a million qubits, a 10,000x leap that's not incremental progress but a complete reinvention.Unlike the familiar tech story where room-sized computers became pocket devices, quantum is binary: it either works at massive scale or it's an elaborate academic exercise. There's no quantum equivalent of early PCs that could at least balance your checkbook—no useful middle ground between 100 qubits and a million.China wants quantum for cryptography: the master key to any lock. America's lead exists mostly on paper—in research publications and VC rounds, not deployed systems. Dr. Peter Shadbolt from PsiQuantum, fresh from congressional testimony, argues America must commit now or risk losing a race that could redefine pharmaceutical research and financial security. The real question: can a democracy sustain long-term investment in technologies that offer zero immediate gratification?

After their initial investigation, the PCs reconvened to share information before meeting with Flinders. What information will the group learn from their new contact? Credits: Anthony Flinders - Strongovan Kame - ManfromLeng Maxillian Jones - Vase Odin George Robinson - Mattastrophic Intro music composed by Michael Haight, aka, The Arkham Horrors. Other music provided by Epidemic Sound. Join the madness: https://discord.gg/dBgfFndbDV Support our efforts: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheGreatOldOnesGaming

The final session of our D&D campaign, Blood of the Avatars. The final battle at the World Axis continues. Aided by the many allies they've made throughout their adventures, the PCs fight for the survival of Primordia itself. Together they will make a decision that changes Primordia forever. This is part 2 of the session.Check out my sci-fi novel, Critical Balance.Check Out my NEW PODCAST - Lex Out LoudCall the Game Master's Journey voice mail: 951-GMJ-LEX1 (951-465-5391).If you're a new listener, and you'd like to go back to the beginning, here's a link to Episode 1.If you're interested in worldbuilding and/or my D&D campaign setting of Primordia, check out the first worldbuilding episode. You can go to this page to see all the episodes that discuss worldbuilding.Check out my latest D&D supplement, Adventurers of Primordia.

The final session of our D&D campaign, Blood of the Avatars. The final battle at the World Axis continues. Aided by the many allies they've made throughout their adventures, the PCs fight for the survival of Primordia itself. Together they will make a decision that changes Primordia forever.Check out my sci-fi novel, Critical Balance.Check Out my NEW PODCAST - Lex Out LoudCall the Game Master's Journey voice mail: 951-GMJ-LEX1 (951-465-5391).If you're a new listener, and you'd like to go back to the beginning, here's a link to Episode 1.If you're interested in worldbuilding and/or my D&D campaign setting of Primordia, check out the first worldbuilding episode. You can go to this page to see all the episodes that discuss worldbuilding.Check out my latest D&D supplement, Adventurers of Primordia.

In this conversation, Adam Walter and Loren Williams discuss the operations of PCs for People, a nonprofit organization focused on refurbishing and distributing computers to low-income households. They delve into the processes of data destruction, security protocols, and the importance of providing updated technology to those in need. The discussion also covers the organization's approach to recycling, surplus equipment sales, and the impact of technology access on community members.

Fifty years ago, Bill Gates and Paul Allen's agreement with MITS for a BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800 microcomputer marked the founding of Microsoft, profoundly influencing the world of personal computing. This collaboration transformed technology, paving the way for PCs, Microsoft's global dominance, and the eventual rise of Linux and modern computing ecosystems. -Thinking … Continue reading 50 Years of Microsoft: How the Altair 8800 and BASIC Revolutionized Computing #1835 → The post 50 Years of Microsoft: How the Altair 8800 and BASIC Revolutionized Computing #1835 appeared first on Geek News Central.

In January, 2022 today's guest, Mike Paciello, made his first appearance on Unstoppable Mindset in Episode 19. It is not often that most of us have the opportunity and honor to meet a real trendsetter and pioneer much less for a second time. However, today, we get to spend more time with Mike, and we get to talk about not only the concepts around web accessibility, but we also discuss the whole concept of inclusion and how much progress we have made much less how much more work needs to be done.   Mike Paciello has been a fixture in the assistive technology world for some thirty years. I have known of him for most of that time, but our paths never crossed until September of 2021 when we worked together to help create some meetings and sessions around the topic of website accessibility in Washington D.C.   As you will hear, Mike began his career as a technical writer for Digital Equipment Corporation, an early leader in the computer manufacturing industry. I won't tell you Mike's story here. What I will say is that although Mike is fully sighted and thus does not use much of the technology blind and low vision persons use, he really gets it. He fully understands what Inclusion is all about and he has worked and continues to work to promote inclusion and access for all throughout the world. As Mike and I discuss, making technology more inclusive will not only help persons with disabilities be more involved in society, but people will discover that much of the technology we use can make everyone's life better. We talk about a lot of the technologies being used today to make websites more inclusive including the use of AI and how AI can and does enhance inclusion efforts.   It is no accident that this episode is being released now. This episode is being released on July 25 to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the signing of the Americans With Disabilities Act which was signed on July 26, 1990. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADA!   After you experience our podcast with Mike, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Please feel free to email me at michaelhi@accessibe.com to tell me of your observations. Thanks.     About the Guest:   Mike Paciello is the Chief Accessibility Officer at AudioEye, Inc., a digital accessibility company. Prior to joining AudioEye, Mike founded WebABLE/WebABLE.TV, which delivers news about the disability and accessibility technology market. Mike authored the first book on web accessibility and usability, “Web Accessibility for People with Disabilities” and, in 1997, Mr. Paciello received recognition from President Bill Clinton for his work in the creation of World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). He has served as an advisor to the US Access Board and other federal agencies since 1992.   Mike has served as an international leader, technologist, and authority in emerging technology, accessibility, usability, and electronic publishing. Mike is the former Founder of The Paciello Group (TPG), a world-renowned software accessibility consultancy acquired in 2017 by Vispero. Ways to connect with Mike:   mpaciello@webable.com Michael.paciello@audioeye.com Mikepaciello@gmail.com     About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well, hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset where inclusion diversity and the unexpected meet. Normally, our guests deal with the unexpected, which is anything that doesn't have to do with inclusion or diversity. Today, however, we get to sort of deal with both. We have a guest who actually was a guest on our podcast before he was in show 19 that goes all the way back to January of 2022, his name is Mike Paciello. He's been very involved in the whole internet and accessibility movement and so on for more than 30 years, and I think we're going to have a lot of fun chatting about what's going on in the world of accessibility and the Internet and and, you know, and but we won't probably get into whether God is a man or a woman, but that's okay, God is actually both, so we don't have to worry about that. But anyway, Mike, welcome to unstoppable mindset.   