Weekly Business News for July 12 | Top 15 Most Affordable States in 2024

This is Right About Now with Ryan Alford, a Radcast Network production. We are the number one business show on the planet with over 1 million downloads a month. Taking the BS out of business for over six years and over 400 episodes. You ready to start snapping necks and caching checks? Well, it starts right about now. What's up guys, welcome to Right About Now. So weekly marketing and news, business news of the week and any other news we want to get into here. I'll July 12, 20, 24 joined by my good friend, Chris Hanson. What's up brother? Hey, doing today, big dog. Oh, I'm juggling, man. I might get a, I'm juggling balls. I got him. Okay, kids out of school, wife, home, that's all over the place and you know, managing five businesses and replacing 12 people. Both of that. Good. Have to schedule you got gone. It's good, man. It's all positive things. It's just, it doesn't make me as punctual as I like to be. We all have stuff, especially holiday weekend. Yeah, I know. So it's like, it's all good, though. I am blessed to do what I do. And you know, we get to talk about the news. I mean, do you do know what today is, July 12, right? Yeah, National National Frink Friday. Well, you know, we're all be, maybe five guys getting some occasion prize. Oh, yes. Gotta get some, no, Mickey D's, right? And like, like, high McDonald's prize. It's the best. It's true. Five guys I can justify. I'm like, well, they're a little healthier, but it's also national pecan pie day. I mean, so it's like, okay, you, if you're pecan pie, did you really want to share that holiday with National Frink Friday? Come here. Number two, yeah, it's sort of maybe in South Carolina. They've got some competition, but yeah, I'd say it reflects kind of pecan's pot pies, like where they belong in the lineup. They're always number two or three in the dessert line. Yeah, you really ever go for pecan pie first. It's always the, you know, something else. If you are first, I might be worried about you. Yeah. Compies like the second choice in dessert. If you're older than pecan pie first, yeah. I don't know. It's the health food holidays weekend. July 12th National Frink Friday and July 14th is National Macaroni and Cheese Day. It'd be a good weekend. I mean, call me crazy. It's hot as hell outside or is South Carolina heat index is 100 plus. I hope you're cool out there for listening. Stay cool, but people like it really, I mean, protect your loved ones, get them inside, get your dogs inside, give them some water. But who will state some hot macaroni and cheese in the middle of July? Now me. Yeah, I don't want to be sweating hot mac and cheese. Exactly. I mean, icy. But those are the social media holidays you can't miss. You know, it's like news week when we start off with, you know, National Frink Friday and National Mac and Cheese. It's like, we had no pressing issues to get to. We didn't really get to talk about the whole debacle that was the debate. So let's just, let's just spend a minute and say a prayer for our nation. Take a moment. It's a reflection. It's like, uh, just breathe it in and know it will be okay somehow, somehow, somehow, it's just the irony of how they, you know, it was, no one needs us to sort of review. I mean, if you have half a brain, you, you kind of saw what, you know, if you wanted to pay attention to the last six months, uh, was clear and just the overall mental decline of our president and I, two things can be true. Chris, I can respect the office of the presidency, respect it and respect anyone that holds it. While also thinking we need to be in more capable hands for the most powerful person, 100% so like we, we stay out of politics on this show. And this isn't about politics. This is just about, okay, we're business show and the president and this politics have a lot of impact and the strength of our nation matters. And what we saw the other night was not bad. I don't want you running my podcast level in my country, just in that physical mental state, you appear to be. Yeah. And look, I, and then I step back like with a, with the voice of empathy, like, if I was 80, no way how I feel now, like 82 years old trying to run the, the most powerful, like every, like I, I joked at the start of the episode, the balls that I'm juggling. Like, are you kidding? You're the president of the United States and we somehow think that the, I don't know, it's not even as a age, it's just clear that we're going to have to do something and, you know, their own party is turning on them. And, you know, I was Trump would say a few different things sometimes too. It's like, but it was clear who sort of had the middle aptitude to lead the country. Just from a, no matter what the