

TechFirst with John Koetsier
John Koetsier
Deep tech conversations with key innovators in AI, robotics, and smart matter ...
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 30, 2021 • 13min
Amazon is killing Google and Apple in smart home tech
Here's (almost) everything Amazon announced for smart home just two days ago, including Amazon Astro, Ring Always Home Cam, Ring Alarm Pro, Ring Video Doorbell, and more Ring, Ring, Ring everything.
There's also the Echo Show 15 and the Amazon Glow.
But the big picture is how Amazon is competing with Google and Apple in smart home ... and it's not even close. Apple has almost nothing for smart home beyond HomeKit. Google has a few Nest products, but has been very slow to release more ...
Links:
Support TechFirst with $SMRT coins: https://rally.io/creator/SMRT/
Buy $SMRT to join a community focused on tech for good: the emerging world of smart matter. Access my private Slack, get your name in my book, suggest speakers for TechFirst ... and support my work.
TechFirst transcripts: https://johnkoetsier.com/category/tech-first/
Forbes columns: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/
Subscribe to the podcast: https://anchor.fm/techfirst
Full videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/johnkoetsier?sub_confirmation=1
Keep in touch: https://twitter.com/johnkoetsier

Sep 25, 2021 • 18min
Metaverse in your pocket? The tech behind world's largest virtual event
Can I only experience a Facebook metaverse in Oculus Quest? Can I only enter your virtual event with an HTC Vive Pro? Or can we build connections, doors, windows, and pathways through all digital realities that anyone can access with smartphone, laptop, or -- yes -- a VR headset?
In this episode of TechFirst with John Koetsier, I chat with Hans Elstner, the CEO of Rooom. Rooom offers the "first all-in-one platform for content in 2D, 3D, AR and VR." In other words: digital realities that anyone can access.
This is super-important in a era of silos and platforms and barriers. And if you want literally hundreds of thousands of people to attend your virtual event ... as Rooom did with IFA 2020.
Links:
Rooom: https://www.rooom.com/
Support TechFirst with $SMRT coins: https://rally.io/creator/SMRT/
Buy $SMRT to join a community focused on tech for good: the emerging world of smart matter. Access my private Slack, get your name in my book, suggest speakers for TechFirst ... and support my work.
TechFirst transcripts: https://johnkoetsier.com/category/tech-first/
Forbes columns: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/
Subscribe to the podcast: https://anchor.fm/techfirst
Full videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/johnkoetsier?sub_confirmation=1
Keep in touch: https://twitter.com/johnkoetsier

Sep 17, 2021 • 23min
60X strong than steel: world first high-speed carbon fiber 3D printing
We know carbon fiber is strong: 60X stronger than steel. The problem has always been finding ways to 3D print it at speed, and for large objects.
Arevo says it's found the solution: "'the world's first high speed additive manufacturing system for continuous carbon fiber composite structures." It's literally the size of a shipping container, and it can print a volume about a meter cubed.
Companies pay hundreds to thousands of dollars per kilogram for carbon fiber products, and Arevo says it has the fastest and best way to make them on the fly. Stronger and better because it's true 3D printing, not 2.5D, and faster: a monocoque carbon fiber bike frame in about a day.
Links:
Arevo: https://arevo.com/
Support TechFirst with $SMRT coins: https://rally.io/creator/SMRT/
Buy $SMRT to join a community focused on tech for good: the emerging world of smart matter. Access my private Slack, get your name in my book, suggest speakers for TechFirst ... and support my work.
TechFirst transcripts: https://johnkoetsier.com/category/tech-first/
Forbes columns: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/
Subscribe to the podcast: https://anchor.fm/techfirst
Full videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/johnkoetsier?sub_confirmation=1
Keep in touch: https://twitter.com/johnkoetsier
0:00 60X stronger than steel
1:23 3D printing carbon fiber
3:40 Shipping container-sized 3D printer
5:11 Monocoque thermoplastic printing
8:55 $SMRT coin
9:25 3D printing speed
13:23 2000 3D printed bikes per month
15:40 3D printing vertically AND horizontally
17:01 Future of 3D printing
19:34 National security and manufacturing
21:55 3D printing ... 1 order of magnitude away