Mike Paciello ** 02:21 Yeah, Hey, Mike, thanks a lot. I can't believe has it really been already since today, six years since the last time I came on this? No, three, 320, 22 Oh, 2022, I for whatever I 2019 Okay, three years sounds a little bit more realistic, but still, it's been a long time. Thank you for having me. It's, it's, it's great to be here. And obviously, as you know, a lot of things have changed in my life since then. But, yeah, very   Michael Hingson ** 02:46 cool. Well, you were in show number 19. And I'm not sure what number this is going to be, but it's going to be above 360 so it's been a while. Amazing, amazing, unstoppable, unstoppable. That's it. We got to keep it going. And Mike and I have been involved in a few things together, in, in later, in, I guess it was in 20 when we do the M enabling Summit, that was 2021 wasn't it? Yeah, I think it was, I think it was the year before we did the podcast, yeah, podcast, 2021 right? So we were in DC, and we both worked because there was a group that wanted to completely condemn the kinds of technologies that accessibe and other companies use. Some people call it overlays. I'm not sure that that's totally accurate today, but we we worked to get them to not do what they originally intended to do, but rather to explore it in a little bit more detail, which I think was a lot more reasonable to do. So we've, we've had some fun over the years, and we see each other every so often, and here we are again today. So yeah, I'm glad you're here. Well, tell us a little about well, and I guess what we'll do is do some stuff that we did in 2022 tell us about kind of the early Mike, growing up and all that and what eventually got you into dealing with all this business of web accessibility and such. Yeah, thank you.   Mike Paciello ** 04:08 You know, I've tried to short this, shorten this story 100 times. Oh, don't worry. See if I get let's see if I can keep it succinct and and for the folks out there who understand verbosity and it's in its finest way for screen reader users, I'll try not to be verbose. I already am being   Michael Hingson ** 04:28 intermediate levels fine.   Mike Paciello ** 04:30 I came into this entire field as a technical writer trying to solve a problem that I kind of stumbled into doing some volunteer work for the debt the company that I then then worked for, a Digital Equipment Corporation, a software company, DEC software hardware company, back then, right back in the early 80s. And as a technical writer, I started learning at that time what was called Gen code. Eventually that morphed in. To what Goldfarb, Charles Goldfarb at IBM, called SGML, or standard, Generalized Markup Language, and that really became the predecessor, really gave birth to what we see on the web today, to HTML and the web markup languages. That's what they were, except back then, they were markup languages for print publications. So we're myself and a lot of colleagues and friends, people probably here, I'm sure, at bare minimum, recognized named George Kercher. George and I really paired together, worked together, ended up creating an international steer with a group of other colleagues and friends called the icad 22 which is 22 stands for the amount of elements in that markup language. And it became the adopted standard accessibility standard for the American Association of Publishers, and they published that became official. Eventually it morphed into what we today call, you know, accessible web development. It was the first instance by that was integrated into the HTML specification, I think officially, was HTML 3.1 3.2 somewhere in there when it was formally adopted and then announced in 1997 and at the World Wide Web Conference. That's really where my activity in the web began. So I was working at DEC, but I was doing a lot of volunteer work at MIT, which is where the W 3c was located at that particular time. And Tim Bursley, who a lot of people i Sir, I'm sure, know, the inventor of the web, led the effort at that time, and a few other folks that I work with, and.da Jim Miller, a few other folks. And we were, well, I wasn't specifically approached. Tim was approached by Vice President Gore and eventually President Clinton at that time to see if we could come up with some sort of technical standard for accessibility. And Tim asked if I'd like to work on it myself. Danielle, Jim, a few others, we did, and we came up that first initial specification and launched it as part of the Web Accessibility Initiative, which we created in 1997 from there, my career just took off. I went off did a couple of small companies that I launched, you know, my namesake company, the Paciello Group, or TPG, now called TPG IGI, yeah, yeah, which was acquired by vector capital, or this bureau back in 2017 so it's hard to believe that's already almost 10 years ago. No, yeah. And I've been walking in, working in the software, web accessibility field, usability field, writing fields, you know, for some pretty close to 45 years. It's 2025 40 years, I mean, and I started around 1984 I think it was 8384 when all this first   Michael Hingson ** 07:59 started. Wow, so clearly, you've been doing it for a while and understand a lot of the history of it. So how overall has the whole concept of web accessibility changed over the years, not only from a from a coding standpoint, but how do you think it's really changed when it comes to being addressed by the public and companies and so on.   Mike Paciello ** 08:26 That's a great question. I'd certainly like to be more proactive and more positive about it, but, but let me be fair, if you compare today and where web accessibility resides, you know, in the in the business value proposition, so to speak, and list the priorities of companies and corporations. You know, fortune 1000 fortune 5000 call whatever you whatever you want. Accessibility. Is there people? You could say section five way you could say the Web Accessibility Initiative, WCAG, compliance, and by and large, particularly technology driven, digital economy driven businesses, they know what it is. They don't know how to do it. Very rarely do they know how to do it. And even the ones that know how to do it don't really do it very well. So it kind of comes down to the 8020, rule, right? You're a business. Whatever kind of business you are, you're probably in more online presence than ever before, and so a lot of your digital properties will come under you know the laws that mandate usability and accessibility for people with disabilities today that having been said and more and more people know about it than ever before, certainly from the time that I started back in the you know, again, in the early, mid 80s, to where we are today. It's night and day. But in terms of prioritization, I don't know. I think what happens quite often is business value proposition. Decisions get in the way. Priorities get in the way of what a business in, what its core business are, what they're trying to accomplish, who they're trying to sell, sell to. They still view the disability market, never mind the blind and low vision, you know, market alone as a niche market. So they don't make the kind of investors that I, I believe that they could, you know, there's certainly, there are great companies like like Microsoft and and Google, Amazon, Apple, you know, a lot of these companies, you know, have done some Yeoman work at that level, but it's nowhere near where it should be. It just absolutely isn't. And so from that standpoint, in where I envision things, when I started this career was when I was in my 20 somethings, and now I'm over now I'm over 60. Well over 60. Yeah, I expected a lot more in, you know, in an internet age, much, much more.   Michael Hingson ** 11:00 Yeah, yeah. Well, it's it's really strange that so much has happened and yet so much hasn't happened. And I agree with you, there's been a lot of visibility for the concept of accessibility and inclusion and making the the internet a better place, but it is so unfortunate that most people don't know how to how to do anything with it. Schools aren't really teaching it. And more important than even teaching the coding, from from my perspective, looking at it more philosophically, what we don't tend to see are people really recognizing the value of disabilities, and the value that the market that people with disabilities bring to the to the world is significant. I mean, the Center for Disease Control talks about the fact that they're like up to 25% of all Americans have some sort of disability. Now I take a different approach. Actually. I don't know whether you've read my article on it, but I believe everyone on the in the in the world has a disability, and the reality is, most people are light dependent, but that's as much a disability as blindness. Except that since 1878 when Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. We have focused nothing short of trying to do everything we can to improve light on demand for the last 147 years. And so the disability is mostly covered up, but it's still there.   