politics are, just pure acuity and attention and energy. So I don't know, man, it's, uh, it's interesting. It is, it makes you wonder why there, why more like 55 year old, strong candidates haven't come along on either party. Yeah, totally agree. Where are they? So, you know, it's going to be an interesting few months and we're not going to talk politics every week, but it's clear that we got to go a different direction. We'll leave it there. So speaking of our business, there's 15 US states with the lowest cost of living, Chris, you know, it's been all this talk of inflation and costs. So a single person can live comfortably in these states on 20 dollars an hour, 15 states. Maybe someone you expect, maybe some you didn't. We're going to start at the top number 15, the badgers of Wisconsin. I'm going to try to do like, uh, how do the mask, hey, college football season approaching, you know, the next 40, 45 days or so. So I'll try to do like the mascots, the college football mascot, if they have one for the state or something, the badgers coming in the average. So the cost of living there is 42,000 and some change. Wisconsin number 15 lowest cost of living state. So, you know, we're occupying these are expensive. It's interesting that neither, uh, my home state nor Chris has made this list. I thought that mine might, I knew Florida probably wouldn't, but anyway, and we're in G Vegas, South Carolina, that's Greenville to everyone that doesn't, uh, great place to visit. Don't move here. Just kidding. You can move here. We love Greenville. Number 14, Missouri, the Tigers of the SEC. SEC, SEC. All they do is about the home conference. They're pretty good at it. It's from a Brady standpoint. Missouri, they're also at roughly a 42,000 and some change could live in Missouri. I tell you what, I've been to St. Louis once. You know what was fun to do there, Chris? Back up and leave. I got some buddies. I've never been I'm going to get some hate bill from St. Louis. I just didn't find anything like that I wanted to come back for. That was just my opinion. It was a good place to visit. And I'm talking about one city. Missouri is probably a lovely state. It's has been much time there. Get towards that middle America. Alabama. Number 13, go to roll tide. 41,000 and some change for 15 US states with the lowest cost of living. So if you're complaining, you don't make enough money and you want to move somewhere, these are where these are all states where a single person can live comfortably on $20 an hour comfortably. You we could piece of $20 an hour together, Chris. Number 12, Nebraska, the corn huskers. 41 and some change in Nebraska. I don't know, man. Nebraska, this seems like a new nowhere to me. It's like it's farther. I think that's a whole I think that's why you know, there used to be a powerhouse in college football. I think it's why they actually gone down hill is because I mean, it's a middle of nowhere. It's too isolated too isolated. Got those hate bills. Number 11, New Mexico, the low bows. You thought you were going to get me with that one. No, no, no, that's the mascot of the college football. New Mexico is at 41 and some change as well in our 15 US states, the lowest cost of living. Have you spent any time in New Mexico? I have. Well, my dad had an uncle in Taos, New Mexico. We went skiing one year. Snow skiing. Snow skiing, a new Mexico actually have some very good and difficult snow skiing. Okay. Are you a good skier? Yeah, that was only time of spent New Mexico. It was probably 13 years old. It was fine. I don't know, man. I think I drove through there once. Yeah, it's got a different atmosphere, you know, kind of hazardy mountainous. Yeah, I have a lot of bad dreams about those places. A lot of play blows looking architecture. Get some, get some funky cactus there. You take a sip of that stuff. Look out. P8, P8 toe or what's it called? That pay old PAPLT. Yeah. Look out. I think what I like, I like spending time in Mexico. I'm just going to tell you one of my favorite places. The old Mexico, the old country, not the new Mexico. Me too. Number 10, the Hawkeyes, Iowa. 41, some change, but that's what you can reasonably, a single person can live there comfortably in $20 an hour. This is the cost of living, cost of living, 41 and some change. That's reasonable. What we got here, number nine, get to top 10 now. Oh, miss Mississippi, the rebels, 41 and some change as well. SEC, SEC, I'm putting in college football here with this Chris. Hey, our listeners, if you're in a college football, you're either really jiving with this. And if you're not, you're going, what the fuck is he talking about? Yeah, like what is a rent? Why is he saying cornhouse? We're blending the mascot of the college football team in with the