
TechFirst with John Koetsier
Tech that is changing the world. Innovators who are shaping the future.
Deep discussions with diverse leaders from Silicon Valley giants and scrappy global startups. Plus some short monologues based on my Forbes columns.
Latest episodes

Jul 17, 2021 • 17min
eSports stars are now using AI-designed physical fitness workouts to be better, faster, smarter
Mashing those buttons may not take massive muscles. But long-term success in eSports takes physical and mental fitness.
At least according to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive star JW, a member of the Fnatic esports team. With other eSports stars he's been working out with Freeletics, an AI-powered fitness program.
The biggest benefit? Faster, clearer thinking, JW says.
Links:
Support TechFirst with $SMRT coins: https://rally.io/creator/SMRT/
TechFirst transcripts: https://johnkoetsier.com/category/tech-first/
Forbes columns: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/
Full videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/johnkoetsier?sub_confirmation=1
Keep in touch: https://twitter.com/johnkoetsier

Jul 14, 2021 • 19min
Manipulating the sine wave of electricity with software
Smart electricity startup Amber just signed a significant agreement with German giant Infineon to bring its technology closer to market. Amber's tech is a solid state solution for managing and controlling electricity, including transforming AC to DC.
That makes electricity software controllable: a 100-year leap in technology.
"By controlling the sine wave electricity and you can chop it and dice it and slice it and you can manipulate it and you can even turn it to a straight line DC by with the elimination of electrolytics, magnetics, transformers, relays, rectifiers ... that's mind-boggling to a lot of electrical engineers," says founder and CEO Thar Casey.
Links:
Support TechFirst with $SMRT coins: https://rally.io/creator/SMRT/
Amber: https://www.ambersi.com
TechFirst transcripts: https://johnkoetsier.com/category/tech-first/
Forbes columns: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/
Full videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/johnkoetsier?sub_confirmation=1
Keep in touch: https://twitter.com/johnkoetsier

Jul 8, 2021 • 18min
Million Doge Disco = Pokemon Go + blockchain + NFTs + partying + augmented reality + fun
Throw everything cool and techy in a blender and what do you get? Million Doge Disco. It's an augmented reality game similar to Pokemon Go with NFTs ✅ and blockchain ✅ and augmented reality ✅ and partying ✅ and Tamagotchi ✅ and Dogecoin ✅ and ... free money.
Or free Dogecoin, at least. One million free Dogecoin.
Which you have to capture, then dance with, and babysit while they increase in value.
Yes, it's insane. And so is (in a good way!) its founder and CEO Gary Lachance, who co-created the Distributed Dance Party and sees gaming as a way to bring about world peace.
Links:
Support TechFirst with $SMRT coins: https://rally.io/creator/SMRT/
Million Doge Disco: https://dogedisco.com/
TechFirst transcripts: https://johnkoetsier.com/category/tech-first/
Forbes columns: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/
Full videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/johnkoetsier?sub_confirmation=1
Keep in touch: https://twitter.com/johnkoetsier

Jun 30, 2021 • 23min
Wearable tech ... isn't really wearable. This smart fabric startup aims to change that
There's a dirty little secret of most wearable tech, and the dirty little secret is ... it's not actually wearable. It's strappable, it's mountable.
It's not actually something that you wear in any traditional meaning of that word. One startup in New York, however, is trying to change that. Imagine smart thread woven right into all of your clothing -- no straps, no attachments, just clothing and data. To chat more and learn more, I'm talking to the CEO and founder of Nextiles, George Sun.
Links:
Support TechFirst with $SMRT coins: https://rally.io/creator/SMRT/
Nextiles: https://www.nextiles.tech
TechFirst transcripts: https://johnkoetsier.com/category/tech-first/
Forbes columns: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/
Full videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/johnkoetsier?sub_confirmation=1
Keep in touch: https://twitter.com/johnkoetsier

Jun 23, 2021 • 14min
Building autonomous robots 10X faster with 3D printing and a modular robotics platform
What if building a robot was like picking options on a car? I'll have the vision module, the speech module ... better give me a wheeled transportation package for this one, a flying navigation module for that one ... I'll take LIDAR and a natural vision module ... and so on ...
Ohmnilabs offers an modular robotics platform that lets companies configure autonomous robots. They have customers like Google, Amazon, Apple, and Toyota, and they 3D print components so you can test new versions quickly. The idea: pick your hardware, pick your software, build your robot.
In this episode of TechFirst with John Koetsier, I chat with Ohmnilabs' CEO Thuc Vu about how it works, what's possible, and how much faster/better/cheaper this model is ...
Links:
Support TechFirst with $SMRT coins: https://rally.io/creator/SMRT/
Ohmnilabs: https://ohmnilabs.com
TechFirst transcripts: https://johnkoetsier.com/category/tech-first/
Forbes columns: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/
Full videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/johnkoetsier?sub_confirmation=1
Keep in touch: https://twitter.com/johnkoetsier