Mike Paciello ** 12:37 You know, yeah, and I did read that article, and I couldn't agree with you more. In fact, I personally think, and I actually have my own blog coming out, and probably later this month might be early, early July, where I talk about the fact that accessibility okay and technology really has been all along. And I love the fact that you call, you know, you identified the, you know, the late 1800s there, when Edison did the the light bulb, Alexander Graham Bell came up with, you know, the telephone. All of those adventures were coming about. But accessibility to people with disabilities, regardless of what their disability is, has always been a catalyst for innovation. That was actually supposed to be the last one I was going to make tonight. Now it's my first point because, because I think it is exactly as you said, Mike, I think that people are not aware. And when I say people, I mean the entire human population, I don't think that we are aware of the history of how, how, because of, I'm not sure if this is the best word, but accommodating users, accommodating people with disabilities, in whatever way, the science that goes behind that design architectural to the point of development and release, oftentimes, things that were done behalf of people with disabilities, or for People with disabilities, resulted in a fundamental, how's this for? For an interesting term, a fundamental alteration right to any other you know, common, and I apologize for the tech, tech, tech language, user interface, right, right? Anything that we interact with has been enhanced because of accessibility, because of people saying, hey, if we made this grip a little bit larger or stickier, we'll call it so I can hold on to it or softer for a person that's got fine motor dexterity disabilities, right? Or if we made a, you know, a web browser, which, of course, we have such that a blind individual, a low vision individual, can adjust the size of this, of the images and the fonts and things like that on a web page, they could do that unknown. Well, these things now. As we well know, help individuals without disabilities. Well, I'm not much, right, and I, again, I'm not speaking as a person beyond your characterization that, hey, look, we are all imperfect. We all have disabilities. And that is, that is absolutely true. But beyond that, I wear glasses. That's it. I do have a little hearing loss too. But you know, I'm finding myself more and more, for example, increasing the size of text. In fact, my note, yes, I increase them to, I don't know they're like, 18 point, just so that it's easier to see. But that is a common thing for every human being, just like you said.   Michael Hingson ** 15:36 Well, the reality is that so many tools that we use today come about. And came about because of people with disabilities. Peggy Chung Curtis Chung's wife, known as the blind history lady, and one of the stories that she told on her first visit to unstoppable mindset, which, by the way, is episode number five. I remember that Peggy tells the story of the invention of the typewriter, which was invented for a blind countist, because she wanted to be able to communicate with her lover without her husband knowing about it, and she didn't want to dictate things and so on. She wanted to be able to create a document and seal it, and that way it could be delivered to the lever directly. And the typewriter was the result of   Mike Paciello ** 16:20 that? I didn't know that. I will definitely go back. I just wrote it down. I wrote down a note that was episode number five, yeah, before with Curtis a couple of times, but obviously a good friend of ours, yeah, but I yeah, that's, that's, that's awesome.   Michael Hingson ** 16:37 Well, and look at, I'll tell you one of the things that really surprises me. So Apple was going to get sued because they weren't making any of their products accessible. And before the lawsuit was filed, they came along and they said, we'll fix it. And they did make and it all started to a degree with iTunes U but also was the iPhone and the iPod and so on. But they they, they did the work. Mostly. They embedded a screen reader called Voiceover in all of their operating systems. They did make iTunes you available. What really surprises me, though is that I don't tend to see perhaps some things that they could do to make voiceover more attractive to drivers so they don't have to look at the screen when a phone call comes in or whatever. And that they could be doing some things with VoiceOver to make it more usable for sighted people in a lot of instances. And I just don't, I don't see any emphasis on that, which is really surprising to me.   Mike Paciello ** 17:38 Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, there are a lot of use cases there that you go for. I think Mark Rico would certainly agree with you in terms of autonomous driving for the blind, right? Sure that too. But yeah, I definitely agree and, and I know the guy that the architect voiceover and develop voiceover for Apple and, boy, why can I think of his last name? I know his first name. First name is Mike. Is with Be My Eyes now and in doing things at that level. But I will just say one thing, not to correct you, but Apple had been in the accessibility business long before voice over Alan Brightman and Gary mulcher were instrumental towards convincing, you know, jobs of the importance of accessibility to people with disabilities,   Michael Hingson ** 18:31 right? But they weren't doing anything to make products accessible for blind people who needed screen readers until that lawsuit came along. Was   Mike Paciello ** 18:40 before screen readers? Yeah, that was before,   Michael Hingson ** 18:43 but they did it. Yeah. The only thing I wish Apple would do in that regard, that they haven't done yet, is Apple has mandates and requirements if you're going to put an app in the App Store. And I don't know whether it's quite still true, but it used to be that if your app had a desktop or it looked like a Windows desktop, they wouldn't accept it in the app store. And one of the things that surprises me is that they don't require that app developers make sure that their products are usable with with VoiceOver. And the reality is that's a it doesn't need to be a really significantly moving target. For example, let's say you have an app that is dealing with displaying star charts or maps. I can't see the map. I understand that, but at least voiceover ought to give me the ability to control what goes on the screen, so that I can have somebody describe it, and I don't have to spend 15 or 20 minutes describing my thought process, but rather, I can just move things around on the screen to get to where we need to go. And I wish Apple would do a little bit more in that regard.   Mike Paciello ** 19:52 Yeah, I think that's a great a great thought and a great challenge, if, between me and you. Yeah, I think it goes back to what I said before, even though we both see how accessibility or accommodating users with disabilities has led to some of the most incredible innovations. I mean, the Department of Defense, for years, would integrate people with disabilities in their user testing, they could better help, you know, military soldiers, things like that, assimilate situations where there was no hearing, there was they were immobile, they couldn't see all, you know, all of these things that were natural. You know, user environments or personas for people with disabilities. So they led to these kind of, you know, incredible innovations, I would tell you, Mike, I think you know this, it's because the business value proposition dictates otherwise.   Michael Hingson ** 20:55 Yeah, and, well, I guess I would change that slightly and say that people think that the business proposition does but it may very well be that they would find that there's a lot more value in doing it if they would really open up their minds to looking at it differently. It's   Mike Paciello ** 21:10 kind of, it's kind of like, it's tough. It's kind of like, if I could use this illustration, so to speak, for those who may not be religiously inclined, but you know, it's, it's like prophecy. Most people, you don't know whether or not prophecy is valid until years beyond, you know, years after. And then you could look back at time and say, See, it was all along. These things, you know, resulted in a, me, a major paradigm shift in the way that we do or don't do things. And I think that's exactly what you're saying. You know, if, if people would really look at the potential of what technologies like, you know, a voice over or, as you know, a good friend of mine said, Look, we it should be screen readers. It should be voice IO interfaces, right? That every human can use and interact with regardless. That's what we're really talking about. There's   Michael Hingson ** 22:10 a big discussion going on some of the lists now about the meta, Ray Ban, glasses, and some of the things that it doesn't do or that they don't do well, that they should like. It's really difficult to get the meta glasses to read completely a full page. I think there are ways that people have now found to get it to do that, but there are things like that that it that that don't happen. And again, I think it gets back to what you're saying is the attitude is, well, most people aren't going to need that. Well, the reality is, how do you know and how do you know what they'll need until you offer options. So one of my favorite stories is when I worked for Kurzweil a long time ago, some people called one day and they wanted to come and see a new talking computer terminal that that Ray and I and others developed, and they came up, and it turns out, they were with one of those initial organizations out of Langley, Virginia, the CIA. And what they wanted to do was to use the map the the terminal connected to their computers to allow them to move pointers on a map and not have to watch the map or the all of the map while they were doing it, but rather, the computer would verbalize where the pointer was, and then they could they could move it around and pin a spot without having to actually look at the screen, because the way their machine was designed, it was difficult to do that. You know, the reality is that most of the technologies that we need and that we use and can use could be used by so much, so many more people, if people would just really look at it and think about it, but, but you're right, they don't.   