state with the lowest cost of living. Some out of their table, people be entertained. All right. Louisiana. We'll just call it Louis, like LSU, the Tigers, LSU, Louisiana. One of the 15 US states with the lowest cost of living there at 41 and some change. Two, number eight, number seven, South Dakota. I tell you what, there's some places I don't really want to go to. That's real high on the list. Sorry, South Dakota. I've watched Fargo. I mean, you know, nothing looks like anything I want to do there. I respect you though, you're basically going to live somewhere. Just don't turn that South Dakota into South Carolina about that. I will say, you know, I meet people every day that move and end it to old G Vegas here. I haven't anyone yet from South Dakota. So maybe there's something there that we don't know. I've never met anyone anywhere from South Dakota. So something's keeping them there. Yeah. And Fargo might be in North Dakota. I don't, I really don't remember. It was a Dakota somewhere in the Dakotas. Ohio. Number six. We're calling the book guys. I mean, we could talk about Ohio, Miami of Ohio, but let's just be honest. Ohio OSU, Ohio State, but Ohio, one of his number six on the 15 US states with the lowest cost of living, 40 grand and some a little bit of change. Number five, Kentucky, the wild cats, Kentucky. I think it's like natural for me to say Kentucky, like about my accent, like a natural thing. Wow, I'm Kentucky. I'm Kentucky boy. Yeah, Kentucky, the wild cats at 40 and some change. Some of these don't surprise me in some of the Ohio surprise me being as high as I don't know. I don't know. I was just kind of like, okay, that's a big city's there. I thought it was going to be a little higher. One of the probably the northernmost city on this list, everything else has been middle American South. That's definitely the northernmost state. So Kentucky was number four. You know, you stayed in the Dakota's, baby. Number four, North Dakota, Kentucky was number five. Excuse me, North Dakota, number four, 40 grand, lowest cost of living. Number four, state in the union. Number three, the sooners of Oklahoma, Oklahoma, 40 grand, $200. That's the cost of living cheap to live in Oklahoma. Got windstorms and tornadoes and low cost of living and some wonderful people. I like Bob Stubes. He's the coach of Oklahoma. Now my boy Brent Venables, who was the deepest coordinator Clemson is now there. And they're all helping keeping this cost of living low. Cause college will always a real role of that. Number two, the Razorbacks Arkansas. We broke the under, we're under 40 grand cost of living here. Chris, we're in the 39s, 39 K for Arkansas. Number two in the union, one of the cheapest, the second cheapest state. Little Rock. And that's why you know what you know how Arkansas is on this list. And what Walmart was created there. And yes. And if you watch all these flipper flops like all the shows now for like flipping houses, almost all of them are in Arkansas. They're like, they're all in one of these states because the cost is low. So make it that profit, turning them. What have you done? What's the funnest thing you've ever done in Arkansas? You really want to know? Yes. I went to rehab in Arkansas. Hey, look at there. Hey, good for three months. How was it there? Beautiful. You know, it's some cave in, it's some hiking. Good people, down to earth people. So look, Chris Hansen, Uber successful entrepreneur owner of well-respected lab business is now does not drink and recovering. I don't know if it's always a recovering alcohol, Chris. I was like forever, but like, or recovered. That's what they say. Yeah. But one of my best friends in the world, and to my respect highly, but just so you know, Chris's story, which you should check out. We talk a lot about a lot of these things on see my hat vibe science. But Arkansas rehab center. Who knows? It was owned by an ex NFL player. Yeah. You got a puppy. Yeah. A laboratory puppy. Different, different. It was a great place. Capstone shout out. Capstone treatment center. Anyone looking for a good, good place. Check them out. There you go. That's how you get on the wagon or off the wagon. You said on the wagon. On the wagon. On the wagon. On the wagon. On the water wagon, baby. Yes. Nah, man. It's. Respect the hell out of you for what you did. Number one. West Virginia. Not surprising. Coal miner country. I think of his coal mining in the oxy cotton. If I'm being honest, I think it's the mountaineers of West Virginia. They've had a rough go of it, man. Yeah. They're the number one lowest cost of living state in the US. That's your top 15 West Virginia right at 39k. Single person can live in these states comfortably making $20 an hour. Wisconsin, Missouri, Alabama, Nebraska, New