Jun 17, 2021 • 16min
Wristcam is the only camera available for Apple Watch (and yes, it works just like Dick Tracy's communicator)
Whether you want to be Dick Tracy or you want to just not take your phone on a hike, there is now a solution: Wristcam. It's the only camera available globally for Apple Watch, and I got a sample to test.
I also spent some time with the CEO and CMO of Wristcam chatting about what it does, how it works, what quality people can expect, and whether it's a boat anchor on your wrist.
You can take pictures, video, and yes ... even video chat live with Wristcam.
Links:
Wristcam: https://www.wristcam.com
Support TechFirst with $SMRT coins: https://rally.io/creator/SMRT/
TechFirst transcripts: https://johnkoetsier.com/category/tec...
Forbes columns: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoet...
Full videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/johnkoetsier?sub_confirmation=1
Keep in touch: https://twitter.com/johnkoetsier
0:00 What is Wristcam?
2:02 Sample video and pics
4:33 Live demo
6:58 The technology
11:02 Feature - live video
12:53 Future of wearable video

Jun 12, 2021 • 24min
Drone delivery is here. Right now. For real. And it's awesome.
Next-day delivery? Same-day delivery? Super-lame. What about 5-minute delivery?
That's Manna from heaven ... or manna from drones. Manna is running autonomous drone delivery right now in Galway, Ireland, and has the licenses in place to take the service across Europe and maybe Canada. This tiny startup is beating Amazon to the immediate delivery punch in Europe.
And the US? That's a problem: regulation is way, way, way behind.
In this episode of TechFirst with John Koetsier, I chat with Bobby Healy, CEO of Manna, about drone delivery, how it works, what it's accomplishing right now, and how soon you might see it in your backyard. Plus, what drone delivery as a service means for the future of commerce.
Links:
Support TechFirst with $SMRT coins: https://rally.io/creator/SMRT/
Manna: https://www.manna.aero
TechFirst transcripts: https://johnkoetsier.com/category/tech-first/
Forbes columns: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/
Full videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/johnkoetsier?sub_confirmation=1
Keep in touch: https://twitter.com/johnkoetsier

Jun 7, 2021 • 10min
iOS 15 at WWDC: the future of health unveiled in beta
Medical AI has a bright future.
Apple’s focus on health data collected by wearable technology and new capabilities for streaming that data to doctors just guaranteed it.
I just posted to my Forbes column, and here's a few expanded thoughts on what we just saw at Apple's World Wide Developer Conference.
Support TechFirst with $SMRT coins: https://rally.io/creator/SMRT/
TechFirst transcripts: https://johnkoetsier.com/category/tech-first/
Forbes columns: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/
Full videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/johnkoetsier?sub_confirmation=1
Keep in touch: https://twitter.com/johnkoetsier

Jun 4, 2021 • 19min
They made the first-ever NBA championship ring NFT. Cool enough to go all Beeple on the world?
If we thought crypto was polarizing, NFTs are 10X worse. Are they cool? Are they awesome? Are they nonsense? Are they a cash grab? Are they even anything real at all?
Well, even the Olympics have NFTs.
In this episode of TechFirst with John Koetsier, I chat with Harrison Schulman and Francisco Lopez, both co-founders of one of the newest NFT marketplaces, New Renaissance. New Renaissance is the first to create an NFT out of a major sports championship icon ... in this case, Danny Green's NBA championship ring.
Links:
Support TechFirst with $SMRT coins: https://rally.io/creator/SMRT/
Coin holders get exclusive access to $SMRT Space
https://johnkoetsier.com/smrt-space/
TechFirst transcripts: https://johnkoetsier.com/category/tech-first/
Forbes columns: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/
Full videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/johnkoetsier?sub_confirmation=1
Keep in touch: https://twitter.com/johnkoetsier

May 26, 2021 • 22min
Would you pay $60/month to be 20% smarter?
Humm is a small grey patch you wear on your forehead that boosts the normal electrical signals in your prefrontal cortex, making you learn faster, retain memories longer, and assimilate complex data quicker.
In research studies, subjects had a 20% boost in cognitive abilities.
In this episode of TechFirst with John Koetsier, I interview Humm CEO Iain McIntyre. We talk about what Humm is, how it works, the benefits it provides, how he's planning to take it to market ... and why McIntyre (a dual law and physics major) is in this business at all.
Links:
Support TechFirst with $SMRT coins: https://rally.io/creator/SMRT/
Humm: https://thinkhumm.com
TechFirst transcripts: https://johnkoetsier.com/category/tech-first/
Forbes columns: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/
Full videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/johnkoetsier?sub_confirmation=1
Keep in touch: https://twitter.com/johnkoetsier