Mike Paciello ** 24:04 You know, it's, of course, raise a raise another good friend of mine. We both having in common. I work with him. I been down his office a few, more than few times, although his Boston office, anyway, I think he's, I'm not sure he's in Newton. He's in Newton. Yeah. Is he still in Newton? Okay. But anyway, it reminded me of something that happened in a similar vein, and that was several years ago. I was at a fast forward forward conference, future forward conference, and a company, EMC, who absorbed by Dell, I think, right, yes, where they all are. So there I was surprised that when that happened. But hey, yeah, yeah, I was surprised that compact bought depth, so that's okay, yeah, right. That HP bought count, right? That whole thing happened. But um, their chief science, chief scientist, I think he was a their CSO chief scientist, Doc. Came up and made this presentation. And basically the presentation was using voice recognition. They had been hired by the NSA. So it was a NSA right to use voice recognition in a way where they would recognize voices and then record those voices into it, out the output the transcript of that right text, text files, and feed them back to, you know, the NSA agents, right? So here's the funny part of that story goes up i i waited he gave his presentation. This is amazing technology, and what could it was like, 99% accurate in terms of not just recognizing American, English speaking people, but a number of different other languages, in dialects. And the guy who gave the presentation, I actually knew, because he had been a dec for many years. So in the Q and A Part I raised by hand. I got up there. He didn't recognize it a few years had gone by. And I said, you know, this is amazing technology. We could really use this in the field that I work in. And he said, Well, how's that? And I said, you know, voice recognition and outputting text would allow us to do now this is probably 2008 2009 somewhere in that area, would allow us to do real time, automated transcription for the Deaf, Captioning. And he looks at me and he he says, Do I know you? This is through a live audience. I said. I said, Yeah, Mark is it was. Mark said, So Mike gas yellow. He said, you're the only guy in town that I know that could turn a advanced, emerging technology into something for people with disabilities. I can't believe it. So that was, that was, but there was kind of the opposite. It was a technology they were focused on making this, you know, this technology available for, you know, government, obviously covert reasons that if they were using it and applying it in a good way for people with disabilities, man, we'd have been much faster, much further along or even today, right? I mean, it's being done, still not as good, not as good as that, as I saw. But that just goes to show you what, what commercial and government funding can do when it's applied properly?   Michael Hingson ** 27:41 Well, Dragon, naturally speaking, has certainly come a long way since the original Dragon Dictate. But there's still errors, there's still things, but it does get better, but I hear exactly what you're saying, and the reality is that we don't tend to think in broad enough strokes for a lot of the things that we do, which is so unfortunate,   Mike Paciello ** 28:03 yeah? I mean, I've had an old saying that I've walked around for a long time. I should have, I should make a baseball cap, whether something or T shirt. And it simply was, think accessibility, yeah, period. If, if, if we, organizations, people, designers, developers, architects, usability, people, QA, people. If everybody in the, you know, in the development life cycle was thinking about accessibility, or accessibility was integrated, when we say accessibility, we're talking about again, for users with disabilities, if that became part of, if not the functional catalyst, for technology. Man, we'd have been a lot further along in the quote, unquote value chains than we are today.   Michael Hingson ** 28:46 One of the big things at least, that Apple did do was they built voiceover into their operating system, so anybody who buys any Apple device today automatically has redundancy here, but access to accessibility, right? Which, which is really the way it ought to be. No offense to vispero and jaws, because they're they're able to fill the gap. But still, if Microsoft had truly devoted the time that they should have to narrate her at the beginning. We might see a different kind of an architecture today.   Mike Paciello ** 29:26 You know, I so I want to, by the way, the person that invented that wrote that code is Mike shabanik. That's his name I was thinking about. So Mike, if you're listening to this guy, just hi from two others. And if he's not, he should be, yeah, yeah, exactly right from two other mics. But so let me ask you this question, because I legitimately can't remember this, and have had a number of discussions with Mike about this. So VoiceOver is native to the US, right?   Michael Hingson ** 29:56 But no, well, no to to the to the to the. Products, but not just the US. No,   Mike Paciello ** 30:02 no, I said, OS, yes, it's native to OS, yeah, right. It's native that way, right? But doesn't it still use an off screen model for producing or, you know, translate the transformation of, you know, on screen to voice.   Michael Hingson ** 30:27 I'm not sure that's totally true. Go a little bit deeper into that for me.   Mike Paciello ** 30:34 Well, I mean, so NVDA and jaws use this off screen model, right, which is functionally, they grab, will they grab some content, or whatever it is, push it to this, you know, little black box, do all those translations, you know, do all the transformation, and then push it back so it's renderable to a screen reader. Okay, so that's this off screen model that is transparent to the users, although now you know you can get into it and and tweak it and work with it right, right? I recall when Mike was working on the original design of of nary, excuse me, a voiceover, and he had called me, and I said, Are you going to continue with the notion of an off screen model? And he said, Yeah, we are. And I said, Well, when you can build something that's more like what TV Raman has built into Emacs, and it works integral to the actual OS, purely native. Call me because then I'm interested in, but now that was, you know, 1520, years ago, right? I mean, how long has voiceover been around,   Michael Hingson ** 31:51 since 2007   Mike Paciello ** 31:54 right? So, yeah, 20 years ago, right? Just shy of 20 years, 18 years. So I don't know. I honestly don't know. I'm   Michael Hingson ** 32:02 not totally sure, but I believe that it is, but I can, you know, we'll have to, we'll have to look into that.   Mike Paciello ** 32:08 If anyone in the audience is out there looking at you, get to us before we find out. Let us we'll find out at the NFB   Michael Hingson ** 32:12 convention, because they're going to be a number of Apple people there. We can certainly ask, there   Mike Paciello ** 32:17 you go. That's right, for sure. James Craig is bound to be there. I can ask him and talk to him about that for sure. Yep, so anyway,   Michael Hingson ** 32:23 but I think, I think it's a very it's a valid point. And you know, the the issue is that, again, if done right and app developers are doing things right there, there needs to, there ought to be a way that every app has some level of accessibility that makes it more available. And the reality is, people, other than blind people use some of these technologies as well. So we're talking about voice input. You know, quadriplegics, for example, who can't operate a keyboard will use or a mouse can use, like a puff and zip stick to and and Dragon to interact with a computer and are successful at doing it. The reality is, there's a whole lot more opportunities out there than people think. Don't   Mike Paciello ** 33:11 I agree with that. I'm shaking my head up and down Mike and I'm telling you, there is, I mean, voice recognition alone. I can remember having a conversation with Tony vitality, one of the CO inventors of the deck talk. And that goes all the way back into the, you know, into the early 90s, about voice recognition and linguistics and what you know, and I know Kurzweil did a lot of working with Terry right on voice utterances and things like that. Yeah, yeah. There's, there's a wide open window of opportunity there for study and research that could easily be improved. And as you said, and this is the point, it doesn't just improve the lives of the blind or low vision. It improves the lives of a number of different types of Persona, disability persona types, but it would certainly create a pathway, a very wide path, for individuals, users without disabilities, in a number of different life scenarios.   