Sep 14, 2021 • 31min
Epic v Apple: the 36 most interesting findings in the Fortnite lawsuit freeing the App Store
Epic sued Apple for the right to sell in-app purchases in Fortnite itself and not pay Apple a 30% cut. And it won ... but also lost, as the judge ruled in favor of Apple on nine of the ten claims Epic made.
But the big deal is payments in apps. And that changes everything.
Here are the most interesting rulings, findings, and facts unearthed in U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers' 185-page report.
Links:
Support TechFirst with $SMRT coins: https://rally.io/creator/SMRT/
Buy $SMRT to join a community focused on tech for good: the emerging world of smart matter. Access my private Slack, get your name in my book, suggest speakers for TechFirst ... and support my work.
TechFirst transcripts: https://johnkoetsier.com/category/tech-first/
Forbes columns: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/
Subscribe to the podcast: https://anchor.fm/techfirst
Full videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/johnkoetsier?sub_confirmation=1
Keep in touch: https://twitter.com/johnkoetsier

Sep 8, 2021 • 16min
Cyborg or avatar: will you wear a robot, or operate it?
Some robots won't replace us. Some will augment us: make us faster, stronger, bigger, more capable. Sarcos Robotics has built both robots that you can wear and robots you can operate, and just recently unveiled the Guardian XT to complement the Guardian XO.
One you wear, and it helps you lift 200 pounds with minimal effort. The other you teleoperate in VRwhile wearing motion-capturing clothing. Weld, cut, lift, bolt ... you can do it all in dangerous situations from the safety of the ground, or your home.
In this episode of TechFirst with John Koetsier, we chat with Ben Wolff from Sarcos about the Guardians, how they work, and what they mean about the future of work.
Links:
Sarcos https://www.sarcos.com
Support TechFirst with $SMRT coins: https://rally.io/creator/SMRT/
Buy $SMRT to join a community focused on tech for good: the emerging world of smart matter. Access my private Slack, get your name in my book, suggest speakers for TechFirst ... and support my work.
TechFirst transcripts: https://johnkoetsier.com/category/tech-first/
Forbes columns: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/
Subscribe to the podcast: https://anchor.fm/techfirst
Full videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/johnkoetsier?sub_confirmation=1
Keep in touch: https://twitter.com/johnkoetsier
Contents:
0:00 Fleet of thousands
1:06 Robot avatars
2:11 Wearable robots
4:43 Merging human and machine
5:08 Where these robots work
8:41 Fine motor control
10:03 Power supply
10:58 Range of motion
13:30 Robots & work in 5 years

Aug 30, 2021 • 24min
Photonic computing questions answered: Lightmatter CEO
Four months ago I interviewed Lightmatter CEO Nick Harris on his photonic supercomputer. There are now almost 400K view and 2,600 comments ... with lots of questions. In this episode, Harris answers the biggest ones.
- is this real?
- does the chip do what Lightmatter says it will do?
- RGB vs CMYK?
- how do you do linear algebra with light?
- where can I get this?
- capacitance issues
- can it run DOOM?
- can it run Crysis?
- why hasn't NVIDIA done this already?
- how does this interface with quantum computing?
... and much more.
Links:
Lightmatter: https://lightmatter.co
Support TechFirst with $SMRT coins: https://rally.io/creator/SMRT/
Buy $SMRT to join a community focused on tech for good: the emerging world of smart matter. Access my private Slack, get your name in my book, suggest speakers for TechFirst ... and support my work.
TechFirst transcripts: https://johnkoetsier.com/category/tech-first/
Forbes columns: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/
Subscribe to the podcast: https://anchor.fm/techfirst
Full videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/johnkoetsier?sub_confirmation=1
Keep in touch: https://twitter.com/johnkoetsier