Mexico, Iowa, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Dakota, Ohio, Kentucky, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and West Virginia. It's your top 15 or your bottom 15. I don't know. It's not negative. I don't mean that negatively. It's all wonderful states, but it's like lowest cost of living. Hey, hey, a lot of opportunity for growth here is what I'm saying. I got a buddy that just moved to Kentucky and now I'm like, damn, he's cleaning up. Think about it this way, Chris. If you can make your money anywhere, online business moved to one of these states. Because if it isn't matter where you live, you want that cost to living to be low. I know that's why a lot of people go no mad and move out of the country and all that. Well, good for you. I kind of want to stay in the union, me personally. I like to visit those places, but I want to live in the US. So if you could make your money anywhere, you know, you live it in West Virginia, Arkansas. I mean, I'm just saying, there's some beautiful places anywhere in this country. Yeah. So there's your business tip. If it really doesn't matter because you're online business or, you know, work remote, there you have it. Boom. That comes to us from our good friends at CNBC.com. They had that list. Obviously, they didn't make the list, but they had the article. Let me give them a shout out. This also from CNBC.com. We talked about this company a few weeks ago, Chris. And it's not surprising. Ironically related to getting on the wagon. Athletic brewing raises 50 million as non-alcoholic wave sweeps beer making. Leading non-alcoholic brewer, athletic brewing company raised an additional 50 million in equity financing in a round led by general Atlantic. The brewer plans to use the latest investment to increase production capacity. Expand its offering at global retailers meeting the rising demand for non-alcoholic beer. Athletic holds over 19% market share within non-alcoholic beer and a driving 32% of total non-alcoholic beer category growth. According to Nielsen. It's Booman. Big Booman, yeah, man. I've talked about this. Maybe I'd change my tune if I didn't drink at all. I don't know. I think I still just take a diet sprite or something. Dude, I was thinking the same thing. Give me a fucking Coca-Cola beer. Yeah, even like a delicious juice. I like the taste of an ice cold beer. But I think I like it because it's also like. Yeah. You're going to find like, I mean, I'm the epitome of a walking speedball. I got a monster in the morning and a beer in the afternoon. It's legal, folks. I'm a joke, but balancing it out through the day, baby. It's healthy. Everyone's got their formula. Yeah, you got your signal. Exactly. But yeah, I have seen more guys online, like fitness people pushing this. I mean, I'm pushing it, but enjoying it. I personally look at it and I'm like, it's going to taste a beer enough. Yeah. I might change my tune when I stop drinking. And when I say this, I said, win. I see it. There's a tunnel. It's a dull light, but I see it. And it's, I still know that I would drink it, but nonetheless, it's huge. It's a big business. And we bring it up because it's indicative of the changing tastes and overall sentiment of sort of the overall like economy and people like the younger generations just aren't drinking as much. Period. So we got to sell them something. They can't just drink water. You know, they make any money off free water. Yeah. Unless it's liquid death. Fucking mountain valley, waiting on my delivery as we speak. There you go. Samsung, you and I are going to have a little spit on this with aura, but Samsung launches the galaxy ring a first of its kind product for the tech giant. Yeah. For it for them. CNBC.com also brought us this. It's also everywhere. Samsung launched the galaxy ring on Wednesday. It's first foray into smart rings. The South Korean tech giant is looking to integrate its products such as smartphones and wearables and offer health tracking features to rival apples pushed into the space. The ring has the ability to track various health metrics such as heart rate and sleep as well as menstrual cycles. Samsung said the galaxy ring will be available on July 24th, and it will come in three colors. So I personally like this a lot. I was already aware of these things with aura, though I didn't have one, but I was always sort of attracted to it because it seemed like less intrusive than some of the other things. One single ring could do that. And I am a little surprised that Samsung beat Apple to punch on it. Seems like a no-brainer to me. I mean, does it, you think Apple just assumes that we have the, well, I think the watch, they really have more functionality with the watch, but I think there's a sub-segment of people