Michael Hingson ** 34:10 Yeah, and it's amazing how little sometimes that's done. I had the pleasure a few years ago of driving a Tesla down Interstate 15 out here in California. Glad I wasn't there. You bigot, you know, the co pilot system worked. Yeah, you know, I just kept my hands on the wheel so I didn't very much, right? Not have any accidents. Back off now it worked out really well, but, but here's what's really interesting in that same vehicle, and it's something that that I find all too often is is the case if I were a passenger sitting in the front seat, there's so much that I as a passenger don't have access to that other passenger. Do radios now are mostly touchscreen right, which means and they don't build in the features that would make the touchscreen system, which they could do, accessible. The Tesla vehicle is incredibly inaccessible. And there's for a guy who's so innovative, there's no reason for that to be that way. And again, I submit that if they truly make the product so a blind person could use it. Think of how much more a sighted person who doesn't have to take their eyes off the road could use the same technologies.   Mike Paciello ** 35:35 You know, Mike, again, you and I are on the same page. I mean, imagine these guys are supposed to be creative and imaginative and forward thinking, right? Could you? Can you imagine a better tagline than something along the lines of Tesla, so user friendly that a blind person can drive it? Yeah? I mean this is, have you heard or seen, you know, metaphorically speaking, or that's okay, a an advertisement or PR done by any, any company, because they're all, all the way across the board, that hasn't featured what it can do to enhance lives of people with disabilities. Where it wasn't a hit. I mean, literally, it was, yeah, you see these commercials played over and over to Apple, Microsoft, Emma, I see McDonald's, Walmart. I mean, I could just name, name the one after another. Really, really outstanding. Salesforce has done it. Just incredible. They would do it, yeah. I mean, there is there any more human centric message than saying, Look what we've built and designed we're releasing to the masses and everyone, anyone, regardless of ability, can use it. Yeah, that, to me, is that's, I agree that's a good route, right for marketing and PR, good,   Michael Hingson ** 37:03 yeah. And yet they don't, you know, I see commercials like about one of the one of the eye injections, or whatever Bobby is, Mo or whatever it is. And at the beginning, the woman says, I think I'm losing sight of the world around me. You know that's all about, right? It's eyesight and nothing else. And I appreciate, I'm all for people keeping their eyesight and doing what's necessary. But unfortunately, all too often, we do that at the detriment of of other people, which is so unfortunate.   Mike Paciello ** 37:39 Yeah, you know again, not to, not to get off the subject, but one of my favorite books is rethinking competitive advantage, by Ram Sharon. I don't know if you know know him, but the guy is one of my heroes in terms of just vision and Business and Technology. And in this, this book, he wrote this a couple of years ago. He said this one this is his first rule of competition in the digital age. The number one rule was simply this, a personalized consumer experience, key to exponential growth. That's exactly you and I are talking about personally. I want to see interfaces adapt to users, rather than what we have today, which is users having to adapt to the interface.   Michael Hingson ** 38:32 Yeah, and it would make so much sense to do so. I hope somebody out there is listening and will maybe take some of this to heart, because if they do it right, they can have a huge market in no time at all, just because they show they care. You know, Nielsen Company did a survey back in 2016 where they looked at a variety of companies and consumers and so on. And if I recall the numbers right, they decided that people with disabilities are 35% more likely to continue to work with and shop, for example, at companies that really do what they can to make their websites and access to their products accessible, as opposed to not. And that's that's telling. It's so very telling. But we don't see people talking about that nearly like we should   Mike Paciello ** 39:20 you talk about a business value proposition. There is bullet proof that where you are leaving money on the table, yep, and a lot of it, yeah, exactly. We're not talking about 1000s or hundreds of 1000s. We're talking about billions and trillions, in some instances, not an exaggeration by any stretch of the imagination, very, very simple math. I had this conversation a couple years ago with the CEO of Pearson. At that time, he's retired, but, you know, I told him, if you spent $1 for every person that it was in the world with. Disability, you're, you're, you're talking about 1/4 of the population, right? It's simple math, simple math,   Michael Hingson ** 40:08 but people still won't do it. I mean, we taught you to mention section 508, before with the whole issue of web access, how much of the government has really made their websites accessible, even though it's the law?   Mike Paciello ** 40:19 Yeah, three years, three or four years ago, they did a study, and they found out that the good that every federal agency, most of the federal agencies, were not even keeping up thinking with reporting of the status, of where they were, and yet that was written right into the five way law. They were mandated to do it, and they still did do   Michael Hingson ** 40:37 it. We haven't, you know, the whole Americans with Disabilities Act. Finally, the Department of Justice said that the internet is a place of business, but still, it's not written in the law. And of course, we only see about 3% of all websites that tend to have any level of access. And there's no reason for that. It's not that magical. And again, I go back to what do we do to get schools and those who teach people how to code to understand the value of putting in accessibility right from the outset?   Mike Paciello ** 41:10 Yeah, no, I totally agree with you. I think this is what Kate sanka is trying to do with with Teach access. In fact, you know, again, my company, TPG was one of the founding companies have teach access back again, 10 years ago, when it first started. But that's where it starts. I mean, they're, they're pretty much focused on post secondary, university education, but I could tell you on a personal level, I was speaking at my kids grade school, elementary school, because they were already using laptops and computers back then it starts. Then you've got to build a mindset. You've got to build it we you've heard about the accessibility, maturity models coming out of the W, 3c, and in I, double AP. What that speaks to fundamentally, is building a culture within your corporate organization that is think accessibility as a think accessibility mindset, that it is woven into the fiber of every business line, in every technology, software development life cycle, all of the contributors at that level, from A to Z. But if you don't build it into the culture, it's not going to happen. So I would love to see a lot more being done at that level. But yeah, it's, it's, it's a, it's a hero. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 42:34 we're, we're left out of the conversation so much. Yeah, yeah, totally. So you, you sold TPG, and you then formed, or you had web able and then able Docs.   