Aug 27, 2021 • 20min
We’re at 2% EVs. Biggest threat to 100%?
US President Biden said his goal is that 50% of cars sold in 2030 will be zero-emission vehicles: less than 9 years away. So … is that doable?
Maybe, but the US needs 10X more rare earths for magnets.
Currently, less than 2% of cars on American roads are electric. About 17-19M cars are sold in the US annually, and a little over 300,000 are EVs. So we’re at about 2%.
One of the things you need is batteries. The other is electric drivetrains, and for that you need rare earths for magnets: neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium. Plus, of course, lithium for batteries. It't not just electric cars ... the F-35 fighter jet needs a ton of rare earths. Wind power requires it, and so do batteries that power energy storage for green economy plans.
In fact, according to Pini Althaus, CEO of USA Rare Earth, the U.S. needs 10X more by 2030, and maybe 25X more by 2050.
Links:
Support TechFirst with $SMRT coins: https://rally.io/creator/SMRT/
Buy $SMRT to join a community focused on tech for good: the emerging world of smart matter. Access my private Slack, get your name in my book, suggest speakers for TechFirst ... and support my work.
TechFirst transcripts: https://johnkoetsier.com/category/tech-first/
Forbes columns: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/
Subscribe to the podcast: https://anchor.fm/techfirst
Full videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/johnkoetsier?sub_confirmation=1
Keep in touch: https://twitter.com/johnkoetsier
0:00 USA electric vehicle goals
2:00 Rare earths
5:06 China and rare earths
6:59 How much do we need?
10:50 Increasing production of rare earths
12:28 Environmental concerns
14:08 How China secures resources
15:24 Is there enough in the US?
17:41 National security implications

Aug 20, 2021 • 6min
Tesla Bot: Elon Musk reveals humanoid Tesla robot which is apparently not a joke
Presumably Tesla isn’t busy enough building “full self driving” or cars that have half-year waitlists for new buyers. (Or worse: anyone wondering where Cybertruck is?) Now CEO Elon Musk has revealed a new project: Tesla Bot.
Tesla Bot is a 125 pound 5’8” humanoid robot. Launch goal: some time next year.
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/
Subscribe to the podcast: https://anchor.fm/techfirst
Full videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/johnkoetsier?sub_confirmation=1
Keep in touch: https://twitter.com/johnkoetsier

Aug 18, 2021 • 15min
New AI supercomputer + 100 new AI faculty at University of Florida
What could an AI-focused 22nd most powerful supercomputer in the world and 100 new AI faculty do for the University of Florida? I chat with UF provost Dr. Joseph Glover and NVIDIA's Cheryl Martin about what they're planning.
Short version: massive impact.
We're talking AI-driven climate change research, medical research and infusing artificial intelligence throughout the entire curriculum of a massive university that graduates 10,000 students annually.
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/
Subscribe to the podcast: https://anchor.fm/techfirst
Full videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/johnkoetsier?sub_confirmation=1
Keep in touch: https://twitter.com/johnkoetsier

Aug 11, 2021 • 8min
How big is gaming now? 7 mobile games now make over $100 Million every month
There are now seven mobile games that pull in over $100 million in an average month, according to a new App Annie report. And 810 scoop up more than $1 million every month.
In 2019?
Only two made over $100 million/month.
In other words, mobile gaming is huge and massive and still growing fast ... 16X faster revenue growth than PC/Mac gaming and home console gaming.
Links:
Support TechFirst with $SMRT coins: https://rally.io/creator/SMRT/
App Annie's report: https://content-new.appannie.com/en/insights/mobile-gaming/2021-mobile-gaming-teardown
TechFirst transcripts: https://johnkoetsier.com/category/tech-first/
Forbes columns: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/
Subscribe to the podcast: https://anchor.fm/techfirst
Full videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/johnkoetsier?sub_confirmation=1
Keep in touch: https://twitter.com/johnkoetsier