that are never going to wear that watch that might wear a ring. Yeah, even the whoop, which does very similar things, it seems like there's definitely days I'm like, I wish I didn't have this. I think a ring would be more convenient, you know? I think that these wearables are just increasing, increasing another like, okay, let's tie it all together. Trams, you got less drinking happening, more fitness tracking happening. So you have this push overall, I think, to a healthier lifestyle, which is good. And I think it's going to be interesting how all these features start to integrate. Like, because it's interesting and like, oh, Apple didn't have the ring. So then if you get the ring, then you got to go to a Samsung and Android. And it's like, is it strong enough to push you to want to go to an Android? No. No. I'll get the aura. You know, like, there's some lawsuits out there, which we'd say I'm something aura, by the way. So I think thought they had locked up the whole ring wearable. And clearly did not, but that would be interesting. And if you aren't aware, order was the first, I think it was the first wearable ring that really fit this tracking, wasn't it? Yeah. Did you ever have one? I did not. I've a lot of buddies out where I'm, I've always been intrigued by it. I mean, I just started with the whoop. I don't know about the wearable thing though. I'm like, I think it's good to have like a data point. I think a lot of people need that. It's very black and white, but I also think you can get OCD with it. Oh, God. That's why I don't wear mine. I've been reading. Look, I love Will. I'm head founder of whoop, me on the show. Respect the hell out of them. Love the concept. But I stopped wearing mine because I'm like, I'm just obsessed like looking at this too much. Right. You will get up and you're like, oh, it says I didn't sleep very good. So then I'm like, well, I'm going to be tired today, I guess. Yeah. I don't even know. Sometimes my HDR is like low as shit. And I'm like, God, I feel pretty good though. No, I know. But that's what it really is. So I'll be like, OK, well, yesterday it was like overheating. I'm like, well, it's 99 degrees outside. So yeah, it's fucking hot, man. I don't need you to tell me this. I can feel it by the sweat running down the back. My shirt's so cute. But I, OK, thank you. But thanks for letting me know that my body tends higher than normal. Yeah, I mean, it's been good in some aspects, but your heart rate is elevated. You must be stressed out. Oh, let me non-stress you out. Let me, OK, all right. I mean, it's like, I get it, but there can be paralysis from analysis. And for sure, I think there's a time and a place for them. But that's why I sort of like the ring. It's like, if it was not intrusive, and I could show you trends. Yeah, this is annoying. I take a shower, then it's wet for the next hour, or if I want to wear a watch, it's like, I mean, you can wear it on my other wrist or my ankle, I guess, but I like the thought of something. And I think whoop has something similar. But like, give me the download of the day. Like give me a one page or summary. I don't want another screen or another app. Send me an email with like a one page or summary that's like, here's how your day was. You burdened this many calories. You seemed to have, you know, been stressed or whatever your heart rate was up, whatever. Here's some suggestions and call it like, there you go. And like just a text message summary of your day based on like your biomarkers or whatever. That sounds like a good invention. It's called the vibe science. Once a day. I don't know. I love it. It was creating business ideas here. But again, I just don't want to obsess about it, but I wouldn't mind, I like knowing the data. If I don't have to like, I don't know what it's going to be Chris is going to be that injected thing into the brain. It tracks everything, you know, and gives you that feedback. Oh boy, it's coming. It's coming through the matrix spotify is no longer just a streaming app. It's a social network. This from tech crunch, opinion article, which I tend to agree with with spotifies recent lines of comments on podcasts. The streamer is taking get an other step towards building a social networking experience in an app primarily primarily known for music, comments, podcasters can now engage with their listeners directly within spotify as they can with other interactive features like polls and Q and A's combined with the app's 2024 or excuse me, 23 revamp, which added a tick tock like discovery feed artists profiles where creators can hawk merchandise and concert tickets as well as the ability to post the stories spotify the app is shaping up to be a social network center around all things audio. Not just a music