Mike Paciello ** 42:48 So what web able came out was a carve out, one of two carve outs that I had from when I sold TPG. The other was open access technologies, which which eventually was sold to another accessibility company primarily focused on making documentation accessible to meet the WCAG and other standards requirements and web able I carved out. It's been a kind of a hobby of mine now, for since I sold TPG, I'm still working on the back end, ironically, from the get go, so we're talking, you know, again, eight years ago, I had built machine learning and AI into it. From then back then, I did so that what it does is it very simply, goes out and collects 1000s and 1000s of articles as it relates to technology, people with disabilities, and then cleans them up and post them to web able.com I've got a lot more playing for it, but that's in a nutshell. That's what it does. And I don't we do some we do some QA review to make sure that the cleanup in terms of accessibility and the articles are are properly formatted and are accessible. We use the web aim API, but yeah, works like magic. Works like clockwork, and that's got aI uses IBM Watson AI built into it. Yeah, enable docs was abledocs was, how should I say this in a nice way, abledocs was a slight excursion off of my main route. It can work out. I wish it had. It had a lot of potential, much like open access technologies, but they both suffered from owners who really, really not including myself, who just didn't have good vision and in lack humility,   Michael Hingson ** 44:43 yeah. How's that? There you go. Well, so not to go political or anything, but AI in general is interesting, and I know that there have been a lot of debates over the last few years about artificial. Intelligence and helping to make websites accessible. There are several companies like AudioEye, user way, accessibe and so on that to one degree or another, use AI. What? What? So in general, what do you think about AI and how it's going to help deal with or not, the whole issue of disabilities and web access,   Mike Paciello ** 45:22 yeah, and we're going to set aside Neil Jacobs thoughts on how he sees it in the future, right? Although I have to tell you, he gave me some things to think about, so we'll just set that to to the side. So I think what AI offers today is something that I thought right away when it started to see the, you know, the accessibes, the user ways, the audio, eyes, and all the other companies kind of delving into it, I always saw potential to how's this remediate a fundamental problem or challenge, let's not call it a problem, a challenge that we were otherwise seeing in the professional services side of that equation around web accessibility, right? So you get experts who use validation tools and other tools, who know about code. Could go in and they know and they use usability, they use user testing, and they go in and they can tell you what you need to do to make your digital properties right, usable and accessible. People with disabilities, all well and good. That's great. And believe me, I had some of the best people, if not the best people in the world, work for me at one time. However, there are a couple of things it could not do in it's never going to do. Number one, first and foremost, from my perspective, it can't scale. It cannot scale. You can do some things at, you know, in a large way. For example, if, if a company is using some sort of, you know, CMS content management system in which their entire sites, you know, all their sites, all their digital properties, you know, are woven into templates, and those templates are remediated. So that cuts down a little bit on the work. But if you go into companies now, it's not like they're limited to two or three templates. Now they've got, you know, department upon department upon department, everybody's got a different template. So even those are becoming very vos, very verbose and very plentiful. So accessibility as a manual effort doesn't really scale well. And if it does, even if it could, it's not fast enough, right? So that's what AI does, AI, coupled with automation, speeds up that process and delivers a much wider enterprise level solution. Now again, AI automation is not, is not a whole, is not a holistic science. You know, it's not a silver bullet. David Marathi likes to use the term, what is he? He likes the gold standard. Well, from his perspective, and by the way, David Marathi is CEO of audio. Eye is a combination of automation AI in expert analysis, along with the use of the integration of user testing and by user testing, it's not just personas, but it's also compatibility with the assistive technologies that people with disabilities use. Now, when you do that, you've got something that you could pattern after a standard software development life cycle, environment in which you integrate all of these things. So if you got a tool, you integrate it there. If you've got, you know, a digital accessibility platform which does all this automation, AI, right, which, again, this is the this is a forester foresters take on the the the daps, as they calls it. And not really crazy about that, but that's what they are. Digital Accessibility platforms. It allows us to scale and scale at costs that are much lower, at speeds that are much faster, and it's just a matter of like any QA, you've got to check your work, and you've got it, you can't count on that automation being absolute. We know for a fact that right now, at best, we're going to be able to get 35 to 40% accuracy, some claim, larger different areas. I'm still not convinced of that, but the fact of the matter is, it's like anything else. Technology gets better as it goes, and we'll see improvements over time periods.   Michael Hingson ** 49:49 So here's here's my thought, yeah, let's say you use AI in one of the products that's out there. And I. You go to a website and you include it, and it reasonably well makes the website 50% more usable and accessible than it was before. I'm just, I just threw out that number. I know it's random. Go ahead, Yep, yeah, but let's say it does that. The reality is that means that it's 50% that the web developers, the web coders, don't have to do because something else is dealing with it. But unfortunately, their mentality is not to want to deal with that because they also fear it. But, you know, I remember back in the mid 1980s I started a company because I went off and tried to find a job and couldn't find one. So I started a company with a couple of other people, where we sold early PC based CAD systems to architects, right? And we had AutoCAD versus CAD. Another one called point line, which was a three dimensional system using a y cap solid modeling board that took up two slots in your PC. So it didn't work with all PCs because we didn't have enough slots. But anyway, right, right, right. But anyway, when I brought architects in and we talked about what it did and we showed them, many of them said, I'll never use that. And I said, why? Well, it does work, and that's not the question. But the issue is, we charge by the time, and so we take months to sometimes create designs and projects, right? And so we can't lose that revenue. I said, you're looking at it all wrong. Think about it this way, somebody gives you a job, you come back and you put it in the CAD system. You go through all the iterations it takes, let's just say, two weeks. Then you call your customer in. You use point line, and you can do a three dimensional walk through and fly through. You can even let them look out the window and see what there is and all that they want to make changes. They tell you the changes. You go off and you make the changes. And two weeks later, now it's a month, you give them their finished product, all the designs, all the plots and all that, all done, and you charge them exactly the same price you were going to charge them before. Now you're not charging for your time, you're charging for your expertise, right? And I think that same model still holds true that the technology, I think most people will agree that it is not perfect, but there are a lot of things that it can do. Because the reality is, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, are all things that can be defined with computer code, whether it necessarily does it all well with AI or not, is another story. But if it does it to a decent fraction, it makes all the difference in terms of what you're able to do and how quickly you can do   Mike Paciello ** 52:52 it. Yeah, I can argue with that at all. I think any time that we can make our jobs a little bit easier so that we can focus where we should be focused. In this case, as you said, the expertise side of it, right to fix those complicated scenarios or situations that require a hands on surgical like Right? Expertise, you can do that now. You've got more hours more time because it's been saved. The only thing I would say, Mike, about what, what you just said, is that there with that, with that mindset, okay, comes responsibility. Oh, yeah, in this is where I think in everybody that knows anything about this environment, you and I have an intimate understanding of this. The whole overlay discussion is the biggest problem with what happened was less about the technology and more about what claims are being made. Yeah, the technology could do which you could not do in, in some cases, could never do, or would never, would never do, well, right? So if you create, and I would submit this is true in as a fundamental principle, if you create a technology of any kind, you must, in truth, inform your clients of of what it can and cannot do so they understand the absolute value to them, because the last thing you want, because, again, we live in a, unfortunately, a very litigious world. Right soon as there's   Michael Hingson ** 54:49 a mistake couldn't happen,   Mike Paciello ** 54:51 they'll go right after you. So now you know, and again, I don't I'm not necessarily just blaming the ambulance chasers of the world. World. I was talking to an NFP lawyer today. He referred to them in a different name, and I can't remember well, I never heard the expression before, but that's what he meant, right? Yeah, it's the salesman and the product managers and the marketing people themselves, who are were not themselves, to your point, properly trained, properly educated, right? It can't be done, what clearly could not be said, what should or should not be said, right? And then you got lawyers writing things all over the place. So, yeah, yeah. So, so I look people knew when I made the decision to come to audio eye that it was a make or break scenario for me, or at least that's what they thought in my mindset. It always, has always been, that I see incredible possibilities as you do or technology, it just has to be handled responsibly.   Michael Hingson ** 55:56 Do you think that the companies are getting better and smarter about what they portray about their products than they than they were three and four and five years ago.   Mike Paciello ** 56:08 Okay, look, I sat in and chaired a meeting with the NFB on this whole thing. And without a doubt, they're getting smarter. But it took not just a stick, you know, but, but these large lawsuits to get them to change their thinking, to see, you know, where they where they were wrong, and, yeah, things are much better. There's still some issues out there. I both know it that's going to happen, that happens in every industry,   Michael Hingson ** 56:42 but there are improvements. It is getting better, and people are getting smarter, and that's where an organization like the NFB really does need to become more involved than in a sense, they are. They took some pretty drastic steps with some of the companies, and I think that they cut off their nose, despite their face as well, and that didn't help. So I think there are things that need to be done all the way around, but I do see that progress is being made too. I totally   Mike Paciello ** 57:11 agree, and in fact, I'm working with them right now. We're going to start working on the California Accessibility Act again. I'm really looking forward to working with the NFB, the DRC and Imperato over there and his team in the disability rights consortium, consortium with disability rights. What DRC coalition, coalition in in California. I can't wait to do that. We tried last year. We got stopped short. It got tabled, but I feel very good about where we're going this year. So that's, that's my that's, that is my focus right now. And I'm glad I'm going to be able to work with the NFB to be able to do that. Yeah, well, I, I really do hope that it passes. We've seen other states. We've seen some states pass some good legislation, and hopefully we will continue to see some of that go on. Yeah, Colorado has done a great job. Colorado sent a great job. I think they've done it. I really like what's being done with the EAA, even though it's in Europe, and some of the things that are going there, Susanna, Lauren and I had some great discussions. I think she is has been a leader of a Yeoman effort at that level. So we'll see. Let's, let's, I mean, there's still time out here. I guess I really would like to retire,   Michael Hingson ** 58:28 but I know the feeling well, but I can't afford to yet, so I'll just keep speaking and all that well, Mike, this has been wonderful. I really appreciate you taking an hour and coming on, and at least neither of us is putting up with any kind of snow right now, but later in the year we'll see more of that.   Mike Paciello ** 58:45 Yeah, well, maybe you will. We don't get snow down. I have. We've gotten maybe 25 flakes in North Carolina since I've been here.   Michael Hingson ** 58:53 Yeah, you don't get a lot of snow. We don't hear we don't really get it here, around us, up in the mountains, the ski resorts get it, but I'm out in a valley, so we don't, yeah,   Mike Paciello ** 59:02 yeah, no. I love it. I love this is golfing weather.   Michael Hingson ** 59:05 There you go. If people want to reach out to you, how do they do that?   Mike Paciello ** 59:11 There's a couple of ways. Certainly get in touch with me at AudioEye. It's michael.paciello@audioeye.com   Michael Hingson ** 59:17 B, A, C, I, E, L, L, O,   Mike Paciello ** 59:18 that's correct. Thank you for that. You could send me personal email at Mike paciello@gmail.com and or you can send me email at web able. It's m passielo at web able.com, any one of those ways. And please feel free you get on all the social networks. So feel free to link, connect to me. Anyway, I try to respond. I don't think there's anyone I I've not responded to one form or another.   Michael Hingson ** 59:46 Yeah, I'm I'm the same way. If I get an email, I want to respond to it. Yeah, well, thanks again for being here, and I want to thank all of you for listening. We really appreciate it. Love to hear your thoughts about this episode. Please feel free to email. Me, you can get me the email address I generally use is Michael h i at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, i, b, e.com, or you can go to our podcast page, which is Michael hingson.com/podcast, and there's a contact form there. But love to hear from you. Love to hear your thoughts, and most of all, please give us a five star rating wherever you're listening. We value your ratings and your reviews a whole lot, so we really appreciate you doing that. And if any of you, and Mike, including you, can think of other people that you think ought to be guests on the podcast, we are always looking for more people, so fill us up, help us find more folks. And we would appreciate that a great deal. So again, Mike, thanks very much. This has been a lot of fun, and we'll have to do it again.   Mike Paciello ** 1:00:44 Thanks for the invitation. Mike, I really appreciate it. Don't forget to add 10 Nakata to your list,   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:49 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

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Send us a textPeaches drops into the team room to roast the DoD's latest brainchild—the $175 billion Golden Dome missile defense program. Because nothing says “fiscal responsibility” like duct-taping old tech to new threats. From sketchy F-35 upgrades to AI-driven psyops and a pistol that just…goes off, this episode is a rollercoaster of bureaucratic brilliance and defense déjà vu. Oh, and shoutout to the DoD for finally noticing that maybe, just maybe, over-classifying everything isn't helping. Get ready for Space Force buzzwords, Air Force growing pains, and a masterclass in defense spending madness.

Military life comes with lots of transitions and career decisions are a big one, especially for spouses navigating remote work, PCS moves, and family schedules. A big decision many milspouses face is whether to stick with the stability of a W-2 job or switch to the flexibility and income potential of 1099 contract work. In this episode, I'm answering a listener's question from Holly about whether she should leave her W-2 remote job and take on 1099 work instead. I'll break down the pros and cons of each path, especially for military families, including taxes, benefits, portability, and peace of mind so you can weigh your own decision with more clarity and confidence. https://milmo.co/podcast/listener-question-1099-career-switch For more MILMO, follow at: MILMO.co ItsMILMO on YouTube @itsmilmo on X @itsmilmo Instagram @itsmilmo LinkedIn @itsmilmo Facebook

Microsoft just made a major change to the Windows 11 install media, and you're not going to believe what happens next! Plus, the AI spelling and grammar checking app/service that Paul relies on. And yes, he does pay for it. Windows 11 Copilot Vision gets full Desktop support, Voice integration across all Insider channels Click to Do gets a "Describe image" action, Administrator protection, App permission dialog changes in Dev (25H2) and Beta (24H2) Canary finally gets the features everyone else has had for a while now Also, Microsoft quietly killed the simplified date/time in the Windows 11 Taskbar because no one liked it PC sales grew 5 percent in Q2 but there is a BIG caveat Semi-related: Google is "combining" ChromeOS and Android ChromeOS will build on Android going forward, smart Even less related: HMD quietly pulls Nokia out of the U.S. market, the dream is over Microsoft 365, AI Microsoft layoffs directly attributed to AI Microsoft scuttled OpenAI's acquisition of Windsurf and all hell broke loose Google snapped up key execs and engineers and licensed Windsurf for $2.4 billion All's well that ends well: Cognition acquires Windsurf Microsoft keeps changing the terms of the deal: Microsoft 365 apps will be updated on Windows 10 only through August 2026 Microsoft 365 Copilot is finally getting a Memory OpenAI is going to war with Microsoft and the world It's working on a web browser It's also working on an office productivity suite of sorts Google NotebookLM gets curated featured notebooks. This is emerging as one of the more useful AI tools Xbox and Gaming Xbox app for Windows 11 gets "Stream your own game" functionality Grounded 2, more coming to Game Pass in second half of July Cyberpunk 2077 is coming to the Mac for some reason Tips & Picks Tip of the week: Save big on PCs, go refurbished App pick of the week: LanguageTool for Desktop RunAs Radio this week: Fabric in 2025 with Arun Ulag Brown liquor pick of the week: Slane Triple Casked Blend Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: helixsleep.com/twit bitwarden.com/twit uscloud.com