streaming app. I like this is for the podcast side of thing because there's a there's never really been a feedback loop or like a commentary loop other than like you know social media and stuff like that where I get feedback, but like I like the thought of this and I'll say this I'll make go ahead and make a plug. We now have all of our episodes in video on spotify. So all past that well all past episodes are being re uploaded, but through like May we've already got May till now. So you can watch the full episode of this see Chris's beautiful face and the lovely plants behind them on the spotify channel. So you can watch the video and how do you do that? Let me tell you you're listening and if you hit the button where it kind of scrolls up to give you a bigger or wider page brings the video up hit in the play bar expanding the play bar. I had to kind of learn how to do that and we got the ability. So you can watch all of this excitement and energy and this beautiful screen that saw your develop right behind me on spotify. But I do like the thought of the comments. I don't know if I like of another social network, but it is once you have that two way conversation going that is sort of what social media is. You big spotify user. Oh yeah. It's my main streaming from music. I'm in the hot podcast though. I do YouTube for podcasts YouTube because of the video. Yeah. And the comments. Yeah. Well, now you go to spotify get it all right there news to me, baby. I will say I had news. I've always been in the Apple kind of ecosphere Apple music, all the Apple out of generation and easy stream line. I don't get like dizzy using it. I'm not even that old. I mean, I'm more techy than most 25 year olds, but it's like just keep it simple, baby. Keep it simple, stupid, kiss, keep it simple, stupid. And I hadn't you spotify it a while, but I was playing with it because our videos are there now and watching a few other shows videos and it's going to leave my best practices and things. And I will say this, it is, it does have more than Apple. It's got better playlists, it's got better, I don't know, I was doing like a few radio stations based off the songs and I was reminded how bad Apple's was and how few it's spotify's was. I'm like, I might be coming back to the dark side here. It's not even dark side. It's just kind of got tired of it for a while and I don't like to support Apple because they seem to always push us in the news and note or the episodes. So I feel some due diligence, we are number one over there. So it's, but I will say it's spotify pretty good right now, I liked it. But I do, in the integration, the video is pretty slick, is watching Rogan the other day, like, and it was, it did have been thinking like how do you make this more interesting? It's like, and, you know, we've been working on that and that's a lot of what Sawyer's been doing with our set design and multiple cameras and stuff. But it's like, you know, the other day we're talking, talking heads, it's like, how do you make the video experience better? And I don't know if it's just like B-roll, even that, it makes that silly sense. It's, it's an interesting, I don't know, exercise, I feel like what people want to watch. Wow. Yeah, they want to see us talking as part of it, but the entire time, I don't know. What do you want to see when you hear Joe Rogan talking? Joe, for two hours or three hours talking about space aliens, it's true. Points to ponder, but spotify, I do like the Q&A, I'm going to get try to get more active over there, try to start to facilitate. So if you're listening and you listen to spotify, give us some cues and we'll give you some A's. We take the BS side of business, baby. So just come hard, don't come soft, I don't want any like soft balls, I want some fast balls, you know, I'm the heaters. Yeah. How many energy do you drink in a day? A lot. How many did you have before the show of half a half a one, actually, at least two, at this time. I had two coffees, it's similar, yes, exactly. Oh, spotify, check them out, go check out the video for us. Major retailers are backtracking on self checkout, NBC news.com. After years of investing in self checkout machine, some major retailers are starting to reverse course, because shit's walking out the door, I don't have to, I haven't even read this article fully, but the honesty system didn't work, yeah, it didn't weird. Dollar general said it has eliminated self checkout options at about 12. I've never seen one in a dollar general, but that's a whole other story. A majority of its stores, I've ever began the process in the first quarter of this year, five below is working to remove self checkout entirely. And some of its highest risk locations, I'm wearing, this is why you need to be watching the spotify video, highest risk, air quotes, target, also announced steps to limit or eliminate self checkout options at some stores this year. And Amazon is pulling it's just walk out cashier, those check outs system from his grocery stores, the U-turns, microchips put in them for these things, well, they had it to wear literally like when you walked out with your hand, it would know or pick up what you had. Sure. I'm sure somebody was like stuffing them down in like three layers of pants or something. Yeah, for sure. Is that a sub sandwich in your pocket? The U-turns are occurring at retailers that once touted the upsides of fully self-service stores. As recently as $20, $22 general describe self-check out technology's potential to enhance the convenient proposition, the company had tried to test stores with 100% self-check out kiosk in hundreds of its retail locations, but that plan has changed. Do we have to call out the obvious here? I just think it's like you tried cutting costs saving money by getting rid of people and they probably cost you more in theft. I've been just going to, I'm going to call out a local company that I respect and like so people have had friends that work there, but I'm just going to call out an example. So we have two major chains of gas convenience stores here in South Carolina, especially in the upstate. You got QT, Quick Trip, and you got Spanx, who's the local player. Well, one of these people have really large parking lots, really quick, highly educated cash years seemingly that move fast and see motivated. And then we have another that's trial of this exact system that doesn't have any of what I just stated for the most part. And I'm summarizing here too, and I don't know. And let's just say I run, I will travel like three more miles, which is, you know, when you're looking for convenience, you don't typically do that to go to one versus the other. And that would be QT because the freaking Spanx does this self-check out thing and I saw them installing it. This was like a year ago. And I'm like, this is the biggest fucking waste of money. I'm like, who signed off on this? This number one doesn't make any sense in your stores because, you know, the people that come in here are not always the best clientele that should be trustworthy combined with a lack of a customer experience. It's a terrible customer experience. It's nightmarish. And it's like, I don't know, I never bought into this literally pun intended. Even when it was available, I still went to a normal cash here when I would be shopping. Like a target. I was just like, I'd rather go to a shop. It wasn't working, but it didn't speed things up and it's, it's just begging for shit to get stolen. So there you go. So major retailers are backtracking on self-check out. I just, I don't know what, I almost think like sometimes these half-baked ideas that get implemented. It's like, I don't know what they really expected. Right. Hey, look, we take the BS out of business. If you don't want it real, then don't come and get it wrong from us because I'm just being honest. I'm just being honest. I'm saying what everyone else is thinking and speaking to you, you know what, you should hire us five years ago to do your marketing. We might get to talk to you out of this. So, and now all the other retailers are doing it too. Finally today, TikTok is developing a new AI chatbot called Genie. Get put that genie back in the bottle. Been waiting all day to say that Chris. See you in the morning. If I only get to laugh at myself, it was worth it. One media today.com brought us this with the AI race heating up, TikTok looks like it's prepping to launch its own AI chatbot to Western users, only Western users. Based on a recent filing in the US, according to Simifor, TikTok has sought to trademark the name Genie. Who would think you'd be able to trademark Genie, but okay, I dream of Genie. Before it's coming AI chatbot tool, which would enable users to pose questions in stream and get immediate responses among other functions. In May of the US, the rival video app filed the trademark for the name Genie for an AI chatbot software that will among other functions, simulate conversations, facilitate interaction and communicate between humans and AI and produce human like speech and text. So TikTok's looking to make it more of a hub for its AI functionalities with the chatbot essentially connecting users to different elements of the app. TikTok actually has been developing its AI chatbot for some time with users in the Philippines getting access to its taco chatbot tool in May of last year. You know, you're going to see this everywhere integrated. It's interesting that they say it's going to be speech and like not just true chatbot like typing. You're