Microsoft just made a major change to the Windows 11 install media, and you're not going to believe what happens next! Plus, the AI spelling and grammar checking app/service that Paul relies on. And yes, he does pay for it. Windows 11 Copilot Vision gets full Desktop support, Voice integration across all Insider channels Click to Do gets a "Describe image" action, Administrator protection, App permission dialog changes in Dev (25H2) and Beta (24H2) Canary finally gets the features everyone else has had for a while now Also, Microsoft quietly killed the simplified date/time in the Windows 11 Taskbar because no one liked it PC sales grew 5 percent in Q2 but there is a BIG caveat Semi-related: Google is "combining" ChromeOS and Android ChromeOS will build on Android going forward, smart Even less related: HMD quietly pulls Nokia out of the U.S. market, the dream is over Microsoft 365, AI Microsoft layoffs directly attributed to AI Microsoft scuttled OpenAI's acquisition of Windsurf and all hell broke loose Google snapped up key execs and engineers and licensed Windsurf for $2.4 billion All's well that ends well: Cognition acquires Windsurf Microsoft keeps changing the terms of the deal: Microsoft 365 apps will be updated on Windows 10 only through August 2026 Microsoft 365 Copilot is finally getting a Memory OpenAI is going to war with Microsoft and the world It's working on a web browser It's also working on an office productivity suite of sorts Google NotebookLM gets curated featured notebooks. This is emerging as one of the more useful AI tools Xbox and Gaming Xbox app for Windows 11 gets "Stream your own game" functionality Grounded 2, more coming to Game Pass in second half of July Cyberpunk 2077 is coming to the Mac for some reason Tips & Picks Tip of the week: Save big on PCs, go refurbished App pick of the week: LanguageTool for Desktop RunAs Radio this week: Fabric in 2025 with Arun Ulag Brown liquor pick of the week: Slane Triple Casked Blend Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: helixsleep.com/twit bitwarden.com/twit uscloud.com

Microsoft just made a major change to the Windows 11 install media, and you're not going to believe what happens next! Plus, the AI spelling and grammar checking app/service that Paul relies on. And yes, he does pay for it. Windows 11 Copilot Vision gets full Desktop support, Voice integration across all Insider channels Click to Do gets a "Describe image" action, Administrator protection, App permission dialog changes in Dev (25H2) and Beta (24H2) Canary finally gets the features everyone else has had for a while now Also, Microsoft quietly killed the simplified date/time in the Windows 11 Taskbar because no one liked it PC sales grew 5 percent in Q2 but there is a BIG caveat Semi-related: Google is "combining" ChromeOS and Android ChromeOS will build on Android going forward, smart Even less related: HMD quietly pulls Nokia out of the U.S. market, the dream is over Microsoft 365, AI Microsoft layoffs directly attributed to AI Microsoft scuttled OpenAI's acquisition of Windsurf and all hell broke loose Google snapped up key execs and engineers and licensed Windsurf for $2.4 billion All's well that ends well: Cognition acquires Windsurf Microsoft keeps changing the terms of the deal: Microsoft 365 apps will be updated on Windows 10 only through August 2026 Microsoft 365 Copilot is finally getting a Memory OpenAI is going to war with Microsoft and the world It's working on a web browser It's also working on an office productivity suite of sorts Google NotebookLM gets curated featured notebooks. This is emerging as one of the more useful AI tools Xbox and Gaming Xbox app for Windows 11 gets "Stream your own game" functionality Grounded 2, more coming to Game Pass in second half of July Cyberpunk 2077 is coming to the Mac for some reason Tips & Picks Tip of the week: Save big on PCs, go refurbished App pick of the week: LanguageTool for Desktop RunAs Radio this week: Fabric in 2025 with Arun Ulag Brown liquor pick of the week: Slane Triple Casked Blend Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: helixsleep.com/twit bitwarden.com/twit uscloud.com

Microsoft just made a major change to the Windows 11 install media, and you're not going to believe what happens next! Plus, the AI spelling and grammar checking app/service that Paul relies on. And yes, he does pay for it. Windows 11 Copilot Vision gets full Desktop support, Voice integration across all Insider channels Click to Do gets a "Describe image" action, Administrator protection, App permission dialog changes in Dev (25H2) and Beta (24H2) Canary finally gets the features everyone else has had for a while now Also, Microsoft quietly killed the simplified date/time in the Windows 11 Taskbar because no one liked it PC sales grew 5 percent in Q2 but there is a BIG caveat Semi-related: Google is "combining" ChromeOS and Android ChromeOS will build on Android going forward, smart Even less related: HMD quietly pulls Nokia out of the U.S. market, the dream is over Microsoft 365, AI Microsoft layoffs directly attributed to AI Microsoft scuttled OpenAI's acquisition of Windsurf and all hell broke loose Google snapped up key execs and engineers and licensed Windsurf for $2.4 billion All's well that ends well: Cognition acquires Windsurf Microsoft keeps changing the terms of the deal: Microsoft 365 apps will be updated on Windows 10 only through August 2026 Microsoft 365 Copilot is finally getting a Memory OpenAI is going to war with Microsoft and the world It's working on a web browser It's also working on an office productivity suite of sorts Google NotebookLM gets curated featured notebooks. This is emerging as one of the more useful AI tools Xbox and Gaming Xbox app for Windows 11 gets "Stream your own game" functionality Grounded 2, more coming to Game Pass in second half of July Cyberpunk 2077 is coming to the Mac for some reason Tips & Picks Tip of the week: Save big on PCs, go refurbished App pick of the week: LanguageTool for Desktop RunAs Radio this week: Fabric in 2025 with Arun Ulag Brown liquor pick of the week: Slane Triple Casked Blend Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: helixsleep.com/twit bitwarden.com/twit uscloud.com

It's been a big year for Windows 11 updates. This month is at least semi-manageable! Also, a few more bits from the layoffs. Plus, Amiga Forever 11 and C64 11 Forever help you live in the past! Patch Tuesday Copilot+ PC only: Ask Copilot action for Click to Do 24H2 only: Show smaller Taskbar icons. Screen curtain feature in Narrator. Settings home page for commercial customer 23H2 and 24H2: Windows Share shows preview when sharing web content. Beginning of PC migration feature in Windows Backup. More changes for EU users to meet DMA requirements, mostly Edge related Windows 10: EU/DMA updates as above More Windows 11 WE DID IT! Windows 11 is now in use on more PCs than Windows 10. It's time for Windows 12! No new Insider features but some bug fixes in Canary Microsoft Edge keeps getting more responsive Microsoft 365 and AI Teams gets threading in Channels about three years later than needed Google brought its Veo 3 video generation model to all AI Pro subscribers last week, and now it's bringing that and two other big AI features to Pixel Perplexity just launched its AI web browser Xbox and gaming No, Phil Spencer is not retiring Romero Games forced to cancel Xbox shooter, lay off 100 employees Warcraft Rumble Mobile won't get any more updates Xbox angst in the wake of last week's layoffs is mostly undeserved Xbox fans keep finding new ways to complain - Most of the game/studio closures we know about were well-deserved. If anything, Microsoft let these things continue for too long with no viable deliverables But what is Xbox? Looking at the platform and what Microsoft has done under Phil Spencer paints a very different picture than all the moaning we see on social media Game Pass was key to getting Satya Nadella to keep Xbox going, but after the Activision acquisition, the day and date promise was unworkable. After the changes and price hikes, it's possible that Game Pass has peaked. Microsoft uploaded an out of date version of Call of Duty: WWII to the Store and hilarity ensues Sony to publish a game for Xbox for the first time Epic Games quietly settled with Samsung ahead of today's Unpacked event - but not with Google Tips and picks Tip of the week: Office 365 for IT Pros 2026 Edition is now available App pick of the week: Microsoft Edge RunAs Radio this week: Building Real Software using PowerApps with Luise Freese Brown liquor pick of the week: Bolster Road Maple Rye Whiskey Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell Download or subscribe to Windows Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly Check out Paul's blog at thurrott.com The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Carl Franklin. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: 1password.com/windowsweekly threatlocker.com/twit