going to have it. You're going to be talking with that Genie. I can't believe the Genie name is not already trademarked. That's hard to believe. Yeah. It probably is. It's probably going to buy it from someone who knows. There was a great show in the 70s. I think it was 70 or 60s, the eye dream of Genie. Are you old enough to remember that? I've heard of it. It was about a Genie that lived with this guy. She was hot and she could do magic. And this guy like who was at the Navy or something like founder and I was like, this is the, that would be the greatest thing that ever happened. Like, are you kidding? So you never want to put that Genie back in the bottle. And anyway, if you're listening, you're old enough to remember that show. You know, you're nodding. You don't talk about eye dream of Genie. It's a great show. It makes shit like that anymore. But back to TikTok, you know, you got to get on there and I watch some videos, some how-tos, some TikTok off tips, whatever it might be, recipe tips. What's the latest TikTok video you've watched? I know you stay off there like I do, but I'm sure you say something. I got on it yesterday, briefly. But I got off briefly. I literally just checking my, who are you kidding? Dude, I make it a goal. I'll go check my notifications and get off because I know if I don't, 45 minutes are going to disappear like that in 30 second intervals for, you know, and all completely useless, right? TikTok also known as a microwave of time, literally. You want a time travel and get on TikTok? Whoa, it's 230. Whoa, it's six o'clock. Wow, it's 8.30. And all with learning nothing. Absolutely nothing. Some fun facts maybe. So none of the less. They've got to do AI chatbot. It's Genie. You see more and more of these chat features integrated with AI on all these platforms. You can see it already if you get on Instagram. You got the whole thing thinking like AI talking, whatever. The search results, Facebook's got it integrated. I was shopping for something on Facebook Marketplace and it was like, the AI was like trying to chat with them. Like, this was a little intrusive right now, you know? I'm looking for some used boxers on Facebook and kidding. But it was like furniture, like outdoor furniture for a new boat. I'm like, all right, let's see if I can get like a table or something up here. You know, the Facebook AI is like using that search data or something in offerings. I'm like, you know, this feels a little intrusive right now. Yeah. Like, let me just do it myself. I don't assume you know what I want. Yeah. I don't want the tacky couch from 1974. Like, I'll be looking for outdoor furniture and you're sending me like some velour, you know, 1974 couch. Like you get your algorithm straight. Yeah. That ain't going to handle the humidity well. Yeah. So good. So good. I'm all the rain. Oh. Dude. Oh, that's the news for today, Chris. What's happening down in Miami, do you think, exciting? It's been quiet down here. I think the weather's just bumping people out. It's just gray and hot. So, you know, just got to make it through these next couple of months of this heat wave and then work, we're cruising, but I'll take it over the snow. Oh, yeah. I'll always take heat or cold, but we appreciate you out there wherever you are. You can find all our info at Ryan is right.com. That's got links to all the content and all the social media channels, highlight clips, anything from today. We'll also check out the Radcast Network that we're a part of the Radcast Network dot com. If you're a show or a brand, look at the start of show and want to turn it into a business making asset. That's where you go. Most podcasts are hobbies. Let's be honest. We turn them into business assets, the Radcast Network dot com. You want to find me. I'm at Ryan Alfred Chris Hansen, one of the sweetest dudes in the country on Chris Grobe Hansen on Instagram. You find him. The fall of Chris has got some great content. He's got a great other show. What's up? Be real. Is that it? What's the other show? Be true. Stay true. Stay true. I was thinking of Caroline Hobbie show. Sorry. Stay true. Chris does long form content with some really interesting interviews, sits down and really gets into it. It's a very thoughtful, like it's really good. I actually enjoyed the list of a couple of shows here recently, Chris. You do a great job with that. I appreciate you, brother. Hey, guys. We appreciate you. We aren't number one without you. Go check us out those videos on Spotify or YouTube. We'll see you next time. All right about now. This has been right about now with Ryan Alfred, a Radcast Network production. Visit RyanisRight.com for full audio and video versions of the show or to inquire about sponsorship opportunities. Thanks for listening.